THOMPSON OF LEEDS
An important record for this family is the 1667 will of James Thompson of Weetwood in the parish of Leeds, clerk.[1] James mentions “my Sister Elizabeth Whitfeild” and appoints “my trusty and welbeloved friends and Neighbours Henry Thompson the Elder and Lancelott Thompson of Methley his brother” as executors. Henry and Lancelot were evidently members of the testator’s family, especially as James mentions “my kinswoeman Lydia Thompson” and Lydia, daughter of Lancelot Thompson, was baptised at Methley on 27 January 1658/59.
Lancelot, son of William Thompson, was baptised at Methley on 17 April 1631. No baptism for Lancelot’s brother Henry is found at Methley, but at St Peter, Leeds, is the baptism of Henry, son of William Thompson of Weetwood, on 18 January 1618/19.
No potential baptisms for James and his sister Elizabeth are recorded at Methley but the entries at Leeds include James, child of “Harry Thomson of Callayne” in 1588 and Elizabeth, child of “Henry Tomsonn [th]e elder” in 1593. There is also, in 1590/91, the baptism of William, child of a “Thomson in kirkgate”, the father’s forename missing due to damage to register.
There was another Elizabeth, daughter of “Henry Thompson of kirgate”, baptised on 22 March 1584/85, but that could hardly be Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield who had a child baptised as late as 1638.
A Lancelot, son of Henry Thompson, baptised at Leeds on 20 April 1590, may be the source of the name of the Lancelot Thompson who later lived at Methley.
Obtaining full details of this family is complicated by the presence of more than one Henry Thompson. The burial of “Henrye Tompson yong[er]” took place at Leeds on 7 March 1596/97. Henry Thompson the elder, father of the Elizabeth baptised in 1593, might be the “Henry Tompson of Weetwood” buried at Leeds on 6 December 1619.
The marriage of “Henry Thompson de Vicaridge yong[er] and Jane Byrkedaille de Watterside” took place at Leeds on 9 July 1583 and “Henry Tomson and Jane Curtasse” were married there on 17 October 1587. One point which favours the second marriage being that of the parents of James, William and Elizabeth is that the 1676 will of William Curtis of Burmantofts includes a legacy to Lancelot Thompson of Methley.[2] William was baptised at Leeds on 9 January 1596/97, son of Henry Curtis.[3] Another relevant point is that Thomas Whitfield and his wife Elizabeth are mentioned in Ralph Thoresby’s Ducatus Leodiensis, published in 1715, where it is stated that Elizabeth was “related to my Grandmother Thoresby”.[4] Ralph’s paternal grandmother was Grace Cloudsley, daughter of Francis and Frances (Kirke) Cloudsley,[5] which does not provide any obvious link to Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield. However, one of Ralph’s great-grandmothers was Isabel (Curtis) Thoresby[6] and a confused recollection of a Curtis connection could be the reason for Thoresby referring to a relationship with Elizabeth.
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THOMPSON
HENRY THOMPSON of Leeds, Yorkshire, married on 17 October 1587 at St Peter, Leeds, JANE CURTIS.[7]
Children of Henry and Jane
(Curtis) Thompson:
i JAMES THOMPSON of Adwick le
Street and Weetwood, minister, bap 18 Jun 1588, St Peter, Leeds,[8]
bur 16 Nov 1667, Methley;[9]
m(1) 24 Apr 1618, Methley, ANN LABORNE;[10]
m(2) 3 Sep 1632, Barnby Dun, MARY GRANT;[11]
m(3) 14 Oct 1635, Rothwell, LYDIA LAYBURNE.[12]
ii WILLIAM THOMPSON, bap 21 Feb
1590/91, St Peter, Leeds,[13]
bur 29 Jul 1653, Methley;[14] m
30 Sep 1617, Methley, ELIZABETH SHANN.[15]
iii ELIZABETH THOMPSON, bap 4 May 1593,
St Peter, Leeds;[16]
m 27 Apr 1612, Stonegrave, THOMAS WHITFIELD[17]
(see here).
[1] Will dated 1 Nov 1667 (Borthwick Institute).
[2] Will dated 12 Sep 1676, proved 19 Oct 1676 (Borthwick Institute).
[3] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); Joan W. Kirby, ed., The Manor and Borough of Leeds, 1425-1662 (Leeds, 1983), 92; Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis (London, 1715), 46-47.
[5] Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis (London, 1715), 158; Joseph Hunter, Gens Sylvestrina (London, 1846), 160-61; will of Elizabeth Moore of Burley, dated 1 Mar 1578, proved 11 Feb 1579 (Borthwick Institute).
[6] Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis (London, 1715), 72-73; J.W. Clay, ed., Dugdale’s Visitation of Yorkshire, with Additions, 3 vols (Exeter, 1899-1917), 2:215-20; A.S. Ellis, “Notes on Ralph Thoresby’s Pedigree”, The Publications of the Thoresby Society, 9(1899):112-25; C.B. Norcliffe, “Paver’s Marriage Licenses”, The Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, 7(1882), at 303.
[7] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[8] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[9] George Denison Lumb, ed., The Registers of the Parish Church of Methley (Leeds, 1903), 120; will dated 1 Nov 1667 (Borthwick Institute).
[11] Barnby Dun parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk); J.W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences (1909), 15.
[12] Rothwell parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com); J.W. Clay, ed., Paver’s Marriage Licences (1909), 69.
[13] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[16] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com). She may be the “Elizabeth wife of Thomas Whitfield of Weetwood bur: at Hedinley chappel” on 3 February 1675/76 (St Peter, Leeds, parish registers, online at www.ancestry.com) but that would be inconsistent with her having reached the age of “98 or 99” as stated in Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis (London, 1715), 623.
[17] Stonegrave parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).