A Mother, a Father, and a Daughter Memorialized

In a contrast to the last two armorial memorials we looked at in York Minster, this next memorial has a lot more text and a lot less heraldry on its face.

It is the memorial to husband and wife Rev. Richard and Anne (Clarke) Thompson and to one of their two daughters. Thompson was a Prebendary of York Cathedral and Rector of Kirkdeighton (of which church we will have more later, because we took the opportunity to visit it!).

The inscription reads:

Sacred to the Memory

of

Anne, the Lamented Wife of the Revd Richd Thompson

Prebendary of this Cathedral, & Rector of Kirkdeighton

Who Departed This Life May the 29th Anno 1791, Etatis 76.

The Utmost Benevolence of Heart,

A Strong & Cultivated Understanding,

Uncommon Sweetness of Temper,

With the Most Kind & Affectionate Manners,

Form'd the Basis of Her Character.

Throughout a Long Life

Her Conduct Was So Truly Good & Amiable,

That Humanity Will Drop a Tear,

Not For Her,

But For Those of Her Family Who Have

The Misfortune of Surviving Her.

Near This Place Are Also Deposited

The Remains of the Said Revd Richard Thompson

(In Pious and Affectionate Memory of Whom,

This Tablet Is Subjoined

By His Only Surviving Daughter, Anne Thompson)

He Departed This Life Janry 30th, 1795,

Aged 75.

And Also the Remains of the Above

Mentioned Anne Thompson,

The Daughter of the Said Revd Richard Thompson,

Who Departed This Life April 6th, 1835,

Aged 88.

Richard Thompson, M.A. of Merton College, Oxford, was ordained priest at Bishopthorpe, August 19, 1744, and on the 22nd of the same month was instituted to the vicarage of Holy Trinity, King's Court. This he ceded for the rectory of Kirk Deighton (just a few kilometers west of the city of York), to which he was instituted April 20, 1747, on the presentation of William Thompson of York. On February 18, 1747/48 he was collated to the stall of Langtoft at York, which he held until his death.

He was the eldest son of Jonas Thompson, Esq. of Kilham, Lord Mayor of York in 1731 (grandson of Jonas T. of Kilham, elder brother of Sir Henry Thompson of Escrick and Sir Stephen Thompson of Kirkby Hall, aldermen of York), by Anne, daughter of William Justice, attorney, York, and sister of Henry Justice, Esq. barrister-at-law, lord of the manor of Rufforth in the Ainsty. By his wife Ann he had two daughters, Ann, who died unmarried in 1835, and Frances, wife of the Rev. Robert Tripp of Rewe, co. Devon, who died before her sister.

The arms on the memorial, painted rather than carved, are:

Per fess argent and sable, a fess embattled counter-embattled between three falcons close all counter-changed (Thompson); overall an inescutcheon, Vert three escallops in pale or between two flaunches ermine (Clarke).

The crest is: An arm embowed in armour proper grasping a tilting-spear or.

So, maybe not quite as "showy" as the memorials in my last two posts, but beautifully elegant in its own way, and clearly deeply meaningful to the younger Anne Thompson.