Thomas Combe
Encyclopedia
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, and was also a founder and benefactor of St Barnabas Church
St Barnabas Church, Oxford
St Barnabas Church is a Church of England parish church in Jericho, central Oxford, England, located close to Oxford Canal.The church was founded by Thomas Combe, Superintendent of the Oxford University Press close to the church, and his wife Martha. They were followers of the Oxford Movement...
, near the Press in Jericho
Jericho, Oxford
Jericho is a historic suburb of the English city of Oxford. It consists of the streets bounded by the Oxford Canal, Worcester College, Walton Street and Walton Well Road. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the...
and close to Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
.
Combe was the son of Thomas Combe senior (d. 1836?), a printer, stationer, bookseller and newspaper proprietor in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
. After working with his father and, between around 1824 and 1826 with Joseph Parker in Oxford, he was freed by the Stationers' Company and went into business in his own right. In 1826 he was briefly in partnership with Michael Angelo Nattali in London, but before the end of the year he had returned to Leicester to join the family business (which was styled T. Combe and Son between 1826 and 1835). After his father's death he moved to Oxford, and joined the University Press (or Clarendon Press) in 1837 at its then new (1830) building in Walton Street
Walton Street
Walton Street is on the eastern edge of the Jericho district of central Oxford, England.- Overview :The street runs north from the western end of Beaumont Street and northern end of Worcester Street by the main entrance of Worcester College. Somerville College, one of the former women's colleges,...
. By 1838 he was superintendent of the 'learned side' of the press, and soon acquired shares in the business. By 1851 he was senior partner in the Press.. As a result, he amassed a considerable fortune.
He and his wife Martha (1806–1893) were keen patrons of the arts and particularly of the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1849, he met John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
in Oxford, who painted portraits of Combe's family. They were also devotees of the Tractarian or Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
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Combe is buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery
St Sepulchre's Cemetery
St Sepulchre's Cemetery is located in Jericho, central Oxford, England.The cemetery was opened in 1849, initially as an overflow for north Oxford because existing cemeteries were overcrowded with corpses from epidemics such as cholera...
, off Walton Street
Walton Street
Walton Street is on the eastern edge of the Jericho district of central Oxford, England.- Overview :The street runs north from the western end of Beaumont Street and northern end of Worcester Street by the main entrance of Worcester College. Somerville College, one of the former women's colleges,...
, near the University Press. His widow retained and expanded his collection of Pre-Raphaelite art. On her death in 1893, the bulk of the collection was bequeathed to the University and is now in the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
.
External links
- Thomas Combe in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Blue plaque to Thomas & Martha Combe on St Barnabas' Church, Oxford