In the introductory paragraph to his family tree (tree B) on John Tilbury's website,
David Tilbury wrote that the family bible states that Thomas was born at Colvil Court,
St. Pancras, London on 22nd April 1777. At the bottom of my Family Tree page will be
found evidence which gives a birth date a few days earlier than this for a child whom
I suspect was the same Thomas Tilbury. Copies of extracts from the family bible recently
received have failed to provide a satisfactory answer to my suspicion.
Colville Place W1, probably once Colville Court, stands on the approximate site of
an 18th century windmill erected on the land known as Crabtree Field, owned at that
time by William Beresford. It was situated a little to the West of the long
hedge-lined lane which led to the old manor house named Tottenham Court.
When Beresford died in about 1717 the land was inherited by his widow Ann who,
shortly after, fell in love with a local carpenter John Goodge and the two were
married. They enjoyed many years of companionship together but John outlived his
wife and died in 1748, the land then passing into the hands of his nephews Frances
and William. In the following years these two started to prepare the land for
development, but they were not large-scale developers and it seemed right that they
should seek the skill of a more qualified man. On recommendation they contracted a
substantial part of the work out to John Colville but were unaware that he had never
before attempted anything of this magnitude. He was a mere small-time builder and
carpenter and evidence soon came to light that he was ill equipped to tackle the
major project of building streets and houses. John Colville built the 'Place' and
part of some of the streets around but, long before the work was completed, he found
himself in dire straights and fell into obscurity.
Thomas was married to Ann Durden of Parsonage House, West Drayton, Middlesex at St.
Marylebone Parish Church on the 19th April 1801 by the Rev'd Benjamin Lawrence.
They are known to have had at least thirteen children and that most of these survived
to adulthood is perhaps testament to their social and economic standing.
The earliest-known reference to Thomas's occupation appeared in the London Directory
of 1810. He and his partner were listed as Tilbury and Beats, Brass manufacturers,
with an address at 10 Pitt St., Fitzroy Square. The 1820 edition of the
directory carried two entries for Tilbury and Beats with addresses at 10 Pitt St.,
Tottenham Court Rd. and 22 Gt. Titchfield St., Oxford Market but no trace of the
whereabouts of their brass foundry has so far been discovered.
The 1841 Census shows Thomas residing at 40 Castle St. East, now Eastcastle St.,
which lies just North of and almost parallel to London's Oxford Street.
Thomas died on the 19th December 1857 at Mornington Road, St. Pancras and was buried
in grave number 8533 at Highgate St. James (West) Cemetery in Swains Lane. The grave,
which was purchased by his wife Ann, became her last resting place in 1861 and also
that of their eldest son, Thomas, in 1875. The last will of Thomas senior, made on
the 17th December 1852 and proved on the 8th February 1858, left everything to Ann
and was witnessed by George Joseph Draper and Arthur Swann Draper, both of 88 Gt.
Titchfield St., Marylebone. These two brothers, children of Joseph and Mary Draper,
appear in the 1881 Census, as do a number of their relatives, most of whom were in
the building and allied trades and therefore probably former customers and friends
of Thomas. Joseph Peter Draper, an ironmonger of 116 Great Titchfield St., another
son of Joseph and Mary Draper, is shown in the Highgate Cemetery records as having
been the last owner of grave 8533.