Son of Richard and Ann Tomkinson of Sladehouse, parish of Ilam, Staffordshire, he came of a substantial family of tenant-farmers long settled in the parishes of Ilam and Blore Ray. He was the ablest of Muggleton's adherents and their best writer. Imperfect education shows itself in some extravagant literary blunders, and his orthography is a system by itself, yet he often writes with power.
See The (English) Dictionary of National Biography [excerpt].
He is described as 'a clever legal man', 'a grasping lawyer', 'an eminent lawyer', 'wealthy', 'parsimonious'. Whatever his character James Tomkinson typified the rise of the professional classes in the 18th century, their increasing status and the role lawyers played in the financial affairs of their clients. James was born at Bostock in the parish of Davenham. His father William Tomkinson was also a lawyer practising in Manchester until his death in 1718. James acquired the Dorfold Hall Estates in 1754. The Dorfold estates remained firmly and soundly in the Tomkinson family for the next 90 years until a marriage with the Tollemaches merged the lands of the two families.
See the article by Jane Lincoln From Nantwich Museum Newsletter, October 2003.
Lieutenant-Colonel William Tomkinson of Willington Hall, 1790-1872
The son of Henry Tomkinson of Dorfold Hall, Acton near Nantwich, Cheshire, and the grandson of James Tomkinson above, he served with distinction in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, receiving two medals and clasps, and was severely wounded in the Peninsula Campaign. His diaries of his service were edited by his son James Tomkinson M.P., and are now regarded as an important historical source.* He had seven children including James, and the Palmer-Tomkinsons are among his descendants. In 1828 he purchased and re-built Willington Hall near Tarporley. He played a prominent part as a magistrate in the Darnhall Poaching Affray and following riot in Nantwich.**
* The Diary of a Cavalry Officer : In the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns, 1809-1815, published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1894, and republished 1999 by Spellmount Ltd.,
**The Darnhall Poaching Affray - The Nantwich Poachers and the Riot, by Don Tomkinson, [See synopsis for availability]
John Tomkinson, 1824 - 18??
Potter and Lumber Merchant in Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, son of John Tomkinson and Hannah Aggert. He established the Victoria Works Potteries in Tunstall in 1858. In 1861 he went into partnership with G W Turner who owned the Alexander Works. They operated as Turner & Tomkinson until John Tomkinson retired in 1873.
Source:- NPT book and http://www.thepotteries.org/works/tunstall/victoria.htm
Has anyone traced any further information on this man?
Samuel Tomkinson, 1851 - 1900
Born in Wrexham, Denbighshire, North Wales the Son of Charles and Elizabeth Tomkinson who emigrated to Australia to Sydney in 1850 to work for the Australiasian Bank, was transferred to Adelaide in 1851,where he worked for the same banking organization. During his further life he married Charlotte MacDermott in 1853 and produced 12 children, 7 sons and 5 daughters. He became a person of some note in South Australia being at the end a State Government politician. Such was his being held in high regard that there are several landmarks named in his honour, some being the Tomkinson Ranges which straddle to border from north west South Australia into West Australia and also the Tomkinson River in Arhnam land in the Northern Territory.
See Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 6, 1851-1890, R-Z [excerpt]
Michael Tomkinson of Franche Hall, 1841 - 1921
Born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, son of a mercer/draper. In partnership with a textile engineer William Adam, he established Tomkinson Carpets in 1869. His greatest coup was to obtain the English patent rights to Halcyon Skinner's Spool Axminster carpet loom. He later became involved in local politics [eventually High Sherriff of Worcestershire in 1892] and travelled extensively. He also became a great collector, best known for his collection of Japanese works of art, and for his books. In 1871 he married Annie Stonehouse, the daughter of a Yorkshire spinner. Their children included Vice-Admiral Wilfred Tomkinson, Colonel Martin Tomkinson, Cricketer Geoffrey Tomkinson, Chemist Margaret Tomkinson, and Kenyan Provincial Commissioner Charles Tomkinson.
See 'Those Damned Tomkinsons' by Geoffrey Tomkinson, 1950