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THE THRALLS OF MANSFIELD
The history of this name illustrates how a particular name can appear from a source many miles away and quickly become established in a specific area. This surname did not originate in the county of Nottinghamshire: I cannot find it in any of my earliest sources. However the first mention I have found in parish registers in Notts is for 1694, in Mansfield. After that date many Thrall baptisms and burials took place in the county, the great majority in Mansfield where Thralls had obviously soon become a significant element in the population.
Where had the first Mansfield Thralls come from? In Hertfordshire there is a similar name, THRALE, which in the past has sometimes been written as Thrall. Genealogists following the history of the Thrales assume that the Thralls are descended from them. I was dubious until I saw an account on an American website devoted to the earliest settlers in that country. A William Thrall/Thrale, probably from Sandridge, Herts, is recorded as receiving an award of land in Connecticut in 1637. This surname was common in Sandridge well before William emigrated. Another factor linking the Thrales of Herts and the Thralls of Notts is the profession of this early American settler. He was a stonemason, and we shall see that this profession was absolutely characteristic of the Mansfield Thralls. Thrale is still a Hertfordshire surname, but much more rare than Thrall now. In 1881 there were 21 Thrales in Herts compared with about 90 Thralls in Notts. So my hypothesis is that openings for stonemasons in Notts attracted workers from Hertfordshire, and the settlers in Mansfield thrived, such that they successfully raised large families (as can be seen in the censuses) and came to outnumber those who had stayed behind in Hertfordshire.
The connection between the Thralls and working in stone is a remarkable one, and helps to convince me that the emigrant William and the Hertfordshire Thrales are related to the Mansfield Thralls. By the 1841 census there were 8 Thrall families in the town. Of the 11 working males in these households, 9 were stonemasons. I’m tempted to see a continuous line of stone workers from the emigrant William in the early 17th century to these Mansfield men. Magnesian limestone outcrops in the western part of the county, all the way from Nottingham to the Yorkshire border and then beyond. I wonder if the limestone quarries and building in stone in the Mansfield area attracted the Thralls to the town, and then kept them employed for generations. Perhaps they worked on the stone that was used in the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after its destruction by fire in 1834.
Several Thralls were still stonemasons in 1881 and even in 1911, when building in brick had virtually taken over completely in this area, Charles Thrall was a stonemason. There would still have been a need for repairs and maintenance to stone structures. This family’s history is also a strong record of the tendency of sons to follow fathers in an industry or profession. The youngsters would have become familiar with the trade from watching their elders, and the latter would have been in a position to secure jobs for their sons. This tendency can also be seen in the other trade which attracted many Thrall men later in the 19th century, when perhaps stone working was dying out - iron founding. The establishment of foundries in the area was part of the growth of industry locally, reflecting the need for metal parts as towns developed and society became more sophisticated. By 1881 several Thralls were working in iron foundries, and again fathers and sons were involved together. Female employment was also changing, as masons’ daughters became cotton operatives, presumably in the Town Mill.
There is evidence that people with this surname had a tendency to travel, presumably to better themselves. The 1851 census shows that 2 of them had been born in London, and Henry Thrall, a blacksmith in Mansfield in 1901, had been born in the USA. By the late 19th century many of those born in Mansfield had settled elsewhere. The most noteworthy example is Benjamin. In 1871 he was a Post Office clerk lodging in Doncaster. Ten years later he was the chief PO clerk in Hull, and in 1901 the Postmaster at Taunton, at the opposite end of the country. His children took up similar, but less exalted, careers. The growth of the service economy provided the chance for able and ambitious people to opt for white collar employment in place of the manual work their predecessors had done, to travel, and to improve their lot in life.
The Thralls of Mansfield illustrate economic development in the Victorian age, and social and geographical mobility for some families, as well as continuity for others.