THOMAS PETTMAN (1774-1823) was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pettman. He was born in Canterbury, and was baptized at St Mary Northgate on Christmas Day 1774. Following in his father's footsteps, he also became a carpenter and a bell-ringer.

He married Jane Allen on 6 November 1798 at St Mary Northgate. The witnesses were John Waters and Richard Pettman.

The banns were also read on 14, 21 and 28 October at St Mildred's Church, in which parish Jane lived. Jane was a couple of years younger than Thomas.

From around this time, he worked for the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, working his way up to become chief carpenter, a post which required a knowledge both of carpentry and architecture. He would have worked under Jesse White, the Cathedral Surveyor, and, after White's death in December 1821, under his successor, Dent Hepper.

Thomas was also one of the cathedral bell ringers, and cathedral waterman. The job of waterman carried a salary of 1½ guineas a year, and entailed being responsible for watercourses to and through the Precinct. The Treasurer's Book for 1811/2, for example, mentions Pettman, oiling the bells 13/6. This oil for the bells seems to have been a set payment, which continued until Thomas' death. (There is no earlier payment recorded. The amount was 14/6 in 1813/4, but otherwise invariably 13/6.) The bell ringers seem to have been paid ten shillings per head per annum, on the King's Birthday. Apparently this was not enough, for in 1802, a petition was lodged with the Dean and Chapter, claiming that the Original Pay, the Sum of Ten Shillings for each King's Day; Cannot be sufficient for the Loss of time of Twelve Men attending three times a day.... There is one very great Inconvenient which we labour under in our New Ringing Loft, being so very Close in hot Weather, that it is ready to suffocate those who ring the hind Bells there is no draft of air comes near them. The petition was signed by the bellringers' Stewards, Thomas Minter and John Harper.

The Treasurer's Book for 1821/2 records a payment of £2/5/0 on 2 December 1821 to Petman Salary as waterman and oil for bells. Thomas' itemized bill and signature (with two ts!) in receipt for this survives among the Treasurer's vouchers for the year.

Other accounts in the same year were Carpenter's bill £66/17/6 on the same date, Pettman for lime, bricks and sand £19/2/8 on 5 December, and another Carpenter's bill £82/17/7 on 22 June 1822. However, the original carpenter's bills do not mention Thomas. They are vouched for by Jesse White, the surveyor. The itemized bill in 1822 for lime and building materials was from Richard Pettman, jnr. (The receipt in 1822 was signed R. Pettman in a different hand from Thomas'. Bills from Richard Pettman for lime and sand appear from at least 1809.)

Another aspect of Thomas' work involved looking after the stained-glass windows. A south-west transept window bears the inscription, made with a glass-cutter's tool Thos Pettman Richd Bowen Jnō Egle Repaird this window 1818 J White Surveyer (sic).

It seems that some time in 1815 the family moved to a house in the Cathedral Precinct. However, the burial register of St Mary Northgate gives Thomas' address in 1823 as Ruttington Lane. One of these houses seems to have been partly at the Cathedral's expense. The Treasurer's Books in 1819 and subsequent years record the payment by the Cathedral of Pettman Land Tax. The amount paid was 4/-, increased in 1820 to 8/- at Lady Day and Michaelmas. The Precinct was more densely populated then than today. The 1811 Census returns for the "ville of Christ Church" have survived, and show 38 households, with a population of 239 (of whom 164 were female.)

