THOMPSONS by Jo Ellis , Apr 1994

THE THOMPSON'S

Written by Josephine Mary Ellis (nee Folwell) in April 1994.

(B26/4/1930 – D9/9/2008)

1^st husband Mark Gilbert (Gigiera), 2^nd husband Robert Ellis.

Mother to: Alexander, Boris, Antonia, Katherine and Andrew Gilbert

(Words in italics, are additions made by Kath Harpley.                                          Photos and scans inserted in 2019)

Mary Olive Thompson

My mother, Mary Olive Thompson, was born in Bamburgh, Northumberland on 2^nd February, 1904. She was the oldest child of four, and the only girl.

Grandpa, Thomas Thomson was born in the 1870's at Wallsend on Tyne. I have been told that he had a strong Geordie accent until the end of his life. He had brothers and sisters (according to uncle Maurice), but contact was lost with them before the war.   (My guess is that this would be common.  This would be before phones became the norm so if you moved to another area, letters would be the only communication channel.) 

Grandpa had served an apprenticeship as a painter and decorator, and sign writer. He did much work in churches. At the beginning of the 1900’s, he was employed in the refurbishment of Bamburgh castle, as foreman. Temporary wooden bungalows were built along the coast road to house other workers so employed. My grandparents lived there, and all their children were born there. My mother recalled living at Bamburgh as an idyll. Just across the road, the dunes and the sea. She recalled walking across to Holy Island (it's quite a distance), and of course, no tourists in those days. 

Bamburgh village above.

Bamburgh Castle left.

The wooden cottages in 2019 below.

Its worth mentioning here, Lord William George Armstrong who purchased and renovated the castle. His accomplishments in life were great and he is up there with the great industrial Victorians of his day.

Mary Olive Thompson. The wall behind her looks very grand, maybe its at Bamburgh Castle?

Mary was 12 or 13 when the family moved to Birmingham. I don't think she was ever so happy again. We as children were brought up to the story of Grace Darling, the Keel Row, and Bobby Shafto, all north country songs and stories. My cousin on holiday in Northumberland in the late 1970's investigating where the Thompsons had lived, met an old man who still lived in the bungalows, who remembered going to school with mother.  

When Jim and I visited for a holiday in 2019, there was a local garage with the name Thompson above it and there are lots of Thompson's in the graveyard at Bamburgh.  Maybe this suggests that Thomas Thompson was not the only one from his family working on the castle and that he had other family there.

Grandpa was a staunch catholic of Irish descent. He once broke up a friendship between mother and a non-catholic boy. My grandmother-Mary Elizabeth Smith, converted to Catholicism, and was very devout.

Grandpa also dabbled in oil painting. He executed a number of small canvasses of country scenes which are extremely pleasing. I have one, and am extremely fond of it. He was less successful with copies of old master religious paintings. They tended to be rather large. Uncle Maurice commented that grandpa's father was a far better artist. He painted church interiors. (Catholic churches at that time had elaborate stencil designs, with gold leaf). All this work came his way. When I was a small child, I used to love to go to his workroom. The smell of the paint, the colours, all the things that I mustn't touch (but did), like statues; I knocked one as big as myself over once. It came from a convent, and was waiting to be painted. I got a good telling off from grandpa who had a temper which he was known to lose, so woe betide if you were in the wrong. I loved to stay at that house in Birmingham, 5 St Mary's Road, Bearwood.

Thomas Thompson right-referred to as grandpa.

Left-unknown friend.

The first world war saw grandpa in the army. He served in Italy (where he brought back pieces of polished agate, several of which are now in brooches), and then in France. Whether he was actually in action I do not know, but he did serve as a field cook for a time, as he could cook better than the cook. I have a photo of him and a friend in uniform at that time (above).

After the war, grandpa went to Australia on his own, with a view to the whole family emigrating. He didn't like it so came home. They lived on Lightwoods Road, Bearwood for a number of years, (these were only rented houses up to this time), and again, I have photos taken of the family in the garden in the 1920's. My father is on some of them as the years progressed.

Lawrence & Frank Thompson & Joe Folwell

Mary (my mother) and Anthony Thompson. 
Family in garden 1920's Lightwoods Road, Bearwood 

I loved to go and stay with my grandparents. Grandpa took me for walks and to the park. We used to pass a Woolworth's on the way, so he bought Devonshire cream toffees (I've never had the same ones since), and cowboy books for himself. I'd have a session on the swings, and then we would walk round Shakespeare garden. This was the walled garden and was lovely. He had a friend who was deaf and dumb, and they talked together in sign language.

