Hubert Hughan's Letters re. his service medals

Hubert Carl Hughan/Cahill's War Record WW2

Another chapter in Hubert Cahill Hughan's Story

Above: Photos of Hubert Carl Cahill Hughan as appearing in his record from World War 2.

It was wonderful to be able to finally put a face to the man whose story I have been so interested in chasing down. I applied to the National Archives of Australia for Hubert Cahill Hughan's record from World War 2 to be placed online, and on June 11, 2010 these documents became available for viewing online.

Apart from his war service record, which was very interesting in itself, I found most compelling the letters written by Hubert to the War Office asking for his service medals to be made out in the name of 'Cahill' rather than Hughan, even though he had enlisted under the latter name in both Wars. He wrote "I have two sons, one fourteen, one eleven. Boys of course like to display these sort of things to their mates, so you can see how they would feel when the two names were mentioned."

His request was granted, and the medals issued under 'Cahill' rather than 'Hughan'.

Death certificates of brothers Oscar Milward Hughan and Wilfred Fletcher Hughan

Will of Claudine Edmiston.

After revisiting the will of poor Minnie Hughan de Greslan who left her little collection of worldly goods to her young nephew, Wilmot Holworthy, I was reminded of the will of Minnie's first cousin, Claudine Edmiston (Claudine's mother was Marion Hughan, the sister of Minnie's father Allan Hughan).
The terrible photo above is of a ruby and pearl ring (it just wouldn't focus properly on a scanner!!)which came to me from my Mother, Marg Oakley Sheridan. Her father, Norman Oakley, one afternoon in the year before his death took the ring from an old tin trunk which contained dozens of family items from his Oakley, Bishop and Hughan families, and gave the ring to Marg, much to her delight as she loved it at first sight (despite the missing ruby).
In the Spring of 2005, when Marg discovered she was dying of cancer and had very little time left, she gathered a few of her precious family items and gifted them to me, along with their stories. She only knew that the pearl and ruby ring belonged to her grandmother, Olive Bishop Oakley, and I was happy with the knowledge that it was my turn to look after my great-grandmother's ring.
It was while reading the will of Claudine that I found reference to a 'Pearl and ruby ring- Mrs. Oakley' that was written in pencil as part of a codicil made shortly before Claudine's death in London in 1913. I am certain that this is the ring that has passed down to me- Olive had a few pieces of jewellery that I now possess that were beautiful, but very plain...I can't imagine her owning more than one 'pearl and ruby ring'.

Photograph of Allan Holworthy, son of Wilmot and Madeline.

Above: Allan Holworthy, the only son of Wilmot Holworthy and his wife Madeline Watkins.

Photograph of Phoebe Berry Hall Hughan.

Above: This photograph was emailed to me by the Holworthy family in Queensland, descendants of Phoebe Berry Hall and Allan Hughan.

Wilmot Holworthy's wife, Madeline Watkins

Above: From the collection of the late Allan Holworthy and his wife Nancy Charmian Holworthy comes this beautiful photograph of Allan's mother, Madeline Watkins.

Wilmot's childhood books

Minnie De Geslan's bequests to Wilmot Holworthy.

Wilmot Holworthy and his aunt, Minnie De Greslan.

I have already dealt with the sad story of Marion "Minnie" Hughan de Greslan, who ended her life by throwing herself from The Gap, South head, Sydney, in 1935. From evidence supplied by the Queensland Holworthy family, it is obvious that the spinster Minnie de Greslan doted on her only nephew.She left him what little she had in her will, and the Holworthys treasure two books that were sent as gifts to Wilmot by his Aunt Minnie.

Wilmot Holworthy's Wedding Photographs

Above Top: The bride and groom in the centre of this photograph are Wilmot Holworthy and his wife Madeline Esther Watkins. They were married in New Zealand in 1913, when Wilmot was aged 30. The older couple have been identified as the parents of Madeline, artist Charles Henry Kennett Watkins and his wife Clara Eliza Alice Davis.

Above bottom: The party gathered for the 1913 wedding of Wilmot Holworthy & Madeline Watkins.

Source: Warwick and Trish Holworthy, from the collection of Warwick's parents, Allan and Nancy Charmian Holworthy.

Wilmot Francis Holworthy

The fantastic photo above is of baby Wilmot Charles Holworthy, taken in Noumea by his grandfather Allan Hughan. He was obviously very young when the photograph was taken- I would say not that long after the death of his mother Ruth. Wilmot himself carried this photograph with him throughout his life with a handful of other family documents and a few photos in an old cigar box which is till treasured by his descendants today.
One of these descendants, Warwick Holworthy, and his wife Trish, have supplied all of my information about Wilmot Holworthy- there was no record of his birth, or of his existence at all, amongst other members of the Hughan family...all that was passed down was the knowledge of the death of Ruth Hughan Holworthy, not of the birth of her little son.
According to present day Holworthys, their great-grandfather Wilmot spent the first seven years of his life (c. 1883-c.1890) being raised in the central NSW town of Young. Through research they discovered that Francis Holworthy had formed a business partnership with prominent Young builder/businessman John Gough in this period- 1885 to be precise- and together they had built a steam saw mill, a Joinery works, and a brick works at Young and ran them as a partnership.
It is not known as yet who looked after Wilmot during his formative early years in Young. Perhaps he was placed in the Gough family? Hopefully more research will add to what little is known about the period 1883-1890.
It appears that Wilmot’s father Francis came and went from Young. He appears in the NSW Insolvency Index of 1886: Francis Charles Holworthy of Macquarie Street, North Sydney, sequestration 17/12/1886. Certificate issued 20/09/1887.
In August of 1886 Francis Holworthy was arriving in Sydney from Noumea on board the ship ‘Caledonian’, and again in May of 1887 per the ship ‘Dupleix’. He again arrived back in Sydney from Noumea later in the year in November on board the ‘Caledonian’.
Inscriptions in books belonging to Wilmot Holworthy have placed the Holworthy name in Young as late 1897. One says “Wilmot Holworthy with his father’s love, Young N.S Wales 1st May, 1897”...this was obviously a gift for Wilmot’s 14th birthday, but he was supposedly back in Noumea by this time, so the ‘Young N.S Wales’ must have been referring to the location of his father at that time.
Wilmot was sent back to Noumea c. 1890 for his schooling, and as a result grew up with French as his preferred language. Wilmot still had family back in Noumea...his maternal aunts Minnie and Aline Hughan were still in residence there, although his grandmother Phoebe Berry Hall Hughan permanently relocated to Sydney in 1889 as her health was not the best.
While Wilmot was back in Noumea receiving his education, his father was courting a woman in view to making her his wife. In 1894, at the age of 57 years, Francis Charles Holworthy married Tasmanian-born Williamina Norwood, 33, at Kiama, NSW. Just briefly, Williamina’s family history was as follows:
Williamina Norwood born March 4, 1861, Launceston, twin daughter of William John and Eliza Norwood. Her twin brother William died infancy. Other siblings:
Francis Edward b March 31, 1851, Launceston. Married Eleanor White, 1876, Hobart. Died 1938, Burwood.
Kate Norwood born May 17, 1853, Launceston. Married Edward H. Mutton, 1879, Orange NSW.
Isabel Norwood born July 24, 1855, Launceston.
Annette Norwood born June 19, 1858, Launceston. Married Frederick Strachan, 1880, Bathurst.
Henrietta Norwood born March 18, 1863, Launceston. Spinster. Died Neutral Bay 1948, aged 86.
Arthur Norwood born May 26, 1866, Launceston. Died North Sydney, 1945.
There is a William John Norwood who died in Bathurst in 1889 aged 72, son of John Norwood- this is probably Williamina's father. Williamina’s father, William John Norwood, owned land and real estate in Tasmania, and at one stage was manager of the Union Quartz Crushing and Mining Company based in Launceston.
I don't know what happened to Williamina's sister Isabella- the following NSW Police Gazette report of 13 September 1899 stated:
" Kiama: On the 19th ult, Isabella Norwood left the residence of Mr. Frederick Strachan, City Bank, Kiama, and has not been since seen or heard of. She is described as about 35 years of age, medium height, slight build, pale complexion, brown hair, dressed in a black skirt, navy blue blouse, straw hat and slippers. Her hat and hankerchief were subsequently found on the rocks near the Blow Hole, and as her mind had been somewhat deranged of late, it is surmised that she committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea."
The West Australian paper of 22 August, 1899, reported:
"Sydney, August 21: Isabella Norwood, who was on a visit to Kiama from Orange, disappeared on Saturday afternoon. Search was made, and her handkerchief was discovered on the rocks near the Blow Hole. No other traces of the girl were seen. She had been suffering from insomnia."

Williamina's eldest brother, Francis Edward Norwood, also found himself in a bit of strife which landed him in goal for two years. He was the auditor for Anglo-Australian Bank in Melbourne and together with the three directors and manager, found himself on trial for “unlawfully concurring in making a certain written statement, well knowing it to be false, with intent to defraud the creditors of the Anglo-Australian Bank”.
This happened in 1892-1893. There is a fabulous sketch showing the five of them -including Francis Norwood- on trial on the Picture Australia site, which is replicated on the following page.

Francis Holworthy and his new wife did not give Wilmot any siblings as their marriage was childless. Letters in Wilmot’s cigar box from Williamina reveal that she loved him as her own son, signing the letters “ Your ever affectionate mother”.
It is not known how long Francis and Williamina remained in Australia after their marriage, but there are shipping records which show that in 1905 the couple set sail from Sydney to Southampton in England on the ship ‘Bremen’.
By then Wilmot was aged 22, and for a period after finishing school he worked in a Sydney bank. According to Holworthy family stories, Wilmot spoke mainly French, and actually struggled a little with the English language. He did not remain in Sydney for long, and found himself in New Zealand.
The shipping records of 1905 throw confusion over the whereabouts of Francis Holworthy and his wife Williamina. In March there is an entry for F. Holworthy and Mrs Holworthy arriving in Sydney from Auckland on the ‘Zealandia’. There is another one in late May for the ‘Warrimoo’ arriving back in Sydney from Wellington with two Holworthys on board.
Finally, there is the passenger reference already mentioned previously....on April 25, 1905, the shipping index shows the arrival in Southampton, England, of Mr F. & Mrs Holworthy from Sydney per the ‘Bremen’.
Their son Wilmot must have enjoyed life in New Zealand, because there he remained for the rest of his life. He married into a very artistic family when he wed Madeline Esther Watkins in New Zealand in 1913. She was the daughter of very well-known artist Charles Henry Kennett Watkins who, from 1879 to 1890, was principal of the Auckland Free School of Art.
Wilmot Holworthy set himself up as a sheep farmer with an advance on his expectations from England- he knew he was to receive bequests in the wills of several relatives.
His son Allan Charles Holworthy was born in New Zealand in 1915, and like his father before him he grew up as an only child.
Tragedy was the cause of Wilmot’s not remaining as a farmer...a neighbouring farmer was burning off and the fire got away, burning out Wilmot entirely. He lost everything and had to walk off his property, but- thankfully for his descendants today-he still had his Cigar Box and its precious genealogical treasures.

