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b.1863-d.1908
Beginnings
Thomas was born on 10th July 1863 at Tubby’s Alley, Scotland Green, Tottenham. He was the third of eight children born to Thomas Beech, a labourer, and his wife Mary Ann Whitting.
The Beech family was still at Tubby’s Alley in the 1871 Census. Thomas’s uncle George Whitting lived next door. And in 1881 they were still in the same neighbourhood, at 18 Scotland Green. By 1881 Thomas’s father was working as a fish hawker while Thomas himself, now aged 17, was a plasterer.
Marriage
Thomas married Annie Stovell on June 5th 1881 at Saint James the Great, Bethnal Green. On the register his age is given as 19 but he was just a few weeks short of his 18th birthday. Annie is shown as aged 18 but was probably just 17.
Children
Between 1882 and 1906, Thomas and Annie had 13 children, of whom 7 died in infancy:
| Samuel Thomas, 1882: | Shown in the 1891 census, aged 8, not found after that |
| Fanny Louisa, 1883: | Baptised as Annie Louisa. Died in infancy |
| Mary Ann, 1885: | Survived, married Edward Henry Croft in 1906 |
| Agnes, 1887: | Survived, married Thomas Cates in 1906 |
| Thomas, 1889: | Died in infancy |
| Charlotte, 1891: | Died in infancy |
| Elizabeth, 1892: | Died in infancy |
| Sarah, 1893: | Died in infancy |
| George, 1894: | Survived, married Rose Georgina Knight (née Wicks) in 1919 |
| Margaret, 1895: | Survived, married Frederick Charles King in 1914 |
| Harriet, 1897: | Survived, married Robert George Knight in 1919 |
| Richard, 1902: | Died in infancy |
| James, 1906: | Died in infancy |
There is some mystery about their firstborn Samuel Thomas Beech (or Beach per his baptism record). He is with the family in the 1891 census aged 8. After that, no trace of him has been found.
We know from Horton Asylum records that 6 of Thomas’s children were still living in 1902, and Annie recorded in the 1911 census that 6 of their children were still living then. So Samuel must have survived at least until 1911. But where was he?
When a young man is missing from the 1901 census, we look to the Boer War medal records. They record three soldiers named S Beech or Beach. One was killed in 1900, one was from Glasgow, and the other was from Manchester. So, no luck there.
Where did they live?
Thomas and Annie stayed in the Beech family home in Scotland Green, Tottenham for the first few years of their marriage, then moved to Shoreditch. They were at 10 Mary Street in 1885 before moving to Watson’s Place by 1889. While at Watson’s Place, daughters Agnes and Mary Ann attended the primary school at Hammond Square. In 1894 we find the family at 116 Hoxton Street. They stayed at Hoxton Street for several years before moving back to Tottenham where the 1901 census records them at Brooks Cottage, Stack Alley. This was very close to the old family home at 18 Scotland Green to which Thomas’s brother James Beech had recently returned with his family.
Infirmary records from March 1902 give Thomas’s address as 50 Long Street, Union Street, Kingsland Road. So by then they had moved back to Shoreditch once again.
By 1907 they had moved to 62 Hyde Road, Hoxton.
Mental illness
The first record we have of Thomas’s illness is in March 1902. He had been brought from Holloway prison to the Shoreditch infirmary by order of a police magistrate, and on medical advice from Dr Scott, the prison doctor, who considered him to be of unsound mind. The Shoreditch medical officers found him to be insane:
“He was depressed. He said that, even here, he hears voices of his relatives by night and sees things at times. He owned to having attempted suicide”
The likely cause of his condition was “Drink”. He was ordered to be received into Horton Asylum, where he stayed for 3 months.
Five years later, In December 1907, Thomas was admitted to Horton again.
“He is raving and using filthy language. Mistakes the identity of patients. Converses with imaginary people. Rambles in his talk. Has various hallucinations. Sometimes he fancies that the ward is full of Animals. At other times he sees his Heavenly Father. “
The case notes disclose that he had spent 14 days in Holloway prison (presumably in 1902), and a month in Pentonville and Brixton. He had suffered from consumption for two years, and tapeworm for the last few weeks. He had attempted suicide by drinking carbolic acid. He’d had the DT’s and had thrown himself under a cart.
Diagnosis: Alcoholic hallucinosis.
Thomas died at Horton on 29 July 1908, from a diseased heart. He was buried there on 4 August, in grave 181b.
