THOMAS LEWTAS & ELLEN RAWLINSON OF POULTON
Thomas was born in Poulton on March 4th 1843. He does not seem to have been baptised in St Chad’s – it is possible the family had joined the Methodist church by then. Thomas was the 11th and youngest child of Edward Lewtas and Mary Threlfall. His eldest brother George, named after his paternal grandfather, was 19 years older than Thomas with three other brothers (William, Edward and John) and five sisters (Mary, Anne, Catherine, Isabella and a second Mary who presumably died as an infant) coming in between at regular two year intervals.
Thomas’s father Edward was a successful joiner and cabinet maker with premises on the Breck Edward obviously found plenty of work in the community; it was a period of building in Poulton – for example his name appears in the financial records of the Independent Chapel in Poulton.
It is likely that Thomas had received an decent education, essential for a successful joiner. In the census of 1851 Thomas is recorded as a scholar, along with his brother John 11 and perhaps surprisingly, his sister Isabella aged 16. His father Edward was employing two men possibly showing the successful nature of the family’s business Edward made sure that his sons followed in his trade – each of the five sons was, in his turn, apprenticed as a joiner to his father.
The year 1854 must have been terrible for the family – Thomas, now eleven, lost his brother Edward on July 15th aged 21 and in October his sister Isabella died aged 19. Was there an epidemic in the community? Further difficulties arose when Thomas’s sister Catherine, who was not married, gave birth to a son, whom she christened James, in the same year on January 22nd.
By the time he was eighteen in 1861 Thomas was apprenticed as a joiner to his father Edward. His brothers and sisters had all left the family home in Poulton except for Catherine, in business as a dressmaker, and her son James.
On September 11th 1865 Thomas Lewtas married Ellen Rawlinson, both aged 23, at St Chad’s church Poulton-le-Fylde. The service was conducted by the vicar Thomas Clark but was by Registrar’s Certificate. Thomas, a bachelor, was recorded as a joiner and Ellen, a spinster, was a domestic servant living at Layton Raikes Blackpool. Ellen’s father was William Rawlinson, shoemaker. Ellen made her mark but Thomas signed his name in the marriage register. The witnesses to the marriage were Thomas P Worthington and Catherine Lewtas, Thomas’s sister.
Who was Ellen Rawlinson and where did she come from? Ellen is recorded three times in census returns – 1871, 1881, 1891 all after her marriage to Thomas she has not been located her before her marriage. Ellen must have been about 7 or 8 months pregnant when they were married in September of that year, as their first child was registered in the December quarter of 1865. This probably explains the marriage in church by Registrar’s certificate – an unusual event.
Thomas’s father Edward died in 1869, aged 71 when Thomas was 26, and Thomas appears to have taken over his father’s business living in the family property on Breck Street Poulton. By the time of the 1871 census Thomas had as an apprentice his nephew James the illegitimate son of his sister Catherine. Catherine now had her own home next door to the joinery business and worked as a dressmaker.
In 1873 Thomas decided to move the family – his wife and three daughters – to Blackpool. The Fleetwood Chronicle of 28th February 1873 advertises: ˜Sale on March 5th of an old established joiner’s shop, two stories high with yard at back. Late occupant – Thomas Lewtas. Also two cottages adjacent in Breck Road, one occupied by Miss Lewtas’
Interestingly the birth of Harriet Lewtas – their 5th child – is registered as taking place in Staining, on February 12th 1874. . Maybe Ellen moved back to Staining for Harriet’s birth or the family was living there after selling up in Poulton. Anne their sixth daughter was also born in Poulton – were the family still there or were they already in Blackpool and Ellen returned to Poulton for the birth?
The story moves on 6 years when in 1881 Thomas, Ellen and the six girls were living at 25 High Street Blackpool. Thomas was a joiner and all the girls were recorded as scholars.
By 1891 only four daughters were living at home – Anne had died aged 6 and Mary Alice had married Walter Knott an artist. An error in the 1891 census records Isabella as a librarian and Kate as a home assistant; in fact Kate was the librarian – one of the first women librarians in the country. Ellen 19, a student and Harriet 17 were still at home.
Thomas lived a further 24 years, dying at the end of May 1914 and being buried in Layton Cemetery Blackpool on June 1st 1914 Ellen lived another 12 years, when she died on 4th December 1926 at 192 Whitegate Drive Blackpool age 84. She was buried with her husband
THOMAS & ELLEN’S CHILDREN
Mary Alice Lewtas birth registered December 1865, she married W J Knott an artist She was the only one of the 6 daughters to be given 2 Christian names certainly Mary was the name of her paternal grandmother, maybe Alice was the name of her other grandmother about whom nothing at all is known as yet.
Isabella Lewtas born 1867 she married Tom Beresford who owned a pig farm off Whitegate Drive.
Kate Lewtas born 1868 Kate became one of the first women librarians in the country. She joined the library in 1884 at a salary of 8s a week and became chief librarian in 1891 with pay of £60 a year. On January 1st 1903 she married the Rev Charles Stuart Kitchin, a Congregational Minister, in the Weslyan Chapel, Hounds Hill Blackpool. They later moved to Accrington and emigrated to America.
Ellen Lewtas born 1870 she married Jack Colbeck They went to South Africa but returned.
Harriett Lewtas born 1873 she married J Hilton in December 1901.
Anne Lewtas born in 1876. She died 1881 aged 5 and was buried in Layton Cemetery
Kate Lewtas one of the first women librarians in the country started at Blackpool Library in 1884 earning 8 shiilings a week