In the previous blog, I charted and explored the story of Richard Doughty & his wife Elizabeth, maiden name Holt. Today whilst completing the story of Richard & Elizabeth, I went searching for the Holt family, some of which I had done before some years ago, but today I re-visited that page of the Doughty life, with some surprising results. In the Doughty family tree there are two incidences when the surname Holt appears, and believe it or not they are related in some way separated by a hundred years or so and quite by accident.
So as in the last post, Richard Doughty my great, great, great great grandfather married Elizabeth Holt, my fourth great, great, great, great grandmother at St Bartholemew's Appleby on the 17 May, 1802.
Elizabeth was the first born daughter of William Holt & Mary Leaning born in Broughton by Brigg, daughter of William Hoult & Mary Leaning.
In the original text, William is spelt Hoult, to keep things easy I kept his name as Holt. Elizabeth's baptism is recorded on the Lincstothepast Website as HOULT, Elizabeth, 30 April, 1786, daughter of William & Mary HOULT
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=597913&iid=100255
William Holt was born in 1763 in Stallingborough, and he and Mary Leaning who was born 1762 in Messingham, were married in Broughton on 5 January 1785.
William Hoult's baptism: 15 February 1763 at Stallingborough http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=522631&iid=304769
The record reads: Baptisms 1763 HOLT, William, son of Wm & Elizabeth HOLT, February 15th, not HOULT.
Mary Leaning's baptism at Messingham: Christenings 1762 LENING, Mary, Daughter of William & Mary LENING, 14 October, 1762:-http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=778751&iid=371436
So that's the background of the Holt family or should I say Hoult. So what else do we know about this family?
William & Mary Hoult had started off their family life in Broughton by Brigg, Elizabeth was christened in St Mary's Church, in 1786, but after that, and during the next 2 years they moved to Crosby, which today is part of the conglomeration of Scunthorpe, but in the latter half of the 18th Century was a small settlement of its own, partly within the parish of Flixborough, and partly in the parish of Frodingham. There was a regular ferry service across the River Trent from Flixborough to Amcotts, and barges sailing up the Trent from Hull, regularly called in at Flixborough, where there was a wharf.
Their next child, a boy, called Thomas, was baptised (a loose term, not immersion I assume, but more a christening), 15 September 1788, at All Saints, Flixborough. The record of the baptism states:
HOULT, Thomas, son of William & Mary HOULT, of Crosby, 15 September 1788
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=523702&iid=233824
This must have been in the original old church, because since that date, a new church was erected in 1789, taken down and replaced by a new one in 1886,
which was closed 100 years later, and now the site of the church is an open space. (Such is progress-it was probably badly damaged in the explosion of the chemical works in 1974).
In all the recordings of the family baptisms, William Hoult is recorded as being a labourer, so no doubt moved around the area as his work took him to various farmers in the area.
Thomas Hoult/Holt married Elizabeth Godfrey in Luddington church on 28 June 1814:-
The record states:
Thomas HOLT of Burton upon Stather & Elizabeth GODFREY, of this parish, were married by banns on 28 June 1814, witnessed by William Hopkinson & William Burkitt.
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=545200&iid=346926
Burton upon Stather is a few miles north of Flixborough, and the name itself Stather, denotes a landing stage, and again this place was a regular stop for river traffic on the Trent between Gainsborough & Hull. Boats and water were to play a big part in the life of Thomas Holt.
Using Ancestry I found that Thomas in 1851, was granted a Master's Certificate for 43 years in the coastal trade.
Signature: Thos Holt
Granted by Registrar General of Seaman, London, by order of
the Board of Trade.
25 January 1851
He was a sailor in 1815: See Baptism of William Holt at Luddington.
HOULT, William, son of Thomas & Elizabeth, 19 July, 1815, father a sailor.
He was a ship master in 1817: see Baptism of Thomas Godfrey Holt at Luddington.
36: January 29 1817, Thomas Godfrey, son of Thomas & Elizabeth Hoult, of Garthorpe, father's occupation, ship master, by P. Stubbs, curate.
So I went searching for entries in the Hull packet Newspaper for any entries, where Thomas Holt is mentioned in the coastal trade, and found several entries.
The Hull Packet (Hull, England), Friday, August 25, 1837;
Issue 275
Foreign Sailed: For Petersburg: Thomas Holt
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England),
Friday, February 12, 1858; Issue 3814.
