Martin and Dorothy Lipscomb of Upper Hale

In 2020, a collection of memorial plaques were found in storage at St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale near Farnham, Surrey. These had originally been attached to pews as memorials to deceased church members. I have researched all the people recorded on these plaques for St Mark’s Church. One of these small metal plaques read: “Col Martin Lipscomb, RAMC, and Dorothy Lipscomb, St Luke’s Day, 1970”. St Luke’s Day, 1970 was Sunday October 18 and possibly a memorial service was held that day at St Mark’s Church for Dorothy and Martin Lipscomb who both died in 1970. This is what I found out about Martin and Dorothy.

Frederick Martin Lipscomb (1887 – 1970)

MRCS LRCP MRCP FRCP OBE

Biography of Martin Lipscomb ~ adapted from The Lancet

Frederick Martin Lipscomb was born at Brighstone, Isle of Wight, the son of Reverend Frederick Bell Lipscomb and Ethel Jane White, daughter of Thomas Jennings White, a solicitor. He was always known by his second name ‘Martin’. He was educated at Bedford School and King’s College Hospital, and then entered general medical practice. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in India and Mesopotamia.

In 1923, Martin attended the Senior Officers’ Course at the Royal Army Medical College and qualified as a specialist in medicine. He returned to India in 1924, and, apart from short breaks in England, he remained there as medical specialist and commanding officer of the British Military Hospital, Multan.

During the Second World War, Martin served both in India and Northern Europe, reaching the rank of Brigadier in 1942. His outstanding miltary service was recognized by being appointed OBE in 1945. In 1948, after a record of 25 years overseas out of 32 years of service, he retired from active duties. Martin was then reemployed as physician and surgeon, Royal Hospital, Chelsea from 1949 to his final retirement in 1956.

Martin Lipscomb was a humble, quiet, courteous man, with a delightful sense of humour, and with a vast knowledge and experience in two rather unrelated fields of medicine — geriatrics and tropical diseases.

The full biography can be found by clicking the button below.

Career Highlights

A unique record of Martin Lipscomb’s involvement in Hale Parish was found inside the front cover of one of the registers of baptisms from the early 1900’s when he repaired the old book. In retirement, Martin apparently took up book binding and restoration at Farnham School of Art:

Death of Frederick Martin Lipscomb

Martin Lipscomb died in The Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot and was buried in the churchyard of St John’s the Evangelist, Hale on 12 August 1970 with Reverend Michael Sellors, Vicar of Hale, conducting the funeral.

Some Notes on Lipscomb Family History

1. Although it was the army that brought Martin Lipscomb to Upper Hale, he actually was returning to his family’s ancestral roots. His Great, Great Grandparents, Judith and Charles Lipscomb were buried in St Andrew’s Churchyard in Farnham in 1834 and 1836 respectively. Charles was born in Hunton, Hampshire but had set up as a Corn Merchant in Alton High Street. For some reason, they had chosen to be buried in Farnham. Note: there is a Lipscombe Rise in Alton – spelled the old well with the silent ‘e’.
2. It was Judith and Charles Lipscomb’s son John Thomas Lipscomb who made the jump from landowner and merchant to the professional class when he trained as a doctor and practiced in St Albans, Hertfordshire. 2 of his sons became doctors, and 2 became clergymen (including Martin’s grandfather Reverend Frederick Lipscomb, Vicar of Frogmore).
3. Martin’s father, Reverend Frederick Bell Lipscomb, was Vicar of Flitwick, Bedfordshire when he died in a cycling accident when Martin was 12 and Martin’s mother Ethel was left to raise 5 children, 12 years and younger, on her own.
4. All of these Lipscombs can trace their roots to Lipscomb Yeomen Farmers of Preston-Candover west of Alton with records stretching back to the 1500’s.

Lipscomb Horticultural Interests

1. Photograph of the orchid ‘Warczewiczella Lipscombiae‘ discovered by Martin’s brother, Lancelot Jennings Lipscomb, in Panama.
2. Photograph of the iris ‘Duckling’ introduced in 1939 by another of Martin’s brothers ~ John Kenneth Lipscomb.
3. Photograph taken by Martin Lipscomb of his house in Rawalpindi showing a collection of plant cuttings.
4. Ethel Lipscomb ~ Martin’s mother ~ collected both orchids and irises.

For more information on the Lipscombs and their plants, click the button below:

Dorothy Octavia Robinson Lipscomb

Dorothy Robinson was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire 21 October 1883, the daughter of Reverend William Wynn Robinson (a Unitarian Minister and owner of the Middle Class School) and his wife Emma Clephan Robinson. Dorothy trained as a nurse at King’s College Hospital, London from 1908 to 1911 where Martin Lipscomb was training as a doctor.

Dorothy married Martin Lipscomb in St Andrew Church, South Wimbledon on 1 November 1913. The marriage was witnessed by Dorothy’s much older sister Winifred Robinson (age 46) and Martin’s mother, Ethel Jane Lipscomb.

