1 Bath Road

Francis Hopkins

Francis was born on 5th December 1913, the son of Thomas George Hopkins and his wife Elizabeth Annie (nee Jenkins).  At the time of Francis's birth, the family were living at 7 Gloucester Road, but they must have moved away soon afterwards. 

When Francis and his siblings, Florence and Frederick, attended the Council School from 1917 onwards, their guardian was Phillips Maggs, initially of Bath Road, but from 1918 from Crossways.  We discovered that their father, Thomas George must have died and their mother, Elizabeth Annie re-married in 1917 to Philip Maggs who was himself recently widowered.

Francis became a very successful businessman in Thornbury operating a grocer's shop at 18 High Street and a mobile shop service covering a wide area around Thornbury and the district.  Whilst Francis was still working, he produced a little souvenir booklet celebrating the silver jubilee of his business.  Thornbury Museum is fortunate in having a copy of this document which summarises Francis's life up until 1958.  A copy of the text can be read as a PDF file by clicking on the following link  Francis G Hopkins - Silver Jubilee

In 1955 Francis acquired the house and outbuildings at 1 Bath Road, previously occupied for many years by the Baylis family who had operated a carrier service from the property.  Francis needed more accommodation for his extensive stock and adjacent to the house he built a garage for the mobile shops and it was fitted to carry all the delivery goods and dry and canned goods.  The house was given the name of The Coach House to reflect the business carried on by the Baylis family.  On October 8th, 1957, Francis George and Gwendoline (the daughter of Hector Daniels from Tytherington) and their daughter, Pat, who was born on 7th April 1938, moved from the shop to their new home.  They continued to live here until about 1967 when the house was required for demolition to make way for the creation of Rock Street car park.

Francis was also an extremely popular person in the area and was very active in community affairs, becoming Chairman of the Parish Council from 1959 - 1964.  We are told that St Mary's Church in Thornbury was overflowing with people when he died on 10th March 1988 aged 75.  He was buried in Thornbury Cemetery with his daughter, Pat, who had died aged 38 on 12th December 1981.

Click here to read more about 1 Bath Road, the Coach House

This page was last updated: 26/11/2011