It is not known when the steam mill and bakery first began operating. The earliest surviving advertisement for it is found in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 21 January 1836 from which it is clear that the business was operating during at least some of the previous year, possibly longer, and that the proprietor, Samuel Bendall, is going into a partnership with a Matthew Bluck.
Bendall had moved to Cheltenham in 1809 when he began work for two years as a well-sinker for Henry Thompson. Having already built Vittoria House and the bath house and laboratory, Thompson was now heavily engaged in building Montpellier Spa and sinking wells all over his land to pump water to his various enterprises. Bendall left Cheltenham for two years then returned in 1813 and recommenced his well-sinking activities; he later claimed to have sunk the best part of over 80 wells for Thompson and to have produced a never-failing water supply for the Montpellier Baths.
In 1820 he testified as to the purity of the waters of Thompson’s spas following a spurious attack by a Dr Neale who alleged that Thompson added various salts to the waters. He later became involved in land deals, construction and even, in 1830, appeared to be operating coaches from Bell Mews in Bath Road.
In 1827, three of Bendall’s young children died of smallpox with a fourth dying of the same disease in early 1829. Although he had a strong Christian faith, he understandably found these tragedies very difficult to cope with and he often sought refuge at the salt manufactory in, as he later described, ‘a secret corner, between three walls, a space of about six feet by two’. This suggests that he was not only very conversant with the building to know of such a space but also that he had free access to come and go as he needed; did Pearson Thompson provide this sanctuary as a way of repaying Bendall’s loyalty to his late father?
At the time of the 1841 census Bendall is still giving his occupation as baker but it’s not known if he was still occupying the same premises. The steam mill and bakery had a new tenant in 1844, one Henry Margrett who remained until 1851, while a Charles Morgan is recorded as tenant during 1853 when he is sued for non-payment of rent (£100 per quarter) by Pearson Thompson. Margrett’s lengthy tenancy is unremarkable although he does cause a few headaches for a later tenant.
We are grateful to Eric Miller for providing some of this information on Bendall. Eric’s excellent article entitled The Versatile Samuel Bendall: Sailor on a Slave-ship, Well-sinker and Repentant Sinner can be found in Cheltenham Local History Society Journal #38.
TO READ ABOUT THE MILL/BAKERY FROM 1856-1899 CLICK HERE