Who was Ghorst TAWNEY, Barber, in 1752 Cambridge will

[Keith Sherwood]

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

[avm228]

IGI has a marriage for him (extracted) to Phebe MASTERS, 18 Feb 1747 St Peter, Cambridge.

Anna

[bedfordshire boy]

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

[Keith Sherwood]

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

[avm228]

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

[Keith Sherwood]

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

[avm228]

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

[avm228]

Marriage (IGI, extracted)

Thomas Ghorst TAWNEY
Elizabeth DODSLEY

11 Oct 1788 Horningsham, Wiltshire

[Keith Sherwood]

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