Thomas Hose

  General Notes:

Thomas Hose was born in Lombard street, as was his father Thomas. From 1776-1790 he is listed as "Thomas Hose, 33 Lombard Street, Shoe warehouse". He manufactured shoes and boots having both a shop and warehouse in Lombard Street, and sold goods to the wholesale market. He had annual transactions of about £7,000. From 1783 to 1797 he exported goods to the value of £2,000 per annum to america and the British West Indies. The business failed in 1793 due to "Lapses in trade and bad debts incurred abroad after execution of orders of sale of consignments"
About 1795 he moved south of the Thames to live in Newington. He was employed for 20 years from 1803 as an assistant to John Cousins Esq. of Lloyds coffee house, Lombard Street (Lloyds underwriters of London).
In 1808 he was employed by the commissioners as "an arbitrator of differences in the hide and skin market under the Flaying Act" (The flaying act was introduced to ensure that skins were not damaged during flaying and was repealed in 1824). At this time he became unemployed.
In 1826 Thomas was 66 and in good health. By now he was widdowed. As he had no income he applied to become a resident of Morden college. (Morden college was founded in 1695 by Sir John Morden who gave land and had housing built at Blackheath. This private charity was largely funded by the East India company. The charity funded 40 single men at any one time. They had to be merchants "who had fallen on hard times through misfortune". Each man was given a room, £40 per annum, food, a coal allowance and use of a servant to clean their room. In return they had to attend chapel twice a day, remain sober and not entertain women in their room - sobriety seems to have been quite a problem and some men were expelled for drunkeness. Thomas Hose's application was accepted on 27th Jun 1826. He lived there until his death when he was buried in the grounds. The ground was subsequently deconsecrated and his remains reburied at Charlton church.
Morden college is still run as a private charity, provided homes for the elderly although the residents no longer have to be merchants. The original 1695 building is still in use together with other sites.
I would like to thank the archivist of Morden college who found much of this information for me.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Obituary: Made a freeman of the City of London, 4th Feb 1784.

Thomas married Elizabeth Drew, daughter of John Drew and Elizabeth Birth, on 3 Feb 1785 in London All Hallows the Great. (Elizabeth Drew was born in 1764, christened on 1 Jul 1764 in Saint Michael Crooked Lane, London, England and died before 1828 in London.)