Name

Thomas (1) Shelmerdine

Designation
Architect
Born
1819
Place of Birth
Salford
Location
Liverpool
Died
1895

  • Born         1819 at Manchester or Salford
  • Married     23 January 1843 to Mary Ellen Worsley at St Bride’s Church Liverpool. (She died 30th Oct. 1899, aged 74 years).
  • Died         27 September 1895 at Blundellsands.

The Shelmerdine family were already established in Manchester by the early seventeenth century when William Shelmerdine (died 1651) was recorded as a bookseller in Manchester in 1619.  Thomas Shelmerdine is believed to have been in Salford in 1819 but details of his parents, exact date of birth and education have yet to be resolved. By the time of the 1841 census he had removed to Walton-on-the-Hill, Liverpool. Here he married Mary Ellen Worsley at St Brides Church in January 1843. Later Liverpool directories describe him as an architect and surveyor, with an office at 5 Clayton Square, but it is principally as a land agent, that he found employment. In Liverpool Shelmerdine dealt with the Stanley estate and was surveyor to the Liverpool estates of Lord Salisbury and those of the Watt family of Speke Hall.  In later years he was agent for the John Shaw Leigh Grange Hall Estate, in West Kirby. However, details of his architectural works other than at Speke Hall where he designed the north and west lodges, remain elusive.

Thomas and Mary Ellen had ten children, Elizabeth, Thomas (II), Mary, Emily, Anthony, Edward Wilson, Henry, Lucy, and Ada. Of these Thomas II, Edward and Henry became architects. Edward practised briefly in partnership with Henry but died at the age of 32, Thomas (II) became surveyor of Liverpool in 1871 and Henry architect to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1884.

Thomas Shelmerdine died on 27 September 1895, aged 76 as recorded on a large sandstone sarcophagus in Toxteth Park Cemetery. This bears an inscription as follows: Giving thanks for the dear memory of / Thomas SHELMERDINE, / died 27th Sept. 1895, aged 76 years. // Edward SHELMERDINE, / died 15th September 1884 aged 32 years. / Emily SHELMERDINE, / died 19th October 1886, aged 37 years. // Mary Ellen, / wife of Thomas SHELMERDINE, / died 30th Oct. 1899, aged 74 years. // Mary ALLETSON, / died 26th June 1890, aged 43 years. / Ada GAWITH, / died 12th July 1943, aged 83 years. / Harrison GAWITH, son of the above, / died 10th June 1949, aged 65 years. // “They shall enter into peace.”[Toxteth Park Cemetery Inscriptions M26/27 CK 431/432 Shelmerdine, Alletson, Gawith]

Address
1853    Thomas Shelmerdine architect 5 Clayton Square Liverpool
1870    Thomas Shelmerdine architect, surveyor and land agent 5 Clayton Square. (A Green and Company Directory for Liverpool and Birkenhead 1870)
1883    Thomas Shelmerdine land agent for the Leigh Estate, 5 Clayton Square
1894    Thomas Shelmerdine surveyor 5 Clayton Square Liverpool

Residence
1844    Liverpool
1846-50    Knowsley (baptism records)
1852    Seaforth (baptism records)
1853    Thomas Shelmerdine architect 13 Devonshire Place, Everton
1861    Kirkdale(census)
1871    Liscard Wallasey (census)
1881    Thomas Shelmerdine 67 Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool (census)
1894    Clementina Road Blundellsands, Great Crosby
1899    Mary Ellen Shelmerdine 40 Leyland Road, Southport (residence at death)

Reference    Notes on the Early Booksellers and Stationers of Manchester prior to the year 1700. J P Earwaker: Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 1889.
Reference    London Gazette 1 December 1844 page 5536 – estate
Reference    Toxteth Park Cemetery Inscriptions M26/27 CK 431/432 Shelmerdine, Alletson, Gawith