MAYER, Joseph. b. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs. 1803; gold and silversmith and jeweller at 68 and 70 Lord st. Liverpool; sold his collection of ancient Greek coins to French government 1844; purchased Rev. Dr. Thomas Godfrey Godfrey-Faussett’s Collection of Saxon antiquities and presented it to city of Liverpool; exhibited his collection of arts and antiquities valued at £80,000 in Colquitt st. Liverpool, he presented it to the corporation of Liverpool 1867; gave a free library and 20,000 volumes to Bebington, Cheshire, with a garden surrounding the building 1866; city of Liverpool erected a statue to him by Fontana in St. George’s hall; with Thomas Spencer he introduced for domestic use the electroplating process; gave many authors pecuniary assistance; raised three companies of volunteers; F.S.A. 10 Jany. 1850; retired from business; author of A catalogue of the drawings, miniatures, cameos, etc., illustrative of the Bonaparte family in the collection of J. Mayer 1854, 2 ed. 1855; History of art of pottery in Liverpool 1855; A library of national antiquities 2 vols. 1857–73; A catalogue of engraved gems and rings in the collection of J. Mayer 1879. d. Bebington 18 Jany. 1886. C. R. Smith’s Retrospections, i 67–76, ii 109–10, 300, iii 68, 70 (1883–91); Illust. Times 10 June 1867 p. 365, view of his collection at Liverpool; Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. May 1886 p. 144; Times 21 Jany. 1886 p. 7.
MAYER, Karl. Librarian to Prince Consort in England 1847–61. d. Berlin, Dec. 1884.
MAYER, Samuel Ralph Townshend (2 son of Samuel Mayer of Gloucester, solicitor). b. Gloucester, Aug. 1841; contributed to the Gloucester newspapers; came to London, where he founded the Free and open church association 1866, secretary till Feb. 1872; edited the first report of the Metropolitan conservative working men’s association 1868; edited The illustrated review Jany. to June 1871; The free and open church advocate 3 vols. 1872–7; proprietor and editor of St. James’s Magazine, Jany. 1875; author of Amy Fairfax 1859, a novelette; Fractional supplement to Hotson’s Ready reckoner 1861; The origin and growth of Sunday schools in England 1878; Who was the founder of Sunday schools? being an inquiry 1880. d. Richmond, Surrey 28 May 1880.
MAYERS, John Pollard. Barrister M.T. 8 Nov. 1799, bencher 1840 to death; agent for island of Barbadoes. d. Brasted near Sevenoaks, Kent 30 Dec. 1853 aged 76.
MAYERS, William S. Frederick (son of Michael John Mayers, R. of St. Peter’s, Winchester). b. Tasmania 7 Jany. 1831; a journalist in New York to 1859; interpreter at Canton 7 Feb. 1859 to 1870; vice consul at Kin-kiang 17 Aug. 1871; Chinese secretary of legation at Pekin 10 Nov. 1871, second sec. to the legation 20 July 1876; his official report on The famine in the northern province of China was printed and his Report of an Expedition to Nang Chang Foo is in Parl. Papers vol. lxviii 213 (1874); F.R.G.S.; member of R. Asiatic soc.; procured for the British museum one of the few existing copies of the Imperial encyclopædia of Chinese literature in 5020 volumes; author of The Anglo-Chinese calendar manual 1869; The Chinese reader’s manual 1874; Treatise between China and foreign powers 1877; The Chinese government, a manual of Chinese titles 1878, 2 ed. 1886. d. of typhus fever, Shanghai 24 March 1878. Journal Royal Asiatic Soc. vol. x (1878) 55th Annual Report 20 May 1878 pp. xii–xiv; Athenæum, i 444 (1878); Academy, i 300 (1878); Foreign Office List 1879 p. 214.
