John Brown of Thornbury, Clockmaker

[Geordie daughter]

Sorry, not sure why the last part of that post was crossed through!

[DRH123]

Thanks for the head up about the Burgess and Apprenticeship Books. Do you know whether they include outlying areas like Bath, or is that a separate set of records?

Strictly Bristol. Probably not even including Bedminster.

Bath apprentice records are included in the Bath Ancestors database on the Bath Archives website. http://bathancestors.org.uk/fhSearch.php . Only 1706-1776 and not so much detail. The only William Brown I can see is a son of Peter, apprenticed to a butcher.

[Geordie daughter]

Thanks for looking, David. I had a look at the original image of Rebekah Brown's burial and now I'm not so sure it's the same person, although the dates fit. William's wife was born about 1758 so would have actually been 39 or thereabouts at the time of her death, but age errors were often made so that doesn't concern me too much. What does bother me is that this woman lived in Old King Street (which as far as I can make out was up near Broad Mead); I had assumed William and his wife always lived on their premises in Corn Street, but perhaps they had moved out...

[DRH123]

I was going to say the same thing re Rebekah Brown. Lewins Mead in 1798 looks more likely. The Mrs Brown in 1799 could perhaps be Arthur's widow.

[Geordie daughter]

Ah yes, I hadn't thought about the later woman being Arthur's widow, but it would make sense. (Unfortunately I have no idea how old she was when she married Arthur so couldn't work out a possible death date from that.)

[Geordie daughter]

Another thing that is making it difficult to tie up loose ends is that Arthur's son William appears to have been secretary of the Western Unitarian Society in later years (1830s), so I don't know if he continued to attend Lewins Mead or not. I think another branch of the family by marriage attended Bridge Street, so it's all very confusing.

[Geordie daughter]

I Googled Lewins Mead: it started out Presbyterian and stayed that way until the late 18th century but around 1816 or so it became a Unitarian chapel, so that clears up one issue. FindMyPast doesn't seem to have many Lewins Mead baptisms at all, so I may try FamilySearch in the next couple of days and see if I can unearth anything there, as I'm going crazily round in circles on FindMyPast at the minute.

[DRH123]

It appears William was buried at Lewins Mead in 1833:

May 25  William Browne  late bookseller * Tozer  aged 75  In family Brick frame  Lee tomb

(I'd found that on Ancestry, but FindMyPast also have it. From a different register with slightly different wording. Tolzey rather than Tozer, which is presumably more correct.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA%2FRG4%2F3323%2F0%2F0112&parentid=TNA%2FRG4%2FBUR%2F306825

[Geordie daughter]

Thanks David. I've got the second version, and yes, it is supposed to be Tolzey. You sending me it has made me realise (now that my brain is fresh) that the William Browne who was secretary to the Unitarians was still around until at least 1838, so he has to be either the Bridgwater William Browne, or William the hair dresser's grandson and namesake, who has been something of a challenge to track down after 1830. The latter was largely to blame for the failure of his uncle Henry's bank in 1825, and all I know is that by 1828 he was said to be Captain of a Yeomanry Corps and Commissioner of the Court of Requests, but I've so far not been able to get any further details.