The surname may appear as Tombs or Tombes in different documents - indeed occasionally both ways in the same document. For consistency the version Tombs is used here.

At the turn of the nineteenth century the Tombs family in Quenington consisted of father Henry, probably brother John and Henry’s son James. There was also a Henry junior. Henry was substantial enough to have been tenant of Manor Farm, owned by Hicks Beach in the first available record (land taxes) in 1787, but thereafter farmed his own land until his death in 1798. The land then passed to son James.

Of the others, all that is known so far is that John owned property which was occupied by Henry until his death, then by son James. Henry junior owned property up to 1893 occupied y others, and this then passed to another proprietor.

The records for all the above cease in 1803 but the pattern of ownership presumably continued.

Henry’s son James died in 1825 leaving the land to his daughter Harriett. She was married and the land is shown in the records under her husband’s name, Jenkin Thomas, a church minister of Cheltenham, where couple lived.

After the death of Jenkin and Harriet there are two Tombs families involved, both from Oxfordshire and presumably relatives of the Quenington family. One is James, from Langford, an absent landlord between 1843 and 1853. The second was James Thomas of Filkins. He was farming in Quenington in 1851, and would remain until 1867, when he left the village. He leased his farm to Michael Hicks Beach who later purchased it. It was known as Tombs Farm and is perhaps likely to be continuity of the land that was in the family at the turn of the century.

Henry
1787-1798	Quenington		occupation	owner and occupier of land
1798	Coln St Aldwyns	age	occupation	burial 15th April, residence Quenington
John
1787-1803	Quenington			owner of land occupied in turn by Henry and James
delisted from the tax records following Land Tax Redemption Act, 1798. It will no doubt have continued in the ownership perhaps of John
further continuity not yet established from among others with this given name
James
1797-1803	Quenington			owner/occupier of land, see footnote
1798	Quenington			18 Oct, marriage to Elizabeth Wade
1801	Quenington			13 May, baptism of daughter Mary Harriet
1825	Coln St Aldwyns	62	occupation	25th Apr, burial, residence Quenington
1833	Coln St Aldwyns		occupation	burial of wife Elizabeth, age 61, "widow of James Tombes Esq", residence Quenington
delisted from the tax records following Land Tax Redemption Act, 1798. It will no doubt have continued in the ownership of James

Mary Harriet Tombs and husband Jenkin Thomas

Mary Harriet was the daughter of James (above), born in Quenington in 1801. In 1822 she married Jenkin Thomas, a Baptist Minister from Oxford and the two settled in Cheltenham. At some point, perhaps on her father's death in 1825, Mary inherited the Tombs farm, and in subsequent records husband Jenkin is shown as proprietor. He held this to the mid-1840s with tenants. Jenkin had died by 1851 when Mary was living in Badgworth, near Cheltenham, with her children and of independent means, the farm presumably having been sold. She was living in Walworth, Surrey, three years later when she died. Her body was brought back for burial at Coln St Aldwyns where her father and grandfather lay.

1801	par	Quenington			Mary baptised 13 May, father James, mother Elizabeth
1822	par	Quenington			18 May, marriage of Mary to Jenkin Thomas of Oxford
1825-31	par	Quenington			children's baptisms, home town Cheltenham
1830	dir	Cheltenham			at 1 Oriel Villas (Pigot directory)
1836	doc	Quenington			Jenkin Thomas proprietor of land occupied by John Yells [farmer]
1841	cen	Cheltenham			with four children at Sandford Lodge, Jenkin dissenting minister
1842-43	doc	Quenington			Jenkin proprietor of land occupied by Mrs Yells [John's widow], called Tomb's Farm in 1843
1845	doc	Quenington			Jenkin proprietor of land (Tomb's Farm) occupied by John Simpson [farmer], own address Cheltenham
1851	cen	Badgworth, Glos		independent means	Mary widow, with children
1854	par	Coln St Aldwyns	52		burial of Mary 18 Apr, residence St Peter's, Walworth, Surrey

James Tombs

Between 1843 and 1853 a James Tombs of Langford, Oxfordshire, was the proprietor of land in Quenington occupied by farmer William Clarke. His tenure overlaps (1843-1846) with that of Jenkin Thomas of Tombs Farm, and later (1853) with that of James Thomas Tombs. The only information is from voters' lists in Quenington, though there is no evicence that he ever lived there. He has not yet been further identified.

James Thomas Tombs

James Thomas Tombs farmed on his own land in Quenington in the 1850s and 1860s. He was born in 1815 in Filkins, Oxfordshire, son of a farmer, and was at home until at least 1841. Ten years later he was farming 190 acres in Quenington. Later that year he was near his birthplace in Oxfordshire to marry, and the couple returned to Quenington to continue farming. A son was born. James was still there in 1861, now with 230 acres, but left sometime between 1864 and 1871. He may have retired, as in 1871 he was in Oxford, describing himself merely as a landowner. He then moved to Streatham near London, a retired farmer and gentleman, where he died in 1880 at the age of 74.

Tombs had retained ownership of the farm when he left Quenington. In 1867 it was leased to local landowner Michael Hicks Beach and in 1877 was being farmed by William Stayt Penson. It was then sold to Hicks Beach with at least some of it forming part of the lease of the new Coneygres Farm.

1815	par	Broadwell, Oxon			baptised 22 Jan, address Filkins, father John, farmer
1841	cen	Broadwell, Oxon	24	farmer	at home, father John farmer
1851	cen	Quenington		farmer	190 acres, with niece and servant
1851	cen	Broughton, Oxon	full	farmer	10th Jul, married Catherine Beck of Broughton, father a farmer
1852	par	Quenington		farmer	baptism of son James King
1853-64	er	Quenington			owner of freehold house and land
1853-63	dir	Quenington		farmer
1861	cen	Quenington	43	farmer	230 acres
1867	doc	Quenington			land leased to Michael Hicks Beach, see also 1879
1871	cen	Cowley, Oxon	52	landowner	at Hanley Villas with wife and son
1879	doc	Quenington			land leased in 1867 sold to Michael Hicks Beach, own address 1 Wendover Villas, Terrick Road, Wood Green, Middx
1881	cen	Streatham	62	farmer rtd	at 2 Ryde Vale Villas, with wife and son
1888	gro	Wandsworth	74		death registered 4th quarter
1889	par	Broughton Poggs			buried 1st Jan, address Streatham
1889	prob	Surrey		gentleman	will proved, effects 5641 19s 11d

10th November 2020