Thomas Jopson was a Captain's Steward aboard the Terror on the 1845 Franklin expedition. In the expedition's muster books his birthplace is given as Marylebone, Middlesex, and his age as 27, which would put his birth around 1818. He previously served in the navy aboard the same ship as part of the 1839-43 Sir James Ross' Antarctic expedition.
Prior to the Antarctic expedition, he had served aboard HMS Racer in 1838, which was his first entry into the Navy, according to Ralph Lloyd-Jones in The men who sailed with Franklin. He was 5'5" tall with a fair complexion, hazel eyes, brown hair, and a scar on his right leg.
Thomas was born on 14 Nov 1816, and baptized on 8 Dec 1816 at St Marylebone, Westminster, making him a couple years older than his age in the muster. His parents were named William and Sarah. His father's occupation was just listed vaguely as "trade" on Thomas' baptism, but other documents show he was a tailor.
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| Baptism of Thomas Jopson, 1816. |
On the 1845 expedition Thomas allotted part of his salary to his father, William Jopson, who at that time was listed as living at 3 Gee Street, Brick Lane, St. Luke's, London.
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| British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations, The National Archives, ADM 27/90. |
In 1854, after the expedition was given up for dead, a woman named Mary Pratt was named the administrator of his estate. She lived in Hoxton, Middlesex, and her husband was a machinist named Samuel Pratt. It's mentioned that Thomas' father, William Jopson, would have been his administrator, but he'd died before taking admon and so it went to Mary Pratt, who was his own administrator.
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| Death Duty Register, The National Archives, IR 26, 1854. |
Thomas' relation to Mary Pratt is not specified in the Death Duty Register, but further probate records, such as the Seamen's Effects Papers and Administration Act Books, show that she was his sister.
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| Administration Act Books, The National Archives, PROB 6, 1854. |
Curiously, Jopson's rank is incorrect in his probate records. In both of the above records he's listed as a petty officer / Captain of the Hold. The Captain of the Hold aboard Terror was William Goddard; Thomas was a steward. The Administration Act Books even get his name wrong once, calling him Thomas Jackson.
Thomas Jopson's Family
I believe Thomas's parents were William Jopson and Sarah Goodfellow, who married in Marylebone on 21 Jan 1816. William was born around 1791 and Sarah was born around 1794.
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| Jopson-Goodfellow marriage. |
Note: "Jobson" was a very common misspelling of Jopson. We can see Jopson is spelt incorrectly by the curate in the marriage record above, but is correct in William’s signature.
In the 1841 England census we can find William and Sarah Jopson residing at an unspecified address on Gee Street. There are two children, William and Emma, residing with them.
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| 1841 England census. |
While the 1845 allotment list states William lived at 3 Gee Street, I believe that was a typo. The records I found show him at 30 Gee Street from at least 1839 until 1849.
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| 1848 London directory. |
Sarah Jopson died on 6 July 1849 of "cirrhosis, several years." William followed her a little over a year later, dying of "paralysis, five months" on 10 July 1850. At the time of his death he'd been living with his daughter, Mary Pratt, at her address on Mintern Street.
I believe Thomas had six or seven siblings, of which he was the eldest. I found baptismal records for six children that seemed to match up: Mary, Sarah, Ann Jane, Robert, Emma, and Henry John. I couldn't find a baptism record for the 10-year-old William Jopson present in the 1841 census. In 1841 relations weren't specified, so it's possible that he wasn't William and Sarah's child, but rather a nephew or young cousin. It's also possible that he was their child, but his baptism record doesn't survive, perhaps getting damaged or lost in the last 200 years. It's also possible his baptism record does exist and I just missed it.
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| Baptism of Mary Jopson, 24 Jan 1819, St Marylebone, Westminster. |
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| Baptism of Sarah Jopson, 3 Jun 1821, St Marylebone, Westminster. |
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| Baptism of Ann Jane Jopson, 28 Dec 1823, St Marylebone, Westminster. |
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| Baptism of Robert Jopson, 29 Jan 1832, St James, Clerkenwell, Islington. |
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| Baptism of Emma Jopson, 22 Oct 1834, St James, Clerkenwell, Islington. |
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| Baptism of Henry John Jopson, 5 Apr 1839, St Luke, Finsbury, Islington. |
Of the sons I have baptism records for, both Robert and Henry John died young, Robert in 1832 and Henry John in 1839. Robert was buried at Spa-fields grounds, a privately owned cemetery which would quickly become notorious for its overcrowded and insanitary conditions. News reports from 1845 detail how coffins were dug up and reused, and bodies dismembered and partially burned to save space.
Ann Jane may also have died as a child in 1827. There’s a burial record in the same cemetery for a 3-year-old “Jane Jobson” whose details seem to match. However, I should note there was another William & Sarah Jobson who had a daughter named Jane the same year, so there is no guarantee the child buried is the right one, though that couple lived in Cambridgeshire, so it is less likely.
