#tomalin — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tomalin, aggregated by home.social.
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★★★★★
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
A wonderfully informative and readable biography of one of my favourite writers. It was so well-done that I didn't want the book to end and I am today in mourning for Hardy, though he died nearly a century ago. This American edition was beautifully designed by The Penguin Press, including a reference map of the area around Dorchester by Andrew Farmer.
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★★★★★
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
A wonderfully informative and readable biography of one of my favourite writers. It was so well-done that I didn't want the book to end and I am today in mourning for Hardy, though he died nearly a century ago. This American edition was beautifully designed by The Penguin Press, including a reference map of the area around Dorchester by Andrew Farmer.
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★★★★★
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
A wonderfully informative and readable biography of one of my favourite writers. It was so well-done that I didn't want the book to end and I am today in mourning for Hardy, though he died nearly a century ago. This American edition was beautifully designed by The Penguin Press, including a reference map of the area around Dorchester by Andrew Farmer.
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★★★★★
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin
A wonderfully informative and readable biography of one of my favourite writers. It was so well-done that I didn't want the book to end and I am today in mourning for Hardy, though he died nearly a century ago. This American edition was beautifully designed by The Penguin Press, including a reference map of the area around Dorchester by Andrew Farmer.
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'If he went to church, he explained that it was not "because he believed in it, which he did not, but because it was good for the people to get clean and come together once a week - like discipline in the army."'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 345, taken from the diary of Elliott Felkin.
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'If he went to church, he explained that it was not "because he believed in it, which he did not, but because it was good for the people to get clean and come together once a week - like discipline in the army."'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 345, taken from the diary of Elliott Felkin.
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'If he went to church, he explained that it was not "because he believed in it, which he did not, but because it was good for the people to get clean and come together once a week - like discipline in the army."'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 345, taken from the diary of Elliott Felkin.
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'If he went to church, he explained that it was not "because he believed in it, which he did not, but because it was good for the people to get clean and come together once a week - like discipline in the army."'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 345, taken from the diary of Elliott Felkin.
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'If he went to church, he explained that it was not "because he believed in it, which he did not, but because it was good for the people to get clean and come together once a week - like discipline in the army."'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 345, taken from the diary of Elliott Felkin.
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'The problem of who was to live at Max Gate apart from ghosts remained.'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 316
A wonderful sentence conveying the truth of the complicated situation at Hardy's house after the death of his first wife and displaying Tomalin's great skill as a popular biographer.
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'The problem of who was to live at Max Gate apart from ghosts remained.'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 316
A wonderful sentence conveying the truth of the complicated situation at Hardy's house after the death of his first wife and displaying Tomalin's great skill as a popular biographer.
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'The problem of who was to live at Max Gate apart from ghosts remained.'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 316
A wonderful sentence conveying the truth of the complicated situation at Hardy's house after the death of his first wife and displaying Tomalin's great skill as a popular biographer.
-
'The problem of who was to live at Max Gate apart from ghosts remained.'
📖 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin, p. 316
A wonderful sentence conveying the truth of the complicated situation at Hardy's house after the death of his first wife and displaying Tomalin's great skill as a popular biographer.
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How did young Frederick Tomalin from Long Buckby Wharf end up in a Dublin jail? He didn’t do anything, but that was the problem – his failure to do what he was supposed to is what imprisoned him.
Frederick was born in 1845, eldest child and only son for William Tomalin and Sarah Sophia Holbutt. He was baptised at St Lawrence Church in Long Buckby on 2 February 1845. Father William was a tailor, who also ran the Boat Inn for a short period after the death of his father Thomas who had owned it. Frederick followed his father’s trade, working for him as a tailor by the time he was 16.
Frederick is recorded as living at the Wharf in 1861, with his father. He was only 16 at the time, and was possibly dreaming of a different life, one where he could travel the world and have adventures, maybe thinking of ways to impress the young ladies with his worldly ways. Whatever he was thinking, it drove him to enlist with the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. Maybe he was influenced by the tales of the actions of the Guards during the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman. It would seem though that his hopes for excitement and adventure didn’t match up to the reality of army life.
