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Old 4th January 2016, 21.48:39   #28-0 (permalink)
eastsussexred
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Default Re: The sad case of a founding member and player of Wrexham Football Club

Thomas Henry Sykes was born in Kirkheaton, Huddersfield in 1841.
There are no records to show who his father was, but the 1851 census names his mother as Mary Anne Sykes (widow). He had 1 brother- George William, and 2 sisters- Emmeline and Elenora. The 1861 census lists him as still living in Kirkheaton, but soon after his name appears on the team sheet of Denbighshire County Cricket Club.
He established a regular place on the cricket team throughout the 1860’s and 70’s and was an elected member of the clubs committee. He was present at the after dinner event in which Edward Manners announced his intention to start a football team, and he also played in our first ever football game against The Prince of Wales Fire Brigade, in October 1864.

Aside from his activity at the Racecourse, Thomas Henry was also a volunteer in the Denbighshire rifle militia I "RATTLER'S" STRAIGHT TIP FOR THE MAYOR'S CUP.|1869-09-25|Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register - Welsh Newspapers Online and was later promoted to the rank of Corporal.
There are a number of references to Thomas paying subscriptions to aid the sick and needy, and an advertisement in The Wrexham Advertiser suggests that in August 1868 he may have been living in Fairfield and had an association with The White Bear Tavern in Yorke Street.

Thomas married Maria Jones at St Oswald, Chester on 19th April 1870 and his occupation is recorded as a gilder, although his address is shown as The Rainbow Vaults, Hope Street, where he also worked as an Inn Keeper.
His wife gave birth to a daughter, Maria, at the Rainbow vaults on the 19th December 1870, although it must be presumed that his wife died shortly after giving birth, as the 1871 census listed Thomas Henry Sykes (born Kirkheaton, Huddersfield) being the landlord of The Rainbow Vaults, aged 29 and widowed. His daughter and his sister-Emmeline are also registered as living with him at Hope Street, as well as his late wife’s sister and two children, the youngest of which (aged 3) is listed as his stepdaughter.
Four years later an article in the Wrexham Advertiser reported that on the 8th March 1875, Thomas appeared in court, charged with serving alcohol to a policeman on duty at The Rainbow Vaults in Hope Street, although the charge was dismissed.

BOROUGH MAGISTRATES' COURT.|1875-03-13|Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register - Welsh Newspapers Online

Things would appear to have again taken a turn for the worse for Thomas, as he left The Rainbow Vaults later that same year and on 18th September 1875 a claim was made in court by a doctor for an unpaid bill, relating to treatment he gave to Thomas’s late wife’s sister, while she stayed with him at The Rainbow Vaults.
Thomas was ordered to pay the amount outstanding and costs.

Then, in early 1877, Thomas placed an article in the Wrexham Advertiser informing that he had succeeded to the business of the late George Warburton of Queen Street (an established carver and Gilder) for whom he had been a manager for the last 15 years, and that he would be continuing his business from 9 Lambpitt Street. However, his new venture would seem to have been short-lived, because in December of the same year, he posted another advertisement for an auction, in which he was selling all of his tools, equipment and stock, as well as furniture and his household items.
Then, on March 11th 1878, the courts granted a distress warrant against Thomas for non payment of water rates, and having not paid the amount due, The Advertiser (20 April 1878) reported that a committal order for 5 weeks imprisonment had been issued against Thomas Henry Sykes for non compliance with a court order to pay arrears of rates.
BOROUGH MAGISTRATES' COURT. I|1878-04-20|Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register - Welsh Newspapers Online
It is not known if he served his sentence in a debtor’s prison, but he disappeared from the records in Wrexham in 1878.
He then reappeared in the 1881 census as a lodger in a house, which he shared with 5 other people in Wollaton Street, Nottingham, but by the time of the next census in 1891, Thomas had remarried and was living with his new wife, Fanny, in Pelican Street, Nottingham.
His occupation was listed as a Gilder.
Fanny Sykes died in 1899, and her husband, Thomas Henry Sykes died in Nottingham at the age of 70, in 1910.

Thomas Henry Sykes 1841-1910

Last edited by eastsussexred; 4th January 2016 at 21.54:26..
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