Author: Whitehead, Thomas
Biography:
WHITEHEAD, Thomas (1790-1877: Lowe)
When he published his only known poem, Thomas Whitehead was a young schoolmaster just starting out in Ramsgate, Kent; he subsequently became the renowned master of Chatham House Grammar School and the grandfather of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947). He came of farming stock on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent and was baptised there on 15 Nov. 1790, the son of John Whitehead and his third wife Mary Brown. Having determined upon his vocation, he went to London at the age of 21 to teach in a charity school but returned to Kent in 1815 to start his own school. On 3 Sept. 1815 he married Mary Williams at her home parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Gillingham, Kent. The couple had ten children, of whom three died in infancy. The school prospered: on the 21st anniversary of its establishment, a group of former pupils held a grand dinner with toasts to the master and his wife, and a presentation of silver. All four of the surviving sons attended university and three became clergymen; the fourth and youngest, Alfred, took over the school when his father retired in 1853. Mary Whitehead died in 1856 and was buried at St. George’s, Ramsgate. Nominally retired, Whitehead continued to be active in the town: in the census of 1861 he is identified as “Schoolmaster and Deputy of this town.” After giving up the post of Deputy he was made a magistrate. He died at home on 11 June 1877 and was buried on 15 June at St. George’s with his wife. (Victor Lowe, The Whiteheads [2020], 13-16; findmypast.com 23 May 2024; ancestry.com 23 May 2024; Sun [London] 8 Sept. 1836; John Bull [London] 16 June 1877) HJ
Other Names:
- T. Whitehead