Thomas Havers was a British businessman and architect, active in the Falkland Islands and Uruguay in the middle of the 19th century. He is noted for designing the ''Mercado Central de Montevideo'' (Montevideo Central Market). Anticlasicismo y modernización tecnológica en la arquitectura uruguaya del siglo XIX
Ashfield, William Rey, VITRUVIA: REVISTA DEL INSTITUTO DE HISTORIA DE LA ARQUITECTURA FACULTAD DE ARQUITECTURA, DISEÑO Y URBANISMO - UNIVERSIDAD DE LA REPÚBLICA, AÑO 5 - NÚMERO 4 - JULIO DE 2018 He was the father of writer and novelist

Dorothy Boulger Dorothy Boulger born Dorothy Henrietta Havers and wrote under the name Theo Gift (30 May 1846 – 22 July 1923) was a British writer and novelist. Life Boulger was born in Lambeth, Surrey on the 30 May 1846. She was one of four children born to ...

and painter and illustrator Alice Havers.

Early life

Thomas Havers was born in Thelton Hall, Norfolk in 1810, and raised a Jesuit Catholic. He was educated at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. HAVERS, THOMAS 1810 - 1870
Dictionary of Falklands Biography, accessed 7th September 2022 He married Ellen Ruding in 1844. He worked for the London firm ''Ricketts, Boutcher & Co'', rising to the position of 'confidential clerk' to William Boutcher, one of the first directors of the

Falkland Islands Company The Falkland Islands Company Ltd is a diversified goods and services company owned by FIH Group. Known locally as FIC, it was founded in 1851 and was granted a royal charter to trade in 1852 by Queen Victoria. It was originally founded by Samue ...

. By 1851, Havers was acting secretary of the FIC and three years later was appointed colonial manager.

Emigration to the Falkland Islands

Havers travelled to the Falkland Islands in 1854 with his wife, four children and two servants. He spent some time in Montevideo on the journey down, in the house of Samuel Fisher Lafone. Ellen his wife died within four months of arriving on the Falklands. He later went on to marry his governess, Mary Clare Coppinger. In June 1854 Thomas was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and in August 1854 he was appointed deputy chairman of the Magistrates and Police Courts of the Falkland Islands. HAVERS FAMILY, VERSION: 4 July 2019
Falkland Islands National Archives, accessed 7th September 2022 Havers was committed to his Catholic faith and organised prayer services, catechism classes, and made efforts to obtain the services of an English speaking resident priest. In 1858, his position in the Falkland Islands Company was terminated, citing ''"culpable disregard of the Board's instructions and from his having kept his accounts in such negligent confusion"''. This left him destitute, and with no means of returning to England.

Uruguay

In February or March 1861 Havers and his family sailed to Montevideo, settling in the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

neighbourhood. There, he established connections with the British Consulate, founded ''The Montevideo Times'', a short lived English language publication which appeared from 1864 to 1865, and later was named Director of Public Works by General Flores. The English In South America
Michael George Mulhall, Standard Printing Office, Buenos Aires, and E. Stanford, London, 1878 In this role, he managed the design and construction of a building to house the office of Mail, Museum and Public Library ''Correos, Museo y Biblioteca Pública'', located in Sarandí street, and opened in 1867.MONTEVIDEO En El Siglo XIX
Castellanos, Alfredo R, Editorial Nuestra Tierra, Uruguay, 1971 He later oversaw the construction of the ''Mercado Central de Montevideo'' (Montevideo Central Market). Borrowing from Mannerism, Mannerist traditions, the building occupied a two acre site which opened 1 April 1869, at a cost of £80,000. It mainly sold agricultural and seafood products. Shortly after its inauguration, a storm resulted in significant water ingress to the structure, and the failure of its plumbing, gutters and sewer system. On arrival to assess the damage, Havers was met by an angry mob which pelted him with fruit and vegetables, until he was rescued by the local police. HISTORIAS DEL VIEJO MONTEVIDEO
FERNANDEZ SALDAÑA, JOSE MARIA, Bolsilibros Arca, Montevideo 1967

Personal life

Havers was married twice, to Ellen Ruding in 1844 and later Mary Clare Coppinger in 1855. He had 8 children, including the writer and novelist

and painter and illustrator Alice Havers. He died in March 1870 in Montevideo, and was buried in the The British Cemetery in Montevideo. Upon Thomas' death, his children by Ellen, now young adults and four younger children by Mary, all returned to England in April and May of the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Havers, Thomas 1810 births 1870 deaths British architects British emigrants to Uruguay British expatriates in Uruguay Falkland Islands businesspeople 19th-century English businesspeople Burials at The British Cemetery Montevideo Architects from Norfolk People from Thelveton