James THOMAS ²

  Notes:

He was born in Lostwithiel in Cornwall, and although he was baptised as Thomas he was known as James. In about 1814 he moved with his family to central Birmingham, where he later married Lucy Fawdry (qv). Between 1821 and 1829 he lived in Church Street and Ludgate Hill in Birmingham, where he was a carpenter. By 1841 he had moved from Birmingham to Bloxwich in Staffordshire, where he was an Inspector for a Canal Company - presumably the Birmingham Canal Company (BCC). By 1851 he had moved to Sneyd House in Essington, where he later died at the age of 67.

James was the Engineer for the Wyrley and Essington and Cannock portions of the Birmingham Canal. He constructed the Cannock and Hendsworth Extension Canals, and also the Churchbridge flight of locks that formed the link between the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and the BCC's Cannock branches.

James and his wife Lucy had four children who survived infancy. Their eldest son John was a carpenter, and died when he was just 19 years old. Their only daughter Emma married Thomas Gilbert, who was a grocer and ironmonger in Walsall in Staffordshire. Their next son James was a civil engineer who died after being thrown from a cart when he was 30. James' youngest son Edwin (qv) was like his father a canal engineer.

Additional source:
Minutes of Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers Vol cxxxi 1897-98 Part i.

James married Lucy FAWDRY, daughter of William FAWDRY and Rachel FAWDRY, on 25 Apr 1821 in St Philip, Birmingham, Warwickshire.¹ (Lucy FAWDRY was christened on 15 Oct 1792 in St Peter and St Paul, Swalcliffe, Oxfordshire,⁸ died on 30 Aug 1860 in Essington, Staffordshire ⁹ and was buried on 3 Sep 1860 in St James, Ogley Hay, Staffordshire ⁷.)