Thomas Percy Hilditch was born in Islington, Middlesex in 1886. His parents had moved there from Staffordshire two years previously to marry and start a new life in London. His father, also Thomas, was a boot maker - one of several in the family, and his mother, Priscilla Hall, was the granddaughter of the butler at Apedale Hall, a minor stately home owned by the Heathcote family with connections to several prominent politicians of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Thomas Percy graduated in chemistry at London University, and after further periods of study at the Universities of Jena and Geneva he gained his doctorate in 1911. The following year he married Elizabeth Lawrence and they moved to Grappenhall in Cheshire where he was to work as an industrial research chemist. A few days after the wedding in Kent they bought almost all they needed to set up house in a single shopping spree at the Co-operative Society shop in Warrington. The invoice may be viewed by following the link to Warrington Co-op.

In 1926 he became a Professor at Liverpool University and the family moved to Birkenhead.

To see a brief résumé of his career or his certificate of election to The Royal Society in 1942 use one of the links below and enter the surname Hilditch.

Open University Biographical DatabaseThe Royal Society

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The Hilditch family originally came from Audley, Staffordshire, where the name can be traced back to the 1500's, although I have yet to find connections to that time. Here is the beginning of an article from the newsletter of the Audley and District Family History Society. All the places mentioned in the account are parishes close to Audley.

"What is the origin of the name Hilditch?

In Britain as a whole Hilditch is not a common name. Most dictionaries of surnames do not include it, those that do give the simple derivation "dweller on the hill, by the ditch".

The earliest records that I have found relating to Hilditch are: - three children of Nicholas Hilditch baptized Betley 1543 to 1550, many baptisms in Barthomley from 1562 and burials in Barthomley from 1567."

To read more of this interesting article by E. Austin Hilditch, click on the link below and use the menu to go to “Newsletters” and then “February 2006”.  Scroll down to the article.

Audley Family History Society

Audley in 1862

Thomas Hilditch William Statham