We have tried to document all the information we have about Thomas Till & Son/s in a way that is factual and informative but also try to share this information in an easily readable "storyline". A hard task when the story keeps changing as we find out more.  Also our attempts to form a family tree are, frankly, very messy!

So, from the beginning...
Probably the most quoted information about Thomas Till is the entry into the 1881 England Census. Thomas Till, then a widower, is stated as living at Rocklands House, 35 Post Hill, Wolstanton.

{ NB.  I have it on good authority that the address was wrong on the census and it was, in fact, Rocklands, Second Avenue, Port Hill, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Newcastle, ST5 8RE. Sadly the house has long gone and been replaced by a block of Anchor retirement flats referred to as 'Rocklands'.                                                
Kind thanks to Cynthia Russell, a direct Till descendent, for this information.}

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We have searched in vain for at least one image but, like the family, this has proved elusive. It does seem likely that a successful earthenware manufacturer and his family must be photographed somewhere but we have had little success so we can only imagine what Thomas Till actually looked like. The best image we have of Thomas is a small portrait attached to a presentation certificate which accompanies an oil painting commissioned for him by his workforce. If anybody knows whether the portrait still exists and if so, it's whereabouts. we would be very excited to receive any information.
Thomas Till, then aged 76, is described as Head of the house along with his son, William, aged 47.  Thomas  is sharing  his home - wrongly attributed to 'Rocklands House, 35 Post Hill, Wolstanton; (Please see above for the correct address) - with William, William's wife, Mary (aged 48) and two domestic servants, Elizabeth Brough (28) and Sarah Meakin (21). Sadly the house no longer exists.  We have searched for an image of the property, or even the street, but with no luck to date.

This was the first piece of family information that we observed but since then, and after trawling down dead ends, we believe we have uncovered many of Thomas Till's immediate and distant relatives. We do accept, however, that mistakes may have been made and would welcome any challenges to the family history information on this site. For instance, we realise that names change during subsequent census years and we have had fun with our 'Aha!' moments when we realised the Till family took a few strange directions that weren't immediately apparent until we started examining our hypotheses (or guesstimates!) and proving or ruling out connections. To date we are not aware of any biography of Mr Till. Indeed, at the start of our investigation we only had Thomas's son William described as an Earthenware Manufacturer on the same census as his father. We decided to work on the assumption that William was one of the 'sons' in T.Till & Sons but we had no idea as to how many sons were actually involved in the pottery.

Briefly the Thomas Till link to Sytch Pottery heritage began as 'Barker, Sutton & Till', then 'Barker & Till', 'Till', 'Till & Son', 'Till & Sons' and finally 'Tillson', though we now understand the Till family connection ended much sooner than 1928 after William Till dissolved his partnership with Charles Salt in 1902. Our main interest, however, is in Thomas Till and his sons. Through extensive use of the internet and census records, we quickly established that Thomas Till was married to Mary Till and they had three children. Edwin, William Thomas, and Mary Ann [also referred to as Maryanne and Marian in subsequent census records].  So, there were only two sons.
However we now understand more about how Till & Son/s came about and the eventual end of the manufacturers.
From approximately 1802 - 1822  the Sytch Pottery in Burslem was being run by brothers John & Ralph Hall. They also ran the  Swan Bank Pottery in Tunstall.  In January 1822 they dissolved the partnership  - John maintained links with the Sytch Pottery in Burslem along with his sons. The traded as J Hall & Sons. Ralph Hall continued in Tunstall as Ralph Hall (& Co) (& Son).
From 1822 - 1832  John Hall was in partnership with his two sons Joseph and Thomas. They became bankrupt in 1832 (Staffordshire Advertiser 20 Oct 1832, 12 Jan 1833) and Barker, Sutton & Till took over the Sytch Pottery from John Hall & Sons.
William Barker of Snow Hill, Burslem along with James Sutton and Thomas Till of Liverpool Road, Burslem, began trading as Barker, Sutton & Till.  The manufacturer made general earthenwares, majolica, lustre ware and ornamental figures. In 1842 Sutton left the business which continued as Barker & Till. Barker & Till continued to trade together until 1850. It is not clear when Thomas Till's eldest son, Edwin, joined the business but it was sometime before 1861 as after this date backstamps were marked "& Sons" implying that William, the younger son, was now in the business.
The partnership between the two sons Edwin and William Thomas was dissolved during November 1890  with William continuing on his own. William Thomas Till joined in partnership with a Charles Henry Salt. In December 1902 this partnership ended and the business carried on by Charles H Salt on his own - the name "Thomas Till and Sons", however, was retained. At some point Charles Henry Salt formed a partnership with Arthur Cecil Salt - this partnership ended during March 1914 and Charles Henry continued alone - the name "Thomas Till and Sons" was retained until 1928 when production ceased.
Notably, none of the dates prior to Thomas Till joining the business matches the declared date Till & Son/s was formed but it might refer to a time when Thomas Till first had links with the Sytch Pottery and was more of a sentimental tie than an actual business partnership one.







