- Birth: 1852 in Pinner
- Marriage: July 1878 to Eliza Anne Toovey in Wycombe, Bucks
- Death: 1922 aged 70
- Burial: 1922 in Pinner
Thomas was born at The White Hart beershop and bought up by his maternal grandmother Sarah Shepherd. Originally a labourer, he spent most of his life as a gas stoker.
Thomas worked at the new gas works in Eastcote Road as a stoker for most of his life and lived in one of the adjoining cottages, no 44 or 46.
Their first child Rosa was born in 1879 but died the same year. She is buried in Paines Lane Cemetery Pinner plot A439.
Mabel was born in 1881, Emily in 1884 and twins Minnie and Thomas in 1887. Emily, Minnie and Thomas were all baptised on 31 July 1887.
Thomas died aged 3 from pneumonia. He is buried in Paines Lane Cemetery Pinner plot A439 with Rosa.
During the 1891 census Thomas and Eliza are visiting people in Suffolk – without the children. Possibly they are with Eliza’s family as they are not on the census with the other Rayners in the area.
The youngest child Dennis was born in 1903 when Eliza was 47 (and 13 years since her previous child). Dennis was also known as Dick and was a keen footballer.
Mabel was a dressmaker and married in November 1904 and her child was born 3 weeks later.
For the 1911 census Minnie is visiting Rickmansworth, is single but with no occupation. She married in 1932 aged 45.
In 1918, at the age of 66, Thomas climbed the gas holder to place a Victory flag at the top. He died aged 70 in 1922.
In 1939 Dick is living with a married couple in Buckinghamshire and working as a Railway Clerk.
When Dick died in 1947 he was living at No 50 Eastcote Road, so only a couple of doors down from where his parents lived.
Eliza died in October 1953, followed by Emily in 1965 and Minnie in 1968.
Thomas and Eliza’s 6 children:
Rosa: 1879 – 1879
Mabel Alice: 1881 – 1924
Emily Phoebe: 1884 – 1965
Minnie: 1887 – 1968
Thomas: 1887 – 1892
Dennis George ‘Dick’: 1903 – 1947
Rayners Lane 