Part of the Ingram-Green family tree (Great-great-grandfather)
Like his father before him, Thomas Litchfield Bosworth was a butcher, who rose from living in some of the poorest districts of London to establish himself at Leytonstone in north-east London. The origin of his second name is unknown.
Family background and early life
Thomas Litchfield Bosworth was born in Chelsea on 13 June 1827. He was the second of five children born to John Bosworth (c.1797–1859) and his wife, Frances née Prout (c.1795–1858).
John Bosworth (originally from Little Brington in Northamptonshire) and Frances Prout (from Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire) married at St Marylebone Church in London on 16 March 1825. Their first child, Sarah was born the following year.
Thomas was baptised at St Luke’s Church in Sydney Street, Chelsea on 12 May 1830, alongside his younger brother, John (born 7 March 1829). On the baptism register, the family address is recorded as Upper York Steet and John Bosworth’s occupation is recorded as butcher.
The family cannot be located on the first national census taken in June 1841, but ten years later, John and Frances were living at Lamb’s Place, Paddington with two daughters, 24-year old Sarah, a dressmaker, and 20-year old Ann, a milliner, and their youngest son, William, aged 11.
Thomas Bosworth, now aged 23, had left home and was living in Thames Street, New Windsor in the home of his employer, Frederick Copeland, a master butcher. Thomas, described as a journeyman butcher, was one of five employees of Frederick Copeland. Also at the address were Copeland’s wife, Sarah and two children, plus two domestic servants.
Marriage and children
On 25 October 1853, 26-year old Thomas Litchfield Bosworth married 23-year old Elizabeth Jane Brown (originally from Clerkenwell, London), at St James’s Church, Sussex Gardens in Paddington. Both of the couple were recorded as living at 6 Cambridge Place, Paddington, then the home of John and Frances Bosworth. The witnesses to the marriage were Sarah Bosworth and William Clark.
The couple’s first child, Annie Clark Bosworth was born at 3 Portland Road, Kensington on 30 May 1856. She was followed by John, born in Wandsworth on 19 August 1858 and Thomas, born in Clapham on 19 January 1861.
At the census in April 1861, the couple were living at Bromell’s Buildings in Clapham with Annie and 3-month old Thomas, and a 19-year old domestic servant. 2-year old John was being looked after by Jane and Harry Budd at Matrimony Hill, about ½ mile to the north. [Bromell’s Buildings was part of the Clapham Rectory Estate and the warren of streets and “squalid cottages” was demolished and redeveloped in about 1898.]
After the birth of a fourth child, William, born 11 September 1863, all four children were baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham on 11 November 1863. The baptism was conducted by Revd. Henry Whitehead, who had been influential in determining the source of the cholera epidemic in 1854 in Soho.
Sadly, young Thomas died in June 1866, aged 5.
During the next six years, the family moved away from Clapham approximately 11 miles to Leytonstone in north-east London, where Thomas set up a butcher’s shop at 18 Leytonstone High Street.
Three further children were born at Leytonstone:
Frank, born 5 January 1869, baptised 31 January 1869
Harry, born 22 October 1870, baptised 20 November 1870
Florence, born 1 February 1876, baptised 6 April 1876
The three children were all baptised at St John the Baptist Church, Leytonstone.
At the census in April 1871, Thomas and Elizabeth were living at 18 High Street with four of their children, Annie, William, Frank and 6-month old Harry. John, aged 12, was now at Leicester House School in Carshalton. As well as an 18-year old domestic servant, the property was also home to three butcher’s assistants, including 14-year old Mary Dearmer.
Thomas’s wife, Elizabeth, died in September 1877, aged just 47, leaving Thomas with seven children, with three under 10 years old, including 18-month old Florence.
Second marriage
On 27 October 1878, Thomas, aged 51, re-married to a 52-year old widow, Jane Richmond née Wilson, at St John the Baptist Church, Croydon.
At the 1881 census, Thomas and Jane were living at Stafford House in Leytonstone High Street, with 22-year old John Bosworth, employed as a pork butcher, and 5-year old Florence, and two domestic servants. 12-year old Frank and 10-year old Harry were both pupils at a school run by Richard Pigott at Besthorpe in Nottinghamshire
William Bosworth died in September 1881, aged 18, followed two years later by 7-year old Florence.
Following the loss of the two children, Thomas retired and moved to West Wickham in Kent. At the 1891 census, Thomas and Jane were at West Wickham High Street, with 20-year old Harry, who had no occupation recorded, and two domestic servants.
In 1895, Thomas suffered two further losses with the death of his wife, Jane, on 6 March, her 69th birthday, followed three months later by 24-year old Harry.
Thomas survived his second wife by three years and died at Poplar House in Leytonstone on 2 May 1898, aged 70. His estate was valued at £8,175 for probate.
Subsequent family history
Thomas was survived by only three of his seven children, although Frank died in Sydney, New South Wales on 8 December 1892.
Annie Clark Bosworth married James Ingram (1858–1924) on 17 June 1877 and with him took over the lease of Hedgeman’s Farm, Barkingside, Essex; the couple had eight children. Annie died, aged 59, at Hedgeman’s Farm on 14 April 1916.
John Bosworth married Jane Puplett (1862–1939) in 1885; they had five children, only two of whom survived into adulthood. Like his father, John was a master butcher. He died in Leytonstone on 19 December 1933, aged 75.
Sources
Ancestry.co.uk:
1841 England Census
1851 England Census
1861 England Census
1871 England Census
1881 England Census
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1918
London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1937
UK, City and County Directories, 1766 – 1946
Borough Photos: Lambeth
Chelmsford Chronicle:
17 June 1898. Essex wills
Freereg.org.uk:
Chelsea St Luke parish register:
12 May 1830. Baptism of Thomas Litchfield Bosworth
Leytonstone Express:
2 July 1898. THOMAS LITCHFIELD BOSWORTH deceased