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Coldicott, Thomas

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Gender: Male

Information on Thomas Coldicott was given to Lucy Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland by F. Scarlett Potter of Halford, Shipston of Stour. The Shepherd Song was published in English County Songs in1893 where it was stated that the first verse was taken from the recitation of a lady born at Stoke, Gloucestershire in 1793 and the remaining verses were recovered from Thomas Coldicott, shepherd of Ebrington, Gloucestershire.

Thomas Coldicott was born in Ebrington in 1838, the son of William Coldicott, a blacksmith and his wife, Sarah, formerly Phillips. In 1841 they were living in Ebrington with Thomas and their other children, William born about 1827, Mary born about 1830, John born about 1833 and Emma born about 1835. Shortly afterwards in 1842 Thomas’ father, William, died and in 1848 his mother, Sarah, remarried to John Boseley, a labourer and widower also from Ebrington. By 1851 Thomas was living with them in Ebrington with John’s son, also called John.

By 1861 Thomas had left home and was living at Mr Goff’s Pasture Farm, Alveston, Warwickshire working as a groom for Samuel Goff, a farmer of 350 acres employing 8 men and 5 boys. In 1864 he married Ann Butler, who was born in Chipping Campden, in the Shipston on Stour registration district which included Ebrington and in 1871 they were living in Ebrington Street where Thomas was working as a labourer. They had four children, Emma baptised 30 July 1865 , Kate baptised 12 August 1866, Rosa J. born 1868 and William born 1870. All the children were born in Ebrington. By 1881 they were living at 55 Ebrington and had a further four children, John Henry born about 1874, Mary Ann born about 1876, Georgiana born about 1878 and Mercie born 1880. Thomas, his wife and their son, William, were working as agricultural labourers and their daughter, Rosa, was an unemployed domestic servant. Thomas and Ann continued to live at 55 Ebrington and in 1891 Thomas was still living there and working as an agricultural labourer. The only children still living at home were John and Mercie. Thomas Coldicott died in 1892 in the Shipston on Stour registration district.

Thomas’ children

According to a family tree on Ancestry.com, Thomas’ daughter, Kate Coldicott, married John Simmonds in Tipton, Staffordshire on 20 October 1894. They settled in Walsall, Staffordshire, and had at least four children, Sidney J. Simmonds born 1896 and died 1936, Albert James Simmonds born 1893 and died in 1989, Margaret May Simmonds who was born and died in 1925 and Joyce Simmonds born 1932 and died in 2002. Sidney Simmonds married Hilda J.Mills and died in 1936. Thomas’ daughter, Kate Simmonds, died in Walsall, Staffordshire in 1898.

Thomas’ son, John Henry Coldicott, married Caroline Charlotte Currus in 1894 in the Shipston on Stour registration district. They had at least two sons, Maurice William Coldicott born 1895 and William Arthur Stanley Coldicott born 1900. They emigrated and arrived in St John, New Brunswick on 15 April 1910. Their son, Maurice William, died in Vancouver on 31 January1970.

Thomas’ daughter, Rosa Coldicott married John Henry Flint, a groom, who was born about 1864 in Blackwell, Worcestershire. By 1911 they were living in Wayfield Cottage, Snitterfield, Warwickshire. They had been married for 21 years and had seven children all still living with them, Robert John born about 1891, George Frederick born about 1894, Thomas Edward born about 1901, Mary Jane born about 1903 – all born in Ilmington – and Kate Elizabeth born about 1886, Elsie May born about 1897 and Lucy Emma born about 1910. The last three children were all born in Todenham, just over the border in Gloucestershire.

Notes by Carol Davies January 2016