Thomas Rowland Fothergill 1839 - 1909

Thomas Rowland Fothergill was born at Lowbridge House, Westmorland in 1839, the 4th son of Richard and Charlotte Fothergill, nee Elderton. The Fothergills were a family of English ironmasters who had business interests in South Wales. Another important family of ironmasters were the Crawshays.

The two families became united when a double marriage took place on 10th April 1862 at the parish church of St Illtyd, Llantwit Fardre in Wales when Thomas married Laura Julia and his brother George married Isabel Eliza, the daughters of Francis Crawshay.

Thomas and Laura’s first child, Ida Gertrude was born in Wales in 1863. She was the first of 13 children. The 1911 census shows that nine children were living and four had died.

Thomas retired as an iron master in about 1863 owing to ill health and became interested in botony and the temperance movement. He perfected the art of preserving alpine flowers by pressing them in cotton wool to preserve their colours. He would then mount them on cards and add a religious text before distributing them to hospitals and charitable institutions.

Thomas and Laura became great travellers, spending much of their time abroad. He was a keen walker, particularly in the Alps. The births and baptisms of their children are recorded in many areas. It was not until about 1870 that they settled in Tunbridge Wells, and in the 1871 census they are recorded as living at 54 Mount Ephraim with 6 children, a head nurse and an under nurse. It appears that they often travelled without the children as in the 1881 census Ida Fothergill, aged 18 is head of the household at 64 Church Road Hastings, with 3 sisters, 3 brothers and a governess.

In 1880 their last child Leslie Adolph was born in Godstone, Surrey. He was a medical student at Guy’s Hospital when he died at the age of 21 of typhoid fever.

During their time in Tunbridge Wells Thomas and Laura became involved in many aspects of the temperance movement both locally and nationally, and were actively involved with Holy Trinity Church. They lived at Beech Holm, Calverley Park Gardens.

Thomas died in 1909 whilst walking near Pontresina in Switzerland when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Until recently a tablet marked the spot where he died. His body was brought back to this country and he was buried in Tunbridge Wells cemetery on 28th July 1909. His grave is marked with a broken column indicating a life cut short.

Laura Julia Fothergill carried on with the temperance work and is credited with establishing the first temperance movement in Tunbridge Wells. She died in 1920 and is buried in the same grave B4 396. Other members of the family buried nearby are his mother Charlotte Merrick Fothergill (1896), his children Leslie (1903), Ernest (1942) and his wife Fanny (1947), Clifford (1938) and unmarried daughters Ida (1929), Florence (1948) and Mildred (1955).