Thomas was killed in a tragic accident on Easter Eve, 29 March 1823. The Kentish Gazette of 4 April 1823 describes it as follows:
MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT - In the forenoon of Saturday last, as Mr Thomas Petman, foreman of the workmen employed by the Dean and Chapter in repairing and ornamenting the Cathedral of this City, was at work in the upper stage of a scaffold which had been erected in Becket's Chapel, behind the Altar; he in stooping to reach a plank, lost his balance, and was precipitated backward with the plank in his hands, upon the lower stage of the scaffold, and from thence fell with his head against the iron railing of one of the monuments below, when his fellow workman, who had momentarily warned him to be careful, had scarcely descended to his assistance, when the unfortunate man breathed his last; having, besides other injuries received from the fall, dislocated his back, it is conjectured, from striking against the scaffold - the height of the scaffold was between 50 and 60 feet - An inquest was on the same afternoon held on the body, before T.T. Delasaux, gent., Coroner for the County, and a verdict returned of Accidental Death, with a deodand of 1s on the scaffold. The deceased, who had long been in the employ of the Dean and Chapter, was much respected in his situation, and has left a wife and seven children.

The Kentish Chronicle of the same date gives a slightly different report:
A dreadful accident occurred on Saturday last, about noon, to Mr Thomas Pettman, who had been for the last twenty-five years employed as foreman of the carpenters in the Cathedral of this city. For some time past, a scaffold has been erected, for the purpose of repairing the interior part of the edifice: the work however being nearly completed within reach of the scaffold, it was not deemed necessary that the workmen, except those employed in the gilding department, should remain on it; but from a complaint being made of a strong current of air rushing through the broken window, and impeding the work of the gilders, the individual above named went up for the purpose of placing a board against the damaged part, and in taking one for the purpose, it is supposed that he must have placed one foot against what is termed the ledger, and the weight of the plank he held in his hand overwhelming him, he was precipitated from a height of from 50 to 60 feet, and dashed on the pavement below. He was picked up by one of his fellow-workmen, but never spoke after the accident, and died in about a quarter of an hour: there was a slight contusion on the head, and a severe one on the wrist, but his back was broken in a terrible manner. The deceased was an industrious steady man, and much respected by his employers, and has left a wife and five children. A Coroner's Inquest sat on the body the same evening in the vestry-room of the cathedral and a verdict of accidental death was recorded.

His son Thomas is said to have been playing nearby.

He was buried eight days later, on 6 April 1823 at St Mary Northgate, Canterbury. The report in the Kentish Chronicle read: In the afternoon of Sunday last, the remains of Mr Thomas Pettman, who unfortunately lost his life in falling from a scaffold on the 29th ultimo, as mentioned in our paper, were interred in the burial ground of St Mary, Northgate. The order of the funeral was as follows:


The paul (sic) supported by six tradesmen employed in the works of the Cathedral.
The body was borne by his fellow workmen.
Next the corpse, the family of the deceased.
Four vergers of the Cathedral, and those of his intimate friends.
The Cathedral Society of Change Ringers of which the deceased was a member and warner. (sic)

The Society of Ringers then returned from the performance of this last act of respect, and rang a muffled peal of grandsire triples, generally called a mourning peal, to the memory of their much respected and departed member. The spectators at the funeral were immense, and the persons collected in the yard of the Cathedral to hear the peal, which had a very solemn effect, were very numerous. The peal was conducted by Mr G. Francis.

A similar report appeared in the Kentish Gazette.

The Treasurer's Book for 1822/3 records a payment on 5 April 1823 for Chainey. Expenses of Coroner's Inquest on Pettman's body £1/4/6, and on 25 June of two sums, Bills for the funeral of the late Pettman £12/7/0 and Widow Pettman £12/15/0. This represented 17 weeks at 15/- per week, and it is possible that this represented Thomas' salary from Advent Sunday up to the date of his death. Jane received a further payment from Dent Hepper of £13, and this could well have been an ex gratia payment as compensation.

Jane and the family lived on in the house in New Ruttington Lane. The half-yearly Land Tax of 8/- continued to be paid at least up to 1841. However, Jane died on 17 February 1835, at Ruttington Lane, aged 58, and was buried at St Mary Northgate on 22 February. Her youngest son, William, was just twenty.

At least three Pettman boys sang in the cathedral choir, and it is very likely that all three were children of Thomas and Jane. They were Thomas Pettman, who sang from 1816 to 1823, Henry Petman (in the choir from 1819 to 1826), and William Pettman (a chorister from 1827 to 1829).