From Constantinople to Hull, Thomas Holt
The census of 1861, shows Thomas & Elizabeth living in Garthorpe, as a retired Master Mariner, with his wife Elizabeth & retired master marrner's wife, he was here in 1851 too.
Garthorpe on the above map is near Adlingfleet, so opposite Burton on Stather.
There is a burial recorded at Luddington on 20th February 1863, for a Thomas Holt, of Garthorpe, aged 74.
There is a burial recorded at Luddington on 20th February 1863, for a Thomas Holt, of Garthorpe, aged 74.
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=540766&iid=348470
Now to find the death & burial of Elizabeth Holt.
Thomas & Elizabeth Holt had between them at least 6 children, 4 boys & 2 girls between 1815 & 1827.
Above I have shown you William born 1815 & Thomas Godfrey born 1817, but there was also Elizabeth, 1820, born Luddington, but baptised in Burton upon Stather on 17 September 1820, the family recorded as living in that place. Then John, born 1822, & baptised in Burton upon Stather on 20 July, 1822, parents living in "The Stather", so close to the shore of the River Trent, with Thomas his father being recorded as being a waterman; William Leonard, born 1825, baptised at Burton upon Stather, 7 February 1825, again of the Stather, father a mariner, then Mary Ann, 1827, baptised at Luddington, 27 December 1827, the family are once again in Garthorpe, and Thomas described as a master mariner. So the family move backwards & forwards across the River Trent, renting a house wherever they go.
Thomas & Elizabeth have two sons called William, one in 1815 & one in 1825, 10 years between them, so I wondered if the first William died sometime between the birth of John in 1822 & that of William Leonard in 1825, but no recorded burials in Burton upon Stather for a William Holt in that time.
I now want to concentrate on Thomas Godfrey Holt born in Luddington in 1817.
In the census of 1841, so far I am unable to find Thomas, so the next entry of 1851, shows him to be an inn-keeper, married to Elizabeth, with 5 children, living at Garthorpe Shore, Garthorpe, near Luddington, Lincolnshire. According to a website http://www.isleofaxholme.net/garthorpe.html
currently there is a public house in Garthorpe called "The Bay Horse", however, there was another pub called the "Plough Inn on one side of the sign & also The Red Lion and the other side of the sign! However, close to the River Trent, so by the shore, was another pub, called in 1886, "The Sheffield Arms", & the "Webbs Hotel" in 1907, but by 1916 it had closed. As the 1851 Census shows Thomas & family living at Garthorpe Shore, I think it more likely he was inn-keeper of the "Sheffield Arms"
According to the The Hull Packet (Hull, England), Friday, March 13, 1840; Issue 2882, the publican then of the Sheffield Arms was Mr. Peter Read, because he provided a good meal for the Burton upon Stather Coursing meeting. He and his wife were publicans, in July, 1838, when they provided a good meal for the Manchester Oddfellows. The same newspaper in 1848, The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, January 14, 1848; Issue 3286, reports that the inn-keeper, Mr. J West, of Garthorpe, owned an enormous sow, but he lived in Garthorpe, not Garthorpe Shore. On August 28, 1849, the 80 year old, Hannah Hackshaw, inn-keeper of Garthorpe died, according to the Hull Packet Friday, August 31, 1849; Issue 3375. Burials at Luddington state that Hannah was of Garthorpe, as opposed to Garthorpe Shore, so again, maybe she was landlady of the Plough Inn/Red Lion or Bay Horse, as opposed to the "Sheffield Arms"-she died of cholora.
The Hull Packet, Friday, September 5, 1851; Issue 3479., reports that Thomas Holt, a coal-dealer was fined for not having the correct weights.
So when did Thomas Holt start being the publican of the "Sheffield Arms"-to prove this, I have gone to the baptisms of his children, and found that sometime between June 1848, Baptism of Thomas & March 1850, baptism of Jane Elizabeth, Thomas moved from being a sailor/mariner to that of a publican. Prior to that, on 30 November 1841, when son John was baptised at Luddington, Thomas was a mariner, a sailor in February 1843, William's baptism & July 1844, when son Jonathan Cockin was baptised, & 1848, June, when son Thomas is baptised, a sailor again. Baptism of Jane Elizabeth-HOULT, Jane Elizabeth, 06 March 1850, Daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth, of Garthorpe Shore, Publican.
