Edward Thomas Booth (1840 - 1890)

Born 2 Jun 1840 in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Died 1890 at about age 49 in Steyning, Sussex, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Booth was an ornithologist. He founded a Victorian Taxidermy Museum in Brighton, now called the Booth Museum. In 1971 the Booth became a Museum of Natural History. It is now home to a staggering collection of 525,000 insects, 50,000 minerals and rocks, 30,000 plants and 5,000 microscopic slides. There are some spectacularly old specimens such as shells from the bottom of a 55 million year old Mediterranean lagoon, and dinosaur bones. In 1998 the Booth Museum was one of the first regional museums in the country to be designated as having collections of national importance.

Edward was born in 1840. He was the son of Edward Booth of Norfolk and Marianne Beaumont of Northumberland.

By 1850 the family had moved to Hastings, Sussex, where Edward was taught taxidermy by Kent, the bird stuffer and barber from St Leonards. In 1854 the family moved to Vernon Place, Brighton.

The census records tell us that at age 10 in 1851 Edward was resident at a very small school under the tutelage of John Allen in Brighton Sussex. Later Edward was educated at Harrow School, Harrow, London England.

The census for 1861 shows Edward as now 20, and living with his widowed father at 81 Marina Drive in St Leonards by Sea (Hastings).

Edward married Frances Corke in December 1877 (b. c 1849 Ringmer, Sussex).

By 1881 Edward and Frances are living on Dyke Road in Steyning (now part of Brighton, house demolished, but next door is the Museum, re-numbered). Residing with them are four servants: James Mills 42, Ann Mills 40, Eliza Geal 25, Sarah Roberts 20. There don't appear to have been any children.

Frances had an illness requiring a nurse. She died in February 1885. Edward married (his nurse?), Bessie Helen Rose in the spring of 1887.

Edward passed away in 1890. He is buried in Hastings in the same tomb as his parents.

Fun fact: Edward Thomas Booth has a Brighton and Hove city bus named after him[1]!

Sources

• Brighton Museums biography[2]

• England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2NSG-JP4 : 1 October 2014), Edward Thomas Booth, 1840; from "England & Wales Births, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Birth Registration, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, citing General Register Office, Southport, England

• England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG8H-9CB : 8 November 2019), Edward Thos Booth in household of John Allen, Brighton, Sussex, England; citing Brighton, Sussex, England, p. 52, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey

• Class: RG 9; Piece: 561; Folio: 180; Page: 16; GSU roll: 542662, Source Information Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861.

• FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.

• England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2DYD-HTR : 13 December 2014), Edward Thomas Booth, 1887; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1887, quarter 2, vol. 2B, p. 457, Steyning, Sussex, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

• England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2J64-Q3M : 31 December 2014), Edward Thomas Booth, 1890; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Steyning, Sussex, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

• Booth Museum [3]

• Friends of Hastings Cemetery (3 pages on Booth)[4]

• Blog with pictures of the museum collection and E.T. Booth[5]