Smithsons Court is down the side and behind what used to be Smithson’s butchers at 76 North Street. It is now a pleasant courtyard of private housing. Smithson’s butchers, which was still trading by that name until the late 1990’s, was established by Thomas Smithson who was mayor of Ripon from 1890 to 1892. The butchers shop now trades as Marley’s.
There was another Smithson’s butchers on Kirkgate which was not related to this business. The Kirkgate business was owned by Ralph Pickersgill Smithson who died at a young age of smallpox. The business was passed on to Thomas Appleton by his widow. Ralph’s son styled himself as Thomas Kirk Smithson so as not to be confused with the other Thomas Smithson above. Interestly, Thomas the mayor’s son Robert Jemison Smithson was a witness at Thomas Kirk Smithson’s wedding to Jane Elizabeth Weatherall in Durham.
