My husbands great grandfather was Jacob Lane b.1866, he was a master mariner and lived in South Shields. He died in 1907 from Tuberculosis. He was sent to a reformatory school in Gloucester at the age of about 15 and during this time he stole a carriage rug. Somehow he moved to Glasgow and then to Liverpool and became a merchant seaman, the moving to South Shields when he married Jane Henderson. He was the second mate during the sinking of the Atbara on Haisborough Sands in 1907, but he survived. On Jacob's marriage certificate, his father is noted as Thomas Lane, but the records show Thomas used the name John Thomas Westlake Lane alternating between John and Thomas. The family has a history of smuggling in the Beer area. John Thomas married Mary Jane Copp in 1859. There's also a suggestion that at some point my Jacob Lane spent some time in the Union Workhouse around 1874, but there are no other family members recorded.
I have John Thomas Westlake Lane's father as Jacob Lane and mother as Sarah Westlake, but Jacob may also have married Caroline Clarke and Ann Collier.
Jacob's father was also Jacob who married Mary Baston, but he also appears to have been 'married' more than once. In 1823, he was incarcerated in Dorchester prison for smuggling for on year unless he paid the sum of £100 - there is also some link that Issac Lane (one of the sons) was connected with a famous smuggler in the area 'John Rattenbury' his diaries are available on line. Both Jacob Lanes had large families, 10 and 11 children so there will be plenty for you to research!! There are some useful parish records you can search, I will need to have a look for the link, so I'll get back to you.
Hope this helps.
p.s To date, I too haven't found the death record for John Thomas Westlake.
