William Wilson Horn was born in Huntsville, Alabama in March 1854, the second of two sons born to Thomas Story and Mary Stephenson who had migrated to the United Stated several years earlier. They settled in Alabama after a short time in Cincinnatti, Ohio.
From Bee’s Notes:
WWH was one of the few Englishmen who had a slave (hired labour) to look after him. He used to sing to his grandchildren “I came from Alabama with a banjo on my knee …” WWH came back to Newcastle when he was 17 months old. He and his brother Tom were among Dr. Snape’s boys at the Grammar School there.”
Snape was Dr. James Snape, Head Master at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. Although WWH himself references RGS in letters, the school has not been able to find a record of his attendance there.
Thomas Story and Mary moved back to England, and by the 1861 census they were living in Jesmond, Newcastle again, with WWH aged 7. Sister Margaret was born in 1857. Sadly, Mary passed away in 1858, when William Wilson was just a small boy. We don’t know the cause of her early death, although it seems from what we know of her health in America that she was perhaps unwell for some time.
Thomas Story and the children go to live with Mary’s parents, William and Mary Stephenson, who at this time are in their early 70s, at No.9 Sandyford Place(?), Jesmond.
Other than the reference to Newcastle Grammar School the course of WWH’s education is not clear. We do know that he followed his father into the music and publishing business and worked with him at Horn and Story in Newcastle until they moved to London.
The 1871 Census shows William Wilson aged 17 living at 22 Grove St., Elswick, Newcastle with father Tom, now 47, and sister Margaret (14, “Scholar”).
At some point in the 1870s, when WWH was in his 20s the family moved south and settled in London. The 1881 census shows that WWH, now 26 years old, was living at “The Cottage”, Elgin Road, Croydon with his father Thomas Story and their maid Annie Ortmiller, age 16.
Sarah Amelia Barker
The Horns and the Barkers were connected by a shared profession. Wilson’s father was a stationer and bookseller, as was Frederick Barker, his future father-in-law. It seems certain this connection is how the couple met. On the 19th August 1884 in Croydon, at the age of 30, WWH married Sarah Amelia Barker, ten years his younger. Amee (sp?) was the daughter of Walter Barker (1830-1888) and Amelia Elizabeth (“Millie”) Bonney (1834-1894). Walter was an engraver, with offices on The Strand, and Millie was daughter of William Wollfe Bonney (1806-1883), and granddaugher of the radical John Augustus Bonney who was briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London for sedition.
We know that they had known each other/been courting since at least 1880, since we have a beautiful photo album given to Amy by WWH that year.
The album is full of beautiful portraits of the Horn and Barker families:
Late Victorian Times
In 1886 their first child Amy was born, followed two years later by Ida in 1888. The first son Wilson was born in 1891 and the census of this year shows that the family had moved No.9 Thornhill Road, Croydon.
They were firmly middle class: they had two young domestic servant girls living with them – Alice Frost (19) and Mary Evans (21). Alice is listed as ‘nurse’, perhaps taking care of the aging Thomas Story.
- From Bee’s Notes (2007)
It is also interesting to say, in 1883 with (?) they persuaded the Chancellor of the Exchequer to repeal tax on all 3rd class rail fares thus saving the public half a million pounds.
Patent Agent
The 1891 Census lists WWH’s occupation as Registered Patent Agent. At some point in the mid-1880s he had taken chambers then offices on The Strand, London. 1885 tax assessment records (FamilySearch.org) list him at 151, The Strand.
WWH’s father Thomas Story passed away later in 1891, at the age of 67. Now in his late 30’s, William Wilson continued to publish patents such as The Original Patent Application Number 6,592 for an Improved Cooking Stand by William Wilson (inventor) Horn (1891)_
Meanwhile, son Cecil was born in 1892, third girl Margaret (Sissie) was born in 1894, and Rupert William came along in 1898.
In the early-mid 1890s the family moved from Croydon to Clapham, closer to central London. In 1897 the London Electoral Register gives WWH’s address at Huntsville, Clapham Common; the next year as 87, North Side, Clapham Common (source). This is a beautiful 3-storey terraced brick house overlooking the Common – defintely a step up from Thornhill Road, and an easier commute to work for WWH.
On the move again, the 1901 Electoral Register shows an address of 38 Denbigh Street, SW. (source) Again, closer to central London, this is a Georgian terrace in Pimlico, between Vauxhall and Victoria. Puzzlingly, the Census of this year has the Horns in what seems to be an apartment in Kensington: 55 W. Kensington Mansions.
Activism
In 1909 records show that WWH was Chair of The New Union of Men and Women, registered at 35, Hart St., Bloomsbury, London WC.
the New Union of Men and Women (hon. secretary Miss Sanders. 52 Maddox Street, W1) established in October, 1908, with a membership comprising many Parliamentary and municipal electors…
[The Times, June 25, 1910, Page 6]
Although there is little information online about the Union, we can assume it was a ‘suffragist’ organisation, based at Bull & Auvache booksellers in Bloomsbury. Family lore tells that Amee -by now in her 40’s- was a fervent supporter of the suffragettes, and that Aunt Gin (who was she?) was a drummer in a suffragette band!
