Thomas Parry married Mary Davies on 3 July 1893 at St Giles, he was a skinner living at 15 Trafalger Road, his father was Joseph Parry a labourer. Mary was the daughter of Edward Davies a forgeman . She was living at 5 Eagle Street. The witnesses were Frederick Hayes and Emily Parry.
In November 1900 Mary, the wife of Thomas Parry gave birth to triplets. This qualified the couple for the “Queens Bounty”. The children were Sarah Harriet, Mary Elizabeth and Enoch George.
The event was published on 17 November 1900 in the Wrexham Advertiser.
CANDIDATE FOR THE QUEENS BOUNTY
On Thursday, the wife of Mr Thomas Parry, Havelock Square, Salop Road, gave birth to three children. Mr Parry is employed at the Cambrian Leather Works, and already has a large family, consisting of three boys and two girls. Of the triplets, two girls and one a boy, all, as well as the mother, are doing well.
On 24 November 1900 another announcement was published.
THE QUEEN’S BOUNTY.-The Mayor has received through Lieut.-Colonel Sir Fleetwood Edwards, keeper of the Privy Purse, a Post Office order for £3 as a donation from Her Majesty the Queen to Mrs Mary Parry whose death has, however, unfortunately followed since the birth of the three children mentioned in our last issue. We learn that two of the infants have also died.
Mary was buried on the 19 November, she was only 28. All three of the babies died and were buried with her on the 24 November.
In 1901 Thomas was still at 5 Havelock Square, he was aged 36 and from Wrexham. The other children were Thomas 9, Gertrude 7, Joseph 5 and Edward aged 3. Also there is Edward Davies aged 70 his father in law and his wife Elizabeth Davies 69 .
By 1911 he was at 30 Mount street, and still in the leather works, he hadn`t remarried and only Gertrude 16 and Edward 13 were still at home.
Thomas died in May 1922 at Panton Place, and was buried with Mary and the triplets.
Panton Place was the “new” name for the workhouse. The name was changed to avoid the stigma of the place of birth and deaths being registered as “in the workhouse” . In the 1860`s Captain Panton was the chairman of the Wrexham Board of Guardians.
The “Queen’s Bounty”, was a Royal Donation given to mothers who gave birth to three or more babies at one time. Queen Victoria is said to have initiated the grants to enable the parents to meet sudden expenses thrown on them when triplets or quadruplets were born after she and the Prince learned of a poor woman who had recently given birth to triplets while on a visit to Ireland in about 1849. To qualify for the donation, the babies had to born alive and their parents had to be married and British subjects. After Queen Victoria’s death when her son Edward became King of the United Kingdom, the grants were continued as the King’s Bounty. The Royal Bounty for multiple births continued until 1957, after which parents only received a congratulatory letter from the monarch. Congratulatory messages were abandoned completely in February of 1995.
Researched by Annette Edwards, with help from Judy Roberts of Chirk. August 2019.
Grave ref: Wrexham Cemetery A-00089
