Thank you, Dundee and Middlesbrough. Yes, it is sad, isn't it. There's a real pathos about that description of 'well conducted but sadly neglected' that really strikes home, I think. He must have been a little, lost, perhaps even slightly overwhelmed, 'Oliver Twist' character in some ways. Certainly a boy like this in English gaols of the 1840s or living out on the streets of London would have had a hard time of it. I've learned more about him as a person over the last 24 hours that helps me understand some of his reported attitudes in later life.
So far, I've not found him in 1841, but I'm wondering if he may still have been back in Galway. I know from his death certificate that his father was 'Pat Carr' and there is at least one man by that name that I can find getting poverty relief in Galway. Trouble is that so far I haven't been able to access any of the actual records to get any further with finding out whether it's the same fellow or not. Pat Carr could have been quite a common name in the county and the records in Galway of Pat Carrs getting the relief go well past 1842, so if it is the same person it may not be anything to do with my Thomas.
This is one reason why I have been trying to find the description of the trial in Westminster Sessions. I was hoping it would tell me a few more 'life details' for Thomas so I could work out how/why he'd gone from Galway to London, whether he was there on his own, things like that. It seems that unless one actually goes in to the LMA, that's not possible. Sometimes it's very frustrating trying to do this from outside the up the UK!!
OJ
