Thomas Rowson’s forebears – at least as far back as the mid-18th century – lived and worked in villages near Grimsby in Lincolnshire. His grandparents, Robert Rowson and Margery Bryant, married in 1775 in the parish of Old Clee, and Robert is buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity & Saint Mary. The parish of Clee was made up of small fishing villages on the mouth of the River Humber, and roughly 2 miles from the town of Grimsby. The village of Old Clee, slightly inland, was described in a guidebook to the area in the late 19th century as “chiefly inhabited by farmers and farm labourers” and had “the quiet appearance of an agricultural and secluded place.” The guidebook describes the cottages as suggestive of wigwams, due to the thatched roofs and “roof-trees”1. All in all, the houses and farm buildings were neat, clean and wholesome-looking, and the sea air was “soft and refreshing.”2
In the 19th century, Cleethorpes, near Old Clee, became a fashionable place for sea-bathing,3 but the Rowsons were not likely in the class of people who had the leisure time for such things. Robert was a labourer, and died relatively young, at the age of 46.
Children of Robert Rowson and Margery Bryant Robert Rowson, born 1775, died 1776 Elizabeth Rowson, born 1777 Ann Rowson, born 1780 Samuel Rowson, born 1782 Mary Rowson, born 1785 John Rowson, born 1787 Robert Rowson, born 1790 ? Thomas Rowson, born 1794 (note: most of the children were baptised at Old Clee. John, however, was baptised at nearby Humberstone, and Thomas – if he belongs to this family, may have been baptised elsewhere. Only on the baptismal records of John and the second Robert is the mother’s name recorded as Margery. The others show mother’s name Margaret. |
John Rowson and Mary Petch
Some of Robert and Margery’s children were only a few years old when Robert died. How Margery and her young children got on isn’t known, but their son John (my ancestor) received at least some education, as he was able to sign his name on the marriage register when he married Mary Petch in Great Grimsby in 1810.
John and Mary settled near the village of Irby upon Humber, where most of their children were baptised in the parish church of St Andrews. Irby was about 6 miles from the river Humber, and 6 miles from Grimsby, and in the mid-1800s had a tiny population of about 250 people4. John was a labourer as a young man, but due to luck, hard work or both, became a farmer. The Rowson farm was located in Laceby, a few miles from Irby, and consisted of about 16 acres. Later census records show the farm was located on Cooper Lane.5 In his senior years, John was also the local rate collector.6 When John Rowson died in November 1873, he left an estate probated at up to £30007, which in today’s currency would be worth approximately £187,0008. Not bad for the son of a labourer.
The children of John Rowson and Mary Petch Mary Rowson, born 1812 Thomas Rowson, born 1813 Samuel Rowson, born 1815 Robert Rowson, born 1816 Susannah Rowson, born 1818 John Rowson, born 1821 Ann Rowson, born 1823 Frances “Fanny” Rowson, born 1825 Robinson Brant Rowson, born 1828 |
Thomas and Harriet
John and Mary’s eldest son was Thomas Rowson, born in 1813. Thomas left Lincolnshire and took himself to Yorkshire. In 1840, he married Harriet Shepherd, in the market town of Snaith, where her family lived. Per the 1841 census, Thomas was an agricultural labourer. He and Harriet were living then in Howden, a village only a few miles from Snaith.
Along with many thousands of people from the villages and towns in northern Lincolnshire and eastern Yorkshire, Thomas and Harriet Rowson made the move to the growing city of Hull, no doubt looking for better opportunities.
