There is an interesting news story in John Bull of Monday 1st July 1822 which almost certainly refers to William Fearn, although he would have been over seventy at the time.
"On Saturday morning, about one o'clock a fire broke out in the house of Mr Fearn, silversmith and jeweller at the corner of Adam Street, Adelphi.
Scarcely an article ,we believe, out of the valuable property was saved"
Details also include that stock of £10,000 was destroyed but it was only insured ( with the Phoenix ) up to the value of £6,000 and the furniture was not covered. The house had apparently recently been expensively refurbished.
The improvements probably included the installation of gas for lighting, as the report also states that the fire was caused by someone looking for a suspect gas leak - with a lighted candle !
Well in the early hours of the morning and you smell gas, you would need a light !
If this is William, then seems Fearn was still active in 1822 and not as Grimwade suggests, merely a sleeping partner by 1824 when his last mark with Eley II was entered. It seems as though he may have been only a retailer at this stage.
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