I'm trying to research my 3rd Great Grandfather Thomas Horton but am struggling to find out much information about him apart from his marriage in 1829 to Matilda Frances Leach at St George in the East, London. Thomas was a Gun stocker (making the wooden part of the gun). He had several children Mary Ann Matilda born 1833, Matilda Eliza Horton born 1837, Charles born 1839 and then finally Agnes born in 1840. By the time his last daughter was born they had moved from St George in the East where all the other children were born or lived (in Mary Ann Street or Lower Berner Street) and were living in Gainsford Street, in Southwark. I think this means that they had moved to a poorer part of London. I'm not sure if Thomas went with them as only Matilda and Mary Ann and Agnes were living in Southwark at the time of the 1841 census(the other 2 children had died). I don't know whether this means that he had died, hit hard times, gone to prison or gone off with someone else. I can't find a birth record or death record for him despite ordering a couple of death certificates which are not him. His wife and 2 daughters end up in the Workhouse in 1848. The girls go on to Norwood School but return to the workhouse after it seems their Mother has a baby (John Horton). John's birth and death certificate (19 days later) reveal Matilda as the Mother but there is no Father's name. From his marriage certificate I can see the two witnesses were 'Mary Ann Philcox (nee Horton) and her husband. Was Mary Ann his sister or possibly his Mother? Mary Ann was born in the Bay of Biscay but on the 1861 census she says she was born in Gibraltar (British Subject) but there are no records on Find my Past or Ancestry to confirm this. Mary Ann Philcox (married name) married a Gun manufacturer and appears to be quite well off. I'm now at a dead end and not sure where to search next - any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
