Thomas Combe

Thomas Combe (1796 – 30 June 1872) was a British printer, publisher and patron of the arts. He was 'Printer to the University' at Oxford University Press, and was also a founder and benefactor of St Barnabas Church, near the Press in Jericho and close to Oxford Canal.

Life Combe was the son of Thomas Combe senior (died 1836?), a printer, stationer, bookseller and newspaper proprietor in Leicester. As a result, he amassed a considerable fortune.

He and his wife Martha (1806–1893) were keen patrons of the arts and particularly of the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1849, he met John Everett Millais in Oxford, who painted portraits of Combe's family. They were also devotees of the Tractarian or Oxford Movement.

He died on 30 June 1872. Combe is buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, off Walton Street, near the University Press. His widow retained and expanded his collection of Pre-Raphaelite art. On her death in 1893, the bulk of the collection was bequeathed to the university and is now in the Ashmolean Museum.

Bust of Thomas Combe by Thomas Woolner, 1863, on display at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. A blue plaque on the outside wall of St Barnabas Church installed by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board now commemorates Thomas Combe and his wife Martha as founders of the church.