Thurtell and Related Families    

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Notes for Thomas THURTELL

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According to the Thurtell Family History done by Susan Persia Thurtell
about 1968 and information received from the Norwich Public Library on
the records of the Thurtell family, Thomas Thurtell was born in 1765 and
died in April 1846. He was a member of the Norwich Common Council in
1812, alderman of Conisford Ward in 1814, sheriff in 1815, and mayor
in1828. He married Susanna Brown, who died in 1848. They had nine
children. Thomas lived at Harford Hall Farm, Ibswich Road, Lakenham,
England. He was obviously a person of an extremely tempestuous, violent,
and unforgiving character. His treatment of his family was often
tyrannical, and one feels that much of their criminal behavior was his
responsibility. He refused to pay the lawyer's expenses in connection
with John's trial; he deprived Charles of his promised marriage
settlement and legacy (owing in part to William's influence); and his
mayoralty was extremely stormy.

The Thurtell family tree done by Harriet Thurtell about 1900 lists the
children of Thomas and Susanna Brown Thurtell as: Thomas (m. Sarah
Brooks), John, Horace, James, and two Daughters who died unmarried. This
is obviously the same family since the dates of death of Thomas and
Susanna Brown Thurtell are in the family tree. The information from the
Norwich Public Libraries received by James L. Buck of Hobland Hall in
September 1964, and copied and sent to Irene Thurtell Foresman Peters
and copied and sent to Susan Persia Thurtell about 1967 is probably much
more accurate.

Information received from Peter Murray in 1997 shows that Thomas
Thurtell, baptised July 21, 1765, at St. Julian, Norwich, Norfolk,
England, died April 8, 1846, aged 81, and was a "highly respected and
opulent merchant of Norwich" and three times mayor of Norwich. A
prominent member of the Whig party in Norwich, he became a member of the
Common Council in 1812, alderman in 1815, sheriff in 1815, and mayor in
1828 (elected by the Court of Aldermen after two inconclusive popular
votes). He was mayor in 1829 when the Old Fye Bridge was built, as
indicated on a brass tablet uncovered in 1932 when the bridge was
widened. It is most noteworthy that he was chosen as mayor even after
the trial and execution of his son John, and in fact had disowned him.
He had done his best to set his sons Thomas and John up in business in
1814, and they purchased and manufactured silks and bombasin for him.
Later they became involved in something underhanded that he (the father)
knew nothing about. Nevertheless, he appears to have survived this
scandal, and others which followed in connection with his sons, with
undiminished reputation. His mayoralty appears to have been extremely
tempestuous and his critics vocal; and the dreadful legal troubles of his
sons must have caused much grief, but in the obituary on his death it is
stated that he was universally esteemed as an honest and upright man.

He married, in Blundeston, Suffolk, on September 25, 1787, Susannah
Browne, who was born in 1764 and died in 1848. Susannah's sister, Anne
Browne, married Thomas' brother, John Thurtell; and her brother, Robert
Browne, married Thomas' sister, Sarah Thurtell, in a triple wedding
ceremony at the Church of St. Mary in Blundeston.

Thomas Thurtell was still living in Flixton Parish at the time of his
marriage, presumably with his father. He, his wife, and a daughter are
buried in the new church at Lakenham; and two of their children are
buried in the churchyard of Lakenham Old Church. His residence was
Harford Hall farm, by Harford Bridge, on the Ipswich Road, in Lakenham
Parish. We are told that he farmed this property under Southwell,
landlord, and died there. However, property records for the farm
apparently show that Thomas, described as esquire, only occupied it as
lessee between 1811 and 1819, so perhaps the rest of the time there was
some other arrangement. Lakenham was at that time very close by Norwich
to the south, and is now well within the city. In the index of Norwich
city officers, Thomas appears in 1815 as alderman, South Conisford, and
in the same year as sheriff.

Thomas and Susannah (Browne) Thurtell had 10 children according to family
sources, but the names of the last three listed and other details are the
result of subsequent research. In some contemporary records some of
these children have been associated with Hobland Hall and the name of
their father Thomas confused with John, presumably as a result of staying
for a time with their uncle John Thurtell of Hobland Hall.

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