Thomas Anguish was born in 1536. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edmund Thurston; they produced nine sons and three daughters, of which only five of the sons survived their parents. He took over Thurston’s grocery business, and prospered, becoming a freeman of Norwich in 1573. He lived with his family in Tombland (on the corner of Tombland and Wensum Street, now part of the Maid’s Head Hotel), and took an active role in city life, serving as Sheriff, Mayor and Speaker of the Council.He was elected mayor in 1611, and as usual there was a pageant and firework display outside his house. Some of the fireworks exploded accidentally; thirty-three people were crushed to death as they tried to escape. From then on fireworks were banned on feast and guild days.
Anguish died in 1617. He bequeathed a property in Fishergate to the Corporation to be used as a hostel ‘for the keeping and bringing up and teaching of very poor children’. The Children’s Hospital was opened in 1621. Boys were first to be admitted, with girls following some years later.