Thomas Horn

Thomas Horn, son of James and Sarah, was born in 1788 in Glasgow. We have little information about his childhood in Scotland, but we know that as a teen Thomas moved south to England – family letters indicate that his parents were living in Penrith in 1804, when Thomas was around 16.

We have a letter that Thomas wrote to his mother in that year:

Penrith 5th June 1804

My Dear Mother

         Give me leave to tell you as well as my pen will permit or rather as well as my unexperienced hand is capable of writing it how truly sensible I am of all your favours and that I will endeavour by my conduct to merit the continuance of them. May God preserve you and grant you every thing you can wish for from the good behaviour of

Your Dutiful Son
Thos. Horn

In January 1808 when Thomas was around 20 he wrote to his older sister Mary Horn Busher in Kendal from Workington [letter]. We do not know why he was in the seaside town, around 50 miles northwest of Kendal, if he was a visitor or living there. He mentions a friend lodging with his aunt there, and also that he was staying -or working with/for- a Mrs Sewell. Was Mrs Sewell Thomas’ aunt? The 1811 Jolie’s Directory lists a Mary Sewell, shopkeeper, at Town End in Workington.

Militia Service

Interestingly, there is a note (in Rob Ashmore’s research notebook) showing that in 1807 Thomas Horn served as a volunteer private, 3rd Company of the Cumberland Loyal Leath Ward Volunteer militia. In Newcastle, starting in 1813 Thomas served in the Loyal Newcastle Association, 6th Company. These “armed associations” were local militias, set up across England and funded by both government and wealthy individuals, in response to the perceived threat of French invasion. The Loyal Newcastle was formed in  1803:

[A History of the Volunteer Forces from the Earliest Times to the Year 1860, y Cecil Sebag-Montefiore]

The Courant offered this description, again from 1803 [source]

Newcastle Courant  Oct 8 1803

On Tuesday last, the Newcastle Loyal Volunteers (consisting of four companies and a company of riflemen attached) commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel CLENNELL, assembled in Pilgrim-street, and marched from thence to their exercising ground, near the Forth, in order to receive their colours, which after some manoeuvres by the corps, were returned to them by Thomas SMITH, Esq. the mayor, (having been, at the close of the late war, deposited in the mansion-house) with a short speech, expressive of his sense of the honour he received in having this service to perform. After the colours were delivered to the ensigns, the Lieutenant-Colonel addressed the corps in an eloquent speck, pointing out the duty of the respective members, and concluding with invoking the blessing of Heaven on their arms. The corps then marched back again into Pilgrim-street, and deposited the colour; after which they dined together at the Turk`s head, and spent the afternoon in conviviality and harmony.- The dress of the rifle company is a bottle green; that of the others scarlet and gold – very handsome.

In the context of his service in the militia, and his apparent restlessness for a ‘place’, or career, a letter from cousin Margaret Wilson (Penrith, 4th April 1814 [letter link) proves that Thomas was seriously considering a career in the Militia. He had sought, it seems, some sort of advice or perhaps recommendation from (now) Colonel Wilson, through Margaret, but had then written to his cousin with a change of heart. Margaret makes it clear in her reply the disdain held by ‘real’ soldiers for the militia.

Nevertheless, on September 10, 1816 the Newcastle Militia was called, and Thomas appears to have been required to report for duty once again.

By 1811 Thomas, now 23, had moved east across the Pennines and was living in Newcastle Upon Tyne in Northumberland. He worked as a reporter on The Courant, the Newcastle paper. At some point Thomas met Margaret Falconar, whom he married  in January 1819 at St. Mary’s Gateshead. Together they had three children: in April 1821 baby Margaret Falconar Horn is born, then in 1822 their daughter Mary Busher is born. Their third child, and only son, Thomas Story is born in 1824.

The cousins keep up correspondence after James Wilson’s return from the Napoleonic Wars. Peggy keeps Thomas up to date with society happenings, as well as family matters. A January 1821 letter to Thomas (Burnett, Jan 21) expresses sadness at the recent death of his older sister Mary Busher in 1820. [link to letter]

Thomas’s wife Margaret (b. February 1790) appears to be the daughter of Alexander (b.1761) and Margaret Falconar. The Falconars were an influential family of some means in the city. Cousin John Brunton, Sr. was a gentleman and newspaper proprietor, and his son John (Margaret’s nephew) was a solicitor who became Sheriff of Newcastle in 1873.  Another nephew, William Alexander (son of Hannah White and John) was in the beer business, a brewer & spirit merchant, his business based,

[…] at Tyne Dock, W.A. Falconar & Co. had taken over the Dene Brewery of James Kirkley, although the firm’s main operations were at Howdon where they had been since at least the 1790s.

