Person:William Timothy (6)

William Timothy was born on 25th February 1816 in the parish of Stepney, in the eastern suburbs of London, son of Mary Timothy, formerly Davies, and her husband William Timothy, who worked variously as a warehouseman for the East India Company, milkman and victualler. William was baptised when he was two years old (alongside a younger sister) at the Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel in Southwark. Although William was born in the London area, the family appear to have been Welsh - as well as using the Welsh-language chapel in Southwark, his mother later gave her place of birth as Wales.

The family's financial standing was sometimes precarious; William's father spent some time in a debtor's jail around 1812. William's father died in 1838.

The 1841 census finds William working as a draper and living at 12 High Street in Shoreditch, along with two shop workers and a servant.

On 31st August 1846, aged 30, William married Mary Ann Prosser, who had been born at Llanbedr Painscastle in Radnorshire in Wales, but had grown up in Merthyr Tydfil. They went on to have one daughter, Evelyn, who was born in 1849 in Shoreditch.

William was described as "a most successful and prosperous tradesman, universally respected for his probity and honour", but things took a turn for the worse in 1850. His obituary describes how he "became in embarrassed circumstances" as a result of "his confidence in the integrity of others". He was admitted to Hoxton House, a lunatic asylum, on 15th July 1850. He was discharged a few weeks later on 21st August, with his condition described as relieved, but not cured. He also developed physical health problems, contracting typhoid and needing an operation for a hernia.

Meanwhile, his financial affairs were apparently perilous, with legal notices being published in newspapers in September 1850 requiring any of his debtors or creditors to contact the solicitor managing his affairs, suggesting he was close to bankrupt.

William died on 13th October 1850, at home at 12 High Street, Shoreditch. Mary and his daughter Evelyn emigrated to Australia shortly afterwards; his daughter would die in Victoria aged four. William's mother also outlived him.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 (The National Archives)
   Piece 4335: Guildford Street Independent, Southwark (Borough Welsh Congregational).

   When Baptized: April 6 - 1818
   Child's Christian Name and Sex: William, the son of
   In what Parish Born: Parish of Stepney
   When Born: Feb[ruar]y 25 - 1816
   Names of both Father and Mother, with the former Name of the Mother: William and Mary Timothy formerly Davies
   Abode: Church Row
   Business of Profession: Milkman
   Signature of the Minister by whom the Baptism is performed: D.S. Davies

   Baptised same day as younger sister Elizabeth.

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 706; Book 1; Folio 33; Page 6, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: 12 High Street Shoreditch, Shoreditch, Middlesex
   W[illia]m Timothy, male, 25 [1811-16], Draper, born in county
   Ben Maggs, male, 20 [1816-21], Shop, not born in county
   H[?] Lane, male, 17 [1823/4], Shop, not born in county
   Mary Holland, female, 20 [1816-21], F[emale] S[ervant], not born in county

3.   UK, Lunacy Patients Admission Registers, 1846-1912 (The National Archives).

   Piece 02; Metropolitan licensed houses
   No. 3194
   Name: Timothy, William
   Private / Pauper: private
   Date of Admission: 15 July 1850
   Found Lunatic by Inquisition: no
   Asylum: Hoxton House, E.L. Bryan
   Date of Discharge or Death: 21 Aug[us]t 1850, Relieved

4.   Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, Glamorgan, Monmouth and Brecon Gazette, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 2, 21 Sep 1850.

   In the Matter of WILLIAM TIMOTHY, of 12, High-street, Shoreditch, London, a Lunatic.
   PARTIES holding possession of any Bills of Exchange or Promissory Notes, made or accepted by the said Lunatic, for which they have given consideratino, are requested to furnish, with as little delay as possible, the amount of their respective Claims, together with full particulars of the date and the name and description of the Drawers and Indorsors, if any, to JOHN ROBERT CHIDLEY, Esq., Solicitor, No. 1, Guildford Chambers, Basinghall-street, City, in order that the same may be placed in a train for settlement.
   Dated this 19th day of September, 1850.

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

   d. William TIMOTHY, December Quarter 1850, Shoreditch Registration District, Volume 2, page 290, aged 34 [1815/16]

6. ↑ Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, Glamorgan, Monmouth and Brecon Gazette, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 3, 26 Oct 1850.

   DEATHS.
   Oct. 13, Mr. William Timothy, in his 36th year, at his residence, No. 12, High-street, Shoreditch, London. The deceased carried on business in Shoreditch for upwards of fourteen years, and during the greater portion of that time as a most successful and prosperous tradesman, universally respected for his probity and honour; but a few months before his decease, in consequence of his confidence in the integrity of others, became in embarassed circumstances, afflicted with typhroid [sic] fever, the inmate of a lunatic asylum, from whence he was removed to undergo an operation for strangulated hernia, to die a few weeks after the operation had been successfully performed.