Author: FENBY, Thomas
Biography:
FENBY, Thomas (1796-1827: findmypast.com)
His one volume of poems, dedicated to a boyhood friend, describes the author as "a mechanic" and reveals that his native town was Beverley in Yorkshire, that he left it in 1816 and misses it, and that his last surviving parent, his mother, had died in 1823. His mother Jane Grant had married his father John Fenby, a maltster, at Beverley in 1781; their children Thomas and Sarah were baptised at the Independent church at South Cave. After leaving Beverley, Fenby crossed the country to Liverpool, where he worked as a "buhl cutter," that is, a craftsman cutting materials such as brass and tortoiseshell to make inlay for furniture. On 27 Feb. 1827 he married Catharine Meddows at his parish church, St. Thomas, in Liverpool; one of the witnesses was his sister Sarah Fenby, by then a dressmaker living at the same address, 64 Gloucester St. But he died on 7 Sept. 1827 and was buried at the age of 31 at St. Mary, Edge Hill, Liverpool, on 10 Sept. The cause of death was suspected to have been hydrophobia (rabies) following a dog bite. The attending surgeon wrote up the details of the final hours and the autopsy. A son, Thomas, was baptised in Liverpool on Sept. 26. (findmypast.com 17 Jul. 2021; Morning Herald [London] 20 Sept. 1827; ancestry.co.uk 17 Jul. 2021; contributions from AA)