Tom Jones

1915-1993

South Lincolnshire became established as a centre for the supply of antiques during the middle years of the 20th century with many dealers operating from the small market towns in the district, attracting buyers from throughout the United Kingdom, the Continent and even America, who made regular visits. Foremost among them was Tom Jones who operated from premises adjoining the old Wherry’s Mill off North Road, Bourne, and who established an enviable reputation in the trade, a flamboyant presence in the saleroom where he became respected by dealers and auctioneers alike.

He was also prominent in the local community as a farmer, landowner, councillor and supporter of many conservation causes as well as local drama groups, always ready to provide furniture and other artefacts as stage props in their production.

Tom Jones was born Thomas Henry Empson at Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, on Christmas Day, 25th December 1915 to Arthur and Kate Empson. His father worked as a drayman at a local brewery, having recently moved to Newark from the family home in Greatford, near Bourne, where the Empsons had moved in the early 1900s via Dunsby and Hanthorpe. His mother (née Beeston) was brought up in Newark, but came originally from rural Nottinghamshire.

Mr Empson’s father served in the Great War but was killed in action on 28th March 1918 and is buried at Arras in Northern France. Tom subsequently moved to live with his paternal aunt, Sarah Jones, and uncle, Tom Jones, at Mill House in North Road Bourne, but kept in close touch with his mother who continued to live in Newark. Tom, senior, was a highly respected cattle dealer and rented a number of fields around Bourne to pasture stock en route to markets all over South Lincolnshire, using Mill House and the accompanying paddock and buildings as a base for his business.

Young Tom attended Bourne Primary School until he was 14 when he joined his uncle in cattle droving and dealing. Mr Jones senior died in 1936, and Tom went into partnership with his aunt to operate Mill House and the fields as a farm, initially with beef cattle and sheep, later adding poultry and a dairy herd. Much of the attached land was arable and he grew hay, wheat, barley, and fodder crops. It was during this period as a farmer that his interest in antiques was stimulated and he started to collect them, notably country style furniture, bygones and Staffordshire figures. During the war, he continued farming and served with the local Home Guard.

On Boxing Day 1941, he married Mary Joan Stacey, a hairdresser from Bourne, at St John the Baptist church, Baston, her home village, and they went to live in Hereward Street, Bourne, but soon moved to 59 North Road, where their two children were born, son Tom Jones-Empson in 1943 and daughter Jennifer Jones-Empson in 1944. Throughout his youth in Bourne, Tom had been known under the name of Jones but had married under his legal name of Thomas Henry Empson and on 23rd October 1945 he changed his name by deed poll to Tom Jones and his family name to Jones, an act of gratitude to the uncle and aunt who had brought him up.

For a spell in the 1960s, Tom became an independent member of Bourne Urban District Council, making a tireless and determined input with the housing committee, but continued to farm and to collect antiques, frequently lecturing on the subject to many local groups such as the Women’s Institute, entertaining them with stories and tips on collecting, always telling his audience that every piece had a history, a distinctive feature that made it with special or curious in some way or another. He also took up wood carving and painting in his spare time, became a member of Bourne Male Voice Choir and delighted in growing and arranging flowers. Both he and his wife were strong supporters of Toc H and in 1953 the family paid a visit to Toc H headquarters in Belgium.

He and his son were also active members of the Bourne Guild of Arts and Crafts, both frequently exhibiting watercolour paintings of local landscapes at annual exhibitions at various venues in the town and throughout his life, he remained a staunch supporter of Bourne and its heritage.

In 1957, he extended Mill House, now 64 North Road Bourne, and the family moved there to live with his now elderly aunt. After her death in 1963, he abandoned farming and by 1965 had turned the barns, cow shed and what remained of the old windmill into an antique shop. His second career gave him enormous pleasure as well as making him a well-known personality in the antique trade while Joan became a partner, running the shop and keeping the books while he dealt with the buying and selling of stock. “They were an admirable balanced and complementary couple in everything they did together”, remembered a friend. “She was also the sort of person to whom people would turn to for advice and help and she was a tower of strength to many.”

During the 1970s and 1980s, Tom was an active member of Bourne Civic Society and Rotary Club and later, after he had retired from the antique business in 1985, Probus. He and his wife continued to live happily at Mill House, celebrating their golden wedding in December 1991. Joan died on 16th February 1993, aged 77, and Tom never regained his vibrant personality and died in Bourne Hospital the following Easter, on Good Friday, 10th April, also aged 77. Funeral services were held at the Abbey Church conducted by the vicar, Canon John Warwick, followed by cremation at Peterborough.

Tom Jones is remembered in Bourne as an incredibly active and lively person with a genuine concern for the welfare of others, kind and good humoured, always ready to help, especially old people and those to whom he felt an injustice had been done, sometimes spontaneously outspoken but always of generous spirit, and with his passing the town lost a little of its history.

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2009

See also Wherry's Mill