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edwin Till, the eldest son, married a Mary Platt [born 15th April, Alsager, Chester] in the 4th quarter of 1886. They had two daughters, Marion Elizabeth and Alice Mary. Marion went on to marry a medical practitioner, Richard Hardwick[e] with his own prestigeous clinic in Hammersmith, London. Marian Elizabeth Till married Richard Hardwick(e) in Wolstanton, 1886. They had four daughters, Dorothy Elizabeth, Alice Mary, Phyllis and Constance May. Alice married a Mr Lamb and had a son called Reginald M. We cannot find any more information about the union but Alice and Reginald appear to be resident with extended family members at various times but Mr Lamb is noticeable by his absence. 

As it happened our life was made easier by discovering just one more son, Edwin Till. Edwin (42) appeared on the 1871 England Census along with his wife Mary nee Platt (49), Marion E[lizabeth] (9), Alice M[ary] (19) and a domestic servant, Mary Wallbank (19). Edwin and his family were residing at 156 Liverpool Road, Burslem at this time. He was described as being an Earthenware Manufacturer. During the 1871 England Census, Thomas Till is living at 5 Furlong Lane, Burslem with his wife Mary (67), his daughter Mary Ann (30) and a general servant, Elizabeth Damilow (22). William T[homas] Till (37) resides at 222 Waterloo Road, Burslem at this time with his wife Mary (38) and his stepdaughter from Mary's previous marriage to a John Weston (40) -described as a silk manufacturer in the 1861 England Census - Sarah Weston (21). We can find no subsequent reference to John Weston after 1861. Frances E Bourne was also residing at the address during this time (She is described as a pottery painter and we believe that she is the F.Bourne that decorated many Till handpainted art ware.)

We  spotted online in the Staffordshire Sentinal a classified advertisment for 5 Furlong Road, Burslem being available for rent and that any prospective tenant should reply to  Mr Thomas Till. In the same section, No 7 Furlong Lane, Burslem is advertised for rental by a Mr E. Till [Edwin?] It is our belief that Furlong Lane no longer exists, sadly.

 

 

 

We did have initial problems finding both William and Edwin in later census returns and had to be more flexible in our research as a result. Thomas Till died after the 1881 census so does not appear on the 1891 England census. William and Mary were found in the Wales 1891 census apparently holidaying at an hotel in Llandudno, Caenarvonshire. At the time of publishing this, the hotel site is presently the premises of a firm of solicitors. In 1901, William is still an Earthenware Manufacturer and is residing at 28 Porthill St/Rd(?), Wolstanton, with his wife Mary. Ellon Fowles(24) and Sarah Sanford (28) are in residence as housemaid/domestic and cook respectively. 

Edwin Till appears to be visiting an hotel (Station Hotel?) in Inverness during the 1891 Scottish Census. He is apparently alone and it appears to be a business trip. As Till and Sons made their earthenware for prestigeous stores in London and Edinburgh, amongst others, it is reasonable to assume that Edwin or William may have travelled to promote their business.  Unfortunately online Scottish records are limited to the public at present  so there is no further description of Edwin's trip. 

During the 1901 England Census, Edwin is described on the census as 'brother-in-law' and he is married to another woman, Frances (Crondson?). Being described as a man of 'independent means' it appears he is living with his new bride at her sister's home. The sister is described as Head of the household so it must be assumed that she was the owner of the home and not a dependent of Edwin. We now know that Edwin had left Till & Son's by now.

