{{Short description|English engineer (1847–1897)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Fred Verity | image = Fred Verity (1b).jpg | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = Verity, in the 1890s | birth_name = Joshua Marland Verity | birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|04|11|df=y}} | birth_place = Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1897|02|05|1847|04|11|df=y}} | death_place = Leeds, West Yorkshire, England | occupation = {{hlist|Engineer|iron founder|brass-founder|inventor|manufacturer|ironmonger}} | years_active = | known_for = Manufacture of cast iron manhole covers, kitchen ranges and other ironmongery | notable_works = | father = Charles Verity }}

'''Joshua Marland "Fred" Verity''' (11 April 1847 – 5 February 1897) was an English engineer, inventor, iron founder, brass-founder, manufacturer and retailer of ironmongery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. With his brother Edwin, and later with his sons, he ran foundries, a workshop in Hunslet, and a large store in Leeds city centre, under the name of '''Verity Brothers''', then '''Fred Verity & Sons'''. With Edwin he registered patents for new or improved fittings and gadgets, and produced and sold cast iron products of his era, such as kitchen ranges, manhole covers, fireplaces, lawn mowers and rollers, baths, mangles and other household goods, besides brass fittings. The Verity Brothers won medals at exhibitions for the design of some of their products.

==Background== Verity's parents were the stone mason and contractor Charles Verity, mayor of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and his first wife Harriet Marland, daughter of bookkeeper Joshua Marland.{{Refn|Harriet Verity née Marland (1815–1847). GRO index: Marriages 20 August 1838 at All Saints, Wakefield. Marland Harriet and Verity Charles. Wakefield 22 463. Deaths Jun 1847 Verity Harriet Wakefield 22 507. Harriet Verity's death certificate says: Died eighth May 1847 at Lake Lock. Harriet Verity, aged 33 years, wife of Charles Verity, stonemason. Cause of death, debility after childbirth, not certified. Present at the death, Martha Teal, Lake Lock. |group=nb}}<ref name="Verity-Marland marriage 1838" >{{cite book |title=West Yorkshire Church of England Marriages |date=1838 |publisher=Church of England |location=All Saints Church, Wakefield, West Yorkshire |page=62|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2253/images/32355_248845-01711?pId=7030759 |access-date=26 April 2024 |quote=At the Parish Church, Wakefield. Charles Verity, stone mason, son of John Verity, stone mason. Harriet Marland, daughter of Joshua Marland, book keeper. The couple were bachelor and spinster, both resident at Lake Lock. Charles Verity and his wife both signed their names, although the signatures here are transcripts.}}</ref> In 1841, the census finds Charles Verity and his first wife and Fred Verity's eldest brother John living in Lake Lock, Stanley, Wakefield, near the former Lake Lock Rail Road.<ref name="1841 Census Charles Verity" >{{cite web |title=1841 England Census. Lake Lock, Stanley, Wakefield. HO107/1271/8|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8978/images/WRYHO107_1271_1272-0294?pId=12044855 |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=HM Government |access-date=27 April 2024 |date=1841 |quote=Both parents are aged 25 years, and their child is aged 2 years. Charles describes himself as a mason.}}</ref>

