Washbourn - Person Sheet
Washbourn - Person Sheet
NameThomas Washbourn 3rd 
Birth1831, Inkpen
Death1898
Fatherjohn Washbourn (1800-1863)
MotherHarriet Mildenhall
Spouses
Notes for Thomas Washbourn 3rd
For some reason, unlike his siblings, who married local girls and set up farms of their own, Thomas 3rd chose a different path. On the 1851 census we find him living with the family of Joseph Legg, a butcher of Newbury, Berks, where he is apprenticed to learn the butchery trade.
In 1854, presumably when his apprenticeship had come to an end, we find Thomas 3rd setting sail on the fast clipper ‘Herald of the Morning’ from London, bound to Melbourne, Australia. His was a paid passage, not an assisted one, and likely to have been expensive. Unfortunately he arrived just a bit too late to be part of the Great Australian Gold Rush, but just in time to put his new trade to good use in the rapidly expanding new city. By 1856 he had met and married Hannah Rogers, the daughter of a Suffolk thatcher, whose entire family had emigrated on an assisted passage in search of a new life. The couple were resident in Broadmeadows, Melbourne, a suburb which only came into being in the 1850s, and Thomas worked as a butcher here. They had 5 boys in Melbourne, but George had died before they returned to England.
The family returned to England aboard the ‘Essex’ in 1866, with Charles just a small baby. We don’t know what prompted their return, but it may have been something to do with an inheritance.
John, Thomas 3rd ’s father had died in 1863. His grandmother Elizabeth had died in 1865. Both are buried in Wroughton churchyard: Elizabeth in the elaborate tomb with her husband Thomas 2nd , now a listed monument, and John in a chest type stone tomb next to that of his parents.
When Thomas 3rd and Hannah returned they must have spent at least some time in Wroughton, which is where their daughter Harriet was born in 1867. But in 1868 and 69 we find them in the rate books of Swindon living in Shepherd’s Fields, new Swindon. In 1869 they had a daughter here called Amelia, who only lived a few weeks and is buried in Swindon. The list of Licensees of Swindon shows us that Thomas 3rd became the landlord of the Union Railway Inn in 1869.
They had gone from one boom town to another, as Swindon was rapidly expanding in a haphazard fashion at this time. (The poet Richard Jeffries famously called Swindon ‘The Chicago of the West’). We still find them at the inn on the 1871 census, but in that same year Thomas and Harriet’s son, Charles, had contracted smallpox and died there. Thomas’s brother, John, who had taken over the lease of Overtown Farm after his father died, had also contracted the disease and died that year, at Overtown, writing his will on his deathbed. Herbert, survived, but for the rest of his life his face bore the scars of smallpox.
By 1873 Thomas had ceased to be the landlord of the Railway Union Inn and had moved back to Wroughton, where he became the landlord of the Ely Inn, (pronounced Eli), named after a famous racehorse, bred in Wroughton. In 1874 he and Hannah had their last child, Charles, in Wroughton, and in the same year Thomas is recorded as having been declared bankrupt in the London Gazette. However in 1876 we find him in Swindon again as the landlord of the King of Prussia Inn, where his brother Joseph (Abraham Joseph White Washbourn) had been the landlord the preceeding year. Throughout this period their brother Matthew had been landlord of the Mason’s Arms in Old Swindon.
After 1876 Thomas 3rd and Hannah and their family moved yet again, to the East End of London, where Thomas took up his old trade of butcher. On the 1881 census, with the exception of Charles, the other children had moved away from home, although apart from Herbert, they all lived relatively nearby. We don’t know the reason for this move. Devon’s Road, where they shared a house with other families, was an area of mixed fortunes, according to Charles Booth’s poverty map of London. But it seems clear that Thomas and Hannah were supported by his butcher’s trade and young Charles was attending school.
homas 3rd died at Fawn’s Manor in 1898 from tuberculosis and is buried in Bedfont Churchyard. He was predeceased by youngest son, Charles, who died aged 21, and followed not long after by his brother, George. Hannah stayed on working for William Sherborne as his housekeeper, until his death in 1912.
In 1854, presumably when his apprenticeship had come to an end, we find Thomas 3rd setting sail on the fast clipper ‘Herald of the Morning’ from London, bound to Melbourne, Australia. His was a paid passage, not an assisted one, and likely to have been expensive. Unfortunately he arrived just a bit too late to be part of the Great Australian Gold Rush, but just in time to put his new trade to good use in the rapidly expanding new city. By 1856 he had met and married Hannah Rogers, the daughter of a Suffolk thatcher, whose entire family had emigrated on an assisted passage in search of a new life. The couple were resident in Broadmeadows, Melbourne, a suburb which only came into being in the 1850s, and Thomas worked as a butcher here. They had 5 boys in Melbourne, but George had died before they returned to England.
The family returned to England aboard the ‘Essex’ in 1866, with Charles just a small baby. We don’t know what prompted their return, but it may have been something to do with an inheritance.
John, Thomas 3rd ’s father had died in 1863. His grandmother Elizabeth had died in 1865. Both are buried in Wroughton churchyard: Elizabeth in the elaborate tomb with her husband Thomas 2nd , now a listed monument, and John in a chest type stone tomb next to that of his parents.
When Thomas 3rd and Hannah returned they must have spent at least some time in Wroughton, which is where their daughter Harriet was born in 1867. But in 1868 and 69 we find them in the rate books of Swindon living in Shepherd’s Fields, new Swindon. In 1869 they had a daughter here called Amelia, who only lived a few weeks and is buried in Swindon. The list of Licensees of Swindon shows us that Thomas 3rd became the landlord of the Union Railway Inn in 1869.
They had gone from one boom town to another, as Swindon was rapidly expanding in a haphazard fashion at this time. (The poet Richard Jeffries famously called Swindon ‘The Chicago of the West’). We still find them at the inn on the 1871 census, but in that same year Thomas and Harriet’s son, Charles, had contracted smallpox and died there. Thomas’s brother, John, who had taken over the lease of Overtown Farm after his father died, had also contracted the disease and died that year, at Overtown, writing his will on his deathbed. Herbert, survived, but for the rest of his life his face bore the scars of smallpox.
By 1873 Thomas had ceased to be the landlord of the Railway Union Inn and had moved back to Wroughton, where he became the landlord of the Ely Inn, (pronounced Eli), named after a famous racehorse, bred in Wroughton. In 1874 he and Hannah had their last child, Charles, in Wroughton, and in the same year Thomas is recorded as having been declared bankrupt in the London Gazette. However in 1876 we find him in Swindon again as the landlord of the King of Prussia Inn, where his brother Joseph (Abraham Joseph White Washbourn) had been the landlord the preceeding year. Throughout this period their brother Matthew had been landlord of the Mason’s Arms in Old Swindon.
After 1876 Thomas 3rd and Hannah and their family moved yet again, to the East End of London, where Thomas took up his old trade of butcher. On the 1881 census, with the exception of Charles, the other children had moved away from home, although apart from Herbert, they all lived relatively nearby. We don’t know the reason for this move. Devon’s Road, where they shared a house with other families, was an area of mixed fortunes, according to Charles Booth’s poverty map of London. But it seems clear that Thomas and Hannah were supported by his butcher’s trade and young Charles was attending school.
homas 3rd died at Fawn’s Manor in 1898 from tuberculosis and is buried in Bedfont Churchyard. He was predeceased by youngest son, Charles, who died aged 21, and followed not long after by his brother, George. Hannah stayed on working for William Sherborne as his housekeeper, until his death in 1912.