The endowed choir consisted of a choirmaster and ten choristers. Each of the latter received £1/5/0 per quarter, but there was an additional "augmentation" of £7/10/0 quarterly for the whole choir as well. During 1822, the choir, in order of seniority, were Mr Skeats, the choirmaster (who had been in office since 1813 at least!), Thos Pettman, Thos Young, John Clark, James Lucas, John Irons, George Bourne, Henry Pettman, William Palmer, Henry Merritt and George Norley.

Thomas and his wife had eight or nine children, seven (or five) of whom survived infancy.

1 JANE MARIA PETMAN (1799-??), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 27 April 1799. She probably married George Gambrill from Eythorne near Dover in 1823, the year of her father's death.

2 SARAH ELIZABETH PETMAN (1801-1863), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 17 May 1801, recorded as the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (a mistake, perhaps misappropriating the name of Sarah's grandmother?). She married William Bell on 26 December 1821 at All Saints', Petham.

William had been baptized at Whitstable on 2 March 1794. He was a mariner. He died in the Canterbury registration district in the first quarter of 1844

In 1841 the family were at Ramsgate. In 1851, the widowed Sarah was living at the Island, Seasalter. She probably died in the Blean registration district in the first quarter of 1863. William and she had several children:

2.1 FRANCES JANE BELL (1822-??), baptized at St Martin's Church, Herne on 6 September 1822. She may have died in infancy.

2.2 WILLIAM THOMAS BELL (1823-1869), baptized at Herne Bay on 27 July 1823. He died at Dover in the second quarter of 1869.

2.3 GEORGE WILLIAM BELL (1825-1906), baptized at St Martin's, Herne Bay on 9 April 1825. He was a mariner in 1851. He may be the Trinity House pilot living with his wife Mary and four children at 2 Norman Street, Dover in 1881. He died at Dover in the first quarter of 1906.

2.4 THOMAS PETTMAN BELL (1826-1908), born at Herne Bay in 1826 and baptized on 19 November. He married Sarah Ann Waters in the Thanet registration district in the first quarter of 1856. She was born in Whitstable, and was some five years younger than him.

Thomas Edward Pettman had a cousin "much like him" - a Mr Bell of Whitstable. This is probably the same person.

He was a grocer, and on census nights 1871 and 1881, he and Sarah Ann were visitors in the house of George and Eliza Grimes, at their furniture and upholstery shop in Reigate High Street.

In 1891 he and Sarah were at 12 Canterbury Road, Whitstable, and in 1901, they were still in Whitstable. Thomas died in the fourth quarter of 1908.

2.5 FANNY JANE BELL (1828-??), baptized at St Martin's, Herne Bay on 20 July 1828. In 1851 she was an apprentice dressmaker.

2.6 SARAH JANE BELL (1829-19??), born at Herne Bay on 1 August 1829. She was baptized on 17 October in Herne Bay Independent Chapel. This would have been the Congregational Chapel in Mortimer St, opened in 1824. She was probably living, single, in Whitstable in 1901.

2.7 HENRY WALLACE BELL (1831-??), born at Herne Bay on 28 January 1831, and baptized at the Independent Chapel on 6 March. In the 1851 census, he is listed living at home in Seasalter, aged 21 and described as a mariner.

2.8 EDWARD C BELL (1832-1925), born at Herne Bay on 14 September 1832, and baptized on 21 October. He was a mariner. He married Mildred Pattenden in the second quarter of 1859. She was six years younger than him. In 1881, they were at 14 Swan Terrace, Whitstable. Mildred died at Whitstable in the second quarter of 1885, aged 47. In the first quarter of 1886, Edward remarried, to Amelia Quaintrell. He was 53, she was 28. They had four children. Amelia died in Corringham, Essex in 1919. Edward died at Orsett in Essex in 1925, aged 92. He and Mildred had a son:

2.8.1 HENRY WALLACE BELL (1864-1930?), born at Whitstable in the third quarter of 1864. In 1881, he was an apprentice grocer, aged 16. He married Ann Elizabeth Simmons (born in Sheerness in 1862) in Camberwell in the fourth quarter of 1889. In 1901, he was a grocer's manager at Tottenham. In 1911 he was at 671 and 673 High Road, Tottenham.

