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“The Blacklead King”The Story ofWILLIAM GEORGE NIXEY |
Introduction
My interest in William George Nixey (seen above) dates back many years, to the time when my father told me about the Black Lead company that was part of our family. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea of how we were related to him. In the mid 1990s, Sue Baker, one of my cousins who lives in Melksham, Wiltshire, sent us copies of two advertising posters, one of Nixey’s Black Lead, the other of Nixey’s Blue, which we framed and proudly hung on our wall.
After a number of years of research, and with the invaluable assistance of a friend and professional genealogist who was able to access baptism records of St. Mary’s Church at Winkfield in Berkshire that were not available online, I discovered that William George Nixey was much more closely related to us than we had ever imagined. He was actually the brother of my great great grandfather, Joseph Nixey, who was a Master Tailor and had been born at Slough in 1814. Their father, John, was a Wheelwright at Slough in Buckinghamshire and Winkfield in Berkshire.
I next began collecting numerous pieces of information regarding my newly found great great great uncle,, but it was never compiled into chronological order, and written in such a way that may have made it of interest to others researching his life, family, and business. In fact, it was all put to one side and forgotten about. That was until John Branston, another cousin who lives in Bath, Somerset, told me about a conversation he’d had regarding William George Nixey with Allan James, the verger of St. Lawrence’s church in Slough. It was then that my interest was well and truly rekindled, and I began putting online all the information I had managed to find about him, his family, and his business.
I could never have imagined what a wide and varied story I would encounter along the way. With events including awards, court cases, fires, thefts, and even a suicide to name a few, one thing is for sure, whatever your interest, there’s something for everyone, including Freemasonry, the military, politics, religion, and Royalty!
Prior to World War II, Maxwell Fraser (the pen name of Dorothy Phillips) wrote a series of articles in the Slough Observer which were later compiled into the book known as “The History of Slough”. In chapter 11 entitled “Trade and Industry”, it stated:
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Very little seems to be known of the origin of Nixey’s once famous blacklead, which was presumably placed on the market before W.G. Nixey bought the Old Vicarage in 1856, and built Springfield House (then popularly known as ‘Blacklead Castle’, and now Upton Towers). The blacklead was advertised as ‘the Servants’ Friend’, and made a fortune for its inventor. |
It is my intention to correct this apparent lack of knowledge, and to make known as much as possible about not only “Nixey’s once famous blacklead”, but many other products and inventions such as the ones listed below:
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“That Nixey Cervus well.”–Punch Magazine |
References
Maxwell Fraser & the History of Slough – Slough History Online
Credits
The portrait of William George Nixey appeared in the book “Two centuries of Soho, its institutions, firms, and amusements” by John Henry Cardwell, published 1898 by Truslove and Hanson, London; the image was edited and enhanced by Nivard Ovington.