Fred Verity's second eldest brother was Charles Henry Verity,{{Refn|Charles Henry Verity (1841 – 20 February 1899). GRO index: Births Sep 1841 Verity Charles Henry Wakefield XXII 638. Deaths Mar 1899 Verity Charles Henry 57 Bridlington 9d 218. |group=nb}} who, according to the ''South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough and Swinton Times'', completed his apprenticeship as an engineer at Manchester. He joined his father in railway and viaduct construction, then constructed the wagon building and repairing sheds in White Lee Road, Mexborough, purchased land, and built the wheel works.<ref name="YT and M&S Times 245 February 1899" >{{cite news |title=Death of Mr C.H. Verity of Swinton and Bridlington |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002837/18990224/119/0008 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times |agency=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=24 February 1899 |page=8 col.5}} To read the source, see: :File:Death of C.H.V. (1).jpg, :File:Death of C.H.V. (2).jpg, :File:Death of C.H.V. (3).jpg, :File:Death of C.H.V. (4).jpg, :File:Death of C.H.V. (5).jpg, :File:Death of C.H.V. (6).jpg, and :File:Death of C.H.V. (7).jpg.</ref> For over thirty years,<ref name="YT and M&S Times 245 February 1899" /> he was "owner of the Swinton Wagon and Railway Wheel works" according to the ''Sheffield Independent'',<ref name="Sheffield Independent 22 February 1899" >{{cite news |title=Death of Mr Verity |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18990222/043/0007 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=Sheffield Independent |agency=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=22 February 1899 |page=7 col.4}} See press cutting :File:Report of death of Charles Henry Verity (2).JPG</ref> and "principal in the firm of Verity & Son, wheel, tire ''(sic)'', and axle manufacturers at Swinton" as reported by the ''Bridlington and Quay Gazette''.<ref name="B & Q Gazette 24 February 1899" >{{cite news |title=Painfully sudden death |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003059/18990224/065/0004 |access-date=28 April 2024 |work=Bridlington and Quay Gazette |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=24 February 1899 |page=4 col.6}} See Press cutting: :File:Report of death of Charles Henry Verity (1a).JPG</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Mr C.H. Verity of Swinton and Bridlington |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002837/18990224/119/0008 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=24 February 1899 |page=8 col.5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Mr Verity |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18990222/043/0007 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=Sheffield Independent |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=22 February 1899 |page=7 col.4}}</ref> One of Verity's half brothers was a solicitor practising in Doncaster, but he died young.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary. Mr Charles Verity, of Doncaster |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18991205/037/0007 |access-date=28 April 2024 |work=Sheffield Independent |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=5 December 1899 |page=7 col.6}}</ref>

