Introduction
Thomas Leach became an innkeeper after working as a servant. He ran an inn at Hardington during the early 1840s, before moving to Ryme Intrinseca. In 1852, he and his family emigrated to Australia, but sadly, he died just six months after his arrival.
Childhood
Thomas was born at East Chinnock in about 1801, the second of six children born to Thomas and Edith Leach. A few years later, the family moved to Ware in Hertfordshire, where four more children were born, including Horatio Nelson (known as Nelson) and Lauretta. A militia list of 1801 listed Thomas senior as a hostler.[1] Poor rate books show him as the tenant of a property in Baldock Street from 1804 to 1813.
Nothing is known about the next twenty years. It is possible that Thomas senior died in Ware, leading Edith to return to the West Country with her children. She probably returned initially to East Chinnock, as her daughter, Lauretta, was married there in 1836.
Domestic Service
In the 1830s, Thomas was employed as a servant at Up Cerne, a parish of about ninety inhabitants.[2] He probably worked at Up Cerne House, a gentleman’s residence with a conservatory and walled garden, occupied by John Vaughan.[3] When the house was advertised to let in June 1837, Thomas may have been obliged to seek alternative employment.[4]
Marriage
On 13 September 1838, Thomas married Maria Maidment at Sutton Bingham. At the time, Thomas was about 37, while Maria was about 23. Both signed the marriage register. Thomas’s brother, Nelson, was one of the witnesses.
Maria was born at Donhead St Mary, Wiltshire, in about 1815, the daughter of John Maidment, a carpenter. She may have moved to Sutton Bingham to work as a servant at the rectory. Mary Eyears, the other witness to Maria’s wedding, worked there in 1841.
Their first child, Horatio Nelson Leach, was born at Up Cerne shortly after their marriage and baptised there on 23 December 1838. That he gave his brother’s unusual name to his firstborn suggests that he was on good terms with him or wished to win his favour.
Hardington
In 1839 or 1840, Thomas and Maria moved to Hardington, where his brother, Nelson, had become the tenant of Manor Farm in 1837. Their second child, Thirza, was born there on 5 December 1840, and their third, Edith, was born in 1842.[5]
Thomas ran an inn located in Church Lane. The tithe survey recorded him as the occupier of a house, garden and orchard in plot 160, owned by Charles Groves, the thatcher. This location was where Brannock Cottage would later be built. The 1841 census recorded Thomas an innkeeper, with a fourteen-year-old servant named Matilda Rendell in the household, together with William Robins, a carpenter who may have been an overnight lodger.
While living at Hardington, Thomas bought a house and garden on Pig Hill, recorded on the tithe map as plot 66. He let the property to tenants as it was occupied by George Purchase from 1840 to 1843, and by George Rendell from 1844 to 1853.[6]
Ryme Intrinseca
In about 1844, Thomas and his family moved to Ryme Intrinseca, where he continued as an innkeeper.[7]
Australia
In late 1852, Thomas, Maria, and their daughters, Thirza and Edith, departed from Bristol on the Clara Symes, travelling as unassisted passengers to Australia, arriving in February 1853.[8] The passenger lists do not mention their son, Horatio Nelson, but he also emigrated at some point, as he married in Melbourne in 1865.
Thomas scarcely survived the journey, dying on 31 August 1853. The others settled in Victoria. Horatio died at Fitzroy in 1867 at the age of 29, but his mother and sisters fared better. Thirza married in 1858 and died in 1933; Edith married in 1865 and died in 1889; and Maria died in Melbourne in 1898, aged about 83.[9]
References
[1] When Thomas Leach junior married, he recorded his father’s occupation as a linman. However, grooms and brides often misrepresented their fathers’ occupations.
[2] Sutton Bingham marriage register, 1837-1914.
[3] Up Cerne jury list for 1835.
[4] Sherborne Mercury, 12 June 1837, p.2.
[5] Birth certificate of Thirza Leach.
[6] Hardington Voters’ Lists.
[7] Ryme Intrinseca Jury Lists.
[8] Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1852-1923.
[9] Geneanet Community Trees Index.
