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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cambridgeshire => Topic started by: Keith Sherwood on Tuesday 11 March 08 16:31 GMT (UK)
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Hi, Everyone,
Have recently downloaded a will from TNA, one drawn up in 1752 in Cambridge by a John JOHNSON, cordwainer. He doesn't seem to have any surviving children, or indeed a wife to give his wordly goods to, but does mention a great many acquaintances and dwelling places which seem to have belonged to him.
One of the beneficiaries is a gentleman by the name of Gorst TAWNEY, barber. Does anyone know where a forename like that might have originated, or indeed does anyone know anything about him, or indeed John JOHNSON, who presumably is a dead-end in my JOHNSON research...
Very best wishes,
keith
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IGI has a marriage for him (extracted) to Phebe MASTERS, 18 Feb 1747 St Peter, Cambridge.
Anna
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Hi Keith
Phillimore's Marriage Index has
18 Feb 1747/8 at Cambridge St Peter Ghorst Tawney of the parish of Great St Mary and Phebe Masters otp by licence
All the best - perhaps more later!
David
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Anna and David,
Thanks very much for finding him...At first I thought I'd misread the script. John JOHNSON mentions so many people in his will that it's quite an interesting document on who was about in mid-18thC Cambridge.
I've never come across a Ghorst before - Horst maybe - and wonder whether it is German or Scandinavian in origin. It's not listed in my fat tome: "The Oxford Names Companion".
keith
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I'd hazard a guess at Dutch!
Nationa Archives Documents Online has a will for a Thomas Ghorst Tawney - 1803 I think it was - who was in Lambeth but presumably descended from/otherwise related to your Ghorst. The directions under his will were in fact the subject of a decision of the Court of Chancery in 1839, the report of which you will find in Google Books (just google Ghorst Tawney and you should find it easily).
Anna
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Anna,
With such an unusual name, this has to be reference to the same man, or someone in his family. Might try and get hold of a copy of that 1803 will...
keith
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I agree they must be connected, but (I would think) in different generations. The Chancery proceedings show that Thomas Ghorst Tawney's children, Thomas, James and Anne, were all minors at the date of his will. His wife, Elizabeth, survived until October 1837. So I would think it very unlikely that Thomas Ghorst is the same person as Ghorst, given the dates.
There's just one child of Ghorst and Phebe on IGI (extracted):
Mary Tawney b 3 Dec 1755, bap 28 Dec 1755 St Mary-the-Great, Cambridge
Of course they might have had many other children whose baptisms are not on IGI.
Anna
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Marriage (IGI, extracted)
Thomas Ghorst TAWNEY
Elizabeth DODSLEY
11 Oct 1788 Horningsham, Wiltshire
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Anna,
Thanks again for finding these for me. When I first read the will I misread his forename as "Ghost", but he and his family seem real enough! Not exactly a commonly used firstname is Ghorst, but perhaps in the Netherlands, as you say earlier...
keith
Think that if I'd known in 18thC Cambridge that I was about to have my hair shorn by a barber called Ghorst TAWNEY I might have felt a little shudder of nervousness, just as those customers of Sweeney TODD might have felt in the next century
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Hi Keith
Mary wasn't the only child of Ghorst and Phebe - there's also Ann born 13 Feb 1750, father "Gosh"! I wonder if a son may have been Francis as a Pheebe was baptised in 1778, daughter of Frances and Alice
I suspect Ghorst's father may have had the same name - there's an Elizabeth Tawney christened in 1728 at Littleport, parents Ghoret and Catherine on the IGI. Unless of course the 1748 marriage was a second marriage for Ghorst - there's a marriage of Pheebe Tawney in St Mary the Great in 1763, but Phillimore's Index doesn't state that she was a widow. But it wouldn't surprise me if it was a second marriage for Ghorst - dependent on the age of John Johnson when he died it's more likely that Ghorst was an older age, at least of an age with John.
I question whether the name Ghorst is a christian name at all. I wonder if he was given the name Ghorst after the surname of a family member - there was an Elizabeth Ghorst baptised in Littleport (there's a pattern emerging here!) in 1661. Whilst she is the only Ghorst in Cambs there are almost 1600 Gorsts elsewhere in England on the IGI. And there was an earlier Goates family in Littleport
Searching on the IGI for Europe there's not a single occurrence of a christian name Ghorst, save the 1748 marriage
David
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David,
A fascinating and exhaustive bit of research on this particular demon barber of Cambridge and his roots/desendants! And it looks entirely possible that he did indeed derive his forename from that rather unusual GORST family name. With the Dutch very much in evidence in the Fens from at least the 17thC, I imagine this might be where the name originated from.
Amusing to see how often this name was misheard or mistranscribed over the years too...
keith
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There's a Will with The Littleport Society and The National Archives for a Richard Swan, grasier of Littleport, dated 1708, who leaves items to Gohrst Tawney. Might be worth a look:
https://www.littleportsociety.org.uk/catalogue/index.php/Detail/objects/2748