Person:Thomas Iddison (1)

Thomas William Iddison is recorded as a clockmaker at Bedale about 1870, but he is also said to have been a travelling clock repairer. The remainder of this article will confirm the extent of his travels and describe his chequered life.

We have seen Thomas was born at Kirkby Malzeard in 1841 the son of James and Sarah Iddison. We have also seen that Sarah died in 1849 and James married again in 1851. Perhaps that explains why at the time of the census that year Thomas was living not with his father but with Ann Morland, a single woman who was living with her daughter Mary Morland and her mother Sarah Morland. Thomas was Ann’s nephew and Sarah was the widow of his great-grandfather, Richard Morland the elder. She and her daughter Ann were each given the ‘rank, profession or occupation’ of ‘pauper and charwoman’. Ann’s illegitimate daughter Mary was a dressmaker. Sarah and her daughter Ann had had a hard time since the death of Richard Morland for at the time of the 1841 census they had been described as agricultural labourers.

The next census took place a decade later in 1861. Thomas was still at Kirkby Malzeard but he was now living as a lodger with Henry Prest and his wife, Mary. Mary was Thomas’s cousin, the former dressmaker. Thomas, then aged nineteen years, was described as a clockmaker so he had probably been trained in the village by his father or his father’s cousin William who was still in the village at that time.

In April 1864 Thomas appeared before the magistrates at the North Riding Quarter Sessions held at Northallerton. He was charged with two offences of fraudulently converting silver watches to his own use, the offences being committed at Crakehall near Bedale. The watches would have been given to him for repair or cleaning and he had no doubt sold them. He pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to three months hard labour in the House of Correction at Northallerton. The calendar listing the cases at the sessions tells us Thomas could read and write only imperfectly which is unusual for a clockmaker.

Thomas stayed out fo civilian gaols for 7 years by enlisting in the army. While serving, he was cout-martialled several times for theft of watches and watch chains. In February 1871 he appeared at court in Durham charged with felony and was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment. Perhaps we can assume that again he had sold watches given to him for repair for less than five months later, in July 1871, he appeared at Ripon Liberty Court charged with that offence and was sentenced to four months. In April 1872 he appeared at Leeds Quarter Sessions charged with larceny as a servant but on this occasion he was acquitted. This court appearance is significant for it provides the only evidence of Thomas ever working for somebody else. In June 1875 he appeared at court in Durham charged with the usual offence and was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment.

Thomas, now thirty-five years of age, married Dorothy Palliser at Bedale in December 1876. At the time of their marriage Dorothy already had three illegitimate children, a son born in 1866 and daughters born in 1870 and 1874. No father is mentioned in the register. Thomas and Dorothy had boys born in 1877 and 1879.

At the North Riding Quarter Sessions held at Northallerton in July 1879 Thomas, described as a watchmaker, pleaded guilty to two offences of fraudulent conversion: he had sold two silver watches given to him for cleaning by men at Thirsk and Topcliffe nearby. He was sentenced to seven years penal servitude (imprisonment with hard labour), a severe sentence but the magistrates were aware of his previous convictions and they had obviously had enough. The ‘calendar of prisoners’ confirms Thomas could read and write only imperfectly.

We have noted Thomas is listed as a travelling clock repairer. His receipt of watches in Crakehall, Durham (twice four years apart), Ripon,