2xGreat Grandparents

Thomas Gates (1821 – 1897) and Martha Humphreys (1823 – 1849) (ppp)

Thomas Gates as born on 26th Apr 1821 in Bethnal Green, the second child of Charles Gates (1797 -?) and Mary Gates (formerly Packer) (1795 -?). He was baptised at St Matthew, Bethnal Green on 20th May 1821. By 1837 the family lived in Lamb Lane, Hackney. Thomas had three brothers and two sisters. In 1841 when Thomas was 20, the family lived in Dunk Street, Mile End New Town when both Charles (44) and Thomas (20) were Silk Weavers. Around this time Thomas met Martha Humphreys.

Martha Humphrey, was born on 2nd Dec 1821 in Bethnal Green, the first child of Thomas Humphreys and Ann Humphreys. Martha was baptised on 2nd December 1821 also at St Matthews Church, Bethnal Green just 6 months after Thomas. Martha had three sisters – including Ann born in 2nd December 1823. At the time of the 1841 census the family lived in Boreham Street, at the top end of Brick Lane, opposite Peter Street. It no longer exists.

Thomas Gates and Martha Humphreys were married on 17th May 1842 at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. At the time of their marriage, Thomas and Martha gave their address as 2 and 4 (respectively) New Inn Yard, Shoreditch. New Inn Yard still exists but has been significantly developed. It runs off Curtain Road, the centre of the furniture trade in the 19th century.

As far as we know Thomas and Martha had four children. The first, my great grandfather, Thomas Humphrey, was born on 27th November 1843 when they lived at 27 Spital Street, Mile End New Town. Spital Street still exists, running parallel to Brick Lane between Buxton Street and Hanbury Street (E1 5EU). Then Martha was born on 31st May 1845, Ann was born on 1st April 1847, and Samuel was born on 25th June 1849 when they lived at 16 Peter Street, Bethnal Green. Thomas was now a cabinet maker.

Two months after Samuel’s birth, on 16th Aug 1849, Martha died at 16 Peter Street, Bethnal Green, at the age of 28 of Asiatic Cholera, seemingly in the 1849 pandemic. There were multiple outbreaks in England; between 1848-49 some 53,000 died, between 1853-54 over 20,000 died and in 1866 over 14,000 died.

Tragically, on 28th August 1849, just 12 days after Martha died, Samuel Gates died at just nine weeks old of “Diarrhoea 12 days” – given that diarrhoea is a major symptom of cholera it seems likely to be related. Samuel died at 10 Boreham Street the home of Martha’s younger sister Ann Humphreys, who was possibly looking after the baby as Martha was so ill.

Thomas was now 28 and in the space of two weeks he had attended the death of his wife and 9-month-old baby – what must have been a devastating experience. He was now left with three young children, Thomas Humphrey (5), Martha (4) and Ann (2). This must have been a very difficult time for Thomas. And we cannot know how grief affected families in the middle of the 19thcentury when death, especially infant death, was much more common than it is today.

Luckily for Thomas, Martha’s family – the Humphreys, including his sister-in-law Ann – lived just across the road and no doubt supported him by looking after the children. Possibly this bought Thomas and Ann closer together, because 16 months after Martha’s death, Thomas married Ann on Christmas Day 1850 at St Andrews Church Bethnal Green. Hence Thomas Humphreys’ aunt became his step-mother. Thomas was living at 16 Peter Street, and Ann just over the road at 10 Boreham Street. The wedding certificate however describes him as a Batchelor, not a Widower. This is presumably because in 1850 it was illegal to marry your dead wife’s sister. It was not until 1907 this law was changed.

In the next 18 years, Thomas and Ann had a further 10 children. Four of whom died in infancy: Rebecca (pleurisy), Alfred (croup and diphtheria), Selina (typhus) and Alfred (scarlet fever). The rest seemed to have lived to an old age, all having children of their own, apart from Ann who never married. Thomas went on to have 40 grandchildren.

By 1861, Thomas was a master cabinet maker with two employees, but by 1868, when Thomas was 47, and Ann 45, they had Alfred, their final child, on 26th March and had moved from Peter Street to 413 Cambridge Road. Alfred died there three years later of scarlet fever. However, by the 1881 census, (3rd April 1881) Thomas (now 59) and Ann (57) lived at 252 Bow Road, Bow, Tower Hamlets. Thomas was surprisingly now a “coffee house keeper”. he coffee house was at 253 Bow Road and according to Kelly’s London Trades Directory 1880, it appears that Thomas also did food. The Coffee Shop might well have been where McDonalds now is on the approach to the Bow Flyover and roundabout between the A11 and A12.

At the time of the 1891 Census (5th April 1891), Thomas (69) and Ann (67) were living at 26 Dunloe Street, St Leonard Shoreditch. Thomas was now a general shop keeper and Ann his assistant. With them still were two daughters, Eleanor (24 general shop assistant), and Ann (44, fancy box maker).

On 25th April 1897 at 7 Armagh Road, Bow, Thomas died, aged 75 years, of prostate cancer and cystitis. Thomas was buried at Manor Park Cemetery, on 1st May 1897 in square 62, grave 237. Unfortunately, the graves were reclaimed some years ago and others were buried in the same spot. Ann died seven years later on 11th November 1904 at The Sick Asylum, Poplar, aged 80. She died of bronchitis, bedsores and heart failure. Thomas and Ann were together for 47 years.