Thomas Reynolds

LIFE GOES ON: AN INTRODUCTION

MY GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

THE SIXTEEN FAMILIES

KNOTT - I - BOWLES - I - WATERS - I - HARRALL - I - PAGE - I - WISEMAN - I - CROSS - I - CARTER

CORNWELL - I - HUCKLE - I - MORTLOCK - I - MANSFIELD - I - REYNOLDS - I - CARTER - I - ANABLE - I - STEARN

CHRONOLOGY - I - DRAMATIS PERSONAE - I - WHERE PEOPLE CAME FROM - I - CALENDAR

MAP OF ELY - I - MAP OF MEDWAY
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE AND DISTRICT

THE WORKHOUSE

WORLD WAR I - I - WORLD WAR II

simonknott.co.uk I home I e-mail

LIFE GOES ON

Frederick Thomas Reynolds
born Duxford, Cambridgeshire, 16th October 1878
Died Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, August 1944

on the Reynolds family tree
part of the Reynolds and Carter family stories

married to Alice Mary Anable

father of Winifred Ellen Reynolds

son of
Robert Reynolds
and Mary Ann Carter

Frederick Thomas Reynolds (1878-1944). My Mother's Mother's Father. My Great-Grandfather.

Frederick Thomas Reynolds, always known as Thomas or Tom, was the eighth of nine children born to a poor rural family on the Cambridgeshire/Essex border. By the age of 12 he was at work, as a farm boy in Duxford. At 22, he was still living at home and working as an agricultural labourer in Dry Drayton, on the outskirts of Cambridge. A lot happened in the next ten years, because the 1911 census finds him married to Alice Anable with four children, the oldest of whom was my grandmother, and living at West Wratting. Alice Anable came from a Dry Drayton family, although at the time Thomas was living in Dry Drayton in 1901 she was working as a live-in servant in the centre of Cambridge. Thomas and Alice were married just four months before their eldest daughter, my grandmother Winifred Ellen, was born.

In 1911, Thomas was working as a horse keeper, a skilled position on any farm, at a farm which appears to have had the raising and training of horses as its main business. He would work with horses for much the rest of his life. However, when the First World War broke out, he enlisted as a Private soldier in the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment.

The 1st Suffolks were part of the 28th Division of the Army. The Long Long Trail website records that the 28th was formed at Hursley, Pitt Hill and Magdalen Hill Camp near Winchester in December 1914 - January 1915 and was rushed as a much-needed reinforcement to France. Shortage of some types of units were filled by Territorial units taken from other Divisions. It embarked at Southampton and landed at Le Havre on 16-19 January 1915 (Thomas Reynolds's medal record shows that his battalion arrived in France six months later, on the 8th of June) and then moved to concentrate in the area between Bailleul and Hazebrouck. The Division subsequently took part in the Second Battle of Ypres (but this was before Thomas Reynolds disembarked) and the Battle of Loos (where Thomas probably fought, and where the British first used poison gas on a large scale). The Division was ordered on 19 October 1915 to to prepare to sail. The first units left Marseilles for Alexandria (Egypt) five days later and all units were there by 22 November. The Division was then ordered on to Salonika and completed its disembarkation on 4 January 1916.

The Division spent the rest of the War in the Eastern Mediterranean, a much safer theatre than the Western Front in France. The Reynolds's youngest daughter was named Ruth Salonika Reynolds in commemoration of where her father was when she was born. On returning, Thomas Reynolds and his family moved to Cambridge, where Thomas took a job with the Star Brewery on Newmarket Road as a drayman, delivering Tollemache Ales to pubs in Cambridge and the surrounding villages. They lived on Shelley Row. He died at the relatively young age of 64 in 1944, and was buried in Dry Drayton graveyard.

1878: Frederick Thomas Reynolds was born on the 16th October at Duxford Grange, Cambridgeshire. His parents were Robert Reynolds, a labourer, and Mary Ann Reynolds, formerly Carter. The informant was Robert Reynolds, Thomas's father, who signed with the mark of a cross - that is to say, he was illiterate.

