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b.1853-d.1902
With thanks to Linda Holmes and Tony Casey for their kindness in sharing their research.
On Wednesday 23rd August 1843, in the small rural village of Syston in Leicestershire, Thomas Henry Butler and Mary Ann Draycott, were married in St. Peter and St. Paul’s, Syston parish church, by the Reverend Richard Watts. At the time of their marriage, Thomas was a school master for Syston Free School, and both lived in Bath Street.
Over the next seven years Thomas and Mary Ann had five known children including twins Mary Ann and Sarah Jane:
- Mary Ann Elizabeth (Baptised 5th April 1844 – Died 1929)
- Christiana (Baptised 2nd November 1845 – Died 1923)
- Mary Ann (Born 1848 – Buried 24th January 1849)
- Sarah Jane (Born 1848 – Died 1876)
- John Henry (Baptised 27 October 1850 – Died 1859)
The 1851 Census recorded that the family was living in Church Lane, Syston, and that Thomas was the deputy school master.
Thomas Albert
Their son, and the subject of this tale, Thomas Albert was born two years later, and on 28th August 1853; he was baptised in the parish church. His father at this time was the assistant overseer of the parish of Syston and would have helped assess and collect poor rates, provide support for the poor, and manage the settlement of paupers in the village.
Thomas had three known younger siblings:
- Edwin Alfred (Born 1855 – Died 1917)
- Fredrick William Draycott (Baptised 24th May 1857 – Died 1859)
- Helena Augusta Anne (Born February 1861 – Died 1868)
June 1859 was a traumatic time for the family as on the 22nd, at 67 Humberstone Road, Leicester, two-year-old Frederick died from croup. Frederick was buried in Syston parish church, on 26th June, the same day that John, his eight-year-old brother, died after a few days of illness while at his maternal grandfather’s home in Syston. John was buried on 29th June in the same churchyard as his brother.
1861
The 1861 Census was taken on the night of Sunday 7th April 1861, and the enumerator recorded that the Butler family were now living at 40 Chatham Street, Leicester. Thomas’ father was now working as a clerk for a wholesale druggist, while Thomas’ sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah, were pupil teachers at the local school.
Thomas was now 7 years old and along with his 5-year-old brother Edwin, was attending school. Thomas’ youngest sibling Helena was only two months old at the time and had been born after the family had left Syston village. Thomas’ maternal aunt Elizabeth Draycott was also living there, possibly to help her sister care for her family following the birth of Helena. There were also two other men boarding with the family.
More family losses
On 5th May 1862, following a short illness, Thomas’ 49-year-old father died and was buried in Syston parish churchyard on 8th May. He was later remembered on the family headstone in Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester. The family continued to live at 40 Chatham Street where sadly, Thomas’ youngest sibling Helena died on 17th October 1868 aged 7 years 8 months old.
Thomas’ widowed mother Mary Ann was recorded as being head of the household when the 1871 Census was taken. She was in receipt of some sort of annuity to live on while her daughter Christiana worked as a ‘Fancy Hosiery Hand’ and daughter Sarah worked as a milliners’ shop assistant. Aged 17, Thomas was now apprenticed to become a printer, which would have required an excellent knowledge of spelling and punctuation, and a good all-round education.
On 7th August 1873, Thomas was a witness to his sister Sarah Jane’s marriage to cabinetmaker Frederick Page. They had two children in quick succession, Frederick Cecil in 1874 and Edith Maude Gertrude in 1875, before Sarah died in 1876. Frederick Cecil remained living with his father, but Edith was sent to be brought up by her maternal grandmother Mary Ann Butler and her aunt Mary Ann Elizabeth Butler.
A Trained Printer
By 1878, Thomas was a fully trained printer, and an entry appeared in the Wright’s Directory of Leicester and Six Miles Round listing Thomas as “Butler Thomas Albert, printer, Princess Street”.
On 8th November 1879 Thomas, aged 26, was initiated into the Freemasons at their Commercial Lodge in Leicester. This would have provided him with useful connections with other commercial men in Leicester. By 1880, Wright’s Directory recorded that Thomas was working as a printer from 9½ Hotel Street, Leicester.