Two of those treasures that Wilmot kept included two of the letters written to him by his stepmother Williamina Holworthy after the death of Francis Holworthy. One is replicated as follows:

___ford Park,
Ilfracombe,
North Devon.
7th October, 1923.

My Dear Wilmot,
This is but a few lines to tell you I am leaving England for Rome on the 15th of this month, and I go to London for a day or so at the end of this week.
I wrote to you in April last to tell you I had arrived from Rome, but there has been no answer from you. I also wrote before leaving Rome- I have been in North Devon for six months, four months here in Ilfracombe and two in Woolacombe, which is a little place quite near.
Now the Winter is coming on, and I must return to Rome and shall be very glad to get there. These six months have gone by, but as you can understand, with much sadness for me, for I miss your father even more than ever. And it has been dreadfully lonely for me, if it had not been for my reading I do not know how I could have got through so long a time, but it is such a great resource! I find I have read and studied 8 plays of Shakespeare since I have been in the country.
When the weather was warm one could take a book and sit out of doors a good deal. But this last month there has been nothing but rain and wind, and sometimes such a gale blowing that I could not go out for fear of being blown down. North Devon and Ilfracombe in particular is all open to the Atlantic so the storms are sometimes very great, though it is protected by some high Tors and the coast is quite beautiful and quite rugged, rocks everywhere.
The “stone” is finished and placed over your dear Father’s grave, where he lies in the little cemetery over the hills there, which I see from my window. I went there yesterday and put in three pieces of rosemary, you know “there’s Rosemary for Remembrance”. One piece I put for you , and one for myself, and the other for my dear friends in Rome who loved him so much.
The stone is very simple, just what I wished it to be, and it is a beautiful boulder of Cornish granite and glistens like rough marble and stands four feet high and about 1 ½ feet thick, and then at the foot there is the Rosemary and nothing more. I am so thankful to have been able to do this out of my own savings and it is what I came to England for.
I will enclose you a photograph I have had done of it. It looks better than the photo. The Cemetery is on the side of a high hill called the ‘Cairn’ and it is the quietest and most peaceful spot you can imagine. Not a house to be seen from it, and below it there is a rushing brook.
I have written a longer letter than I intended when I commenced, so I will close now. I have been living quite alone here in Ilfracombe. I took a room next to Mrs Pope’s with a private family that is in Number 8 where I still ____. Number 7 is a boarding house and it was all full for the season soon after I came to Ilfracombe so that is the reason I moved.
I shall hope to hear from you soon, and that you are all well and that your prospects are looking brighter than they were when you wrote.
With my love to you all,
Your most affectionate Mother,
W.Holworthy.”

Francis Charles Holworthy had died in Devon in 1922, aged 84, and his widow’s description of his grave stone and the ‘Rosemary for Remembrance’ is very touching. Williamina Holworthy lived as a widow for another twenty years after her husband’s death. She died on September 5, 1942, and a notice in the London Gazette gave her address as “Late of the Mount Hotel, Ilfracombe’.

Death of Ruth Hughan Holworthy

Marriage certificate of Ruth Hughan and Francis Holworthy

Ruth Hughan Holworthy and her son, Wilmot Francis Holworthy.

Top: This beautiful photograph of Ruth Madeline Hughan was handed down both the Holworthy side of the Hughan family tree and the Oakley side, with both myself and Warwick Holworthy of Queensland holding copies.

Middle and Bottom: This fantastic photograph came to Warwick Holworthy through his late father, Allan Holworthy, and his mother Nancy Charmian Holworthy. It is such a touching scene...baby Wilmot Holworthy is so obviously tiny, and being held by a nurse rather than his young mother who had passed away just days after giving birth to her first baby. The young girl seems anxious about holding so precious a bundle, or perhaps she was just nervous posing in front of the camera for the baby's grandfather, Allan Hughan, who captured this scene.

Francis Charles Holworthy, husband of Ruth Hughan.

Above: Photo of Francis Charles Holworthy as identified by his great-grandson Warwick Holworthy.

• FRANCIS CHARLES HOLWORTHY: born 29 July, 1837, Marylebone, the fourth of five children born to Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Mary Margaret Townsend. He was baptised on August 26, 1837, Old Church, St. Pancras, London.
The 1841 census return has three year old Francis living at Grove Terrace, Marylebone, London, with his three older siblings Arthur, Caroline and Wilmot, and his parents. His father Charles Wilmot Holworthy worked as an assistant clerk in the Inland and Foreign Office in London.
In 1851, young Francis Holworthy was twelve years old, and living in the house that would be the Holworthy home for several decades. Located in Finchley Rd, Marylebone, their neighbours included a Scottish schoolmaster and a ‘British manufacturer’ who employed 67 persons. All five Holworthy children were still living at home with their parents, with 19 year old Arthur employed as a clerk to a merchant.

The 1861 census return shows that Francis Charles Holworthy was employed with the P & O Steam ‘Service’. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is usually known as P&O, was a British shipping and logistics company which dated from the early 19th century.
In 1851 the Admiralty called for tenders for the mail service by sea and subsequently awarded P&O the contract to open an Australian mail service to operate twice monthly from Singapore to Sydney via Batavia, King George's Sound, Melbourne and return via the same ports. The sailings were organised to connect with the long haul Suez-Hong Kong-Suez service, and was inaugurated by the 699-ton iron screw steamer CHUSAN which made an historic passage from Southampton and arrived in Sydney on 3 August 1852, departing on the first service to Singapore on 31 August 1852.
Source: http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/carrying-royal-mail.cfm

In 1863, Francis Holworthy boarded the ship ‘Alfred’ and set sail for Melbourne, Australia. He landed at Melbourne in October of 1863, but almost immediately sailed on the same ship for Sydney.
The next trace I found of Francis was two unclaimed letters that had been addressed to him at Gladstone, Queensland, in 1865.
A snippet reference, written in French, was frustratingly incomplete on Google Books, but made mention that “In 1866 the English colonist Holworthy introduced cotton seedlings to Noumea”.
The next 15 or so years are a mystery at the moment, but since Francis married in Noumea in 1881, he presumably spent the time from 1866 to 1881 in New Caledonia building his property and assets.
NOTE: New information to hand has provided crucial information as to Francis Holworthy's dealings during the late-1860s-early 1870s. Max Williamson of the specialist auction firm Leski Auctions was kind enough to contact me with the details of a special auction to be conducted mid-2012. This will be an auction of an amazing archive of articles concerning bushranger and con-man Andrew George Scott, aka Captain Moonlight. We already knew of Allan Hughan's association with this man, as they sailed to Fiji together in September of 1869 on Allan's schooner 'Pilot'. The catalogue of the upcoming auction details several letters that are of immense interest to the Hughan family story, and I am forever indebted to Max Williamson for being generous to share the details of them. The correspondence is as follows:

1869 (Sept 4th) letter (with envelope) from James Elijah Crook in Bacchus Marsh, giving reference re A.G.Scott to E.W.Lomberg in Fiji, as Scott intends to try his fortune in Fiji.

1869 (13th Oct) letter from D.J.Minnett in Levuka, Fiji, introducing Mr.A.G.Scott. A passenger named 'Mr. Minute' travelled from Melbourne to Fiji on the Pilot with Andrew Scott.

1869 (7 Dec) letter from Francis Holworthy in New Caledonia to Alfred Hilder in Sydney (with envelope, carried by hand), stating George Scott is his partner, and they are starting a cotton plantation in New Caledonia
1869 (9th Dec) bill from M.J.Marshall in Noumea to Mr Scott for November & December board & lodgings, $250.50
1869 (10th Dec) letter from Francis Holworthy in Tongouin (New Caledonia) to A.G.Scott with further requests for items to start the cotton plantation, including seed & cotton gin.

Statement of George Scott’s A/C with Union Bank of Australia, from Dec 31 1869 (Credit of £503 – exact amount paid by Sydney mint for the stolen gold) to June 11 1870.

1870 (Feb.10) letter from A.B.Weyall, Head-Master of the Sydney Grammar School, certifying Mr.Scott to be a partner with his friend Mr.Holworthy in a Cotton Plantation in New Caledonia

1870 (Feb.11) letter from A.B.Weyall, Head-Master of the Sydney Grammar School, stating he has known Mr.Holworthy for the last six years and he is quite sure he is thoroughly honourable.

1870 (24th May) 6-page letter from Allan Hughan in Lipton (New Caledonia) to Mr Scott, noting seizure of his goods to pay a claim of £16; the sale of his 17 shooter for £20; Holworthy losing all he had put in; - “you are going to the devil headlong.”

In the latter part of 1870 Andrew Scott was arrested for passing bad cheques. On December 20, 1870, he was brought before the Sydney Quarter Sessions charged with obtaining goods by means of false pretences. He was found guilty and was sentenced to twelve months in Maitland Gaol.

It seems as though Francis Holworthy displayed a huge lapse in judgement of character when it came to his choice of business partner, as promises made by Scott never came into fruition and Francis was forced to look elsewhere for finances.

Francis Charles Holworthy was married to 20 year old Ruth Madeline Hughan on 9 July, 1881, at the British Consulate in Noumea. Francis was almost 24 years older than Ruth...in fact, he was less than one month older than Ruth’s father, photographer Allan Ramsay Cunningham Hughan. The Hughans had been resident in Noumea since Allan’s schooner the ‘Pilot’ had been shipwrecked near New Caledonia in 1870.
It is certain that the two men were friends, and that Francis’s relationship with Ruth started via his friendship with her father.

The year 1883 proved to be a tumultuous one for Francis Holworthy. He would have been thrilled with the birth of his and Ruth’s first child, a son named Wilmot Francis Holworthy, then plunged into despair just twelve days later with the death of his 22 year old wife from complications of childbirth.

Wilmot Holworthy was born at Noumea on May 1, 1883. His mother Ruth died on May 12, 1883.
Just six months later Ruth’s father, Allan Ramsay Cunningham Hughan, died at the Holworthy residence, ‘Tembea’, New Caledonia. He died on November 16, 1883, leaving behind a widow, Phoebe Hughan, daughters Minnie and Aline and one small grandchild, Wilmot Holworthy.

Francis Holworthy's business interests in Noumea took a definite turn for the worse after the death of his young wife. He appeared in the Insolvency Court in Sydney in December 1886, and the following notice was published in the Sydney Morning Herald: "Surrenders: Francis Charles Holworthy, Sydney, late of Noumea, Mr. L.T Lloyd, official assignee. Liabilities: 10, 703 pounds 19 shillings 10 pence. Assets: 10 pounds."

He again appeared in the Insolvency Court in May 1887, then in September 1887 the following appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald: "Insolvency Court. Certificate of conformity was granted to Francis Charles Holworthy(a grazier who had followed his avocation in New Caledonia).

