Chapter 2: WILLIAM OF TETBURY

In 1779 Tetbury was described as:

‘…. a tolerable good town, pleasantly situated on a rising ground. The houses in general are neat and handsome, but there is a great scarcity of water, the inhabitants being obliged to fetch it from wells and brooks at a considerable distance. The market house is in a good situation, and great quantities of yarn are sold at it weekly by the poor people, who, in return, take wool and such necessaries as they are in want of. The church is a venerable Gothic structure, and in it are several handsome monuments. Here is a free school, and an almshouse for eight people; and at the end of the town is a very high bridge of considerable length, half of which is in Wiltshire.’

‘The town consists principally of four streets, which meet at the centre. In the year 1770 the old church was undermined by a flood, which occasioned the roof to fall, and in other respects did so much damage, that it was rebuilt at an expense of £6,000. The new building was opened for public worship October 7, 1781, and is a very handsome structure .... The inhabitants of this town are principally engaged in the woollen manufactory and sale of yarn, which is sold on the market-day in the market-house, in the middle of the town; whereas cheese, bacon, and other commodities are sold in great quantities at a smaller market-house.’

Tetbury Market House

In June 1768, four years before it collapsed, William Thornhill married Elizabeth Gibson in Tetbury’s old parish church. Bride and groom were both resident in the town at the time. William was a labourer who signed his name with a cross, as did his bride. Illiteracy was the norm in the in the days before universal free education.

Elizabeth bore at least nine children in seventeen years. Of these possibly only two, Mary and Lizzy, died in infancy. At a time in history when a large proportion of children died of infectious diseases such as measles, influenza, pneumonia and scarlet fever, the successful raising of seven children was unusual. The couple’s first child William (Chapter 4) was to father the majority of the future family that we know of. John (Chapter 3) was William's only brother.

Second daughter Sarah was a spinster when she died in Tetbury in 1814 at the age of 36. She probably stayed at home to tend her aging parents. Fathers, who usually died before their wives, often only left property or money to the carer daughter so long as she remained unmarried, and hence looking after her widowed mother.

The Thornhills were evidently a poor family, for a note dated 9 September 1799 represents a complaint by the constables of Henley upon Thames, Oxfordshire, to those of Tetbury, that Elizabeth and her sister Hannah were found wandering and begging. They were punished according to the law. Under Oath Elizabeth stated that they were sisters and that they had absconded from Tetbury Workhouse fifteen days earlier. Presumably both were subsequently escorted back to Tetbury.

Elizabeth married eighteen years old widower (!) Jonathan Watson Clark in Tetbury, in 1818. In 1813 however she had borne twins Maria and James, followed by David two years later. Maria died at eight months old. In the summer of 1825 Elizabeth and Jonathan moved to Cheltenham, where the settlement records describe Elizabeth as ‘Elizabeth Clark, widow - maiden name Thornhill. Born in Tetbury, where her parents are settled. She never lived in any place of service for 12 months. About 7 years ago she married, at Tetbury, Johnathen Watson Clark, who died last Whitsuntide. Her husband never gained any settlement during their marriage, nor does she know where he was settled previously thereto.’

A not uncommon practice occurred in 1806 and 1818, when Edward Pool(e) first married Eliza then her younger sister, Maria. Eliza had two children, Edward and Edwyn. The Christmas of 1811 was a tragic one for the Pool family. Edwyn was buried at twelve months old, on Christmas day, his mother being buried four days later. Eliza was buried as a pauper, reflecting the family’s financial circumstances at the time. In the 1851 census widow Maria was also recorded as a pauper.

There were at least three children born to William and Elizabeth's daughter Hannah, following her marriage to James Thompson in Tetbury in the summer of 1807. Like her siblings, and her groom, Hannah signed her name with a cross in the church register.

1 . . William THORN(H)ILL b.1737 d.>1785 m.Elizabeth GIBSON
2 . . . William THORNHILL (chapter 4) b.1770 d.1860 m.Rebecca/Rebeckah Ann COX
2 . . . Ann THORNHILL b.1772
2 . . . Mary THORNHILL b.1772
2 . . . John THORNHILL (chapter 3) b.1774 d.1848 m.Alice COX
2 . . . Sarah THORNHILL b.1776 d.1814
2 . . . Elizabeth THORNHILL b.1777 d.1778
2 . . . Lizzy\Eliza THORNHILL b.1779 d.1811 m.Edward POOL(E)
3 . . . . .Edward POOL(E) b.1806
3 . . . . .Edwyn POOL(E) b.1811 d.1811
2 . . . Elizabeth THORNHILL b.1781 d.>1825 m.Jonathan Watson CLARK
3 . . . . .Maria THORNHILL (illigit.) b.1813 d.1813
3 . . . . .James THORNHILL (illigit.) b.1813
3 . . . . .David THORNHILL\CLARK (illigit.) b.1814
2 . . . Hannah THORNHILL b.1783 d.>1816 m.James THOMPSON
3 . . . . .Charlotte THOMPSON b.1807
3 . . . . .Isaac THOMPSON b.1811
3 . . . . .Harrison THOMPSON b.1816
2 . . . Maria THORNHILL b.1785 d.>1851 m.Edward POOL(E)
3 . . . . .Timothy POOL b.1820 d.>1851
3 . . . . .Robert POOL b.1825
3 . . . . .Marianne POOL b.1825