1881
The 1881 Census was taken on 3rd April and recorded that Thomas’ mother, Mary Ann Butler, was the head of the household living at 1 Princess Street, Leicester St Mary, Leicestershire.
His sister Mary Ann Elizabeth, who remained unmarried, was now aged 37 and working as a schoolteacher. Also living there was his 5-year-old niece Edith Page. Sister Christiana was now aged 36, and although recorded as a widow by the enumerator, did not marry until 1885 when she married Thomas Lane. The couple had one son, Frederick Henry, born in 1887.
Aged 27, Thomas was recorded in the census as being a Master Printer, and in June that year, he was granted £100.00 from the Sir Thomas White’s Charity. This charity was set up in 1551 to provide interest-free loans to young people who were setting up in business, or improving their existing business, or to further their higher education.
On becoming a fully-fledged printer, Thomas had become a member of the Leicester branch of the Typographical Association, and his name appeared in the local newspaper regarding their first annual dinner that was held on Monday 30th October 1882 at the Victoria Inn, Southampton Street, Leicester. The Association had been founded by printers in 1848 as a national union to give support to each other regarding their pay and working conditions. By 1871, the Leicester branch numbered some 40 members.
Thomas Marries Henrietta
Thomas was aged 29 when he married spinster Henrietta Theodosia Slater on 5th July 1883 in St Peter’s Church, Highfields, Leicester. His brother Edwin was one of the witnesses to the marriage.
Henrietta had been born in 1862 in Hastings, East Sussex, where her father, Richard Slater, worked as a surgeon-dentist. Her mother Theodosia, a British subject, had been born in Canada.
A Burglary
Only a few months later, on the evening of Thursday 6th December while returning from work and accompanied by his now pregnant wife, Thomas and Henrietta found that their home at 66 Evington Street, just a short walk from the church where they had married, had been ransacked and burgled. The most upsetting thing for the couple was that many of the items stolen were wedding presents such as plated forks and spoons. Drawers and boxes had been forced open, and a watch, locket, chains, rings, studs, earrings, and brooches were all stolen. It was thought that further valuable items were left behind after the burglars were disturbed.
Their daughter Beatrice Mona was baptised in St Peter’s church on 3rd July 1884, and the baptism entry records the family home as being 66 Evington Street.
Henrietta was soon pregnant again and by the time their son Douglas Richard Paul was baptised on 26th September 1885, the family address was recorded as 20 Sparkenhoe Street, Highfields, Leicestershire, which was where her parents Richard and Theodosia now lived and where her father ran his dental practice.
Sale of Printers’ Stock
In October 1886 notices were published in several local newspapers stating that Thomas was selling some of his stock from Hotel Street and by the end of January 1887, further notices were published informing any creditors that they only had before 1st February to make their claims.
TO BE SOLD BY TENDER
PRINTERS’ Machinery, Type, and stock in trade.
Re T. A. Butler, printer, Hotel-street, Leicester.
For particulars apply to the trustee, J. ALFRED HOPPS, chartered accountant,13, New-street, Leicester.
While this was happening, Thomas’ father-in-law became ill and on 6th January 1887 Richard died at their home from a haemorrhage from his lung. Thomas was present at his death and was the informer of the fact on the death certificate.
The 1887-1888 Wright’s Directory of Leicester listed Thomas was now trading from 27½ Kings Street, and that his home address was now 19 Princess Street, the same address that his mother and sister Mary Ann Elizabeth were living. (Presumably the listings were compiled the previous year so some of the information may have been out-of-date by the time the directory was printed).
Whether he had moved back to his mother’s address without his wife and children is unknown, but on 8th January 1889 another son, Noel Thomas Adrian, was baptised in St Peter’s Church. Thomas and Henrietta were once again recorded in the baptismal book as Noel’s parents, as was the address 20 Sparkenhoe Street. Sadly, Noel was only 3½ months old when he died from bronchitis and convulsions on 31st March.
