Thomas Wells family

Thomas Wells was a boiler maker like his father William Wells.

William was the eldest son of John Wells who had a successful transport business based in Fawcett St in the centre of Hull at the south end of Paragon Street where Staples now stands. Instead of inheriting the business William first became a blacksmith and then went on to be a boiler maker. If you’ve got a transport business in Victorian England having a blacksmith in the family is very useful. John’s business passed to his 3^rd son Henry, initially continuing to be based in Fawcett Street, then moving to Regent Street.

John Wells born 10 August 1808

John’s transport business was based at a succession of properties in Fawcett Street, Hull. During 1861 their address is even Wells Yard Fawcett Street. The 1920 photograph below shows 22 Fawcett St where they lived in 1871, it’s quite a grand house for working class folk of the time. On the basis that even numbers are usually on the right hand side of the road, number 22 will be the house on the right in the picture.

Exerts from Alan Godfrey maps of Hull (West) 1908 and Kingston upon Hull (East) 1928 spliced showing the location of Fawcett Street highlighted in yellow, new roads are hand drawn in blue.

The census returns often describe John as a rulley man. A rulley is a flat backed horse drawn wagon for carrying goods, examples can be seen in Hull’s Streetlife museum on High Street.

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