John Thurman

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John Thurman is a name long associated in Derby with the department store Thurman & Malin, a business that traded in the city for almost a century. While the store itself became widely known, the man behind the name has until recently been less visible.

John, the son of a farmer in Tollerton, Nottinghamshire, was born on 14 April 1845. He worked in Derby, with William Malin, for Thomas George who ran a drapery business situated at the lower end of St Peters Street. This business closed after being compulsory purchased in 1878 for street widening. The following year, across the road, John and William founded the firm that bore their names. The partnership grew from small beginnings and built a reputation for reliability and quality.

John Thurman played an important role in laying its foundations. He belonged to a generation of Victorian businessmen whose enterprises were closely tied to personal reputation and local trust.

John died on 26 January 1888, at 44 Uttoxeter Road, of pneumonia aged just forty-two. He left £3,990 18s 3d to his brother Thomas. William Malin was the informant named on the death certificate.

The business continued to expand and prosper after his death, and the store went on to become a Derby institution, finally closing in 1970.

Despite the lasting recognition of his name, John Thurman’s grave in Nottingham Road Cemetery was, for many years, largely unnoticed. His memorial had collapsed, with the small obelisk and plinth lying dismantled and overgrown. The inscribed face of the stone had fallen face-down and was no longer visible.

During work in 2024 by the Friends group, the grave was uncovered and tidied. The plinth was turned back over so that the inscription could once again be read, restoring John Thurman’s name to view.

John Thurman did not live to see the full success or longevity of the business he helped to establish, but his contribution endured for generations. The rediscovery of his grave serves as a reminder that familiar names from Derby’s past often belong to individuals whose own stories have quietly faded, waiting to be found again.

Plot: A18/*/5703