Barking in 1804; James Storer after Samuel Prout.

Thomas Argyle and Mary
Thomas was born in Barking, Essex, 1806 (18060103) and baptised the 24th. His parents were Thomas and Sarah. Barking currently is part of greater London.
On his wife: The site "myheritage.com" has a Mary Cresswell Wilkinson. At the birth of John William and earlier sons the mother is just/only Mary.
Supporting evidence for Mary C Wilkinson as the wife: Son John William will later move to Yarmouth. In the history on that town up to 1884 by Fich Crisp (1884), a C.C.Wilkinson is mentioned as a relative of J.W.Argyle.  And John William will get a son named Frank Wilkinson Argyle.

Children born in Barking with as mother "Mary" (records from familysearch.com):  ca. 1833 Thomas, no birth record found, but present in the census of 1841 (18410000),  1836 Charles Frederick,  1840 James Henry,  1844 Joseph Alfred,  1849 John William (18490628). 

There is no Argyle listed in Essex in the 1882 Kelly's Directory. No death record is found for Thomas (*1806) in familysearch.com.

• Numbers etc. in brackets in the text give access to the civil records on which the statements are based (records from familysearch.com).

There was, initially, confusion of names/persons in the records. There is another Thomas Argyle, born in 1831-1833 (18310000 and 18610000). This is the first son of "our" Thomas (see above). This Thomas moved away from Barking before 1861. The census of that year has him and the family in Gorleston, Suffolk (18610000) with a daughter Emma M, born in 1861 (census 1861). His profession is given as "Shipping at Sea and in Ports Abroad". He is "master".  It appears this Thomas died in September 1896; the record on that is from February 1898 (18960922). He seems to have died overseas, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. That 1½ years wait must have been a long period of uncertainty for the family.

On Barking and the fishing business (from Wikipedia): [Barkimng] underwent a shift from fishing and farming to market gardening and industrial development on the River Thames. Barking railway station opened in 1854 and has been served by the London Underground since 1908. .... Around 1870 [the fishing] fleet changed to gaff ketches that stayed out at sea for months; to preserve the fish they used ice produced by flooding local fields in winter. .... The fishery slipped into decline in the second half of the 19th century. The decline was hastened by a storm in December 1863, off the Dutch coast, which caused the deaths of 60 men and damage estimated at £6000-7000. Many of its leading figures, including Hewett & Co, moved to Great Yarmouth and Grimsby. By 1900 Barking had ceased to be a fishing port.

Finch-Crisp, W., 1884, Chronological Retrospect of the History of Yarmouth and Neighbourhood

(2021.08.03)   begun June 2020