The turn of the century brings a new hope - and a change in ownership - to the house. Emma Bingham sadly died in the spring last, and the new owners - Kate and Harold Thomas - have taken up residence. Mr. Thomas is a Sheffield born barrister, and his wife, Kate (nee ALGAR) is the daughter of a Sheffield printer.

The Thomas Family - An Introduction

Harold Thomas (Barrister)

Image reproduced with the kind permission of Guildhall Collection: Hull Museums

- born: c1847 in Sheffield
- parents: Henry Thomas (b. 1806 - surgeon) and Ann Marie Thomas (b. 1809 - nee Rodgers)
- siblings: Arthur Thomas (1839)
Sophia Thomas (1841)
Maria Elizabeth Thomas (1842)
- married: Kate Gemina (Geminus) Algar on September 6th 1896 in Crookes, Sheffield
- residences: Rossall School, Fleetwood [pupil] (1861 - census)
                      53 Burlington Road, Paddington [lodger] (1871 - census)
                     Endcliffe Terrace, Fulwood Road, Sheffield (1880-1887 - Electoral Registers)
                      315 Fulwood Road, Sheffield [lodger - with future wife - Kate's - family] (1881 - census)
                     60 Marlborough Road, Sheffield (1888-1901 - Electoral Registers)
                      55 Westgate (Bull Hotel), Wakefield [visitor] (1891 - census)

Kate Geminus (Gemina) Thomas (nee Algar)

- born: 1855 in Sheffield
- parents: Thomas Stannard Algar (d. 1888 - printer) and Elizabeth White Perry (d.1860)
                Eliza Algar West (m.1863 - step mother)
- siblings: Mary Louise Algar (1850?)
                 Ellen Leda Algar (1851?)
                 Anne Geminus Algar (1855)
                 Frederick William Algar (1858?)

1901

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph on Friday 3rd May, 1901, published the article:

ROTHERHAM RECORDERSHIP

MR. HAROLD THOMAS
APPOINTED

“Mr. Harold Thomas has been appointed first Recorder of Rotherham. As stated at the meeting of the Town Council on Wednesday, the King recently granted a Court of Quarter Sessions for the borough, and it is over this that Mr. Thomas, whose many friends in Sheffield and the neighbourhood will heartily congratulate him upon his appointment, has been called upon to preside.
Mr. Harold Thomas was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn, in 1874, and from that time to the present has occupied chambers in Sheffield. In 1886, he was appointed Treasury Counsel in Mint prosecutions, at the Assizes in Yorkshire, and at the Quarter Sessions in the West Riding. Seven years later he became one of the Treasury Counsel in prosecutions generally on the North-Eastern Circuit. He has been engaged in many important cases at Leeds Assizes. In July, of 1891, he was leading counsel for the prosecution of the Horseforth murder case, and for his conduct of it he received a special letter of thanks from the Director of Public Prosecutions. On several occasions Mr. Tomas presided over the Leeds Quarter Sessions as deputy for Mr. J. E. Barker, Q.C., the then Recorder. He once acted in the same capacity at Sheffield in the absence of Sir F. Lockwood, and has on various occasions acted as Deputy County Court Judge at Hull and Sheffield. Mr. Thomas is a staunch supporter of the Conservative cause. Its supporters in Sheffield and the district have long looked upon him as one of their champions, but keen fighter as he is, he has the happy gift of fighting a political question without making personal enemies, and the legal profession in Sheffield, and the citizens generally, will hear with genuine pleasure of this latest honour bestowed upon him.”

The 1901 census shows that on Sunday March the 31st - the night of the census - Harold (54) and Kate G (45) are at Broomgrove Lodge along with Kate's twin sister Annie H Algar (45). Sisters Edith (22, cook), Maud (21, parlour maid) and Cecily Hensworth (16, housemaid) are all employed as domestic servants alongside Elizabeth Wood (21, housemaid).

Also ...

No 7 Broomgrove Road (Holme Bank) is still occupied by Elizabeth Harwood (and still "living on own means") as well as two domestics servants.
No 9 Broomgrove Road is empty, but No 9 Broomgrove Road (lodge) is now the home of a gardener - Samuel Kernaghon - and his wife Maria and daughter Amy.
No 11 Broomgrove Road (Broomgrove House) is the home of the Marsh's - Harry (a steel manufacturer), wife Anne and their son's, Harry and William, as well as four domestic staff.
No 23 Broomgrove Road is the home of the Williams family. Although the head of the household is away, his wife, Sarah and daughter Ethel (as well as two domestic staff) are in residence.
No 25 Broomgrove Road is yet again* occupied by the family of John Blatherwick - a retired grocery merchant, his two daughters Mabel and Nora and two domestic staff.
No 27 Broomgrove Road has changed ownership and is now the home of the Binney family - Joseph (a solicitor and county court registrar), his wife Charlotte, daughters Margaret and Sybil and sons Joseph and William.

*The 1891 census did not show No 25 as being occupied by the Blatherwick family.

1903-1909

The West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962 show Harold Thomas being on the Electoral register:

Thomas Harold
(Abode - 13, Broomgrove road, Sheffield)

(ancestry.co.uk)

1904

Harold Thomas is appointed Recorder of Hull

1905

Whites Directory of Sheffield & Rotherham 1905 lists Harold as "Barrister-at-law & Recorder of Hull" and shows that his place of work is Bank Chambers, 9 Bank Street, Sheffield.

OS Map of Extent of Broomgrove Lodge - 1905

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

OS Map of Broomgrove Road and Surrounding Areas - 1905

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

1907

Sheffield Daily Telegraph's publication of Saturday 9th February, 1907 listed the following:

WANTED-DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

"HOUSEMAID, young, Wanted. - Apply 13 Broomgrove rd."

The Sheffield Evening Telegraph publications of Thursday 27th, Friday 28th and Saturday 29th of June, 1907 each carried the following advertisement:

DOMESTIC SERVANTS WANTED

"COOK-GENERAL, also BETWEENMAID Wanted ; small family. - Apply after 6 to Mrs. Thomas, 13 Broomgrove rd."

1908

The West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962 show Harold Thomas being on the Electoral register:

Year: 1908
Polling District: Hillsborough / Sharrow
Number: QF 114 / QU 400
Name: Thomas Harold
Abode: 13, Broomgrove road, Sheffield
Qualification: Freehold Ground Rent, pro-ducing £19 5s. 9d. per annum, payable by David Stanley
Qualifying Property: Burrowlee road and Broughton road

(ancestry.co.uk)

1909

The West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962 show Harold Thomas being on the Electoral register:

Year: 1909
Polling District: Sharrow
Number: QU 399
Name: Thomas Harold
Abode: 13, Broomgrove road, Sheffield
Qualification: Freehold Ground Rent, pro-ducing £19 5s. 9d. per annum, payable by David Stanley
Qualifying Property: Burrowlee road and Broughton road

(ancestry.co.uk)