Henry HORNER

Henry HORNER

• General Notes
  • The life and times of Henry Horner.
    by John Wagstaff
    
    Having gone down many dead ends and false assumptions i am now in a position to write a account of Henry's life from fact.
    
    Henry was born on the 29th October 1861, at Carthorpe, nr Bedale in North Yorkshire.His mother Mary was about 16yrs old and there is no father mentioned.
    
    In the spring of 1861 when the national census was taken it looks like Mary Horner was a house servant at a place called Sharow which is on the outskirts of Ripon, thus she probarbly went back to her parents to have the baby.
    
    Moving forward to 1869 Mary, Henry's mother, marries Elijah Midgley on the 15th December.Henry retains his Horner surname, as we can see from the 1871 census. The 1871 census has Elijah and Mary with a son called Hooner, this must have been spelt wrong. The overall situation of the family had probarbly inproved as we see Elijah working as a railway guard, compared to both Elijah and Mary working as farm labourers at the time of their wedding,see marriage cert.
    
    In the 1881 census we find Henry now 20yrs having left home and woking as a Farm Servant, for a Ann Hall of Myre Barfe Farm, East Tanfield, nr Ripon. However later that year Henry joins the West Riding Constabulary as a Police Constable. His exact start date was 20th October 1881. He apparently served his 25 yrs service in the one division of Lower Agbrig, Wakefield.
    
    In 1883 Henry marries Emma Chafer at Altofts Wakefield, see marriage cert, and they start a family having four children before the 1891 census, one being my future grand mother Annie born Oct 1885. Incedently Henry put down Thomas Horner as his father, this was infact his grandfather, he had already entered Thomas has his father with the police. Possably to disguise the fact he was born out of wedlock.
    
    In the 1891 census we find Emma Horner, Henry's wife, and children living with her in-law the Midgley's in Bradford, but no sign of Henry. This seems quite odd as Henry would have now been in the police force for 10yrs and working in Wakefield, one would have thought that they would have been well established with their own home.
    
    We know from the press article and from the police records that Henry served for 25 yrs as a Police Constable and retired from the force on the 1st January 1907. I have been unable thus far to trace Henry in the 1901 census when he would have still been in the police force.
    
    From the newspaper article,see photo's, regarding Henry,s retirement we see that he got a position working for the Light Railway Company at Lofthouse Park. So far I have found out nothing about this. However we do know that he eventually worked as a Night Watchman at Lofthouse Collery, this information from his grandson Colin and Sydney Wagstaff. Henry and Emma by this time had moved to 4 Poplar Terrace, Lofthouse Gate, which was a cottage close to their now son-in-laws butchers shop. Henry would deliver meat by horse and cart every Saturday. The son-in-law was Percy Bailey who had married daughter Mary.
    
    Both Colin and Sydney remember going with their mother to visit Henryand Emma[Grandparents] at Lofthouse Gate every summer.When anyone called Emma,Grandma, would send them across the road for a 'gill of olde ale'. While they were away she would put the poker in the fire, and on their return would put it into the ale to make it fizz. It appears that Charles,Annie's husband,rarely went on these visits , something to do with Percy having got himself into debt had asked for help. Colin and Syd both remember visiting their Grandparents by train on their own.
    
    Henry died July 1931, as yet I have no date for Emma's death.
    
    by John Wagstaff
    

Details of Henry's family with Emma Elizabeth CHAFER