Introduction

Abstract

Born in 1843 into a prosperous middle-class family, Thomas Workman was the seventh child of fifteen. His father and uncle ran a muslin manufacturing business. When he was ten years old, Thomas moved with his family from their three-storey mid-terrace in the town centre to a newly built villa in the suburbs. As a young man he entered the family business and soon afterwards he married his wife, Margaret Hill. After a successful few years running his branch of the business, Thomas and Margaret moved with their children to a large country house located ten miles from the city. From here Thomas took the train to work. An upstanding member of the community, Thomas was a magistrate, a governor of the Presbyterian Orphan Society and a Sunday school teacher. Just as both his father and brother had done, he founded a local Presbyterian church. He frequently travelled abroad for work, but still found time to pursue his passions of yachting and natural history. President of the local Natural History Society, Thomas Workman discovered two new species of spiders while on his travels and he published a book, ...