Harriet Verity died on 8 May 1847, less than a month after her fourth child, Joshua Marland, known as "Fred" was born. Verity was born in Wakefield on 11 April 1847,<ref name="Skyrack Courier 13 February 1897" /> and baptised on 11 May 1847 at Lake Lock, York.{{Refn|Joshua Marland "Fred" Verity (11 April 1847 – 9 February 1897). GRO index: Births Jun 1847 Verity Joshua Marland. Stanley, Wakefield XXII 682. Deaths Mar 1897 Verity Joshua Marland 49. Leeds 9b 384. The death certificate says: Died fifth February 1897 at 180 Chapeltown Road, Potternewton. Joshua Marland Verity, aged 49 years, ironmonger. Cause of death cirrhosis of the liver, exhaustion, certified. Present at the death, E.A. Verity, son, in attendance. Verity married Mary Heptinstall in Kirk Bramwith, 12 June 1872. He was buried at Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds |group=nb}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Select births and christenings, 1538-1975 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/9841/records/145312750?ssrc=pt&tid=7441&pid=24454506263 |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=Church of England |access-date=9 February 2025 |date=1847|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His father Charles Verity remarried and had more children after Fred Verity's mother Harriet died, so that Fred Verity was one of twelve siblings: four full siblings and eight half-siblings.{{Refn|Charles Verity's first four children by Harriet née Marland were: John Verity (1839–1857), Charles Henry Verity (1841–1899), Edwin Verity (1844–1909), and Joshua Marland "Fred" Verity (1847–1897). His children by Jane Harriet née Greaves were: William Verity (1850 – Port Said 2 January 1883), Elizabeth Ann Waddington née Verity (born 1851), Agnes Jane Driver née Verity (1853–1901), Thomas Samuel Verity (1855–1887). John Greaves Verity (1858–1889), Frances Louisa Lett née Verity (1859–1890), Sarah Ann Verity (born 1860), Rosabell Catherine Cartmel née Verity (born 1860) (GRO index: Births Sep 1860 Verity Rosabella Catherine Doncaster 9c 454) and Isabella Verity (1861–1902)|group=nb}} Verity and his full brother Edwin were initially cared for in Woolley, West Yorkshire by his unmarried uncle James Rogers, who was a shoemaker and farmer, and his elderly, widowed aunt Elizabeth Bennet.<ref>{{cite web |title=1851 England Census, Woolley, West Yorkshire. Schedule 2, piece 2332, folio 70, p.1 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8860/images/30859_A008171-00143?pId=14034757 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> By the age of 13 years, Verity was attending school and being brought up by another uncle, railway porter Joseph Bell,{{Refn|Joseph Bell (1829–1914)|group=nb}} and his aunt Elizabeth Bell,{{Refn|Elizabeth Bell née Marland (1816–1882). Elizabeth Bell was the sister of Charles Verity's first wife Harriet Verity née Marland, mother of Edwin and Fred Verity.|group=nb}} in Bradford, West Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web |title=1861 England Census, 72 Otley Road, Bradford. RG9/3319, schedule 119, page 20. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8767/images/WRYRG9_3318_3320-0452?pId=10226468 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref>

