Lemuel Watts Bangs

Publisher

L W Bangs

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Grave

Grave of L W Bangs in Section A4 211

Born on 25 April 1840 in Saratoga Springs, New York, Lemuel Bangs was well-known in publishing for over 50 years. He was the London representative of Charles Scribner’s Sons for nearly 40 years having moved to London permanently in 1885. His knowledge of books and of publishing conditions was said to have been remarkable.

He was a member of the Garrick Club (a private members’ club in the West End of London), known there as ‘The Senator’. A letter printed in The Publishers’ Weekly recalls how he dined at the club most nights, sitting at the same table having arrived there at 2 o’clock like clockwork. He was also the first American member of the Fly Fishers’ Club having remained an American Citizen.

Described as a dapper gentleman, his clothing was distinctive. He wore a frock-coat made to his own design by a Savile Row tailor. He was said to have had a good taste in ties, wore a flower in his buttonhole and his trousers were wide, but not baggy.

In 1891 he described himself as a ‘merchant’ but by 1911 his occupation was given as ‘assisting in a book publishing business.’ He was boarding at the York Hotel, Albermarle Street, London, where he died on 15 December 1921 aged 81.

His headstone states that it was erected by his brother but his sister, Mary Bangs of New York, was named as the sole Executrix and beneficiary in his Will. However, his burial plot was purchased by Florence Groves, a Hotel Proprietor who is buried in the plot to the left of Lemuel.

Although the relationship between them is unknown, there’s evidence to suggest that they knew each other from at least 1901 since they are both listed on the census of that year; Lemuel as a visitor and Florence as the Hotel Manageress of the Brunswick Hotel in Jermyn Street, London.

In 1911 Florence was the Manageress of the York Hotel where Lemuel was living. By 1919 Florence was the Proprietor of the Lonsdale Mansions Hotel in Tunbridge Wells until her death in 1932. The hotel was built in 1919; we wonder if Lemuel was involved in funding the building.