I doubt that grandpa enjoyed my visits as much as I did. It was a busy household. Three sons and a brother-in-law still at home (Uncle Maurice, grandma's youngest brother). Grandma had Mrs Stone to come and clean and I'm sure she needed her.  At this house in Bearwood, was a lovely dolls house, Ivy Cottage, that grandpa made and painted. I believe he also made the furniture. It was very Victorian and supposed to be a replica of grandma's house at Stonebridge. I'm not certain that it was. My cousin Janet has it now. Grandpa died in the summer of 1939 of cancer. He would have been in his 60's; I'm not sure if he was retired. He was operated on in St. Chad's hospital on Hagley Road, in Birmingham, but never came round from the anaesthetic. Although I believe their marriage was not the happiest, grandma was grief stricken.

A bit about mother's brothers. All three were younger than she was. Frank, Lawrence and Anthony in that order. The two oldest went to St.Philips Grammar School, and then on to teacher training colleges. Laurence went to Dudley where he met his future wife, Lorna Greaves. A strong minded girl. Laurence, before his marriage, had gone on cycling trips to Germany, (in the early 1930's) and had also tried to make contact with his father's family in Wallsend on Tyne. They had not wanted to know, so he didn't pursue it.

Laurence and Lorna were married in about 1937. They were very modern, buying a new house on a new site at Quinton. They had the garden laid out and were very happy. Their daughter Janet, was born in 1938 or 9, when her mother gave up work. It was a great treat to visit Auntie Lorna and see the new baby, and perhaps be allowed to hold her. The war came and Laurence carried on teaching. He did not seem to have too good health. He collapsed and died quite suddenly in 1941 or 42. He was just 32.

I don't know any of the details of Laurence's death, but everyone was devastated, most of all, of course, Lorna, who had a toddler, a mortgage, and no husband. She got a job teaching, where it was possible to take Janet with her. This worked well until Janet was old enough to go to School.

Lorna became a catholic before her marriage, and was devout. Both she and Laurence were friends with the local clergy, and I think this was a great help to her when she was bereaved.

Lorna always had the idea she would like to have here own school. In about 1950, her goal was in sight. She had got in mind a large Victorian house in spacious grounds going for £5,000. She couldn't sell her own house for as much as she wanted, so grandma sold her house, and bought Lorna's, thus releasing the necessary capital. There followed years of hard work. Lorna's sister, Joan came into the school, and it is still running and flourishing. (Kath's note - I remember going to this school several times as a child with mum, dad, Antonia and Andrew. It felt like a treat going there as it was quite different and we always came away with notebooks, pencils and pens-simple pleasures and cheap to please us children in those days).

Lorna brought her daughter up single handed, and carved out a satisfactory career for herself out of the adversity of her early sorrows. I admired her very much. She died in the 1970's, and Janet continues to run the school. Her aunt too died some years ago, so Janet is sole head, and I'm sure, very capable. She has three sons (and a husband Eric, also a teacher), two of whom won scholarships to Oxford.

The next brother, Frank, a teacher, married before the war, a girl from Croydon called Phyllis Gingell. I just remember her being dark and pretty. After his marriage, Frank lived and taught in Crowdon. He too, collapsed and died suddenly, within a year of his brother's death. (Kath's note  - begs the question if this is hereditary as my Uncle Anthony collapsed and died in 1979 when he was just 46, and my brother Andrew had his first heart attack in his early 40's and has had several subsequent scares. I too have a heart problem and have had several scary moments (AF). Luckily medicine has moved on). Within three years, grandma had lost a husband and two sons. Naturally she felt all the more for Anthony, her youngest, and this embarrassed Anthony. Frank and Phyllis had one daughter, Carole. After the war, Phyllis remarried and had a son. The family emigrated to Australia. Phyllis and Lorna corresponded, and so did Janet and Carole. Since I never met Carole, I had no contact. Janet told me Carole liked painting and was quite good at it. Some years ago she was diagnosed as having a heart problem. I heard some time ago that she had died during 1991. She would have been in her early 50's.

Anthony, the youngest brother was the one I remember best, of course, it is not so long since he died. He was in his 70's. In his youth he was into motorbikes and cars. He always had sporty little numbers. He never passed a driving test as he learned to drive before tests were obligatory. He worked in the car industry most of his life, in the precision engineering side. He had a dry sense of humour, and a very pleasant manner, but was a bit indecisive. He visited us after his wife Gwen's death, together with Janet and Eric. He was most interesting to talk to, and spoke with a soft Birmingham accent. His ambition as a young man was to do a ton up the Bristol Road in Birmingham. He never achieved it.