In November 1843, their first child, William Shepherd Rowson, was born in their home in the probably misnamed Clean Alley, in the township Witham.9 The photo below, likely taken circa 1900, shows a cramped alley with tenements whose front doors opened up right on the alley – not even a tiny front garden. Clean Alley was likely too short and insignificant a street to feature on the usually fairly detailed Ordnance Survey maps of the late 19th century. An advertisement in the Hull Advertiser indicates that Clean Alley was off Holderness Road.10 Another advertisement in 1865 indicates that there were at least 16 tenements in the alley.11 In 1901, as the city of Hull continued its efforts to improve the health and well-being of its residents, someone wrote in the Hull Daily Mail that “Clean-alley is at last condemned, but ninety-nine unclean courts … remain in putrid florescence.”12
A couple of years later, the Rowsons moved to no. 4, Lime Street in The Groves. Their home was sometimes referred to as “Lime Cottage.” They were to live there for approximately 14 or 15 years. The Groves was described as an “unsavoury” suburb13, adjoining Drypool, near the docks, and surrounded by the River Hull and Sutton Drain. It got its name because it was a very wet, marshy area which often flooded, especially in winter. As the city of Hull industrialised, the banks were built up along the river and the land dried out enough to build on. Cotton spinning factories were established in and near the Groves, alongside flour mills, rope-making factories, glassworks and ship building yards. The population of Hull increased dramatically in the 19th century, and housing was a major issue. The Groves was one of the several residential areas built to accommodate the factory workers. According to a report in the Hull News in 1879, it was a filthy place. The housing was densely-packed, small and cramped, with communal yards and toilet facilities. The spaces between the terraces were too small for a horse and cart. Often sewerage flowed into the streets, and residents had to contend with flooding and industrial pollution.14
High infant mortality, public health, disease
The location of their home may have played a role in the Rowson family’s high infant mortality rate. Thomas and Harriet were visited time and time again by the tragedy of child deaths. While infant mortality was high in mid-19th century England, the toll on the Rowsons was even higher. Harriet gave birth to 14 children whose births were registered over a 24-year period between 1843 and 1867. Of those, only three survived to adulthood.
In order of death:
Year | Date | Name | Age | Cause of death | Residence |
1848 | 14 June | Mary Ann Rowson | 6 weeks | convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1849 | 15 Sep | Robert Rowson | 5 months | diarrhea | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1850 | 26 Sep | George Rowson | 2 weeks | convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1852 | 8 Oct | Martha Rowson | 5 weeks | Convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1853 | 19 Aug | John Rowson | 7 years | Fever and convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1856 | 9 Aug | John Thomas | 3 weeks | Convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1857 | 15 Aug | Harriet Hannah Rowson | 9 days | diarrhea | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1859 | 21 Mar | Thomas Henry Rowson | 6 months | Convulsions | 4 Lime St, the Groves |
1862 | 17 Nov | Elizabeth Rowson | 8 days | convulsions | 49 Hedon Rd, Drypool |
1863 | 6 Nov | Helen Rowson | 19 days | convulsions | 49 Hedon Rd, Drypool |
1868 | 15 Oct | Thomas Rowson | 8 years | Fever lasting 7 days | 49 Hedon Rd, Drypool |
Of the 11 child deaths, 8 were from convulsions, 2 from fever, and 2 of diarrhea. These are likely imprecise as causes of death, as all of these were symptoms and “only the final and fatal effect of infection or some other condition”.17 Convulsions may have resulted from high temperatures, or from dehydration due to diarrhea. In turn, both of these were likely symptoms linked to bacterial and viral infections. While it can’t be confirmed with certainty, it is possible that 5-month old Robert died during the infamous cholera epidemic of late summer 1849, which hit the city of Hull worse than most places in England.
It is not surprising that infections were rife in the suburb of The Groves, where sewerage and industrial run-off flowed into the Hull and Humber rivers, and then the effluent pushed back up the river during high tide. The physician and epidemiologist John Snow, who was one of the first to make the connection between germs and disease, used Hull as a case study in some of his writing relating to the causes of cholera epidemics.18
Thomas and the Temperance movement
Family lore has it that Thomas was a reformed drunkard, who joined the Temperance movement. He established a Temperance Hall for sailors, so they had someplace (other than drinking houses) to go to pass the time. His wife sold coffee to the men whilst they swapped stories and played games such as dominos.
The Temperance Movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries was a social movement against consumption of alcohol. Its members were critical of intoxication, promoted total abstinence from alcohol, and demanded laws against the sale of alcohol. Those in the movement would point to prisons and hospitals as full of individuals with an alcohol problem.