MAYHEW, Augustus Septimus (youngest son of Joshua Dorset Joseph Mayhew of 26 Carey st. London, attorney who d. 1858). b. 1826; wrote for the Comic Almanac 1845–53, which he edited 1848–50; author of Paved with gold, or the romance and reality of the London streets 1857; The finest girl in Bloomsbury 1861; Faces for fortunes 3 vols. 1865; author with his brother Henry Mayhew of The greatest plague of life, or the adventures of a lady in search of a good servant 1847 and other books; joint author with H. S. Edwards of six dramatic pieces The poor relation 1851, My wife’s future husband 1851, A squib for the fifth of November 1851; The goose with the golden eggs, a farce, Strand theatre 1 Sep. 1859; Christmas Boxes, a farce, Strand 1860; and The four cousins, a comic drama, Globe, May 1871; resided at 7 Montpelier row, Twickenham. d. Richmond infirmary 25 Dec. 1875. bur. Barnes cemet. 30 Dec. Hodder’s Memories of my time (1870) 62–5.
MAYHEW, Edward (brother of A. S. Mayhew 1826–1875). b. 1813; M.R.C.S. 1854; edited F. Clater’s Every man his own cattle doctor 1853, another ed. 1859; F. Clater’s Every man his own farrier 1854, another ed. 1861; D. P. Blaine’s Outlines of the veterinary art 6 ed. 1854; author of Stage effect 1840; The horse’s mouth, shewing the age by the teeth 1849; Dogs, their management 1854; The illustrated horse doctor 1860, another ed. 1891; The illustrated horse management 1864; with G. Smith Make your wills, a farce Haymarket theatre 1836. Name not in Medical or London directories after 1855. G. Hodder’s Memories of my time (1870) 58–61.
MAYHEW, Henry (brother of A. S. Mayhew 1826–75). b. London 25 Nov. 1812; admitted at Westminster school 14 Jany. 1822, ran away 1827 and went a voyage to Calcutta; articled to his father; published with G. A. à Beckett, Figaro in London, comic weekly paper, 160 numbers 1 Dec. 1831 to 27 Dec. 1834; started The Thief, weekly journal 26 numbers 1832, and The Devil in London, weekly journal 1832; manager of the Fitzroy theatre 1834, where he established the “No Fee” system, being the first manager to do so; wrote The wandering minstrel, farce produced at Royal Fitzroy theatre 16 Jany. 1834, in which occurs the cockney song Villikins and his Dinah; wrote with Henry Baylis But However, a farce produced at Haymarket 30 Oct. 1838; a founder of Punch 17 July 1841 and owner with Mark Lemon of a third share in it; author of The Rhine 1856, The Upper Rhine 1858, German life and manners in Saxony 1864, The boyhood of Martin Luther 1865 and many other books; author with John Binny and others of London labour and London poor 2 vols. 1851, reprinted from the Morning Chronicle, the continuation in serial monthly parts The great world of London 1856 was completed and published as The criminal prisons of London 1862. d. Charlotte st. Bloomsbury, London 25 July 1887. bur. Kensal Green cemet. Fox Bourne’s English newspapers, ii 117–20, 155, 238; F. H. Forshall’s Westminster School (1884) 329–30; The Mask (1868) 65, portrait; I.L.N. vii 348 (1845), portrait.
Note.—There is a portrait of him in John Leech’s 2-page cartoon called Mr. Punch’s fancy ball 9 Jany. 1847 as the cornet player in the orchestra. On 19 March 1856 he held a meeting of ticket of leave men at National hall, Holborn, the speeches of five of them were fully reported in the newspapers.
MAYHEW, Horace (brother of the preceding). b. July 1818; wrote many farces and tales; sub-editor of Punch under Mark Lemon several years, contributed to Punch to his death; contributed to Cruikshank’s Table Book 1845; his pantomime Plum Pudding produced at Olympic theatre, Dec. 1847; author of The Bal Masqué. By Count Chicard 1848; Change for a shilling 1848; Model men 1848; Model women 1848; A plate of heads 1849; The toothache imagined by Horace Mayhew and realised by George Cruikshank 1849; Guy Faux 1849; Letters left at the pastry-cooks 1853; edited Cruikshank’s Comic Almanac 1848 and 1849; contributed to Lloyd’s Weekly News from 1852. d. 33 Addison gardens south, Kensington, London 30 April 1872. bur. Kensal Green cemet. 7 May. J. Hatton’s Journalistic London (1882) 19.