He married Gwen just before the war and was in reserved occupation for all the war. Gwen was a lively jolly women, another convert to Catholicism. She wasn't too bright, and asked quite embarrassing questions at awkward moments. Their only son Christopher, went to Auntie Lorna's school, but was not a star pupil.

Against all advice they bought a house that was just being built. This was the best thing they did. They lived there until Gwen died. Anthony lived there a little longer, but then bought a bungalow. They still had their 1930's furniture that was new when they married. All the 1930's cups and saucers kept in immaculate condition. A real time capsule.

Christopher, their only son had an accident when he was on day release from his engineering apprenticeship. He was in a coma for days, and it seems some part of his brain is damaged. He is married and has two young daughters.

I'll mention Uncle Maurice here but also when I talk about grandma. He was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, and never married. In his youth, he had been an engineer, but after the 1926 General Strike, he couldn't get work. Finally, mother who worked for Midland Red, got him a job as a bus conductor. He stayed at work until he was about 70, and had done 40 years with Midland Red in order to get a totally free bus pass. Unfortunately he was too old to enjoy it. He was ten years older than my mother. I'm not sure when he came to live with grandma, but he was there for as long as ever I could remember. When grandpa died, and all the three sons were married, the house was far too big for two of them. Grandma bought a modern semi detached house, 33 Castle Road, Warley. She tried to sell furniture. There was lots of Victorian stuff, much of which was inherited. There were books (calf bound and old) in bookcases, a large wind out table, beds, wardrobes etc. Maurice said they couldn't sell them. They were chopped up and burnt. At this point I'll leave Maurice and come back to him later.

Mother said grandma was always coy about her age. After her death in 1950, it was established she was born in 1875, thus she was 75 when she died. She was the oldest of eight children, and Uncle Maurice was the youngest. She was born in Hampton in Arden in Warwickshire. Shakespeare's Forest of Arden encompasses this village.

Although she was not born in it, her family occupied a cottage at Stonebridge, Warwickshire, and she certainly lived there for most of her childhood. Uncle Maurice said that the family had lived there for about 100 years prior to 1913, when his father died and they had to vacate it.

Their father was a blacksmith at Packington Hall and their grandfather had been a gamekeeper. The cottage of course, was an estate cottage and was quite substantial (the doll's house was based on it), and stood where a large roundabout now is-A45 and the A452, on the Birmingham to Coventry road. The cottage was demolished in the early 1970's. This was very rural and isolated in those days. Maurice remembers fetching cows for milking before going to school, and grandma told of tedious hours spent churning butter.

(Packington Hall, is a 17^th century mansion at Great Packington CV7 7HG. It is the seat of the Earl of Aylesford.)

 In the family bible that I had rebound (Kath now has this), there is a family tree (See end of document for family tree entries). With the research that I have undertaken, I can link up what I know to the entries in the bible,  although at the time of writing, (Jan 1994), still more research needs to be undertaken. Grandma's maiden name was Smith, and her mother's family were Jones. It is this family that lived and worked at Stonebridge and that I am so interested in. I have a photo of Mr M Jones (Left) with a leather apron and blacksmith's tools. I think it is great grandmother's brother, but who knows.

Many years ago, I remember being told of a young Welshman looking for work on a farm, who ended up marrying the daughter, somewhere in the family. Grandma's mother had a reputation for hard work. I suppose, putting together lots of bits of information, that the Jones-Smith's had some sort of small-holding that went with the job. Maurice mentions cows, grandma, butter. Great grandma made and sold butter. There was a pony and trap she used to deliver this in. The story goes that she delivered some butter to a farm just outside Coventry (It was still there 20 years ago), and was paid for it, but on getting home, she had not got the money, in fact she had lost a sovereign, a lot of money in those days. She went back the next day to inquire, and found the money in the grass verge where she had been talking to the farmer's wife.

Grandma had a sister, Olive, who died in infancy, then there were Pat and Nancy. Her brothers were Will, Ephraim, Sydney and Maurice. Will went to Shropshire. I remember him staying with grandma when I was small. He was a widower, and was stone deaf. It was hard to communicate, and it was done by writing. He worked on road construction, and this was said to have caused the deafness. I know nothing of Sydney. Ephraim seems to have been the black sheep. I didn't know of his existence until after Maurice's death. Family members who knew him seem to have disowned him. He was a blacksmith, and was reputed to be pretty strong. The story goes that when he was drunk, he was apt to lift up the anvil and throw it.