Edward and Amelia's four children were:

2.8.2 EDITH ANNIE BELL (1886-??), born in Herne Bay at the end of 1886.

2.8.3 SARAH ELIZABETH BELL (1891-??), born in Herne Bay at the beginning of 1891.

2.8.4 MILDRED BELL (1892?-??), born in Herne Bay about 1892.

2.8.5 GEORGE BELL (1897-1944?), born in Gravesend in the third quarter of 1897.

2.9 SARAH ELIZABETH BELL (1834-??), born at Herne Bay on 26 April 1834 and baptized on 8 July.

2.10 MARY ANN BELL (1840-??), born at Ramsgate in 1840.

3 JOHN PETMAN (1803-??), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 28 August 1803. He may be the John Pettman of Broad Street, aged 33, buried at St Mary Northgate on 13 September 1835.

4 MARY ANN PETMAN (1805-1808), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 16 June 1805. She died, aged two, and was buried at St Mary Northgate on 14 February 1808.

5 THOMAS PETTMAN (1807-1884), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 4 October 1807, the son of Thomas and Mary, of whom more anon.

6 HENRY PETTMAN (1809-1895), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 2 April 1809. He sang in the cathedral choir between 1819 and 1826.

He was probably the Henry Pettman "of full age", who was married to Sarah Gowland Pearce on 13 November 1837 at the Ebenezer Independent Chapel, Ramsgate, by the minister, Henry Joseph Bevis. He gave his father as "Thomas Pettman, Builder." The witnesses were Edward Davis and Thomas Pettman.

She was the daughter of George Pearce, a Ramsgate shoemaker, born in Dover, and five years younger than him. He was living at 7 Harbour Street, and she was at number 40.

In 1837, 1847 and 1851, he was described as a perfumer, and after 1855 as a hairdresser. (In the 1861 census he is described as a hairdresser, but in 1871 as a perfumer. On his death certificate he is described as a "hairdresser of Canterbury.") In 1841, he was living in Harbour Street, Ramsgate, in the household of Thomas Chapman, aged 30. Sarah was not at home - perhaps for reasons connected with the birth of William Edward, their second child. (Mary Gouland, a female servant aged 55 and presumably a relative of Sarah's, was living in the same household.) Between 1847 and 1865, he was at 35 Harbour Street, Ramsgate. In 1871, the family were at Southwood Villa, St Lawrence, a house that was occupied ten years later by his niece, Thomas' daughter Ellen and her husband Charles Smyth.

On census night 1881, he was aged 67, a hairdresser, and staying with George H. Ray at 39 Camden Square, Ramsgate. Ten years later, he is listed as an 81-year-old inmate of St John's Hospital in Canterbury.

