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Thomas Howcutt (1830-1882)
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Thomas Howcutt was born at Brighton and christened there
at St Nicholas, its ancient parish church, on 12 September 1830. Although his
parents, John Howcutt and Sarah Moodey had married
at St James Piccadilly, neither originated from London. John was born at
Brixworth, which is about six miles north of Northampton, and Sarah at Bar Lavington, a village a few miles from Petworth,
Sussex. Both John and Sarah’s fathers had been farmers who experienced
hardship during the early 19th century and were labourers by the
time they died in the 1840s. When Thomas was baptised, the family were living at St
John Street. His parents had three more children baptised at St Nicholas
between 1832 and 1838. During this time, the Howcutts
appear to have remained in the network of modest roads to the east of the
centre of Brighton. Brighton had flourished as a centre of fashion and society
during the lifetime of the Prince Regent, who became King George IV in 1820.
He died in the same year that the Howcutts arrived
in the town. His brother reigned as William IV until his death in 1837 and
was also a frequent visitor to Brighton. However, after his death royal
patronage declined. The railway line which enabled day-trippers to visit from
London did not reach Brighton until 1841. By then, the Howcutts
departed from Sussex, as the 1841 census records John and his family at
Holman’s Yard, Brixworth. Although he was only 10 years old, Thomas was
already working as an agricultural labourer. His grandparents, Thomas and
Elizabeth Howcutt, were among numerous relatives then living in the village. The 1851 census records Thomas as a mason’s labourer
living at Silver Street, Brixworth with his parents, a brother, sister and a
lodger. In 1856, Thomas married Mary Wright in the Newport Pagnell
registration district [1]. Their first child, Thomas John, was born at Tickford End, Newport Pagnell on 24 August 1857. Tickford End is the area on the far side of the River
Great Ouse from Newport Pagnell itself and is centred on the road now known
as Tickford Street, which runs in a south-easterly
direction from the town. Much of Tickford Street
has been redeveloped since the middle of the 19th century but some
of the old houses and cottages remain.
In view of later records of their attachment to the
Wesleyan Methodist cause, it is likely that Thomas and Mary attended the
chapel that the Wesleyans had built at Newport Pagnell in 1815 and which
survives to this day. By the time Thomas and Mary’s daughter, Mary Ann, was born
on 25 July 1859, the family were at Bedford, where she was christened by the
Wesleyan Methodist church on 4 September that year. The opening of Midland
Station there, also in 1859, was one of the key events in a period of
substantial economic and population growth in the town; there was clearly a
need for those with building skills [2]. Thomas and Mary were to remain at
Bedford for the rest of their lives. In the 1861 census, Thomas and Mary were recorded at 15 Gwyn
Street, Bedford, along with their children and Thomas’ 20-year-old niece
Charlotte Wright. Thomas was working as a bricklayer and Mary as a
dressmaker. Both of Thomas and Mary’s children died young. Mary Ann
was buried on 23 December 1863 and Thomas John on 25 August 1864, both at
Bedford cemetery. In each case, a Wesleyan minister conducted the service and
the Howcutts’ home was at Thurlow
Street. By 1871, Thomas and Mary had moved to 1 Lurke Lane, where they were accompanied by his widowed
mother, Sarah Howcutt. By 1878, Thomas was working as a gardener, coachman and
odd-job man for the Bousfield family, who lived at
Alpha Villa, a large house situated on the east side of Ampthill Road, just
north of its junction with Offa Road [3]. The Bousfields
were keen Methodists and had financed the construction of Southend Wesleyan
Chapel, which still stands at the south corner of Ampthill Road and Offa
Road.
