Hoblyn Family Tree
The Hoblyn Family Tree
Richard Hobling (1789 - 1843) = Jennifer (Jane) Hancock. Married 21st June 1810 at Liskeard.
Richard Hobling was born in St Cleer in 1789. He lived and worked in the Liskeard area as variously a husbandman, chaise driver and a horse trader; in his final years he was shown as simply a Labourer. He and his family appear in the 1841 census for Liskeard, living at Higher Lux Street. He and his wife Jane were both shown as aged 50, their daughters Elizabeth and Ann Maria and sons Richard and John were living with them. Richard died in Liskeard in 1843.
Joseph Hoblyn (16/3/1821 - 1864) = Louisa Hunting (c1822 - 1908)
Joseph Hoblyn was the son of Richard Hobling. Born in 1821, Joseph was their fourth child of eight - Elizabeth (1812), Jane (1816), William (1818) then Joseph followed by Richard (1823), Mary Ann (1825), Anna Maria (1827) and John (1832). Quite why and when the change of spelling came about I have no idea, I can only assume that, as Joseph was illiterate (see his marriage certificate in the Marriage link above, where he marks instead of signing), his father was similarly so. When registering the births of his children he told the Registrar his name and the Registrar had to make his best guess at the spelling.
Joseph wasn't quite 21 (but is described on his marriage record as "of full age!") when he married in 1841. His bride was Louisa Hunting, daughter of William Hunting, a baker, and she had been working as a servant. She appears to have been born in 1822 and thus is described as "a minor", being just 19 at the time. Joseph signed the marriage record with a mark, so he was presumably illiterate at that time at least, whereas Louisa could write her name.
On his marriage record Joseph gave his occupation as Ostler, then variously described himself as (at the baptism of his first two children) a labourer, then a carrier, then an ostler again and, at the baptism of his final child, a groom. His son John's marriage certificate shows him as a Coachman, very grand! From this I suppose we can assume that he spent his life around horses and carts! This was unusual given the fact that most people in Looe at that time would have been involved in the fishing industry, but I presume that much of what he carried would have been fish or fishing-related.
Joseph and Louisa had ten children in total.
Jane was born in 1841, which must have meant that Louisa was quite large at her wedding!
Silas Hunting Hoblyn followed two years later and he was followed by Louisa, whom I have called Louisa 1 because sadly she died two weeks after her birth.
Next came Charlotte followed by the second Louisa, then two more sons, Joseph and John, then three more daughters, Elizabeth, the grandly named Maria Victoria and finally Philippa.
The surname spelling still seems to have been a bit flexible, Charlotte, Louisa and Philippa had it spelt Hoblyn, while Joseph, Elizabeth and John were spelt Hoblin, on their baptism records at least and on other occasions it is spelt Hobling. They moved around a bit. In 1851 they lived at 18 Fore Street, East Looe with their four surviving children. By 1861 they were at 34 Castle Street with their then seven children, including Jane who was by then 20 and married to Joseph Pengelly, 21 years and described as a sailor. Jane was working as a laundress.
Joseph died in 1864, and two years later Charlotte married in Stoke Damerel, Plymouth. By the 1871 census the widowed Louisa was at 309 Barbican Lane, East Looe with John, Victoria and Philippa at home. John, by then 17, was described as a sailor. In the same census I found an Eliza Hoblyn working as a domestic at 276 Shutta Lane, Looe, who was 14 years old so almost certainly their daughter Elizabeth, and also a Louisa aged 21 also working as a servant at 52 Fore Street. By the time of the 1881 census the older Louisa, aged 60, was living at Tower Hill, Looe, and working as a charwoman. Two of her daughters lived with her, one is Victoria who had by now married Cornelius Roose (at St John's Church, Sutton on Plym, 11th April 1877) and had a daughter named Elizabeth, 2 years old. The other is Philippa, at the time 19 years old and also working as a charwoman. One of the two witnesses to Victoria's marriage was one Louisa Hoblyn, but as she made a mark instead of signing this must have been Victoria's sister rather than her mother. Victoria herself did sign the marriage certificate, so she was better educated than her sister!
By the 1891 census (courtesy of Cornwall Online Census Project) Louisa, by now 70, was still described as a charwoman and Philippa was the only daughter still at home. She was now 29, unmarried and working as a general servant but by now she had a son, named John Snell, who had been born at Dartmouth 3 months previously. Her life became more complicated when, in April 1897, she gave birth to twin girls, who were also illegitimate. Ivy and May were born on 29th April 1897 at East Looe. Unfortunately May died the following year aged just 15 months from Marasmus, a wasting disease caused by bad diet. Ivy thrived however.
For Philippa there was eventually a happy ending (one would hope!) because on 12th June 1904, at the age of 43, she married 56 year old Joseph Hill, a licenced victualler, in Looe. The register was signed by her sister Victoria and Victoria's husband Cornelius Roose. Their married life was short however, Joseph died early the following year leaving Philippa a widow with two children.
She was obviously a survivor though and the 1911 census shows her and Ivy living in Looe with Philippa working as a charwoman. Ivy went on to marry Sidney Webb in Plymouth in 1921 and had three children. I know all this thanks to her grandson Colin who now lives in America.
Joseph and Louisa's third daughter Louisa appear to have stayed in service. In the 1891 census she was working for a tailor called Frank Elbert in Hanway Street, Marylebone. In the 1901 census she is working for a 75 year old German called Ferdinand Frankenheim in Bolton Road, Hampstead as a general servant. I doubt that she would have ever returned to Cornwall.
Louisa senior died in 1908 at the age of 86 and was buried with Joseph in St Martins Church, Looe on 8th February 1906.
