One of my fifth great grandfathers was Thomas Plaisted (1777 – 1832), who owned a wine bar in Deptford (I have written before about this, at Plaisteds Wine Bar). Deptford was a dockyard district on the south bank of the River Thames in south-east London.
According to my cousin Helen Hudson in “Cherry Stones“, her history of her forebears, Thomas Plaisted was born in Newnham on Severn in west Gloucestershire. His Plaisted ancestors were connected with the village of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. Helen describes an excellent ploughman’s lunch she had there.
Helen’s research was largely based on the work of Arthur Plaisted, who published “The Plaisted Family of North Wilts” in 1939. With the benefit of direct access to many more records and with the power of indexes and digitisation, current family history researchers differ from some of Arthur Plaisted’s conclusions.
Two records of my fifth great grandfather I feel confident about are:
- his marriage to Lydia Wilkes in June 1797 at St Bride’s Church Fleet Street
- his will of 1832 and associated codicil, where he names his wife and children. In the codicil to his will he stated: “I Thomas Plaisted do hereby acknowledge that the house known as the sign of the Coopers Arms Woolwich Kent has been from the taking of the above house and is now the property of my son John Plaisted and I do hereby direct that the Licences be transferred to him or to whom he shall appoint witness my hand this twenty ninth day of May one thousand eight hundred and thirty two”. John Plaisted (1800 – 1858) was my fourth great grandfather who in 1849 emigrated to Australia.
The wine bar survived under different owners to about 2010. According to Google Street View in 2018, the building was is being used as a laundrette. Although it looks Georgian, the facade of the building apparently dates from a renovation in the 1920s. The distinctive lamp may date from the original building.
I don’t know why my 5th great grandfather migrated from Gloucestershire to London, or if in fact it was his parents who migrated. London’s population grew from about three-quarters of a million people in 1760 to 1.1 million people in 1801, when the first reliable census was taken. The Plaisted family were among those migrants to London. Some of London’s population growth was due to reduced infant mortality: by the 1840s children born in the capital were three times less likely to die in childhood than those born in the 1730s. However, population growth attributable to reduced infant mortality was outweighed by increased migration and rising fertility.
Thomas Plaisted ran a successful business, which survived and was run by his descendants for most of the nineteenth century. The building was bought in 1890 by a Mr E.J. Rose, who continued to use it as a wine shop and bar. It changed hands several times in the twentieth century and finally closed about 2010.
Related posts
Sources
- Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
- Plaisted, Arthur Henry (The) Plaisted family of North Wilts, with some account of the branches of Berks, Bucks, Somerset, and Sussex. The Westminster publishing co, Westminster, 1939.
- Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973 Name: Thomas Plaisted Marriage Date: 10 Jun 1797 Marriage Place: Saint Bride Fleet St, London,England Spouse: Lydia Wilks
- 1832 will of PLAISTED Thomas, Kent, Jul 463 [PROB11/1803 (451-500) pages 100 R&L] transcribed by Jeanette Richmond
- http://www.dover-kent.com/2016-project/Plaisteds-Woolwich.html
- https://www.chrismansfieldphotos.com/RECORDS-of-WOOLWICH/Woolwich-High-st-/i-4RT9wb2
- Clive Emsley, Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, “London History – A Population History of London”, Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 04 April 2019 ) retrieved from https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Population-history-of-london.jsp
- Google street view
lindamaycurry said:
I wonder why Thomas left the hotel at the age of 49 and came to Australia? Did he open a hotel here? He didn’t live long once he got to Australia, only nine years.
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Anne Young said:
John, son of Thomas, got tuberculosis and came to Australia for his health I wrote about him back in 2014: https://ayfamilyhistory.com/2014/04/17/p-is-for-phthisis-tuberculosis/ He first went to Adelaide but then came to Melbourne. He was in business but I don’t think in the hotel business
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Duncan David said:
This is impressive how much you know about your family history
https://seal-of-melchizedek.blogspot.com/2019/04/edmonton-alberta-temple.html
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Fran @ TravelGenee said:
Again you share so much of your research. I hope people using your reseach appreciate your work and time spent doing this.
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Anne Young said:
I of course have benefitted enormously from others who have been generous with their research.
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