Thomas was born in  Bletchley about 1786 (as we see below his year of birth is not accurately indicated). His wife Elizabeth was born, perhaps in Greater Brickhill (near Bletchley) and perhaps about 1801 (again the census records are inconsistent with respect to age and in this case with respect to place of birth.

The Family of Thomas and Elizabeth

From the census and BMD records we are able to create the following table of information on the family of George and Elizabeth

Name	Born	Christened	Married	Occupation	Date of Death	Place of Death
Edwin Mobbs	1825/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire	22 April 1827, Bletchley
George Mobbs	1829/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire	7 Dec. 1828, Bletchley	Q1 1856/Betsy Withers at Southwark	Labourer, guard on railways	1906
Frederick Mobbs	1830/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire	13 June 1830, Bletchley	Q3 1852/???? at Pancras, London
William Mobbs	1832/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire	5 August 1832, Bletchley
Mary Wood Mobbs	1835/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire		Q3 1852/Francis Cull at Pancras, London	Engine Driver	after 1901
Alfred Mobbs	1837/Bletchley, Buckinghamshire
Mobbs

Census Records

1841 Census

We located this census record, which allowed an initial determination of this previous Mobbs generation through the search for a George Mobbs, about age 12 in 1841 with a birth in Bletchley (to coincide with later census entries for George which provide this information as well as with family records transcribed by Gladys Hart who was married to a great grandson of George, John Hart).

From this record we learn that Thomas is 55  (born about 1786) and his wife Elizabeth is 40 (born about 1801). The family has six children, five boys and a daughter ranging in age from four to sixteen years. Thomas is employed as an agricultural labourer with no employment status indicated for the rest of the family. All members have been born in Buckinghamshire. The family is living at Bletchley [my year 2014 assumption is that this is on the Bletchley estate]

1851 Census

The information gathered in the 1851 census was more extensive than in 1841 and we thus gain some additional data on the family, although some inconsistencies arise.

The family is still at Bletchley. We learn that Thomas has a middle name and is indicated as being Thomas Wood Mobs. The spelling without the second 'b' in the surname is used for his wife but the two children still living at home (George and Albert) have the name spelled with two 'b's. The information is written by the census taker. It is interesting he would have used two spellings in the same family. It is quite likely that the family was illiterate and would not have commented on such entries if they saw them. Interestingly ten years after the 1841 census, Thomas is now reported as being 67, rather than 65. On the other hand, Elizabeth who was reported as being 40 years old in 1841 is reported as being 58 ten years later. (as the youngest child, Albert is 13 this would mean she bore him at the age of 45 -- not impossible but also not likely). This would indicate a birth year of 1784 rather than 1786. Thomas and the children are indicated as having a Bletchley birthplace, but for Elizabeth it is stated that her birthplace is 'not known'.

Thomas is listed as being a labourer as are both the sons.

1861 Census

Ten years on and we find Thomas and Elizabeth living at Greater Brickhill, Buckingham, about four miles southeast of Bletchley. Thomas is now reported as being 67 years old (the same as a decade earlier). Elizabeth is now listed as being 63, which would make her five years older than ten years previously. I wonder if they reported younger ages related to their employment? Thomas is a highway labourer and she is a lace maker. We now see that Elizabeth reports she was born in Greater Brickhill.

Also living with them at the time of the census is a three year old grandson, John Cull. Since there is only one daughter we know of, perhaps this means she married a Cull. (see below for the details on this)

The Marriages of Mary Wood and Frederick Mobbs

We saw in the 1861 census that Thomas and Elizabeth had a grandson John Cull with them at the time of the census taking. This leads naturally to looking for a marriage of their daughter Mary to someone with the surname Cull. The Free BMD site provides the following marriage records page:


We see on this page that Mary Wood Mobbs has married in the third quarter of 1852. The middle name Wood is new, however, we note that Mary's father Thomas also has a middle name of Wood so this certainly gives us a high probability of certainty. Additionally, we see that Francis Cull is listed on the same page so it would appear that this is the marriage we are looking for.

Interestingly we see that a Frederick Mobbs has also married in this same quarter. However we are not able, from this page, to determine if he married Mary Ann Trathen, as another male, William Cork, is also listed on this page (usually these pages have even numbers of males and females, usually one or two such pairs). Pancras and St.Pancras are alternate names for the same area which is on the border of London and Middlesex. One wonders if their marriages occurred in a joint ceremony (which can possibly be determined by obtaining the actual certificates)