Samuel Thornalley Jr. 1822-1868 My Second Great Grandfather on My Mother's Side

This is All Saints Church in Wainfleet St. Peter where Samuel
was baptized

Samuel Thornally Jr. was my grandfather’s grandfather. I have six Samuel Thornally’s in my database, so obviously it was an important family name. This Samuel was the son of Samuel Thornally and Susanna Dennis Coates. He was born in the village of Wainfleet St. Mary which is in Lincolnshire on the east coast of England about 100 miles north of London. Both Samuel and his father were brick and tile makers and this fact had a profound impact on the Thornally family.

Samuel Jr. was christened on June 9, 1822 so he was likely born just few days prior to that date. His christening was recorded in the parish records of All Saints Parish as were those of his siblings. Samuel Jr. was the second child born to Samuel and Susanna. He had one older sister Eliza who was born in 1821. His younger siblings were: John born 1825, Joseph 1826, Abraham 1828, Elizabeth 1829, Ann 1830, Benjamin 1831 and Susanna1834.

This shows the location of Wainfleet St Mary where
Samuel was born and lived before moving to the
London area

I don’t have any records about Samuel as a child but we can assume he had some educational training and very likely went to work in his father’s business while still quite young.

When he was 21 Samuel Jr. married Mary Gilliat on August 8, 1843. The ceremony took place in St. Mary’s Church in Wainfleet. Mary was born in nearby Thorpe St. Peter also in Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of John Gilliat and Susanna Abraham and 22 at the time they were married. Between 1846 and 1864 Samuel Jr. and Mary had ten children.

When the English census was taken in 1851 Samuel and Mary were living in Thorpe St. Peter at No. 7. Samuel was listed as the head of the household, age 28 and employed as a brick and tile maker. He would have been working in his father’s brick and tile making business. Mary was 29. They had four children at that time – Mary Ann aged 6, Samuel 11, Susanna Ellen 2 and my great grandfather Gilliat 9 months. There were five additional people living at No. 7. They were William Davy aged 15 and identified as an agricultural servant, Ann Marshall age 16 – a house servant, Charles N. Parker a 21-year old lodger and tile maker, William Elerby also a lodger aged 29 – a pipe tile maker, and Richard Gilliat identified as a Relation, aged 29 and employed as a tailor. This suggests that Samuel was well off – he had two live-in servants and two live-in employees. 

Google Earth view of Thorpe St. Peter - the small village
where Samuel and Mary Thornally lived

The following year, on 28 May 1852 The Lincolnshire Chronicle and Northampton, Rutland and Nottingham Advertiser ran this story under the title “Thorpe Culvert”. It read: “Samuel Thornalley, Boatman and Corn Salesman, at Boston and Lincoln, returns his sincere thanks to his friends and the public for the very liberal encouragement he has received in the above Business, and respectfully informs them that he has now retired from the same in favour of his son Samuel Thornalley Jr., for whom he solicits a continuance of their support. Samuel Thornally, Jr., begs to assure the coustomers of his Father and the public generally that nothing on his part shall be wanting to merit the support so liberally bestowed on his predecessor. Salt and rock salt shall be regularly supplied. The brick and tile making business at Thorpe will also be carried on by S. Thornalley Jr. A large assortment of flower pots constantly at hand. S. Thornally Jr. will attend the neighbouring Markets and will deliver Bricks, Pavings, Pantiles, etc. at Boston to order.”[1]

Street view of Thorpe St. Peter

A year and a half after inheriting the family business Samuel’s father died on January 9, 1854. Samuel Sr. had written a will in which he left everything to his wife Ellen whom he married after the death of his first wife Susanna. He named his eldest son Samuel Jr. as one of the executors of the will. Very regrettably, there was a major disagreement regarding the terms of the will between Samuel Jr. and one of the other executors Richard S. Burn. As a result, Burn filed a lawsuit naming Samuel Jr., each of his siblings, his stepmother and brother-in-law as parties to the suit. In his article Brian Thornalley explained that “It boils down to Mr. Burn trying to do his executor’s job properly (as he saw it), by asking Samuel and two of his brothers, all three of them owing considerable amounts to their father’s estate, to pay up, so that debts could be settled and the affairs wound up. They argued that their debts were less than their expected shares from the will, so they wanted the one set off against the other.”

The Royal Oak in Thorpe St. Peter - note all the brick buildings

Brian goes on to explain, “The case went to the High Court of Chancery in 1855. The National Archives at Kew have supplied copies of all the case papers – the Bill of Complaint, by the Plaintiff (Burn), the `Interrogatories for the Examination’ (i.e. The Court’s questions), and the `Answers’ of the Defendants.

Frustratingly, the Judgement is not available, not even in the National Newspaper Archive, as far as Brian could find, but it is perfectly clear that the Thornalleys lost the case, because, by February 1857, in The London Gazette and the local Lincolnshire newspapers, pursuant to a Decree by the High Court of Chancery there was announced the sale of the `desirable freehold estate, containing altogether 23 acres, 12 perches or thereabouts, situate in Stickney, Irby and Thorpe, at the George Inn, Spilsby, on 2 March 1857. That is to say, everything, lock-stock-and barrel, that his father had handed over to Samuel Jr. in 1852.”

