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Topic: Parents of Thomas & Henry Brett, Hastings please (Read 2200 times)
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Chris in 1066Land
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"Forever Searching, Forever Learning"
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Margie
Just a bit of info
Thomas Brandon Brett 1816 - 1906
Brett was born in George Street, Hastings in 1816, his father being a smith who was found dead in a fishing boat ten years later. As a result from a very tender age he had to act as the support of his widowed mother and help in the house and the care of his brothers and sisters. When his mother married again, in 1828, he was sent to school at Mr. Neve's in Bourne Street. He had only a year and a half at school before leaving to assist his stepfather, a builder.
In 1831 he became an errand boy in a draper's shop near the Fishmarket for 3½ years at 4s. a week, the hours of business being from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and often later. In his dinner hour he would run home to help the men in the smithy. He learned to mend and make his own clothes. During the cold winter of 1833 he began to write poetry and started the study of music.
From 1837 to 1839 he was in the post office in George Street, rising at 4.20 a.m. to take in the mail and working there till 10.30 at night. His account of this is a most valuable story in our postal history. The kindly old postmaster, Mr. Woods, taught him to knit shawls and make tables and chairs. His tool chest at that time contained a hammer, a chisel without a handle, a broken carving knife, an old plane and a gimlet.
Then in 1839 he set out for America, but the weather was bad; he had an accident and damaged his spine, and so returned to Hastings. That autumn he started a small school on his own near the St. Leonards Archway in Market Terrace. He was a persuasive teacher and took great pains with the boys, and for a time was requested to take charge of the National School, which he carried on concurrently with his own. In 1844 he married.
Then started a new chapter of his life, a more public one. He established the first brass band to play on the Parade in the evenings and on holidays, as well as a string band much in demand for soirees and entertainments. In 1848, with Philip Hook, he helped to establish the St. Leonards Mechanics' Institution, being elected treasurer in 1853, a position which with that of president from 1888 he held for very many years.
He had a great reverence for the power of the press, and acted as correspondent for the Sussex Advertiser from 1839. Then in 1854 he bought his own printing press and started The Penny Press as a monthly. The following year he commenced the St. Leonards & Hastings Gazette, managed entirely by himself. He might be seen in the mornings running up and town the steps of the leading lodging houses, collecting the names of the visitors; later in the day he would compose his leaders, often setting up the type as he thought out the subject. He also took part in the actual machine work of printing, and finally helped to deliver copies to his subscribers.
As a sidelight on his character it might be mentioned that the man he employed from London to teach him printing for a month said at the end of that time: "I have been thinking over the mistakes of my past life and the money I have squandered. Your energy and perseverance have impressed me so much that I am determined to reform for the future ". He returned to London and kept his word.
Many a time Brett was invited to stand for the town council, but he invariably refused, saying: " I am too independent in politics, and too poor in pocket". On the occasion of his Golden wedding he was presented with an illuminated address and a sum of 200 guineas by his fellow townsmen. He died on April 4th, 1906, in his 90th year.
Chris in 1066
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Chris in 1066Land
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"Forever Searching, Forever Learning"
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Hi Again Margie
Found these baptisms in the Hastings Baptism Registers
All Saints, 27 Jun 1780, Mary Brett, dau of William & Mary BRETT
All Saints, 01 Aug 1781, Mercy Breet, dau of William & Mary BREET
All Saints, ? July 1783, Richard Brett, son of William & Mary BRETT
All Saints, 31 Dec 1786, William Breet, son of William & Mary BREET
All Saints, 20 Jan 1788, William Breet, son of William & Mary BREET
All Saints, 04 Mar 1789, Susannah Breet, Dau of William & Mary BREET
All Saints, 14 Oct 1791, John Brett, son of William & Mary BRETT
Ore, 21 Apr 1816, Henry Brett, son of William & Mary BRETT, Labourer of St Mary-in-the-Castle Parish.
As you can see, the name was misspelled or written down as it was heard - not necessary a change of surname
Chris in 1066
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Chris in 1066Land
Moderator
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Posts: 6092
"Forever Searching, Forever Learning"
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Hi again
Sussex Marriage Index seems to confirm your marriages
Location: Hastings St. Clement, East Sussex, Date: 1 May 1777:
Groom: William BRITT
Bride: Mary CLEAVER
Location: Hastings St. Clement, East Sussex, Date: 5 Dec 1815:
Groom: Thomas BRITT
Bride: Sarah RANGER
Chris in 1066
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mbrett
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 8
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Hi Chris
Thank you so much for that information and the piece about Thomas Brandon Brett. My GG -Grandfather was nephew of TB Brett and it appears they were similar in many ways. The nephew Henry (b 1843) came to NZ and founded a significant newspaper and publishing firm after beginning as a journalist by rowing out to meet the ships as they arrived from England. He later wrote White Wings which has become a valuable reference for we colonials tracing our families back.
Thank you for your research and time spent detailing the marriage and baptism information which appears to confirm Henry and Thomas Brett's parents as Thomas Britt and Sarah Ranger. I will search further on your 1066 website and SFHG now that I realise the spelling of surnames can differ so much.
A piece on Sir Henry Brett follows fyi..
Kind regards
Margie
Sir Henry BRETT was born and educated at St. Leonard's, Hastings, Sussex on February 23, 1843. He obtained his knowledge of the printing business in the office of his uncle, who was proprietor of the Hastings and St. Leonard's Gazette. Henry arrived in Auckland in September 1862 aboard the 'Hanover', and before going ashore was offered work on a daily newspaper the Southern Cross for £1 a day, as a shipping reporter, and in 1865 transferred to the N.Z. Herald, (Auckland NZ Daily.) After five years he bought an interest in the Evening Star (later named Auckland Star) and this was the start of his career as shipping journalist. He married Mary Moon, daughter of Mr James Moon, in 1864 and they had two sons and three daughters. In 1865 he was transferred in this capacity to the NZ Herald. In 1870 he joined Mr McCullough Reed in founding the Auckland Star, of which he became sole proprietor in 1878. The Star's politics have always been Liberal. Its early success was largely due to the use of carrier pigeons to cope with the then very incomplete telegraphic communication. In 1890 Mr Brett started the New Zealand Graphic, the first illustrated weekly newspaper in Australasia. In the 1880s he moved into the field of book publishing and he produced a number of quarto volumes including A history of Printing In NZ, Life & Times Of Sir George Grey and The Albertlanders. He was Mayor of Auckland in 1877 and 1878, president of the chief musical societies in Auckland, a founder and past president of the New Zealand Press Association, Commissioner for New Zealand at the Paris Exhibition in 1889, and a Commissioner of the New Zealand Exhibition in 1906-7 and the recipient of a knighthood in 1916. He personally collected the information for both volumes of White Wings. As a shipping reporter he was able to talk to captains, crew and passengers as the vessels docked. He wrote both volumes late in his life and died at Rotorua on 29 January 1927 in his 84th year and regrettably did not see White Wings Vol. 2 published in 1928.
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mbrett
RootsChat Extra
Posts: 8
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Following on from earlier in this thread I have discovered that after Thomas Brett (father of Henry and Thomas) died about 1827, his wife Sarah remarried and her second husband's name was William Woolgar. Also a blacksmith. They had two children Elizabeth and Jemimah. The 1851 census lists Jemimah Woolgar as resident in her brother William Brett's house which seems to prove the marriage.
Margie
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Pages: 1 2 3 [4]
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