By 1881 Verity and his brother Edwin were living at 25 Brunswick Place, Leeds, and at the respective ages of 23 and 26 were master ironmongers.{{Refn|In 19th-century England, a "master" artisan or trader was one who had sufficient skill, reputation and income to be able to employ workers and to take apprentices. "Master" in that context did not imply academic qualifications.|group=nb}}<ref name="1881 England Census" >{{cite web |title=1871 England Census. RG10/4559. Page 32, schedule 151. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7619/images/WRYRG10_4559_4560-0169?pId=26330839 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> On 12 June 1872, at Kirk Bramwith, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Verity married Mary Heptinstall,{{Refn|Mary Verity née Heptinstall (1851 – 1 January 1930). GRO index: Births Mar 1851 Heptinstall Mary Doncaster XXII 125. Marriages Jun 1872 Verity Joshua Marland and Heptinstall Mary. Doncaster 9c 891. Deaths Mar 1930 Verity Mary 78 Leeds North 9b 302. |group=nb}} daughter of farmer John Heptinstall of Braithwaite Hall,<ref>{{cite web |title=England Census 1871, Braithwaite Hall, Kirk Bramwith, North Yorkshire. RG10/4722. Page 78, schedule 17. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/7619/records/26483686 |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=England and Wales marriages, 1538-1988 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/1352/records/325403?ssrc=pt&tid=7441&pid=24454506263 |website=ancestry.co.uk |publisher=Church of England |access-date=9 February 2025|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |quote=12 June 1872, at Kirk Bramwith, Yorkshire. Joshua Marland Verity, age 25, son of Charles Verity; and Mary Heptinstall}}</ref> and they had five children.{{Refn|Children of Fred Veirty and Mary Heptinstall: John Heptinstall Verity (1873–1945), Ernest Albert Verity (15 October 1874 – 18 October 1918), Percy Marland Verity (1876–1954), Charles Frederick Verity (1877–1954), Beatrice Mary Roebuck King née Verity (1880 – 13 October 1954). |group=nb}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriages |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000336/18720615/050/0008 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Leeds Times |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=15 June 1872 |page=8 col.4}}</ref> Two of his children, John Heptinstall Verity and Ernest Albert Verity, were alumni of Leeds Grammar School.<ref>{{cite book |title=The register of the Leeds grammar school, 1820-1896 |date=1897 |publisher=Leeds Grammar School |location=Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |url=https://archive.org/stream/registerleedsgr00englgoog/registerleedsgr00englgoog_djvu.txt |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> Fred Verity's nephew, via his brother, ironmonger Edwin Verity,{{Refn|Edwin Verity (Stanley, West Riding of Yorkshire 1845 – 11 March 1909). GRO index: Deaths Mar 1909 Verity Edwin 54 Leeds 9b 421 |group=nb}} was the sound engineer and inventor Claude Hamilton Verity.{{Refn|Claude Hamilton Verity (1880–1949). GRO index: Births Jun 1880 Verity Claud Hamilton Leeds 9b 627. Deaths Sep 1949 Verity Claud H. 69 Newton A. 7a 441. Note: He was named "Claud" on birth and death certificates, but "Claude" on his marriage certificate. |group=nb}} In 1891, Verity was living with his wife, four of his children and a groom, in a house named "Bel Vue" in Horsforth, Leeds. At that time he was describing himself as an employer and iron merchant, and his son John Heptinstall Verity, aged 17, was an ironmonger's assistant.<ref>{{cite web |title=1891 England Census. Bel Vue, Horsforth, Leeds. RG12/3525. Schedule 4. Page 1/4. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6598/images/WRYRG12_3524_3526-0118?pId=6602854 |website=ancestry.co.uk|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> His last address was "West Hill", Chapeltown, Leeds.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriages |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000168/18980702/039/0005 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Isle of Man Times |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=2 July 1898 |page=5 col.7}}</ref> Verity died at the age of 49 years on 5 February 1897, and was buried at Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds, on 9 February 1897.{{Refn|Burial of Joshua Marland Verity. Plot C55, Lawnswood Cemetery and Crematorium, Adel, Leeds.|group=nb}}<ref name="Skyrack Courier 13 February 1897" /> He left £14,368 14s 9d ({{Inflation|UK|14368.7|1897|fmt=eq|r=2|cursign=£}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}<ref name="Fred Verity probate" /> His wife Mary died on 1 January 1930, and was also buried at Lawnswood Cemetery.<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths: Verity |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19300103/077/0004 |access-date=24 March 2025 |work=Leeds Mercury |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=3 January 1930 |page=4 col.1}}</ref>

