James Timmins (1821-1879) (James the 3rd)

Last year I began a project to work backwards filling in all the gaps in the direct ancestors. After a gap of a year I am taking that up again. I had reached the great great grandparents, of whom there are 16, and had already posted Samuel Hamlet and Sarah Whitehouse, and William Mills and Elizabeth Webb on the paternal side. James Timmins (the 3rd) is the next on my list.

James was born in 1821 before registration started in 1836 and we therefore do not have a birth certificate for him or for his wife Ann Worrall. However later censuses show that he was born in West Bromwich.

 

The IGI shows only one James Timmins christened on 8^th July 1821 in West Bromwich. His parents are shown as James Timmins and Jane Timmins, and I have them living in West Bromwich in 1841.

 

I haven’t found James the 3^rd  and Ann on the 1841 census, which isn’t unusual, and its possible they weren’t married by then as their first child was born in 1843,. There is a Timmins family living in Thomas Street in 1841 and as the household head is also called James and is a bayonet maker (a precursor of spring maker), we can guess that this is his parents and siblings. Where James was that night we shall never know. He could have been missed off by the enumerator or staying somewhere else where they didn’t bother to include him.

 

There is a bit of a mystery. On James 4^th’s birth certificate his father’s name is given as George . Is it possible that James 3^rd was also known as George? It’s unlikely as he had a brother called George.

We know that Ann’s maiden name was Worrall because it is given clearly on the birth certificates of her children Cornelius and Eliza Jane. And the father’s name is given correctly as James. Ann Worrall appears to be a common name but neither Find My Past nor IGI has a ecord of an Ann Worrall marrying anyone called Timmins. However I have found a marriage record for an Ann Worrall in 1841 in Warwickshire, although it doesn’t suggest a husband’s name (sod’s law). I have sent for the certificate, so we’ll see if it’s the right one.

 

Like several of his sons and grandsons James was a whitesmith. In the 1851 census he is described as a spring balance maker and in 1861 as a whitesmith.

 

James and Ann had 7 children

 George             1843 a whitesmith

Cornelius          1844 a whitesmith

Elizabeth           1847

James              1849 a whitesmith (our ancestor James 4^th )

Eliza Jane         1851

Mary                 1854

Jane                 1856

 

It shows a distinct lack of imagination to call one child Elizabeth, one Jane and a third Eliza Jane

 

The family lived at a number of addresses in West Bromwich. In 1851 and 1861 they were in Thomas Street and in 1871 they were in George Street. In 1851 they had a married couple Thomas and Rebecca Morgan as lodgers. He was a stone miner. Rebecca may have been James sister. Her birth dates fit. In 1861 Thomas Worrall aged 11 months was staying with them. He was born in Willenhall and was presumably related. In 1871 their baby granddaughter Patience Jane Timmins who was born in Yorkshire was with them. Thomas Worrall doesn’t show in the area in the 1871 census and a 5 year old called Patience Timmins died in West Bromwich in 1876.

 

James died on 11^th March 1879 in Overend Street. He died from Phthisis Pulmonalis which is an archaic term for tuberculosis. Ann died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 8^th August 1884. At the time she was living at 5 Herbert street which appears to have been almshouses.

 

George Timmins who played football for West Bromwich Albion

Some people in the family think that George Timmins who played for West Bromwich Albion was one of my grandmother’s brothers. This is not so.

Lily Gertrude Hamilton (nee Timmins) ( 1890-1969) had seven brothers, one of whom was called George.

Thomas            1867-1948

Harry                1876-1940

Albert               1877-1882

Arthur               1876-?

George             1881-?

Albert J             1884-?

Alfred               1886-1924

This George appears on the census in 1901 living with his parents in Overend Street and working as a whitesmith. He does not appear in the 1911 census, (by which time both his parents are dead) but I can’t find a record of his death. He may have moved away from West Bromwich.

Gert’s father James was born in 1848, so was a contemporary of George Timmins the footballer. He worked at Salter’s as a whitesmith.  His parents James (also a whitesmith) and Ann had 7 children including a George who was born in 1843 and was – guess what, a whitesmith.

George Timmins the footballer was born in West Bromwich in 1858. The West Bromwich Strollers club was formed in 1879 by a group of young men from the Salter's. Initially they played cricket at Dartmouth Park but in 1882 they decided to form the West Bromwich Albion football club. George who worked at the factory, joined the club. He played in three consecutive FA Cup Finals at left half, leaving in 1891 to join Old Hill Wanderers. He worked at Salters, as did our ancestors, and therefore he was probably a whitesmith, so he was probably also related in some way, but Timmins is a common name in West Bromwich, and unless someone really wants me to follow him up, I'm only really prepared to spend the money on certificates for the immediate family.