Author: Prall, Thomas
Biography:
PRALL, Thomas (1755?-1832: ancestry.co.uk 11 Aug. 2023)
He was possibly the son of Thomas and Mary Prall who was born at Rochester, Kent, on 15 Apr. 1755 and baptised on 4 May at St. Margaret’s. This does not match his burial record but there do not appear to be other candidates. Nothing is known about his education and he does not appear to have attended any university. He married Judith Miller on 22 Dec. 1781 at Dover and they went on to have six sons and a daughter (1782-97), all baptised at Dover. In 1787 he advertised for pupils at his academy at the Pent Side, Dover, offering a curriculum reflecting Dover’s maritime position: “Merchants Accompts, Mensuration, Navigation, Geography, with the use of Globes.” The core curriculum consisted of English writing, Arithmetic and Algebra, with Latin and French as additional options. At some point he moved to Margate and opened a boarding school in King Street. In Dec. 1804 he put the building up for sale. It is not known when he sold the lease or what he did afterwards. In Jan. 1817, he was appointed an under-master at Sir Joseph Williamson’s Free Mathematical school at Rochester, possibly through the influence of John Prall (almost certainly a relative), attorney, town clerk, and one of the governors. He must have remained there for some time, as his wife, Judith, died at Rochester in June 1823, aged 68, and was buried at St. Nicholas. At some point thereafter he returned to Dover where he died and was buried on 4 Apr. 1832 at St. Mary the Virgin. Superstition, A Moral Essay is his only known work. (ancestry.co.uk 11 Aug. 2023; findmypast.co.uk 11 Aug. 2023; Kentish Gazette 12 Jan. 1787, 11 Dec. 1804; Kentish Weekly Post 3 Jan. 1817; Essex and Herts Mercury 17 June 1823) AA