Madame Thomel
12 December 1860
(1811-1880)

Volume 2, page 116, sitting number 1762.

Identified in the Silvy daybooks as 'Mme Thomel,' this is probably the wife of Germain Emmanuel Thomel. Born in Paris on 21 July 1814, he married Mary Clarke in Marylebone in 1844. She was born in Cornwall on 27 October 1811. 

The couple appear on the 1851 census living above their premises at 180 Regent Street. Emmanuel Thomel gave as his profession 'Importer of French Goods.' Madame Thomel was a 'milliner' employing seven live-in milliners and two dressermakers, as well as an errand boy, a cook and two housemaids. Her sister Susan Clarke, a 'milliner' too, was also part of the household. 

A Post Office directory of 1870 lists Germain Emmanuel Thomel as an 'Importer of Foreign and Fancy Goods,' still with his premises at 180 Regent Street. 

Mary Thomel died, aged 69, in London on 22 December 1880 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Her handsome monument in the shape of a tall obelisk still stands over her grave today. 

Germain Emmanuel Thomel died on 16 September 1885 at 33 Warwick Gardens, Kensington. He left an estate valued at £22,829.