The Quaker Horners

  An Anthony Horner was born in Thirsk in 1573 who may have been the son of Robert Horner, clothier of York [1] . He married and had eight children, including four daughters, Ellen, Sybbell, Anne, Dorothy, and four sons, John, Anthony, Bartholomew and Michael [2] . Although most of Anthony's children appear to have been christened in Leeds towards the end of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, Anthony had lands and property in Tadcaster, twenty miles east of Leeds. Anthony was also described of the Headrow in Leeds in 1600, Call Lane from 1605-1609, but ‘of Kirkgate’ from 1612-1616 [3] .

Anthony Horner of Tadcaster died in 1632 and was buried in Tadcaster church [4] . His will was proved in February 1632 and indicates that he had at least four sons, Anthony, Michael, John, and Bartholomew, and at least one daughter [5] . Of his son Michael little is further known [6] . His daughter married a George Turpin and had at least one daughter Margaret who was mentioned in his will. Another Anthony Horner died in Leeds, in 1616 who may have been connected [7] .

John Horner of Tadcaster

Anthony’s son John Horner ‘of Tadcaster’ married Isabel Nichols and they had four sons [8] . Isabel was buried in Otley Parish, by John Horner in 1649, indicating that he may have moved to that parish [9] . John died before 29 April 1671 [10] . He was taxed at one shilling. John and Isabel's son John married Sarah Wilberforce [12] . This branch emigrated to Burlington, New Jersey. However, in 1672 John was still in England and probably in Tadcaster as he had property in Kirkgate, which was empty and gave no money for the property [11] .

Anthony's son Anthony died in 1660 and left his goods to his daughter Ellen, but he does mention his brothers John, Bartholomew and Michael in his will [13] .

Bartholomew Horner the Elder

Anthony's son Bartholomew Horner was born in York about 1605 and died in 1665 in Kirkgate Leeds [14] . He married as his first wife Margaret Nichols, sister to his brother John's wife Isabel Nichols [15] . They had seven children but only three daughters survived, Elizabeth, Jane and Rebecca [16] . After Margaret's death in 1643 Bartholomew married secondly Bridget. Bridget was buried in Leeds in 1651 after having given birth to four children of whom only three survived, Bartholomew, Isaac and Mary [17] .

Bartholomew was a Quaker and a cloth merchant in Leeds. In 1658, he was sent to jail for criticising a drunken JP who had sentenced a Quaker colleague Samuel Watson for preaching [18] .

Isaac Horner of New Jersey

Bartholomew's son Isaac emigrated to Oyster bay, Long Island, New York in America before 1677 when he was recorded as a fuller or cloth worker [21] . On 17 March 1683 he married Lydia Wright [22] . The vicar of Leeds in 1848 when Isaac was christened had been Peter Saxton. He emigrated to New England in 1640, after a quarrel with the ecclesiastical authorities, and became minister at Scituate, Massachusetts. He returned to England, becoming vicar of Leeds in April, 1646. He held that position until his death in October, 1651, when Isaac Homer was 3 years old. This may have been the connection that helped Isaac to emigrate.

Isaac was a member of the Society of Friends and, as such, refused three summonses to train with the military company. As a punishment for his refusal, his horse was "arrested," but was redeemed by two friends of his for 20 shillings [23] . In 1682 he bought 50 acres at Beaver Swamp from the Indian chiefs at Matinecock, L.I., Suscanemon, Sehor and Werah. He owned considerable property at Oyster Bay, which he sold in 1685 and 1686 upon removing to Burlington County, New Jersey where they purchased 100 acres in the Second or London Tenth from William Biddle in the latter year, and later added 200 acres to their holdings by purchase from John Newman, of Burlington, carpenter. On December 18, 1708, Isaac Horner, of Northampton, Burlington County made his will, and two days later he died. On March 21, 1709, Horner's personal estate was inventoried by Thomas Stokes (his son-in-law) and William Hunt, and appraised at £128.12.6. His widow, Lydia Horner, was buried on 10 December 1713.

