Thomas Roades Showell was born in 1736 in Yardley, to the east of Birmingham, and died in 1786, aged 49. He left a neat copper-plate written will, in which he describes himself as a victualler. At his death, he owned a number of properties and was most notably the proprietor and licensee of the Talbot Pub in Yardley.
Street view of Talbot Pub building in Yardley, May 2022
His parents were Joseph Showell and Elizabeth Roades, who had married in Yardley on 1 Jan 1729. On 12 Nov 1764 Thomas had married Mary Bissell, the daughter of Thomas Bissell. They had seven children, all listed in the will and baptised in St Edburgha’s Yardley viz. Ann (bap 8 Aug 1766), Elizabeth (bap 1 Jul 1767), Joseph (bap 18 Aug 1769), Thomas (bap 1 Jan 1771), Charles (bap 29 Dec 1772), Walter (bap 15 Jul 1774) and Mary (bap 31 May 1776). However, the Parish register for St Edburgha’s records on the very same date as the baptism of Mary (ie 31 May 1776) there was a simultaneous burial of Mary, his wife.
It would appear that Thomas rapidly remarried a widow, Jane Parkes, on 17 Oct 1776 and had two further daughters, Jane and Esther, both mentioned in the will. But his second marriage did not last long, Jane Showell recorded as dying around 30 Dec 1784, after a long illness. At Thomas’s own death it is clear that Elizabeth, his second daughter, now aged 18, was living with him and had almost certainly taken on many household duties from her step mother. His eldest daughter, Ann, had married her first husband William Smith on 12 Oct 1784 in St Philip’s Birmingham.
Thomas’s will sets out his wish that two trustees, his ‘good friends’, Richard Chambers, Gentleman, and Samuel Hopkins, Maltster, both of Yardley should manage his estate to provide income for the apprenticeships and education of his young children. Samuel Hopkins was probably related to Thomas’s brother-in-law, Richard Hopkins, who had married, his sister, Elizabeth Showell back on 1 Sep 1754.
Thomas Roades Showell was buried in St Edburgha’s on 19 Feb 1786.
Sales particulars of Talbot Pub, Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 6 Mar 1786
Sources and Notes
- Will of Thomas Roades Showell, Probate 17 May 1786 (Worcester Record Office)
- Jane Parkes was possibly the widow of John Parkes, button maker who had died and left a will, Probate Lichfield 1774. Thomas’s oldest son, Joseph had served an apprenticeship as a Button Maker, although later he too was to become a Licensed Victualler.
- The precise burial date of Jane Showell, Thomas’s second wife is illegible, just Dec 1784. Aris’s Birmingham Gazette of 3 Jan 1785 announces that Mrs Showell of Yardley died a few days ago.