Jason Ellis
master brummie
Can anybody please help with information on Thomas Bailey (1762-1842) steel toy maker and seedsman/gardener of Henry Street, Ashted and later of Ashted Court Row? He was apprenticed to Abel Groves as a toy maker in 1783. He held a mass baptism of some of his children 19 Apr 1814 at Ashted, St James when he is named as a steel toy maker of Henry Street, Ashted. But he appears to have a parallel career as a seedsman and gardener (unless I am conflating two different people). He married twice. First to Mary Ensell in 1785 at Oldswinford (although he was of St Martin, Birmingham). Then to Mary Ruston in 1799 at Birmingham St Martin. On the 1841 census he is listed as a gardener living at Ashted Row Court, Aston. The sixth of his 13 children was baptised John Linneaus Bailey 28 Sep 1797 at Saint Phillips, Birmingham. The choice of Linneaus for a middle name must surely be in deference to Carl Linneaus who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms - including plants.