I have previously written about Thomas and his family in my blogpost: Hallgate Zion Independent Chapel in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Thomas and his family are included in the Sargison tree which includes people in the parishes of Eastrington, South Cave and Cottingham.

While I was on a recent visit to the East Riding Archives in Beverley, I came across a document which provided further information about Thomas. While he had been living with his mother and sisters in the 1841 census, there was no occupation recorded against his name; this had piqued my interest. The reference number for the document I consulted was QAL/2/4/1 and it’s a pauper lunatic return dated 1846 relating to Thomas. In it provides some personal details; he is aged 33, male and chargeable to the parish of Rowley. At the time of the document, he was living with his mother in Cottingham and the weekly cost of his maintenance was three shillings. He was said to be an idiot not dangerous to himself or others but that he had dirty habits. Thomas was said to have been of unsound mind since his birth. There are further returns for Thomas in 1842 (QAL/2/1/1), 1843 (QAL/2/2/1) and 1844 (QAL/2/3/1). What I’ve not been able to determine is why he was chargeable to the parish of Rowley not Cottingham. The entry for Rowley in Lewis’ 1848 topographical dictionary o England says the following:

Not long after the return of 1846 Thomas died. His death on 23 November 1846 was probably at his mother’s house described as Crescent Street George Street, Cottingham. He was 36 and described as the son of Thomas Sargeson labourer. It looks like someone perhaps associated with the Hallgate chapel reported his death as it wasn’t reported by either his mother or sisters. Do contact me if you have any further information which you are willing to share with me.

Bibliography:

Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed May 2023.

Cottingham. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Cottingham : accessed May 2023.

Lewis, Samuel ed. (1848) A Topological Directory of England. London: Lewis. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england : accessed May 2023.