From at least the 1850s and well into his advanced years, Thomas was a regular speaker at various temperance meetings, such as the Hull Temperance League, the Good Templar and Temperance Mission, and the All Saints’ Temperance Society. A description in the Hull Daily Mail in 1886 said of Mr Thomas Rowson “an old temperance worker, gave an excellent address in his usual happy style.”19
I’m not sure when the Rowsons’ Temperance Hall was established, but perhaps it was the same place as the “refreshment house” on Hedon Road, Drypool mentioned in the 1861 census returns.20 The 1892 Hull Trades and Professions Gazette gives the exact address of the Temperance Hall as 53 Hedon Road (on the north side, near the crossroad with Great Union Street).21
In 1887, a fire broke out in the Hedon Road property belonging to Thomas Rowson. The establishment affected by the fire was described as “a bacon and provision shop,” the tenant being Mr Robinson. Above the shop, the large room was let to the Good Templar’s meetings, at which Rowson had spoken on the issue of temperance. At the rear of the property was the dwelling house, occupied by the Rowsons, and the temperance hall. The fire was discovered late in the evening by his son, who, along with other men, tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out, before the fire brigade arrived. While the nearby saw-mills and buildings were saved, the Rowson’s property was not. The damage was estimated to be around £1099.22 Mr Rowson must have been covered by insurance, because he was able to rebuild. The new Temperance Hall was completed by December of the same year, and Mr Rowson provided a “substantial tea” at the reopening ceremony. The new buildings were said to be superior to the old ones.23
Thomas and work
Also according to family lore, Thomas started a business down Holderness Road, near the docks. He bought timber from the ships coming from the Baltic and employed men to make lathes and other items for the building trade24. In a general sense, this is verified, as his occupation was “lath render” on census records and his children’s birth certificates. Whether due to tough economic times, or bad business practices, Thomas was declared bankrupt in September 1862. The circumstances behind this turn of events are not described in the bankruptcy notices. Mr Charles Henry Phillips was declared the official assignee, and the first meeting of creditors set for October25. He was tardy in filing his statement of accounts, and the examination was adjourned until the following month.26 In a public sitting, the Court judged that Thomas Rowson was entitled to a Discharge of his debt under the Bankruptcy Act of 1861,27 although various aspects of the proceedings (such as the paying of dividends) continue well into mid-1864.28
Thomas and Harriet’s deaths
Harriet died in 1890, aged 67, and was buried in the churchyard of St Giles church in Marfleet, Hull. A memorial service was held in her honour at the Temperance Hall on Hedon Road, by her husband, friends, and family.
Thomas lived for nearly 6 years after his wife died. He was 83 years old when buried on the 20 October, 1896. He was buried at the Marfleet church along with his wife and many of their children.
The surviving children
Of the 14 children that Harriet gave birth to, only 3 survived to adulthood.
- Eliza, born in 1854, married an engine fitter from London, named Charles Oliver. They went on to have several children, mostly girls. Sadly, Eliza died aged 37 in Sculcoates.
- Harry, born in 1867, married at the age of 20 to Elizabeth Gerty Raw, and a few months later, they immigrated to the United States. By 1890, they had settled in Portland, Oregon, where their children were born. A bricklayer by occupation, Harry lived to the age of 82, when he died in 1951.
- My director ancestor is William Shepherd Rowson, the first-born child of Thomas and Harriet.
William Shepherd Rowson and Eliza Ann Thompson
William was born 12 November 1843 in Hull. According to my great-aunt Kathleen’s notes, he was a “clever boy”, and became an accountant and company secretary. He worked for the Earl of Yarborough’s shipbuilders, and later for the Hull Central Dry Dock.
He married Eliza Ann Thompson on the 12 March, 1866 at Brocklesby church, near Habrough in Lincolnshire where Eliza’s family lived. Eliza was said to be the housekeeper “at the hall” on the Earl of Yarbrough’s estate.
