A Canton Christmas Card
A very happy Christmas to everyone and I hope you enjoy this item:
You probably know that the Christmas card was a Victorian invention - here you can see an early one, published by Robert Canton, Lithographer, as well as his trade mark: http://www.scrapalbum.com/xmasp3.htm
Christmas Cards in Shire Publications <www.shirebooks.co.uk > has three of Robert Canton’s cards as illustrations.
Robert William Canton was born about 1821, but not baptised until 1825 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, the son of William Lawrence Canton and Mary Brown. His father was the eldest grandson of John Canton, FRS, the 18th century scientist. Robert was his parents’ third son and the third child out of 11. In 1844 he married Anne Hurst Wright - they had only daughters so there are no Canton descendants of this line.
Robert Canton died 5 June 1893 in Wandsworth, aged 72 according to the GRO Deaths Index. His will, dated 20 Oct 1876, names him as Robert William Canton of Nos 22 & 23 Aldersgate St, City of London, Printer and Publisher (trading as and sometimes known as Robert Canton only) and was proved to his ‘beloved wife Anne Hurst Canton’ on 4 Jul 1893.