A Country Finch marries a Cockney Sparrow

thedeptfordfinchnest — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:12:03 +0000

Thomas Finch was born in Thames Ditton in 1787. He was the son of John, buried in Ashtead Surrey England in 1787. When or why he arrived in Stepney London England is not clear, but he married his sweetheart Abigail Dron, a local girl from Aldgate and daughter of James, in 1808 on August 16th. Where the wedding took place is still a mystery In 1810 he stood up for his friend John Hawkins at St George in the East when he married Ann Chandler. All the children that Abby and Tom had were baptised at St George in the East , so it is possible they were married there as well

Thomas Byron was their first born and first child to be christened at St George’s in the East on December 13th 1809,two years and two days before the tragically murdered Marr family had their funeral and burial there.

A great blog Spitalfieldslife, profiled the murder over Christmas( with the blessing of Faber & Faber which published the book about it ,The Maul & the Pear Tree, by P.D. James) in five chapters http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/12/15/chapter-3-the-burial-of-the-victims/

The book is a good quick read, as you might expect from a PD James novel, and will definitely fill you in on what life was like for Tom and Abby. Another great source is the on-line Old Bailey site, amongst the gruesome stories, are stories of everyday life and how things went awry. James Dron the baker and grandfather of their daughter-in-law Jane (and possibly a relative of Abby’s) is featured in a case of Stolen Bread. The site is easy to use and you can just plug in a surname.

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17910914-39&div=t17910914-39&terms=Dron#highlight

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A Country Finch marries a Cockney Sparrow