Pam's Pages

Hornabrook Family Page

My link to the HORNABROOK family comes through Nancy HORNABROOK. Nancy was born in 1808 in Padstow. She was the daughter of Phillip HORNABROOK and Jane (Jenny) COWL. She married John BRABYN in 1840 in Cardiff.

There are several different spellings of the HORNABROOK name including HORNBROOK, HORNBROKE, HORNIBROOK.

William Hornabrook and Anne Merrifield
Philip Hornabrook 1704
Thomas Hornabrook and Mary Best
Philip Hornabrook and Jenny Cowl
Children of Philip Hornabrook and Jenny Cowl
Gallery

William Hornabrook and Anne Merrifield Top of the page

The HORNABROOK line of ancestry goes back to William HORNABROOK born c 1630 probably in Cornwall and who died in 1687. His son William (Hornbrooke) was born about 1660, probably in Cornwall and married Anne MERRIFIELD (Merifeild) on 26 October 1689 at St Columb Major. (see Merrifield Family History) Mary died in 1738 and William in 1740. They had at least five children: Mary (b 1690), Elizabeth (b 1694), Grace (b 1698), Ann (b 1702) and Philip (b 1704)

Philip Hornabrook 1704 Top of the page

Philip born in 1704 and baptised at St Columb Major on 17 February that year. He married Elizabeth ARTHUR at St Issey on 18 May 1728. They had a son Thomas born in January 1729 (1728) and it looks as if Elizabeth died at childbirth. She was buried at St Columb Major on 12 January that year and Thomas was baptised there a few weeks later on 15 February. Philip then married Mary BULLOCK at St Columb Major on 7 September 1735. I know nothing more about them. Nothing more is known about Elizabeth Arthur.

Thomas HORNABROOK and Mary BEST Top of the page

Thomas married Mary BEST on 26 July 1763 at St Ervan. Mary BEST was baptised 23 November 1745 in St Eval, Cornwall. She was the daughter of William and Mary BEST. Thomas and Mary had seven children.

Elizabeth was baptised 17 June 1764 at St Ervan. She married John BIDDICK, a widower, on 19 October 1795 at St Issey. John already had seven children with his first wife Honour GLIDDEN but he and Elizabeth had two others, Luke born 1797 and Elizabeth born 1799 at St Issey. John died in 1802 and Elizabeth then married Charles FRANCIS at St Issey on 13 April 1809. Through her son Luke there are links to the GILL and CARTER families while through her daughter Elizabeth's marriage to Luke DUNSTAN there are links to the DUNSTAN and PAUL families.Through Francis Her son with Charles, there are links to the NETTING family some of whom emigrated to Australia and New Zealand. A terrible tragedy was to occur in the family of Elizabeth's grandaughter, Elizabeth DUNSTAN. John Ball married Elizabeth Dunstan in 1845 and they farmed at Trevenna near Mawgan, the family carrying on with the farming after John died in 1881. In September 1889 one of their sons, John was working in the fields when his younger brother James approached him carrying a shotgun. James was rather the worse for drink and was bearing a grievance against Joseph. John shot Joseph twice, wounding him the first time and killing him with the second shot. He then turned the gun on himself and died a little way away. Murder at Trevenna

A lot of this family lived in and around Teignmouth in Devon. I am pretty sure that Elizabeth's first husband John is not John Trebilcock Biddick. John Trebilcock Biddick was born in 1776, the son of Luke Biddick and Elizabeth TREBILCOCK. He would have been 19 years of age when Elizabeth married in 1975 and we know that Elizabeth's husband was a widower by this time. There is no evidence to show John Trebilcock marrying prior to 1795 and no evidence of a Biddick wife dying in the few years preceding this. I believe Elizabeth Hornabrook's husband to be John BIDDICK baptised at St Issey on 18 May 1741. He was the son of John Biddick and Mary TREVERTON and married Honour GLIDDEN on 12 October 1767 at St Issey, they had six children. Honour died in 1792 at St Issey and John afterwards married Elizabeth.

Philip - see Philip Hornabrook and Jenny Cowl.

Mary was baptised on 31 March 1768 at St Ervan. She married Thomas HAWKEN at St Issey on 15 April 1795. Mary and Thomas had seven children. Henry, Kittey and Thomas died in infancy. Kitty married John OLD and from there we have links to the KEY family . Mary never married and died in St Issey in 1843. I know nothing more about Betsey but Henry married Jane MORCUMB at St Merryn in 1840 and through that branch we have links to the HAWKEN and PETER families. Mary's Great-Grandson Henry OLD was killed in France during WWI. He was serving with the 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment and was killed in action on 7 October 1917. he is Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial and on the War Memorial at St Issey.