Bartholomew Horner, Clothier

Only one of Bartholomew's sons, Bartholomew, remained in Leeds [24] . Incidentally, he was the only son not to be christened in Leeds [25] . He married Alice Cowper and had three sons, of whom only one survived to adulthood [26] . Bartholomew was active in the Quaker community in Leeds and his house was used for marriages in 1664. In 1665 Bartholomew released a messuage in Kirkgate [27] . In 1660 John, Bartholomew, and Thomas Horner were committed to prison for refusing to take the oath [28] . In 1671 Bartholomew Horner was deprived of goods valued at £55 because a Quaker meeting was held in his house at Leeds [19] . The fine was only paid by the sale of his effects and his business as a cloth merchant was ruined. The irony was that the meeting should have been held in the house of William Dawson. Being very ill he had asked Bartholomew to hold the meeting instead. William later died and in 1674, his father Joshua Dawson decided to help Bartholomew by giving him £6, 18/-. By 1672, Bartholomew was resident on Boar Lane in Leeds and paid two shillings hearth tax [20] . Bartholomew died in 1678 when he was described as ‘ of Boar lane’ [29] .

Benjamin Horner of Leeds

Benjamin Horner was Bartholomew's only surviving son and a Leeds clothier and merchant. He married Christiana Readshaw in 1692 and they had ten children, nine of them daughters [30] . Benjamin Horner was a prominent member of the Quaker community in Leeds and was the treasurer of the Friends from 1697 until his death in 1740 [31] .  In October 1694 Benjamin Horner paid £2 5/- for admission to a piece ‘of waste includes and built upon by his father on ye Banks’. His own house on Water Lane, south of the River, in Leeds was registered for Quaker meetings in 12 July 1699 [32] . In 1695, Benjamin gave a subscription of 10/- to the Quakers that indicates that he was a man of some substance in the Quaker community. He was an elder from 1702-13, which meant that he gave advice to the members of the community.

In 1699-1700, Benjamin was considering moving his clothier business from Boar Lane in Leeds to Wakefield Market and sought advice from the community. By 1715, Benjamin Horner was a master woolen merchant and was able to demand £40 apprenticeship fees for taking on young men [33] . In 1717, a Ben Maudsley paid £3 10s. 6d. for three cottages on ‘ye banke, late Ben Horners’ [34] . Benjamin was a man of standing in Leeds [35] . In 1741 Ben Horner is recorded as a voter for Cholmley turner, along with a John Horner who resided in Shipscar [36] .

Ben’s wife Christiana was also prominent in Quaker circles. She hosted the visit of an American Quaker minister in 1749, in Boar Lane Leeds. This minister described Christiana as ‘a succourer of many of the Lords messengers being a truly openhearted woman, a mother in our Israel. But she did not continue in mutability after this’ [37] . Two of his daughters married well and his only son Benjamin became a merchant in Leeds [38] . His daughter Christiana played a prominent part in the Quakers until her death in 1747.

Benjamin Horner, Clothier

Benjamin Horner the younger was involved in selling a house near Leeds in Shipscar in 1736. This house was ‘a very good brick house, the greatest part of it new, well wainscoted and sashed, with Gardens, Stables, Coach house and other outhousing, with four acres of Pasture ground adjoining, as also a very good dye house with good conveniences for a Dyer’ [39] . This may indicate the move away from the textile trade of this line of Horners. He was also intending to follow the trade of buying and selling cloth and in February 1736, five Quaker friends were appointed to advise him [40] .Benjamin Horner had only one son Edward Horner.

