4 Crispin Lane
Owners and Occupiers
No. 2 'Crispin House'
No. 4 Crispin Lane
No. 6 Crispin Lane
Pullins Green
St John Street
Sawmill Lane
John and Rosa Stinchcombe - the 1901 census shows that John and Rosa Stinchcombe were occupying the house at that time. John Stinchcombe was a gravel merchant aged 50, and Rosa was aged 48. In 1901, they had three children, John Thomas aged 11, George aged 10 and Kate aged 8. Click here to read more about the Stinchcombe family
Charles Stinchcombe - we have a copy of a 1906 deed which transfers ownership of the property from William Cullimore to his wife, Frances for £150. This mentions that the house is then occupied by a tenant, Charles Stinchcombe.
In 1901 Charles was aged 30, a carrier living at 'The Coombe' in Gloucester Road. We suspect that this refers to what is now Coombe Cottage, as William Young Sainsbury was living in the house now known as 'The Coombe'. Charles's wife, Annie J. was aged 36, a laundress in the Workhouse. Charles is shown as living in 'Mutton Lane' in the electoral registers of 1910 and 1913 so we assume he carried on living in the house.
Charles was baptised in 1870, the son of Alfred Thomas and Sarah Stinchcombe and Alfred was baptised in 1850, the son of Francis (a carpenter) and Hannah. There seems to be no close link between Charles Stinchcombe and the John Stinchcombe who was in the house in 1901.
The Oates family - John Thomas Oates was living in the house in 1918 and his family were to live there for many years - click here to read more about John Thomas Oates and his family
The Wilcox family -
Frederick Robert
Wilcox and his wife, Doris May, were living in the house from about 1935 and
they continued to live there up to the 1970's. The photo on the right
shows them in the back garden of number 4. Frederick Robert,
known locally by the name of 'Robert' or 'Bob' was descended from John Robert Wilcox.
Click here to read about the
war career of John Robert
Robert married Doris May Bishop at Thornbury St Mary's Church on 30th March 1929. Doris's father Frederick Bishop, a labourer, had died by the time of her marriage. Robert and Doris had a daughter, June Ivy, born in 1931 and a son, Jeffrey Robert born in 1936.
Robert was a gardener/groundsman at Thornbury Grammar School. He had been in India for seven years with the 2nd Gloucester Regiment. During the Second World War, he served as a Volunteer with the 6th Gloucestershire (South Gloucester) Battalion, Home Guard. He was killed in a road accident on 21 September 1940 aged 39 years when he was on his way to duty. In an incident that was tragically common at the time, he was knocked down in St John Street by a motor cycle being driven during the blackout by Phil Dagger, from number 19 St John Street. The funeral took place with full military honours at St Mary's Church and Cemetery. Members of the Home Guard were bearers and formed a guard of honour on each side of the coffin, draped with a Union Jack. A firing party of local soldiers fired a volley over the coffin after it had been lowered into the grave and Volunteer H. Phillips of the Home Guard sounded the Last Post.
The family was to suffer further when Robert's brother, Lieutenant John Arthur Wilcox, was killed after 28 years regular service in the Army. He took part in the 1914 - 1918 War and campaigns in France in 1939 and Norway in 1940.
After Robert's death, Doris' s brother, Ernest Bishop moved in to help the family. We understand he was known locally as 'Sonner'. After Doris died on 21 May 1972 aged 67 years, Ernest stayed on in the house until 1990 when he moved into sheltered accommodation at the nearby Baptist Church.
This page was last updated: 26/07/2008