<gallery> Charles Verity mayor of Doncaster (3c).jpg|Verity's father, Charles Verity Joseph Bell - railway porter (4).jpg|Joseph Bell, Verity's uncle who brought him up Elizabeth Bell nee Marland (2a).jpg|Elizabeth Bell, Verity's aunt who brought him up Gravestone of Fred Verity (6).JPG|Verity's gravestone at Lawnswood Cemetery </gallery>

==Business== ===Ironmongery tradition in 18th- and 19th-century Leeds=== thumb|right|Premises of Fred Verity thumb|right|Verity's workshop in Hunslet In 1869,<ref name="YP and LI 25 September 1869" >{{cite news |title=Verity Brothers, 11 and 12 Call Lane |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000686/18690925/042/0001 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=25 September 1869 |page=1 col.5}}</ref><ref name="Leeds Evening Express 26 July 1870" /><ref name="1881 England Census" /> Verity, with his brother and business partner Edwin Verity, took over an ironmongery business which, according their company's later advertisements, had been started in 1792.<ref>{{cite news |title=To builders, cabinetmakers etc. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000076/18980514/031/0002 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Leeds Mercury |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=14 May 1898 |page=2 col.4}}</ref> This preceding business or businesses operated at various addresses in Leeds, and passed through the ownership of several people, and it may be that the Verity advertisements were referring to a tradition of major ironmongery businesses in Leeds, rather than a longstanding family firm. The early ironmongers in Leeds were not just retailers; they were blacksmiths, ironfounders and brassfounders. The earliest recorded ironmonger in 18th-century Leeds was Maurice Tobin, a Leeds whitesmith and ironmonger, and his business was inherited in 1773 by his son Henry Tobin, who had been abroad.<ref>{{cite news |title=This is to inform the nobility, gentry and others |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000236/17730921/008/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=21 September 1773 |page=1 col.1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Whitesmith and ironmonger |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000236/17731012/009/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=12 October 1773 |page=1 col.1}}</ref> In 1774 Henry Tobin passed on the whitesmith section of the business to his cousin John Rogers, and the ironmongery section to John Fothergill of Boar Lane, Leeds, who had purchased Tobin's ironmongery stock.<ref>{{cite news |title=Henry Tobin of Leeds |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000236/17740906/015/0003 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=6 September 1774 |page=3 col.4}}</ref> By 1780, William Beezon, a former apprentice to John Fothergill, had the business, and was selling ironmongery "opposite the Old Bank" on Briggate, Leeds.<ref>{{cite news |title=William Beezon |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000236/17800404/004/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=4 April 1780 |page=1 col.1}}</ref> Following Beezon there is an information gap. Moreover, Verity's builders' catalogue of 1897 states that his business originated in 1818.<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> The next recorded Leeds ironmonger was wholesaler Robert Squire James, who went bankrupt in 1852.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bankrupts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004347/18520123/028/0006 |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=Bankers' Circular |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=23 January 1852 |page=6 col.2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bankrupts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000308/18520124/050/0008 |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=Wells Journal |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=24 January 1852 |page=8 col.6}}</ref> John Wright of 36 Boar Lane, set up his ironmongery business in June 1853.<ref>{{cite news |title=John Wright, general furnishing ironmonger |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000336/18530611/041/0001 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Leeds Times |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=11 June 1853 |page=1 col.4}}</ref> On 12 June 1854 his shop caught fire, and stock worth £2,000 ({{Inflation|UK|2000|1854|fmt=eq|r=2|cursign=£}}) was damaged by water being thrown onto it after the fire was extinguished. Again on 11 April 1856 his "extensive premises"<ref name="Morning Post 17 April 1856" /> on Albion Street and Boar Lane was discovered burning. The fire was extinguished before his stock of gunpowder was set alight.<ref name="Morning Post 17 April 1856">{{cite news |title=Fire on the premises of Mr John Wright |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000174/18560417/054/0007 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Morning Post |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 April 1856 |page=7 co..3}}</ref> In 1858 ironmonger Fred Sheard was in business in Leeds,<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001187/18580821/041/0004 |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=Scarborough Mercury |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=21 August 1858 |page=4 col.3}}</ref> followed by George Heaps of 26 Dock Street, Leeds, who went bankrupt in 1858.<ref>{{cite news |title=The new workhouse |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000336/18591231/020/0005 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Leeds Times |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=31 December 1859 |page=5 col.5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=English bankrupts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000435/18581021/045/0004 |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=Dublin Evening Post |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=21 October 1858 |page=4 col.5}}</ref> The Leeds ironmonger, John Clark of 12 Call Lane, Leeds,{{Refn|John Clark (1816 – 15 April 1870). GRO index: Deaths Jun 1870 Clark John 54 Leeds 9b 268. His grave is in Beckett Street Cemetery, in plot 3313.|group=nb}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Overlookers, workmen etc. wanted |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000076/18650928/018/0004 |access-date=3 April 2025 |work=Leeds Mercury |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=28 September 1865 |page=4 col.5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000686/18700414/072/0004 |access-date=22 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=12 April 1870 |page=4 col.6}}</ref> is first mentioned in the Press in 1854 as a detaining creditor in a bankruptcy court.<ref>{{cite news |title=Adjourned to produced detaining creditors |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002875/18540401/082/0007 |access-date=22 March 2025 |work=Halifax Guardian |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=1 April 1854 |page=7 col.6}}</ref>

