Thomas Morgan

Thomas Morgan was born in Jamaica Street in the centre of Bristol on 14 Mar 1850 and was the first of the Morgans to move to London and pursue a literate career. His grandfather Isaac Morgan originally came from Luccombe on the edge of Exmoor. 

Thomas Morgan aged 48

In the 1871 census he is still living in Bristol with his sister and brother-in-law, Sarah and Elliot Rogers. Here he describes himself as a carpenter, which was the profession of Elliot Rogers. Very shortly after this Thomas must have moved to the East End of London, where he is recorded as having married Margaret Sarah Chiswick in Poplar. The marriage took place at All Saints Church in Poplar on 4 Nov 1872. He is described as a ‘porter’ and it seems likely that none of the close family attended the ceremony – at least none acted as witnesses. It has to have been a speedy and perhaps not fully approved affair – Margaret was the eldest daughter in a large family, whose mother had died in 1870.

According to the censuses the new growing Morgan family of eleven children, nine of whom survived, had a number of addresses across East London, moving from Poplar to Bow to Plaistow and eventually to East Ham. From being a ‘porter’ in 1872, his work in the nearby London Docks progressed to him being a Dock Foreman by his forties. Later he described himself as a Wool Valuer as he probably took a less physical job in the later portion of his working life.

Thomas Morgan in about 1905

There are two photos of him both probably taken around the turn of the century.

His family continued to be fairly close to that of his sister’s, Sarah Ann Rogers. The Rogers’ moved up to London probably shortly after Thomas. Both Sarah Rogers and his widow Margaret Sarah Morgan lived into the 1930’s.

His other eldest sister Mary Jane Kerslake emigrated to Iowa in the United States. Thomas’s eldest son Thomas was to follow her there. As were a number of the Rogers family, including eventually his sister Sarah Rogers.

Thomas does not seem to have attended or be acknowledged at his son William’s wedding in 1908. This is difficult to properly explain. In the 1911 census the family can be found in 394 Strone Road, East Ham.  His two younger daughters, Amy and Armoral, are still living at home and Thomas is visiting from the United States.

Thomas died on 6 November 1918 in Strone Road in the presence of his second eldest son William Henry Morgan. His death certificate mentions paralysis and influenza as the cause of death.