From Bee’s Notes (2007)
WWH and his wife SAH were ardent members of the Suffrage cause and WWH would join the ladies on their platforms to support their cause. Their daughter Margaret (Sissie) was a drummer in the Band…and had her sash for many years. I have asked her kin but no-one seems to know where it is.
It is a testament to William Wilson that he, too, was in favor of women’s suffrage, and supported his wife. Clearly there is a thread of social justice activism that runs in the family from Victorian times through to today, of which we can be very proud.
Obviously interested in family history, WWH wrote a letter to the Editor of the Times in April 1914, in which he tells of his “kinsman” Sir James Wilson’s involvement in the Battle of Toulouse, to mark the 100th anniversary of this last battle of the Peninsular Wars.
He made transcriptions of many of the family letters, and submitted several of Wilson’s Peninsular letters to the Times for publication. One such was a description of the Battle of Vittoria (1812), which evidently he composed from his “City Office / 56, Ludgate Hill, E.C. / Telephone No 1882 Central”.
The picture below was taken at the rear of the house in Westmoreland Road in Barnes, SW13, just north of Putney. The close-up shows WWH, Amee, and the five of the children. Judging by Phyllis’ approximate age (maybe 5-6?) the photo appears to date from around 1910, Rupert would be around 12-13 -tennis raquet in hand- the other young man could be Cyril or Wilson, with a shock of thick hair(!), they would have been 18-19. The girls are harder to work out.
5 Westmoreland Road
Westmoreland Road was the house that Bee remembers so affectionately. She would have spent lots of time there with her grandparents as a child in the 20s and early 30s:
Although very young I can recall seeing the family and friends playing tennis and always the love and affection given to me by Grannie (SAH) and Parrie (WWH) and even sitting on my Great-Grandfather’s [sic] lap whilst he cut out paper dolls and ‘danced’ them on the arm of his chair. He would have been in his 90’s and always wore a red fez to keep his head warm.
WWH was always browsing in second-hand bookshops. When he was young, in Newcastle, he would listen to the works of Charles Dickens read by the great man himself.
SAH in her later life knitted woollen two-piece suits for herself and also did a lot of crochet work. She loved the sunshine and was known to paddle in the sea well into her eighties. She remembers, when young, using a bathing machine (huts on wheels) which were parked at the top of the pebbly beach , someone would be hired to take the bathing machine to the edge of the sea for modesty’s sake. When SAH had had enough bathing she would signal for the attendant to return the bathing hut and herself back to its original position.
WWH and SAH lived in many different places, Barnes, Regents Park, Ealing, Richmond and Putney where they lived in their eldest daughter and husband’s house until they died. WWH was sitting in his deck chair reading his paper in the garden one day, SAH started to join him but fell down the whole flight of conservatory steps. As she landed she cried out, “ Will, I think I’ve killed myself”, but apart from extensive bruising she survived – if she had not been a cuddly lady it might have been a different story.
(Bee’s Notes, 2007)
In 1919, the year of son Rupert and Winnie’s wedding, it seems the family were living at Dryburgh House in Putney. The Marriage Certificate lists this address, and we can assume that Rupert was living with his parents after the War. Dryburgh is now the site of a garden centre and/or the swimming baths in Putney. 
Interestingly, WWH describes his occupation on the Certificate as “Consulting Engineer”, whatever that may have been(!)
Last Days
Gallery
A Horn Family Chronicle 
Hi there – this is all quite interesting. My mother in law is Georgina Blofeld nee King – whose great grandmother was Sarah Amelia Wilson Horn.
Hello! Thanks for commenting about your connection to SAH. Are you able to fill in any of the intervening generations at all? Do you know which of WWH/SAH’s children she is descended from, for example? I’d love to be able to fill in more of the missing branches! Thanks, Rob Curran
Hello! Thanks for commenting about your connection to SAH. Are you able to fill in any of the intervening generations at all? Do you know which of WWH/SAH’s children she is descended from, for example? I’d love to be able to fill in more of the missing branches! Thanks, Rob Curran
Hi Rob
Gina married Sidney Blofeld. Her mother was Joan King who was Mum’s cousin. She married George King. She and her sister Doris Biddle were both Ida’s children. Gina also had a brother, Alex, who married Penny and had two children; Fergus was the son, but the daughter’s name escapes me . It might have been Nicolette. Alex and Penny divorced, and then Mum lost contact with both of them.
Hope this fills in a space in the tree.
Love to all
Rob xx
Thanks, Rob! So great to hear from you and get some first-hand family tidbits. You must be old!! 😉
I have an extra piece of info. Before 1939 the older members of the family, including Granny and Parrie, Amy and Dod, Alan and Muriel, Willie and Cice, had all moved to 18 Colinette Road, Putney SW15. Look at the Census for the details.
Love
Rob
Thanks, Rob. I get so confused about all of the Putney addresses and moves. One day I’ll get it straight in my head! That’s a lot of people! Who was Dod? Alfred Bolton? Do you know if Cice and Ida’s husband were siblings? So many loose ends…Thx!
Ida was Rupert’s older sister. Cice was Willie’s wife. Dod was Alfred, Amy’s husband