TIBBENHAM, William

1868 - 1942

William Tibbenham was born at Marylebone, London on 4 July 1868, eldest child of John Tibbenham (c1842-16 February 1918) carver & guilder, and his wife Emma née Davy (c1840-1909), who married at Ipswich in 1866, he was a brother to Percy Tibbenham and many local pictures have the name of Tibbenham's on their frames. William studied at Ipswich School of Science and Art from 1886, passing his drawing examinations in 1888 and was apprenticed to his father. In 1891, a 22-year-old carver & gilder, living at 32 Carr Street, Ipswich with his parents, 48-year-old John, born Rendlesham, Suffolk, and 48-year-old Emma, born Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and his five siblings Arthur 20, Frank 16, Louis 12, Frederick 9 and Percy, all born at Ipswich. He married at Ipswich in 1892, Frances [Fanny] Louise Purnell (1870-1930) and in 1901, a 32-year-old carver & guilder, living at 315 Cauldwell Hall Road, Ipswich with his 30-year-old wife Frances, born Westminster, London and their four children Elsie Winifred 8, John William 7, Charles Stanley 4 and Dora Evelyn 2, all born at Ipswich and were at the same address in 1911. In 1939, a widower and retired picture frame maker, living at 62 Cowper Street, Ipswich with his unmarried eldest daughter Elsie, a schoolteacher. William Tibbenham died at 62 Cowper Street, Ipswich on 18 July 1942. The family were in the gallery, picture framing and furniture businesses in Ipswich for over a century, the brother, Frederick Tibbenham (12 May 1881-26 June 1947) who married Eliza Short in 1903, founded the Ipswich firm of furniture manufacturers.