Betsey Thompson Remembered

Readers of Betsey Thompson's account of her journey to Carmarthen in 1835, retold by Mr. A. B. Randall in Volume XVIII of The Carmarthenshire Historian, will be interested to learn that Betsey has won remembrance in her home town of Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Her story, related by Mike Weaver in The Woodbridge Reporter, revived local interest in her father, George Thompson, and her brother, Francis. Mr. Weaver reminded Woodbridge folk of George Thompson's role in the history of Woodbrige, where he built for himself Doric Cottage, which still stands; he also built Seckford Hospital to the design of C. R. Cockerill. Francis Thompson became a notable railway architect and, according to Mike Weaver, his drawings of early railway stations 'bear many of the familiar Woodbridge symbols', including the characteristic Dutch gabling.

Reproduced are the portrait of Betsey and her drawing of Carmarthen, 'that lovely Welsh town, remarkably similar to Woodbridge in some ways', says Mr. Weaver, who is familiar with both towns, as he hails from Swansea. For the benefit of the townspeople, Mr. Weaver has deposited a copy of Mr. A. B. Randall's article in Woodbridge library.