Francis Holworthy turned away from his former business interests and headed to Young in country NSW, where he went into partnership with John George Gough, an established builder. Born in Melbourne in 1848, John's mother died when he was an infant, and soon after he and his father moved to the Lambing Flats diggings (Young). John was orphaned at the age of 13 in 1861, but through perseverance and his own abilities established himself as a very successful builder, being responsible for the construction of the Young and Cowra court houses and railway stations, amongst many other projects. After John Gough and Francis Holworthy became business partners in 1887, they erected a large steam saw mill and joinery works and a brick factory in Young.

In 1894, Francis C. Holworthy was named Government Registrar for the Young District.

Above: Article from the Burrowa News, 11 November, 1898

The continuation of the story of Ruth Hughan & Francis Holworthy.

Remember way back in 2008 when I was over the moon to be contacted by some wonderful descendants of Ruth Hughan and Francis Holworthy, and I promised to post the updated story in a new blog entry? Well,many months have passed since I made that frivolous (but good intentioned!) promise, so I am here now to make amends and record some of the Holworthy story.I have very kindly been given permission by Warwick & Trish Holworthy to use the photos and other information held by the Late Allan Holworthy & Charmaine Holworthy, shared with me in a very generous and much-appreciated gesture.

I started looking into the genealogy of Ruth Hughan's husband, Francis Holworthy, and the further back I went, the more fascinating it all became. Francis was a descendant of Sir Matthew Holworthy, born in 1607 to Richard Holworthy and his wife Mary Haviland,who was the daughter of Matthew Haviland, Mayor of Bristol.
Matthew Holworthy went to Brasenose College in Oxford from 1626-28, and was then sent by his father to Marseille in France to become a merchant.
He was very successful as a merchant, and in his father's footsteps (Richard Holworthy left the huge sum of twelve thousand pounds when he died in 1645) became very wealthy.In 1652 he married the first of his three wives, Mary, daughter of Robert Henley who was an alderman of London and a large landowner in Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and London. Tragically, Mary died six years later in 1658, having had no children. By this time Matthew Holworthy had become Lord of
the Manor of Sporle and Palgrave in Norfolk.
In 1664 Matthew married second wife, Lucy Jervoice. Again, after four years, his second wife died, childless. Finally, in his third marriage at the age of 61, Matthew married a woman that was able to give him his longed-for son and heir. Aged only 28 when she married Matthew Holworthy in 1668, Susanna Henley was the second cousin of Matthew’s first wife, Mary.
Susanna gave birth to son Matthew Holworthy in 1673. He was baptised on March 27, 1764, at St. Johns, Hackney.

In 1665 Matthew Holworthy Senior had been knighted, but it was not an hereditary title to be passed on to his son, and died with him in 1678. He was buried on October 23,1678.

Matthew Holworthy’s will made the following bequests:

"To give to Susanna my wife e £300 and all her jewels and ornaments, the use of his house, furniture and silver during her natural life. After her death the same will go to my son Matthew. My wife also to sell my house in Hackney, with 1/3 of money to go to her, and 2/3 to son Matthew
To give to the College or University of Cambridge in New England the sum of £11000
For land to be bought for the value of £600, as near to Sporle as possible, and the yearly rents to be paid unto the Minister to preach two sermons every Lords day, one in the morning and another in the evening
The sum of £2000 to be given to charitable use as directed in the attached schedule.
To give to the poor of the Town of Sporle the sum of £20, and to the poor of Hackney £20
To Edmund Channell £19 and Sisly Binner £36
To John Burrow all debts he owes
To my servants £5 to put themselves in mourning
To all my nephews and nieces £10 each for mourning
To Mary Maddocks, my sister, £8 per annum
To my sister Croft £6 per annum
To Thomas Gouge £6 to promote his labour in instructing Welsh
To give £300 to such Ministers as my executors judge deserving.
To my son Matthew all the remainder of my estate."

Lady Susanna Holworthy did an excellent job of running her husband’s estates up until her death in 1690. All of the Holworthy estates then passed to their son Matthew.

2. MATTHEW HOLWORTHY & ELISABETH DESBOROUGH.
Matthew Holworthy the Younger was educated at Clare College in Cambridge. He married Elizabeth Desborough ( also referred to as ‘Disbrowe’) from Elsworth in Cambridgeshire in 1697, and soon after that the couple moved to Elsworth.

Matthew Holworthy and Elizabeth Disbrowe had four children but they all died before their father’s death in 1728. Sons Matthew and Desborough died in 1701 and 1721 aged one month and 21 years respectively. Daughter Elizabeth married Samuel Heathcote (1698-1775) on May 3, 1720, at Gray’s Inn Chapel, London. In hindsight, this proved to be a very unwise move, as what transpired as the result of this marriage almost destroyed the Holworthy line.

Elizabeth had been born in c. 1699, and was 21 when she married 22 year old Samuel Heathcote. Her sister Susanna had been born six years after Elizabeth, on July 19, 1705, so at the time of her sister’s marriage she was about 15 years of age.

Reports on the internet stated that Susanna Holworthy had been raped by her brother-in-law and as a result gave birth to an illegitimate son named Samuel, but newspaper reports of the event gave a different perspective on the story.

The reports told of the trial of Samuel Heathcote and Anne Fletcher, his wife Elizabeth’s maid, and read as follows:

“The same day came on at the King’s Bench Bar, Westminster, before the lord Chief Justice Pratt, the trial of Samuel Heathcote, of Queen’s Square, Esq; and Anne Fletcher, Spinster,for betraying, seducing and corrupting a young Lady, of the age of 15, from her parents at Clapton near Hackney.

It appeared by the evidence, that the Defendant, Mr. Heathcote, being marry’d to the Sister of the above-mentioned Lady, Daughter of Justice Holworthy, had thereby an Opportunity of frequent Access to her at her Father’s House, till she was several months gone with child, when it was thought necessary to remove her thence; that accordingly about a fortnight before Easter, the young Lady , through the Contrivance of Mr Heathcote, and the Assistance of Anne Fletcher her Maid, was
brought away in an abrupt Manner from her Friends, to a tavern in Swithin’s Alley near the royal Exchange, where Mr Heathcote received her, and carry’d her to Lodgings provided for her near Covent Garden; where being brought to Bed of a Son, and falling ill, Sir David Hamilton visited her several times, and saw Mr Heathcote in the Room with her, who passed for her Husband, by the name of Stephens.

Their Cohabiting together as Man Wife was proved by several other witnesses. The Lady soon after dying, was buryed in Covent Garden Church; when the Matter came to be discovered to her Parents, who removed her Corps into Cambridgeshire, and commenced this prosecution against the Perpetrators of this Horrid Fact.

The evidence being very full against the Maid, Anne Fletcher, as to her being Aiding and Abetting in the Matter, the Jury found them both guilty of the said Indictment, and Sentence will be given against them next Term. The Tryal lasted from 9 in the Morning ‘till 4 in the Afternoon.” - From the Weekly Journal or Saturday's Post
(London, England), Saturday, July 8, 1721.

One paper added the following paragraph after the main story:
" We hear likewise, that the friends of the other sister, who is wife to the said Mr Heathcote,resolve to sue out a divorce against him, in behalf of his said wife, that the estate may not descend to the Heirs of such a person."

It is lucky that Susanna’s son was not excluded from inheriting the Holworthy estate.


I have searched extensively but can’t find the sentence given to Elizabeth’s husband and maid. There was a rumour printed in the papers that they had been given indemnity by the King, but another report then stated that this was groundless. I would love to know what the sentence of Samuel Heathcote was- he apparently died in 1775, so went on to lead a life ten years longer than his illegitimate son Samuel.

3. SUSANNA HOLWORTHY.
Born July 19, 1705. Died as the result of childbirth June 2, 1721, aged almost 16.
The father of her illegitimate child, Samuel Heathcote, married again after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Holworthy, in 1726. His will revealed that he had a large family of children after he succeeded in ruining the lives of the Holworthy family:- sons William Samuel,Robert, Henry and George, and daughters Mary, Ann and Mary Ann. They were born around about the decade that encompassed the 1730s, and while I can’t find official baptism records of these children, there is a user-submitted tree on the LDS family search site that names Samuel’s second wife as “Frances”.

Susanna Holworthy’s illegitimate son Samuel became:

4. SAMUEL SMITH HOLWORTHY.
Because he was born illegitimate, Samuel had to be known as “Smith” according to the laws of the parish. Due to the fact that his grandfather Matthew Holworthy outlived his four children, and because those children had no issue with the exception of Samuel himself, Samuel’s grandmother Elizabeth had no option but to name
him her heir if she wished to continue the Holworthy line. To do this she had to make the condition that Samuel changed his name to Holworthy by an Act of Parliament, which he did in 1750. She did have backup plans, however...if Samuel refused her proposition, she had nominated other “kinsmen” of hers to adopt the name ‘Holworthy’ and become her heir.
These “back-up” heirs are named in her will of 18 November 1748. The will reads in part:
“ For Samuel Smith otherwise Holworthy, my grandson,(lately under the care and tuition of Dr. Owen of great Stowton, County Huntingdon) provided he, the said Samuel Smith alias Holworthy, shall do and then take upon him and use the surname ‘Holworthy’ and no other surname, and shall and do ____ an Act of Parliament to be made and passed for him and his heirs forever to use the name ‘Holworthy’ only without any other surname and for his and their using the Coat and Arms of Mr Holworthy my late husband dec,”
If Samuel Smith Holworthy was to predecease her or decline the offer to change his name to Holworthy, Elizabeth Holworthy named in his stead the second son of Christopher Mills, late of Markington near Canterbury, “my kinsman”; then Charles Mills, brother of the said Christopher Mills, followed by another brother Edward Mills.
Christopher, Edward and Charles were the sons of Samuel Mills and his wife Ann. They were born in 1698, 1714 and 1706 respectively, and all were baptised in the Canterbury Cathedral.
On October 4, 1752, Samuel Smith Holworthy married Elizabeth Haddock at St. Pauls
Cathedral, London. She was the daughter of rear Admiral Nicholas Haddock, an amazing
character in his own right.
Samuel and Elizabeth Holworthy had a family of ten children:
The children of Samuel Smith Holworthy and Elizabeth Desborough were as follows:

1. Elizabeth Holworthy: baptised September 18, 1753, Elsworth. Married Rev.Thomas Cooke, of Elsworth, clerk, on May 13, 1777, Elsworth. Thomas was from the small village of Semer in Suffolk, where his family were the owners of the manor House and a great part of the estate in the parish.Elizabeth bore Thomas at least two children- Thomas Cooke, who became the rector of Bildeston in Suffolk, was born in Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, in 1778. He was schooled at Eton for eight years, and then attended Cambridge University 1796-1798. He became Lord of the Manor at Bildeston in 1814 when he inherited the estate from his great-uncle William B. Brand Esq. He married Mary Ann Mathews, daughter of Richard Mathews of Wargrave, Berkshire, on September 7, 1803, and died without issue on July 27, 1825, at Bentworth.
The Annual Register of 1845 also carried a notice for the marriage of Phillipa Cooke, the only daughter of the Reverend Thomas Cooke, the late vicar of Westbury, Wiltshire, to the Rev. Alexander Bassett of Great Cheverel House.
Elizabeth Holworthy’s husband died on January 20, 1848. The notice in the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1848 read: “January 20: At Great Cheverell House, Wiltshire, aged 90, the Rev. Thomas Cooke, Vicar of Westbury. He was of Caius College, Cambridge, B.A., 1776, M.A 1779, and was presented to Westbury in 1813 by the Precantor of Sarum.”
The entry for Thomas Cooke, husband of Elizabeth Holworthy, in the Caius Registers is as follows:
“ COOKE, Thomas. Son of Thomas Cooke, rector of Semer, Suffolk. Born there. Attended school at Lavenham, 4 years, and Eton 5 years. Age 17. B.A 1776. M.A 1779. Scholar 1771-1776. Ordained deacon March 3, 1776. Vicar of Westbury Wiltshire 1813-1845. Married May 1777 Miss Holworthy, sister of Matthew Holworthy of 1774(CC). Died January 20, 1848, at Great Cheverell House, Wiltshire, aged 90. Brother of Charles (attended Cambridge 1779).”

