The Royal Ancestry of Thomas Graves of Thurcaston - Generation I - Thomas Graves

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In the first post, I explained that in this series I shall be tracing the ancestry of Thomas Graves, born c.1811, and baptised in 1815, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. However, before we begin to move backwards up his tree, we will look at Thomas Graves, his life, family, and tragic death.

Birth

Unfortunately, we do not know the exact date that Thomas Graves was born, but the 1841 Census gives his age as 30, the '51 Census as 40, and '61 Census as 50, and all give his place of birth as Thurcaston - with such consistency, we can say that his birth was fairly likely to have been between 1810-11. He was eventually baptised on the 24th December 1815, in Thurcaston, Leicestershire, along with his siblings Benjamin and Mary Graves.[1] His parents were Storer and Mary Graves (as we will see in Generation II), and Storer was a cordwainer at the time, someone who makes shoes from leather.

Thomas's other siblings siblings were: 
  • Ann Graves, baptised 24th Aug 1800, in Hathern, a half-sister[2]
  • Nathaniel Graves, baptised 14th Sept 1806, in Thurcaston[3]
  • Benjamin and Mary Graves, both baptised with Thomas
  • William Graves, baptised 30th Nov 1817, in Thurcaston[4]
  • Jane Graves, baptised 8th Apr 1820, in Thurcaston[5]

Marriage

On the 19th July 1831, in All Saints Church, Loughborough, Leicestershire, Thomas Graves and Anna Baum were married by John Boyle, with William and Elizabeth Bland witnesses to the marriage.[6] Their banns were read on the 3rd, 10th and 17th of July.[7]. Anna was baptised the 30th May 1809, and was the daughter of James and Sarah Baum nee Shenton, though her mother is not listed on her baptism.[8] Over the next 16 years, Thomas and Anna would go on to have seven children, all in Leicestershire, being:

All Saints Church, Loughborough
From here
John Graves, baptised 1834
Sarah Graves, baptised 1835
Mary Graves, baptised 1837
Joseph Graves, born 1839
William Graves, born 1842, died 1844
William Graves, born 1844
Thomas Graves, born 1847

There does not appear to be a civil birth certificate for Mary Graves, baptised in August 1837, but this is not dreadfully unusual for the early years of civil registration. It is often (erroneously) repeated that there are lots of births missed out of the early years of civil registration since it was not compulsory, but this is just not true. The only thing that changed with the 1874 Act was that it placed onus on the parents to get the child registered, not the registrar. However, before 1875, people were still fined for not having their baby's birth registered. Regardless, though, there are still a few births missing from the registers post-1837, and Mary's seems to be one of them. The other children born after 1837 do all have birth certificates, though, and each one confirms Anna's maiden name as Baum.

In 1841, Thomas was living with Anna and his young children John, Sarah, Mary and Joseph in South Side of the village of Ansty, in Leicestershire. He was an "Ag Lab", an agricultural labourer.[9] 

In 1843, Storer Graves, Thomas's father, died in Thurcaston. He mentions his wife Mary, sons Nathaniel, Benjamin and William and his daughter Ann, who had since married a man named David Bates. He leaves to his four children mentioned here his "Real Property, consisting of six houses, outbuildings and gardens ... to be equally divided amongst them." He does mention his son Thomas fleetingly at the end of his will, but leaves him only a suit of clothes, nothing else. Conspicuously, Thomas was the only one of his brothers also not to be an executor of Storer's Will. Perhaps Storer and Thomas had had a fall-out, but we may never know. It is also notable that Thomas never named any of his sons after his father Storer, which his brother does. In effect, Thomas is all but disinherited, and the relative shortness of the Will and its contents will further demonstrate the social fall the family experienced over the previous couple of centuries. We will examine the Will and its contents more fully in Generation II.[10] 

Thomas Graves (Jr)'s 1847 civil birth certificate confirms the family's residence, Ansty, his father's profession (now a brewer), and his mother's maiden name, Baum.[11] We find the family again in the 1851 Census, living at Main Street in Ansty. Thomas Graves, brewer, is living with his wife Anna, and four children Sarah, Joseph, William and Thomas (Jr). This census again reiterates his birthplace of Thurcaston.[12]

Ten years later, in 1861, we again find the family, this time living at 13 Cardigan Street, in the Newarke area of Leicester.[13] The street has since been demolished, but an image and bit of information about the street can be found here. Anna has been incorrectly recorded as Mary, however all of the other information in this census corroborates and is the same as all the other information we have thusfar found. Moreover, there is neither a death certificate for an Anna Graves between 1851-1861 which would correspond to our Anna, wife of Thomas, nor any marriage of a Thomas Graves to a Mary within Leicester between 1851-1861 which would be our Thomas remarrying. Other evidence we will discuss later further strenghthens our conclusion that this is an instance of human error and that "Mary" is really an incorrectly recorded Anna. Therefore we can continue with this potential conflict settled.


