Sir Thomas Storey (1825-1898) of Sir Thomas Storey and Co and Storey Brothers and Co
1825 Born in Bardsea, son of Isaac Storey and his wife Eliza[1]
1841 Living in Lancaster with his mother Phobe 38, John Storey 19, William Storey 17, Thomas Storey 16, Richard Storey 13, George Storey 10, Joseph Storey 7, Phaby Storey 10 Mo[2]
1859 His son Edgar was born in Lancaster. Thomas described himself as a painter[3] His brothers (presumably) Richard and George Storey had children baptised at the same place as Edgar, five days later.
1851 Living in Lancaster with his mother Phoebe and his siblings Richard 23, Edward 21, George 19, Joseph 17, Mary Ann 13, Phoebe 10[4]
1861 Thomas Storey 35, cotton spinner and manufacturer, employing 186 men, 275 women, 91 boys, 51 girls, living in Lancaster with Eliza Anne Storey 35, Herbert Sushington Storey 8, Alice Loyd Storey 5, Herold Sherron Storey 4, Edgar Storey 2[5]
1898 Obituary [6]
Sir THOMAS STOREY died at Lancaster on December 13, 1898, in his seventy-fourth year. He was seized with paralysis in the spring of last year, and had been confined to his house for some months.
He was the third son of Mr. Isaac Storey, schoolmaster, and was born at Bardsea, near Ulverston, in 1825. Educated chiefly by his father, at the age of thirteen he became an apprentice in a Lancaster cotton-mill, but devoted his spare time to self-improvement.
On the completion of his apprenticeship at the age of twenty, he became a railway surveyor, and was financial manager to the late Edmund Sharpe, of Lancaster, during the construction of the portion of the Midland Railway from Morecambe to Skipton.
In 1849 the firm of Storey Brothers and Co. was started for the manufacture of oilcloth in Lancaster, and since 1851 the business has developed into other departments, and works have been established in Germany as well as in Lancashire.
Sir Thomas Storey, who was also chairman of the Bickershaw Coal Company, and of the Darwen and Mostyn Iron Company, was four times mayor of Lancaster, and received the honour of knighthood in 1887.
He was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1893. In 1880 he unsuccessfully contested North Lancashire in the Liberal interest, and the Lancaster Division of Lancashire as a Liberal Unionist in 1892. Sir Thomas Storey was very benevolent, and took a great interest in local institutions. To the city of Lancaster he presented the Storey Institute, which is now the home for technical instruction in Lancaster, as well as a free library and reading-rooms.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1880.