Why do I get the feeling there is some kind of clue in that picture? Why does “Thomas Woods” ring a very dim bell? My crazies are peeking through today big time. *sigh*
I did a search on that name, and there are LOTs of them, but I fear it is a dry hole - and no bunnies around - despite it being Easter.
Did more searching on that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Rigby
Excerpts
“...McCartney said he came up with the name “Eleanor” from actress Eleanor Bron, who had starred with the Beatles in the film Help!. “Rigby” came from the name of a store in Bristol, “Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers”, which he noticed while seeing his girlfriend of the time, Jane Asher, act in The Happiest Days of Your Life [11]. He recalled in 1984, “I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ sounded natural.”
However, it has been pointed out that the graveyard of St Peter’s Church in Liverpool, where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met at the Woolton Village garden fete in the afternoon of 6 July 1957, contains the gravestone of an individual called Eleanor Rigby. McCartney conceded he may have been subconsciously influenced by the name on the gravestone.[12]
In 2008, however, he appeared to discard this theory. That year, when a birth certificate was sold at auction of a woman named Eleanor Rigby, with seller and buyer believing it belonged to the person referenced in the song, McCartney publicly declared: “Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up.” He added, “If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that’s fine with me.” [13] The real Eleanor Rigby lived a lonely life similar to that of the woman in the song.[14]...”
“... An actual Eleanor Rigby was born on 29 August 1895 and lived in Liverpool, possibly in the suburb of Woolton, where she married a man named Thomas Woods on Boxing Day 1930. She died on 10 October 1939 of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 44 and was buried three days later. Regardless of whether this Eleanor was the inspiration for the song or not, her tombstone has become a landmark to Beatles fans visiting Liverpool. A digitised version was added to the 1995 music video for the Beatles’ reunion song “Free as a Bird”.
In June 1990, McCartney donated to Sunbeams Music Trust[27] a document dating from 1911 which had been signed by the 16-year-old Eleanor Rigby; this instantly attracted significant international interest from collectors because of the coincidental significance and provenance of the document.[28] The nearly 100-year-old document was sold at auction in November 2008 for £115,000.[29] The Daily Telegraph reported that the uncovered document “is a 97-year-old salary register from Liverpool City Hospital”. The name “E. Rigby” is printed on the register, and she is identified as a scullery maid. She also did many things for the Liverpool City Hospital...”
So there you have it, if Paul was telling the truth about his muse. Likelihood of a bunny hole here is slim to none, I guess...at least without further data.
ALSO:
The churchyard is in Lennon’s neighborhood.
“... In a neat churchyard in the leafy Liverpool district of Woolton, however, lies the final resting place of the real Eleanor Rigby - the woman widely regarded as the subconscious inspiration behind the classic song.
It was here, at the St Peter’s Church fete, that John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time.
The church is a stone’s throw from Lennon’s childhood home on Menlove Avenue. He sang in the choir and frequently played in the graveyard, which he referred to with characteristic irreverence as the ‘bone orchard’....”
About the real Eleanor:
“...It was not until the age of 35 - positively ancient in those days - that she was eventually married to Thomas Woods, a railway foreman 17 years her senior.
The marriage, witnessed by her half-sister Hannah, was a joyous occasion but her happiness was not to last long.
Eleanor proved incapable of bearing children - a source of great heartbreak - and on October 10, 1939, a month after the outbreak of World War II, she suffered a massive brain hemorrhage.”
AND FWIW Census info about the actual Eleanor family line - actually kind of interesting if you go for that kind of thing.....[Q we desperately need a Drop from you! Look what we are reduced to!]
https://www.beatlesliverpoolandmore.com/beatles/eleanor-rigby-the-story-beyond-the-grave