thomas gibbons frost + mary ann wood
Thomas was born in Chester on 20 September 1820 and baptised on 6 August. He was the son of Francis Aylmer Frost and Ann Stubs. His father and two uncles established a successful flour mill in Chester and both Thomas and his brothers went to work in the family business when they left school.
Thomas married Mary Ann Wood in Birkenhead on 12 September 1855. Their first daughter, Mary, was born only two months after their marriage which may explain why they chose to marry in Birkenhead rather than Chester. They went on to have four children over the next five years: John Meadows was born on 15 September 1856, Harriet on 20 October 1857, Evelyn on 7 May 1859 and Thomas Gibbons on 5 December 1860.
Thomas and Mary have not been located in the 1861 Census but their five children were staying with a servant and a wet nurse at 26 West Parade in the popular seaside town of Rhyl in north Wales. They had two more daughters, Beatrice, who was born on 30 July 1862, Ann Lucy on 8 December 1865. In most of the baptismal records, the children’s place of birth is listed as Redcliffe and in 1871, the family was living at Redcliffe on Lower Park Road near Chester Meadows and the banks of the River Dee. Thomas’ brother Robert and his family also lived on Lower Park Road. Their daughters Harriet and Evelyn were attending the Abbots Court Ladies School in St Oswald, Chester along with their cousin Honora while son John Meadows was at boarding school in Rhyl along with his cousin Francis Aylmer.
In the census, Thomas’ occupation was listed as ‘Knight, Magistrate, Alderman, Landowner, Corn Miller’. He had served on the Town Council beginning in 1856 and was first elected an Alderman in 1862. He was elected Mayor in 1868 and when the new Town Hall was opened one year later by Edward, the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester — and later King Edward VII — Thomas was knighted ‘as a gesture to mark the occasion’.
Their eighth child, Charles Albert, was born at Redcliffe on 29 May 1872 and baptised on 10 August. In the 1881 census return, Thomas’ occupation was listed as ‘Knight, High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, Justice of the Peace, Alderman and Corn Miller’. The return also provides insight into the size of the family milling business as Thomas was listed as employing 71 men and two women and his sons John and Thomas were also working as corn millers in partnership with their father. Like other members of the extended Frost family, Thomas and Mary Ann owned a country home, Dolcorsllwyn Hall, and land near Cemmaes on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park in Montgomeryshire. He was appointed High Sheriff in 1881 while at the same time serving his second term as Mayor of Chester.
Later that year, their daughter Evelyn married Rueben Norton, a lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry, on 1 September at St John the Baptist in Chester. Her sisters Beatrice, Lucy and Harriet acted as her bridesmaids and over 140 people attended the ceremony including employees of Frost and Sons. Her sister Harriet was also married at St John to Edward Honoratus Lloyd on 6 September 1883 and the following year, John Meadows married Henrietta Kelsall at St Oswald’s. Their son, Thomas Gibbons, married Constance Egan-Desmond at St Jude’s in Southsea on 25 April 1888.
By 1891, seventy-one year old Thomas was still serving as a Justice of the Peace in addition to his work at the family mill. The census also contains the note that Mary Ann was ‘partially deaf’ but it is not known if she had always been deaf or if it was simply age related hearing loss. Later that year, the family suffered a devastating loss when their youngest son, Charles Albert, died at St Leonard’s-on-Sea near Hastings in East Sussex on 26 October. The cause of death is not known but his body was returned to Chester by train and conveyed to the cemetery chapel until his burial in the family plot two days later.
Their daughter, Beatrice married Frederick Blood at St Mary's on the Hill in Chester on 24 September 1892 and their youngest daughter, Ann Lucy married her first cousin, Francis Aylmer Frost, on 5 October 1890.
Thomas retired from his civic duties in 1903 and his decision may have been the result of poor health as he died the following year. His funeral was reported in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser on 11 April 1904:
One of the largest funerals seen at Chester for some years was that on Saturday of Sir Thomas Gibbons Frost, J.P., of Chester, father of the Town Council, and three times mayor of the city. The interment took place in the family vault at the cemetery, and the obsequies were attended by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, the Archdeacon of Chester, Sir Horatio Lloyd, the Mayor, Sheriff, and Corporation magistrates etc. The deceased’s work-people were also present and many of them carried beautiful wreaths and other floral tributes. The service was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Steinthall, Unitarian minister, of Manchester.
The Chester Chronicle also reported on the funeral and noted that the cortege from his home in Queen’s Park consisted of the hearse, 15 broughams and 100 wreath-carrying workmen from his huge Steam Mill on Canalside. Thomas was buried at the family plot at Overleigh Cemetery on 9 April 1904.
by John Frederick Harrison Dutton
He left an estate valued at £320 000 with the majority left to his wife and children although surprisingly there were no public bequests in his will. He named his two sons, John Meadows and Thomas Gibbons, his son in law, Edward Lloyd, and his brother in law, Albert Wood, as executors of his estate. He left the house in Queen’s Park to his wife for her use during her lifetime and following her death, it was to pass to his two sons equally. He also left his sons all his lands, manors and leaseholds at Dolcorsllwyn and Bryn Moel to his to sons with the hope they would buy each other out and retain one manor each. John Meadows also recevied his father’s presentation plate consisting of a silver bowl and two silver candelabra with the hope that he hand it down to his sons as heirlooms.
He bequeathed an annuity of £37 000 to his wife and £34 000 to each his daughters; the annuities to his daughters were to be reduced by the amounts he had previously lent them and these were recorded in a ‘book of account called Gifts & Advances to Children.’ He had previously given £11 580 to Evelyn, £10 700 to Harriet and £14 100 to Beatrice.
In a touching legacy, he left £500 and his gold chain and watch to his grandson Thomas Laurence, son of John Meadows and Henrietta Kelsall, ‘in remembrance of the love and affection borne by myself and my wife to our dear son Charles Albert deceased who was one of his godfathers.’ Thomas also left £400 to his neice, Eleanor Matilda, and £500 to the family’s long time servant, Fanny Davies.
Mary Ann Wood died in Chester on 10 November 1907 and was buried in the family plot at Overleigh Cemetery. In her will, she left legacies consisting of jewellry to her four daughters and two daughters-in-law and the remainder of her estate was to be divided equally amongst her six surviving children.