2. FRANCES HOLWORTHY.
Second child of Samuel and Elizabeth Holworthy. Baptised at Elsworth on September 2, 1754. Married twice: firstly to Framingham Thruston (also known as ‘Thurston’) of Market Weston, Suffolk, on September 4, 1776. Framingham had an interesting background. Born as Framingham Lake Willis, he became the heir of a Dr. Thruston, and took the name of ‘Thruston’ upon inheriting the estate at Market Weston.Framingham Lake Willis Thruston attended Cambridge University. Information from the colleges of Gonville and Caius has the following details about him:
WILLIS: Framingham Lake. Son of Thomas Willis, grazier, of Brancaster, Norfolk. Born there. Schools attended Wisbech 3 years under Mr. Clarkson, and Lynn, 4 years under Mr. Lloyd. Aged 17.
B.A 1771. M.A 1774. Scholar 1767-1772. Admitted at the Middle Temple November 18, 1769. Afterwards took the name Thruston. Married 1776 Frances, daughter of Samuel Holworthy, of Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, by whom he had issue. Died January 18, 1789, aged 40.

During their 13 years of marriage Elizabeth Holworthy bore her husband Framingham the following children prior to his death in 1789 ( they may have had more children, but as none appear in the IGI index or other data bases consulted, only the following children can be said to definitely belong to them):

• John Thruston b c. 1783, Market Weston. Married Margaret Coker (she died 1858 aged 74). John was the main heir in his father’s will and was left his extensive holdings and Manor House at Market Weston. He died in 1849 and was buried on 17 March, 1849, at Market Weston.
• Charles Thomas Thruston b November 11, 1785, Market Weston. Captain in the Royal Navy. Lived at Talgarth, Merioneth, Wales. Died July 24, 1858, London. Married twice and had five children. First wife was heiress Frances Edwards. They married on August 14, 1815, and had two sons and two daughters- Charles Frederick, Parker, Blanche and Emily. Neither daughters married. Frances died of a chill at the age of 38 on December 2, 1828. Charles remarried Eliza Sotheby and they had one son Clement Arthur Thruston. Eliza died in 1840.
• Frederick Thruston b 1788, Market Weston. Married Laura Gibbons May 20, 1817, at Walcot, Somerset, while still studying at Caius College, Cambridge. Died January 9, 1821, at his home in park Place, Marylebone, London, aged 33. At this time he was the officiating minister of Bayswater Chapel. The Gentleman’s Magazine published an extensive obituary after his death, although no wife or other family were mentioned.
• Frances Jane Thruston. The birth date on her memorial is given as October 7, 1765, which is very wrong as her mother would have been 11 years old! She married the Reverend John Sikes Sawbridge on August 26, 1805, at Mamhead, Devon. Children included Rev. John Edward Bridgeman Sawbridge; Mary Sawbridge (married Rev. William Whalley); Frances Sawbridge b c. 1808; Jane Sawbridge b c. 1810; Isabella Sawbridge b c. 1836; Catherine Sawbridge b c. 1817; Laura Sawbridge b c. 1822, and Rev. Edward Henry Sawbridge.
In the church at Welford there is the following memorial:
“SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. JOHN SIKES SAWBRIDGE
Rector of this parish during six years. He was the third son of Henry Sawbridge Esq. Of east Haddon in the county of Northampton. Was born March 18, 1765, and died January 15, 1836.
Also of FRANCES JANE, relict of the above, daughter of Framingham Thruston, esq, of Market Weston hall, in the county of Suffolk. Was born October 7, 1765 and died March 14, 1837.
This monument to the memory of beloved parents is erected by their affectionate children.”
After the death of her husband Framingham, Frances Holworthy Thruston married again. She wed widower Valentine Gardner, a Major in the Army, on December 1, 1792. Valentine had a son, William Linnaeus Gardner, from his first marriage to Alaida Livingston. With Frances Holworthy he had another son, Valentine, born 1794.`

3. MATTHEW HOLWORTHY.
Matthew Holworthy was baptised at Elsworth on September 14, 1755, the eldest son and third child of Samuel Smith Holworthy and Elizabeth Haddock.
His early schooling was done at Hackney, Middlesex, where he spent seven years under the tutelage of Mr Newcombe. He finished at the age of 18 and began studying at Cambridge. He was ordained as a priest on December 9, 1791, and was Rector of Elsworth from 1791 until 1826 as well as Lord of the Manor when he reached his majority after his father’s death.
Matthew Holworthy married Ann Desborough on August 7, 1782. The couple had six children that I can locate:
* Matthew Holworthy baptised July 7, 1783, Elsworth. Schooled in Huntingdon for seven years then Eton for 18 months. Between finishing school at starting at Cambridge at the age of 22, Matthew spent some time in the Army from 1799-1805. He was a lieutenant in the 23rd Regiment, and captain of the East Suffolk Militia.
From the local Elsworth newspaper of 1804 comes the following report of Matthew Holworthy’s 21st birthday celebrations:
“ Elsworth 24th August. Coming of age festivities.
On Sunday last, being the day when Matthew Holworthy, of Elsworth, in this county, Esq; came of age, a large ox was proportioned out to every poor family in that village, with plenty of bread and beer. The next day a most sumptuous entertainment was provided for that gentleman's friends, tenants, and the principal inhabitants of Elsworth; and in the evening four hogsheads of ale were distributed amongst the populace. A large band of music attended the festival, which was conducted with the greatest decorum and harmony; the whole village and its environs were alive, and the only emulation which seemed to prevail was, who should best testify his joy upon this happy occasion.

Matthew was admitted into Caius College, Cambridge, on September 23, 1805. He obtained his B.A in 1810, and was ordained deacon in 1809. He was ordained as a priest in 1816, and was rector of Elsworth from 1827 until his death in 1836.

•Anna Sophia Holworthy: baptised November 28, 1786, Huntingdon. Died January 1801.
•Frederick John Holworthy: baptised December 20, 1787, Huntingdon.
•Charles Desborough Holworthy: baptised September 9, 1789, Elsworth.
•William Henry Holworthy: born September 1, 1792, Elsworth. Was chaplain to the British Embassy at the Hague, and then Rector of Blickling and Erpingham in Norfolk. He died at Blickling, Norfolk, in 1838, and his widow Sarah in 1858 at Bury St. Edmunds. Children included son Joseph Matthew Holworthy, an Australian merchant based at Bromley, Kent,who married Jamaican-born Jemima O’Brien Jones and had issue Charles, Frederick W. and Annie.
•Emma Holworthy: married Robert John Turner of Norwich in 1818 at Elsworth. They immigrated to Canada where Robert practiced as a barrister-at-law, Accountant in Chancery and Referee of Titles. No children found, although Robert did have issue with his second and third wives.
•Mary Holworthy: baptised September 23, 179? She lived her life in Huntingdon, where she died in 1842. Her will of July 1842 made mention of:
“My sister Emma, wife of Robert John Turner”
“My brother Charles Desborough Holworthy”
“ My nephews and niece- Frederick William Holworthy, William Henry Holworthy, Joseph Matthew Holworthy and Sarah Holworthy.”

The 1841 census return shows Mary Holworthy living at St. Marys, Huntingdon, aged 40, and occupation ‘Independent’. Fellow residents were her sister Emma Turner, aged 45 and also independent, and Sarah Holworthy aged 50, independent, and Sarah Ann Holworthy aged 15.

Rev. Matthew Holworthy the Elder and his family enjoyed a very affluent lifestyle, centred around the family estate at Elsworth. The Holworthy wealth had began to diminish, however, and in 1782 their holdings in Norfolk, consisting of the Manors and Estates of Sporle with Palgrave, were sold to pay off the heavily mortgaged Elsworthy Estate.
The Manor of Sporle with Plagrave had been in the Holworthy family since Sir Matthew Holworthy had acquired it in 1657.After his death in 1678 it was held by his wife Susanna until 1690, when it passed to their son Matthew Holworthy from 1690 to 1728.
Matthew’s wife Elizabeth Holworthy had ownership from 1728 until 1749, after which her grandson Samuel Smith Holworthy became Lord of the Manor from 1750 until 1765. It was Samuel’s son, Reverend Matthew Holworthy, who had to sell the Sporle Estate in 1782 to allow them to keep Elsworth.
The 1783 newspaper article below reveals that financial strain was beginning to appear in Matthew Holworthy’s holdings, with his bankers winning a suit for twelve hundred pounds for bills acquired in Matthew’s name.


The Reverend Matthew Holworthy the Elder died at Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, on July 27, 1826, at the age of 71.(Actually, the parish records, presumably kept be his son Rev Matthew Holworthy the Younger, stated precisely that he was aged 70 years and 49 weeks!) He was buried at Elsworth on August 2, 1826.
The Rev Matthew Holworthy’s son and heir, Matthew the Younger, died in 1836, ten years after his father, and the Duke of Portland acquired the Elsworth Rectory the following year .
The local paper, the Elsworth & Knapwell Chronicle, reported:
“Elsworth 18th November Death of Rector. On Sunday last, after a short illness the Rev. Matthew Holworthy, rector of Elsworth, in this county.”


4.SUSANNA HOLWORTHY.
Susanna Holworthy was the fourth child and third daughter born to Samuel Smith Holworthy and his wife Elizabeth Haddock. She was born in 1857, and died in infancy, being buried at Elsworth on August 12, 1757.