===Verity Brothers and Verity & Son=== thumb|upright|1870 ad showing prior ownership by Clark Between 1866 and 1868 the marble mason and ironmonger Thomas Verity,{{Refn|Thomas Verity (1826–6 June 1879), marble mason and ironmonger. GRO index: Deaths Jun 1879 Verity Thomas, age 54 Leeds 9b 354.|group=nb}}<ref>{{cite web |title=1861 England Census. 2 Bertie Street. RG9/3384. Page 1/49. Schedule 38. |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8767/images/WRYRG9_3382_3385-0389?pId=10519243 |website=ancestry.co.uk|url-access=subscription |publisher=H.M. Government |access-date=15 March 2025 |date=1861}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Show-rooms |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003883/18660317/070/0001 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Leeds Evening Express |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 March 1866 |page=1 col.1}}</ref> who had showrooms in George Street and works in Sunny Bank, Leeds, was manufacturing and selling marble mantelpieces, kitchen ranges and cooking apparatus.<ref>{{cite news |title=T. Verity, manufacturer |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000686/18660717/027/0001 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 July 1866 |page=1 col.5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=T. Verity, manufacturer |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000686/18680222/196/0003 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=22 February 1868 |page=3 col.4}}</ref> In 1868, Smith, Verity & Co. purchased the stock of ironmonger John Clark of 11 and 12 Call Lane, Leeds, and P. Smith passed it on or sold it to Verity Brothers,<ref>{{cite news |title=P. Smith of the late firm of Smith, Verity & Co. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003884/18690824/082/0001 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Leeds Evening Express |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=24 August 1869 |page=1 col.4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Builders' ironmongery |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003884/18680917/104/0004 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Leeds Evening Express |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 September 1868 |page=4 col.4}}</ref> after the partnership was dissolved in July 1869.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gazette news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001093/18690717/059/0003 |access-date=17 March 2025 |work=Halifax Courier |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 July 1869 |page=3 col.6}}</ref> So in 1869, at the same address,<ref name="YP and LI 25 September 1869" /> Fred and Edwin Verity took over the business of ironmonger John Clark, who according to the Verity Brothers had a "long reputation".<ref name="YP and LI 25 September 1869" /><ref name="Leeds Evening Express 26 July 1870" >{{cite news |title=Oldest established and cheapest hardware house in Leeds |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003884/18700726/109/0002 |access-date=12 March 2025 |work=Leeds Evening Express |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=26 July 1870 |page=2 col.3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Verity Brothers, 11 and 12 Call Lane |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000686/18690820/043/0001 |access-date=18 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=20 August 1869 |page=1 col.3 |quote=Verity Brothers, 11 and 12 Call Lane, Leeds, successors to Mr John Clark, continue to retain the long reputation of their predecessor}}</ref> They established the family hardware manufacturing, wholesale and retail business Verity Brothers (later becoming Fred Verity & Son)<ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Verity & Son |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004707/18960717/010/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Armley and Wortley News |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 July 1896 |page=1 col.4}}</ref> on the corner at 174-178 Lower Briggate and 60-68 Call Lane.<ref name="Skyrack Courier 13 February 1897" >{{cite news |title=The death has occurred |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003890/18970213/052/0003 |access-date=21 April 2024 |work=Skyrack Courier |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=13 February 1897 |page=3 col.1}}</ref> On 1 January 1895, the Verity Brothers partnership between Edwin Verity and Fred Verity was dissolved. Verity continued with the business as Fred Verity & Sons in Call Lane, while his brother Edwin started up a similar business at 42 Swinegate, Leeds, under his own name.<ref>{{cite news |title=Notice is hereby given |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/18950126/044/0002 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=26 January 1895 |page=3 col.3}}</ref> Besides the wholesale and retail emporium, the business premises included a workshop in Hunslet and a works including foundry in Crown Street, behind Leeds Corn Exchange.<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" >{{cite book |last1=Verity |first1=Fred |title=Fred Verity & Son, builders' catalogue |date=1897 |publisher=Whitehead & Miller Ltd |location=Leeds |edition=5}}</ref>

In 1898, after Verity's death, the shop was carried on by his descendants, who advertised that the ironmongery business had been "established over 100 years" at 54–58 Call Lane, and that the business was "the oldest established house in the north of England for joiners', builders' and cabinet makers' ironmongery of every Description".<ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Verity & Son (late Verity Bros) |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004707/18980128/011/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Armley and Wortley News |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=28 January 1898 |page=1 col.3}}</ref>

