The family of Charles Newbon

Charles and Henrietta’s 4 eldest children were born at a house in St Bride’s Passage (immediately next to the church) and the younger children were born on the other side of Fleet Street at 5 Racquet Court. It would seem that Charles and Henrietta moved to Racquet Court between 1817 and 1820 and they stayed there until the mid-1830s, when they moved to 94 Dorset Street, Salisbury Square, on the other side of Fleet Street once again (see map above). The 1841 census reveals that by this stage they were wealthy enough to employ a domestic servant. They most likely remained at this address until Charles retired, probably in the mid-1840s (when he would have been aged about 60), at which point they moved to 37 Grosvenor Park North, Walworth, a large house in a quiet suburban area, which survives today.

Professional life
Charles Newbon, like his father Walter, must have had a good head for business. He appears in the City trade directories throughout the 1820s, 1830s and early 1840s as a tailor and draper and he is referred to in several sources as a ‘tailor master’ – in the records of the Bakers’ Company of the 1820s, for example, he can be found as a master taking on boy apprentices. In the Post Office directory of 1841 he can be found trading under the name Charles Newbon and Son – this latter was most likely his second son, Walter Henry, who was still a bachelor and (as the 1841 census reveals) living at home with his parents and sisters. John, the elder son, already had a family by this stage and can be traced to various addresses at this time.

37 Grosvenor Park North, Newington,
where Charles and Henrietta Newbon died

Lorrimore Square, Newington, where Walter
Henry Newbon lived in the 1850s?

The lives of Charles Newbon’s children

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Charles Wood Huntley, Charles and Henrietta’s eldest son, was clearly a favourite grandchild of Ann Newbon, for a number of legacies were bequeathed to him and his cousin Sarah Jane Newbon in Ann’s will drawn up in 1822. Charles’s early death must have been a bitter blow, and John Newbon thereafter would have felt a new importance within the family, with Charles’s legacies passed to him. The origins of Charles Wood Huntley’s middle names are unknown.

	John Newbon was the ancestor of a many London Newbons. His life should have been one of prosperity but it unfortunately took a different course, outlined on the page devoted to his story.

	Charles Newbon’s two daughters both married but both died young. Diana Nancy Newbon married John Edward

Charles Newbon (1784-1859)

Born:	1784 (Blackfriars)	Died:	October 5th 1859 (Newington)
Father:	Walter Newbon (1750-98)	Mother:	Ann Newbon, formerly Dixon (c.1743-1829)
Spouse:	Henrietta Harriet Blyde (c.1790-1860)	Occupation:	Tailor
Children:	Charles Wood Huntly Newbon (1811-25), John Newbon (1813-82), Henrietta Suzzanah Newbon (1815-17), James Newbon (1817-25), Walter Henry Newbon (1820-92), Joseph Newbon (c.1822-24), Diana Nancy Newbon (1824-61), Edward Newbon (1826-37), William Newbon (1831-32), Henrietta Newbon (1833-57)

This is the Last Will and Testament of me Charles Newbon of Grosvenor Park Camberwell in the county of Surrey Gentleman I direct the payment of my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses I bequeath the legacy of nineteen guineas to the wife of my son John Newbon I give and bequeath all my estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever unto my executors hereinafter named their executors administrators and assigns upon trust to make sale thereof and convert the same into money and to invest the proceeds of such sale in government securities or upon improved and sufficient mortgages or to permit the same to remain in its present state of investment and upon trust to pay the interest dividends and annual produce of such my estate unto my wife Henrietta for her separate and inalienable use during her natural life and after her decease upon trust to divide the same equally between my son Walter Henry Newbon and my daughter Diana the wife of John Murray for her separate and independent use free from the debts and control of her husband and I appoint my said wife and my son Walter Henry Newbon and my son in law the said John Murray Executors and Trustees of this my will and I direct that their receipt shall be a sufficient discharge for any purchaser or purchasers of any portion of my estate as witness my hand this sixth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty nine — Chas. Newbon — signed and acknowledged by the said Charles Newbon as and for his last will in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses this sixth day of June one thousand eight hundred and fifty nine — Thomas Newbon — Frederick Heritage Solicitors 1 Wardrobe Place Doctors Commons

Proved at London 7th Nov.r 1859 by the oaths of Walter Henry Newbon the son and John Murray two of the Executors to whom admon was granted power reserved of making the life grant to Henrietta Newbon widow the relict the other executor when she shall apply for the same.

Murray, a baker in the City of London, in 1853 but died childless in 1861 at the age of 36. Henrietta Newbon married William Turner, a bank clerk from Camberwell, in 1857, but died from an epileptic fit within only a few months of the wedding; she was aged only 24. One can imagine the grief her parents must have felt at losing a 6th child.

