Thomasine, Lady Percival (born Thomasine Bonaventure; c. 1470 – c. 1530), was a Cornish benefactress and founder of a school.

Life

The story is of a woman tending sheep when she was approached by a London merchant and asked whether she would care to work in his house in London. Having agreed she found herself working for him and then marrying him; and after him a second citizen of London and then a third, who had the honour of being elected Lord Mayor. This third was Sir John Percival, Lord Mayor in 1498. As his widow Thomasine, Lady Percival, devoted her considerable wealth to supporting charitable works. She was active within the businesses of her three husbands, and appears to have continued being active in business as a widow, being wealthy and successful enough to loan money to the King. The story is reported by Richard Carew in his ''Survey of Cornwall'' (1602),Carew, p. 119
/ref> when writing of the parish of

Week St Mary Week St Mary ( kw, Gwig Sen Maria) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in northeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south of Bude close to the River Tamar and the border between Cornwall and Devon in the Hun ...

North Cornwall North Cornwall ( kw, An Tiredh Uhel) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge . Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, P ...

. It is given fuller treatment in Davies Gilbert's ''Parochial History of Cornwall'' (1838). Both authorities state the young woman's name as Thomasine Bonaventure, though the surname might refer to her good fortune rather than her ancestors. A legacy in her will to a brother, 'John Bonaventer', suggests it was her name.'Parishes: St Veep - Zennor', ''Magna Britannia: volume 3: Cornwall''
(1814), pp. 317-329. Both emphasize her charm and intelligence. Thomasine was a native of Week St Mary, and is said to have paid for the repair of a bridge. There is no dispute that she founded a school and library there around 1510, which was much used by the people of Cornwall and to some extent Devon, until it was suppressed in the reign of Edward VI. A copy of her will, with which she endowed the school, was bound for a buyer overseas in 1972, when it was purchased for the British Library. According to one account Thomasine's first husband had the name Thomas Bumsby and her second Henry Gall. William Galle, tailor, and Henry Bumpstede,

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...

, described as bridge masters of London Bridge, in records, were also business partners until Bumpstede died in 1486. On the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, locomotive no. 3354 (later no. 3342) of the 3300 class was named ''Bonaventura'' after Thomasine; it ran from 1900 to 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Percival, Thomasine 1470 births 1530 deaths Cornish philanthropists Businesspeople from Cornwall Founders of English schools and colleges Year of death unknown Year of birth uncertain 16th-century English businesswomen