Person:Thomas Simkins (1)

Thomas Simkins was baptised on 30th November 1788 at Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, son of Elizabeth Simkins, formerly Hudson, and her husband Thomas Simkins.

On 9th October 1811, aged 22, Thomas married Julia Rainbow at Cranfield, the parish immediately north-west of Marston Moretaine.

Thomas and Julia went on to have at least six children together. They were non-conformists, with most of their children being registered at the Baptist Chapel in Cranfield. The children were not all born at Cranfield; their daughter Elizabeth was said to have been born in 1817 at Uxbridge in Middlesex, but her birth was registered back at Cranfield in 1825.

Thomas’s parents both died in 1830: his mother was buried in March and his father in August that year.

The 1841 census finds Thomas, Julia, and three sons living in the parish of Marston Moretaine. Thomas was described as an agricultural labourer. Thomas and Julia were still there in 1851 with their son John and a visitor called Ann Caves; John and Ann would go on to marry later that year. In 1851, Julia was described as a lacemaker, whilst Thomas was still an agricultural labourer, and the family’s address was given more specifically as Wroxhill (now generally spelled Roxhill), a farm in Marston Moretaine parish but close to the border with Cranfield.

Julia died in 1859. She was said to be 71 years old.

The 1861 census finds Thomas living alone at Marston Hill in Marston Moretaine. Marston Hill is the name of the lane which leads up the hill from Marston Moretaine to Cranfield and passes Roxhill Farm, so quite possibly he was still in the same house as in 1851. Thomas is known to have owned a house at “Cranfield Hill”, which is quite likely yet another alternative name for Marston Hill and the Roxhill cottage where he appeared in the censuses.

Thomas died in 1865, aged 76. A few years after his death there was a court case where his sons Thomas and John contested who was the rightful heir to the cottage at Cranfield Hill where their father had lived.

1. ↑ Bedfordshire Record Office. Marston Moretaine Parish Register Transcript. (Bedford).

   ch. 30 Nov 1788: Tho s Tho-Eliz Simpkins

2. ↑ England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 6; Book 18; Folio 3; Page 1, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
   Thomas Simpkins, male, 50 [1786-91], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
   Julia Simpkins, female, 50 [1786-91], not born in county
   Thomas Simpkins, male, 15 [1821-6], born in county
   John Simpkins, male, 15 [1821-6], born in county
   Richard Simpkins, male, 8 [1832/3], born in county

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1754; Folio 455; Page 1, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Wroxhill, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
   Tho[ma]s Simpkins, head, married, male, 63 [1787/8], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Marston, Bedfordshire
   Julia Simpkins, wife, married, female, 60 [1790/1], Lace Maker, b. Emberton, Buckinghamshire
   John Simpkins, son, unmarried, male, 26 [1824/5], b. Marston, Bedfordshire
   Ann Caves, visitor, unmarried, female, 22 [1828/9], b. Stagsden, Bedfordshire

4. ↑ England. 1861 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG9; Piece 1002; Folio 80; Page 25, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Marston Hill, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
   Thomas Simkins, head, widoer, male, 75 [1785/6], Pauper, b. Marston, Bedfordshire

5. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. Thomas SIMPKINS, September Quarter 1865, Ampthill Registration District, Volume 3b, page 251, aged 78 [1786/7]

   Death slightly later than the time implied by newspaper article below, but only Thomas Simpkins or variant deaths in Ampthill district 1862/3 were infants.

6.   Bedfordshire Mercury (Bedford), in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 8, Saturday 20 Mar 1875.

   SIMPKINS V. SIMPKINS.
   This was an action for ejectment brought by Thomas Simpkins against his brother John Simpkins, to recover possession of a cottage and piece of land at Cranfield hill, in the parish of Marston…
   Thomas Simpkins, plaintiff, 52 years of age [1822/3], deposed: My father died about 12 years ago [c. 1862/3]. He was buried from the house I am now claiming for… I had been living at Colney Hatch when my father died…
   Elizabeth King, sister of the plaintiff and defendant, sworn: I am older than the parties. Thomas is my eldest brother. My father bought the house; he died there, and I was with him the last two or three weeks of his illness. John was living at Church End, and Thomas in London… Towards the last my father only had the parish allowance to live on… I am living in Bedford now. When John was first married he lived in part of my father’s house, which tumbled down…
   The fact of the plaintiff being the eldest legitimate son of his parents was admitted…
   [found in favour of Thomas as elder brother]