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George Thomas Uttley, known as Thomas, was born 22nd December 1861,
in William Street, Loughborough, the fourth child of Thomas Uttley and
Jane Bacchus (aso spelt Backas/Backhouse/Bakehouse).
He was orphaned at age 16, following the death of his father
in 1871 and his mother in 1877. Family stories have always said that Thomas had lived in Canada
for a time, and that he gave his first son the middle name of 'Albion' after the ship that brought
him safely back home to England.
It was a common practise to send
British orphans to Canada: it relieved the local parishes of the financial burden
of supporting these children, and the Canadians were willing to pay to have their
population and work force expanded in this way. This may have been the fate of Thomas Uttley
and his brother and sisters. However I have not found any evidence to support this. No passenger
lists have been found showing any member of the family sailing to Canada, or returning to England,
no immigration records have come to light either. The next census record (1881) shows Thomas
living in Yorkshire with his cousins. I have not been able to find any later records of Thomas'
brother or any of his sisters. I do not know whether they settled in England or Canada, but it is
thought that Thomas and his wife Hannah visited Canada several times. Perhaps they were visiting,
or looking for, his brother and sisters, and the connection with Canada continued when
his granddaughter, Muriel, was sent there, aged 3 years.
In the 1881 census, Thomas is recorded (under the name Thomas Hattley), living with
his cousins Patrick and Jane Joyce, in Whitby, where he is working as a hosier. Jane Joyce was
the daughter of John and Susanna Backas, John Backas being Thomas Uttley's uncle
(his mother's brother).
In 1882 Thomas married Hannah Sedgwick in Hartlepool. She was a dressmaker and daughter of
Issac and Jane Sedgwick. Hannah appears twice in the 1881 census: her parents have recorded her
living with them in Hutton Henry, and her brother-in-law, Stephen Wrightson, has recorded Hannah
living with them in Hartlepool.
Their first child Thomas Albion Uttley was born in
Hartlepool, Durham, in 1884. They had two more sons and then a daughter.
The family stayed in Hartlepool until 1889 when, advised
by doctors to move away from the sea, Thomas took his family back to
his home town of Loughborough.
He worked as a borer in the engineering trade, and
then as a milkman, in Knight Thorpe.
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When his wife Hannah became ill, he moved her to the
Union Workhouse, where she later died. He remarried. His second wife
was a lady that he met on holiday in Skegness, but her name has not
been remembered.
Sheila remembered that her grandfather would sometimes
come to their house in Paget Street. When they answered the door he
would ask 'Does my brother live here?'
Thomas went missing whilst walking the dog on New
Year's Day, 1946. The dog came home without him. His body was eventually
found, 3 months later, at the bottom of a quarry filled with water.
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