Thomas William Chaddock

A carte-de-visite portrait of a sweet-faced blond toddler.

An inked inscription verso in a period hand reads: ’T.W. Chaddock / Aged one year / 22 August 1874 / To his Grandma with love.’

Thomas William Chaddock was born in the third quarter of 1873 in the registration district of Congleton; according to the GRO index, his mother’s maiden name was Horner.

On 7 September 1871 at St John’s the Divine, Brooklands, Thomas Chaddock, Esq., solicitor, of Congleton, married Emile Race Horner, second daughter of Joseph Race Horner, Esq., solicitor of Manchester.

Thomas and Emilie Chaddock appear on the 1881 census, aged 40 and 30 respectively, living at 16 Magdalen Road in Hastings. Thomas gave ‘Retired Solicitor’ as his profession. Their son Thomas, born at Sandbach in Cheshire, was seven years old. The household also included Thomas’s younger sister Rosaline and one female servant.

In 1890 the younger Thomas was an apprentice working for the London and North Western Railway. According to their records, his date of birth was 22 August 1873.

At some point in his life the elder Thomas (and his family) acquired an extra surname, becoming Thomas Chaddock Lowndes. He appears on the 1891 census, a ‘Wine & Spirit Merchant’ living at Ramsdell Hall, Stoke on Trent. Ramsdell Hall is a large, red brick country house overlooking the Manchester canal. It was built by William Lowndes in about 1760. The logical conclusion is that Thomas inherited in the house and the name change was a condition of the bequest.

In 1911 the family were still at Ramsdell Hall. Thomas père now described himself as a ‘Landowner.’ The younger Thomas, now aged 36, was still living with his parents. He gave no profession.

Thomas William Chaddock Lowndes died on 14 July 1934 at 11 West End Avenue, Gately, Cheshire. He left an estate valued at £5941.

Photographed by W. Fox of Sandbach and Alderley. [Both towns are near Congleton.]