![]() |
St George's, Hanover Square cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Anthony O'Neil - geograph.org.uk/p/4518508 |
Olivia Trevail, daughter of Joseph Trevail and Jane Rundle, in 1871, aged 20, was in service as a kitchen maid in the household of Francis Gosling (1837-1910), Banker, at Wellbury House, Great Offley, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. (Goslings Bank was one of the banks merged into Barclays Bank in 1896). In 1886, she married Thomas William Colwill at St George, Hanover Square.
In 1891, Thomas Colwill (29) Labourer joiner, living at Chichester Street, St George Hanover Square, with wife Olivia (33), son Harry (2), as well as four boarders: Charles Usher (26), Walter Wilham (35), Constance Wilham (25) and Ernest Aller (24), claimed to be from Taunton, Somerset. He wasn't.
Following the clues, we discover that Thomas William Colwill, born in Pimlico in 1861, was the son of Henry Colwill, Joiner, and Mary White - who married in Wells, Somerset, in 1857. They must have travelled back to Somerset, where Thomas William was baptised at the Church of St Thomas, Wells, in 1861.
By 1901, Thomas Collwell (sic) (39) Builder's foreman, living at 24, Back Common Road, Lake Avenue Terrace, Chiswick, with Olivia (36), Harry (12) and Elsie (4), had remembered that he was born in Pimlico.
Thomas and Olivia had just those two children:
- Harry George Colwill born 1888 in Pimlico
- Elsie Mary Colwill born 1896 in Dalston
In 1911, Thomas Colwill (49) Foreman Joiner, Olivia (53), Harry (22) Joiner and Elsie (14), are at 21 Slowmans Cottages, Ashingdon Road, Rochford, Essex.
Thomas W Colwill died, aged 69, in 1930, in Croydon.
Olivia Colwell died, aged 83, in 1937, also in Croydon.