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Thomas Henry Bone was born in 1867 to parents William James Bone and his first wife Elizabeth Mary Batchelder. The birth certificate [Birth Index: Pancras 1b 156, 1867 (Dec)] states that he was born on October 8th 1867 at his parents' address 1, Hadley Street South, Kentish Town in North London. His father - named William James - was then occupied as a railway shunter. His mother was the informant, but her maiden name is misspelt as "Batchider".
The 1871 Census finds him living with his parents at 29, Stanhope Street in St. Pancras, just west of today's Euston railway station.
The 1881 Census finds him living with his parents at 6, Haverstock Place in St. Pancras, and occupied as an errand-boy.
The 1891 Census appears to find him at age "22" among numerous servants living at the Midland Hotel in Euston Road, St. Pancras where he was occupied as a hotel lift attendant.
In 1894 he married Annie (1) Woodhurst. The marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Hackney 1b 867, 1894 (Sept)] states that they married on August 6th 1894 in Hackney Parish Church. He is described as a bachelor and engine fitter aged 26 whose father "James William Bone" was a railway porter, and she as a spinster aged 21 (she was actually 20) whose father Richard William (1) Woodhurst was simply "Dead". Their place of residence was cited as 67, Blurton Road in Clapton. The witnesses were Annie (1)'s brother William (2) and Emily Sarah "Hinds" whose uncle James Hines had, five years previously, become the third husband of Annie's mother Matilda. Annie's wedding was twinned with that of her sister Maude Edith to William Ward, sharing the same GRO reference.
Thomas Henry seems to have lived in North London and worked on the railways all his adult life, but he moved his family many times in pursuit of better job opportunities. His six children were born over a very long period of seventeen years, with no two born in consecutive years - whether Annie (1) miscarried during the intervening years is unknown. Mostly, and perhaps without exception, they were born at distinct addresses.
In 1897 the family was living at 44, Oakford Road, Tufnell Park in Kentish Town, by which time Thomas Henry was an engine fitter journeyman. Oakford Road today is much as it was then, comprising mostly terraced houses, but No. 44 at the end of the road is distinguished by being clearly larger than its neighbours. The front door is set in a semi-circular arch, presumably leading into a hall, on each side of which are reception rooms; there is no garden to speak of, either front or rear.
The 1901 Census finds him living with Annie (1) and their first two children in three rooms at 183, Dartmouth Park Hill in Tufnell Park. He was occupied as an engineer's labourer.
The 1911 Census finds him living with Annie (1) and four children in four rooms at 173, Fortess Road in Kentish Town. He was now occupied as a railway watchman. Annie (1)'s birthplace was entered highly incorrectly as Forest Gate in Essex.
His daughter Maud Ethel (MEB) claimed that the family lived well - "always claret on the table" - but that her father drank relatively little except at Christmas and other special occasions. He was a keen gardener and allotment holder. Among the flowers that he grew were bright yellow old-fashioned tobacco-plants. He was in the habit of buying antiques and other nice things for the home, but these tended to disappear as his wife sold them off for her drink money. The family kept at least one cat, and MEB held a childhood memory of the "cat-meat man" who, each day of the week other than Sunday, would visit the neighbourhood with a large board on which were pinned strips of horse-flesh for sale to cat-owners. She recalled also the existence during her childhood of large family portraits in gilt frames hanging on the walls of Maude Edith's home at 15, Warrender Road in Islington, and of a large album of photographs in her own home. It is not known what became of any of them. However, her niece Hazel Edith Smith (nee Bone) produced a studio photograph showing five seemingly well-to-do gentlemen sporting suits with waistcoats, bowlers and cigars. The right-most figure was confirmed immediately by MEB to have been Thomas Henry.
He died in 1915. MEB said that it was the shock of a Zeppelin raid on London during the Great War that precipitated her father's early death at the age of 48. His death certificate [Death Index: Pancras 1b 147, 1915 (Dec)] gives the cause as rheumatism, heart disease and heart failure, suggesting he was already in a poor state of health. The first Zeppelin raid on London occurred on December 29th 1914 and further raids continued into late 1916. He died at the St. Pancras Infirmary, Highgate on October 24th 1915. His address is cited as 38, Woodsome Road in St. Pancras - although according to MEB this was actually owned at that time by Annie (1)'s sister Blanche (1) - and his occupation as nightwatchman. The informant was his oldest son Thomas Richard, then living at the house in Warrender Road, used over a long period of time as a sort of base by various family members. MEB always described her father's occupation as a railway timekeeper (presumably quite a step up from engine fitter) and disputed that he was ever a nightwatchman, but conceded that he was a night-worker when he died; so maybe Thomas Richard gave an inaccurate account of his father's occupation. That he was a timekeeper by the time he died is confirmed on the marriage certificate of his second son Harold Edward (1). He is understood to have left a certain amount of estate to Annie (1) which, together with some help given by Blanche (1), enabled her subsequently to set up a new home in Leicester.
Hazel Edith also produced a memorial card from his funeral, showing that he was interred at Finchley Cemetery in grave number 242-7-V. The Funeral Directors named on the card were the firm of H.R.Sinclair at Nos. 162 & 164 Kentish Town Road, NW1. This cemetery is now assimilated within today's St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery in London N2, situated on the east side of High Road in East Finchley.
Some time after THB's death, most of the remaining family - that is, Annie (1) and her children Harold Edward (1) and Mildred Margaret - moved to Leicester, although the reason for this remains unknown. Hazel Edith did say, however, that Annie (1) was left some money by her husband and used it, together with some additional contribution from her sister Blanche (1), to set up home in Leicester.