Thomas Hallett

(1772 - ????)

Thomas Hallett was born to William and Joan Hallett (nee Batt) between June and November 1772.

He married Ann Penny, daughter of Jeremiah Markes Penny and Mary Long, on 30 Jul 1798 in Tintinhull, Somerset.

Thomas became a butcher and probably started working for Jeremiah Penny at Ash or Martock. His will described him as a butcher / grazier so he would have needed the land mentioned below for raising his cattle. We know that two of his sons were butchers in London so presumably he sold the meat to the big city.

Between 1797 to 1800 Thomas Hallett rents land in Tintinhull from Henry Lye for 2/6. Thomas would be aged 25 and engaged to Ann Penny. It is very likely that Anne's father was Thomas's employer and he had a long history of renting and owning land as well as being a land tax assessor and so guided Thomas into this.

Thomas is believed to be the Thomas Hallett who traded with William Pittard whose farm accounts from 1785 to 1813 are held at the Somerset Records Office. Transactions involving Thomas are detailed below.

Date	Detail	Payments				Receipts
		£	s	d		£	s	d
1785	None
1786	None
1787	None
1788 Jan 25	Paid Thomas Hallett for a Fellony Gander and Goos 8/-		8
1789	None
1790	None
1791	None
1792	None
1793 Sep 9	Pd for Tho's Halletts reaping			9
1794 Sep 1	Pd Thos Hallett for 1 of feathers 20 1/2		13
1795 Feb 20	Recd of Thos Hallett for 2 half pecks of barley						1	1/2
1796 Jun 3	Paid Wm Hallett for 2 Pigs on Barrow and on[e] Sow that was his son Thomases £4 15s 0d	4	15
1796 Sep 4	Recd of Tomas Hallett for malt and hops had 22 June 10/4.5						10	4.5
1797 Feb 14	Rec of Thos Hallett for malt and hops had 25 Sept						13	6
1797 Mar 3	Pd Thos Hallett for a top butt and scovin of beef woud 19lbs at 5d per lb
1798 Feb 6	Paid Tho^ Hallett for 1 years rent of stocks ditch orchard being 3 1/2 acres at £2 12/6 an acre and mastho Pittard was witness to it	9	1
1799	None
1800	None
1801-1804	Not yet checked
1805	None
1806 - 1809	Not yet checked
1810	None
1811 - 1913	Not yet checked

 

Between 1800 and 1804 Thomas Hallett rents land in Tintinhull from Mr John Pitt for 6/1

In 1805 Thomas Hallett rents land in Tintinhull from Revd Edward Napier [ Glebe] and in 1806 and 1807 he shares this with George Hann and Samuel Beaton and in 1807 Samuel Beaton is replaced by John Jones. In 1810 Robert Hadder is also sharing the rent. Thomas remains in this group till 1815 and he always pays 9/3 rent which was 70% of the total rent. Note the increasing rent at each new property.

1807 His father, William, died and left " All his Messuages Lands Real and personal Estate whatsoever share and share alike " to Thomas and his brother John. I am still to establish what lands were left but suspect from 1871 holdings in Kingsbury Episcopi of Thomas Hallett [ the brickmaker and son of John the Con ], and of Samuel the eldest surviving son of Thomas [ 1772 ] that these were William's land. Also when John married for the 3rd time in 1817 the house he had owned and been living in since 1795 went to Thomas. John may have moved next door to the Pittards and not needed the house. Also interesting is that the land rented by William in 1781 and 1782 went to John Bryant and it was from him that this house was transferred.

1814 Thomas Hallett rents Hurfords Farm in Montacute for £4 " 1s " 0d which was previously rented by Samuel Beaton and he rents a house from widow Perminah Beaton. Assume his family also move into Montacute and in 1815 gave 15/10 for repairing Montacute church and was made a Churchwarden in 1817 at age 45. In 1817 Jacob was the last child christened at Tintinhull and his last two children were christened at Montacute.

1817 to 1830 he rents land in Tintinhull from the late Mr Bean for £4 " 9s " 4d

1822 Thomas Hallett rents the house from widow Perminah Beaton for the last time and in 1823 this is rented by Joseph Hallett his nephew.

1823 Thomas Hallett takes over Brook Farm in Montacute [ £17 " 13s " 0d ] for first time

1825 Stoke sub Hambdon - Thomas Hallett is proprietor of Late Clothier [ 7/6 ] for first time. This is next door in the tax book to George Sprackett and Isaac Hallett married Elizabeth Sprackett from this town which is adjacent to Montacute.

1826 he becomes Land tax assessor or collector till the tax ended in 1832.

1832 he rents Gaundle Farm at £14 " 14s " 0d taking this over from John Day.

1836 he was still a Churchwarden along with his son Isaac for the first time and in 1837 only Isaac was a Churchwarden.

When he died of rheumatism in 1838 he left all his estate and cash of almost £5,000 to his widow Anne. This was a large sum in those days. Charles Cole was present at the death.