Thomas married Elizabeth Cockin at All Saints, Sculcoates, in 1841-marriage record might show his occupation then, maybe he was a sailor on his father's ships-as opposed to being a master mariner.
The census of 1851 was taken on 30 March of that year, so on that day, Thomas was the inn-keeper
Thomas Holt, aged 34, born Garthorpe, Innkeeper,
Elizabeth Holt, his wife, 29, born Fockerby, Inn Keeper's wife
John Holt, 9, scholar, born Garthorpe
William Holt, 8, scholar, born Garthorpe
Jonathan Holt, 6, scholar, born Garthorpe
Thomas Holt, 2, scholar, born Garthorpe
Jane E Holt, born Garthorpe.
It appears that this public house was close to the shore & ferry across the River Trent to Burton-upon Stather, so Thomas's customers may well have come from both villages. The "Sheffield" name comes from the name of the name of the family that occupied Normanby Hall which is just over the Trent, not far from Burton upon Stather. In fact there still is a pub of that name in Burton, just at the top of the hill overlooking the Trent. It's possible that Thomas also made his living from being a coal man & may still have gone to sea from time to time. Evidence for this comes from the Hull Packet Newspaper:
GARTHORPE
The Hull Packet and
East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, September 5, 1851; Issue 3479
EPWORTH: Weights, Measures & Scales: The following cases
were at the suit of Mr. Moxon, the government inspector of weights and measures
who found on the premises of each defendant a deficiency of their weight
measures and scales and they were adjudged to pay as follows:-Thomas HOLT, coal
dealer, Garthorpe, £1 19s 6d. (altogether there were 21 persons similarly fined
including James Burkill, Luddington, grocer.
Notices like this would have been erected all over Garthorpe, probably in Thomas's pub as well, the below was put up in 1853:-
Notice of Attendance of Francis Moxon, Inspector of Weights and
Measures for the Kirton subdivision of the Parts of Lindsey
(1841-58) see
http://www.maths.lse.ac.uk/Personal/norman/LinLgood.pdf
Thomas gets caught out again by the weights & measures inspector again in 1858,
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England),
Friday, August 20, 1858; Issue 3841.
Category: News
EPWORTH: The following persons were brought up for having
short weights and measures, Mr Francis MOXON, Inspector of weights and measures
gave evidence in each case: Thomas HOLT, Garthorpe, 14 lb weight, fined 6d, costs
10s 6d.
In 1858, Thomas was till a publican as well as a coal dealer, the baptism of his last child Louis bears this out:-
HOLT, Louis, 03 January 1858, son of Thomas & Elizabeth HOLT, of Garthorpe Shore, publican
Still by 1861, Thomas is still in Garthorpe, but lives at a private house, as a coal dealer & mariner.
Private House, Garthorpe (note not Garthorpe Shore), and there is occupation of both Bay Horse Pub & Plough Inn. The Sheffield Arms public House does not exist in Garthorpe.
Thomas HOLT, 44, Mariner & Coal Dealer, bn. Garthorpe
Elizabeth HOLT, 39, Mariner's wife, bn. Garthorpe
Jonathan HOLT, 16, Mariner, bn. Garthorpe
Thomas HOLT, 12, scholar, bn. Garthorpe
Jane E, 11, Scholar, bn. Garthorpe
Ann E. Robinson, visitor, 11, bn. Fockerby
Louis HOLT, 3, bn. Garthorpe.
John HOLT at this time is in Birkenhead, Lancashire, aged 19, working as a clerk to a coal merchant. His life was about to change in a big way. William Holt is not with his his family.
Entries in the Hull Packet Newspaper show a Thomas Holt involved in the coastal trade, whether they are all Thomas Godfrey Holt is no way of telling, but here they are anyway. At least one of them involves the carrying of coal.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England),
Friday, May 17, 1867; Issue 4295.