Henry Pettman died while walking along Burgate Street, Canterbury on 30 November 1895, "aged 83" (sources are very inconsistent about his age, but almost certainly there was only one Henry). An inquest held the same day held that he died of natural causes, accelerated by a fall. A report in the Kentish Gazette of 7 December read:
The Canterbury Coroner (Dr T S Johnson) held an inquest at the Falstaff Tap on Saturday touching the death of Henry Pettman, aged 83, which occurred that morning. Mr Brian Rigden, surgeon, said he had known the deceased for several years and had attended him since the beginning of August. He was suffering from the effects of old age with a failing heart. Witness saw him the previous Saturday in his usual state of health. That morning at 10.15 a.m. witness was called to see him. He was lying on the pavement partly resting on Father Power's doorstep. He was just breathing but pulseless. There was a wound over his right eyebrow probably caused by a fall. Witness had him moved into Father Power's house but he died almost directly. In his opinion the cause of death was failure of the heart caused by exertion in hurrying to see witness at the Dispensary. Witness had several times told deceased and his daughter that he was not fit to walk so far. The effects of the fall had nothing to do with his death.
- Howard Glover, living at 15 Monastery Street, said that as he was going along Burgate Street that morning about 10 o'clock, he saw deceased suddenly fall down. Witness called assistance and then went for Mr Rigden.
- Rosa Pettman, daughter of the deceased, who had been living with him for some time at St John's Hospital said that she did not know there was anything wrong with his heart. He started to go to Mr Rigden's that morning. He seemed about the same and she did not think she need accompany him as he did not like anyone to be with him.
The coroner having summed up the jury returned a verdict of death from old age, accelerated by the fall.
- The Coroner appealed to the jury on behalf of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society and a sum of 6s 6d was collected by the foreman.

(There may have been another Henry Pettman of similar age, a pianoforte tuner in Dover Street, Canterbury.)

Henry and Sarah had a number of children:

6.1 THOMAS PETTMAN (1838-?), born, like all the children, in Ramsgate in the fourth quarter of 1838 and at home in 1841.

6.2 WILLIAM EDWARD PETTMAN (1841-?), born in the second quarter of 1841.

6.3 ROSE PETTMAN (1843-1924), also called ROSA, born in the first quarter of 1843 and aged 8 in 1851. In 1881 she was a governess living alone at 59 Old Dover Road, Canterbury. In 1891 she was a housekeeper to Anna Coroder, "aunt", aged 80 and from Wicklow or Wexford, living at 12 Dacre Park, Lee. In 1901, she was in Canterbury St Paul, and listed as a hair lotion manufacturer. In 1911, she was living with her sister Emma at 2 St George's Road, Hereson, Ramsgate, and is recorded as "Proprietor & Maker Of H Pettman's Royal Fluid For The Hair". She died in the second quarter of 1924 in Thanet, aged 80.

6.4 SELINA PETTMAN (1844-1870), born in Ramsgate in the third quarter of 1844. She died, aged 25, in the first quarter of 1870.

6.5 HENRY EDWIN PETTMAN (1845-1862), born in the fourth quarter of 1845 and aged 5 in 1851. He died in the third quarter of 1862.

6.6 SARAH SUSANNA GOWLAND PETTMAN (1846-?), born in Ramsgate in the fourth quarter of 1846, and aged 4 in 1851. In 1871, she was 24 and still unmarried.

6.7 ELLEN PETTMAN (1849-?), born on 10 January 1849 and aged 2 in 1851 and 12 in 1861.

6.8 EMMA PRETTY PETTMAN (1850-1928), aged 5 months in 1851. She was aged 20 in 1871. In 1911, she was at 2 St George's Road, Ramsgate. She was possibly involved with her sister in manufacturing the hair lotion her father had developed. She probably died, unmarried, in the third quarter of 1928.

6.9 GEORGE PEARCE PETTMAN (1853-1863), aged 7 in 1861. He died in the first quarter of 1863.

6.10 FREDERICK PETTMAN (1855-1929), born in the first quarter of 1855 and aged 16 in 1871. He married Clara Judith Newport (born in Ramsgate in 1861) in Thanet in the third quarter of 1881. In 1901 he was a grocer's clerk in Portsmouth, and in 1911 at 87 St Andrews Road, Southsea. He died in Portsmouth in the second quarter of 1929. Clara subsequently moved to Worthing, Sussex, dying there in 1959.

Frederick and Clara had issue:

6.10.1 FREDERICK REGINALD PETTMAN (1882-1960), born in Camberwell in the third quarter of 1882 and aged 28 in 1911. He was a commercial traveller for a soap company. He died in Worthing in 1960.