Dorothy was a soldier’s wife and found herself living wherever her husband, Martin, was posted or else alone when she couldn’t accompany him, such as when she lived in Weybourne during the Second World War. No doubt, her rigorous training as a nurse equipped her to face some of the challenges of such a transient life. In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Martin was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and Dorothy was living in Farningham, Kent and in December 1914 gave birth to Phoebe Margaret Lipscomb. By 1917, the family were in Nashik (spelled Nasik at the time) in Western India where Dorothy had her second daughter, Sylvia Clephan Lipscomb. The family returned to England at the war’s end and Martin was stationed at Maresfield, Uckfield in Sussex. The 1921 Census records Dorothy and her 2 daughters living nearby at Cuckfield where a few months later, her last child was born ~ John Christopher de Bohun Lipscomb. From then on, Dorothy and the 3 children traveled back and forth between India and England.

Colonel Lipscomb’s assignment to The Cambridge Hospital in Aldershot brought Dorothy to the vicinity of Upper Hale which was eventually to be her permanent home. The 1939 Register lists Dorothy at ‘Abbott’s Wood’, Rowhills Estate, Weybourne; living with her were her son John Lipscomb and her sister Kate Mildred Robinson. Dorothy finally settled into a home of her own in Upper Hale when Martin retired in 1956. Dorothy died, age 86, 1 April 1970 at ‘Fern Spring’ and was buried at St John’s the Evangelist, Hale.

Some Notes on Robinson Family History

1. Dorothy was the last child of William Wynn Robinson and his wife Emma. By the time she was born in 1883, her parents had produced 7 children but 3 of those had died young and Dorothy was 23 years younger than her eldest sibling.
2. Dorothy had 3 sisters: Winifred Robinson, a prize-winning violinist who had trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and became a renowned concert performer and violin teacher; Kate Mildred Robinson was also a trained violinist and accompanied her more famous sister; Ethel Robinson attended Cheltenham Ladies College and became a secondary school teacher.
3. Dorothy’s father, Reverend William Wynn Robinson, came from Newton Heath, Salford, Lancashire, George and Hannah (nee Wynn) Robinson.
4. Dorothy’s mother, Emma Clephan, came from Stockton-on-Tees where her father, George Clephan, was a Grocer and Baker. Clephan is a name associated with North-East England.

Martin and Dorothy’s Children

Phoebe Margaret Lipscomb – At 10 months old, baby Phoebe was on a ship to India with her mother to join her father:

Phoebe never seemed to have looked back! During the Second World War, she joined the Women’s Royal Army Corps and stayed on as a career officer after the war, rising to the rank of Colonel and appointment as Deputy Director.

In later life, she lived in Upper Hale at ‘Fern Spring’ where she died, age 78, in 1993. She was buried alongside her parents at St John’s the Evangelist, Hale and is remembered on the headstone pictured above. Phoebe was probably the person who ordered the memorial plaque discussed at the beginning of this story and organized the memorial service at St Mark’s Church.

Phoebe Lipscomb was a Warden of Farnham Park and ‘Phoebe’s Copse’ is named after her.

Sylvia Clephan Lipscomb – When baby Sylvia was baptized on Whit Sunday 1917 at St Andrew’s Church, Nashik in India, she was given her mother’s maiden name as her middle name.

Sylvia chose a different path to her sister, and trained at the Royal Veterinary College, London and became a small animal vet. While at the College, she met Oliver Jones, and the couple married in Farnham in 1941 and set up a practice with clinics in Camberley and Farnborough.

The marriage was later dissolved but Sylvia retained her married name: Sylvia C. Jones M.R.C.V.S. ran a veterinary clinic in Worthing. Incidentally, her former husband changed his name to Oliver Graham-Jones and went on to have an illustrious career at the London Zoo, including the invention of the dart gun used to sedate large wild animals. Many stories can be found about him on the internet.

Sylvia retired to Church Crookham, not far from her sister in Upper Hale. She died, age 98, in 2015.

Below is a photo of the 2 sisters at a flower show at Crookham Memorial Hall in August 1981 with Phoebe on the left and Sylvia on the right.

John Christopher de Bohun Lipscomb – served in the army during the Second World War and was stationed for a time in India, a place he was familiar with as he lived there with his family as a young boy. After the war, he went to work for Unilever and was in charge of a palm oil estate at Yaligimba in the Congo. In 1964, while still living in the Congo he was made O.B.E., as his father had been in 1945. He retired to Farnham where he died, age 80, in 2002.

As a final note, Martin and Dorothy Lipscomb were the Great-Grandparents of the well-known historian and broadcaster, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Higher Education Academy and the Society of Antiquaries.

Post Script on a Bible of St Mark’s Church: It is believed that this Bible was originally provided from Farnham Castle by the Bishop of Winchester for the Lectern of the Church when it was dedicated in 1884. By 1967, the Bible was in need of much repair work and this restoration was carried out by Frederick Martin Lipscomb OBE at the Farnham School of Art with the help and instruction of the Master Binder, Anthony Gardner OBE. The restored Bible was rededicated by the Reverend Michael Sellors, Vicar of Hale, on Easter Day 1968.

Select Sources

• Correspondence with members of St Mark’s Church, Upper Hale
• The National Archives
• Exploring Surrey’s Past
• Find My Past
• Find A Grave
• The London Gazette
• Hale Parish Records accessed on Ancestry.com
• Various records and stories accessed on Google