My research
into the history of Loughborough takes me in all sorts of directions, down all
manner of rabbit holes, and just occasionally I find I have taken a completely
wrong turn! This was the case with one piece of research I did, which saw me
investigating the life and times of William Cartwright. Of course, I was fully
aware from the outset that there were Loughborough families with the name of
Cartwright, and even several people called William Cartwright, but on this
occasion, I set off in the wrong direction, based on an erroneous assumption!
This is most unlike me! I rarely make assumptions, so this all took me a bit by
surprise!
Well, rather
than let all that research into William Cartwright go to waste, and languish in
my research files, I thought I’d share it here on the blog, after all, this
particular William Cartwright was born and brought up in Loughborough, so is
totally relevant to this blog!
So, let’s go!
William
Cartwright’s grandfather was James, a farmer, originally from Derbyshire.
William’s father was William Ambrose Cartwright who was born in Loughborough
and who married Ann Haywood (née Bailey) on 15 October 1849 in All Saints
church in Loughborough, when they were both aged 20. At the time, William
Ambrose was a hosiery assistant in Angola wool, presumably at the factory of
Richard Cartwright on Queen Street, who had begun the company in 1794, and soon joined forces with Edward Warner. The company employed around 2,000 workers in 1892, and is probably still well-remembered today.
Back to William Ambrose and Ann ... The couple’s first child
was William Thomas, whose birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1850, and
who was baptised on 21 March 1851 at Emmanuel Church, by the Reverend Bunch. At
the time, the family were living on Leicester Road, and lodging with them were
65-year-old William Vickers, a landed proprietor, and 66-year-old Elizabeth
Vickers, an annuitant. The household had one servant, local girl, Emma Rossell.
A second son
was born to William Ambrose and Ann in 1852, and he was named Thomas Bailey
Cartwright, after Ann’s family. Another son, James, was born and was baptised
on 18th March 1857 at All Saints church. In 1859, a daughter, Carrie, was born,
and the family were living on Leicester Road in 1861, William Ambrose being a
32-year-old hosier’s warehouseman.
Sadly, Ann, wife
of William Ambrose and mother to William Thomas, died in December 1862. In
March of 1864, William Ambrose married Betsey Amatt at All Saints church, and
in 1865 a child, Henry, a half-brother to William Thomas was born. In 1866 we
find William Thomas, now aged 16 studying magnetism and electricity with the
Loughborough Institute (possibly the Mechanics Institute), for which he
obtained a second-class prize.
William
Thomas’s half-brother, Albert Edward Harley was born in August 1867 but sadly
he did not survive into childhood, and died on 18th February 1868. Another
half-brother to William Thomas, named George, was born in 1870, at a time when
William Ambrose had risen from the ranks of hosier’s warehouseman to a hosiery
manufacturer, and when he was initiated into the Howe and Charnwood Lodge of
the Freemasons.
William
Ambrose and wife, Betsy, were living on Stanford Lane, which on the census
return for 1871 was listed just after Meadow Lane. Also living there were
Thomas Bailey, James, Carrie, Henry aged 6, George E. aged 1, and two servants.
Meanwhile, William Thomas was aged 20, and boarding with a family in Nottingham
– Melbourne Street (Sherwood?), where he was a solicitor’s articled clerk. The
family he was lodging with were the Bramelds – widow Anne aged 60, her daughter
Mary, a governess aged 25, her sons Herbert 24, and Godfrey 22, both banker’s
clerks – and one servant.
On 15 October
1874, William Thomas Cartwright married Mary Isabel Brameld (the governess listed
in the 1871 census return), at St Stephen’s church in Sneinton, Nottingham. The
home address was given as Belvoir Terrace. William was noted as a solicitor, his
father William Ambrose was quoted as a merchant, and Isabel’s father was John
Thomas Brameld a clerk in holy orders – a bit of a change from the time of
Mary’s birth on 2 October 1845, and baptism on 13 November that year at St
James, Westminster, when he was a china dealer.
A few years
later, the 1881 census records William Thomas and Mary as living at 6 Park
Terrace, Standard Hill, within the limits of Nottingham Castle, with daughters Edith
5, and Annie 4, and sons Thomas W. 2, and George A. aged 1. They also have three
servants. Today, Park Terrace is a private road which runs parallel to the
Ropewalk in Nottingham.
Another son,
Vincent Henry, was born on 8 September 1882, and baptised 19 October 1882 at St
Mary’s in Nottingham, while the family were living at Newcastle Drive Park. Vincent
would later attend Rugby School, and matriculate for Oxford University in 1901.
