Wrexham grave of Robert Ankers
Robert Ankers, d.1856
Robert Ankers was a wine and spirit merchant and proprietor of the Golden Lion Vaults in Wrexham’s High Street. He is buried in the family plot of his parents in law, William and Sarah Hughes.
Robert was trading at the Golden Lion by 1835. He was the victim of an attempted highway robbery in 1852 as he and a friend, Mr Levi, were riding their horses into the country. They were “called upon to stand and deliver”. Robert ordered Mr Levi to fire his pistol, and the attackers fled. This was one of a spate of attacks, some of which resulted in victims being badly beaten. A meeting was called at the Wynnstay Arms where it was agreed to appoint a force of special constables, funded by voluntary subscription.
Robert had his own brush with the law when he fired a gun in High Street, frightening a donkey. He was later fined for the incident.
In the 1840s he was one of several Wrexham tradesmen who subscribed to a scheme to build a railway between Wrexham and Crewe. The scheme ran into trouble, and in 1850 Robert claimed that the tradesmen had lost c.£7,000, excluding legal costs in trying to recover their deposits.
Robert also ran a glass depot at the Golden Lion, selling “flint glass”, better known today as lead crystal. His racehorse ‘Birdlime-girl’ won at the Chester Races in May 1854 – the bells of Wrexham were rung in celebration. In October 1854 the horse won the three main stakes at the Eyton Races in Wrexham. (Birdlime was a sticky substance spread on branches to catch small birds.)
After Robert’s death the Golden Lion was run by his nephew, William Ankers, whose 1858 advert is shown here. In that year, William was praised for placing an elegant coloured lamp opposite the Golden Lion’s entrance, adding to “the attractions of High Street”.