5. SAMUEL HOLWORTHY.
Samuel was fifth child and second son born to Samuel and Elizabeth Holworthy. He was baptised on April 9, 1758, at Elsworth.
Samuel studied at Cambridge University like his elder brother Matthew, after which he joined the Army. He was a Lieutenant in the 23rd Regiment and became captain in the East Suffolk Militia.
He married Deborah Stephenson on December 23, 1783, at Manchester Cathedral, Lancashire. Those children that I could locate include:

•Samuel Holworthy , vicar of Croxall 1810 – 1838)Born March 14, 1785, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
Revd Holworthy was the son of Captain Samuel Holworthy and his wife Deborah. He was educated at Harrow prior to entering Oxford University, and the registers of Harrow provided the following entry:
“Holworthy, Samuel, son of S. Holworthy, Esq., Bury St. Edmunds. Entered 1799; Monitor, 1800; left 1803-4. University College Oxford, B.A. 1808; M.A. 1810; Vicar of Croxall, Derbyshire, 1809-38. DIED March 5th, 1838 - HARROW SCHOOL REGISTER “

He served 28 years as vicar of Croxall and was married to Diana Sarah Bayley. They married at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, on April 6, 1811.Their first child was a son named Wentworth Samuel Holworthy, born 1812. (He attended Trinity College Cambridge). Next son Charles died in 1816,aged eight months, but they went on to have Edward John (1816), Sophia Magdelina (1820) and Frances Charlotte (1821). Rev.Samuel Holworthy died in Bath on the 5th March 1838, aged 53. His mother, Deborah Stephenson Holworthy, was buried in Croxall in 1832, aged 87. His wife, Diana, died on Good Friday 1861, aged 77. There is an inscription for their son, Edward, who was a Major in the 14th Regiment, lost at sea on 13th January 1864, aged 48.

One of the sons of the Reverend Samuel Holworthy the Younger, Vicar of Croxall, was a very interesting fellow. Edward James Holworthy was baptised on September 1, 1816, at Croxall. In c. 1836, aged about 20, he entered the Army, where he spent the next 28 years. In 1849, when he was aged about 33 years, Captain Holworthy was at the centre of a huge scandal involving the divorce of a former officer named Francis Hudson and his wife Louise.

On July 15, 1850, at Kandy, Ceylon, Captain Edward James Holworthy, Captain in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, married Louisa Hammett, the youngest daughter of the late J.E Hammett Esq. This, of course, was the woman at the centre of the Ceylon scandal. Born Louisa Hammett on June 7, 1818, in London, to parents James Hammett and Emma Louisa Keith, she had married Frances Hudson on December 6, 1834, at St. Leonard’s Shoreditch. After the divorce was granted to her husband, she married Captain Holworthy.
The couple had 14 years of marriage before Edward drowned in a boating mishap.Major Holworthy’s wife Louisa remarried again the following year, although she had acquired the names “Usher Walpole” from somewhere. The newspaper announcement below states that Walter Blunt married Louisa Usher Walpole, widow of Capt. Holworthy, while the FreeBDM index has “ Louisa Usher Walpole Holworthy m 1865 to Walter Frederick Blunt.”
•Wentworth Samuel Holworthy. Born 1812, Croxall, was the son of Rev. Samuel Holworthy the Younger and his wife Diana. He was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on May 29, 1830, after earlier schooling at Charterhouse. He was admitted at Lincoln’s Inn(Inns of Court; List of Carthusians) on November 13, 1832.
Wentworth remained a bachelor all of his life. The census returns find him living with relations or in lodgings...in 1851 he was living with the family of his cousin Charles Thomas Thruston in Wales, then in 1861 he was visiting the home of the Reverend William Basil Jones and his wife Frances Holworthy (who was Wentworth’s sister) in Oxfordshire.
The 1881 and 1891 census returns have him as boarding or lodging in Westminster, London, and when he died in 1898 he was still living in London. He was somewhat of a scholar, and published a book in 1832 called “the Book of Reform”.

I can’t find a trace of any other children being born to Samuel and Deborah Holworthy apart from the Rev. Samuel Holworthy.
Samuel the Elder ( father of Rev. Samuel Holworthy the Elder and grandfather of Rev. Samuel Holworthy the Younger!) died at Gosport in 1814 at the age of 56 years.

6.ANN HOLWORTHY.
Ann Holworthy was baptised at Elsworth on May 25, 1760, the sixth child and fourth daughter born to Samuel Smith Holworthy and Elizabeth Haddock.
She died the following year and was buried at Elsworth on September 9, 1761.



7.NICHOLAS HADDOCK HOLWORTHY.
Nicholas Haddock Holworthy was baptised at Elsworth on July 21, 1761, the seventh child and third son of Samuel and Elizabeth.
He married Elizabeth Golding of Paddington in 1798 and they had at least five children- Agnes, Frances Catherine, Harriet, Elizabeth and Charles. There must have been at least one other son, as in the marriage notice of son Charles he was mentioned as being the “youngest son”.
Nicholas was an Officer in the Royal Navy, and lived part of his retired life in St. Omar in France. When his mother Elizabeth Haddock Holworthy died in 1810, she left a short will that bequeathed all of her property and belongings to her son Nicholas- no other child even warranted a mention. They were presumably taken care of in the will of her husband many years previously in 1765.

Charles Holworthy, son of Nicholas, married Mary Ann White of Yorkshire, in 1834 and had a family of children all born in Bath, Somerset. In each census return until 1871, his occupation was given as ‘fundholder’ or ‘annuitant’. His children were Charles White Holworthy b c.1836 d 1874, Croydon; Frederick b c. 1837 d 1916, Somerset; Constance b c. 1839 married Frederick John Nicholls 1873, one daughter Constance Nicholls who married a retired Indian-born Tea Planter almost twice her age named Charles Wallick; John b c. 1842; Letitia b c. 1844 d 1876 aged 32, and Beata Helen b c. 1850.
Nicholas Haddock Holworthy died in February of 1843, aged 82 years, at Saint Omer, France.
8.SOPHIA HOLWORTHY.
Sophia Holworthy was the eighth child and fifth daughter born to Samuel Smith Holworthy and Elizabeth Haddock. She was baptised at Elworthy on August 1, 1762, and married Dr. William Carter M.D of Canterbury. No other information as yet.


9.MARY HOLWORTHY.
Baptised at Elsworth on September 18, 1763, the ninth child and final of six daughters born to Samuel Smith Holworthy and Elizabeth Haddock. She was married to John Le Grice, son of Charles Le Grice and Ann Whitaker, on 28 September 1785 at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. The minister presiding was Mary’s brother-in-law Thomas Cooke, and witnesses were her brother-in-law Framingham Thruston and her mother Elizabeth Holworthy.
A son, John Le Grice, was born on Christmas Day 1789 and baptised the following year at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Other children included:
Frederick le Grice:Born 1798, Bury St. Edmunds. Became the Rev. Frederick Le Grice, vicar of Great Gransden, Huntingdonshire. He died on 25 Jan 1884.
Married Elizabeth Peers Gregory Swaine on 6 March 1837.Children Frederick Swaine, France and Emily Swaine.
Henry Le Grice: born July 1800, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. Solicitor.
Sophia Le Grice: married William Malton Esq in May 1820. Daughter Emily Malton.
Frances Le Grice: married Dr. George Gregory M.D of Weymouth St, Portland Place, London, in April 1829.
Caroline Le Grice: married the Reverend Henry Thomas Wilkinson M.A of St.Peters College, Cambridge,3rd son of the Rev. M. Wilkinson, Rector of Redgrave, Suffolk, in January 1831.
Emma Le Grice: married George Elers Esq of Ightham, Kent, and Crowcombe, Somersetshire,in July 1831.

Mary Holworthy’s husband John Le Grice was a very well-respected attorney and solicitor in Bury St. Edmunds. He died on April 22, 1835, at the age of 91 years. His will, written in 1831, states that his wife predeceased him. Through his brother Charles Le Grice, he was the Uncle of well-known Charles Valentine Le Grice, poet, scholar and author, who was a close friend of Charles and Mary Lamb and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.(“ Charles Valetine Le Grice was the son of the Reverend Charles Le Grice, Lecturer at St James, Bury St. Edmonds, being born 14th February 1773, descended from a Le Grys (a follower of William the Conqueror) who subsequently acquired lands particularly in East Anglia. Sir Robert Le Grys, an earlier member of the family, preceded Charles Valentine Le Grice in Cornwall to become the Governor of St. Mawes Castle in 1633.

The Reverend Charles Valentine le Grice was affectionately known to his
family as ‘CV’ . He was an urbane, witty intellectual who thrived in the
company of his school friends, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
Charles Lamb and Leigh Hunt. He was somewhat of a literary person writing
prolifically on all manner of subjects. He ran the estate efficiently and played
an active part in local affairs, as magistrate and curate. He maintained a
very strong friendship with Coleridge and contact continued throughout their
lives. Reverend Le Grice was an early friend of Sir Humphrey Davy, meeting
him first on Battery Rocks on the seafront of Penzance and then speaking with Sir Isaac Newton. In 1806 he was appointed perpetual curate of St Mary’s Church for his time as a model clergyman enjoying good and lively sermon, good company and a hearty wit and very fond of the use of the pun”. From: www.trereifepark.co.uk/history.htm)

10.CHARLES HOLWORTHY.
Francis Holworthy's great grandfather, Charles was baptised on October 21, 1764, at Elsworth, Cambridge, the tenth and final child born to Samuel Smith Holworthy and his wife Elizabeth Haddock.

Charles was only a year old when his father passed away in 1765. Despite living on for another 44 years, his mother Elizabeth Haddock Holworthy never remarried, and did an excellent job of seeing her five sons well educated, and her surviving daughters married into respectable families.
Charles Holworthy attended Oxford University and graduated with his B.A on December 18, 1786. In 1795 he was instituted as the Vicar of Bourn, Cambridge, a position he held until his death in 1853.
With very few exceptions the vicars of Bourn from the mid 16th century were graduates, and many of them fellows, of Christ's College, who were the patrons of the Bourn church. Charles Holworthy, vicar 1795–1853, did not reside and employed a curate who lived in the vicarage and performed all the vicar's duties.
Charles Holworthy married Henrietta Want on August 27, 1791.

The Want family of London and Huntingdonshire have proved to be fascinating to research. Warwick’s great-great-great grandmother Henrietta Want was one of seven daughters born to London attorney Robert Want and his wife Eden Fuller.
Robert married Eden on April 25, 1747, at Oxford Chapel, Vere Street, London. Over thirty years of marriage they had eight daughters, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Robert practised in London, and it was here at his house in Fetter Lane that he died in August of 1777.
His widow Eden Want spent her last years in Huntingdonshire with her seven daughters. She died in March of 1781, 3 ½ years after her husband Robert died, and on March 13, 1781 was buried in the graveyard of St. Mary Magdalene, Brampton, Huntingdonshire.
Eden Want’s will was fascinating. It read in part:
“ I have seven daughters all unmarried ( to wit) Catherine Eden, Cassandra, Elizabeth, Arabella, Charlotte, Henrietta and Caroline Matilda. It being my ardent wish and desire that they should while they remain single live together as their patrimony when joined will definitely support them while if they were to live separate and apart from each other would I fear be insufficient therefore and for that reason I make this disposition of my estate as follows-
I give and bequeath unto my friends William Welby and Edward Wilmot, both being of the Middle Temple, esquires, upon trust my estate.....
.....and lay out such money as they in their discretion shall think proper in the purchase of a house for the residence of my said unmarried daughters...the eldest of my daughters to have the care and management of said house.”
The will was made on August 8, 1779, and proved on May 16, 1781.As well as providing the names of Henrietta’s sisters, it also explained where the name ‘Wilmot’ came from when Henrietta named her son ‘Charles Wilmot Holworthy’.
Of the seven sisters that were unmarried at the time of their mother’s death in 1781, only three remained so...Catherine Eden, Arabella and Charlotte.
A brief rundown on the lives of the Want sisters is as follows:
1. Catherine Eden Want: b c. 1751. Did not marry. Lived in Brampton with sisters Charlotte and Arabella Want until her death in 1811, aged 60. In her will, Catherine left all of her possessions solely to her sister Arabella. She was buried at Brampton on April 26, 1811.