He played rugby, and later became a solicitor. In 1884, William was appointed as
joint clerk to the magistrates of Nottingham, along with his business partner,
Mr F. G. Rawson. Mr Rawson died in 1886, and William Thomas was appointed to the
position solely, but later shared the duties with his sons, Thomas William, and
Vincent Henry.
In 1891, William
Thomas, now aged 40, was still a solicitor; wife Mary was aged 45, daughters
Annie 14, and Margaret 5, and son Cecil Bailey aged 3, were living with four
servants at 1 Newcastle Drive, Standard Hill, Nottingham. Meanwhile, the couple’s
other four sons, all born in Nottingham - Thomas William (12), George Ambrose
(11) Arthur James (9) and Vincent Henry (8) - were at school in Brighton, possibly
at Chisham Place. A couple of years later, Betsy, William Thomas’s step-mother in
Loughborough, died in 1893.
The family
continued to live at 7 Newcastle Drive, and in 1901, William Thomas was aged
51, and a solicitor, his wife Mary Isabel was aged 55, and the children living
at home were Edith aged 25, Annie aged 24, (neither of whom were working),
Thomas William, a solicitor aged 22, and George A. a mechanical engineer aged
21. The family were supported by four live-in servants.
Later, in
December 1901, Cecil Bailey Cartwright, a student at Rugby College, died at the
school, at the age of only 14. An obituary in the Rugby Advertiser of 21
December states that Cecil was a bright, intelligent boy, who had been taken
ill, and died a few weeks later. His funeral was in Nottingham, and there was a
simultaneous service held at the Chapel in Rugby School. As a consequence of
Cecil’s death, his brother, Vincent Henry, who was the football forward for Oxford
University’s team, and who had been due to play sot the South against the North
of England, dropped out of the team.
A few months
later, in April 1902, William Thomas’s father, William Ambrose of Loughborough,
died, and less than a year later, in March 1903, William’s wife, Mary died.
1903 brought happier news, when William’s half-brother, Henry Ernest, married
Ann Elizabeth Pidd, daughter of Charles Pidd, a tailor. The address given was
13 Burton Street, presumably, Nottingham as the couple were married in Holy
Trinity church, Nottingham, but could have been Loughborough.
In 1910,
William Thomas was listed in Wright’s trade directory of Nottingham as a
solicitor with Freeth, Rawson, & Cartwright & city magistrates’ clerk,
at 13 Low Pavement, but living at 7 Newcastle Drive Park, Nottingham. Son,
Thomas William was also listed with the same solicitors, and living at 1
Wellington Square, Nottingham, which was very close to Newcastle Drive. The
following year, the census returns listed William Thomas as a 60-year-old
solicitor, still living at 7 Newcastle Drive Nottingham, which had 16 rooms. His
two daughters (not working) – Edith Mary aged 35, and Margaret Helen aged 25 –
were also living there, as was son Vincent Henry now aged 28, who was a
solicitor. The family still had four servants. The electoral rolls between 1911
and 1914 show that William Thomas was still living at 7 Newcastle Drive,
Nottingham, and owned property at Long Clawson. In 1915, William Thomas suffered
a seizure, and as a consequence reduced the amount of public work he did.
The 1921
census return was taken on 19 June that year, and William was still listed as a
solicitor, but was possibly still poorly as he had a male attendant, a domestic
nurse, as well as three servants, and was being visited by family members from
Australia – son Arthur James, his wife, Marjorie, and their children Arthur
William Alexander, Isabel Mary Ruth, and Ian Hebburn Scott. William’s two
daughters lived with him – Edith Mary aged 45 on house duties, and Margaret
Helen aged 35, a private secretary working on Oxford Street, Nottingham.
On 22 December
1921 William Thomas Cartwright of 7 Newcastle Drive, The Park, Nottingham, died.
Probate was granted 20 January 1922 to his son, the solicitor Thomas William
Cartwright. Effects were £1,103. The funeral took place on 24 December, at Nottingham
church cemetery, and amongst the mourners attending was James Cartwright, William’s
younger brother, who had made a name for himself in Loughborough – but his
story is for another day, as is the story of the William Cartwright I had meant
to research!!
____________________________________
Posted by
lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for
typos which are all mine!
_______________________________________________
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Dyer, Lynne
(2025). So Who Was William Thomas Cartwright. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/06/so-who-was-william-thomas-cartwright.html [Accessed 8 June 2025]
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