William was born on 6 October and baptised on 15 October 1770 at St Ervan. He married Susan DYER at Egloshayle on 12 May 1804. In 1841 he is working as a coachman and living at Gunvina. A note on his burial record for 18 January 1847 says that he died suddenly aged 76 years. William and Susannah had two children William (b 1805) and Susannah (b 1806) at Egloshayle. William died in infancy. Susannah married Nicholas Brabyn IVEY in 1831 and Thomas SLEEMAN in 1849 at Bodmin.

Thomas was born was born 3 October 1772 and baptised at St Ervan on 13 October that year. He married Mary JOHNS at St Issey on 8 August 1807. They had two children Richard and Thomas. Thomas senior is living at Tredinnick, St Breock in 1851 with his son Richard, Richard's wife Grace (DOCTON) and their son Thomas Henry. Thomas died in 1853. Nancy Docton HORNABROOK married Thomas SHEPHERD and they emigrated to Australia.

Ann was born 20 October 1776 and baptised three days later at St Ervan. She married John PETER at St Issey 19 September 1904 and they had one child, Elizabeth who married William LIDDICOAT at St Merryn 16 January 1841.

Richard was baptised at St Columb Major 24 April 1782 but I have no further positive information about him.

Philip Hornabrook and Jenny (Jenepher) Cowl Top of the page

Philip HORNABROOK was baptised at St Ervan Cornwall on 9 December 1765. He was the son of Thomas and Mary HORNABROOK. In 1782 he was apprenticed to James TABB, St Wenn as a blacksmith.

Philip married Jenepher COWL on 8 April 1798 in Padstow. Philip and Jenny had six children. Jenny was buried in Padstow on 26 August 1827. Philip is recorded as a pauper on the 1841 census. He is living with his daughter Amelia (aged 23) and grandaughter Betsy (aged 2 years) in the Charity Stock House on Broad Street, Padstow. Jenny died in Padstow and was buried there on 26 August 1827. Philip was buried in Padstow on 6 October 1844.

Children of Philip Hornabrook and Jenny Cowl Top of the page

Elizabeth was baptised in Padstow on 1 January 1800. I can find no marriage, census or burial record for Elizabeth,

William was baptised in Padstow 16 June 1802. In 1841 William is working as a labourer and living in Middle Street, Padstow with William and Maria BRABYN. On 17 August 1844 he married Susannah EPLETTS in Padstow. He is a labourer living in Broad Street, Padstow in 1851. In 1861 he is living in Barry's Lane, Padstow and working as a general labourer and porter. He had moved to Fontalena Lane by 1871 and is working as an agricultural labourer and he is still living there in 1881. He is still working as an agricultaural labourer and living with him and Susannah are their son Thomas, Thomas's wife Sarah Ann Harris (RUTTER) and their son, Sidney. William was buried in Padstow on 18 August 1885. William and Susannah had five children; (i) Jane married Edward SQUIRE, a blacksmith. They married in Cardiff in 1869 and raised their children there. Jane died in 1925 in Cardiff. They are named on the documents for the court case involving Nancy Brabyn in Cardiff. (see Brabyn Family Page) (ii) Ann (Annie) married Isaac GUY in Padstow in 1866. Isaac was a seaman. They had three children all born in Padstow but by 1887 they too had moved to Cardiff. Their eldest son William died in Cardiff aged 32 in 1902 leaving a widow and 4 young children. His widow, Emily moved back to her home town of Bristol and remarried, bringing the children up in Bristol. One of the children, Archibald emigrated to Australia and died in Sydney. Annie and Isaac's daughter Alice married James Henry TYRRELL in Cardiff in 1899. Their eldest son John Henry emigrated to Pennsylvania USA working as a miner in Wilkes- Barre. (iii) William married Mary Emma BROWN in Totnes, Devon in 1875, William was a coachman (domestic servant) In 1881 they were living in Dunsford, Devon but had moved to Bramshott, Hampshire by 1891. William died in Hampshire in 1896. William and Mary had three children. Ernest William Brown Hornabrook emmigrated to Wellington, New Zealand in 1908, working first as a draper then as a sharebroker. He married Ethel Maile DOUGHTY in Wellington in 1910. Sidney Rowland Hornabrook was a stockbroker who also emigrated to New Zealand and he married Kate Phillips DOUGHTY in 1923. Emma Mary married Frederick GIRLING in Wimbledon in 1923. Frederick had been recorded as a boarder living with Emma and her widowed mother on the 1911 census for Liphook, Hampshire. Emma and Frederick didn't have any children she died in 1933, her mother died in Hampshire in 1939. (iv) Thomas was a blacksmith working in Padstow all his life. He married Sarah Ann Thomas RUTTER in Falmouth in 1878. In 1881 Thomas and Sarah are living with Thomas's parents in Fontanela Lane, By 1891 they have moved to Broad Street but Sarah Ann died in 1894. Thomas and Sarah had five children; Sidney Harris dies aged 7 years in 1886, Catherine Maud Rutter married later in life Tom Gill ROWE, they had no children. Gertrude Maria died in Padstow in 1951, she was a spinster and had spent all her working life in Cardiff as a housekeeper for the ROSSER family. She left effects of £418 2s 5d probate was granted to Ellen ROSSER, spinster. Alexander became a blacksmith like his father but later in life he also owned a garage in Padstow and in the 1939 census it describes him as a ship's smith too. In 1904 he was presented with a certificate from The Royal Humane Society for preventing two lives from drowning. He died in 1940 and left effects of; £755 2s 3d to his widow Jane. William Hubert is described as a plumber in 1911. He joined the Royal Garrison Territorial Force and served with them through WWI. While William was serving in France two of his comrades discovered a note from his sister Vera packed inside a fuse box . In 1939 he is a plumber and garage proprietor. He died in 1971 and left effects of £7486. In 1897 Thomas re- married, his bride was Mary Ann DANIEL and they married in Padstow. They continued to live in Broad Street and in 1911, Thomas is employing two men to work at the blacksmiths. Thomas died in 1936. He had another four children with Mary: Vera Mary Gwendoline married Maurice ENGLAND. Elfreda Mary Violet married Maurice J BUCKINGHAM. Their son John is a keen historian and Chairman of the wonderful Padstow Museum now in Station Road, Padstow. Cyril Thomas was another motor mechanic. He married Minnie GLOINE and they went to live in Bideford, Devon. Bertram Colin married Violet M. TRUSCOTT he was a plumber by trade. (v) Elizabeth (Betsy) married James WORSLEY in Padstow in1884. They had four children Philip, Mabel, William and Sidney. Two of Mabel's daughters emigrated to New Jersey USA. William Ewart became a British Army Chaplain. Sidney was a renowned academic and highly decorated soldier.

