Thomas Sackett

Thomas Sackett, son of Henry Sackett and Martha Higgs, was baptized in Hornchurch, Essex^G, on 21 January 1766.¹ He died aged 51² and was buried at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch^G, on 7 January 1817, described in the record as "of Romford."² He married first at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, Middlesex^G, on 18 August 1794, Rachel Baker.³ Rachel died in September 1809⁴ and was buried at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch^G, on 1 October 1809.⁴ He married second at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch^G, on 20 May 1813, Catherine Cox.⁵ She died aged 79 in Orsett, Essex^G, in 1840⁶ and was buried at St Michael's Church, Aveley, Essex^G, on 10 March 1840.⁷
     Thomas was a butcher and had a shop and slaughterhouse in Hornchurch. An advertisement in the London Times in 1796 showed that he had a 21-year lease on the premises from 1794 at £25 a year. He was later described (in newspaper reports of his son's arrest for highway robbery) as a "calves' salesman to a very great extent, constantly attending Romford-market."⁸ He was in a business partnership with John Eve Sr, of Grays, also a salesman, the partnership being dissolved on 24 June 1806.⁹
     Rachel Baker would appear to have had a daughter, Elizabeth Baker, born illegitimately in about 1790. Elizabeth died aged 40 in Colchester in 1831. She married at St Mary's Church, Bocking, Essex, on 1 November 1813, Lionel Garrard, a merchant and private banker. Lionel Garrard was a signatory to the petition to the King, pleading for the life of Thomas Baker Sackett who had been convicted of robbery in 1827. Lionel Garrard described himself on the petition as a brother-in-law to the convicted man, and it is on this basis that his wife Elizabeth is identified as a daughter of Rachel Baker.¹⁰

[Temporary entry. Record being compiled.]