2.CASSANDRA WANT: Married Robert Godby of a well-known Huntingdonshire family. He was the son of Robert Goldby, who until the time of his death in 1791, aged 68, was land-steward to the Earl of Sandwich ( whose son Basil Montagu married Cassandra’s sister Caroline Matilda).
Cassandra and Robert had a family of two daughters and five sons:
• Robert Godby baptised April 14, 1783, St. Marys Huntingdon.
• Henry Godby baptised May 17, 1785,St. Marys, Huntingdon.
• Anna Godby baptised August 4, 1786, St. Marys, Huntingdon.

• Edward Godby born July 17, 1787. Baptised September 18, 1787.
• William Godby born June 14, 1790. Baptised February 10, 1792, St. Marys,Huntingdon.
• Cassandra Godby born December 6, 1791. Baptised February 10, 1792, St, Marys, Huntingdon. Died December 1, 1794.
• Vincent Roberts Godby born December 8, 1794. Died August 1831

3.ELIZABETH WANT: Married the Reverend John Smith. One of their sons, John Smith, married his first cousin Henrietta Holworthy ( their mothers, Elizabeth and Henrietta Want, being sisters)


4.ARABELLA WANT: Another of the spinster Want sisters who lived together in their house at Brampton. Born c. 1757.She wrote her last will and testament on October 7, 1837, and in was proved on March 27, 1838. The Free BDM site had her death as being registered in the March ¼ of 1838.

In her will, Arabella requested to have her body ‘deposited in the Church of Brampton by the side of my late sister Catherine Eden Want.” She also appointed her niece, Caroline Matilda Holworthy (child of Arabella’s sister Henrietta) as her sole executrix and residuary legatee.
Amongst other items in her will, Arabella left the following bequests:
-I give to my niece Caroline Matilda Holworthy the five hundred pound legacy left to my late sister Catherine Eden Want and myself by Edward Wilmot Esq. Also the two small debts of £79 and £42 due to me by my late sister Charlotte Want.
Also Miss Trulove’s gift of £60 left to my late sister Catherine Eden Want and myself.
( If Caroline Matilda Holworthy was to die before Arabella, Arabella reverted her bequests to her niece Henrietta Smith, the wife of my nephew John Smith.)
- “The £500 moiety of the £1000 left by my dear mother to her unmarried daughters, it being now my sole property as her only surviving unmarried daughter, I leave as follows:
£300 to my niece Caroline Matilda Holworthy
£200 to my niece Anna Godby “( daughter of Arabella’s sister Cassandra)

- “The £100 legacy of my late sister Charlotte Want to my sister Catherine and myself I leave to my nephew Charles Wilmot Holworthy (Warwick’s great-great grandfather)in trust for the use of his son Arthur Layton Holworthy until he reaches the age of 21.”
- “I give to my niece Henrietta Smith, the wife of my nephew John Smith, County Roxburgh, the £838-11-6 interest on the joint stock...(hard to decipher)...and after her death Ieave it to my niece Caroline Matilda Holworthy in trust for the use of the children of my before-mentioned niece Henrietta Smith, her sister. (If the children died, the Bank stock reverted to Caroline Matilda Holworthy).
- “The brooch with my dear sister Godby’s hair in it I leave to her daughter Anna Godby, my niece. I also leave her my watch which is gold except for the case.”
- “In the distribution of my property I have considered those whom I think have the greatest claim to my attention and hope and trust in my ardent wish to benefit those I love and for whom I have the greatest and surest affection and for whose future happiness I am interested, I shall not lose the satisfaction.
- “I wish to give all my furniture, plate, china, linen, books, and trinkets to my different relatives as I thought fit on my coming to reside with my brother-in-law the Reverend C. Holworthy and his daughter, my niece Caroline Matilda Holworthy, in the year 1835.”
This very descriptive will not only established family groupings and relationships, but also the interesting information that Arabella had spent the last three years of her life with the Holworthy family.
Ararbella Want was buried at St. Mary Magdalene , Brampton, on February 24, 1838, aged 81 years.

5.Charlotte Want: born c. 1759. Was the first of the three spinster Want sisters to pass away. She died in 1802, aged 43, and was buried on November 12, 1802, at St. Mary Magdalene, Brampton. Like her mother and several sisters, she has a memorial floor slab in the church at Brampton.
Charlotte left the most wonderfully detailed will which ran to over ten pages. Much of it was boring legalese, but many relationships were mentioned. The most interesting of these were as follows:
-“ Unto my sister Catherine Eden Want, spinster of Brampton, and Herbert Brace of the Middle Temple, London, Gentleman, £150 capital stock in trust for the sole and separate use of my sister Henrietta Holworthy, the wife of the Rev. Charles Holworthy....
- ...£50 to my sister Catherine Eden Want
- ....£50 to my sister Cassandra Godby, wife of Robert Godby, Esq.
- ...£50 to my sister Elizabeth Smith, wife of the Reverend John Smith
- ...£50 to my sister Arabella Want
-...£50 to Herbert Brace
-...I give and bequeath unto my sister Henrietta Holworthy all of my ___ and consumable articles in the house at my decease and all of my wearing apparel for her own sole and separate use.
-...I give and bequeath the full and free use and enjoyment of all of my household furniture, plate, household linen, china, prints, pictures, books, watches ( except the watch hereinafter otherwise disposed of to Charles Wilmot Holworthy, son of my said sister Henrietta Holworthy), trinkets, jewels and ornaments of my person whatsoever unto my said sister Henrietta Holworthy for and during her life exclusive and independent of her said present husband or any future husband with whom she may happen to marry. ( If Henrietta died, her bequest was to go to her daughter, Caroline Matilda Holworthy)
-...I give and bequeath my double gold watch unto the said Charles Wilmot Holworthy, son of the said Henrietta Holworthy, the same to be delivered to him upon his attaining the age of 21.
-...Lands, tenants, messuages etc at Little Ealing, Middlesex, some time since in my possession but now in the occupation of Mrs Trimmer(??)to Catherine Eden Want and Herbert Brace to use in order to be able to grant the following bequests:
-Yearly sum or annuity of £150 to my sister Henrietta Holworthy
- £ 60 yearly sum to my sister Elizabeth Smith wife of Reverend John Smith
-£50 annuity to my sister Cassandra, wife of Robert Godby, after the death of her husband.
..then followed pages and pages of legal jargon and specifications, then another bequest to Henrietta Holworthy and her daughter Caroline Matilda, and requirements of inheritance of the children of her sisters Henrietta Holworthy, Cassandra Godby and Elizabeth Smith
- ...Bequest to Basil Montagu, the younger son of my late sister Caroline Matilda by Basil Montagu Esq.
- ... £200 each to Anna Godby, daughter of my sister Cassandra Godby, and Basil Montagu the Younger, and each and every child of my sister Elizabeth Smith who shall be living at the time of my decease.”

Charlotte’s will was made on April 21, 1802, and proved on March 17, 1803.

6.SOPHIA WANT: baptised September 9, 1762, St. Andrews, Holborn. No other mention. Presumably died young.


7.HENRIETTA WANT: Francis Holworthy's grandmother. Baptised May 5, 1765, St. Andrews, Holborn. More about her later!




8. CAROLINE MATILDA WANT: The final child born to Robert and Eden Want, she was baptised on September 20, 1768, St. Andrews, Holborn. When she was 22 years old, Caroline’s life became entwined with that of a young student named Basil Montagu, and her marriage to him in 1790 caused her to become part of a fabulous 18th century story.
Basil Montagu was the natural born son of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, and his beautiful mistress, Martha Ray. He was born on April 24, 1770, and was always acknowledged by his father.
When only nine years old, Basil’s mother Martha Ray was murdered in sensational circumstances. The following is taken from a book written about the event by Martin Levy:

“ Martha Ray (1742 – April 7 1779) was a British singer of the Georgian era. Her father was a corsetmaker and her mother was a servant in a noble household. Good-looking, intelligent, and possessing a talented singing voice, she came to the attention of many of her father's patrons. She is best known for her affair with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. She lived with him as his mistress from the age of seventeen, while his wife was suffering from mental illness. She gave birth to five children, one of whom was Basil Montagu. During this time, she conducted a successful singing career, for which she became well-known, as well as completed her education with Lord Montagu's support.
Montagu set Ray up in a residence in Westminster, and gave her a generous allowance, allowing her a place to stay during periods in which she did not wish to remain at his home. In public, although Montagu was married, the two acted as husband and wife. During this period, Ray was introduced to a soldier, James Hackman, by Montagu. Hackman became a frequent visitor, and is thought to have proposed marriage to Ray on several instances, but she declined each time. Also by this time, Montagu was deeply in debt. It is believed that while Montagu was financially generous to Ray, he did not offer her any long term financial security, which may have been what led Ray into tolerating Hackman's advances.
In 1779, James Hackman left the British Army to join the church. At some point, believed to have been around 1778, Ray and Hackman had become involved romantically, but this affair was short-lived, by most reports due to her believing he lacked the financial means and social status to support her. However, Hackman was completely infatuated with Ray, becoming increasingly jealous, and continued to pursue her. On April 7th, 1779, in the company of a female attendant, Ray left to attend an engagement. She had been approached by Hackman earlier that evening, but she declined to tell him where she was going. He, however, took to following her to observe her movements.
She was murdered on April 7th, 1779, in the foyer of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden by Hackman, who was by that time a clergyman. Hackman murdered her due to his belief that she had taken another lover, Baron Coleraine William Hanger, whom Hackman witnessed her meeting at Covent Garden. Whether she and William Hanger were involved in an affair has never been established beyond some doubt. Montagu was devastated by her death. Hackman attempted to shoot himself to death following his murder of her, but only wounded himself, and was arrested. Two days after her April 14 burial, Hackman was sentenced to hang, and the sentence was carried out on April 19 in front of a large crowd in Tyburn, London.”
Reference: Martin Levy (2004), Love and Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, Harper & Brothers (ISBN 0-06-055975-6)


Basil was brought up at Hinchinbrook, Huntingdonshire, and educated at the Charterhouse and Christs College, Cambridge. He was still studying law at the time of his marriage, graduating with a B.A in 1790 and his M.A in 1793.
Basil’s marriage to Caroline Want infuriated his father, as he did not think the marriage was suitable- in other words, he considered Caroline, the daughter of a London attorney, to be an inferior match for his son. Father and son had a falling out, and never really mended their relationship.
Basil was only twenty years old when he married, and Caroline 22, and I really admire Basil for having the strength to stand up to his father for a woman whom he obviously loved. Their marriage was cut tragically short, however, when in 1793 Caroline died in childbirth, delivering their only child, a son named Basil Caroline Montagu. There is a memorial floor slab in the church of St.Mary Magdalene, Brampton, Huntingdonshire for ‘Caroline Matilda, wife of basil Montagu, died 1793.’
Basil Montagu was very close friends with the famous Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, and when Caroline died Basil the Elder struggled along for four years raising his small son until William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy offered to care for the young child. As one report concerning Basil Montagu the Elder read:-
“Montagu had class on his side, but little else. While a Law student in London he married against his father’s wishes, only for his wife to die giving birth to a son, Basil Caroline Montagu. In 1795 his father deprived him of his inheritance, leaving him in such straitened circumstances that William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy offered to take care of Basil Caroline for him, which they did for several years.”

