Chapter 6: THOMAS THE SHOEMAKER

Thomas lived all his life in Slimbridge, albeit at a variety of addresses. In 1841 he was practicing his trade of shoemaker from Bennetts Lane, in 1851 from 86 Crisis Farm, and 1861 and 1871 Shepherds Patch. By 1881 he had retired to Cubbs House. This is probably the house remembered by the family as being down the lane at the Patch in the vicinity of the modern youth hostel, in the area once known as Thornhills Park, later part of the 'Tudor Arms' orchards. Shoemaking was a very skilled and potentially lucrative trade, perhaps the fact that he was able to describe himself as retired in 1881 indicates that he was comfortably off by that time. Thomas may have been self-taught for in 1832 and 1834 he was labouring; yet from 1836 he was making shoes. It is unlikely therefore that he served an apprenticeship. There is no record of Thomas ever having taken on an apprentice. In 1851 he had a house servant, Eliza Toogood, living in.

Shepherds Patch (with the Tudor Arms on the left)

In the nineteenth century village shoemakers had a reputation for political dissent. A habit born out of independence from the gentry. Most of the other villagers relied directly on the local estate for their employment and therefore could not afford, or risk, showing anything but diffidence to their 'master'. For their part the gentry purchased foot-ware in the towns where style, as opposed to functional design, was to be had. We cannot know if Thomas Thornhill held any unconventional political views.

Thomas married Ann Harris in Slimbridge in 1832. Ann was from Huntley or Churcham, in the Forest of Dean. Her mother, who was an agricultural labourer and probably a widow at the time, was living with Ann and Thomas in 1841. One can only wonder what brought Ann to Slimbridge, perhaps she met Thomas whilst he was serving his apprenticeship near to her home area. If this were the case however one would have expected the couple to be married in the bride’s home parish.

Family life got off to an uncertain start for Thomas and Ann. Each of their first three children died at less than two years old. Their fourth child, Mark, was luckier. Mark was born in 1838. At 21 he married 27 year old Mary Perrett, the daughter of a labourer, who had moved from Corsham in Wiltshire. She already had an illegitimate child, Thomas, born the year before her marriage to Mark. Thomas was not living with Mark and Mary in 1861, but was with them and their own two children, John and Mary, in 1871. John was to become a farm labourer. Mary junior was still at home in 1891.

Mark started family life as a farm labourer living at Kingston, half way between his father’s cottage at Shepherds Patch and the main hamlet of Slimbridge. The family then moved to Churchend Road, the main village thoroughfare, where Mark and his wife Mary Parrett lived for the rest of their lives. In about 1870 Mark became an excavator, probably helping to dig the numerous rhynes (ditches) that drain the low country in the vicinity of Slimbridge. The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, or Gloucester and Berkeley Canal as it was first known, was completed in 1822, so Mark did not excavate that waterway. By 1881, and for the next twenty years until his death in 1905 he was labouring on the canal which runs through Slimbridge parish at Shepherds Patch. Today the canal carries north Bristol's water supply.

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Shepherds Patch

Mark and Mary had three children. John, the oldest of these also started life as an agricultural labourer before working on the canal as a fireman on a stream powered dredger. John started work on the canal at about the time that he married Flora Alice Nelmes in Gloucester. The couple's only child, Francis William died aged six years old. John's sister, Mary Jane, appears not to have married, but acted as housekeeper to their widowed father. Mark and Mary's son William died aged less than 10 months old.

The grave of Francis William Thornhill

Thomas and Ann had four more children, Ellan or Helen, William (chapter 7), Emily and Emma. Ellan married William Cuff, a labourer born in Hasfield. They lived in Prices Court in Slimbridge until Ellen's death in the 1870's. Their oldest child, William became a bricklayer. When his father and siblings left he stayed on at Prices Court where he lived with his uncle's family. Widower William Cuff senior moved to a cottage near Kingston Farm.

Emily married Henry James, a fitter, and left with him to live in Reading. Emma remained at home until her parents died, then she married George Alfred Nicholls of Wolverhampton who was working as an agricultural labourer in neabry Uley. After their marriage George Alfred and his wife moved to Chorlton-upon-Medlock in Manchester where the former was a chapel keeper. One of these two sisters is known to have emigrated to America after living in Birkenhead.

3 . . . . .Thomas THORNHILL b.1807 d.1881 m.Ann HARRIS
4 . . . . . . Eliza THORNHILL b.1832 d.1834
4 . . . . . . Thomas or James THORNHILL b.1834 d.1834
4 . . . . . . George THORNHILL b.1836 d.1838
4 . . . . . . Mark THORNHILL b.1837 d.1905 m.Mary PERRETT
5 . . . . . . . John THORNHILL b.1860 d.1933 m.Flora Alice NELMES
6 . . . . . . . . .Francis William THORNHILL b.1886 d.1892
5 . . . . . . . Mary Jane THORNHILL b.1867 d.1933
5 . . . . . . . William THORNHILL b.1868 d.1868
4 . . . . . . Ellan\Helen THORNHILL b.1841 d.>1881 m.William CUFF
5 . . . . . . . William CUFF b.c1863 d.>1901 m.Fanny SMITH
6 . . . . . . . . .Eva Annie Z. CUFF b,1886 d.>1901
6 . . . . . . . . .Edgar William CUFF b.1889 d.>1891
6 . . . . . . . . .Hurbert CUFF b.c1892 d.>1901
6 . . . . . . . . .Percy Charles CUFF b.1896 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Ann CUFF b.c1865 d.1885
5 . . . . . . . Thomas CUFF b.c1867
5 . . . . . . . George CUFF b.c1869 d.>1901 m.Ellen THORN
5 . . . . . . . Clara E. CUFF b.1871 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Kate Emma CUFF b.1874 d.>1901 m.John Lorne OTTREY
6 . . . . . . . . .Arthur J. OTTREY b.1897 d.>1901
4 . . . . . . William THORNHILL b.1844 d.1929 m.Anna\Hannah HICKS
4 . . . . . . Emily THORNHILL b.1848 d.>1881 m.Henry JAMES
4 . . . . . . Emma THORNHILL b.1852 d.<1901 m.George Alfred NICHOLLS