Parents of Thomas & Henry Brett, Hastings please

[alonso gg]

can anyone please find the parents of Thomas Brett, b 1814 (publisher St leonards & hastings Gazette ) and his brother Henry, b 1819.
living at 28 Norman road West, parish of st Mary Magdalen in the 1841 cenesus

many thanks
great grandson of Henry's son Alonso

[sillgen]

Hi
Welcome to rootschat.   You will need to look at parish registers to find baptisms for these two.   Do you have precise place of birth from later census records?  All ages above 15 are rounded down to the nearest 5 in 1841 so bear that in mind.    Have you looked at www.familysearch.org?    With luck, if they were born in the Hastings area  another rootschatter may have those parish records.
There may be an obituary for Thomas in the paper he worked for.  Have you looked for that?
Andrea

[hazel.bevis]

Hello Alonso

Do you have any connection with Louisa F.J. Brett who married Henry W. Avery, September 1912, Hastings? If so, do you have any information that you can share re either of the above?

Thanks.

Elaine

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi there Alonso

Congratulations on being an ancestor of Thomas B Brett - it is from him and his Newspaper that we know so much about the life of early Hastings.

There are many manuscript volumes on local history now in the Public Reference Library written by Thomas B Brett (mostly in his own handwriting) that contain a mass of local lore and personal reminiscence, garnished wherever possible with genealogical information - an absolute treasure trove for Family and Local Historians.

Thomas was born in George Street in 1816, his father being a smith who was found dead in a fishing boat ten years later.  As a result of this, from a very tender age he had to act as the support for his widowed mother and help in the house and the care of his brothers and sisters.  When his mother married again in in 1828 he was sent to school at Mr Neves 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 Drapers Shop near the Fishmarket for 3 and a half years at 4/- (4 shillings) a week, the hours of business being from 7am to 9pm and often later. In his dinner hour he would run home to help the men in the smithy.  He learnt to mend and make his own clothes. During the cold winter of 183 he began to write poetry and started the study of Music.

From 1837 to 1839 he was in the Post Office in George Street and 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.  In the Autumn of that year he started a small school on his own near St Leonards Archway in Market Terrace and was eventually requested to take charge of the National School.
He married in 1844 and then established the first Brass Band to play on the Parade at Hastings.  In 1848 with Philip Hook he helped establish the St Leonards Mechanics Institute 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 Advertizer from 1839. In 1854 he bought his own printing press and started the Penny Press as a monthly.. In 1855 he commenced the St Leonards & Hastings Gazette, managed entirely by himself. He also took part in the actual printing and finally helped to deliver copies to his subscribers.
He died on the 4th April 1906 in his 90th year.

If this is really your ancestor, then you have much more of his life written down in his memoirs of Hastings which is I think is about 24 large volumes of typeset and hand written material.

I really envy you

Chris in 1066

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi again

Baptisms

St Clements, 5th July 1816, Thomas, son of Thomas & Sarah, Blacksmith
                     2nd January 1818, Matilda, dau of Thomas & Sarah, Blacksmith
                     15th September 1820, Henry, son of Thomas & Sarah, Blacksmith
                     23rd September 1825, William, son of Thomas & Sarah, Blacksmith

There are other children born to Thomas & Sarah, Labourer - but have not included them.

Chris in 1066

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi again Alonso

If you go on my web site

www.rootschat.com/history/hastings

and click on Hastings, then Items of Local Interest you will see I have included lots of snippets from Bretts Memoirs, written in his own hand writing and include such things as this

"many a contest took place between the occupiers of no mans land, arising from the desire in some to possess themselves of what others had laid claim to, and when only six or seven years of age I was witness to a painful scene between a blacksmith and a sweep over a disputed claim, and on the 10th March 1823 there was another desperate struggle on the Priory Ground (see also Page 226) over disputed rights to certain building sites.  Ultimately the original assailants were beaten off and a blue flag was hoisted by the defendants as a token of victory.  On the 26th June 1823 hostilities were resumed near to the Rock Fair ground in consequence of two persons claiming the same piece. The battle was long and desperate in which wounds and bruises were inflicted, and on the following night the windows were broken at the private residence of Mark Boykett and James Breeds.  Several cases ended in Law suits as that of Mark Boykett Breeds versus Sol Bevill, when at the home of E Millward - ?"

He had his own way of describing things

Chris in 1066

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi

In reply to your personal message, the 1891 census shows the following

RG12/ 761/ Folio 132/ Page 15 - 74 St Georges Road, Hastings

Henry Brett, Haed, Marr, 72, Carpet Planner, born Hastings
Harriett Brett, Wife, Marr, 46, born Wadhurst 
Helen Brett, Dau, Unm, 17, born Hastings   
Alonzo Brett, Son, Unm, 13, Scholar, Hastings 
Arthur Brett, Son, Unm, 11, Scholar, Hastings 
Ernest Brett, Son, Unm, 2, Hastings

Hope it helps

Chris in 1066 


 

[Chris in 1066Land]

and in 1881

RG11/ 1025/ Folio 65/ Page 53 - No 5 Frances Terrace, Hastings

Henry Brett, Head, Marr,  60, Tailor, born Hastings
J. Harriet Brett, Wife, Marr, 36, born Wadhurst
Charity F. Brett, Son, Unm, 14, Hastings
Faith Brett, Dau, Unm, 12, Hastings 
Geo. Hope Brett, Son, Unm, 9, Hastings
Elanor Brett, Dau, Unm, 7, Hastings     
Alonzo Brett, Son, Unm, 3, Hastings 
Arthur Brett, Son, Unm, 1, Hastings 

Elizabeth May Pike, Widow, Lodger, 42, born Kent 

Chris in 1066
 

[alonso gg]

Hi Chris
thanks for all the census results, lots of siblings to follow up.

Your 1066 pages are very helpful too -
in the St Clements Church, Hastings Burial Register Transcriptions 1803 - 1834
there is a Matilda Brett, so she died  age 6 months
and a Thomas Brett,  24 Dec 1828 age 29, but that doesn't quite fit with his wife Sarah remarrying that year.
 

please can you suggest the balance of probability of which dates are correct?