A little more on Thomas Ward Boss - the Boss family being a very old Banburyshire family with one or two ending their days in the old workhouse !  Thomas Ward Boss seems to have been a *little luckier* than some of his relations ! In 1871, if I have my research correct, his father is in the workhouse, a pauper !!  Why !!  The same happened with my Sewell family, a relatively well off family, several daughters and a son, but their father was left in the workhouse - why didn't they take care of their elderly relatives !    Thomas Ward Boss, son of John and Amelia Boss, was born in 1825 and baptised at the Presbyterian meeting house on 5 April 1826.  He was eleven years younger than George Herbert and spent most of his life in Banbury, much of it as Librarian of the Mechanics' Institute.  He provides spendidly detailed accounts of many aspects of life in the town in the 1830's and 40's, of the London wagons that conveyed the agricultural produce of Banburyshire to London in the years before railways opened, of the Captain Swing Riots of 1830, although he was aged only five at the time, and of disorderly parliamentary elections.  He provided many precise topographical details.  He records his pride when, at the age of 13, he carried a flag in the procession celebrating Queen Victoria's coronation, and when he took part in the first canvas to raise money for the new Banbury Cross.  He had a wonderful memory for significant details, recalling the storage of wood under the arches of the old town hall in the Market Place for the annual bonfire on 5 Novemeber and a temperance lecture in 1837 in the schoolroom on The Green, then used ......................   Happy New Year to all -- and happy hunting       --- On Fri, 8/1/10, ANGELA ALLEN <angela.allen72@btinternet.com> wrote: From: ANGELA ALLEN <angela.allen72@btinternet.com> Subject: Re: [BAN] Thomas Ward Boss To: eng-banbury-area@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, 8 January, 2010, 18:13 Hi Carol Thomas Ward Boss was a sergeant-at-mace along with Daniel Dixon 1858-80 in Banbury. A sergeant-at-mace was usually chosen from respected tradesmen/police of a town. >From bap entries TWB was also in business as stationer. One of the roles S at M performed was as inspector of weights & measures (Then - far more important than it sounds now) Not sure abt the picture hanging in Banbury - if not the library try the town hall. Google his name & info on him/his position as S at M can be found Angela co admin Banbury I have been told that there is a > picture/photo of Thomas Ward Boss hanging in the Banbury Library. >I have been told all about him and that > he was prominent in Banbury life during the 1800s. Some useful websites: FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ FREEREG - http://www.freereg.org.uk/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-BANBURY-AREA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message