Verity's premises overlooked the site where Louis Le Prince made his first moving picture.<ref name="Redfern1 20 August 2009" >{{cite web |last1=Redfern |first1=Nick |title=Claude Hamilton Verity |url=https://nickredfern.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/claude-hamilton-verity/ |website=Research into Film |access-date=14 April 2024 |date=20 August 2009}} Note: Although Wordpress is a blog site, Nick Redfern is a lecturer on film studies at Leeds Trinity University, and is an authoritative source on the subject of Claude Hamilton Verity.</ref> In 1895, Verity was advertising coffin furniture and various nails, besides general ironmongery.<ref>{{cite news |title=To builders, cabinet makers etc. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000273/18950207/030/0003 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=7 February 1895 |page=3 col.7}}</ref> In 1896, He was advertising his "marble and slate chimney pieces, kitchen ranges,{{Refn|A restored Fred Verity Kitchen range can be seen here: [https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/photosnew/dealer_abacusstjulien/dealer_abacusstjulien_superhighres_1643632736473-4168728633.jpg sellingantiques.co.uk].|group=nb}} register stoves and tiled hearths".<ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Verity & Son |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004707/18960724/007/0001 |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=Armnley and Wortley News |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=17 July 1896 |page=1 cols 4,5}}</ref> On 30 March 1897, shortly before Verity died, the business was advertising garden tools in competitive style.{{Refn|Following the death of Fred Verity in 1897, the business was carried on by his sons John Heptinstall Verity (d.1945) and Charles Frederick Verity (d.1954). They added a fireplace department and Verity's Garage in The Calls, Leeds, and between 1910 and 1920 the business flourished so they expanded the premises along Call Lane and Briggate. The Newcastle Upon Tyne branch of Fred Verity & Son commenced around 1909 when Charles Frederick Verity and his family moved north. After John Heptinstall Verity died, his sons James Verity and Fredierick Cowle Verity continued with the business in Leeds until 1960, when it was sold to Rycrofts Ltd in Bradford. (From Verity, F.C. (1963), ''A Brief History of Fred Verity & Sons, Ironmongers, Briggate and Call Lane, Leeds''). |group=nb}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Garden tools! Garden tools! |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000273/18970330/029/0001 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=30 March 1897 |page=1 col.7}}</ref> Verity also designed and manufactured cast- and sheet-iron garden rollers,{{Refn|Fred Verity cast iron garden roller fittings for Thomas Green: see [https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyg1955/8482989673 Flickr] and [https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyg1955/8462410124/in/photostream Flickr] |group=nb}} and was a brass-founder.<ref name="Fred Verity probate">{{cite book |title=England and Wales National Probate Calendar |date=1897 |publisher=HM Government |location=London |page=13/19 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/31874_221824-00018?pId=3791414 |access-date=28 February 2025|via=Ancestry|url-access=subscription |quote=Verity Joshua Marland of West Hill Chapeltown Road Leeds, iron merchant and brass-founder died 5 February 1896. Probate Wakefield 24 June ... effects £14,368 14s 9d.}}</ref> By 1909, the products advertised were: "kitchen ranges and mantels, stoves and tiles, baths and lavatories, barb wire ''(sic)'', mangers, corn bins, hay ricks, pig troughs, wire netting, garden tools, wood trellis work, galvanised sheets, gas boilers, knife machines, wringers, dust bins, barrows, cisterns, manhole covers, grindstones, lime screens, drain clearing machines".<ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Verity & Son |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003890/19090604/020/0001 |access-date=10 February 2025 |work=Skyrack Courier |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=4 June 1909 |page=1 cols 6,7}}</ref> In 1930 a court dispute over an alleged breach of warranty revealed that the firm was still casting in iron and gunmetal.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cost of bed tables. Leeds firm's action against Shipley dealer |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19300121/126/0005 |access-date=24 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=21 January 1930 |page=5 col.1}}</ref>

<gallery> Fred Verity manhole cover (2).jpg|19th-century manhole cover, by Fred Verity, on farmland near Harrogate Fred Verity catalogue page 212 (4).JPG|Kitchen range by Fred Verity & Sons, 1890s Fred Verity letterhead (1a).jpg|Letterhead by Fred Verity & Sons Advertisement for Fred Verity products (2a).JPG|1896 ad by Fred Verity & Sons Verity roller A (2).jpg|Fred Verity & Sons signature on a hand lawn roller Advertisement for Fred Verity products (3a).JPG|1909 ad by Fred Verity & Sons </gallery>

===Patents and inventions=== thumb|right|Verity's ad for self-feeding sawbench, 1870 Verity, like his nephew Claude Hamilton Verity, was an inventor. He, his brother Edwin and their colleague Benjamin Banks together registered the following designs (the list may be incomplete):

