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Thomas SHRIMPTON (1806–1885)
His second wife Mrs Harriet Ann SHRIMPTON, née Chapman (1837–1900)
St Paul’s section: Row 7, Grave A14½

Thomas Shrimpton was born in Oxford on 30 April 1806 and baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 12 June. He was the eldest son of John Shrimpton and Rebecca Hicks. For more about his early life, see the grave of his mother, Rebecca Shrimpton

On 8 April 1833 at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, Thomas Shrimpton of that parish married his first wife Hannah Wall, who was born in Eynsham but was then living in St Michael’s parish, Oxford. They had the following children:

• Samuel Ebenezer Shrimpton (born in Oxford in c.1836); died in Oxford aged six and buried in Eynsham churchyard on 21 November 1842
• Hannah Wall Shrimpton (born in Oxford in 1837/8, reg. first quarter of 1838); died in Oxford in 1838 and buried in Eynsham churchyard on 13 April
• Hannah Maria Shrimpton (born in Oxford in 1839, reg. fourth quarter)
• Alfred Thomas Shrimpton (born in Oxford in 1840/1, reg. first quarter of 1841)
• Mary Jane Shrimpton (born in Oxford in c.1842)
• Elizabeth Shrimpton (born in Oxford in 1845 and privately baptised by St Aldate’s Church on 28 December)
• John Edward Wall Shrimpton (born in Oxford in 1848 and privately baptised by St Aldate’s Church on 8 February 1849); died near the beginning of 1850 and buried at Eynsham churchyard on 7 January

In Robson’s Commercial Directory for 1839, Thomas Shrimpton is listed as a bookbinder and his wife Harriet as a milliner & dressmaker at 13 St Aldate’s Street.

At the time of the 1841 census Thomas and Hannah were living at St Aldate’s Street with their children Samuel (4), Hannah (1), and Alfred (four months), plus a dressmaker’s assistant and a servant. Their eldest son Samuel died near the end of the following year.

The family was still living in St Aldate’s parish at the beginning of 1849.

By 1851 Thomas Shrimpton had opened a book and print shop with his brother George Shrimpton at 23 & 24 Broad Street (right, but not then including No. 25 on the corner of Turl Street). Later named Thomas Shrimpton & Son, the firm was to remain here for the next fifty years.

The 1851 census shows Thomas (44), now described as a bookseller & binder, living over 24 Broad Street with his wife Hannah (44), who was still working as a dressmaker, and their children Hannah (11), Alfred (10), and Elizabeth (5), plus a house servant. check Broad Street. An elderly blind lady then lived over No. 23 to the west.

By 1861 Thomas was a book & printseller and a publisher, and he and Hannah were occupying the premises over both 23 and 24 Broad Street with their children Hannah Maria (21), Alfred (19), who was an assistant bookseller, Elizabeth (17), and Mary Jane (10), plus a house servant.

Two of their daughters were married in the 1860s:

• On 30 August 1866 at Oxford, their eldest daughter Hannah Maria Shrimpton married William Hine. She died the year after her marriage, and was buried with her grandmother Rebecca Shrimpton: see separate grave
• In 1869 at Oxford, their second daughter Elizabeth Shrimpton married George Handley, who was born in Alverstoke.

In 1871 Thomas and Hannah Shrimpton were still living over their Broad Street shop with two of their children, Alfred Thomas (30) and Mary Jane (28).

Thomas’s first wife Hannah died at Broad Street at the age of 74 in June 1877 and was buried with her mother-in-law and her daughter Mrs Hannah Maria Hine in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery: again, see separate grave.

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Harriet Ann Chapman, Thomas Shrimpton's second wife

Harriet Ann Chapman was born in Oxford near the end of 1837, the eldest daughter of James Chapman and his wife Hannah or Anna. (They are likely to be the James Chapman of St Clements parish and Hannah Richard of Coldharbour (which was in Berkshire, but not far away down the Abingdon Road) who were married at St Clement’s Church on 14 September 1835.) Harriet's father was a baker and a tripe dresser, and also seems to have served as a parish constable.

All of Harriet’s younger siblings were baptised at Holywell (St Cross) Church: Eliza (1838), James Bartholomew (1839), John Christopher (1841), Hannah or Anna (1843), Martha (1845), twins Isaac and Rebecca (1848, buried the following year), and Thomas Richard (1850).

At the time of the 1851 census, Harriet was aged about 13 and living at 87 Holywell Street with her father James Chapman (45), who was described as a tripe dresser rather than a baker, her mother Hannah (40), and her surviving siblings Eliza (14), James (11), John (10), Hannah (8), Martha (5), and Thomas (1).

In 1861 their address was again given as 87 Holywell Street, and Harriet’s brother James was a tripe dresser at 86 next door while her father had reverted to being a baker. Hannah (23) was living at home with her parents and her siblings Hannah (18) and Thomas (12).

In 1871 Hannah (34) was still living at home with her parents and her younger sister Martha (26).

In 1880 Hannah’s home, which was a sizeable house and garden, with a frontage equivalent to three of the average Holywell cottages, was taken over by New College, and used to house students: Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 23 October 1880 reported as follows:

At New Collyge [sic], Messrs. Knowles and Son, of Holywell, have converted the house, No. 87 Holywell-street, lately in the occupation of Mrs. Chapman, into four sets of rooms for Undergraduates.

Five years later it was one of the houses demolished to make way for the eastern range of the college's New Buildings.

Hannah was living in Cowley by early 1881,

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On 27 January 1881 at St James’s Church in Cowley, Thomas Shrimpton (74) married his second wife Harriet Ann Chapman (43).

Thomas Shrimpton continued to own the bookshop at 23 & 24 Broad Street, but ceased to live over it and left its management to his son Alfred. At the time of the 1881 census Thomas's two unmarried children, Alfred (40), described as a bookseller employing two men and four boys, and his daughter Mary Jane (38), were living alone over the shop. Thomas Shrimpton (74), who was now described as a retired bookseller, and his wife Harriet Ann (44) were living privately at 11 North Parade Avenue.

By the time of Thomas’s death in 1885 he and Harriet Ann had moved to 51 Walton Street:

† Thomas Shrimpton died at 51 Walton Street at the age of 79 on 17 June 1885 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 20 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal stated that he was a bookseller of 23 and 24 Broad Street. His effects came to £1,431 16s. 3d., and his executors were his second wife Harriet and Ebenezer Wall, a retired rope manufacturer who was doubtless related to his first wife Hannah Wall.

At the time of the 1891 census Harriet (aged about 46) was living at 3a Charles Street, St Ebbe’s with a boarder.

Mrs Harriet Shrimpton must have moved to New Hinksey by the time of her death in 1900:

† Mrs Harriet Ann Shrimpton, née Chapman died at 52 Church Street, New Hinksey at the age of 62 [wrongly recorded as 55] on 17 May 1900 according to her probate record, and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church). The register states that she was buried on 15 May, so either this or the probate date must be wrong.

Her effects came to £169 6s. 10d. She must have been buried with her husband, as otherwise her burial would not be recorded in the St Michael parish register.

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Surviving children of Thomas Shrimpton and his first wife Hannah Wall

• Alfred Thomas Shrimpton (born 1840/1) never married. He was living alone with a servant over 23 & 24 Broad Street in 1891. He changed the name of the business to “A. Thos. Shrimpton & Son”, presumably to retain the name his father had used, as he had no son. He published two works by Herbert Hurst in the 1880s: Rambles and Rides around Oxford, and Shrimpton’s Pictorial, Historical & Gossiping Guide to Oxford (a revision of James J. Moore’s earlier work), as well as many translations of classical literature. He died at 108 Abingdon Road at the age of 59 on 27 July 1900 (just two months after his stepmother), and his effects came to £24,228 16s. 9d.
• Elizabeth Shrimpton, Mrs Handley (born 1845) and her husband George had seven children: Ethel Maude Handley (1870), George Douglas Handley (1871), Alfred Trevor Handley (1873), Edith Rosa Handley (1876), Bessie Handley (1879), George Lawler Handley (1883), and Dorothy Handley (1886). At the time of the 1881 census Elizabeth was living at 60 Palmerston Road, Portsea in 1881 with her husband, who was then a draper employing nine men, three boys, and 22 female assistants, and they lived over the shop with five of their children as well as twelve shop assistants and a housekeeper, cook, nurse, and two housemaids. By 1891 Elizabeth’s husband was a silk mercer, and they lived at 47 Clarendon Road, Portsea with six of their children and were looked after by a cook, housemaid, and parlourmaid; and Miss Mary R. Shrimpton (48) was paying them a visit. By 1901 they were living at a private house called St Leonard’s in St Helens, Hampshire with four of their children and employed a cook, kitchenmaid, housemaid, and parlourmaid. George Handley died on the Isle of Wight on 28 January 1926 and his effects came to £46,556 11s. 5d.
• Mary Jane Shrimpton (born c.1842) is hard to trace after 1881. She should not be confused with her younger cousin of exactly the same name who married Robert Restall in 1876.