Thomas Parnell

My 3rd Great Grandfather, 1810 - 1889

​Thomas was born in Totnes, Devon in 1810, the fourth child of Samuel and Susanna. His father, Samuel was a shoemaker and Thomas was one of six children.  

By 1841, aged 31, Thomas had moved to Liverpool. Why did he make this move? I imagine that he moved because the booming city of Liverpool offered more opportunities than Totnes. Also, Totnes was a port with connections to Liverpool; maybe Thomas made contacts before he moved. 

Thomas married Sarah Atkins when he was 35 and worked as a draper. He and Sarah had four children – Samuel George, Ann, Thomas and William.

By the time Thomas was 41, he was no longer a draper but was a licensed victualler (publican) at 15 Lord Nelson Street. Thomas Parnell and Nathaniel Crane purchased the 75-year lease of 15 Lord Nelson Street and the adjacent concert hall at a price of £310 p.a. The modern photograph above shows 15 Lord Nelson Street, a handsome Georgian building, with the former concert hall next door.   

​In 1830 the Beerhouse Act had been passed which enabled any household to obtain a licence to sell beer. The licence cost two guineas. 24,342 licences were issued in Liverpool alone; the city had more cases of drunkenness that any seaport in the country! Business was booming! 

The 1851 census shows what a busy household this was. Thomas and Sarah were living there with their two children, Samuel George and Ann. In addition, there was a lady visitor, two servants and a lodger who worked as a Railway Guard. I assume there were public licenced premises on the ground floor.  By 1861, the Census shows just the couple with two children, Thomas and William, plus two servants.

I have found almost twenty press cuttings relating to Thomas over the years. These include: adverts for servants and staff, licence transfers, adverts for concert tickets, notices of meetings of the Phoenix Permanent Building Society and Savings Fund, notices to let a tobacconist’s shop and a hotel and advertisements for staff for other premises. I do not know if Thomas was acting on someone else’s behalf or whether these were all his business interests. ​I also found a press report of Thomas appearing as a witness in a case against a refreshment house, situated opposite 15 Lord Nelson Street, which was disorderly and selling wine illegally!

​Interestingly, the links to the Liberal Party continue with Thomas. In 1859, the Liverpool Mercury reported an event of the Financial Reform Association with a soirée for 3000 people at the Philharmonic Hall. This soirée was stated to be “one of the Liberal Party’s most brilliant and enthusiastic demonstrations of Liberals that ever took place in the city”. Thomas Parnell was a member of the reception committee for this event.  The soiree looked to be a very grand affair; the menu included: "Hams, Chickens, Shoulders of lamb farcie, Tongues, Ditto of turkeys, Soles in aspic, Boars heads, Roast capons, Lobster salads, Roulades of beef, Roast chickens, Moulds of wine jellies, Ribs of beef, Ditto partridges, Blanc manges, Collared brawns, Ditto pheasants, Italian creams, Collared eels, Raised pies, Gateaux Napolitaine, Galantines of veal, Game pies, Small pastry." Clearly there were no vegetarians in those times!

Thomas’s wife Sarah died aged only 46. However, three years later and aged 60, Thomas married Amelia Kirby, a widow from Southport. The couple re-located to 3 Church Street, West Derby. This was very much a move to 'the suburbs'.  West Derby was a village with an ‘interesting mix of saddlers, cowmen, gardeners and other small tradesmen and stockbrokers, cotton merchants, solicitors and surgeons”. Thomas was once again recorded as a draper. I am unclear if he still owned 15 Lord Nelson Street. Amelia passed away only 4 years later at the age of 54. Her will shows that she left all her estate to Thomas. We do not know how much this was as it was simply recorded as being under £1500 (under £200,000 in today’s money).

We then find a record of Thomas marrying for a third time, aged 71! His wife, Elizabeth, was 57 at the time of marriage. The couple continued to live at West Derby; his occupation was shown as a retired draper.

​Thomas Parnell died on 2 August 1889 when he was 79 years old. His estate was valued at £270 (£26,000 in today’s money).