![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jonathan-Thompson-main.jpg\")
at Beacon Edge Cemetery, Penrith<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the memorial fund had raised four times what was needed, with the balance presented to the trustees of Jonathan Thompson\u2019s estate, for his widow and youngest daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why was Jonathan Thompson held in such high regard? And why, when he died, did the Penrith Observer<\/em> publish an obituary of no fewer than 974 words? And why did Penrith Ubran Council \u2018hurriedly convene\u2019 a meeting specifically because of the news of his death?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Penrith Observer Sept 26, 1899<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n THOMPSON.\u2014At the George Hotel, Scarborough, on the 20th lnst,, Jonathan Thompson, William Street, Penrith, aged 56 years.\u2014No cards.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Jonathan Thompson had gone to Scarborough for his health, as he was feeling a bit run-down. However, he soon fell ill with typhoid, which proved fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Beacon Edge memorial records that Jonathan Thompson had been:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The obituary adds to that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And all that after working for several years in the goods warehouse at the Penrith station as a collector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Scott, chairman of the Urban Council meeting, said: \u201cIt is worthy of note that from comparatively humble circumstances he rose to a position of trust and responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the census returns all show Jonathan Thompson as having been born in Plumpton. There was only one birth that matches (June 1\/4 1843). So it seems highly likely that Jonathan\u2019s background wasn\u2019t so \u2018humble\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1861 Melkinthorpe Farm, Lowther. Jonathan Thompson, 18, farmer\u2019s son, born Plumpton. Father Robert is a farmer of 310 acres.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Ten years later, Jonathan Thompson is working in Penrith, as a railway collector. He is living in\u00a0Meeting House Lane, working as a railway collector, with wife Jane, 30 and baby Annie, 10 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January 1876, he quit the railways to work for the council. More children followed, and the 1881 census finds him at Sandgate Hall, collector of rates and market inspector, with Jane, Annie, Robert 10, William 5, Henry 3, and Tom, 1. They were living in William Street by 1891, and had been joined by Edith Jane, then six: the \u2018youngest daughter\u2019 who benefited from the public subscription when her father died. Son Robert (who was in Scarborough by 1899) wasn\u2019t with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Early in 1876, Jonathan Thompson entered the service of the Local Board. He acted as rate collector, market inspector, lodging house inspector, dairies and cowsheds inspector, and captain of the fire brigade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018it was owing in a great measure to is zeal that the brigade was put on such an excellent footing\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Council chairman James Scott led the tributes. Fellow councillor Richard Ballinghall Neville added that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Mr. Thompson was always ready to go out with the fire brigade whenever a call came, no matter what personal risk be might have to run.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n They thought his initial illness may have been a result of his attendance at a stacks fire at Hutton End earlier in September 1899. It had broken out on Lands Foot Farm, occupied by Isaac Bainbridge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Despite some difficulty procuring the horses,\u2019 Captain Jonathan Thompson and others of Penrith Fire Brigade were quickly on the scene. They had to go to a pond half a mile away for water. Then found the hose wouldn\u2019t reach the flames, so had to use buckets. Two stacks (one corn, one hay) were destroyed, and a haystack damaged beyond use. Nine stacks were saved and there was no other damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018He was a good public servant, and\u2026 whatever work he took in band was well done.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p> \u2018I have no hesitation in saying that a more conscientious, capable, and trustworthy official the town of Penrith never possemed.<\/p> \u2018We do not often find combined in one man the ability to fill different offices with credit\u2026\u00a0<\/p> \u2018In these varied offices Mr. Thompson was always to be relied upon, and his tact was conspicuous in the not always pleasant duty of rate collecting.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Richard Ballinghall Neville was a London-born bank manager who was honorary superintendent of Penrith Fire Brigade. A report in 1903 says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018It was largely due to his efforts that they had any fire brigade at all\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n And a year earlier:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018the town is under numerous obligations to that gentleman in this connection. Mr Neville was instrumental in getting the new steam fire engine, the improved fire station, and the almost complete set of appliances, and by offering prizes to the men of the brigade for drill, he has bought the institution to the position of one of the best equipped and most efficient in the north.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jonathan Thompson wasn\u2019t perhaps not a hero in the sense of brave deeds (though he put himself in danger as a fire fighter). But he was well-regarded by his contemporaries and deserves to be remembered as a Cumbrian Character. A lasting tribute Among the thousands of memorial stones at Beacon Edge cemetery, above Penrith, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[416],"class_list":["post-2142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","tag-penrith-fire-brigade"],"yoast_head":"\n24 years of public service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jonathan-Thompson-2-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJonathan Thompson, early years<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Public service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Penrith Fire Brigade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tributes to Jonathan Thompson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
And another man worthy of mention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n