1881 census:

Thomas was two years old at the time of the 1881 census. The family address is given as Cottage, Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Thomas's parents are shown as Robert Reynolds, an agricultural labourer aged 40, and Mary Ann Reynolds, aged 39.

Thomas was the youngest of eight children at the time of the 1881 census. Alfred, an agricultural labourer, was 16, John, an agricultural labourer, was 14, Emily was 13, Annie was 10, Eliza was 8, Edmund was 6, and Ellen was 4.

Thomas was born at Duxford in Cambridgeshire according to the 1901 census. His father Robert is recorded as having been born at Old Sanford in Essex, actually Great Sampford, and his mother at Shudy Camps in Cambridgeshire. Of the children, Alfred and Ellen were also born in Duxford. Eliza and Edmund were born in Great Chesterford in Essex, and John, Emily and Annie were born at Ickleton in Cambridgeshire. The transcript for their entry is here.

Interestingly, two cottages away are two more Reynolds, James Reynolds and Abigail Reynolds, the parents of Robert Reynolds. James Reynolds was 72 years old at the time of the 1882 census. He is shown as an agricultural labourer. His wife Abigail was 67 years old. James was born at Old Sanford in Essex, and Abigail was born at Radwinter in Essex. The transcript for their entry is here.

1891 census:

Thomas was twelve years old at the time of the 1901 census. He was living at home with his parents at Duxford Heath, Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Thomas is shown as a farm boy. Thomas's parents are shown as Robert Reynolds, an agricultural labourer aged 50, and Mary Ann Reynolds, aged 49.

Thomas was the third of four children at the time of the 1891 census. Edmund Reynolds, a shepherd boy, was 15, Ellen S Reynolds was 14, and Robert G Reynolds was 9. Also living with them was their nephew Ernest W Carter, aged 5, born in Thriplow, Cambridgeshire.

Thomas was born at Duxford in Cambridgeshire according to the 1891 census. His father Robert is recorded as having been born at Old Sandford in Essex, actually Great Sampford, and his mother at Shudy Camps in Cambridgeshire. The other children were also born in Duxford except for Edmund, who was born at Great Chesterford in Essex. The transcript for their entry is here.

1901 census:

Thomas was twenty-two years old at the time of the 1901 census. His birth year is shown as 1879. He was living at home with his parents at High Street, Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire. The street still exists today.

Thomas is shown as an agricultural labourer. He was single.

Thomas's parents are shown as Robert Reynolds, a stockman on a farm, aged 59, and Mary Ann Reynolds, aged 58. They had one other child living at home at the time of the 1901 census, Robert G Reynolds, an agricultural labourer, aged 19. Also living with them was their grandson Ernest Joseph Elzey, aged 3, born in North Bow in London.

The Reynolds household had three lodgers on the night of the census. They were George and Albert Sheet, apparently father and son, and William Jackson. All three were agricultural labourers.

1903: Thomas married Alice Mary Beatrice Anable at St Peter and St Paul, Dry Drayton on November 28th, three months before the birth of their first child, my grandmother Winifred Ellen.

1911 census:

Thomas was thirty-two years old at the time of the 1911 census. The Reynolds family were living at Valley Farm, West Wratting, Cambridgeshire, actually on the edge of the parish and nearer to the village of Fulbourn, today a suburb of Cambridge. Valley Farm had been built as a stables, but today is part of a huge agri-business concern. The four lanes of the A11 cut into the edge of the farm.

Thomas is shown as a horse keeper. His wife Alice was 30 years old. They had been married for 7 years.

Thomas had four children at the time of the 1911 census: my grandmother Winifred was 7, Cecilia was 5, Earnest 4 and Abbgale 1.

Thomas was born at Duxford Grange in Cambridgeshire. Winifred, Cecilia and Earnest were born in Dry Drayton, Abbgale was born at West Wratting. Alice had also been born at Dry Drayton. The transcript for their entry is here.

1919: after returning from the War, Tom took a job with the Star Brewery in Cambridge as a drayman. The family lived at 4 Shelley Row on Castle HIll.

1944: Thomas Reynolds died in Cambridge in the third quarter of 1944. He was buried in Dry Drayton churchyard on 4th September.