[ Bennison, Univ. of Newcastle, 1992, p.23, pdf]

The same researcher shows that by the end of the 19th century, Falconar & Co. had 14 public houses in the Newcastle area. Interestingly, records also show that Margaret’s brother, John Brunton Falconar, purchased the Courant newspaper, for whom Thomas had worked as a young man [details…].

Brother, James Horn, Jr.

While Thomas was starting a family, his older brother James continued the family tobacco trade in Penrith. Pigot’s Directory of 1829 lists James as “Tobacco Manufacturer, Netherend”.

James married Mary Fiddler on July 3, 1800. They had a son, Joseph W. born in 1808, and daughter Sarah who died in 1850. James’ second wife was Margaret Stephenson, whom he married in 1828. What happened to his first wife Mary is not clear. The 1851 Census return shows James  (“Tobacconist/Journeyman”), aged 68, living with Margaret at 197 Union Place, Penrith.

In 1860 the (London) Gazette/Economist lists tobacco manufacturer J.W. Horn of Penrith and Newcastle as bankrupt. Shortly after this James appears in the 1861 census living in Penrith at the age of 78.

Business

By the late 1820s he had set up on his own, around age 30. The  1827  Newcastle and   Durham Directory and Gazeteer indicates that Thomas was a dealer in    “piano-fortes, guitars,   military and other instruments”, as well as being  pocket book and travelling cases  manufacturer, he is listed variously  as a bookbinder, stationer, bookseller, music seller and fancy stationer.

Pigot’s of 1828-9 lists Thomas a ‘Bookseller’. As a publisher & bookseller on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle, he is detailed in the Newcastle and Gateshead Directory listing:

“Horn, Thomas – bookseller, stationer and dealer in drawing materials, agent for London newspapers, pocket-book and travelling, &c. case mfr., sole agent for Wedgwood’s manifold writers, and bookbinder, 41 Pilgrim street.”

He evidently sold not only books and stationary, but a variety of goods: Wedgewood’s manifold writer was a copy book used to make multiple versions of letters or notes or anything written – an early photocopier. (http://jimsfortheloveofhistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-i-revived-obscure-piece-of.html)

Thomas’s father James died in or around 1830 and it appears that mother Sarah Story came to live with him and Margaret sometime thereafter. It is possible that the portraits of Thomas and Sarah date from around this time, perhaps painted after Sarah moved from the Lake District to live in Newcastle.

Other mentions of Thomas include one from 1833 in  A bibliography of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg: original and translated By James John George Hyde, Rev. James Hyde he is cited as ‘Bookseller’ on Mosley Street, Newcastle on Tyne.

By 1839 Thomas had become quite involved in politics. He was Chair of the Northern Political Union, and published a rousing Address to the oppressed citizenry of Ireland (QUOTE).

By this time the business had moved to premises in Market Street in central Newcastle. In this year the Northern Liberator (a ‘liberal’ paper, one of the six published in Newcastle at the time) carried an advertisement for Mr. T. Horn, Book and Music Seller. In addition to his publishing business Thomas is purveyor and also sole agent for many non-music/book items, such as Captain Pidding’s tea (“most assuredly the finest…”), Scott’s Magic Fluid  – “an infallible cure for the tooth-ache” –  and Aromatic Dentifrice and Scott’s Gingerina, and Lemonated Syrup (“for the instant preparation of Ginger Beer and Lemonade, of very superior quality”!)

On the home front, the 1841 Census shows that Thomas was 50 and living at 1, Market Street (Tindale?), St.Andrew’s parish, Newcastle. With him lived mother Sarah who by now had reached 80 years of age, along with Mary (18), Thomas (15),  and Elizabeth (11) and two women: Mary Ralph (40) and Mary Rutherford (15) – presumably domestic servants. It would seem logical to assume that Thomas Story, who also lived with the Horns at this time, is a relative of Sarah Story, TH’s mother. From the later contract that TH signs with him (see below), we see that Story was for many years an important part of the family business.

The Newcastle Directory listing for Thomas in 1841 gives an full picture of his professional work:

Horn Thomas, book and music seller, stationer, organ builder, dealer in 
Pianofortes, and every description of musical instruments, 32, Grey 
street ; h. 42, Cumberland row

Civic Affairs

The April 17 1841 edition of the Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser showed in its “Chartist Intelligence” section that National Petition papers were available for signing at Thomas’s Market Street shop. Chartism was a working-class movement for political and social reform in Britain between 1838 and 1848 which took its name from the People’s Charter of 1838. In addition to being at involved in the Chartist movement, it seems that Thomas was quite involved in civic affairs in general. He was Treasurer of the Newcastle Chartist Union and Superintendent of the Wesleyan Chapel Sunday School in Brunswick Place.