Philip - I had a Philip Hornabrook on my Family History Tree for many years and he shows up on other family trees published on the Internet, mainly inferring that he emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia. There are records for a Philip Hornabrook marrying a Hannah VARCOE in Westminster in 1833 and of them taking a passage to Australia in 1839 with two daughters. There is also a death record for Philip in 1883 in Adelaide. This is more likely to be Philip Hornabrook son of Thomas and Charlotte who was born Westminster 1802. I can find no evidence that would link these records to a son of Philip and Jenepher nor is there any record of his baptism in Padstow.

Ann was baptised in Padstow 7 October 1806. she died at 8 months old on 16 June 1807.

Nancy was baptised in Padstow on 28 December 1908. She married John BRABYN on 24 March 1840 in Padstow. Soon after the moved to Cardiff. John and Nancy had three children, Annie, John and Maria. See Brabyn and Deans Family Pages

Amelia was baptised in Padstow on 14 October 1813. Amelia gave birth to a daughter Betsey in Padstow in 1939. Amelia and her daughter are recorded on the 1841 census living with her father at Charity Stock House, Broad Street, Padstow. Betsey died in infancy and was buried in Padstow 13 October 1842. Amelia later went to live with her sister Nancy in Cardiff. She is recorded as a cousin on the 1851 census staying with Nancy at 12 Tredegar Street, Cardiff. In 1861 she is recorded as a visitor to 33 Sophia Street, Cardiff where John and Nancy BRABYN live with their children. Amelia married George DAVIES on 19 June 1865. In 1871, 1881 and 1891 they are living at 24 Sandon Place, Cardiff and George is working as a general labourer at Bute Docks. In 1875 Amelia was one of the beneficiaries of John Brabyn's will and she and George are involved with the court case brought against Nancy after John's death see Brabyn Family Page. Amelia was living in Cecil Street, Roath, Cardiff when she died there on 19 June 1898. She lefts effects of £231 probate granted to Reverend William Robert Kellaway BAULKWILL and Lewis DHENIN grocer.

Gallery Top of the page

	Hornabrook's Garage, Padstow. Photograph taken from a 1984 copy of "The Padstow Echo" N0.67. In the photograph are Sidney Thomas Brian Hornabrook, his sister, Margaret (Peggy) and her husband Stephen Thomas (John W Stephen Thomas).
	Hornabrook's Forge, Padstow. In the photograph are Thomas Hornabrook (1853-1936) and two of his sons; Tom Jnr and Colin. Photo Courtesy of Phil Hornabrook

The parish church in the little village of St Ervan. Here my Great-great-great-great-grandparents,Thomas Hornabrook and Mary Best were married on 26th July 1763. At least 6 of their children were baptised here too, including my Great-great-great-grandfather Philip Hornabrook in 1765.

The church at St. Columb Major, Cornwall. The Merrifield family records go back to Jane Merrifield (various spellings) daughter of Edward Merrfield, Jane was baptised here on 11th April 1542, just a few months after Henry VIII had his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, executed for adultery - to put Jane's birth into a timeline. Other family ancestors from this parish include Brabyn, Hornabrook, Arthur, Best, Cowl, Cornish, Hawken and Brown.

The church at St Issey where my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents, Philip Hornabrook and Elizabeth Arthur were married, on 18th May 1728.