Aerial view of Spilsby where Samuel registered to vote in 1852

The notice in The London Gazette listed the property to be sold - it included five lots as follows.

              Lot 1 – In Stickney. A messuage (a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use), barn, stable, and buildings, with a close of rich pasture land, orchard, paddock, stockyard, and garden adjoining, lying on the east side of the West Fen Side-road, and containing 4A. 1R. 30P. (This is some form of measuring land.)

              Lot 2 = In Stickney. A close of arable land with the ash holt in the corner thereof, lying on the west side of the said road, and containing 4A. 1R. 26P. “Close” is another form of measurement.

              Lot 3 – In Irby. A close of arable land, called the common, a close of meadow land, and a close of arable land, containing altogether 6A. 1 R. 26P.

              Lot 4 - In Irby. Two closes of arable land, called Millhill Close, and the common, containing together 4A. 3R. 14 P.

              Lot 5 – In Thorpe. A messuage and buildings, two claypits, brick-yard, and poplar bolt, containing 2A. 1R. 27P. Lots 1 and 2 are occupied by Mr. Richardson, and lots 3, 4, and 5, by Mr. Samuel Thornalley Jr. 

George Hotel in Spilsby

Brian wrote, “Samuel’s future was in ruins. It looks as though he suffered the full effects of the family disaster. He placed a notice in the local press to say that, by indenture dated 12 March 1860, he assigned all his personal estate and effects to his brother Abraham (brick-maker) and John Parker (yeoman) for the benefit of his creditors. Samuel left Lincolnshire, probably in disgrace, worth nothing, and probably without the sympathy of his siblings, their wives or husbands, his father’s widow and his half-brother, now aged twelve.” 

A commercial building in modern day Thorpe St. Peter

Brian Thornalley offered no explanation as to why Samuel Jr.’s siblings blamed their brother for the disastrous outcome of the lawsuit. Did they feel Samuel Jr. as executor had the ability and responsibility for selling the family property and in not doing so created the liability? The terms of Samuel Sr.’s will “directed that his real estate, rents and other property be sold and the proceeds be invested in stocks or funds of Great Britain or government or real securities in England after paying debts, funeral costs and taxes owed. They were to collect the profits from the rents and other investments and pay Ellen (Samuel Sr’s. widow) 30 pounds sterling a year and pay to support his children until 6 April 1862. After this date sell everything and distribute it to his children. If Ellen dies or remarries her 700 pounds goes into the estate. The children receive their share when they turn 21.” 

Churchyard behind Wainfleet St Mary Church

St John Church in Hampstead where
Samuel was buried

It may be that Samuel Jr.’s siblings blamed him for failing to follow the terms of the will that stipulated that he was to sell everything, pay off the debt and invest whatever was left. Brian’s article notes that there was disagreement over the value of the property but one would have expected Samuel Jr. to compromised instead of losing everything.

By 1861 Samuel Jr. moved his family to the London area and took a job as a foreman brick-maker. On the 1861 census he and his family were living at 249 Culbert Road in West Ham, Plaistow, England. They had seven children living with them aged twelve to one year. Ann Kidd a dressmaker from Irby, aged twenty-five was also listed in the household when the census was taken.

At some point Samuel and Mary relocated to Belsize-Square, Hampstead four miles northwest of London where Samuel died on January 27, 1868. He was only 45 years old and should have been in his prime. A summary of his will noted “effects under 100 pounds.” With inflation factored in that would be equal to $11,214 today – very little money to support a wife and six children between the ages of four and sixteen.

Samuel was buried on February 2, 1868 at St. John Churchyard in Hampstead. I found a written record of his burial there but he is not listed in the online parish record for the church.

This shows Samuel Thornally buried at St John Church in Hampstead,
county of Middlesex, England

This is a tragic story – something rare within the ranks of our family. Generally, the information I have been able to discover during my years of research includes mostly good fortune suggesting stable and in some cases above average success. There have been many entrepreneurs in our family on all branches of our family tree. Most of these businesses have been successful and their descendants have benefited. Clearly, Samuel Sr. did well for many years and was able to acquire considerable property in three different villages that he derived income from. From reading a little about British economic history I find no clear reason for Samuel Jr.’s misfortunes. There is mention of a recession that began in 1840 but it seems unlikely that would have caused a depression in the value of the property owned by the Thornally family that would have persisted until 1855.

Fortunately, Samuel’s son Gilliat who immigrated to Oakland via New York and San Francisco and went by the name William Gilliat Thornalley was able to renew the family fortunes by acquiring and developing property in Oakland. He and his sons and surviving daughter Rose Mary were all successful to varying degrees. 

Interior of St. John Church

The churchyard at St. John Church

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[1] Brian Thornalley researched and wrote about this branch of our family and published an article in Lincolnshire Past and Present titled, “Samuel Thornalley – from first to last”

Sources For This Post: Article by Brian Thornally, news ads about the court case, 1852 poll book, census records, information provided by Sue Tucker, marriage records provided by Randy Thornally, christening record found on FamilySearch, and a burial record for Samuel.