Edward Horner, of Woodhouse, Apperley Bridge, the only son and heir of Benjamin Horner, merchant, of Leeds, married Jane Empson at the Quaker meeting house in Wakefield on 24 October 1770 [62] . Edward was left £10 in 1758 by a William Layton of Knaresborough, gentleman [63] . In 1784 Edward Horner, late of Wakefield, was found to be bankrupt, along with William Empson of Hullingthorpe in Sandal Magna, Joseph and William Brittlebank, both of Boynhill [64] . They were described as merchants, dealers and chapmen. Edward and Jane Horner had at least two sons, Benjamin and Thomas.

Edward and Jane's son Thomas Horner became a famous artist and landscape gardener [86] . By 1800 he had surveyed the Free Grammar School in Manchester, and was settled in London by 1807. He lived in Kentish Town, Chancery Lane, and then Church Court, Inner Temple. He undertook valuations as well as surveys and leveling of canals and drains. He produced a huge plan of Clerkenwell by 1813. He pioneered 'picturesque landscape gardening' and 'panoramic chorometry' for drawing out estate plans [87] .

In 1814 Thomas Hornor was recorded in in South Wales as a ‘Pictural Delineator of Estates’ [88] . He became wealthy producing bound portfolio volumes of plans, panoramas, watercolour paintings, all linked by exquisite copperplate handwritten accounts of tours in the area, for at least nine wealthy families. By 1820, he was in London again and began a project to depict the view of London from the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. Initial plans to sell panoramic views came to nothing. However, he did create a 360 degree panorama on the inside of a dome of the Colosseum , specially built in Regents Park [89] . This was so expensive that his principal backer, Rowland Stephenson MP, had to flee to America in 1828, soon followed by Horner. The Colosseum included the first passenger lift in England, designed by Horner. Thomas Horner lived in New York from 1829 until his death, in penury, in 1844. The Colosseum was demolished in 1874.

Benjamin Horner of Fulford

Edward and Jane's son Benjamin Horner left Ackworth School, Wakefield, in 1781 [65] . Benjamin Hornor, Dental Surgeon, advertised in Yorkshire newspapers in 1798 when he was in Leeds in April and July and in Hull in September [66] . Benjamin married Alice Birkbeck, daughter of William Birkbeck, in Settle in October 1805 [67] . Alice's brother William Birkbeck, junior, son of William Birkbeck, entered the banking business [68] . He was in correspondence with his brother-in-law Benjamin Horner in 1808-9 [69] . The Birkbecks had close associations with the Armitstead's of Settle who were a prominent Quaker family [70] .  The Birkbecks were Quakers and Alice Horner later founded a British Girls School in York [71] . Alice’s brother George Birkbeck founded the Mechanics Institute movement [72] . George Henry Birkbeck of London is recorded as a voter for Linton in 1848 [73] .

By 1816, Benjamin Horner appears to have moved to York, and corresponds with Mrs. Lister of Halifax [74] . Benjamin practiced with John Turner of York until 1824, but continued to work on his own [75] . In 1831 Benjamin Horner litigated against an apprentice, Graves. The terms of the apprenticeship were that if Graves withdrew from the five-year apprenticeship before the end of the term he would give three months notice. If he ended the apprenticeship early, Graves had agreed that he would not practice within 100 miles of Benjamin Horner, if he did there was a financial penalty. Benjamin Horner lost the case, as his conditions were deemed unreasonable.

In 1835 Benjamin Horner of Fulford near York is also recorded as a voter for the township of Linton [76] . After Benjamin’s death Alice Horner married a Robert Waller of Holdworth, York [77] . She outlived him and in ill health moved to Halstead in Essex where her eldest son Edward Hornor of the Howe lived. She died 25 June 1850 and was buried in Halstead [78] . Her sons Edward Horner and Charles Birkbeck Horner are recorded as voters in Linton but residing in Iver, Middlesex in 1848 [79] . Edward Hornor of the Howe, Essex is recorded as bearing arms in Burkes Commoners and having a seat at Halstead [80] . In 1842 Edward Hornor is recorded as giving land to Lydia Moline [81] . In 1852 Edward and his brother Charles B. Hornor are both described as bankers at the Howe, Essex [82] . Charles Birkbeck Horner died in 1858 aged 42 at the Howe Essex [83] . In 1867 Edward is recorded as having a Baths, laundries and dwellings Company in the City of London. Both brothers were partners in the Invalid Institution at Denham Park in Buckinghamshire in 1842 [84] . Edward Horner died on 16th June 1868 [85] .

