Thomas Lane

2G-grandfather of Norma Margaret Oliver

Born:

10 Dec 1790 Woolwich, Kent, England

Baptised:

16 Jan 1791 St Mary Magdalene Church, Woolwich, Kent, England

Married:

20 Apr 1813 St Margaret's Church, Lee, Kent, England to Sarah Baker

Died:

12 Jan 1841 Walworth, Surrey, England. Age 50

Cause of death:

Pneumonia

Timeline

Dec 1790

Jan 1791

Apr 1813

1815

1816

1818-1821

1823

1825

1840-1841

Jan 1841

Born at Woolwich, Kent [1]

Baptised at St Mary Magdalene's Church in Woolwich, Kent [1]

Married Sarah Baker at St Margaret's Church, Lee, Kent [2]

Lived with family at Glebe Land, Woolwich, Kent and worked as a carpenter [3]

Lived with family at Coleman Street, Woolwich, Kent and worked as a carpenter [4]

Lived with family at King St, Woolwich, Kent and worked as a carpenter [5] [6]

Lived with family at William St, Lock's Fields, Walworth, Surrey and worked as a carpenter [7]

Lived with family at Brandon St, Lock's Fields, Walworth, Surrey and worked as a carpenter [8]

Lived at 3 Field Pl, Lock's Fields, Walworth, Surrey and worked as a carpenter [9]

Died from pneumonia at home [9]

Biography

Early life in Woolwich

Thomas Lane was born on the 10th of December 1790 in the riverside town of Woolwich, Kent and baptised a month later at Woolwich's St Mary Magdalene Church [1].

Woolwich was a bustling maritime and military hub centred around the Woolwich Dockyard. The town was also home to the Royal Arsenal, a vast complex dedicated to the production and storage of military ordnance, as well as the Royal Military Academy and the Royal Regiment of Artillery [10].

Woolwich Dockyard 1790 showing St Mary Magdelene Church on the left by Nicholas Pocock.jpg

Woolwich Dockyard in 1790 showing St Mary Magadalene Church on the left

As a young man, Thomas was apprenticed as a carpenter, a trade that he would follow throughout his life.

At the age of 22, Thomas married Sarah Baker from the nearby town of Deptford [11]. Like Woolwich, Deptford was located on the river Thames and was an important area for shipbuilding, being the home of the Royal Dockyards [12].

On the 20th of April 1813, the couple married at St. Margaret's Church in Lee, located between Deptford and Woolwich [2].

Old St Margaret's Church in Lee, Kent

After their marriage, Thomas and Sarah settled in Woolwich. It was in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars, which had raged across Europe since 1803. The fear of French invasion led to the expansion of the Woolwich dockyard, which in turn fueled the local economy and provided employment for skilled tradesmen like Thomas [13].

Royal Artillery Band marching through Woolwich, early-19th-century watercolour by William

Royal Artillery Band marching through Woolwich during the Napoleonic era

Woolwich wasn't only home to shipbuilding and military manufacturing. Moored in the river, just off the banks of Woolwich, floated huge prison hulks, housing convicts awaiting transportation to Australia. It would have been an everyday sight for Thomas to see those poor souls in gangs being taking daily to the Royal Arsenal where their labour was used to help expand the facilities [13].

View near Woolwich in Kent shewing [sic] the employment of convicts from the hulks, 1800.j

View near Woolwich showing the employment of convicts from the hulks, 1800

Thomas and Sarah welcomed their first child, Thomas George, on the 25th of November, 1814 [3]. Thomas George's baptismal record states that the family lived on "glebe land". In this context, it likely meant church land, so they probably lived close to St. Mary Magdalene, near the dockyard. Given the couple's proximity to the dockyards and the fact it was the main employer for those in the town, it is probable Thomas worked in the yards and on the ships docked there. At the time, HMS Nelson was still on the stocks under construction and Thomas certainly would have seen it, and possibly even worked on it.

HMS Nelson under construction in Woolwich, 1814

The Napoleonic Wars culminated in British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The following year, Thomas and Sarah's family grew with the birth of their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, in 1816, followed by sons Joseph William in 1818 and John Howard in 1820 [4] [5] [6]. The family continued to reside near St. Mary Magdalene Church, moving from Coleman Street to King Street, which - as can be seen on the map below - were actually part of the same road.