Hull May 13th: Coastwise Arrivals: Newcastle,
coal, Thomas Holt
10 years later, in 1871, Thomas Godfrey Holt is in the licensing trade again but now living in the hamlet of Stather, which is at the bottom of the hill below Burton-upon-Stather. There he is described as being a licensed victualler, no name of the pub though, but almost certainly not far from the shore. Looking at the census entry on the other pages for this hamlet most of the men around the Holt family's dwelling are engaged in the shipbuilding trade. They are employed as shipwrights, sawyers, sailmakers, builders etc. Thomas is working in the only public house in Stather. Today there is a pub in Stather called the Ferry House Inn, but looking at a picture of it online, http://www.ferryhousepub.co.uk/about-us/
it's clearly not the same building in which Thomas Holt & family lived. I suppose it wasn't unusual in a shipbuilding town to have an ex-sailor running the local pub. The local shipbuilding company was John Wray & Son. William Wray, shipbuilder lives quite close to the pub in 1871.
More shipping entries:
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, August 8, 1873; Issue 4622.
Shipping Intelligence: Coastwise Arrived: Thomas Holt, Orford.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, March 27, 1874; Issue 4654.
Shipping Intelligence: Coastwise Arrived: Thomas Holt, London
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, August 7, 1874; Issue 4672.
Shipping Intelligence: Coastwise Arrived: Thomas Holt, Barton.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, September 18, 1874; Issue 4676.
Shipping Intelligence: Coastwise Arrived: Thomas Holt, Barton.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, November 19, 1880; Issue 5013
Goole Arrivals: Thomas Holt, London
Quite how long Thomas remained a licensed victualler, I don't yet know, but a marriage of Jane Elizabeth Holt in 1876 showed that at that time he was a farmer.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, September 22, 1876; Issue 4752
September 4 at All Saints Church, Hull, John Arthur, second son of George Lamming, farmer, Broughton, to Jane Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas HOLT, farmer, Broughton Grange, Lincolnshire.
There is a description here of this farmhouse, built in 1848, so quite new when Thomas was living in it!
http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-165983-broughton-grange-farmhouse-broughton-
In April, 1878, Thomas was elected to the local board of Guardians for overseeing the workhouse which was in Brigg. Representatives from 54 villages in the area were elected to this Board of Guardians.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England),
Friday, April 19, 1878; Issue 4835.
Broughton: LOCAL BOARD: Eight Persons were nominated to
supply the places of 3 retiring members, Messrs. Lamming, Peace & Robinson.
The following was the result of the election: Mr Joseph Metcalfe (senr.), 93, John
Porkess,81:, Thomas HOLT, 79,
The first 3 named were returned.
On the 31st January, 1879, his wife Elizabeth died aged 58. I have no doubt she was buried in the Churchyard of St Mary's Broughton.
Probate Record from National Probate Calendar:
PROBATE for Elizabeth HOLT: 17 February, 1879,
Administration of the Personal Estate of Elizabeth HOLT (Wife of Thomas HOLT)
late of Broughton in the County of Lincoln, who died 31 January 1879 at
Broughton was granted at Lincoln to the said Thomas HOLT of Broughton, farmer.
Personal Estate Under £100.
In November 1880, Thomas was prosecuted for poaching, so at that time his personal circumstances were at a low ebb.
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England),
Friday, November 26, 1880; Issue 5014
Petty Sessions: Tuesday 16th November: Before the
Revs T B Wright, Robert Sutton & J E Cross
Thomas HOLT, of Broughton, farmer, was charged by Lord
Yarborough’s gamekeeper with trespassing at Broughton in search of game. The
magistrates inflicted a penalty of 20s and costs.
Amazing Co-incidence & Connection!
By 1880, all his children apart from Louis are married and living away from Broughton. John, Jonathan & Thomas are all merchants, working & trading in West Africa. Louis is soon to join them. It appears that at the home of Thomas was his cousin Elizabeth Holt, who is on the census of 1881 as his housekeeper. Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas's uncle William, his father's brother. William lived in Old Clee, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where he too was a farmer. His daughter, Elizabeth, born 1821, may have come to live at his house after the death of her father William on the 11th October 1878. I suppose as the unmarried daughter of the family she would have been expected to look after her father at the family house until she was lucky enough to find someone to marry her, but nevertheless the guilt of leaving her father to cope by himself in his old age might have loomed large. Elizabeth had several siblings, one of whom was Nanette, born 11 April, 1827, daughter of William Holt & Ann Hockney. On the 22nd June 1847, at Hull Holy Trinity Church, Nanette married Stephen Ralph Chapman, a coal merchant, and they came to live in Grimsby, where they had between them 5 children, before Nanette died aged 33, 19 February 1861. She was buried in Old Clee Churchyard, here is a photograph of her gravestone.
