Thomas Burrow - emigrant from Worcestershire 1859

[dtcoulson]

Hello all,


my ancestor Thomas Burrow (1817 - 1896) was a farmer in Ombersley who lost his farm through bankruptcy early in 1859. He seems to have responded to an ad campaign and signed up for resettlement in Canterbury New Zealand. I have details of his journey (ship name etc) and some knowledge of his life in NZ but I want to know more about his plight in Ombersley and the circumstances that inspired/drove him to go overseas.


Anyone able to tell me more about the court case? The emigration scheme? How much it cost and how people applied? Any paper trail that shows Thomas applying for resettlement would be wonderful.

Cheers
David C

[ciderdrinker]

Hello
I've not got anything on his trip but there is a bit on his bankruptcy in the Worcester Chronicle.
The farm Hazel House Farm seems to have been sold by auction 2nd and 3rd of February 1859.
Thomas was described as a farmer,cattle dealer and chapman.
They had been looking for him to declare him bankrupt from the 29th December 1858 edition.
The 1851 census gives him farming  256 acres and employing 6 labourers so something desperate must have happened.
The case was heard at Birmingham bankruptcy court.
Details of the property are at

http://www.shrawley.org.uk/Shrawley_Website/Historical_Properties.html

And it looks like the farm is on the National Library of Scotland 6 inch maps 1882 as Hazelhurst Farm near Sankyn's Green

http://maps.nls.uk/view/101586232


Ciderdrinker

[Eastbury]

Hi  David
The sale advertised in the newspaper was for all of Thomas Burrows possessions. There is no mention of the sale of the farm.
The Shrawley website, (link kindly provided by ciderdrinker in the previous message) is confusing on the issue of who owned the property. According to the CD transcriptions of the Worcestershire Tithe apportionments that I have, the Rt Hon William, Lord Ward was the owner of Hazel House Farm in 1838 and so may still have been in 1859 or Thomas Pickernell  whowas the Hazel House tenant in 1838 whilst owning and living at East Grove House.
It is a sad story, and as a tenant farmer Thomas would have had rent to pay. I cannot view an appropriate map to see the terrain around Sankyns Green, but if some of those 10,000 hope poles were for him, he would have needed good deep soil in a valley with a good water supply. (Hops exhausted the land.) If he had bought them as a “Chapman”, then he couldn’t have had them on his hands at a worst time when hop growing “was an erratic business “. See
http://www.bromyardhopfestival.co.uk/history.html

Regards
Jack

[dtcoulson]

Brilliant work, guys. This is exactly the kind of info I am looking for.

I see in the link that Jack provided that 'chapman' was used as a legal device to render a fellow bankrupt and thereby avoid time in prison. It was applied to such people as farmers (it says).

None of the newspaper items that I have seen describe Thomas as a Chapman (see following).

Jack's knowledge of hops is impressive, BTW.


[start]
Thomas Burrow, Shrawley, Worcestershire, cattle dealer, Jan. 7, S 7, at eleven, at the Court of Bankruptcy, Birmingham. Off - , assignee, Mr. Kinneor, Birmingham ; sols., Mr. Wnlcot
December 25, 1858 - Globe - London, London, England



TO BE SOLD BY A FARM. SHRAWLEY, nine miles from Worcester, not from Stourport, and nine from Kidderminster. XTATHANIEL TAYLOR has received instruc- jji tions from the Assignees of Mr. Thomas Burrow a Bankrupt, ....
January 29, 1859 - Birmingham Journal - Birmingham, West Midlands, England


Thomas Burrow.—At the Birmingham Bankruptcy Court on Thursday, Thomas Burrow, of Shrawley, cattle-dealer, came up for his last examination, and opposition being offered on behalf of the assignees, c duly passed.
February 9, 1859 - Worcestershire Chronicle - Worcester, Worcestershire, Engla


 RE THOMAS BURROW, BANKRUPT. IMPORTANT AND UNRESERVED SALE, At the HAZLE HOUSE FARM, SHIIAWLEY, nine miles from Worcester, .five from SUmrport and nine from Kidderminster.
February 5, 1859 - Birmingham Journal - Birmingham, West Midlands, Engla
[end]

[Eastbury]

Hi David
Thomas was described as a "Farmer and Cattle Dealer dealer, (sic) and chapman"  in the solicitors advertisement in 1 January 1859 edition of the (Berrows) Worcester Journal.

Regards
Jack