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Brentford Families - Bates and Rutter

Bates - butchers in Old Brentford

DIRECTORY (Post Office) 1882 Brentford
George BATES fishmonger 347 High Street
Thomas BATES butcher 215 High Street
Stephen GOMM punnet maker Bull Lane

DIRECTORY (?) 1898
Thomas BATES butcher 215 High Street
Stephen GOMM (senr) punnet maker 33 Walnut Tree Road
Stephen GOMM (junr) " " 2 Walnut Tree Road

Family stories

As for ancestry memories there are only a few family stories; Caroline Rutter ran a meat stall in Kingston market, and was a strong Salvation Army member.

My grand father, James BATES, told of one occasion when, as a small boy, he was chased, naked, down the High Street by his mother.

A Boer War puzzle

This I have tried to find corroboration of; if you have something I should be interested to know. Thomas BATES ; to keep his horses exercised in the winter (no information about what he did with them in the summer !) he used to run horse buses from Brentford to London. Also I was told, he sold horses for use in the Boer War. You will see he was something more than just 'butcher'; he had a splendid funeral, accompanied by the Salvation Army band, which held up all the traffic at Hammersmith Broadway - but this is not within the bounds of your enquiry!

Research notes - the Boer War horses

In the field, both sides used the latest long-range, high velocity, small-bore repeating rifles and machine guns. Yet horses played a more important role in the ranging over the countryside and in supply lines. Britain had to scour its empire for the 400,346 horses, mules and donkeys that it "expended" in supply lines, pulling artillery, moving soldiers and machinery. The Boer commandos were excellent horsemen and crack shots, able to live in the saddle, and were operating on their home turf with horses that could survive on tough veldt grass. Railroads played a huge part in supply and troop movement, while steam engines and oxen were used to haul wagons and guns.

From an Australian website about the Boer War : English horses cost £40 each, whereas Australian ones were just £16.

Number 215 High Street

Bates family tree

Henry Bates (5 July 1807, Thame) married Martha Dobbinson; in the 1861 census he was living at 313 High Street; when his son Thomas married in 1865 Henry Bates 's occupation was 'hawker'; children, all born Thame unless stated, include:

• Ann Bates (1829)
• William Bates (1834)
• Emma Bates (1834)
• Harry Bates (1836)
• George Bates (1843) married Elizabeth Betsey Clements in Brentford, 1864; he was a fishmonger and had a son George Bates who married Sarah Ann Gomm in 1888, Brentford
• Thomas Bates (19 July 1846, baptised 14 August 1846 in Thame; he married Caroline Rutter on 21 August 1865 at St George's Chapel Old Brentford; Thomas was a fishmonger, horse dealer and butcher; in 1881 he was living at 282 High Street; he died on 6 November 1910 in Hammersmith; his children, all born in Brentford include:
  • Thomas Bates (1866): possibly married Kate Beesley in Brentford in 1885 (FreeBMD); a butcher living at 215 High Street in 1901 with two daughters Ada C Bates & Violet E Bates
  • James Bates (20 June 1868): born Back Lane Old Brentford; on his birth certifiate his father Thomas is described as a fish hawker; James became a master butcher and had more than one shop, including one in Askew Road, Hammersmith; Elizabeth Thormod is descended from James
  • Ada Bates (1870): thought to have married a Gomm, but no record found
  • Kate Bates (1872)
  • Ellen Bates (1880)
• Martha Bates (ca 1852) born Brentford

Rutter family tree

• Caroline Rutter (18 November 1846): in 1861 her occupation was 'Sunday School'; married Thomas Bates in 1865: see above
• John Rutter (16 November 1848) married Elizabeth Gomm, daughter of Stephen Gomm, punnet maker - see Gomm family trees
• Mary Rutter (1855) married George son of George Dowling, shoemaker