Thomas Bearman

Thomas Bearman was a wheelwright, and father of Thomas Bearman, coach maker. Identified from the will of Victualler Charles Bearman in 1779.

Baptised October 1st 1773, from Boreham parish records at CRO

Baptised July 2nd 1775, from Boreham parish records at CRO

Baptism record from seax, St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd (Cathedral)

Marriage was signed in the presence of Thomas, Frances and Richard Balls

1911 description of grave at All Saints church Springfield (now unreadable):

Headstone, round top, lying flat. In memory of SARAH ELIZABETH [wife of Thomas Bearman] who died 9th October 1811 aged 37 [and infants who died young .. and above mentioned] Thomas who died 1(3) Sep (18_7) aged (59) years. From memorial transcriptions 1911.

From Springfield, Essex, Monumental Inscriptions, 1867, care of CRO:

In Memory of Sarah Elizabeth the Wife of Thomas Bearman who departed this life the 9 of Oct 1811 aged 37 years. Also of Four of their children who died Infants. Also of the above Thomas Bearman who died the 15 of Sept 1827 Aged 55 years.

Died of the Hooping Cough, denomination Anglican and buried 8th April 1809 according to National Burial Index on FMP

Thomas was a baker, who ended life quite wealthy. He married Catherine Boyd in 1845 and the record of this shows his father to be Thomas, a coach builder.

The censuses show him as born 1812-13 Chelmsford but his death record shows he was born 1811-12. However, no birth or baptism record has so far been found for him. The person most likely to be his mother died in October 1811 and his father was buried with her 16 years later - so it must be presumed that she died in child-birth or soon after, and that Thomas was born on or before October 9th 1811

There is record of a coachbuilding business with substantial 'genteel' residence in Springfield, near Chelsmsford Essex run by a Thomas Bearman (see attached images and the comments attached to Thomas his father), who married Sarah Elizabeth Balls in Cheltenham and had several children in Springfield.

FMP have his death as 6th May 1868, at St Thomas’s, Hackney citing National Burial Index.

Probate record dated 9 June 1868 showed Thomas leaving Effects under £4,000 to wife Catherine Bearman of 101 Mare Street as sole Executrix.

Christened about 29 Jan 1815, Old Church, Saint Pancras. On her death she left a Personal Estate of £562 14s. 5d. with Thomas Bearman sole executor.

Thomas “was brought up as heir to his father’s business and took it over when he was only 22. His father had taken a lot of care over his education and used to take him travelling, including a tour of Ireland during which he actually kissed the Blarney Stone. Under Thomas Bearman III the shop prospered as a high class bakery and confectionary. Hackney had many wealthy inhabitants at that time and Bearmans catered for what was called "the carriage trade". It was also his practice to serve lunch daily to a select group of customers in the back room of the shop. Some blue-rimmed Wedgwood soup plates from this room have been passed down in both my family and Kate’s family.

“He married Keturah Sandell on 3rd June 1873 and for the first five years of their married life they lived in rooms at Fremont Street, Hackney. By 1878 he was able to buy a fine big house, Melbourne House, 8, Tudor Road, Hackney. His mother continued to live over the shop until her death in 1888. By about 1894 he was able to sell the shop and retire and during the next few years came to acquire property all over London, as well as "Beach Crest" (bought in 1897) and "The Moorings" both at Deal and a house in Sandwich Market Place. A photograph of Beach Crest, as it is now, is at the top of the Contents page of this website.

“He was a noted numismatist, specialising in mediaeval English and Scottish coins. Bernard Roth's book "Ancient Gaulish Coins" was dedicated to him. When he died, his collection was sold for £600, a considerable sum in those days. His whole estate was left to a family trust, the Bearman Trust. The original trustees were his sons-in-law, Tom Stutchbury, Charlie Carrington and Edward Middlemiss, with Tom as Secretary. On Tom's death in 1941 his son Tom became Secretary. Among many other things, the Trust administered Beach Crest as a holiday home for the family until 1975, when they sold it to Frank and Florence Middlemiss. Also in 1975 Donald Bearman, the last Tenant for Life of the Trust, died and the Trust was then broken up and the assets distributed among the family.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Probate records show Thomas left £16,079 14s 1d.