Basil Caroline Montagu even appeared in several of Wordsworth’s poems- he was the “Edward”of Wordsworth's poetry.
The following was taken from an internet source:
"... Wordsworth returned to Racedown and fetched four-year-old Basil, the motherless child of his barrister friend Basil Montagu who paid the Wordsworths a modest sum to bring him up and, for part of the Alfoxden year, paid nothing. This child who had been a pale, miserable little creature when they took him, played in joyful freedom at Alfoxden, familiar with trees, stones, birds, animals. He grew hardy and happy and stayed out in all weathers. Generally he played alone, but at times he played with a Holford cottage child whom Dorothy considered very spoiled, and was taken with him to play on the shore at Kilve. ...
... Basil Montagu came again to see his little son who figures as “Edward” in Wordsworth's poems. Seventeen years later Mrs Coleridge wrote to Tom Poole that he must surely remember the little boy he used to see playing at Alfoxden. She had just seen him at Southey's house, a youth fearfully stricken by consumption, being blistered and bled while blood came from his lungs and Dorothy Wordsworth nursed him with the aid of an old servant and remained constantly at this bedside.
On a mild March morning Wordsworth wrote his verses `To My Sister' at a small distance from the front of the house and put them in little Basil Montagu's hand to take to Dorothy whom they summoned `to feel the sun' instead of working indoors. In the poem he called the boy by the name Edward just as in `Ancedote for Fathers' in which he describes him as a fair, fresh, active boy of five years. So Dorothy too described him in a letter, but at greater length. That morning when Basil ran in with the poem in his hand the robin whose song Dorothy always mentioned with such pleasure in her journal was singing in the tall larch near the door. ..."
Basil Caroline Montagu, son of Basil Montagu and Caroline Matilda Want, died in 1830, aged 37.
As a post script, basil Montagu the Elder went on to marry twice more and have a large family of children. His second wife was Laura Rush, who he married in 1801 and had three sons before she died.
His third wife was the wealthy widow of Thomas Skepper of Yorkshire, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.
Basil Montagu died in 1851.



Now..back to Henrietta Want and her husband Charles Holworthy. After their marriage in 1791, the Reverend Charles and his wife went on to have a family of two daughters and one son that I can locate, all born in the family home at Brampton, Huntingdonshire. As previously mentioned, although Charles Holworthy held the position of Vicar of Bourn, he never lived there, preferring to hire a curate to carry out ecclesiastical duties and allowing him to live at Brampton with his wife and family.
Charles’ wife Henrietta Want Holworthy died at Brampton, Huntingdonshire, on May 16, 1835, in her 71st year. She was buried at St. Mary’s, Brampton, and has a memorial slab in the floor of the church.
By 1841 her widowed husband Charles had moved to London to live with their elder daughter Caroline Matilda Holworthy in Hampstead. Caroline died in 1845, so Charles moved on to his younger daughter Henrietta Holworthy Smith, who had lost her husband in 1844.
The Reverend Charles Holworthy died on June 25, 1853, in his 89th year. He died at his home in Hampstead, and his will contained several interesting bits and pieces:
“ Charles Holworthy of Hampstead in the county of Middlesex,Clerk. Having given all of my plate, watches, books, china, glass, household linen and furniture to my daughter Caroline Matilda Holworthy shortly after my coming to reside with her at Hampstead, I give and bequeath after the payment of all my just debts, funeral and other expenses and a sufficient sum being set apart for the payment of the following amenities for life viz
£50 to my daughter Henrietta the wife of John Smith of Darnick near Melrose in the county of Roxburgh
£20 to my niece Anna Godby of Brampton in the county of Huntingdonshire
The residue of my property to be equally divided between my son Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Caroline Matilda Holworthy.”
Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Caroline Matilda Holworthy were appointed executor and executrix of their father’s will, written on March 1, 1843. It was proved on July 6, 1853, by Charles Wilmot Holworthy, his sister Caroline having died before her father in 1845.
A brief rundown on the three children of the Rev. Charles Holworthy and Henrietta Want is as follows:

•CAROLINE MATILDA HOLWORTHY: born c. 1796, Brampton. Lived most of her life at Brampton, retiring to Hampstead, London, in her later years where she lived with her elderly widowed father.
The 1841 census saw Caroline and her father Charles living at Weatherall Place, Hampstead. Charles was stated as being 75 years old, a clerk, who had not been born in London. Caroline was 45, independent, and also not born in London.
In February of 1845, just before her death, Caroline wrote her last will and testament. Those to benefit from her will included her cousins Henry, Anna and Edward Godby (children of her mother’s sister, Cassandra Want Godby); her sister Henrietta Smith, widow of John Smith Esq; Sarah Allen of Brampton; and her brother Charles Wilmot Holworthy.

•HENRIETTA HOLWORTHY: Born at Brampton, Huntingdonshire, c. 1798. Married her first cousin, John Smith, the son of her maternal aunt Elizabeth Want, on February 3, 1827, at Edinburgh, Scotland. Their children were as follows:
a) Henrietta Caledonia Smith: born October 30, 1828, Denny Parish, Stirling. Baptised Christmas day, 1828, Denny. Known as ‘Caledonia’. Did not marry.
Lived with unmarried sister Matilda in Cannon Place, Hampstead, for many years. Died Hampstead, 1918, aged 89.
b) Charlotte Striveling Smith: baptised Christmas Day, 1830, Denny, Stirling.
c) Denny John Smith: born July 2, 1832, Darnick, Melrose Parish, Roxburgh. Baptised September 9, 1832, Melrose. Died June 13, 1840, aged almost 8 years.
d) Caroline Melrose Smith: born September 12, 1835, Melrose. Baptised Christmas Day, 1835, Melrose.
e) Victoria Roxburgh Smith: baptised July 1, 1838, Melrose.
f) Matilda Darnick Smith: baptised March 31, 1842, Melrose. Remained a spinster. Lived with sisters Caledonia and Caroline in Hampstead, where she died in 1908, aged 65.

The 1841 census of Scotland also revealed that 7 year old ‘Edina Smith’ was living with the family at Darnick, but unless this is a nickname, there is no trace of a daughter by that name being born to John and Henrietta Smith.
The residents in the house on the night the census was taken were:
John Smith esq/ 45/ independent/ born England
Henrietta Smith/ born England
Henrietta Smith/ 12/ born Scotland, not in Roxburgh.
Charlotte Smith/10/ born Scotland not in Roxburgh
Edina Smith/ 7/ born in Scotland not in Roxburgh
Caroline Smith/5/ born in Scotland, Roxburgh.
Eliza Smith/ 50/ b c. 1791, England/ independent
Caroline Smith/ 45/ b c. 1796, England/ independent
Plus three female servants.

The two elder English-born Smith women, Eliza (or Elizabeth) and Caroline Smith, are most likely John Smith’s sisters.

John Smith and his family lived at Darnick Cottage, parish of Melrose, Roxburgh. He died there on February 6, 1844. He didn’t leave a will, but his inventory was published on the scotlandspeople website. His wife Henrietta swore to the fact that her husband’s property was as follows:
-Leasehold property in Middlesex and Surrey £1642-7-4
Shares in Australasian Bank (61 shares) £2735
Deceased’s shares in Australasian bank
Under the will of the late _ortin(??) £645
Legacy under the will of the late Mr. –Ortin £500
Estate in Scotland not more than £400 sterling.

Henrietta and her surviving daughters returned to England, where in the 1851 census she is living at Weatherall Place, Hampstead. It is the same address where her sister Caroline was living with their father in the 1841 census, and it looks as though the widowed Henrietta took over the care of Charles Holworthy after the death of Caroline in 1845.
Information on the census return was:
Henrietta Smith/ head/ widow/ 53/ landed proprietor and fund holder/ born Huntingdon, parish of Brampton.
Reverend Charles Holworthy/ inmate to head( whatever that means!!)/ widower/ Vicar of Bourn/ birthplace county and parish not known to householder (strange!!!)
Henrietta Caledonia/ daughter of occupier/ unmarried/ 22/ born in Scotland
Matilda D Smith/ daughter/ 9/ born Scotland
Also resident are two female servants and the six year old son of one of them.

No other children are mentioned- there is no sign of Charlotte, Victoria or Edina, who would have been aged about 20, 13 and 17 respectively.
I had originally included daughter Caroline Melrose Smith in the above group, until I located her in the ’51 census at s small London boarding school under the entry of ‘Melrose Smith, aged 15, pupil, born Scotland.’

The 1861 census reveals that after the death of her father, the Reverend Charles Holworthy in 1853, Henrietta and her daughters moved to Cannon Villas in Hampstead. Their residence was:
Henrietta Smith/ head/ widow/ 63/fundholder & landed proprietor/ b Huntingdonshire, Brampton.
Henrietta C.Smith/ daughter/ unmarried/ 32/ born Scotland
Caroline Smith/ daughter/ unmarried/ 25/ b Scotland
Matilda D Smith/ daughter/ unmarried/19/ b Scotland
Plus a housemaid and a cook.

It can be seen that Caroline Melrose Smith has returned to the family home after being away at school in the 1851 census.

