David Pickersgill Smithson is found in the Birth Index Q1 1883 Tadcaster 9c 807. He was born in Ledsham in Yorkshire the son of William Robert Smithson and Isabella Wilson. His siblings were Ann Emma Smithson (1876 – 1959) and John William Smithson (1878 – 1945). He is found with his parents in the 1891 […]
Ripon
Thomas Smithson – Mayor of Ripon, 1890 to 1892
His badge on the baldric bears the Arms of the Butchers’ Company, with the crest of the Smithson family – a squirrel sejant cracking a nut ppr. – and the motto “Nihil sine labore.” Arms: Az. two slaughter axes indorsed in saltire ar. handled or, betw. three bulls’ heads, couped of the second, armed of […]
Smithsons Court, Ripon

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 […]
The Thirlway Journal
The Thirlways were a prominent family in Ripon and had a printing business in the Market Place. My interest? A Thirlway married a Smithson. Rashaad Thirlway who wrote the foreward of this book is my cousin. The Thirlway Journal is required reading for anyone interested in Ripon or just Victorian life. Foreward How did the […]
41 Market Place, Ripon
Neither No. 41 nor its neighbours were burgage properties so the Burgage Survey of 1675 does not supply us with information about its seventeenth century owners. The earliest owner whom we know for certain was Stephen Palliser, tanner, who died in 1740. Both Stephen and his father of the same name and occupation were members […]