John Hoblyn = Rebecca Turvey
John married Rebecca in Swansea, although she was not Welsh, having been born in Staffordshire the daughter of John Turvey, a labourer. I'm told that John had been working on a ship running between Hayle and Swansea, met her there and married her, and this is borne out by his profession, Mariner, on the certificate and Sailor in the 1881 Census. Their children John, William, Louisa and Joseph were all born in Swansea, but sadly Joseph died in 1881 and they moved back to Looe where Arthur was born on 23/6/1881, followed by George who was baptised 6/11/1884. The place of birth of both these is given as West Looe, and John's profession by then is given as fisherman, although later, when Arthur married, he was a general labourer. Interestingly, the mother's name on the baptism records is given as Rachel.
In 1891 they were living at 75 Fore Street, Looe, which is not far from where John had been born at 18 Fore Street. At the time of the census John was not present (presumably at sea), but Rebecca, by then 42 years of age, had John, Arthur and George at home.
John junior, by then 22, married the 19 year old Laura Philp in Looe on 15th May 1893. They had a son, Ronald Charles Percy, who was born on 10th April 1899. Their happiness was short-lived because Laura died on 23rd March 1901 of Puerperal Eclampsia, a mineral deficiency also known as milk fever and now easily treated. As this is a disease which normally occurs after childbirth I assume both she and the child died because I can find no record of anther child. She died at their then home, 18 Prospect Row, Devonport, and was buried at Ford Park Cemetery on 28th March 1901 in Church ground. John was shown in the 1901 census as a 27 year-old widower living at that address. As far as I have been able to discover he never remarried.
By the 1901 Census John senior and Rebecca were living at 18 St Andrews Street, Millbrook, with Arthur, 19, and their two-year-old grandson Ronald, son of John and his late wife Laura, living with them.
John and Rebecca later moved to Devonport, to 89 Pembroke Street. At his death John was described as "formerly a Fish Hawker", another and final career change!
Of the surviving children William, by then a Seaman in the Royal Navy, married Louise Roseina Ellen Sandford on 18th September 1901. He was 24 and she 23, and they were living at 57 Alexandra Road, Ford, Plymouth. It was WIlliam, then living at 29 Clowance Street, Devonport, who registered his father's death in 1935. William died aged 63 at 25 Ker Street, Devonport and was buried in Millbrook on 26th July 1939.
George joined the Army and the 1901 census finds him aged 18 at Granby Barracks, Devonport as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps. He married Mary Elizabeth Lilian Lippett in 1923, by which time he was 39 and working as a china-clay labourer and she 24, and they were the only ones I had any contact with. I was in touch with Aunt Mary during the last few months of her life.
Rebecca died at 89 Pembroke Street, Devonport in March 1934 and John senior died in the City Hospital, Plymouth on 31st May 1935. Both were aged 81 when they died and both are buried at Ford Park in the same grave in the Church Ground with their daughter-in-law Laura. It overlooks a picturesque tree-lined valley which is one of the entrances to Central Park.
Arthur Hoblyn = Sarah Ann Bush (nee Daymond)
(Her second marriage)
Sarah Ann Bush, as she now was, was a widow in her early to mid twenties when she met up with Arthur, a young sailor based at what was then called HMS Vivid, later better known as HMS Drake, the Naval barracks in Devonport. (Click here to see Arthur's Naval Record). They married in April 1907, and their first child, Arthur James, was born seven weeks later, so their reason for getting married must have been apparent to all!
Arthur in uniform Sarah Ann with five of her children
They went on to have four more children whilst living at 5 Blindwell Cottages, Millbrook, Leonard in 1908, Agnes Eileen (known as Eileen) in 1911, my father Ernest John in 1913 and finally Ashley in 1917. Sadly her husband Arthur died before Ashley was born. Esther, her daughter by Bush, was also still living with them.
Arthur had signed on on 16th January 1903 for twelve years in the Royal Navy, starting out as a Stoker. He was based at Devonport and mainly sailed in ships of the Home Fleet, including Triumph (later renamed Tenedos), Leander, Blake and Warrior, rising in rank to Stoker Petty Officer. He also sailed on Sapphire ll and the armoured cruiser Sutlej, before embarking on the Floridian in July 1914. She was a merchant ship which was used as a supply ship, much like a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel would be today. He apparently sailed on her to the Mediterranean, presumably to act as a support ship for the troops engaged in the Gallipoli campaign.
On 16th September 1915 Arthur was taken from the Floridian to the Royal Naval Hospital in Malta suffering from heart trouble. He was returned to England aboard the Hospital Ship Brasile, leaving Malta on 25th October 1915, and on arriving at HMS Vivid he was invalided out of the Navy on 8th December 1915 suffering from an Aortic aneurism.
On 30th November 1916 Arthur died at the Royal Albert Hospital in Devonport. He was buried on 5th December in a military grave in Millbrook churchyard, about half way down from the top beside the wall nearest the road down to Millbrook square. His time in the Navy entitled him to three medals, The British War Medal, The 1914-15 Star and The Victory Medal, and these were presented to Annie in 1922.
In 1923 Esther Alice, her first-born child (centre above), married William Henry Gidson Channing, a drummer in the 1st Battalion, The Devons. They subsequently moved to Bristol and, apart from returning for Leonard's wedding to Edna, rarely came back to this part of the world.
Annie, who had now been widowed for the second time at the age of 36, lived on, first at their home at 5 Blindwell Cottages (later condemned and demolished; Ernie used to laugh about the night the whole family went up the stairs to bed and the stairs collapsed!) and then at Maker Quarters, bringing up her remaining children in what must have been very difficult circumstances in that pre-welfare state era. She later moved to 3 Green Park, Cawsand, within a hundred yards of both her daughter Eileen and son Leonard. This was where she died of cancer on 9th December 1941 at the age of 60. She is buried with Arthur at Millbrook.