1871 finds Henrietta Holworthy Smith still living with two of her daughters in Cannon Place, Hampstead:
Henrietta Smith/head/widow/73/ no occupation given/born Huntingdonshire, Brampton.
Caroline M. Smith/ daughter/ unmarried/35/born Scotland
Matilda D. Smith/daughter/unmarried/29/born Scotland
Ann Codrington/visitor/married/47/ born Surrey, Norwood
Plus two servants.
Henrietta Caledonia Smith, aged 42, was absent from the family home because she was boarding at a house in Brighton, Sussex. The boarding house was owned by a 57 year old widow with the wonderful name of Loyalty Phillips.
The three unmarried Smith sisters were still at their home in Cannon Place in 1881, but their mother Henrietta Holworthy Smith had passed away in late 1877 at the age of 80 years.
Henrietta C. Smith/head/unmarried/52/ born Scotland
Caroline M. Smith/ sister /45/unmarried/born Scotland
Matilda D. Smith/sister/unmarried/39/ born Scotland
Arthur L.H Holworthy/visitor/married/49/’none’ for occupation/ born Bloomsbury, M’sex.
Frances Holworthy/visitor/married/ 50/ born Huntingdon
Plus two female servants.
(Arthur L.H Holworthy was the cousin of the Smith sisters, and Frances was his wife. Arthur’s father, Charles Wilmot Holworthy, and the Smith sisters’ mother, Henrietta, were siblings.)
Ten years later, only Henrietta Caledonia and Matilda Smith were left at the Cannon Place home:
Henrietta C. Smith/head/single/62/ living on own means/born Scotland
Matilda D Smith/sister/single/49/living on own means/ born Scotland
Caroline M. Holworthy/cousin/single/58/living on own means/born Marylebone.
Plus one cook and a housemaid.

Their sister Caroline Melrose Smith died in the latter part of 1890, aged 55 years. The Caroline M Holworthy living with them was their first cousin, only daughter of their uncle Charles Wilmot Holworthy, and sister of the Arthur Holworthy who was living with them in the previous census.
1901 census: Cannon Place, Hampstead.
Henrietta C. Smith/head/single/72/living on own means/born Scotland
Matilda D. Smith/sister/single/59/living on own means/ born Scotland
Henrietta Codrington/visitor/single/47/born Old Kent Rd, London
Plus two female servants.

Matilda Darnick Smith died at Hampstead in 1908, aged 65 years. Her surviving sister, Henrietta Caledonia Smith, died at the grand old age of 89 in 1918, still living at her Cannon Place house in Hampstead.

Thus ends the summary of the lives of the two daughters of the Reverend Charles Holworthy and Henrietta Want. There is only left now their son, Charles Wilmot Holworthy, Francis Holworthy's father....


• CHARLES WILMOT HOLWORTHY: Born in Brampton, Huntingdonshire, in c. 1792, only son of the Rev. Charles Holworthy and Henrietta Want. Married Mary Margaret Townsend on October 28, 1825, at his family church, Brampton, Huntingdonshire.
I just can’t find any information on Mary Margaret Townsend...there is one about the right age, born August 2, 1802 and baptised 1803 in London, daughter of Samuel Smith Townsend, a solicitor, and his wife Lydia Wiegand (marr 23 July, 1798, London). When I obtained Samuel Smith Townsend’s will, however, there was mention only of his son, Edward Townsend, and his daughter Lydia Thomas-no mention of a daughter Mary Margaret Holworthy.

Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Mary Margaret Townsend had a family of four sons and a daughter. In keeping with family tradition, their daughter was named Caroline Matilda, and like the Caroline Matildas who were her predecessors, she never married.
Of their four sons- Wilmot Wadeson, Arthur Layton, Francis Charles and Matthew Haddock- only Wilmot and Francis went on to have sons. A brief summary of the issue of Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Mary Townsend is as follows:
•CAROLINE MATILDA HOLWORTHY: born February 11, 1833. Baptised March 18, 1833, Old Church, St. Pancras. Did not marry or have children. Died in Hampstead in 1909.
•WILMOT WADESON HOLWORTHY: born September 5, 1834. Baptised October 1, 1834, Old Church, St. Pancras. Married Edith Jane Hoblyn in 1863. Died in January of 1869, murdered.Issue: 1. Charles Edward Holworthy b 1864, Kilburn, London. Married Euphemia Scott Abel, and in Shanghai had twins-a son named Arthur Wilmot Wadeson and a daughter named Edith (she married Captain Mainwaring in 1921). Charles Edward died on September 27, 1927, at 2 Cannon Place, Hampstead, aged 63.His son Arthur went on to become a famous Major-General in the Army.
2. Winifred Kathleen Holworthy: born Kilburn, London c. 1866. Educated at St. Agnes’ School, St. Margaret’s Convent, East Grinstead, Sussex, with her sister Melrose.
3. Melrose Murial Holworthy: born Hong Kong c. 1868.

Late in 1866, Wilmot and his young family boarded the ship ‘Maori’ in London and set sail for New Zealand. Wilmot, his wife Edith and children Charles and Winifred were amongst the 77 passengers who made the 117 day trip, arriving in the Port of Auckland on January 24, 1867. The local newspapers noted “Amongst her passengers are two gentlemen attached to the Military Store Staff- Messrs Wilmot Holworthy and McDermott.” Wilmott was murdered in early 1869.
Edith Holworthy, Wilmot’s widow, married again almost ten years after her husband’s death. She married Charles Cohen in 1878.

•ARTHUR LAYTON HOLWORTHY: born c. 1832, London. Was a clerk of one kind or another in his early life. In the 1851 census was living with his parents at Finchley Rd, Marylebone, and employed as a ‘clerk to a merchant’. In 1861, at the same address and ‘Military Store Clerk, Tower’ was his occupation. Ten years later, Arthur was still unmarried and living with his widowed mother at Finchley Road, but his occupation was ‘Australian merchant’.
In 1874, Arthur married Frances Margetts of Huntingdonshire ( 1831-1897), the daughter of William Margetts and Marianne Cooch. There is no sign of any children being born to the couple.

In July of 1879 there was a notice in the London Gazette of the dissolving of a business partnership between Arthur L.H Holworthy and his second cousin Joseph Matthew Holworthy, carrying on business as merchants at 30 Great St. Helens, under the style of Josh. Holworthy & Co. Joseph was the son of the Reverend William Henry Holworthy, the latter being the first cousin of Arthur’s father Charles Wilmot Holworthy.
It was through this business that the first Holworthy association with New Zealand may have come about. The first mention I can find of a Holworthy in New Zealand is the arrival of Wilmot Wadeson Holworthy in 1867 in his capacity as being attached to the Military Store Staff. As he was murdered in Hong Kong two years later, his stay in New Zealand must not have been long.
Joseph Matthew Holworthy, however, had long been exporting into New Zealand as a merchant...a notice in the Tuapeka Times on November 15, 1893, stated:
“Bankrupt Dividends- A further dividend of 1s 2 5/8 d is announced in the estate of J.M Holworthy & Co, one of the oldest export houses shipping books, stationary etc to New Zealand who failed some years ago.”
Joseph’s sons, Charles Joseph ( often also named as Charles Matthew) and Frederick W, both ended up in New Zealand. Fred was advertising his ‘picture exhibitions’ of engravings, statuary, photographs and the like in 1883, and Charles Joseph married the wealthy widow of Sir Patrick Buckley, Lady Alice Buckley(nee Fitzherbert) in London in 1900 after they both travelled from New Zealand back to London for the wedding. Neither found England to their liking, and they returned to New Zealand in 1903. The couple died within a very short time of each other- Alice Jane Holworthy on November 1, 1910, aged 61, and her husband Charles Joseph Holworthy, aged 55, the following week.

Arthur Layton Holworthy and his wife Frances at the time of the 1881 census were living with his spinster cousins, the Smith sisters- Caledonia, Matilda and Caroline- at Cannon Place in Hampstead.
By the time the next census rolled around in 1891, Frances was a widow. I can’t locate her husband Arthur’s death anywhere-at the moment it is a mystery as to when, where and how he died.
Frances Holworthy returned to her home town of Huntingdon after Arthur’s death. In the 1891 census she was living at 156 High Street, Huntingdon, with two of her paternal aunts. Head of the house was 86 year old Margaret Margetts, a spinster living on her own means. With her was her 79 year old widowed sister Agnes Hocker. Looking after the old sisters and their 60 year old niece Frances Holworthy were three female servants.
All three Margetts women were dead by 1898....Agnes died first in 1894 aged 82, followed by 66 year old Frances Holworthy in 1897 and 94 year old Margaret Margetts in 1898.


•MATTHEW HADDOCK HOLWORTHY: Born 1843, Marylebone. Remained a bachelor all of his life and lived mainly with his parents at their Finchley road, London, home until their deaths. The census returns of 1851, 1861 and 1871 find him at Finchley Rd, the latter return stating that the 27 year old Matthew had “no occupation’. After his mother Mary died in 1879, Matthew moved to Dorking in Surrey where he lived for a time with his unmarried sister Caroline Matilda Holworthy. Aged 48 and 37 respectively, Caroline and Matthew both had as their occupations “Rent of houses and dividends”.
I can’t locate Matthew anywhere in 1891, but in 1901 he is boarding in a house at 8 Clifton Place, Brighton in Sussex. It was here that he died the following year, on April 23, 1902, at the age of 59 years.

That only leaves one more child born to Charles Wilmot Holworthy and Mary Margaret Townsend...Ruth Hughan's husband,Frances Charles Holworthy. Before his quick summary to tie this report up, following are the census returns that feature Charles Wilmot Holworthy and his family:

1841: Grove Terrace, St. Marylebone.
Charles Holworthy/ 45/ clerk/ not born in county
Mary Holworthy/ 35/ born in county
Arthur Holworthy/10/ born in county
Caroline Holworthy/ 8/ born in county
Wilmott Holworthy/ 6/ born in county
Frances Holworthy/3/ born in county.

1851:Finchley Road, Marylebone.
Charles W. Holworthy/head/married/58/clerk in general post office/ born Brampton, Huntingdonshire.
Mary M. Holworthy/wife/40/born St. Pancras,Middlesex.
Arthur W. Holworthy/son/19/clerk to a merchant/ born Middlesex ____
Caroline M. Holworthy/daughter/18/ born Marylebone
Wilmot W. Holworthy/son/16/ born Marylebone
Frances C. Holworthy/son/12/ born Marylebone
Matthew H. Holworthy/son/7/born Marylebone.
Plus two servants.

1861: Finchley road, Marylebone.
Charles W. Holworthy/head/68/civil service-super/ born Brampton, Huntingdonshire.
Mary M. Holworthy/wife/57/ born London
Arthur L.H Holworthy/son/26/military store clerk-Tower/ born London
Caroline Holworthy/ daughter/28/ born London
Wilmot W. Holworthy/son/29/ general merchant/ born London
Francis C. Holworthy/son/23/mate in the P & O Steam Serv./ born London
Matthew Holworthy/son/17/scholar/ born London.
Plus two servants.
(NOTE: the ages of some of the children are ‘out of whack’ for this census...whoever filled out the form didn’t correctly give the ages)

1871: Finchley Rd, ,Marylebone.
Mary M. Holworthy/head/widow/67/ born London
Arthur L.H Holworthy/son/unmarried/39/Australian merchant/born London
Matthew H. Holworthy/son/27/unmarried/ no occupation/ born London
Caroline Holworthy/daughter/unmarried/37/ born London.
Plus two servants.

From this point the family splits even further than it had in the 1860s...both parents were dead, and Wilmot had married in 1863, with Arthur finally following his lead in 1874. Unmarried siblings Caroline and Matthew remained living together for a period, and brother Francis Charles had boarded a ship and sailed for warmer climes some time during the 1860s.