One of my fifth great grandfathers was Thomas Plaisted (1777 – 1832), who lived with his wife and family at Deptford, a dockyard district on the south bank of the Thames. Plaisted was the proprietor of a wine bar in Woolwich, five miles to the east. (When I last wrote about this, at “Plaisteds Wine Bar”, I was under the impression that his wine shop was in Deptford.)
Until recently much of what was known about Thomas Plaisted was based on Arthur Plaisted’s 1939 “The Plaisted Family of North Wilts“. In 2016, however, a new edition formatted by Claire Plaisted was published. She notes that Arthur Plaisted’s work on the Australasian branch of the family is unreliable. It should be pointed out, of course, that Arthur Plaisted was writing in the 1930s, without our easy on-line access to records and without the benefit of digitisation and machine text-searching.
When my fourth great grandfather John Plaisted died in 1858 in Melbourne, Victoria, his death certificate gave his parents as Thomas Plaisted and Lydia Plaisted née Wilks. Using the Australian system of birth, death, and marriage records, I have been able to trace my Plaisted relatives back to Thomas Plaisted – owner of the wine bar – and his wife Lydia.
On 10 June 1797 Thomas Plaisted married Lydia Wilks (Wilkes) at St Bride’s Church Fleet Street by banns. The witnesses were William Winstandly and W Finch.
Their son John was baptised on 27 April 1800 at St George the Martyr, Southwark, with seven other infants. The baptism record states that he was born on 7 April.
Two children of Thomas and Lydia had previously been baptised at the same church. Both were called Thomas, the first baptised 12 August 1798 and the second on 10 March 1799. The first Thomas died in December 1798 and was buried on 14 December at St George the Martyr. The second Thomas died about June 1799 and was buried on 2 June, also at St George the Martyr. Both infants were stated to be from New Colley Borough, perhaps near Colley Borough, a place mentioned in 1845 in the London Gazette in connection with the London-Brighton railway.
The next child whose baptism record I have seen is Tabitha, born in 1806. It seems unlikely that there were no other children born between 1800 and 1806, and I suspect their baptism records have not yet been digitised. I have found two possible burials. On 18 January 1803, Joseph from New Colley Borough, son of Thomas, was buried at St George the Martyr. On 28 March 1805, Lydia from New Colley Borough, daughter of Thomas, was buried at St George the Martyr.
While reviewing the records associated with my Plaisted forebears I discovered that the younger children of Thomas Plaisted and his wife Lydia Plaisted née Wilkes were baptised at the Ebenezer Chapel and the Plaisted family seem to have become Dissenters. Tabitha, Elizabeth and Thomas Wilks were all baptised on 8 April 1813. Lydia was baptised not long after her birth on 10 April 1814 and Ebenezer was baptised in April 1817.

View of Ebenezer Chapel, an Independent Chapel that was situated on King Street in New Town, Deptford. 1840 Unknown artist. Retrieved from British Library.
On 17 June 1817 the births of these youngest 5 children were registered at Dr Williams Library:
- Tabitha, born 25 August 1806
- Elizabeth, born 7 March 1809
- Thomas Wilkes, born 21 July 1811
- Lydia, born 9 February 1814
- Benjamin Ebenezer, born 31 January 1817
All the children were born in the Broadway parish of St Pauls Deptford.
Dr Williams’s Library was founded in 1729. Amongst its aims was that, for a small fee, it kept a central registry of births mainly (but not solely) within non-conformist families, to avoid the necessity of having to have a child baptised in the established Church of England.
John Plaisted, my fourth great grandfather, was not baptised at the Ebenezer Chapel and I have found no evidence that he was a Dissenter.

from an 1862 map of Deptford – orange arrows show the location of Broadway and the Ebenezer Chapel. Retrieved from mappalondon.com.
“The Plaisted Family” has Thomas Plaisted born in Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire. While it is not impossible that Thomas Plaisted moved from Gloucestershire to London, I think it is more likely that Thomas was the child of John Plaisted and Ann, born in Shoreditch on 14 October 1777 and baptised at St Leonard Shoreditch on 11 November 1777. I haven’t yet been able to verify this.
Arthur Plaisted gives Thomas’s death as 1860. In fact Thomas’s will was proved in 1832; Thomas died on 30 May one day after signing his will and was buried on 4 June at the Independent burial ground Deptford, High Street, formerly Butt Lane.

Map shows Deptford (D), Woolwich (W), St George the Martyr Southwark (So), St Bride’s Church Fleet Street (F), St Leonard Shoreditch (Sh)
It is so difficult to find out about some parts of the family tree and yet others are so easy. It is always exciting to discover a new birth record but so often it leads in the wrong direction. You have done well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Anne.
I lovely write up. The only way we can really prove our Thomas Plaisted was the one born in 1777 is from the marriage to Lydia Wilks and their first two sons who both died.
Thomas and Lydia married in 1797 and as you stated their sons were born and died prior to 1800 when John was born.
The Thomas Plaisted from Gloucestershire was married to Mary Young in 1798 ( according to Arthur H Plaisted’s book and checked on Ancestry. This couple disappears and I’ve never been able to find them. However since Thomas and Lydia married prior to this and had at least one son by this stage, they then can’t be the same couple.
You are also correct on the births of Joseph and Lydia were children of Thomas and Lydia, both passed away. I think I have 11 children for them, though I’d have to check my tree.
I do wish Thomas Plaisted had used his middle name in some documents…to make confirmation easier.
Did you read the birth record for Benjamin Ebenezer? It has quite a lot of detail.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And now I know about Dr Williams’ Library, Thanks you Anne.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a great resource with I think 49,000 births
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very interesting post Anne and well set out. It seems likely that the two infant burials were their children. While I have ancestors who moved from Gloucs to London and back again, I’d agree the Shoreditch couple is more likely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Impressive research! You are so fortunate to be able to trace your ancestors this way. All the best for the challenge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done! I love the look of that urban church — so different from the rural ones your other ancestors worshipped at. The maps are also helpful to place the family locations in context.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looking over your posts I am amazed at the amount of research and writing you have done – you are in this deep! My great-aunt gave me a circle wheel of my ancestors but I don’t know how to access the interesting stories that you seem to find. Oh, the children at the end of the post were baptized on my birthday, April 8th, long before it was my birthday. It caught my eye, lol. http://www.shirleyjdietz.com
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Shirley – I have been researching for many years but writing up my research has made me look more closely at the records and what they might say. For example I hadn’t realised before that some of my Plaisted forebears became Dissenters.
A great resource for finding stories about my forebears are the newspapers and they are digitised these days which make them easier to search. In America you have a marvellous resource called Chronicling America sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress. It can be found at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Birthday greetings for the 8th 🙂
Thanks for visiting
LikeLike
Pingback: N is for new churches by Wren | Anne's Family History
Pingback: S is for St George’s Hanover Square | Anne's Family History