 

William also married a Mary. (There are many 'Marys' which made unravelling this family particularly frustrating!) Mary Weston had previously been married to John Weston, a silk manufacturer, and they had a daughter called Sarah. Sarah Weston was not residing with her mother and stepfather in the 1881 England Census but we cannot find any record of a marriage or death as yet. It is not clear whether Sarah married or not but we cannot find her in the 1891 census either.

At the time of writing we have yet to access the 1911 Census records to see if either William or Edwin, or their wives, survive this period.

So, Thomas and Mary Till had just two sons, Edwin and William, and a daughter  Mary, also referred to as Mary Ann or Marian on different census returns. William and Mary did not have any children of their own. Edwin and Mary had two daughters, Marion and Elizabeth, so the male line did not continue in Thomas Till's immediate family.

Although the male lineage appears to end with Thomas Till's sons,  Thomas was born to a much larger extended family so the Till line is not lost but we did run into a lot of puzzling blanks. We decided to turn our attention to the past and delve into the Parish records. Less informative than census records, they are nonetheless,  a valuable source of identifying relationships to others but problems occur because so many names have different spellings or records are illegible. However, these problems aside we believe we have managed to successfuly identify Thomas's parent, siblings and extended family.

Richard Till, a potter, married Elizabeth Machin {Thomas Till's grandparents ] at Wolstanton Parish Registry in 1767. The marriage was witnessed by Thomas Swaine and William Machin. There are five recorded births/baptisms to Richard and Elizabeth, Hannah (baptised 13th May 1768, Burslem; died 12th April 1769), William (baptised 13th May 1778, Burslem; died 2nd August 1778), Richard (30th June 1782, Burslem) ,  Hannah (baptised 13th May 1770; died 24th December 1771) and Joseph (baptised 23rd June 1780, Burslem; died 1st June 1781). As can be seen,  Hannah, William, Hannah and Joseph had tragically short deaths, sadly common for this time, with Richard, Thomas Till's father, the only survivor.

[NB There is a record of a Margaret born to 'Richard Till' and 'Elizabeth' in Wolstanton Parish on 1st July 1764 who was recorded as drowning on the 15th October 1787 [aged 23]. We cannot be sure  this was a daughter to Richard and Elizabeth Till before they married but in the absence of other evidence disputing the fact it remains a strong possibility.]

 

Richard Till, the surviving son of Richard and Elizabeth Till,  married Delicia [Thomas Till's parents] and together they had Onedah, Thomas, Elizabeth and Mary. It is likely that Onedah died and Delicia disappears from the cencus returns. We assume that she died during this time as Richard Till later married Martha and they went on to have Dinah, Ann and Samuel.

The 1841 England Census for Richard Till (55) describes him as married to Martha (40) and residing at 65 Union Buildings, Burslem. Dinah (20), Ann (15) and Samuel (14) are still at home and each described as potters. Thomas Till has left his fathers home but there are other residents that prove both interesting and confusing. The first resident is a young girl of 11 called Delicia Ankers who is described as Richard Till's grandaughter. It appears that her mother, and sister to Thomas, is the now married Elizabeth Ankers  residing at the residence of  Thomas Till, 222 Liverpool Road, Stoke upon Trent,  who is now married with a family of his own.  Other unexpected residents in Richard Till's home are Mary Venebles (30), a potter, [daughter to Richard and Delicia, now married] and her son, Benje[i]min (3). We cannot find any trace of either a Mr Ankers or a Mr Venebles. Subsequent census records do not enlighten us either so we can only assume that they may have both died leaving  Elizabeth, Mary and both their children to become dependent upon their extended family for support.

 

 Delicia A. Ankers  is recorded as marrying Edmund Parsons in the first quarter of 1851. However, there is also a previous record of Delicia marrying a Thomas Frost. The 1851 England census records that Elizabeth A. Frost is step-daughter to Edmund so we might assume that there was a child to Delicia's first marriage but that Thomas met an early death and Delicia soon remarried.

After Richard Till's death in the first quarter of 1843 at Wolstanton, Martha (46), his widow, remarried a Thomas Beech in the second quarter of 1846. They continued to live at 65 Union Buildings and by the 1851 England Census there resided just the couple with a servant, Sarah Cooper (16)

(NB) Research into the family tree and history of the Till family is ongoing and will be revised soon.