Thomas Joseph Chapman’s family tree

Thomas was born at 7 ½ Norfolk in Hull in 1857. By the time of the 1861 census his father, George, had died and his mother, Sarah Agnes, was working as a laundress. He was obviously close to his mother because after he married he lived at 3 New Zealand Terrace and his mother lived at 2 New Zealand Terrace. When Thomas and Mary moved to Adas Avenue, Sarah Agnes moved into their old house at 3 New Zealand Terrace. There is a 1939 photograph of New Zealand Terrace below left. By the time of the 1901 census Thomas was a slater and tiler foreman. He and his family were living in Blenheim Street just off Princes Avenue, the whole street still stands and is shown in the photograph below right. You can see from the photographs that Blenheim Street is much grander than New Zealand Terrace. Thomas clearly did well for himself.

Image of New Zealand Terrace provided by Hull History Services An image of Blenheim Street taken from Google maps.

Thomas Joseph Chapman was a slater and tiler by profession. I found a document in the Hull History Centre, part of which is shown to the right. It is an apprenticeship agreement issued by the National Association of Slate Merchants and Slaters giving details of Thomas Joseph Chapman of 22 Blenheim Street taking on an apprentice called Samuel Poupard on 8^th March 1902. The section of the document shown here shows us Thomas’ signature in his own hand and tells us that he worked for H Williamson & Co. New information! Thomas died at home of Valvular Disease of the Heart and Bronchitis on 18 June 1909 at the age of 52. His son Francis (Frank) reported the death.

Thomas’ father George, a groom by trade, was born around 1814 in the village of Binbrook on the Lincolnshire Wolds (see photo further down the page) and moved to Hull sometime before the 1851 census when he is listed as living as a lodger in Blue Bell Entry. This is still his address on his marriage certificate dated 1^st September 1853, by which time he was 39 years old. His wife Sarah Agnes Sowerby was living on Anlaby Road and was the daughter of a policeman, Robert Sowerby, who was born in 1805 in Everingham, just west of Market Weighton. Blue Bell Entry no longer stands, the western end of Garrison Road flyover starts at approximately the spot where the entrance to Blue Bell entry used to stand. There are a couple of old photographs and an old map of Blue Bell Entry below.

Below is an excerpt from the large scale Alan Godfrey map of Hull Old Town 1853 showing the location of Blue Bell Entry off High Street. The western end of Garrison Road flyover starts close to where the entrance to Blue Bell Entry once stood, the flyover is hand drawn in blue and Blue Bell Entry is highlighted in yellow.
The Church in Binbrook c. 2005. This is probably where George and his father James were baptised.

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