6.10.2 ARTHUR PEARCE PETTMAN (1885-1959), born in Camberwell in the third quarter of 1885 and aged 25 in 1911. He was a commercial traveller in "concentrated foods". He married Violet Hilda Steward (born in Fulham in 1890) in 1926 in Steyning, Sussex, and died in Hove in 1959. Violet survived him and died in Hove in 1965.

6.10.3 WINIFRED NEWPORT GOWLAND PETTMAN (1888-1968), born in Camberwell in the first quarter of 1888 and aged 23 in 1911. She was a milliner. She married Guy Rankin Legate (born in 1890 in Southsea) in Portsmouth in the final quarter of 1916.Guy died in 1938, and Winifred eventually moved to Bournemouth, where she died in 1968.

6.10.4 PERCY ARCHIBALD HENRY PETTMAN (1896-1986), born in Portsmouth in the second quarter of 1896. In 1911 he was a clerk in a coal business. He served for a time with the Royal Naval Marines. He spent most of his working life after the First World War in the treasury departments of the East African Colonies. He married Rosamond Marion Lancashire in Elham, Kent, in the third quarter of 1932. He died in Yeovil in August 1986. He and Rosamond had two children:

6.10.4.1 SUSAN R PETTMAN (b. 1934)

6.10.4.2 MICHAEL FREDERICK PETTMAN (b. 1937), born on 13 August 1937. He married Rosemary Jarvis in 1960. He has three children, Andrew M (1963), Simon R (1964) and Christina L (1973), who grew up in Guildford.

6.11 SUSETTE PETTMAN (1855-1889), aged 5 in 1861 and 15 in 1871. She may have been registered Eliza Jane in the third quarter of 1855. She died in Canterbury in the second quarter of 1889.

7 JOSEPH ALLEN PETMAN (1814-1880), baptized at St Mary Northgate on 13 February 1814. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to John Edward Eyles, a hatter (and freeman of Canterbury). The articles were enrolled on 8 September 1828.

He married Sarah Burrows on 7 March 1839 at St Mary the Virgin, Dover. She was seven years older than him, and had been born in Littlebourne, Kent. In the 1851 census and the 1852 voters' list for Kent, he is listed at 2 Guildford Place, Dover, and is listed in directories in 1863 and 1868 at the same address. In the 1851 census, his occupation is given as Lodging House Keeper, but there were no lodgers at 2 Guildford Place on Census Night.

In 1871, he and Sarah were at 7 Trevanin Street, Dover. A lodger was staying with them. Joseph gave his profession as "labourer, late Chairman".

Sarah died at Dover in the second quarter of 1872. She was 65.

In 1880, Joseph's occupation is stated as labourer. He was in the Union Workhouse at Bridge, Kent, when he died of tuberculosis on 9 October 1880.

8 WILLIAM PETTMAN (1815-1871), baptized at Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury on 19 October 1815. At this date, his father was "of the precincts" of the cathedral, and was described as a carpenter. Following the example of two of his elder brothers, he sang in the cathedral choir between 1827 and 1829. He became a house painter, living at Northgate Place in St Mildred's parish.

Around 1842, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. (His surname was spelt Pittman.) In 1861, he was an able seaman on HMS Formidable, a 26-gun ship moored off Sheerness Dockyard on Census night.

After 22 years and 156 days in Her Majesty's Service, he was admitted as a Greenwich Pensioner in 1864. The Greenwich Pensioners were the Navy's equivalent of the Chelsea Pensioners. They wore a blue uniform. William was awarded a pension of £15/4/-, increased to £21/6/- from 9 September 1869. His residence was given as Canterbury.

In 1871 he was boarding with Edward Yeoman at the "Man of Kent" in Wincheap Green, Canterbury. He was deaf, and described himself simply as a Greenwich Pensioner. He died of a heart attack at home on 19 December 1871, aged 56.

Among these children were two daughters, said to have been "very old old maids" in 1897.

This page was last modified on 20 January 2014 by Hector Davie.
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