Goldsmith who emigrated from London in 1873 with his wife Mary, a dressmaker, and daughter Emily, who later married the jeweller Richard Scanlan. Scanlan had probably been her father’s apprentice. Fouchard was, according to his advertisements, a gold and silversmith, practical watch and clockmaker, and working jeweller. He arrived with first-hand knowledge of the latest European styles. By 1879 he had set up on his own account and developed a substantial business employing a number of men. One of these was Charles Band, a meticulous workman, who was with the firm from 1892-98. In 1886, Fouchard attracted attention making rings from Kimberley gold and setting a nugget from the Elvire goldfield 'to great advantage. ... The workmanship of the ornaments is excellent, and reflects great credit upon Mr Fouchard’.
Until 1889 Fouchard had premises in the Town Hall Chambers, Perth, then moved to a more prominent position in Hay Street. He advertised as the Lucky Wedding Ring House prepared to make wedding and all kinds of pearl and gem rings to order on the shortest notice. The styles that Fouchard brought with him included the taste for archaeological jewellery popularised by the Italian firm of Castellani in the mid-nineteenth century. This was very popular in Europe and persisted in a simpler form in commercial catalogues in England and Australia until after the turn of the century. One attractive piece is in the collection of the Western Australian Museum, the gift of Edward Mason (of the timber-milling family) to his sister Eliza Liddelow. Fouchard’s last advertisements were in 1899 when he was only fifty-six, so it is possible he died in the typhoid epidemics of the goldrush period. Fouchard was probably born in France and moved to England during one of the tumultuous times in French life, but like so many other jewellers little is known about him.
- Writers:
- Dr Dorothy Erickson
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2011
