Chapter 1:THORNHILL INTRODUCTION

The Thornhill family name probably derives from a place name of obvious meaning; the hill where thorns grow. Such place names occur in many counties in England and Scotland, often dating to at least the Saxon era. Thus the family name probably emerged in several localities before the fifteenth century, by which time all English and Scottish families had established permanent surnames. Many Welsh and Irish surnames were only fixed in the last two centuries.

Thornhill was first recorded as a family name in Derbyshire in 1278 and Yorkshire in 1370. The latter family tracing their ancestry back to Gerneber, a Saxon noble who possessed large tracts of land before the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Almost every member of the Thornhill family introduced in this essay lived his or her entire life in the county of Gloucestershire. The place of origin of this family is not known.

There is circumstantial evidence that the family described has a common ancestry with Sir James Thornhill (1675-1734), who painted the Painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital, the interior of the dome of St Paul's Cathedral and the ceiling of the Great Hall in Blenheim Palace.

At Greenwich, the Painted Hall, which is now a dining room, lies beneath the western dome of the hospital. The centerpiece of the richly decorated interior is the ceiling by Thornhill. Blenheim Great Hall ceiling, painted in 1716, shows Marlborough victorious, with the battle order at Blenheim spread for view. Thornhill was also to have painted the Saloon and the Long Library, but the Duchess suspected him of sharp practice in charging (for the hall) twenty-five shillings (£1.25) a yard for the murals in grisaille; 'not', she considered, 'worth half-a-crown [12.5p] a yard' - as well as for the 'historical part' (ceiling) in colour. In spite of his spirited and carefully finished drafts for the Saloon, she changed her mind and commissioned a French artist, Louis Laguerre: a reversal of what had happened at St Paul's, where Laguerre had lost the dome decoration to Thornhill. The dome paintings, made between 1716 and 1719, depict eight scenes from the life of St. Paul.

Design for an Altarpiece

The Dome in St Paul’s Cathedral

William Hogarth (1697-1764), the first British painter to acquire a truly international reputation, secretly married the daughter of Sir James Thornhill in 1729.

There is no doubt that the described Slimbridge family is descended from a William Thornhill of Tetbury however there is still some confusion as to precisely which William is concerned.

This Thornhill family begins with William Thornall who was born in about 1700. He married Mary Price in Ashley, Wiltshire, on 31 August 1729. The couple had at least five children. They lived in Rodmarten in Gloucestershire during the early 1730’s before moving back to Ashley where they spent for the rest of their lives.

Their first child, Mary, married in Kemble in Wiltshire in 1752, their second, Betty, married two years later in her home parish of Ashley. Son William (Chapter 2), a labourer, moved to Tetbury in Gloucestershire. William’s brother, John, also moved to Gloucestershire, where, in 1771, he married Sarah Walker in Bisley. In that parish six children were born to John and Sarah before 1782, after which the family moved to Cam where two more children were born. John was of sufficient means to have a left a Will. The sixth child, Charles, married Elizabeth Newth in nearby Dursley and had seven children of his own. Charles was a hawker and pedlar in Dursley. On 9 September 1807 he found another pedlar, Thomas Morris of Swannington, Leicestershire, selling Queens-ware dishes without a licence in the town. He reported him to the authorities with the result that the following day Morris appeared before Rev. W. Lloyd-Baker, J.P., at Stoutshill Quarter Session and was fined £12, a very large sum of money in the early nineteenth century.

Adrian Newth Thornhill, one of Charles and Elizabeth’s offspring, moved to Shoreditch in London where he learned the trade of shoemaking before marrying Mary Lipsham who bore him four children. One daughter was a dressmaker; one son followed in his father’s trade and another son, John, became a silver smith. On 4 February 1877 John married Caroline Annie Barrett in St James Church, Bethnal Green. The couple had seven children.

Adrian Newth’s brother John emigrated to Australia. He died in Rmond, Victoria in 1905.

0 .William THORNALL b.c1700 m.Mary PRICE
1 . . Mary THORNHILL b.1730 m.Thomas BEZANT
1 . . Betty THORNELL b.1732 m.John BENNET
1 . . William THORN(H)ILL (chapter 2) b.1737 d.>1785 m.Elizabeth GIBSON
1 . . John THORNHILL b.1743 d.1805 m.Sarah WALKER
2 . . . Mary THORNHILL b.1772
2 . . . William THORNHILL b.1773
2 . . . Sarah THORNHILL b.1775
2 . . . John THORNHILL b.1778 d.<1780
2 . . . John THORNHILL b.1780
2 . . . Charles THORNHILL b.1782 d.<1851 m.Elizabeth NEWTH
3 . . . . .Elizabeth THORNHILL b.1809
3 . . . . .Mary THORNHILL b.1810
3 . . . . .Sarah Watkins THORNHILL b.1814
3 . . . . .Lois THORNHILL b.1818
3 . . . . .Adrian Newth THORNHILL b.c1821 d.1888 m.Mary LIPSHAM
4 . . . . . . Elizabeth THORNHILL b.c1847 d.>1881
4 . . . . . . Ann(ie) THORNHILL b.c1849 d.>1891
4 . . . . . . Frederick THORNHILL b.1850 d.>1898 m.Annie -
4 . . . . . . John THORNHILL b.1856 d.>1881 m.Caroline Annie BARRETT
5 . . . . . . . John A. THORNHILL b.c1878 d.>1881
5 . . . . . . . Herbert F. THORNHILL b.c1880 d.>1881
5 . . . . . . . Caroline Ada THORNHILL b.1881 d.>1881
5 . . . . . . . Alfred Leonard THORNHILL b.1884 m.Eveline COLLINS
6 . . . . . . . . .Alfred Cyril THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Frederick THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Walter Eric THORNHILL b.1921 d.1970 m.Joyce SOURBUTTS
7 . . . . . . . . . . Christopher THORNHILL m.Carol Lillian KEEP
7 . . . . . . . . . . Heather Joyce THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Doris THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Gladys THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Leonard THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .William (Willy) THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .John (Johnny) THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Victor THORNHILL
6 . . . . . . . . .Edna THORNHILL
5 . . . . . . . Maggie THORNHILL
5 . . . . . . . Fred Thornhill
5 . . . . . . . Earnie Thornhill
3 . . . . .John THORNHILL b.1823 d.1825
3 . . . . .John THORNHILL b.1825 d. 1905
2 . . . James THORNHILL b.1785
2 . . . Elizabeth THORNHILL b.1788 m.James HAZEL
1 . . Sarah THORNHILL b.1746 m.Soloman MATTHEWS