The inscription reads: In Memory of Nannette Chapman, who died February 19 1861 aged 33 years.
One of these children, the youngest, Ruth, born 1859, married a John Robinson. Below are Ruth Chapman & John Robinson in their garden at 34, Pelham Avenue, Scartho, Grimsby around 1934.
To explain the co-incidence:- Ruth & John, he worked & travelled extensively in Europe & Scandanavia, buying timber for a local timber merchants in Grimsby. Between them, Ruth & John had two children, Nellie Bowers Robinson & Harold Robinson.
Nellie, my grandmother, born 1883 married Stanley Doughty on 6 August 1906. he was a buyer for a local fish merchant in Grimsby. So the story continues, with Stanley & Nellie having a number of children, one of whom was my mother in 1914. But that's another story.
Meanwhile, lets go back to 1881 in Broughton, where in the census of that year Thomas Holt is listed as being a farmer of 313 acres employing 4 men, with his housekeeper Elizabeth Holt, and 23 year old son Louis listed as a farmer's son.
On 20 April, 1882, Thomas married his cousin, Elizabeth at the Wesleyan Chapel, Cleethorpes Road, Grimsby, as this abbreviated record of the marriage shows:
Wesleyan Chapel Cleethorpe Road, on 20/04/1882 HOLT Thomas Godfrey, aged 65 Widower, a Gentleman of Cleethorpes, son of Thomas Holt, a Mariner, married HOLT Elizabeth 58 Spinster, of Cleethorpes daughter William Holt a Farmer, witnessed by Henry FINNEY & Sarah FINNEY.
This is a photograph of the chapel which closed down many years ago
The record says that Thomas was living at Cleethorpes before his marriage to Elizabeth, probably at the family farmhouse. There were 6 farms in the hamlet of Old Clee, the Holt family had 2 of them, probably as tenants as opposed to owning them. Elizabeth's brother Thomas was a farmer too. Thomas and his new bride most likely went back to Broughton to live, but by 1891, Thomas has retired from farming and now lives at "Alpine Cottage", in the parish of Alkborough & Walcot.
Perhaps this website might illustrate the area where they were living in 1891:
http://www.south-humber-collection.org/downloads/South_Humber_Heritage_Trail_Alkborough.pdf
Next door to them in the census is a tailor called John Godfrey, born in Flixborough, in 1834, maybe a relation to to Thomas's mother, Elizabeth Godfrey?
On the 15th July, 1900, Elizabeth, his second wife died at Burton-upon-Stather, probate records provides her death date & place of death.
HOLT, Elizabeth, of Burton-upon-Stather, Lincolnshire, (wife
of Thomas Godfrey Holt), died 15 July 1900, Probate Lincoln 12 October, 1900,
to the said Thomas Godfrey HOLT, gentleman, Effects £587 13s 2d.
Thomas's occupation is now given as gentleman, same as that on his marriage record, so not a farmer, licensed victualler, mariner or publican, but a gentleman, some with money who doesn't work. By this date, Louis, Thomas's youngest son is living with the widow of his brother Jonathan Cockin Holt in style at a house called "Axholme" in Birkenhead, Cheshire.
By 1901, Thomas, a widower, is living alone, but for his housekeeper, in a private house in Burton-upon-Stather. On 6th February, 1909, Thomas dies at Linden House, Appleby, aged 92, again probate records supply the information about date & place of death.
Probate: HOLT, Thomas Godfrey, of Linden House, Appleby,
Lincolnshire died 06 February 1909, Administration 06 November to Louis Holt,
Gentleman (Effects £966 10s 2d.)
Linden House is now family run business as a garden centre. How Thomas came to die there I am unsure, maybe he bought the place, or one of his relatives did. Certainly his son John lived quite close by because he died at Broughton Grange in 1915, the farm that Thomas was living at in 1881.
So that was Thomas and the connection with my grandfather Stanley Doughty, but much earlier to my fourth great grandfather Richard Doughty, who married Elizabeth Holt, daughter of William Holt & Mary Leaning.
Family History following-great fun, never ends!