Woolwich as surveyed 1848-1850 - Ordnance Survey - London and its environs Sheet XII.NE.jp

Map of Woolwich showing Coleman and King Street

Move to Walworth

Between 1820 and 1822, the Lane family moved west to Walworth, in south London, to an area known as Lock's Fields. This move was likely driven by Thomas's work, as Lock's Fields and the nearby Brandon Street were home to timber yards and sheds that provided ample opportunities for carpenters [14] [15] [16]. The couple's fifth child, Benjamin William, was born in 1822 on William Street, and their sixth and final child, William Thomas, was born in 1825 after they had moved close-by to Brandon Street [7] [8].

Map of Walworth 1824-1826 showing William Street and Brandon Street.jpg

Map of Lock's Field, Walworth from 1824-25, showing William and Brandon Streets

Despite the growing family, the marriage between Thomas and Sarah began to deteriorate after the birth of William Thomas. Sarah became involved with a man named Thomas Halifax, a boiler maker from Devonshire who was also separated from his wife. This relationship resulted in the birth of two children, Thomas Halifax Lane in 1831 and John James Halifax Lane in 1836 [17] [18].

During this period, formal divorce was difficult to obtain, requiring an Act of Parliament and generally only available to men [19]. As a result, many couples, like Thomas and Sarah, separated informally without legal proceedings. It remains unclear where the children from Thomas and Sarah's marriage lived after the couple's separation, though it is likely they stayed with their mother, supported by the fact that they are living with her and Thomas Halifax in the 1841 and 1851 censuses [20] [11].

Tragically, Thomas Lane's life was cut short when, in the midst of a particularly severe winter, he died of pneumonia on the 12th January of 1841, at the age of 50 [9] [21]. His death certificate records that he was still residing in Lock's Fields at the time of his death. Despite their estrangement, Sarah was present at his death and served as the informant on his death certificate, indicating that there may have been some continued connection between them.

Source information

Thomas Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Magdalene Woolwich Parish Register [Church of England], 16 Jan 1791, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Thomas Lane and Sarah Baker, Marriage record transcription, Kent Marriages and Banns, 20 Apr 1813, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]
Thomas George Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Magdalene Woolwich Parish Register [Church of England], 26 Mar 1815, Record no: 1655, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mary Elizabeth Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Magdalene Woolwich Parish Register [Church of England], 22 Sep 1816, Record no: 474, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Joseph William Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Magdalene Woolwich Parish Register [Church of England], 9 Nov 1818, Record no: 1931, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
John Howard Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Magdalene Woolwich Parish Register [Church of England], 16 Sep 1821, Record no: 1350, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Benjamin William Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Newington Parish Register [Church of England], 2 Mar 1823, Record no: 122, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
William Thomas Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Newington Parish Register [Church of England], 22 May 1825, Record no: 550, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Thomas Lane, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 1st Quarter 1841 in St Mary Newington, Record no: 117, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
Woolwich, Wikipedia, Last edited 17 Aug 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
Sarah Halifax [1851], Census return for Mead Row, Lambeth, Surrey, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. This is the record for Sarah Baker, after she started living with Thomas Halifax. This census and the 1861 census both confirm she was born in Deptford.
Deptford, Wikipedia, Last edited 30 Oct 2024 [en.wikipedia.org]
Great Harry to Great War and beyond, London News Online, 2 Sep 2021 [londonnewsonline.co.uk]
Desirable Estates, Walworth and Kent Road, Morning Herald (London), 20 Feb 1832, page 1, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. Advertisement for timber yards and sheds at Lock's Fields, Walworth.
To Carpenters, Builders, and Others, Morning Advertiser, 8 Sep 1831, page 4, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. Advertisement for stock in trade and utensils for carpenters on premises at Lock's Field, Walworth.
To Timber-merchants, Carpenters, Builders, and Others, Morning Advertiser, 27 Jan 1837, page 4, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. Advertisement for stock in trade for carpenters at Lock's Field, Walworth.
Thomas Halifax Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Lambeth Parish Register [Church of England], 22 Apr 1832, Record no: 958, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
John James Halifax Lane, Baptismal record, St Mary Lambeth Parish Register [Church of England], 7 Feb 1836, Record no: 1862, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
A brief history of divorce, The Guardian, 19 Sep 2009 [www.theguardian.com]
Sarah Lane [1841], Census return for Mannings Place, East St, Lambeth, Surrey, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
1840/41 (winter), Weather in history 1800 to 1849 AD