Late 1920's wedding. 
Back row: 4th&3^rd from right-grandpa and grandma Thompson.

Back row:  2nd&1^st from right:  2 of grandma's brothers. 

Bride is grandma's niece-Rene (Irene) and mother's cousin. 

Front right:  Brides mother-my great aunt Pat.

I remember Gt Auntie Pat and Gt Auntie Nance vaguely. Nance never married, and she was the first to die. This seemed to cause a rift between Pat and grandma, and it was years before they spoke again. Pat had a daughter, Irene, she and my mother, were great friends in their youth. I have a photo of her wedding (left).  She died of pernicious anaemia in the 1930's.

Irene had a brother, Leslie (Leslie – not on the family tree. There is a Percy. Not sure if this is an error or an omission?), who visited mother periodically. I remember him as a grasper.

Grandma went into service at Cragside.                                                       (now a National Trust property in

Northumberland, formerly another Lord Armstrong home  and the first house in the world to have hydro electric powered lighting and many mod cons). I don't know if this was her first position, but she seems to have been happy. I have a photo taken in the garden with four other young women dressed in black (grandma is top left, she would have been a maid) looking very smart. It is a fairly safe conjecture that she met my grandfather through working at Cragside. I had her engagement ring, now lost (sadly it was either Antonia or Katherine that lost it when they were children) but the box it came in declares that it was bought in Alnwick. I don't know where they married, but grandma converted to Catholicism, and of course lived at Bamburgh, where the castle is another Armstrong home.

My mother, the oldest child, was born in 1904, when grandma was 29. When the family finally came to Birmingham, they stayed at Stonebridge. My mother did not enjoy this. I wonder if the conversion had caused a conflict in the family. It may well be so.

The family eventually settled in Bearwood, a pleasant Victorian suburb. They rented a couple of houses, and finally bought 5, St Mary's Road, Bearwood, the house I remember. I know very little of these years. I don't know when Maurice joined the family

Both grandma and grandpa were keen for their children to have the best education available. Mother had gone to a convent school, but didn't take any exams that I know of, but she learned shorthand and  typing at a time when most girls either went into service or a factory. The boys all went to grammar schools, and did well as I have indicated.

Grandma would have been 55 when I was born, and always seemed an old lady to me. She wore a shapeless dress with a modesty vest in the front. She was a lovely cook, I can smell her dinners now. She didn't have a vacuum cleaner, and not carpets as we have today, but she and Mrs Stone (her cleaning lady), donned their dust caps, covered the furniture with dust sheets, and brushed the stairs, rugs and carpets that there were. They scrubbed and polished. The house was cold in winter, and the smell of the paraffin stove in the kitchen was pervasive.

I used to go to stay in Birmingham and some of my earliest memories are of being ill there. This was when my brother Anthony was born. I was on the settee in the living room, the hub of the house. Frank and Lawrence rigged up a gadget to speak to me through wireless. I never tired of this, but they did. I remember this time before the war (WW2) with affection, grandma must have worked jolly hard, with all these men about, and then me. She loved whist drives (a trick taking card game, apparently still played today), and there were lots of them. I remember going to a garden party at a convent. There was a baby in a crib, that the nuns were hoping would be adopted. I tried to persuade grandma to take it.

She used to go shopping in Bearwood. There was the fish shop. The slab was on a child's level, so I was looking directly at the fish. They were decoratively laid out, mostly whole fish, still with their eyes which looked at me. I was fascinated. Baines the bread and cake shop where grandma was on friendly terms with the manageress, and I was announced as 'Mary's eldest'. The butchers which always had a queue. There would be several people cutting up and serving. Once, a women with a flat cap was endlessly sharpening knives. On the down to Dolloways the greengrocer. This was like a market stall and quite different from any greengrocer I knew. There was the Majestic cinema, and Clutterbucks the shoe shop. Grandma always took me to church (I was used to going). Once apparently, the priest was proceeding round the church in a long white gown and I asked why he had his nightie on. I really must have been quite a hindrance but I loved it.

The sons of course, got married and left, and grandpa died, and that left Uncle Maurice and grandma in this large house. She sold up and disposed of a lot of furniture as I have said. They moved to a brand new house at Warley about a mile and a half further out of town, just at the beginning of the war. She was a very keen gardener, and planted a row of cordon apples, of which she and Maurice were very proud of. He too loved gardening, but it was only a small plot. Grandma would go to somewhere like Woolworth's to buy daffodil bulbs, and pick them over looking for ones with two heads. She had a pretty garden. Something was always in flower, she would take me a walk round it and show me various plants. I wasn't really interested, but I know how she felt about it.

