BLAST, John (Grimwade p.338, 354)

[MCB]

He was christened in 1769 at St Luke, Finsbury, the son of William Blast, a labourer and his wife Eleanor.
Indentures were signed in 1783 for John, son of William, who was then a cork dealer from Goswell Street, to be the apprentice of James Richards (Grimwade p.307, 340) of the Goldsmiths Company, a watch case maker of Bridgewater Square. John was made free in 1790-1.
He married Mary Ann Richards at St Mary, Islington in 1794. She was the daughter of William Richards, a watch case maker and his wife Mary and christened at St Luke in 1770.
He entered a maker’s mark at Goldsmiths Hall in 1796 in partnership with his father-in-law as watch case makers from 43 Brick Lane. Richards had paid the Land Tax on property in Brick Lane for a number of years.
His son William John Blast was christened at St Luke in 1795 and died of small pox in 1798.
Thomas Williams signed indentures in 1796 to be his apprentice.
His daughter Mary Ann Blast was christened at St Luke in 1797.
He was assessed to Land Tax on property in John’s Row, St Luke from 1798-1805.
He entered another maker’s mark alone as a watch case maker from 43 Brick Lane in 1799.
The King’s Majesty’s Court at the Guildhall in 1801 in the case of the apprentice Thomas Williams heard that his master John Blast, the watch case maker, had left off the trade. They discharged the indentures and turned Williams over to complete his apprenticeship with James Macklin of the Dyers Company, also a watch case maker.
No further record has been found of John Blast in the St Luke area.
Mary Ann Blast aged 63 years, late of New Street, was buried at St Luke’s in 1832.
There was a death of a John Blast in Greenwich in 1840 but is recorded without sufficient information to say whether the detail is relevant here.