Thomas Goulty / Goughty (1778-1857) and Sarah Russell (1779-1865).
My 4th great-grand uncle and aunt.
Thomas was born in 1778 and baptised at St Swithin’s Church in Frettenham, Norfolk, on 11 October that year. His parents were Charles Goulty and Elizabeth Quantrel. His surname was spelled in various ways in the parish records, from Goulty to Goughty.
Thomas grew up in the village and at some point met Sarah Russell, who came from Postwick, Norfolk, a village about nine miles away. She was baptised there on 1 August 1779, the daughter of James and Eliza Russell and married there at some point in October 1802. I’ve only found the marriage licence, dated the 8 October, which stipulated a marriage at Postwick and noted that he was a husbandman.
On several of his children’s baptism records Thomas was again described as a husbandman but by 1820 he was being listed as a public house keeper. The 1841 census showed that he was then working as an agricultural labourer but was living in Felthorpe with two of their children. The couple were still there 10 years later, with a grandson also noted.
Thomas is likely the man who was found not guilty of larceny at the Norfolk County Sessions in Norwich on 3 January 1844, but I’ve not been able to locate any further information about the incident. He was aged 66 at the trial, which fits our man. It’s likely that he was also the victim of a highway robbery reported in the Norfolk Chronicle of 30 December 1848, although it’s possible that it was his son. This Thomas, a resident of Felthorpe, was stopped on the high road in Horsford, about two miles from Felthorpe, and knocked down. His attacker stole £1 12s and a bag of provisions in the process.
Thomas Snr died suddenly on 31 December 1857 (Norfolk News 9 January 1858) and was buried in Felthorpe on 3 January 1858. Sarah lived on, listed there in the 1861 census, and died in November 1865. She was buried in the village on the 12th.
The couple had a number of children:
- Mary Goulty (1804-????) was born and baptised on 15 April 1804 at Little Plumstead, Norfolk. She must’ve died young as the next child was also called Mary.
- Mary Goulty (1807-?1834) was born and baptised on 22 March 1807 at Crostwick in Norfolk. It’s possible she was the woman aged about 27 who was buried in Felthorpe on 5 January 1834.
- Helen Goulty (1807-????) was born on 30 October 1809 and baptised on 5 November at Crostwick in Norfolk. But she then disappears from the records.
- Sarah Ann Goulty (1812-1814) was born in Crostwick on 24 April 1812, baptised there on 25 June 1812 and buried there on 9 November 1814.
- George Goulty (1814-1821) was born in Crostwick on 6 November 1814, baptised a few weeks later on 11 December and buried in Felthorpe on 27 December 1821.
- Charles Goulty (1817-1888) was baptised in Crostwick on 23 February 1817 and served in the military, signing on as a private in the 17th Regiment of Foot in 1833 and serving until 1855. He served abroad for almost 12 years, with eight months in New South Wales, Australia, and about 11 years in the East Indies. During that time he was involved in the First Anglo-Afghan War, and was present at the storming of the city of Ghazni on 23 July 1839 and the attack on the tribal fortress of Kalat on 13 November 1839. He was promoted to Corporal in 1854 but discharged as unfit for service in June 1855 as a result of chronic rheumatism and asthma but his character was described as good and over time he’d received four good conduct badges and a silver medal for good conduct. In 1858 he married Elizabeth Clifton in Norwich. She was of Boston in Lincolnshire, but had been worked as a cook and servant in Norwich for some years. Subsequent census returns listed him as a Chelsea Pensioner, the couple living in the city. He died there on 8 April 1888.
- Sarah Ann Goulty (1819-1819) was baptised on 17 January 1819 in Crostwick and was buried there a few days later on 24 January.
- Thomas Goulty (1820-????) was baptised on 12 March 1820 in Felthorpe and was living there at the time of the 1841 and 1851 Censuses, working as an agricultural labourer. However, a merchant seaman record from 1848 noted that Thomas was employed for a time as a seaman out of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. He married Sarah at some point and was shown living with her in Felthorpe in the 1861 Census and then, with a daughter, in 1871. Sarah was buried in Felthorpe in 1872 but what happened to Thomas is a mystery. I’ve found no marriage record.
- Sarah Goulty (1822-1899) was born on 6 November and baptised on 17 November 1822 at Felthorpe in 1822. She married coach painter Norwich-born Frederick Russell Warner in Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, on 9 March 1847. They lived in Norwich until her death there in 1899. He died in the city in 1901. It appears they never had children, at least any that survived.
Sources: Birth, marriage, death, burial, census, civil records from the General Register Office and other records at Ancestry.co.uk, Findmypast.co.uk and Norfolk Family History Society.
Military records from National Archives (WO 97/1445) and Findmypast.co.uk.
British Newspaper Archive (titles in text).