Next time you find yourself walking down Harrogate’s Oxford Street – perhaps indulging in a spot of retail therapy – keep an eye out for a brown plaque, located on the right-hand side of the Primark store.

This unassuming sign marks the former site of Belle Vue, the vicarage for St Peter’s Church and earlier still, the home of Captain Thomas Thrush.

The Royal Navy captain lived in Harrogate throughout his retirement and until his death in 1843, but it is the circumstances prior to moving to Harrogate for which he is best known.

Early life

Thomas Thrush was born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham on January 14, 1761 into a middle-class family. It appears his father William Thrush had also been attracted to a life on the sea when he was younger but had been encouraged into a career as an ironmonger instead.

The young family made the move to Richmond, North Yorkshire when William inherited his uncle’s farm in 1762.

However, he was unsuited to the grind of agricultural work, preferring to study astronomy and astrology. While these pursuits stood him in high regard with his neighbours, who considered him learned, if not a little eccentric, they proved to be too much of a distraction from the day-to-day running of a farm.

The consequence of this was that after seven years ‘the land was neglected and his affairs deranged’, and taking his wife’s advice, he decided to give up the farm and set up a new business in Richmond.

Tragically, he was in the process of changing his family’s fortunes when he died after falling from his horse when Thomas was nine, and Thomas’s mother was left widowed, with her seven children.

The eldest Thrush boy – also called William, after his father – had joined the merchant service, but at age 21, when returning home to visit, fell ill and died from a fever which also killed Thomas’s nine-year old brother.

As the last remaining son, it was hoped that Thomas would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a tradesman, but he aspired to be like his older brother instead.

His mother fiercely discouraged him, and after finishing school in Lincolnshire, he took up an apprenticeship at a draper in Richmond, before moving to London to find a job.

Thomas couldn’t continue to ignore the call of the sea, and wrote to his mother in 1782, after a brief stint at a business in Guilford, begging her to give her blessing for him to follow his heart.

In the letter, he implored:

All at sea

After his mother relented, Thomas joined the merchant trade the same year, first joining a vessel bound for the West Indies, and later, a ship travelling to Norway.

He quickly worked his way up the ranks, known for being hard-working and having a strong Christian faith, a belief system that he carried throughout his life. Indeed, in his spare time he taught himself Greek, so that he could study the gospels in one of their original languages.

In 1787 he officially joined the Royal Navy – his lifelong dream - and continued to travel the world, proving himself to be a dedicated member of the service for more than 20 years.

In 1809, five years after his marriage to Mary Smyth, he officially retired from active duty and moved to Sutton, near Thirsk. Although he encountered many dangers while at sea, he was never involved in any conflicts or warfare.

During his retirement he had more time to reflect on this, and connect more deeply with his faith, concluding that as a Christian he would not morally be able to take up arms and fight.

On January 14, 1825, he published a public letter to King George IV on ‘the unlawfulness of war’ resigning his commission from the Navy altogether, which meant losing his service pension.

An excerpt of letter read:

While the letter garnered much public attention – not all positive - he stood by the decision. He had to move out of his expansive Sutton property and downsize to Harrogate, moving into Belle Vue, but continued to stick by his principles, publishing a further ‘Last Thoughts on War’ in 1840, which included the original letter address to the king, and further opinions on faith and the morality of war.

Legacy

Thomas Thrush passed away, aged 82 on July 11, 1843. Belle Vue remained standing until 1969, when it was demolished to make room for the extension of a store on Oxford Road.

Harrogate Civic Society installed the brown plaque honouring his life and legacy in 2012. 

Sources for this article include Thomas Thrush, the Warrior Turned Christian, The Advocate of Peace (1837-1845), Vol. 5, No. 14 pp. 157-160, the Memoir of Thomas Thrush by Charles Wellbeloved, The Harrogate Civic Society’s website, a Royal Naval biography on the WikiSource website, Captain Thomas Thrush’s resignation letter to the King ‘on the grounds of the unlawfulness of war’, and an obituary record on the Navy Record Society’s website.