Wesleyan Chapel, Brunswick

1845 the Courant lists Thomas Horn as the Newcastle subscription agent for the Birmingham and Midland Counties Art Union (“for the purchase of the Works of Living Artists”). At around the same time, Principal Inhabitants of Cumberland (1847) shows Thomas’s  brother James’ continued occupation as “Tobacco/Snuff Maker” in Burrowgate, Penrith.

It was in 1848, when Thomas was about 60, that the cloak belonging to Sir James Wilson came into the possession of the Horns. A letter from Lady Wilson sent from her home in Burnett, Somerset dated 7th February that year reads:

“My dear Cousin
I send you dear Sir James’ Cloak which I thought might be useful, at all events I am sure you will value it as having been worn by him.”

It has survived intact and cherished in the Horn family for more than 160 years.

Cumberland Row

Thomas’s mother Sarah passed away in 1850, and the 1851 Census lists Thomas Horne (sic), Bookseller, aged 61 living at 42 Cumberland Row, in Westgate. The children Thomas Story and niece Elizabeth (born in Cumbria, daughter of James?) are still living at home, along with a housemaid, Mary Ann Atkin (19). Daughter Mary had by this time left home…[details?]. Margaret Falconar Horn is not shown living with them, and Rob Ashmore’s notes indicate that they were separated for some reason [details?] Thomas Story had not yet left for the Americas, although he surely must have been planning the voyage at this stage, since by 1852 he was living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Political Radicalism

In the mid-1850’s (1853-56) Britain was at war with Russia. Together with allies France and the Ottoman Empire/Turkey, Britain sought to halt the expansion of Tsar Nicholas I’s Russian Empire into the Balkans via the Black Sea. This was the war that gave rise to the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, and during which Florence Nightingale gained her fame.

In 1854 Thomas chaired a ‘Committee of Working Men’ into food shortages resulting from the war, and their enquiry into the matter, containing evidence given to the Committee by former MP David Urquhart, was published (by Thomas, of course!) as a pamphlet and in newspapers in 1854-5. He and his fellow Committee members -Charles Attwood, George Crawshaw, Rt. Geo Gammage, George Stobart and Thoas Johnson- were very critical of the British govenment, accusing the Prime Minister of actually colluding with the Russia government, restricting British commerce with Poland and forcing Turkey to impose high export tarifs on grain, to the alleged benefit of the British landed gentry.

1855 extract from FREE PRESS SERIALS, Published by Free Press, Sheffield (pdf)

The original pamphlet looked like this: On the Limitation of the Supply of Grain by the Past Action of British Diplomacy, Being a Report of a Sub-Committee of  the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Association for Watching the War.

Wikipedia has this on Urquhart:

From 1847 to 1852 he sat in parliament as member for Stafford, and carried on a vigorous campaign against Lord Palmerston’s foreign policy […] The action of the United Kingdom in the Crimean War provoked indignant protests from Urquhart, who contended that Turkey was in a position to fight her own battles without the assistance of other powers. To attack the government, he organized “foreign affairs committees” which became known as Urquhartite, throughout the country, and in 1856 (with finance from ironmaster George Crawshay) became the owner of the Free Press (in 1866 renamed the Diplomatic Review), which numbered among its contributors the socialist Karl Marx.

By 1855 the Horn business had moved from Market Street to 33-3 Grey Street in Newcastle, according to the Northumberland Directory of that year.

Grey Street

Thomas appears again in civic matters in February 1856, when the Courant carried an open letter to the Mayor of Newcastle, asking him to convene a public meeting to consider petitioning the government against the Local Dues – Shipping Bill. Thomas Horn & Thomas S. Horn of Grey Street are signators to the letter, along with Thos. Storey of Dean Street.

Articles of Agreement – 1859

In 1859 a contract was drawn up with Thomas’ long-time business associate and relative, Thomas Story. From the original Articles of Agreement that are still in Bee’s possession it appears that after a period of some two years during which time Story was effectively managing the business owing to Horn’s “infirm health”, they decided to formalise the situation and make Story a partner.

As Thomas approached the end of his days, the 1861 Census shows him still living at number 42 Cumberland Row with niece Elizabeth Horn, aged 31, and Hannah Holliday their housemaid, aged 19.  On the 13th September he passed away, aged 70. Notice of his will was placed in the London Gazette of October 17th that year [image], with William Chartres solicitor to the executors. London Gazette 1862 (pdf)

The probate notice states that the will was proven by John Hopper, tobacconist, with effects under £450.

Thomas’s brother James passed away in November 1866, aged 84(?), and James Busher [also a tobacconist, nephew, son of Mary?] served as executor for his effects which counted under £200.