Two of Eliza’s brothers migrated to Canada. Eliza convinced William to go and try to be a farmer in Canada. The first time they went was circa 1884. Farming didn’t suit him, so he returned to England. According to family lore, he took up a boot and shoe shop in Goole, then later got a job as an accountant “and never looked back.” Eliza and several of their children either stayed in Canada, or came to England and then went back to Canada, where she they were found on the 1891 census record in Hinchinbrooke, Ontario. She “lived by selling beautiful clothes.” Three of their children (a son and 2 daughters) married and remained in Canada.
ENDNOTES
- Note: a roof-tree is probably an alternative word for ridge-pole, for a triangular type roof. ↩︎
- Davenport, J. B. (1870). Davenport’s Illustrated Guide to Cleethorpes, and Visitor’s Hand-book to Great Grimsby, etc. (n.p.): J. B. Davenport. ↩︎
- History of Cleethorpes. Discover North East Lincolnshire website, accessed 22 Oct 2023 https://www.discovernortheastlincolnshire.co.uk/things-to-do/heritage-and-history/history-of-cleethorpes/ ↩︎
- White, W. (1856). History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire... Reprinted Newton Abbot, Devon. ↩︎
- 1861 England Census; Class: RG 9; Piece: 2391; Folio: 81; Page: 19; GSU roll: 542964; accessed on Ancestry.com ↩︎
- Morris & Co. (1963). Commercial Directory and Gazetteer of Lincolnshire. Morris & Co. ↩︎
- England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966; accessed at Ancestry.co ↩︎
- Currency Converter: 1270-2017; The National Archives https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/ ↩︎
- Hull Trades and Professions by Alphabetical Street (1892), transcribed and hosted by GENUKI: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Hull/HullStreets/Hull1892SmallStreets ↩︎
- The Hull Advertiser, 9 Apr 1859 ↩︎
- Hull News, 25 Mar 1865 ↩︎
- The Daily Mail, Hull, 5 Aug 1901 ↩︎
- Blashill, Thomas, Sutton-in-Holderness: The Manor, The Berewic, and the Village Community; Hull: William Andrews & Co, 1896; p. 54; ↩︎
- The Fascinating and forgotten lost suburbs of Hull that shows the city’s remarkable history (4 oct 2018). Hull Daily Mail, accessed at https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/fascinating-forgotten-lost-suburbs-hull-1432641; The Groves or the Growths, Sutton and Wawne Museum, https://www.suttonandwawnemuseum.org.uk/groves.htm ↩︎
- The Fascinating and forgotten lost suburbs of Hull that shows the city’s remarkable history (4 oct 2018). Hull Daily Mail, accessed at https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/fascinating-forgotten-lost-suburbs-hull-1432641 ↩︎
- Infant Mortality Rate, Populations Past – Atlas of Victorian and Edwardian Population; University of Cambridge; accessed on 2 Feb 2024 at https://www.populationspast.org/imr/1851/#7/52.829/-1.752/bartholomew. ↩︎
- Preston, S.H. and Haines, M.R. (1991). Fatal Years: Child Mortality in Late Nineteenth Century America; Princeston University Press. ↩︎
- Snow, J. (1988). On the mode of communication of cholera. The Challenge of Epidemiology: Issues and Selected Readings, 505, 42. ↩︎
- Hull Daily Mail, 15 Jan 1886. ↩︎
- 1861 England Census, Class: RG 9; Piece: 3580; Folio: 53; Page: 29; GSU roll: 543155; accessed on Ancestry.com ↩︎
- Hull Trades and Professions by Alphabetical Street (1892), transcribed and hosted by GENUKI: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Hull/HullStreets/Hull1892StreetsH ↩︎
- Hull Daily Mail, 2 Sep 1887. ↩︎
- Hull Daily Mail, 14 Dec 1887. ↩︎
- Letter from K. Howarth to M. Healey (16 Sep 1989), in private collection. ↩︎
- The London Gazette, 30 Sep 1862, p. 4711 ↩︎
- The Hull Packet and East Riding Times 31 Oct 1862 ↩︎
- The London Gazette, 2 Dec 1862, p. 6208 ↩︎
- The Hull Advertiser, Wed 1 Jun, 1864; The London Gazette, 3 Jun 1864, p. 2919 ↩︎