The 1888-1889 Wright’s Directory of Leicester now listed Thomas as a printer working in Millstone Lane, which was in the same area of St Martins that his brother-in-law Frederick Page and nephew Frederick Cecil lived and worked as wine merchants. This was the last online sighting of Thomas until the 1901 Census was taken twelve years later.
Thomas’ mother and sister Mary Ann Elizabeth, who was now the second mistress at Wyggeston School, were also listed in the 1888-1889 Wright’s Directory of Leicester. They had moved to 4 De Montford Street, which was where they were living when the 1891 Census was taken, along with Edith Page, who was now aged 15 and still being cared for by her grandmother and aunt.
Marriage Breakdown
It would appear for whatever reason that Thomas and Henrietta’s marriage was over. Only Henrietta and their children, Beatrice and Douglas, were living with Henrietta’s widowed mother, Theodosia Slater, in Sparkenhoe Street. Henrietta was noted on the 1891 Census as working as an embroiderer.
After Henrietta’s mother died and was buried on 1st August 1895, Henrietta moved south away from Leicester. It seems that Beatrice may have not gone with her mother and brother Douglas but stayed in the Leicester area with other family members.
Henrietta appears to have met at some point a mariner named Paul Collea with whom she became pregnant by. Her daughter Audrey Norah Butler [Collea] was born in Pembroke House, Anstice Terrace, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, on 28th September 1899. However, Henrietta named her husband Thomas Butler, an engineer, as Audrey’s father on her daughter’s birth certificate. [Audrey later confirmed on her marriage certificate in 1919, that Paul Collea, deceased mariner, was her biological father].
Thomas’ mother Mary Ann Butler was aged 72 when she died on 31st August 1899. Her body was buried in Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester, and a headstone erected. The grave later received the bodies of Christiania Lane in 1923, Mary Ann Elizabeth Butler in 1929, and Edith Maude Gertrude Page in 1958.
1901 Census
The 1901 Census made interesting reading in that by then Henrietta had changed her name to ‘Madge Collea’. Claiming to be 35 (she was actually aged 39), she was boarding with her 15-year-old son Douglas Paul ‘Collea’ and baby daughter Audrey in the village of Ystradyfodwg, Glamorgan, Wales. To support herself and her family, she was working as a palmist.
[I am at this stage wondering about the true parentage of Douglas Paul, and perhaps even Noel – were they Thomas’s sons or was it the mysterious Paul Collea who had fathered them?]
Beatrice was now 17-year-old pupil teacher and appeared on the 1901 Census as living with her aunt Christiana and uncle Thomas Lane [wine and spirit merchant] and their son Francis at 106 Regent Road, Leicester. Also living there was her spinster aunt Mary Ann Elizabeth Butler [High School mistress] and her cousin Edith Page [teacher of cookery].
Meanwhile, the 1901 Census detailed that Thomas was now boarding with the Hammett family in their home at 83 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, Essex. Claiming to be a widower, he was still working as a compositor printer where he would have been setting and correcting type, and assembling text and illustrations for printing.
Admission to the Workhouse Infirmary
How exactly Thomas came from Walthamstow to be admitted into the Hackney Workhouse Infirmary is unknown, but on 3rd April 1902 he was discharged from there into the care of Horton Asylum in Epsom, Surrey.
His death certificate shows that he was aged 50 when died on 9th August 1902 from cancer of the oesophagus and thyroid gland*. It also stated that he was a ‘Compositor of Hackney Union Infirmary’.
Thomas’ body was unclaimed and he was buried on 14th August 1902 in a pauper’s grave, number 32, in the asylum’s Horton Estate Cemetery in Epsom, Surrey. There was to our knowledge, no headstone to mark his grave.
*For more information on how the thyroid gland can affect mental health:
“The growth of the central nervous system throughout gestation and the first few months of life are significantly influenced by thyroid hormones. Numerous genes exhibit noticeable alterations in response to thyroid hormones throughout these formative years.