Mary Elizabeth Smith - Grandma with my sister Margaret

Grandma was a very good manager, and was careful with money. She was generous to her grandchildren, and indeed, left us all £150 in her will. She bought remnants of material that took her fancy, and had a chest full of it together with knitting wool. She knitted a lot of her underwear, vests and knickers. I remember these bright green long legged knickers, loosely knitted. There was still a pair in a drawer when Maurice died. Maurice of course, still worked for the Midland Red, and came and went at irregular hours. She had meals ready for him when necessary. Grandma had to take a lodger during the war. This was compulsory. She had a couple of short stay people, and then Mr Turner. He was a middle aged widower, who worked at Longbridge. Of course, he was on war work, and worked long hours. Grandma got him his meals, but he always went to the Holly Bush in the evening. This seemed to suit all parties, and he stayed after the war, as I presume he had no other home. When grandma moved house to assist Lorna, she asked Mr Turner to leave. He was pretty upset, and asked if he found temporary accommodation whilst the move took place, could he lodge at the new house. This he did. All parties seemed happy with this arrangement. He was there when grandma died in 1950. This left Maurice and Mr Turner. Mother went to stay with Maurice, taking Alex who must have been 4 or 5 at the time. She commented on the two old men, and how they shared the 2d delivery charge on the newspapers.

Maurice nursed Mr Turner before he died, and I believe was quite lonely when he was gone; they were two old men who rubbed along together without much interest in each other, but Maurice missed him.

When grandma died in 1950, Maurice opted to buy her house and contents that had not been left to specific people, or contents that mother and uncle Anthony wanted. Consequently, he and Mr Turner carried on as before. Maurice died intestate, in the early 1970's. He had lived a quite life; keen on the garden, clean in his person and clothes, but the house was dingy in the extreme. No paint since grandma died and nothing replaced when it wore out. He visited us once a year, and he was a great source of information on life at Stonebridge. He was quite indecisive, however, and would not make a will, which caused confusion at his death. Numerous relatives including Leslie turned up and took over. I had some things from the house, Anthony (my brother) had some of the nicest. Partly due to mother, who had them when grandma died. There was an oak chest, quite plain, probably 17^th century, and three miniatures, one of Sarah Boucher, mentioned in the family bible as having died in Dublin.

Uncle Maurice (Smith) holding Alex Gilbert, 

Mary Thompson (nee Smith-grandma) and 

Mark Gilbert. October 1950, shortly before grandma died.

Grandma had suffered increasingly from angina, and I had once been with her when she collapsed in a shop. We had a taxi home, much to Maurice's annoyance. He was only worried about her. When Alex was a few months old, we took him to Birmingham and had photos taken with grandma and Maurice (above). When Maurice died in 1971, that was the point when Mark and I became the older generation. There was only Uncle Anthony left, and we hardly saw him.

Back to my parents: After grandpa Folwell died in 1942, life moved slowly, as the war was on. Food rationed. We were all at grammar schools. Grandma paid the fees of £3.3.0 (three pounds and three shillings) per term for me until the 1944 Education Act abolished fee paying. I left school in 1946 and went to work in Coles nursery garden at Thurnby. I loved it. My parents were adjusting to having the house to themselves (without grandpa), and things gradually became normal again, although rationing didn't finish altogether until the early 1950's.

My father had an accident in 1949 from which he died. He was cycling and collided with another cyclist at speed, and was thrown from his heavy bike. He struck his head on the curb and was rendered unconscious. He died a week later, never having regained consciousness. Mother never really got over this. She carried on but we children (now in our late and mid teens) had no idea how difficult it must have been for her. Margaret left college and got a job, and enjoyed a full social life. Anthony stayed at school and took his School Certificate.

Mother was only 45 when father died, She suffered increasingly from ill health. We were inclined to dismiss it and think she was exaggerating. She 'limped' on for several years. Alex being a great comfort to her. She adored him. Eventually she went into hospital for a laporotomy as nothing definite could be found to be the matter. She died a few weeks later in 1958, aged just 54, of a post operative pulmonary embolism. It was established that she had had a diseased gall bladder which didn't show on any tests. With hindsight, she must have been increasingly lonely, as Margaret married and Anthony went into the Merchant Navy.

Jo Ellis

April 1994

From the family bible: