• History of Cemetery
• Location/Plans
• Notable people
• Grimsley gravestones
• News
• Burials A–Z
• Current Work
• Photographs
• Restoring a grave
• Contact/Search

Francis Octavius THOMPSON (1828–1890)
His second wife Mrs Eliza THOMPSON, née Lipscomb (1835–1897)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 6a, Grave C54

Francis Octavius Thompson was born in the hamlet of Wooden Box (later known as Woodville) near Hartshorn, Derbyshire on 3 September 1828, the son of the manufacturer or brickmaker Joe Thompson. At the time of the 1841 census Francis (13) was living at Wooden Box with his parents Joseph and Ann and his seven siblings: Thomas (21), John (19), Samuel (15), Francis (13), Ann (11), Charlotte (8), Willoughby (4), and Jane (2).

By the time of the 1851 census Francis (22), who was a china merchant, was lodging at the Bell Inn in Cornmarket with Mary Prior (25) and her sisters Emma (20) and Harriett (17). Emma Prior, the middle sister, became his wife later that year.
For more about her background, see her grave, and that of her father James Prior.

Francis took over the Bell Inn from the three sisters. He and Emma had three children: Mary Ann Eliza Thompson (1852), Emma Thompson (1853), and Francis Joseph Thompson (1854).

His first wife Emma Thompson died in 1855:

His second wife Eliza Lipscomb was born at Godstow on 12 June 1835 and baptised at Wolvercote Church on 19 July. She was the daughter of William Lipscomb and his wife Georgiana. Her seven older siblings were baptised at Wytham: Elizabeth (1824), William (1826), Mary (1827), Maria (1828), Mary Ann (1830), Arabella (1831), and William Henry (1832). Her two younger siblings were also baptised at Wolvercote: Emma (1836) and Georgiana (1838). Her father was described as a labourer in 1824, and then as a publican, first at Wytham from 1826 to 1832, and at Godstow in 1835 and 1836; then in 1838 he was described as a farmer. At the time of the 1851 census Eliza (15) was staying with her sister Mary (20) and Mary’s husband, the tailor Charles Benwell, at Observatory Street in Oxford.

On 10 January 1860 at Godstow Church, Francis Octavius Thompson (31) married his second wife Eliza Lipscomb (22). They had the following children:

• William Leonard Thompson (born at Walton Street, Oxford in 1861 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 11 June)
• Georgiana Gertrude Thompson (born at Walton Street, Oxford in 1863 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 25 December)
• Evelyn Annie Thompson (born in Oxford at Walton Street, Oxford and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 30 March)
• Agnes Lipscomb Thompson (born at Walton Street, Oxford in 1866 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 30 March).

By the time of the 1861 census Francis Octavius Thompson (33) had returned to his old trade and was a china & glass dealer in Walton Street (with his address specified by the Post Office Directory for that year as 137 Worcester Buildings, Walton Street). He was living there with his wife Eliza (25) and the three children from his first marriage: Eliza (9), Emma (8), and Francis (7).

Although he always lived in the part of Walton Street that was in St Mary Magdalen parish, their four children were baptised at St Paul’s Church.

Their address was given as 137 Walton Street in 1871, and Francis employed three men in his shop there. He was living there with his wife Eliza (35) and their four children William (9), Georgiana (7), Evelyn (5), and Agnes (3), as well as his three children from his first marriage: Mary Ann (19) and Emma (18) had no occupation, while his son Francis (16) was assisting him in the shop.

By 1881 they living at the south-east end of Walton Street at No. 166. Their son William (18) was now an architect’s pupil, and the three younger girls were still at school. His children from his first marriage still lived with them, and Francis continued to work as his father’s assistant.

Francis Octavius Thompson died in 1890:

† Francis Octavius Thompson died at 166 Walton Street at the age of 62 on 31 December 1890 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 January 1891 (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

His personal estate came to £1,580 14s. 6d, and his executors were his wife Eliza and eldest son Francis. He was described as also being late of 120 St Aldate’s Street in his probate record.

His second wife Eliza died seven years later, and was buried with him:

† Mrs Eliza Thompson née Lipscomb died at 166 Walton Street at the age of 62 on 22 November 1897 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 25 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).