Luke Horner of Woodhouse

Another Horner who was also involved in the textile industry and was a member of the Quaker community in Leeds was George Horner. He was a flax dresser, the son of George Horner of Woodhouse in Leeds. His grandfather Luke Horner had tenanted land on Woodhouse Moor in Leeds in the mid seventeenth century [41] . Luke Horner had married Alice Walker in Leeds in 1634 [42] . So Luke was born about 1600. Luke and Alice had ten children of whom, three sons Thomas, George and Richard survived [43] . Although Luke is described as 'of Woodhouse' on his marriage to Alice in 1634, he had moved to Park Steel by 1635, on the birth of their eldest child George, and in 1638 appears to have moved to Millhill or Boar Lane. Twenty years later in 1654, they had asked to tenant on a ‘parcel of land on the Lord’s waste at Woodhouse Moore, near the Wreggehorne style and cottage’.

Luke and his wife Alice paid 2d. a year rental for the land and buildings. Six years further down the line, they surrendered the land, but eventually sold the land to Vince Pickersgill. It looks as if the land were perhaps security for a loan of some kind as Luke and Alice Horner redeemed the land. During the occupation of the land, Luke appears to have built upon the land and improved it. Luke lived to a ripe old age and was buried in 1675 in Leeds [44] . His wife Alice had predeceased him in 1660 [45] . Luke may have married a second time in 1670 to Margaret Gill [46] .

Luke and Alice’s younger sons Thomas and Richard are difficult to trace, but Richard may have had an apprentice Anthony Calverley [47] . Thomas had at least one daughter Deborah in 1660 [48] . Luke and Alice may also have had a son Luke christened in the period 1643-4. He was buried in Leeds in 1667, a single man [49] .

Luke and Alice’s eldest son George married and had a family of seven children, of whom two sons survived, Thomas and George [50] . He was wealthy as he was recorded as paying two shillings for property in Leeds, east part in 1672 [51] . George’s youngest surviving son Thomas married a Sarah Smallpage and had a family of five children of whom only one daughter Deborah survived [52] . The eldest son George, Luke’s grandson was a member of the Quakers in Leeds.

George Horner

George the younger married Elizabeth Peirson of Holbeck in Leeds in 1703 [54] . George and Elizabeth had seven children in Leeds, but the eldest three sons died in infancy and one daughter died young. His eldest daughter Elizabeth married Richard Lapage of Leeds who was also a flaxdresser [55] . The Lapage family were prominent in the Quaker community in the seventeenth century and had helped to set up the community. Tabitha also married well [56] . George’s only surviving son John Horner married Christiana Plummer in 1741, another Quaker. After the death of Christiana, John married out of the Quaker community in 1752 [57] . John was a grocer in Leeds and in 1746, he was party to the goods of a James Lister, printer for his debts [58] .

John Horner of Bradford

A John Horner was involved on the Leeds Liverpool Canal who may be related to this line [59] . The Leeds Liverpool Canal was opened in sections and the Bingley to Skipton section was opened in April 1773. On 22 October 1774, the Leeds Liverpool Canal joined the Bradford canal at Shipley. In the same year, the Bradford Limekiln Company was set up. They had eight kilns on the banks of the Bradford canal at Idle. In 1774, a Bradford merchant John Horner sent boats up the canal with coal and brought back limestone from Skipton. By 1776, John Horner was the chief shipper of limestone in the company. But by 1778/9, all boats except those of Leach, of West Riddlesden Hall, founder of the company were eliminated. In 1783 John Horner, shopkeeper, dealer and chapman, of Bradford was twice declared bankrupt [60] .