In April 1861, Thomas Gill Cox was a farmer and small shopkeeper at Hill End. He probably ran the shop with his wife, Joanna.

Birth at Axminster

Thomas was born at Axminster in about 1808. He was the son of Thomas and his wife, Mary. His middle name “Gill” was his mother’s maiden name. His parents had married at Chard, his mother’s home, on 1 April 1805. They lived at Axminster for a short time before moving to Hardington.

Life at Hardington

Thomas’s parents moved to Hardington when he was a toddler.

His mother, Mary, may have died at Hardington in June 1810.

On 1 November 1831, Thomas Gill Cox married Joanna Cleal at Hardington. She was the daughter of William and Mary Cleal.

From 1840 until his death, Thomas occupied a freehold cottage at Hill End.[1]

The 1843 tithe apportionment shows him occupying two allotments in Coldharbour (474 and 481), a house and garden (485) and a house and plot (492). Lord Ilchester owned all these plots. However, Thomas may have held the houses on long leases.

Thomas worked as a farm labourer for most of his life. He and his wife also ran a shop.

On 5 September 1860, the Yeovil magistrates fined him £1 and costs for having an illegal weighing machine and unjust beam and scales used to weigh coal.[2] This is the earliest evidence of him keeping a shop.

In May 1864, Thomas and a relative named Thomas Cox disputed a garden boundary. Thomas Cox charged Thomas Gill Cox with willfully committing damage. The magistrates said they could not adjudicate because it was a dispute over title and advised them to appoint an arbiter.[3]

Joanna died in about October 1865, aged 61. In 1869, Thomas married a widow named Elizabeth Mitchell, whose first husband had been transported for theft.

Thomas died intestate on 19 April 1878, aged 70, leaving an estate valued at under £200.[4]

Elizabeth’s later life

Elizabeth was a shopkeeper at Hill End in April 1881. In April 1891, she was staying with her only son in Cardiff. She died in the Yeovil area in 1900, aged 84.

References

[1] Hardington voters’ lists.

[2] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 12 September 1860, p.6.

[3] Sherborne Mercury, 10 May 1864, p.3.

[4] Probate calendars.