Thomas Wray (1805 - 1848)

Born 1805 in Alkborough, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Rainsford) Wray — married 10 Mar 1833 in Burton upon Stather, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 1848 at about age 43 in Burton upon Stather, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Chris Ray [send private message]

Biography

1841 census age rounded to 35, ship builder, living in Burton upon Stather, Lincs, with wife and four children and a female servant.

A Lincolnshire shipyard - Burton upon Stather by Rodney Clapson R. Clapson Publisher, 16 Whitecross Street, Barton-on-Humber, N. Lincs. DB18 5EU 2007, ISBN 978 0 955744 0 2, £7.50, 76 pp., illustrated throughout. The author belongs to a dynasty of ship and boat builders begun by his great grandfather, Robert Bell Clapson, apprenticed at the Burton yard in 1869.

In the Middle Ages there was a small haven at Alkborough Flats where consignments of wool were collected for shipment and it was here that a shipyard was first established. The drainage work of Vermuijden lessened the flow of the River Trent and this resulted in the silting of the haven and the eventual transfer of the yard to Burton upon Stather. Records of vessels start with William Wray (b 1767) in 1788 but we know that a previous shipbuilder on the site was named Cook. Output included sloops, keels, a brig and a brigantine but ceased in 1814 and resumed in Barton in 1816; only two years later a steam packet the New British Queen became the first steam-powered vessel built in the yard. It is a feature of this region that the pioneering of steam-ship building was undertaken in the small upriver yards, especially Thorne and Gainsborough, not in Hull, the largest port and a major centre of shipbuilding. John Wray (b 1796) took over from his father in 1824 and when William died in 1840 John, and Thomas (b 1805) his brother, were bequeathed the yard. The 1841 census reveals that the two men employed 8 ship carpenters, 4 apprentices and a sawyer. On the retirement of John Wray in 1861 he was succeeded by his son, William Wray II (b 1830) who oversaw a massive expansion of the yard's activities so that by 1871 the census records 27 men and 12 apprentices in employment. There was an order in 1863 from James Fisher and Son of Barrow-in-Furness, over on the west coast, for the first of eight schooners at a price of £6000 each and in 1866 a full-rigged ship, named Burton Stather, was built for Bullard, King and Co. of London. A delay in the construction of a ship for Fisher's resulted in litigation and the bad publicity meant that Wray never received another order for a large sailing vessel. Fortunately the buoyant demand for North Sea fishing smacks kept the yard busy but with a much reduced workforce. William Wray died suddenly in 1871, aged only 41, his widow Ellen (nee Dendy) appointed George Morfin, the senior shipwright and yard foreman to manage the yard. In 1883 Joseph Garside, whose timber supply firm in Worksop had supplied large quantities of oak from Sherwood forest, foreclosed on a mortgage and took possession of the yard, retaining Morfin as manager. In 1891 he was superintending 15 men and 5 apprentices a large reduction from the heyday under William Wray. Latterly George Garside ran the yard which closed in 1892 and was abandoned for several years though Brown and Clapson purchased some of the equipment. Reopening in 1896 for iron shipbuilding and engineering from 1898 the site was occupied by John and W.M. Escreet, engine builders and finally closed in 1908, eventually bought by Power Petroleum as a tank depot. Starting with the sloop built at Alkborough in 1788 the final tally of vessels was 341 in the main yard list with the addition of a 25 ft. yawl built in 1905 by George Morfin (by then officially retired) for D.W. Massey, quarry owner of Hessle. Records of four other keels and sloops and a schooner have also been found. Note added by Angela: The book is interesting in its own right but the information on the WRAY family is especially useful. There is a family tree at the back plus details of the WRAY family members involved in shipbuilding in Louth. By coincidence, the GGGGrandson of Thomas Wray is involved in shipbuilding at BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness. He also has links with James Fisher & Sons still based in Barrow.

Sources

• "England, Lincolnshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1990," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL1K-VS83 : 16 March 2018), Thomas Wray, 11 Aug 1805; citing Baptism, 11 Aug 1805, Alkborough, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, Lincolnshire Record Office, Lincoln; FHL microfilm 1,450,414.

• "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ1Y-5LV : 13 December 2017), Thomas Wray, Burton Upon Stather, Lincolnshire, England; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.

Baptised at Alkborough 11 August 1805,

Death registered Glanford Brigg 2Q 1848.

Buried at Burton upon Stather 5 May 1848.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Fiona Legg for creating WikiTree profile Wray-512 through the import of Legg 2013.ged on Sep 19, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Fiona and others.