View month three of Stacey's search
Last month with the help of North Lincolnshire Museum I was able to tell my family that their old photograph was in fact of the five Hornsby brothers, George, William, John, Fred and James – Crosby’s famous rat catcher and poet. I also caught a glimpse of the rural, agricultural life in Crosby Village before the large-scale industrial iron-ore mining took over. The Hornsby’s back in the late 1800s were witness to the area developing into an industrial urban hub – with people travelling far and wide to come to the area for work.
My mother’s side of my family is one such example. My grandparents, Joshua and Maureen Varley (from my mother’s side) came to Scunthorpe from Darlington because of the steelworks in the 1950s. Back then the lure of jobs at the steelworks attracted thousands to the area and at its peak in the 1970s around 20,000 people were employed on the works. My dad recalls buses were even put on bringing in workers from Grimsby, Gainsborough and the surrounding area because there was so much demand. Today the figure stands at around 6,500 employees.
With this jump in the local population, the Hornsby family, like many others, grew. In fact my family tree is now so big, we’re unable to print it as it covers several pages. The five brothers between them had 32 children, and then their children had children and so on. So it’s easy to see why Hornsby descendents really are everywhere! And since I’ve been researching my family tree, several have contacted me after hearing about my search.
Len Hornsby is one of these people. Len is 83 and lives in Scunthorpe. He invited me and my great Aunt, Hazel Hornsby, to visit him to see if he could help me with my search. Len is descended from John Hornsby’s side, who was his great grandfather. Len’s grandfather was Arthur Hornsby, the founder of Hornsby bus company in Scunthorpe. And Len founded the Hornsby Estate Agents in 1960.
Through visiting Len I’ve made some massive strides into my family tree. While I’ve been mentioning the five Hornsby brothers, Len informed me that there were actually more siblings than just these five brothers. In fact there were actually ten – three sisters and seven brothers in total. Len’s grandfather, Arthur, started the bus firm in Ashby in 1904. And Len recalls how they all had regular family outings on the Hornsby buses.
Len said:
"I started looking into my family tree over twenty years ago. At the time I’d just had an operation and the doctor told me I needed to rest. So, I decided to keep myself occupied by looking into my family tree. Over the last twenty years I’ve accumulated loads of information and I’m still constantly finding out more."
From initially looking into his family tree as a means of passing the time while recovering from an operation, Len now has descendent charts, pictures, marriage certificates, newspaper clippings and much more – all on the Hornsby family. It’s been wonderful reading through his findings and finding out more on our large family.
Another person who has contacted me is Christine Fillingham. Christine lives in Winterton and while she’s not related to the Hornsby’s she’s spent a lot of time investigating the life of one of the family members. In 1989 Christine was in her final year of her combined studies degree course at the then Humberside College of Higher Education.
Christine said:
"I’d read about James Hornsby in the 1970s so rather than choosing to write about one of the more famous poets for my dissertation, I chose James Hornsby", said Christine. "I started my search through writing to Normanby Hall and then I spoke to a few Hornsby descendents and took it from there."
The result was a comprehensive insight into the life and works of James Hornsby. Christine managed to track down some of James Hornsby’s surviving poetry. Discovering that James was unable to read or write she saw how many of his verses reflected the move from mass illiteracy to compulsory education.
"Stacey’s search has brought back memories of when I was at university! I remember that my literature teacher was pleased that I chose the Hornsby subject to write about. He and I both agreed that the Hornsby’s have made a real contribution to the local area – so much so, that I decided to give a copy of my work to the North Lincolnshire Museum."
Another person who has contacted me about my search is Vanessa Cormack. Vanessa now lives in Aberdeenshire but like me has local Hornsby roots too.
Vanessa said:
"My grandfather was Herbert Edmund Trafford Hornsby. He married Freda Emma May Scott (Scottish ancestry) and they had 8 children – Colin, Janet, Martin (my father), Valerie, Edward, Trevor, Jane and Susanne. My grandfather used to be the landlord of the Brown Cow pub which has since been demolished, and he also started up the speedway track down at Ashby Ville."
After speaking to Christine, her study of James Hornsby identified his poetry linked together his life and the contrasting life of the Sheffield family of Normanby. She found the relationship between the rat catcher and the landowners was one of "aristotic patronage".
To find out what Stacey discovered next go to month five of our family history case study.