1841: (Sunday 6 June) Records show a Thomas Hanmer, aged 14, Pupil and Boarder at Repton, Burton on Trent, Derbyshire.

The 1841 census for Thomas's future wife, Sarah Leach Williams (then aged 12), shows her living with her parents, Benjamin (a 46 year old hatter) and Elizabeth (a 44 year old milliner) at Westgate Street, St Mary de Grace, Gloucester. Also part of their household are two shopwomen, Sarah Goodman and Emma Strout (both aged 20) and 20 year old Anne Greenwood, a servant. Other residents in the street included a draper, a watchmaker, a printer and a grocer.

1851: (Sunday 30 March) By now Thomas was 25 years old and working as a Clerk at the Liverpool Sailors Home. He was living at 2 Portwood Street, West Derby with his wife Sarah Leach Hanmer (née Williams) aged 22. The couple had two children, both born in Birkenhead, Cheshire:

It also looks as if there was another couple living in the same house: Robert Ainley, Clerk to Insurance Broker, aged 25; and his wife, Sarah Agnes Ainley, aged 21. It seems likely that Robert Ainley was the son of Captain Richard Ainley, who in 1849 had become Superintendent of the Liverpool Sailors' Home. It is also possible that it was through this domestic connection that Thomas Hanmer secured work at the Sailors' Home, though it might have been the other way round ie that having got the job and made the acquaintance of Captain Ainley he then acquired the accommodation. Interestingly, Thomas and Sarah named their third daughter, born in 1852, Sarah Agnes; and they also gave their second son Thomas, born in 1856, the middle name "Ainley", their eldest son having been named John Marsden after Thomas's father.

Other nearby residents in Portwood Street included a Book-keeper (at number 1); a Rail Labourer (at number 3); a Letter Carrier for the Post Office (at number 5); and a Carpenter (at number 6).

Census data for 1851 show that Richard Ainley, then aged 55 and still Superintendent of the Liverpool Sailors' Home, was living at 108 Princes Terrace in Birkenhead with his wife, Mary Raven, aged 46, and three children: daughter Elizabeth, aged 25 (her age makes me wonder if she and her brother Robert were twins); and sons Samuel, aged 15, and William, aged 13. The two boys are described as being "scholars at home".

1861: (Sunday 7 April) Thomas, now aged 34, had risen to the position of Secretary to the Sailors' Home in Canning Place, and was living there with his family:

Sarah Agnes, Dora Emily and Ada had all been born in Liverpool, whilst Thomas's birthplace is recorded as Rock Ferry, Cheshire. Ada, at 1 month old, had presumably yet to be christened, and the family had clearly not yet finally agreed her name: she was in fact later baptised Amy Tilston! There had also been an earlier birth, in 1859, of another daughter, Evelyn Meredith, but she had survived only 6 months.

John Marsden Hanmer is recorded, boarding as a 6 year old pupil, at a separate address: 2, Poplar Grove Elms, Toxteth Park, Liverpool. The Head of that household was widower William Johnson, aged 58, an Attorney's Managing Clerk. Also at the address were 3 unmarried daughters, aged 32, 28 and 22. The occupations of the younger two, Mary Hannah and Emily Ann, were as teachers.

1871: (Sunday 2 April) When this census was taken Sarah Leach Hanmer was living at 90 Chatham Street, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool with 8 of her children:

Elizabeth Mary, the eldest, was by this time married to James Crosfield Bell and had left home. We also know that between Amy and Herbert there had been a son, Arthur Benjamim, who was born in January 1863 but he died when he was exactly one month old. Also at the same address were a sick nurse (a 30 year old widow) and 2 unmarried servants aged 19 and 15. It also looks as though the family owned 95 Chatham Street, though it was uninhabited.

Thomas appears on the census for the Liverpool Sailors' Home, along with all the other employees (23) and the boarders (around 115). Aged 44, he was by now Manager and Secretary of the Home.

The 1871 census is also interesting as it shows an entry for a Jeremiah Hanmer, aged 41, an unemployed tailor and draper. He was living at 66 Berkley Street, Toxteth Park, Liverpool with his wife, Eliza, aged 27; and a 2 year old daughter, Dora. It seems likely that Jeremiah was Thomas's brother, since we know that Thomas's son, Herbert Lewis, married his cousin, Dora Hanmer.

1881: (Sunday 3 April) This census also has the family at separate addresses. At 49 Promenade, Southport, a lodging house kept by Isabella Moon, a 43 year old widow, were:

At "Ashburn", St James' Road, Rainhill were:

John Marsden and Thomas Ainley were by this stage both working, John as Assistant Secretary at the Liverpool Sailors' Home; and Thomas as an Accountant. They lived in lodgings at 23 Sandon Street, Liverpool. Kate Weaver had left home and married Alexander Mackillop. Only Herbert Lewis is unaccounted for.

1891: (Sunday 5 April) This is the final census entry for Thomas, who died in 1900, six months before the 1901 census was carried out. Aged 64, and still employed as Manager and Secretary of the Sailors' Home, he was now living at 36 Carlton Road, Tranmere, Birkenhead. He had lost his wife, Sarah Leach Hanmer in 1888 and had remarried Ann Nancye Jones on 2 July 1890. She was about 18 years younger than Thomas, and only 10 years older than his daughter Dora Emily, who was unmarried and still living with her father and his new wife.

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