There were two people with the name ‘Thomas Ward’ adding their names to the Loyal Declaration in December 1820. That both had children added to their families the previous year helps to distinguish one from the other. On 3 January 1819 Thomas and Ann christened their daughter Elizabeth Simons Ward; followed by Thomas and Elizabeth, on 11 April, with their son Joseph.
The 1841 Census found only Elizabeth Ward (50), living in Severt Alley, Knaptoft (Shearsby being counted as part of Knaptoft parish), with sons William and Thomas and daughters Mary and Jane. Elizabeth was noted as being a pauper and evidently a widow. A 20 year old Joseph Ward could be found in nearby Kimcote in the household of William Baxter. By 1851 William Ward had also moved away from the village and was working on the railways in Bedworth, Warwickshire, while Mary (24) was living as a servant and working for John Chamberlain in Peatling Magna.
On 7 April 1846 a 60 year old Thomas Ward was buried in Shearsby churchyard. It seems likely that this was the same Thomas Ward as the one whose birth in Kimcote was recorded as 12 July 1785 upon his baptism in 11 August 1788. Perhaps a clue to his occupation and status in life can be found among Elizabeth’s 1841 neigbours in Severt Alley: Leonard Robinson was an agricultural labourer, as were George Dyson and Richard Bishop, while Thomas Jelley was a stocking maker.
Shearsby History Notes 