In the 1881 census, Thomas and Mary were living at 17 Offa
Road, at which stage he was a “Builder (Master) employing 2 men”. Thomas’
work was not confined to Bedford, as in November 1881 Mrs Charlotte Bousfield recorded visits by her husband, her son and
herself to Clapham Junction where “Howcutt” was carrying out repairs to the
houses owned by the Bousfields there [4]. Thomas’ death took place on 3 August 1882 at Offa Road
(presumably at number 17) and was registered on the following day by his
sister-in-law, Lydia Wright, who lived at 11 Allhallows Lane in the town. Dr W
Wilson certified the cause of death as “Blood poisoning with sewer gas,
ulcerated sore throat and pneumonia”. The burial took place at Bedford
Cemetery [5]. Mrs Bousfield wrote as follows
about Thomas’ departure from this life: “That
same day [8 August 1878] Papa & I paid the last tribute of deserved
respect to our faithful friend Howcutt, and followed him to the grave at the
Cemetery. He
was only ill three or four days, I was with him the greater part of the last
& when he passed away. We do, & shall, miss him continually; anything that was needed to be done at any of our houses,
he was always at hand to do, & it always seemed a delight to him to do us
any service. His
mind wandered very much & he never knew the end of life was near, but he
so lived that for him to depart was “to be with Christ”.
The prayer & praise which he
loved so much on earth are but exchanged for higher communion & praises
before the Throne. Nothing
impresses the mind with the immense importance of living each day “as if the
last” like seeing a strong man, in the prime of life, taken suddenly away.
If Howcutt had left the work of
life to a death-bed, he would have had no space nor opportunity to prepare
for the eternity into which he has now entered, I believe with joy; but of how few who live
around us could I say the same? Truly men & women live as if the present would last
for ever, & as if they neither desired the happiness of the righteous,
nor feared the doom of those who despise Christ & make light of His
Salvation.”
[6] When Mary proved Thomas’ will at Northampton on 4 November
1882, he was described as a bricklayer and his personal estate reported to be
worth Ł150. The will had been signed on 6 July 1878 and left everything to
his wife, subject to any mortgages or trusts. By the 1891 census, Mary had moved to 13 Offa Road, where
she was self-employed as a seamstress.
In the 1901 census, Mary was living in a 4-room house at
11 Howard Street, Bedford, with no occupation mentioned, She was accompanied
by a boarder, Florence Peacock, who was working as a home-based needlewoman. 11 Howard Street was given as the home address when Mary
Howcutt was buried at Bedford cemetery on 3 April 1907 [7]. Most of the houses in Bedford where Thomas and Mary lived
have since been demolished. The exceptions are at Offa Road, where numbers 13
and 17 remain at each end of a terrace of three houses that were erected in
1878. Notes [1] Census records from 1861
to 1901 confirm that Thomas’ wife was born at Newport Pagnell. The 1851
census records her as living there at Tickford
Street with her widowed mother Ann and 10-year-old Charlotte Wright, who is
also recorded as Ann’s daughter; as Ann was then aged 67, this appears to be
a mistake. Charlotte was described as Thomas’ niece in 1861, so it is
probable that she was actually Ann’s granddaughter. [2] The number of inhabitants of Bedford
stood at 11,693 in 1851 and 13,413 in 1861. Twenty years later it had reached
19,533. [3] “The Bousfield
Diaries” edited by Dr Richard Smart (Bedfordshire Historical Record Society,
2009), pages xx and 3. [4] It seems these houses were in Shelgate Road, as Mrs Bousfield’s
diary mentions Mr Miall as a tenant of one of the
houses (March 1883) and also that a tenant was a manufacturer of photographic
dry plates (February 1888). The only Miall family
living in Battersea in 1881 was that of Frank Miall,
a photographic chemist residing at 54 Shelgate Road
- he had moved to 13 Shelgate Road by the time of
the 1891 census. [5] Thomas was buried in plot 129, section
E8, which adjoined plot 139 where his son was buried, beyond which his
daughter had been interred at plot 149. Virtually all tombstones have been
cleared from that part of the cemetery. [6] “The Bousfield
Diaries”, page 61, with additional text from the unedited manuscript kindly
supplied by Dr Richard Smart. [7] Mary was buried in the unconsecrated part, in plot 221 of Section C. No monument
seems to survive in the area. |
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