Mary Jopson married a man named Samuel Pratt on 23 Aug 1843. As previously mentioned, she was the administrator of both Thomas' and her father's estates. Mary and Samuel Pratt did not appear to have children; instead, they took in their niece Annie Maria Lewis and raised her for a number of years.
Said niece was the daughter of Emma Jopson and her husband, Thomas Henry Lewis, a coach maker. They married on 25 March 1860 in Hackney. Samuel Pratt was one of the witnesses to the marriage. Emma and Thomas Henry had nine children, five of whom were daughters.
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| Lewis-Jopson marriage, 1860. |
Sarah Jopson, the remaining sister, married a minister named John W Kirton in 1853. They had two sons and no daughters.
My ultimate goal is to find living descendants that qualify for a DNA test in an attempt to identify sailors on the expedition. A DNA donor must come from an unbroken male or female line descended from a common ancestor. In this case, looking at Thomas Jopson's siblings, the only option is his sister Emma.
For all my prior successful maternal and paternal lines I've been able to find a handful of descendants, if not more. For Emma, I was only able to locate one living descendant in her female line, and he was male, meaning that while he would qualify for an mtDNA test, none of his own children would. He was quite literally the only remaining option (well, the only one without having to go up the tree and try again with an uncle or aunt).
Luckily, I was able to get in touch with him, and he was interested. He took the DNA test, and the result came back negative. There's no match for Jopson among the remains of the Franklin expedition.
(Or, I should say, it's likely there's no match for Jopson. There's always a chance that something like an under-the-table adoption happened in the past, breaking what looks like a perfectly good maternal line, and making the results of a DNA test meaningless. It's hard to say anything definitively.)
Emma Jopson's Maternal Line
Emma Jopson was born around 1834. She's one of the children present at Gee Street in the 1841 census. In 1851 she lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Samuel and Mary Pratt, at Mintern Street. A cousin with the surname Lewis was also staying with them.
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| 1851 England census. |
She married Thomas Henry Lewis in 1860. I suspected that Emma and her husband were cousins from the above census mentioning a Lewis cousin, and it appears they are. The Lewis in the 1851 census is his sister, and their mother is Ann Bond Goodfellow, a relation of Thomas' mother.
Emma and her husband had nine children — Eliza Mary Lewis (1860 - 1905), Jane Lewis (1862 - 1911), Annie Maria Lewis (1865 - 1951), Thomas Henry Lewis (1867 - 1900), Samuel Jopson Lewis (1869 - 1946), Jubal Williams Lewis (1871 - 1874), Albert Lewis (1873 - ?), Rose Alice Lewis (1875 - 1875), and May Alexandra Lewis (1876 - 1952).
The Jopson sisters were all very close, and we can see that reflected in the censuses. Several Lewis children lived temporarily or permanently with Emma's sisters. Annie Maria was living with her aunt Mary Pratt in all censuses from 1871 to 1901, and both Eliza Mary and Jane stayed with their aunt Sarah Kirton during a census at some point.
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| 1871 England census, Lewis residence. Gloucester Rd, St Pancras, London. |
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| 1871 England census, Kirton residence. 73 Belgrave Rd, Birmingham, Warwickshire. |
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| 1871 England census, Pratt residence. 22 Foulden Rd, Hackney, London. |
After Emma's husband passed away in 1894 she lived with her daughter, May Alexandra, even after May married. Emma passed away on 4 Apr 1914, and in her will she left everything to May Alexandra, and mentioned she may distribute it to her siblings Ms. Mason (Annie Maria) and Albert at her discretion. Curiously, her son Samuel Jopson Lewis, who was also still living at this point, was not mentioned.
Emma Jopson's Maternal Line
Overview
I’ve created a tree on Ancestry.com for Thomas Jopson and his maternal descendants. A summary of the same information is outlined below. This is not a complete tree, it is only a small subsection solely focusing on the maternal line. Details on anyone born after 1925 have been censored.
All members of this descendancy tree live in the United Kingdom. For births/marriages/deaths I’ve included what I believe is the correct quarter-page-volume identifier for their record, which is available at the General Register Office.
- Eliza Mary Hill (nee Lewis) (1860 - 1905)
- Jane Lewis (1862 - ?)
- Annie Maria Mason (nee Lewis) (1865 - 1951)
- Muriel Githa Hammond (nee Mason) (1902 - 1985)
- Living descendant
- Rose Alice Lewis (1875 - 1875)
- May Alexandra Flower (nee Lewis) (1876 - 1952)
- May Eileen Flower (1919 - 2003)
More Information
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| 1891 England census. |
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| 1901 England census. |
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| 1911 England census. |
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| 1939 register. |
Her probate records mention her cousin, Eileen Flower. There is a living descendant in her line.
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| 1901 England census |
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| 1921 England census. 4 Portland Villas, Hove, Aldrington, Sussex |
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the social media account for Derbyshire Record Office for assistance in transcribing the 1891 England census.
To be able to see his signature! I cried. It is amazing how much you were able to dig up on someone who would normally be sidelined to the role of a “nobody.” Thank you for sharing your research with us.
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