Pascoe Spencer Thornton

Pascoe's parents, Henry Edward Thornton and Katherine Charlotte Thornton (née Grenfell) were first cousins. Katherine, born 17 December 1842, was the daughter of Pascoe St Leger Grenfell (1798-1874) and Catherine Anne Du Pré and the sister of Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell PC GCB, 1st Baron Grenfell. Henry was born on 31 October 1842, the son of Rev Spencer Thornton MA (1813-1850), vicar of Wendover, and Caroline Adelaide Du Pre, daughter of James Du Pre of Wilton Park, Buckinghamshire. They were married on 15 February 1871 in Kilvey, Glamorgan. Henry and Katherine had eight children; Nina Katherine (1871-1951), Henry Grenfell (9 Feb 1873-1934), Susan Theresa (1875-1958), Pascoe Spencer (3 Mar 1877-1917), Claude Cyprian (2 July 1878-1939), Godfrey St Leger (21 Mar 1881-1918), Gertrude Fanny (1882-1967) and John Gordon (23 Dec 1884-1969). Henry Grenfell was in the 1st Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood) Rifle Volunteers from 1893 resigning in the rank of captain in 1899. He later served as a trooper in the 106th Company (Staffordshire) 4th Bn Imperial Yeomanry and served in South Africa for just over a year from February 1901. Godfrey St Leger, was an officer in the regular army and served in India before going to France at the outbreak of war. He was invalided home in October 1917 and died the following year (see separate ROH record for Godfrey St Leger Thornton). Claude and John took Holy Orders (Claude married Alice Mary Sillery, the daughter of the bishop of Northwood) while Nina married Rev FT Woods MA (Camb), later bishop of Winchester, and Susan the Rev JB Barton MA (Camb). Gertrude married on 2 Oct 1907, as his second wife, Frank Evelyn Seely JP, Major and Hon. Lieutenant Colonel South Notts Hussars TD Yeo, the second son of Sir Charles Seely of Calverton Hall, Nottingham. Katherine Thornton died on 16 January 1906 aged 63 and Henry married c. 1909 Isabel (also k/a Isobel) Mary Smith, a descendent of Abel Smith, the banker. They had a son, Robert Henry, who was one year old in 1911 (b. October 1909, possible date of death 1984, London). They lived in Henry's home on the Ropewalk and had a staff of seven; a nurse, chauffeur and five servants. They later moved to Wymeshead, Kegworth, Leicestershire. Henry died on 22 October 1926 aged 83 and Isabel later lived in South Kensington dying in Llandudno on 18 February 1945 aged about 79. She is buried in Nottingham Church (Rock) cemetery. Henry was a JP and a partner in the bank of Samuel Smith and Company although at the time of the 1881 census his occupation was given as bank manager. In 1881 he and Katherine were living at 58 The Ropewalk with their family of six children, Nina (9), Henry 8), Susan (6), Pascoe (4), Claude (2) and the youngest at 1 month, Godfrey. Their six domestic staff reflect the family's social position and young family: domestic nurse, maternity nurse, cook, parlour maid and two housemaids. Ten years later in 1891 the family included Henry and Katherine's two youngest children, Gertrude (8) and John (6). Only they and Nina, Susan and Pascoe, a naval cadet at HMS Britannia, were at home; the older boys may well have been away at school. The household had five domestic servants: a nurse/servant, cook, lady's maid, parlour maid and housemaid, none of whom were the same staff as in 1881. However, two of the staff, Sarah A Sturges, formerly a nurse/servant and now a maid, and Edith Smallwood, a parlour maid, were still with the family in 1901 along with a house maid and kitchen maid. Only Claude was then at home with his parents on the night of the census. Although Pascoe was a naval cadet a the time of the 1891 census he later joined the Merchant Navy. In 1901 he qualified as Second Mate, Merchant Navy. He married Clare St George Hillier (b. 15 June 1891) in the registration district of St George, Hanover Square, London in 1914 (registered Apr/May/June). Clare does not appear to have remarried and there are records of her taking long sea voyages after she was widowed, for example, in June 1939 she sailed from Liverpool for Havana, Cuba (SS Reina del Pacifico) and she also travelled by sea to New Orleans and California (passenger Clare St George Thornton). She died in June 1979 age 88.

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