By the end of 1864 he had done a runner and was caught in Daventry on 10 January 1865:
“Borough Police – January 12th – Before the Mayor. Desertion. – Frederick Tomline, a private in the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards, who deserted about the 25th of December last, was apprehended at Daventry on Wednesday last, and the next morning was brought up and ordered by his Worship to Northampton Gaol, to await the arrival of an escort from his regiment.” Northampton Mercury 1865 Sat 14 Jan
Frederick was taken to London and court martialled on 21 January 1865, charged with desertion and losing necessaries. (Losing necessaries meant he had lost/disposed of/sold the items given to him by the army – basic uniform, boots, washing and cleaning kit etc) He was found guilty and sentenced to 35 days imprisonment with hard labour and stoppages – stopping his pay for the time of his imprisonment to recoup the costs of his missing necessaries.
He returned to army life and presumably behaved himself for a while until September 1866 when he deserted for a second time. Again, he made his way home, and was apprehended at Daventry by PC John Horton, and sent to Northampton to wait for the military authorities. Off to London once more, and he was court martialled for desertion and loss of necessaries on 27 September 1866. This time he received 160 days imprisonment with hard labour, 25 lashes, and stoppages. That’s over 4.5 times the original sentence, with lashes on top. The army did not take kindly to deserters especially serial ones.
Whether this second punishment hardened Frederick’s resolve to leave the army is unknown, but by May 1868 he’d deserted again. The local newspapers reported him as charged in Northampton with being a deserter from the Grenadier Guards but it’s unclear where he was picked up this time. What is clear is that the army court martialled him in Dublin and his residence was put down as Beggars Bush Barracks in Dublin. It is possible that the Grenadiers were stationed there, maybe Frederick was unable to make it all the way back home this time. The charges were the same as the previous two court martials, no lashes but he did receive 168 days imprisonment with hard labour and stoppages. He was imprisoned in the Richmond Bridewell which is now part of the Griffiths College in Dublin. The prison register records that Frederick was 24 years old, 5ft9, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion, with the letters D and B C on his left side.
There are no other army records for Frederick but it’s fair to assume that the army finally kicked him out after his third desertion. He went back home to the Wharf where almost unbelievably he was back in court in June 1869! He was accused of stealing 6 fowls from Mrs Elizabeth Emery in Whilton in May 1869 with his friend Frederick Marks. Fortunately both of them were acquitted.
After possibly too much excitement through his early 20s, Frederick settled down, moving to Birmingham with his father and going back to work as a tailor. He married Emma Swain in 1879 and had four children. Although they lived in Birmingham for years, by 1911 Frederick was in the Daventry Workhouse without Emma, and he died in the Daventry district in 1934. It is possible that his imprisonments with hard labour damaged his health and left him unable to work – no welfare state then, and he most definitely would not have received an army pension!
*With thanks to Eric @Coming2MyCensus and Tara @MsFrugalone for their help in deciphering the court martial records.*
Northampton Mercury 1866 15 Sept
Bedfordshire Mercury 1868 2 May
Northampton Mercury 1869 19 Jun
Calendar of Prisoners for Trial at the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the Year 1869 HO140 Piece 7 accessed via findmypast.co.uk
Ireland Prisoner Registers, National Archives of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland accessed via ancestry.co.uk
Series: WO 86: Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad: Piece 014: District Courts Martial Registers (1864-1865) Image url: https://www.fold3.com/image/537908625
Series: WO 86: Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad: Piece 015: District Courts Martial Registers (1865-1866) Image url: https://www.fold3.com/image/537921485
Series: WO 86: Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad: Piece 017: District Courts Martial Registers (1868-1869) https://www.fold3.com/image/537922295
https://longbuckbywharf.wordpress.com/2020/09/24/long-buckby-wharf-to-dublin/