Individual Summary for Thomas Harold Hurt
3 Jun 2000
Page  1
Event
Date(s)
Place
Description
Born
1
23 Jan 1903
, Ealing, Middlesex, UK 
Christened
 
Died
2
21 Nov 1986
Addenbrookes Hos, Cambridge, C, UK 
Buried
, Bildeston, Suffolk, UK 
Nickname: 
AKA: 
Married Name: 
Sex:
M
ID:
300
AFN:
Created:
4 Sep 1999
Last Changed: 3 Oct 1999
Parents
Father
Mother
William Hurt
Charlotte Ann Carter
Marriages
Spouse
Marriage Date/Place
Mar 1925
Register Office, Brentford, Middlesex, UK
Olive Gladys Bond
3
Aug 1938
Registry Office, Brentford, Middlesex, UK
Hilda Rose Stapley
4
Notes
Thomas Harold was born on 23 Jan 1903 probably in the Ealing or Hanwell area of Brentford. He was probably the 13th of about 17 children born 
to parents William Hurt and Charlotte Ann Carter. Throughout his adult life he was known by his second christian name, Harold, or by his 
nickname, Flip. He married Olive Gladys Bond sometime within the first quarter of 1925 when he was 22 and had 5 children between 1925 and 
1932. Olive was unwell with TB and died of meningitis in 1935 whilst the children were aged 10 and under. Up to about a year prior to Olive's 
death the family were living in the downstairs flat at 7 Shirley Gardens but Harold was advised by the doctor to take his wife away from there and 
the family moved to 15 Hume's Avenue, a house owned by Harold's employer. When Olive died a year later the family moved back to 7 Shirley 
Gardens, this time to the upstairs flat. Although Harold paid the bills, it was effectively the children's grandmother, Nan Bond, who brought them 
up for the 3 years they lived there; Harold working long hours as a motor mechanic during the day and at a club in the evenings. He married Hilda 
Rose Stapley in 1938 and moved his family to 62 Montague Road where he and Hilda had their only child, Maureen Anne in 1939. Towards the 
end of WWII he moved to 19 Sunshine Homes, Selsey to escape the blitz but travelled to London still to work. After the war he made several 
attempts to start a business in Selsey, losing money to the Warwicks at one time. Working at Maidment's garage he eventually went in with Spen 
Lawrence buying a garage in Rattlesden, Suffolk where he, Hilda and Maureen moved to around 1950. Whilst Spen (with wife and 3 children) also 
bought a house in Rattlesden, Harold didn't preferring to lodge with Spen. This arrangement caused problems and Spen eventually bought out 
Harold's share of the garage. Harold then took his first pub in Suffolk, 'The Five Bells', in Rattlesden. Meanwhile his son John had moved in with 
him but after John was 'evicted' he lost most of his trade when John told the locals what his step-mother was really like! Harold then took the 
'King's Head' at Mendlesham. I visited both pubs although was very young and have no memories of the former visit. He owned neither pub and 
with his savings dwindling he bought a cottage on Barking Tye but possibly never lived in it. He then went to Selsey around 1960 staying briefly 
with daughter June and then for a summer with younger daughter Sheila. Next he took a winter let on East Beach, then rented the lower floor of 
Banf House in East Road (I remember visiting there during the hard winter of 1963). He then rented a new flat in Grafton Rd before finally moving 
back to Suffolk where he bought 68 High Street, Bildeston for 800 pounds around 1966/7. He was to die in Bildeston on 21 Nov 1986 aged 83 and 
is buried in the church cemetery in Bildeston. Thomas Harold is my maternal Grandfather. His gravestone inscription reads: 
     IN / LOVING MEMORY / OF / A DEAR HUSBAND / THOMAS HAROLD / HURT /
     DIED 21st NOV 1986 / AGED 83
Sources
1. 
PRO Birth Indexes, Brentford, Vol 3a, Page 135, Mar 1903.
2. 
Certified Copy of an Entry of Death, Cert No ED564838, Entry 266, 28 Nov 1986.
3. 
PRO Marriage Indexes, Brentford, Vol 3a, Page 222, Mar 1925.
4. 
PRO Marriage Indexes, Brentford, Vol 3a, Page 988, Sep 1938.