Charles’s 2nd surviving son, Walter Henry Newbon, married Ellen Ann Martin, some 14 years his junior, at Croydon in 1857. Walter worked as a tailor, most likely with his father, and probably enjoyed some success after Charles’s death - he is described as a ‘master tailor’ on Ellen’s death certificate of 1929, although if true, this status had probably been many years before, since on the 1891 census he can be found as a pauper in the Hackney Union Workhouse, where he died the following year, aged 72. Ellen can be found in 1891 living with her children in Islington, which perhaps indicates Walter was admitted to the Workhouse because of ill health; at what point in the 1880s Walter and Ellen moved north of the river to Hackney, or for what reason, is not known - they were in Camberwell in 1881 and most of their married life was spent in Southwark. Walter and Ellen had 10 children, several of whom possessed particularly colourful and unusual Christian names: the 3 eldest surviving children were girls - Florence Ellen, Constance Phoebe and Ethel Beatrice; these were followed by 2 boys, and then another daughter and another son and two more daughters - Walter Ingledew (whose middle name was a surname from his mother Ellen’s family, belonging to both witnesses, for example, at her marriage to Walter), Samuel Martin (whose middle name was his mother’s maiden name), Grace Lillie, Ebenezer Octavius, Alice Maude Marian and Annie May. It is fortunate that a family bible survives from this branch of the Newbon family, not least since it solves the mystery of Ebenezer Octavius Newbon’s middle name, giving the only reference to Eleanora, Walter and Ellen’s first child. who presumably died soon after her birth. No mention of Eleanora can be found in official records, which, regarding her death certificate, is particularly, even though in this period many would try avoid paying for a birth to be registered. Perhaps Ellen suffered a miscarriage late in her pregnancy, or perhaps the death was simply misrecorded (as possibly the birth had been). Whatever the story, the existence of Eleanora does indeed confirm that Ebenezer Octavius was the couple’s 8th child.

All of Walter and Ellen’s children married, apart from Eleanora, and Annie, who died aged only 28. The other children of Walter and Ellen Newbon can be found much more easily in the records, but a number of them have a more interesting story to tell than at first seems to be the case, with several marrying for a second time and moving considerable distances:

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Put simply, Florence Ellen Newbon was unlucky in love. In 1880 she married Craven Bourne, then a glass painter, and the following year a son, Craven Ingledew Bourne, was born to the couple. But within a few years the marriage was clearly in difficulties and Florence became the only known member of the Newbon family at this time to be divorced. Since divorce would have been a rather extreme and certainly expensive option, the couple (or at least the husband) must have felt very strongly that this was the only viable option. Particularly unexpected, however, is that Craven Bourne filed for divorce twice over, first (unsuccessfully) citing as grounds Ellen’s relationship with a Mr Davenport in the 1880s and secondly in 1895 with Carl Emil Spreng, a German gentleman. On this second occasion the divorce was granted, although sadly Carl died later that year before the decree absolute took effect in 1896. The National probate records of 1933 give the death of ‘Florence Ellen Bourne or Spreng’ as having taken place on November 22 the previous year at the Hotel Cliveden at Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. Probate was granted to ‘Florence Anna Ayers, single woman’. Ellen and Carl had one daughter ‘Ruby’ Spreng and this was most likely Ruby’s full name. Neither version of her name can be found among the Spreng births of 1895/6, but then in this country this is an unusual name that could easily have been misspelt at any point. If she were indeed ‘single’ in 1933 she may in fact have been widowed or, like her mother before her, she may have been separated or even divorced from her husband by that date. The censuses give interesting insights into Florence’s life. In 1901 census, for example, Ellen was listed with Ruby at 7 Trinity Avenue, Prittlewell, Essex, taking on paying guests; it is interesting to note that a domestic servant was also listed in the household. In 1913 Florence and Ruby can be found among passenger lists en route to New York, both being listed at the time as American citizens, which would explain why they cannot be found on the 1911 census of the UK. Florence’s husband Craven was given custody in 1895 of their son Craven Ingledew Bourne (who died in 1945), although the censuses indicate that in his early years he lived mainly with his father’s unmarried sister, another Florence Bourne. After his divorce Craven senior remarried and started a second family; Craven junior thus soon acquired half-siblings on both sides of his family.

	Constance married John Henry Holford at Hammersmith in 1897 and had one daughter.

	Ethel married Charles Stubbs, a solicitor’s clerk, at Brixton in 1887. The 1911 census confirms that Ethel and Charles had no children.

	Walter, who, like his father, grandfather and uncle before him, became a tailor, moved to Portsmouth, where he died in 1910, having married Rose Charlotte White at Southsea in 1893; the couple had two daughters. After Walter’s death Rose married John Setford in 1922 and died at Portsmouth in 1951.

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Samuel Martin Newbon married twice: his first wife Catherine (Kate) Saunderson, whom he married at Middlesborough in 1889, was committed to the County Lunatic Asylum at Sedgefield and died of septicaemia following an operation at the age of only 28; he married secondly Ellen Stemp in Brighton in 1901, when he was listed as a commercial clerk. Samuel died of tuberculosis in 1913 at Chelsea at the age of only 47. The 1911 census show that Samuel and Ellen had three children.