Death

However, upsettingly, in October 1862, Thomas Graves died, by taking his own life. The subsequent newspaper reports and inquest provide further details about the events surrounding his death. 

The Leicestershire Mercury of Saturday, October 25th, 1862 summarises by stating that he was "about 52 years of age", and "a baker by trade, though he had not followed that business for some time". It further states that he had been in employment as a brewer, and that he had been complaining "of his head" and had been in very low spirits for the past several months. In the previous months leading up to his death, he had borrowed some money from his daughter, and opened a bakehouse on Oxford Street, at the recommendation of his friends to try and alleviate his depression. Yet, it unfortunately did not work, and his depression continued, and on Friday, 17th October, 1862, Thomas left his home and was never seen alive again, until he was found drowned in the river near St Mary's mill.[14] The Leicester Advertiser of the same day of the Mercury provides some crucial details about the deceased's relationship and residence, stating that he was from "No. 7, Cardigan Street, Leicester", (this address having been found on Thomas Graves' body at his decease), and that he was brother to Nathaniel Graves, of Oxford Street, and also corroborates the details about the bakehouse. After taking in all the evidence about Thomas Graves, and that he had been on medicine for the last fortnight before he died, a verdict of insanity was returned.[15] Thomas was buried on the 21st October 1862, in Welford Road Cemetery, Plot UR 1227. He lies in unconsecrated ground, as suicide victims were then not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground.[a] 


Conclusions and comments

The Thomas Graves that married Anna Baum, who was an Ag Lab, brewer, and baker throughout his life, and died in October 1862, in Leicester was the son of Storer and Mary Graves. All Censuses consistently give his year of birth as 1810-11, and place of birth as Thurcaston. Thomas Graves, baptised 1815, to Storer and Mary is the only Thomas Graves born in Thurcaston (1810 +/- 20 years). When the search with the same parameters is performed for any Nathaniel Graves (with varient spellings also), who the Leicester Advertiser confirms was our Thomas's brother, this also yields only one result, Nathaniel baptised 1806, to Storer and Mary. Additionally with Storer Graves' 1843 Will from Thurcaston mentioning his sons Nathaniel and Thomas, this is further evidence which backs up our conclusion. Therefore, we can be certain that Thomas Graves (c.1810-1862) was the son of Storer and Mary Graves.

Thus, here is what is proven so far:

Generation I Family Tree


Next post, we will look at Storer Graves, his life, and prove who his parents were.

Sources and footnotes


[1] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQY5-5GD : 4 February 2023), Thomas Graves, 1815. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[2] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3CN-X89 : 4 February 2023), Ann Graves, 1800. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[3] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JW8Z-D9J : 4 February 2023), Nathaniel Graves, 1806. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[4] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NPH8-JQP : 4 February 2023), William Graves, 1817. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[5] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQY5-RQ9 : 4 February 2023), Jane Graves, 1820. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[6] "England, Leicestershire Parish Registers, 1533-1991", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4W-6BZC : Wed Mar 06 14:42:47 UTC 2024), Entry for Thomas Graves and Anna Baum, 1831. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[7] "England, Leicestershire Parish Registers, 1533-1991", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP4H-279N : Sun Mar 10 11:39:04 UTC 2024), Entry for Thomas Graves and Anna Baum, 1831. Original image accessed at FindMyPast.

[8] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMJ5-PZ8 : 4 February 2023), Ann Baum, 1809.

[9] Class: HO107; Piece: 596; Book: 13; Civil Parish: Thurcaston; County: Leicestershire; Enumeration District: 1; Folio: 24; Page: 7; Line: 24; GSU roll: 438746. Original image accessed at Ancestry.co.uk.

[10] Will of Storer Graves of Thurcaston, Leicestershire, grazier and victuallier, 1843. Accessable at FindMyPast.

[11] England, birth certificate, for Thomas Graves, born 5th August 1847, registered 30th August 1847; Q3, Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, England. Volume 15, page 34.

[12] Class: HO107; Piece: 2087; Folio: 414; Page: 16; GSU roll: 87714-87715. Original image accessed at Ancestry.co.uk.

[13] Class: Rg 9; Piece: 2298; Folio: 129; Page: 9; GSU roll: 542950. Original image accessed at Ancestry.co.uk.

[14] (1862), Suicide, Leicestershire Mercury, October 25th, page 5.

[15] (1862), Another Suicide by Drowning, Leicester Advertiser, October 25th, page 5.

[a] With much thanks to Mandy Webb for the information she provided about the location and plot number of Thomas Graves' burial, as well as her wealth of knowledge about this family. Mandy has written this article about this extended family.

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