Furthermore, genes in the growing brain that respond to thyroid hormones in childhood do not respond to thyroid hormones in adulthood. However, thyroid adult dysfunction is frequently linked to a variety of psychiatric and cognitive issues. The underlying mechanism of the thyroid autoimmune disease-related alterations in brain tissue is complicated but also includes changes in neuronal activity, variations through cellular metabolism and blood-brain barrier, gene expression in glial or neuronal cells, elevated risk of vascular dementia as well as cerebral inflammatory illness in conditions of thyroid autoimmune disease.
Cognitive and mental illnesses are typically linked to clinical thyroid dysfunction. Overt hypothyroidism frequently manifests as cognitive impairment, distress, and sadness, whereas hyperthyroidism can result in agitation, severe psychosis, and apathy, particularly in the elderly. In the presence of hypothyroidism, reversible dementia is common.” Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Thyroid Diseases – PMC
Thomas’ wife and children lives after his death
Henrietta Theodosia Butler, nee Slater, aka Madge Collea aka Madge Sparrow –
Henrietta’s new occupation, under the name of ‘Madame Madge Collea’, was now that of a Palmist and Clairvoyant. She first appeared as such in November 1900 in the South Wales Argus newspaper. The advertisement read:
“MADAME Madge Collea, Palmist from London – Address, Sewell, Plumber, Clarence Place, Newport (for 2 weeks only)”
This wording changed in December 1901 to “MADAME Madge Collea, Palmist, is back in her old rooms 13 Clarence Place, until January 1902”
From December 1903 to the end of January 1904 the advertisements read:
” Return Visit Madam Madge Collea, Scientific Character Reading, Face Massage and Manicure. Only short stay – 17 Stow Hill.”
The next advertisement found was published in 1906 by the Western Daily Press based in Bristol, reporting the recent Kewstoke Church fundraising fete that was held in the vicarage garden where ‘Madge’ had a palm reading stall.
The last advertisements found were in December 1909 – January 1910 when The Citizen newspaper announced the following:
“MADAM MADGE COLLEA. Palmist and Clairvoyant, 15 Worcester Street, Gloucester. Permanent address Arcade, Weston-Super-Mare. Last 10 days.”
Henrietta and her daughter Audrey were found in the 1911 Census as living at 44 Royal Arcades, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset. She was, though, now going by the name of Madge Sparrow, a clairvoyant. She claimed to have been married for under a year to 24-year-old Harold Sparrow, an Enquiry Agent from Highgate, London, with whom she was living.
By 1914 ‘Madge’ had reverted to Mrs Madge Collea and was living at 11 Park Place, Clifton, Bristol. When she died on 20th March 1920, Henrietta, aged 58, was living back in Leicester at 44 Narborough Road, the home of her son Douglas. Her body was buried in Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester.
Like her husband Thomas, there is no headstone to mark her final resting place.
Audrey gave birth to an illegitimate daughter named Madge Asthore Callea in 1918. She married Robert James Johnston the year before her mother died and moved to Australia with her new husband Robert James Johnston and daughter Madge. Robert and Audrey had two children – Barbara Gretchen, and Rex Adrian. Audrey died on 18th May 1965 in the Sutherland District Hospital, Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia.
Beatrice Mona Butler was an Infant Teacher by 1911, and she had continued to live with her aunt Christiana and uncle Thomas Lane at 114 Regent Road, Leicester. Her aunt Mary Ann Elizabeth Butler had retired from her teaching post, but her cousin Edith Page was still working as a teacher of domestic subjects.
On 30th July 1912, in St Martin’s parish church in Leicester, Beatrice was aged 28 when she married fellow schoolteacher, 31-year-old William Borman. Her cousins Francis Lane and Edith Page were their witnesses. The couple had three children – Christine Mary, Margaret Gertrude, and Philip Henry. Beatrice died aged 71 on 14th November 1955 in Leicester.
Douglas Richard Paul Butler became a motor mechanic and in 1911 was boarding with the Thornbury family in 32 Wellington Street, Gloucester. On 2nd March 1913 he was aged 27 years old when he married 30-year-old Winifred Annie Jauncey. The couple had three sons – Richard John Henderson, Peter Douglas, and Lionel Francis. Douglas died aged 80 on 17th October 1965 in Leicester.
