Logo for Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson was a husbandman at Haighton Lancashire whose origins and fate are both obscure.
We know of his identity from the record of his son Robert's baptism on 28 December 1809 in the Catholic church at Fernyhalgh (Lancashire), which states that Robert's parents were Thomas Clarkson and Ann Leeming. Thomas and Ann had been married at nearby Broughton on 10 February 1806. Their marriage was witnessed by Ann's brother Edward, who also witnessed the baptism of the young couple's first child (Helen) at Chipping in 1806.
Thomas and Ann Clarkson had eight children altogether: Helen 1806; John 1808; Robert; 1809; Elizabeth 1811; Mary 1813; Ann 1815; and twins Thomas and Mary in 1816.
The first two children were baptised at Chipping (where Ann originated from) and the rest were baptised at Fernyhalgh (near the Clarkson home at Fulwood Row). This could imply that the family lived at Chipping during the early years of their marriage before moving to Fulwood Row by 1809. But, if Thomas Clarkson was also a native of Chipping (like his wife), we would expect that they would have married there, instead of at Broughton. Therefore, it is more likely that Thomas Clarkson originated near Broughton and Fulwood Row and that Ann travelled back to Chipping for the birth of her first two children. It is also possible that she spent a considerable amount of time at Chipping around this time in order to support her recently-widowed mother.
Aside from his marriage record and the baptism records of his children, I have not been able to learn any more about Thomas Clarkson.
We know from their marriage record that, in 1806, Thomas was occupied as a husbandman (a farmer who leased his land) at Haighton (near Fulwood Row and Fernyhalgh). There was a Thomas Clarkson recorded in land tax assessment records as a husbandman at Haighton at that time. He must have been related to the John Clarkson who was the proprietor (owner) of that land. The logical contender is John's nephew, Thomas Clarkson, who had been baptised at Fernyhalgh in 1786 - exactly as we would expect of our Thomas. Unfortunately, the history of that Thomas Clarkson is fairly well-documented and it indicates that he must have been a different person from our Thomas Clarkson. For example, this one later married an Ann Aylett in London where he was described as a bachelor (not a widower).
To have been awarded occupancy of John Clarkson's land at Haighton between 1804 and 1819, Thomas Clarkson must have been related to him. Since the evidence indicates that he was not one of John's two known nephews with that name, he must have been more distantly related – perhaps a cousin or second cousin.
You can read in much more detail about my unsuccessful search for more records of Thomas Clarkson in my research report: The Poulton Clarkson Roadblock.