	Grace Lillie Newbon married Charles Bradbury at Islington in 1894; the couple had one child, Ernest C. Bradbury. After Charles’s death Grace married Robert Walter Smith, with whom she had three further sons, settling in the USA in Gloversville, near New York.

	Ebenezer Octavius Newbon became an advertising agent and lived at 17 Hewitt Avenue, Wood Green, London with his wife Emma Louise, née Norman (whom he married at Southwark in 1900), and their two sons. Ebenezer died in 1938.

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Alice Maude Marian married Heinrich August Luyken, who was born in Germany. Heinrich was evidently a gifted linguist and a keen writer. Indeed, he became one of the most respected authors in the artificial language Esperanto of his generation. Various articles can be found about him on the Internet and his books can also still be found for sale.

Horwood’s plan of London of 1792-99 (reproduced by permission of the Guildhall Library, City of London) shows clearly the area
where Charles Newbon spent much of his life. His childhood home in St Andrew’s Hill lies to the right, while the parish of
St Bride’s, Fleet Street, in whose church he married and where his children were baptised, lies to the left, across New Bridge Street.

Family life
Charles Newbon married Henrietta Blyde of Southwark on June 26th 1810 (when he was 25 or possibly just 26) in St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, and it was in this parish that the couple lived for most of their married lives. Just 4 of their 9 children lived to adulthood, 2 sons (John and Walter Henry) and 2 daughters (Diana Nancy and Henrietta).

The parish records of St Bride’s are, for their time, particularly informative and give the causes of death of 3 of Charles’s 5 children who died young. Two of these children died in 1825: James, the 4th child (who was born only 3 weeks after the burial of his elder sister Henrietta Suzannah in 1817), died of ‘water on the brain’ at the age of 7 and was buried on January 19th 1825, and Charles Wood Huntley Newbon (the eldest child) died of ‘dropsy’ (now also known as ‘oedema’), aged 14, and was buried on May 15th; the youngest son William became the 2nd of the children to succumb to ‘water on the brain’, dying at the age of 9 months in 1832.

1841	-	at home at 94 Dorset Street, St Bride’s, City of London with his wife Henrietta (listed as Mary!) and children Walter, Henrietta and Diana (listed as Dinah), and also one domestic servant.
1851	-	at home at 37 Grosvenor Park North, Newington with Henrietta and their children Walter, Henrietta and Diana (all listed as ‘assist in business’). This comment suggests that Charles was in fact still working at this time, although whether still in the City of London or locally in Newington is not known.

Thomas Newbon, the solicitor who drew up Charles’s will, was his great-nephew, the son of James Shelton Newbon, and this is important evidence to show that these two branches of the Newbon family kept in touch after the death of Charles’s brother James in 1830. The last evidence connecting these branches is through The United Wards’ Club, which was founded by Thomas’s brother Joseph in 1877. An early member was John Edward Murray, the widower of Charles’s daughter Diana Nancy. It is unlikely that contact was maintained between John Newbon and his cousins after Charles’s death, by which time the social distinction between the two families had become quite pronounced; neither is there any evidence to suggest that Walter Henry Newbon kept in touch with James’s descendants. By the end of his life, the money that Walter inherited from his father seems to have evaporated, so, as with John, this contact seems unlikely.

Charles and Henrietta Newbon both died at their home in Walworth, in 1859 and 1860 respectively. Charles’s death was reported in The Times of Tuesday 11th October 1859, as follows:

On the 5th inst., Mr Charles Newbon, of Grosvenor Park North, Camberwell, formerly of

St Bride’s, Fleet Street, aged 75, much regretted and highly respected by all who knew him.

Henrietta’s death was reported the following year on Friday March 9th 1860:

On the 7th inst. At Grosvenor Park North, Henrietta, the beloved wife of

the late Mr Charles Newbon, formerly of St Bride’s, in her 70th year.

One wonders who arranged for these death notices to be placed. It was, perhaps, most likely their daughter and son-in-law Diana Nancy and John Edward Murray; it seems unlikely to have been John or Walter Henry Newbon; their son-in-law William Turner had become a widower in 1857 and it is not known whether or not he remained at all close to the Newbon family - the death of his wife Henrietta had, however, been listed in a very similar vein in The Times,so it is not impossible he arranged the death notices of his parents-in-law. Charles and Henrietta’s home at Grosvenor Park North was given as John Newbon’s address when he registered his mother’s death in 1860, but it is more likely that John was merely staying temporarily at his parents’ home, for in 1861 he is listed on the census with his own family at 2a Ewhurst Street nearby. This proximity does make it very likely that John’s children would have known their grandparents Charles and Henrietta well and shows that John and his mother at least remained close, despite the difficulties John experienced in his life.

Charles Newbon on the census