Nat Gould

Lydia Gould 1795-1854

Lydia Gould was born on 24 May 1795, the daughter of Thomas Gould 1752-1829 and his wife nee Frances Hunt 1766-1836.

On 22 September 1819 she was married to the Reverend Thomas Anderson 1795-1872 (1). He was born at Woodford in 1795, the son of John Anderson of Woodford in Essex. The ceremony was conducted by the bride's maternal uncle the Reverend Dr Philip Hunt 1772-1838.

Having matriculated on 6 November 1812, Thomas Anderson had graduated Bachelor of Arts at Exeter College, Oxford in 1816 and Master of Arts in 1819. He was ordained deacon at Lincoln cathedral on 29 October 1820 and appointed on the same day as stipendiary curate at Wilden in Bedfordshire. He was ordained priest on 14 October 1821, again in Lincoln cathedral.

Felsham Church

On 8 February 1822 the Reverend Thomas Anderson became Rector of Felsham in Suffolk, where he was to serve throughout the rest of his life.

The patron of the benefice, who appointed the new rector, was none other than his wife’s brother, the Reverend Joseph Gould 1797-1866, then curate of Newton Blossomville in Buckinghamshire. He had been ordained priest only in the preceding year, and in the following year was to officiate when his brother Nathaniel Gould 1787-1867 married Mary Crompton at St Pancras church in London.

In 1851 Thomas and Lydia Anderson were living at Felsham Rectory with their unmarried daughter Mary Anderson, their son John Thomas Anderson also unmarried, a manservant and three female servants.

Lydia Anderson died on 21 March 1854 at Felsham Rectory aged 58 years (2).

In 1861 the Reverend Thomas Anderson was living as a widower at Felsham Rectory with his unmarried daughter Mary, a manservant and three female servants. He was there when the 1871 Census was taken, with his unmarried daughter Mary Anderson, but the household had increased to five female domestics and two male servants. Also living with them was a granddaughter Mary Elizabeth Anderson aged 22 years and born at Wolverton in Warwickshire, the daughter of the rector’s son the Reverend James Richard Anderson.

The Reverend Thomas Anderson died, still serving at Felsham, on 4 December 1872 (3).

The children of Thomas and Lydia Anderson were:

Mary Anderson. She was born in 1821 at Northaw Place, the home of her paternal grandparents. She died on 6 May 1882 (4).

John Thomas Anderson. He was born in 1822 at Cardington in Bedfordshire, and was baptised at Felsham on 8 September 1822. He married Mary Montgomerie, daughter of William Eglinton Montgomerie and his wife nee Susanna Fraser Anderson on 8 August 1872 (5). She was born in 1831 in Scotland, and died in 1914. Felsham House was built for them by his father (6). John Thomas Anderson was a barrister-at-law, and became a Queen's Counsel in Canada. When the Census was taken in 1881 he was living in retirement with his wife at 108 Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. By 1891 they were living at Newlands, Bury Road, Felsham. He died in 1894.

James Richard Anderson 1824-1872. He was born at Northaw Place. He became a clergyman.

(1) "MARRIED. On Wednesday, the 22d inst., at Northaw-church, Herts, by the Rev. Dr. Hunt, Thomas Anderson, Esq., of Exeter-college, Oxford, M.A., to Lydia, second daughter of Thomas Gould, Esq., of Northaw." The Times 24 September 1819.
(2) "DIED ... On the 21st inst., at Felsham Rectory, Suffolk, aged 58, Lydia, wife of the Rev. Thomas Anderson." Morning Chronicle 25 March 1854. Similar reports in Norfolk Chronicle 25 March and 8 April 1854.
(3) Pall Mall Gazette 10 December 1872; Cambridge Independent Press 14 December 1872.
(4) Bury and Norwich Post 9 May 1882.
(5) Ipswich Journal 10 December 1872; Chelmsford Chronicle 16 August 1872.
(6) "Country houses in East Anglia" article in Country Life by Penny Churchill 26 April 2007.