Thomas Harborow INKSON b. 16 Dec 1834 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Thomas Harborow was the second son of William b. ABT 1804 and Sarah, William being the oldest son to have survived childhood of the 1801 Inkson Harborow marriage, so Thomas' second name recognises his paternal grandmother's family. He is the progenitor of an important branch of the English Inksons with many descendents alive today, including many with the Inkson surname.
We know his date of birth from the parish record of his baptism which took place in St Margaret's Kings Lynn on 8 Jan 1835. His was the first generation to break with the traditions of previous generations in that he went on to work on that newfangled invention, the railway, and he also left the county of his birth, running a café in London later in life. He did, however, return to Norfolk at the end of his life and was buried there.
Having said that he broke with tradition, in the 1851 census records he was recorded as an assistant butcher [presumably to his father], aged 16. However, 10 years later, he had married and was recorded as a railway clerk in Kings Lynn. He had married Martha in something of a rush in a small isolated village outside of Kings Lynn, a story which is told elsewhere on this domain. We can track his progress from the baptism records of the children. The first few children were born in Kings Lynn but in 1863 Alice Walters was born in Snettisham, 16 km up the Lynn to Hunstanton railway line from Kings Lynn where he was the station master. When Matilda May was born in 1865, he was the station master at Baldock in Hertfordshire but just a year later, following the opening of the West Norfolk Junction Railway, Harry Garner was baptised in Burnham Sutton where Thomas Harborow was again the station master. All the other children were born there too.
In total, Thomas Harborow and Martha had at least 15 children (!) across nearly a quarter century, five of which died in infancy. Of the rest, seven went on to have families of their own, one married but doesn't seem to have had any children and two died unmarried, both killed in war. You can track the history of the family on the page devoted to them and their family in the census.
Up until the 1881 census, Thomas Harborow was the station master in Burnham Sutton but by the time of the 1891 census he and Martha have moved to Lewisham, south east London, where he is recorded as the proprietor of 'Tea/Coffee & Dining Rooms'. We don't know exactly when the family left Burnham Sutton.
At some point after 1901 Thomas Harborow and Martha returned to Norfolk. They were both buried in Thornham where their oldest daughter, Martha Harriett Helsdon née Inkson lived [her husband being the village butcher]. It is not known whether they lived with the Helsdons or nearby and there are no parish records of the burials to be found even though there is said to be a tombstone in parish graveyard.
Sarah Anne INKSON
b. 1858 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
d. 1858 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
William INKSONb. ABT 1804 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
d. 12 Dec 1852 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
Matilda May INKSON
b. Registered Q2 1865 Hitchin, Hertfordshire
d. 8 Sep 1865 Bygrave, Hertfordshire
Harry Garner INKSON
b. Registered Q3 1866 Docking, Norfolk
d. 7 May 1901 Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA
Herbert Harborow INKSON
b. Baptised 7 Mar 1873 Burnham Sutton, Norfolk
d. Registered Q1 1873 Docking, Norfolk
Henry GARNER
b. ABT 1808 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
d. AFT 1861
Florence Emily INKSON
b. 1875 Burnham Sutton, Norfolk
d. Registered Q3 1875 Docking, Norfolk
Martha GARNERb. 28 Sep 1837 Kings Lynn, Norfolk
d. 1909 Thornham, Norfolk
Emily Mary INKSONb. Registered Q3 1876 Docking, Norfolk
d. Registered Q1 1944 Lewisham, London
Martha BREESE
b. ABT 1813 SCOTLAND
d. AFT 1881
Ernest Nelson INKSON
b. Registered Q4 1879 Docking, Norfolk
d. Registered Q2 1880 Docking, Norfolk
