Thomas Henry James (formerly
Davison)
Information from various
sources including a book kept by Thomas James and his adoptive parents William
and Margaret.
In
the book it states that Thomas Henry James was born Thomas Henry Davison on 13th
July 1868. (But - according to his Birth Certificate it was 13th
August 1868)
His
mother, Margaretta, sometimes referred to as
Margaret, was widowed at the time of his birth but it is believed that his
father may be James Littler who Margaret Davidson (Nee
Charlton) later married in October 1870. (However, his Daughter Dorothy James, always told us
about the possibility that his father could have been a Spanish Sea Captain)
Her
previous husband, George Davison, who I believe she married in 1863, died in an
accident in Hartlepool in 1866, a month after the birth of Thomas’s elder
sister Maria. I believe George Davison had been her second husband. Her first
husband may have been George Knox, who she married in 1853. She may have had a Daughter
Margaret Ann with this first husband.
Thomas’s
elder sister Maria was born not long after the family moved to Hartlepool from
South Shields:-
Maria
Davison was born on 4th March 1866 and her father died in a tragic
accident in April 1866, leaving Margaret Ann and Maria without a father and Margaretta without a husband.
By the time of the
1871 Census Thomas Henry James is living with Margaret and Joseph Littler
and his two sisters Maria and Margaret Ann in South Shields.
The
two girls are described on the census form as Step Daughters, but Thomas is
described as a Son, not a Step-son.
Thomas’s
Mother, Margaretta Davison (Now Mrs Margaret Littler) died of Heart Disease and Dropsy on 7th January
1873 and left 3 children. Thomas was just 5 years old.
Thomas
Henry Davison was sent to stay with Mr & Mrs James in Seaham
Harbour and they later adopted him so he took their surname ‘James’. I believe
Margaret James (Nee Close) was related to Thomas’s mother Margaret Charlton.
Mrs Margaret James (nee Close) had a boarding
house for seamen next door to the Parrot, which was a public house in the
bottlehouse area. She was described in the book as being a heavy faced woman,
very much like Queen Victoria in her old age.
Her
first Husband was James Gustard, born North Shields
on 28th November 1814.
He
was an able seaman, height 5’7”, brown hair, fresh complexion, blue eyes. (From
Register of Seaman London 7th Jan 1845),
He
was lost at Sea in 1854.
Margaret
remarried, to William James, in the last quarter of 1855. By 1861 they were
living in Seaham Harbour where William James worked
at the Bottleworks.
On
the 1881 Census Thomas is listed, living with the James family but they
have still listed him as Thomas H Davi(d)son, an adopted son. Mrs James also took in Lodgers to give
them an extra income.
Our
book tells us that Thomas Henry James
started work at the Londonderry Railway Works, Seaham
on October 5th 1882 at the age of 14.
In
1885 Thomas, now 17, lost a leg in an accident on the
railway on 15th Jan 1885. This was reported in the Sunderland Daily
Echo on Jan 16th 1885:
Once
he was well enough, he was fitted with a wooden leg and Thomas started work again at the Wagon Shops of the railway
works on 28th September 1885 as a general labourer. According to
notes in the book he had also lost part of his hand at some time, in an
accident at the North Eastern Engineering works at Wallsend.
in 1890 Thomas’s
adoptive Mother, Margaret James, died and the 1891 Census shows that he
is living with his father William James at 5 Adolphus Street Seaham Harbour. He is now as Thomas James. He is now 22 years of age and still
single. Their house is in a street of multi occupancy tenement buildings.
We
note that next door but one, at 7 Adolphus Street are the Marshall Family,
including twin Girls Margaret and Catherine age 14 and Margaret’s younger
sister Mary Ann.
Thomas
must have got to know this family, including the daughter Margaret and her
younger sister Mary Anne, who we will meet again later.
Around
July 1897 Thomas’s adoptive Father, William James died, leaving Thomas living
on his own. I believe, from reading newspaper articles, that
Margaret Marshall, who lived two doors away started to come round to help Thomas keep his house clean.
In
October 1897, Margaret Marshall, aged 18, was due to marry someone (I don’t know
who) on October 23rd, but must have had second thoughts, as on the
day before the wedding she ran away (eloped) with Thomas, without informing her
family or husband to be and this was widely reported in the local and national press:
Thomas Henry James and
Margaret Marshall eloped on the 22nd October 1897 from Seaham Harbour, She was due to have married someone else on the 23rd
October!
Extract from a local paper,
possibly the Sunderland Echo
A missing
Bride:
Some
excitement has been caused in New Seaham by the disappearance of a young woman
who was to have been married at Christ Church, New Seaham this morning. She
came to Sunderland yesterday to make purchases but did not return.
Another newspaper cutting possibly from a
Seaham Harbour paper
Alleged elopement
from Seaham Harbour
Some sensation
was created in Seaham Harbour on Saturday owing to the disappearance of a young
woman who was to have been married to an artisan. Numerous friends who had been
invited to the ceremony arrived at the church and the bridegroom was duly in
attendance but although the service was postponed the bride failed to put in a appearance. It was ascertained that she left the town on
friday and it is suspected that she eloped to America with a young photographer
who was known to have left the town at the same time. A correspondent says the
prospective bride went to Sunderland on Friday Afternoon ostensibly to buy her
trousseau. Later in the day a good looking young fellow who was well known as a
photographer and who has a wooden leg also disappeared
it was well known however that his destination was America. It is concluded
that the pair have gone to America.
Typical
of the press, they were embellishing the story somewhat by suggesting the
couple had eloped to America, but where they got that idea from I do not know,
unless the couple themselves started that rumour to throw everyone off the
scent.
A final report on the elopement from Lloyds, a
National Newspaper, confirms that the Groom was obviously not too upset as
he and the guests abandoned the wedding and continued with the wedding
breakfast.
Thomas
and Margaret did not go to America, but only 10 miles up the coast to Earsdon, Northumberland, where they married on November 8th
1897. Margaret’s twin Sister Katherine ( Kate) was one
of the witnesses at the ceremony.
After
their Marriage they returned to Seaham Harbour where
Thomas was by now a painter at the railway works. He had also started working
as a photographer (at Adolphus Street, Seaham
Harbour) and a reporter for the local newspaper They also started a bakery
business at 3 Maria St.
Margaret,
his new wife, may already have been pregnant by the time they returned to Seaham as she was to have her first child (My Grandmother,
Dorothy James) on July 1st 1898.
Here
is one of Thomas Henry James’s pictures of his daughter, my grandma, in one of
his own photo frames.
Dorothy James:-
By
the time of the 1901 census they had a second daughter Esther Ann.
After
1901 they had five further children (seven in total) before Margaret died in
November 1908.
Isabel b born 1902, Possibly died same
year
William, b 1904
Hilda, b 1905
Margaretta, b 1906 possibly died in 1907
Harry
b c 1908
Around
18 months after the death of his first wife, Thomas Henry married Mary Ann
Marshall (the younger sister of his first wife, Margaret) on July 25th
1910.
The
final Census record for Thomas Henry
James is the 1911 Seaham Harbour Census. On here he is living in Adolphus Street
and gives his occupation as a baker/confectioner. He has a shop at 1 Maria Street, and I have a picture
of him in the doorway of his shop
In
the next 5 years after the 1911 census, with his second wife, he was to have
three more children.
Margaret
James b 26/7/1911 (d 16/1/1973)
Sarah
James b 12/5/1913
Thomas
James b 22/7/1915 (d 4/5/1963)
Thomas Henry James died June 16th
1916 aged 48.
The
END ----------------------------------------- Created by Bob Tame
(www.tameclan.me.uk)---------