* 17 July 1884. "An automatic pivot or bearing, for looking glasses and other similarly pivoted articles". Joshua Marland Verity, Edwin Verity and Benjamin Banks.<ref>{{cite news |title=English patents |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000282/18841213/015/0006 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Burnley Express |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=13 December 1884 |page=6 col.4}}</ref> * 11 December 1884. "Mechanical movement or means for opening, closing, staying and securing windows, skylights, dampers, ventilators, and suchlike articles". Joshua M. Verity, Edwin Verity and Benjamin Banks.<ref>{{cite news |title=New patents |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000033/18860212/024/0006 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Birmingham Daily Post |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=12 February 1886 |page=6 col.5 |quote=Date of patent given in the article is December 11, 1884.}}</ref> * 15 March 1886, "Improvements in the means and methods of advertising and in apparatus used in connection therewith". Joshua Marland Verity, Edwin Verity and Benjamin Banks.<ref>{{cite news |title=Patent list |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000629/18860315/030/0002 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Bradford Daily Telegraph |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=15 March 1886 |page=2 col.3}}</ref> * 22 May 1886. "An improved combined hopper light regulator and fastener". Joshua Marland Verity, Edwin Verity and Benjamin Banks.<ref>{{cite news |title=Local patent list |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000629/18860720/047/0003 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Bradford Daily Telegraph |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=20 July 1886 |page=3 col.4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=New patents |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002893/18860522/079/0008 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Wakefield Free Press |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=22 May 1886 |page=8 col.1}}</ref> * 6 August 1887. "An improved means of attaching compound springs and air checks to doors and the like". Joshua Verity, Edwin Verity and Benjamin Banks.<ref>{{cite news |title=List of local patents |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003408/18870806/095/0006 |access-date=27 February 2025 |work=Dewsbury Chronicle and West Riding Advertiser |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=6 August 1887 |page=6 col.7}}</ref>

Additionally, Verity and his brother Edwin advertised items and ideas which they appear to have invented; for example in 1879 they advertised a "newly-invented self-feeding sawbench", for which they were offering demonstrations, drawings and prices.<ref>{{cite news |title=May be seen in operation |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000686/18700429/001/0001 |access-date=15 March 2025 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |agency=|via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |date=29 April 1879 |page=1 col.5}}</ref>

==Exhibitions== [[File:Fred Verity catalogue frontispiece (8a).jpg|thumb|right|1885 International Inventions Exhibition medal]] With his brother Edwin as Verity Brothers, and as Fred Verity & Sons, Verity was awarded various medals at trade exhibitions (citations quoted as engraved on the medals):<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" />

* 1879, Long Sutton Agricultural Association, "first prize medal, extra prize for machinery", awarded to Verity Brothers, Leeds.<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1885, Exhibition of Sanitary Apparatus and Appliances, Leicester, prize medal of the Sanitary Institute, "awarded to E. and J.M. Verity for Crabtree kitchener by the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain as a special mark of merit".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1885, International Inventions Exhibition, "highest award for building appliances".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1886, International Cookery and Food Exhibition, to E. and J.M. Verity.<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1887, Building Trades Exhibition, Agricultural Hall, Islington, "awarded by the Society of Architects to E. and J.M. Verity for superiority, workmanship and material".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1887, Jubilee International Exhibition, Adelaide, Australia, "first order of merit".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1895, Smithfield Show, Leeds, to Fred Verity & Son, "for specialities in range and building appliances".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> * 1895 October and November, General Trades Industrial Exhibition, Leeds, "awarded to Verity Bros, Leeds, England, first order of merit".<ref name="Verity catalogue 1897" /> thumb|upright|A Fred Verity boiler

==Collections== There is a Fred Verity boiler in the National Trust's collection, at the Farmhouse & Outhouse, Brighouse Farm, Duddon Valley, Cumbria. This is a World Heritage Site: The English Lake District (1452615).<ref>{{cite web |title=Farmhouse & Outhouse, Brighouse Farm, Duddon |url=https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA118403 |website=heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk |publisher=National Trust Heritage Records Online |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref> <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THESE LINE SPACES, AS THEY PREVENT FOUL-UP WITH THE COLUMNS IN THE NOTES SECTION. THANK YOU. -->

==Notes== {{Reflist|group=nb}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Fred Verity}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verity, Fred}} Category:1847 births Category:1897 deaths Category:19th-century English inventors Category:19th-century English engineers Category:19th-century English merchants Category:19th-century ironmasters Category:19th-century British metalsmiths Category:Businesspeople from West Yorkshire Category:English businesspeople in manufacturing Category:English metalsmiths Category:People from Wakefield