From about 1848 to 1904 Thornbury Park was owned by the Newman family but rented to various tenants. The aerial photograph shows Thornbury Park just behind Thornbury Castle. Click here to read about the early history of Thornbury Park
JOHN DAVIES
The 1851 Census shows that 69 year old John Davies, Commander Royal Navy, was living at Thornbury Park with his wife Maria. The couple originally came from Wales; Commander Davies was born in Minwear Pembrokeshire and his wife in Milford Haven. At the time of the census they had a visitor called Lydia Maria Howell from Bristol who was apparently landed gentry. The household had five live-in servants.
We have been unable to trace any information about Commander Davies’ naval career or his family.
The family appeared to host the big events for the Thornbury Horticultural Society.
In 1853 the Society was advertising a Grand Dahlia Exhibition to be held at Thornbury Park, with Richardson’s ‘celebrated band.’ A coach was to be laid on from the Lion Hotel, Broad Street (presumably this is in Bristol), leaving at 10am and returning at 6pm. An Archery Meeting ‘in connexion with the same show’ was to be held; the president was William Osborne Maclaine. The event sounded very exciting as ‘A Monster Balloon will ascend on the day at half past 3 o’clock.’
The Davies family were still in Thornbury in August 1855 when their son, Robert Pavin Davies ‘of Thornbury Park’ sent out an invitation to Lee Thornton Esq to attend a flower show. The Thornbury Horticultural Society seemed to make use of the grounds of Thornbury Park for its summer show.
By 1861 they were living at Ridgeway, near Narberth in Pembrokeshire. Living with them were their son Robert P Davies aged 36 who was a magistrate and from Pembrokeshire and a nephew John Davies Davenport. Robert Pavin Davies of Ridgeway became a sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1869.
THE CHURCHILLS
By the time of the 1861 Census the head of the household at Thornbury Park was a Russian nobleman. His name was George Joseph de Strohm born in Dorpat in Russia (now Estonia) and his wife was Jane Sarah de Strohm born in London. At that time the household consisted only of the de Strohm couple and their four live-in servants.
Jane Sarah was a member of the Churchill sisters who were tenants of Thornbury Park for about thirty years.
George de Strohm (born 28th May 1797) married Jane Sarah Churchill in Versailles Yvelines in France. The Morning Chronicle of the 4th August 1858 reported under Marriages, ‘On the 28th ult, at the English Chapel, Avenue Marboeuf, Paris, Monsieur G J Strohm, of Athens, To Jane Sarah, eldest daughter of the late Charles Churchill Esq.’
Jane Sarah Churchill was baptised on 9th January 1817, at Christ Church Southwark the daughter of a wealthy timber broker Charles Churchill Esq and his wife Sarah. Sarah Jane had four sisters, Ellen Cordelia (born 1818), Anna Maris (born 1819), Emily (born 1821) and Laura Anne Pym (born 1822). The girls had a younger brother Charles (born in 1823) who also became a timber broker/merchant in the London area.
The timber company of Churchill & Sim, Wood Brokers in Lombard Street, London was founded in 1812 by Charles Churchill snr and John Sim. The company appears to have been very profitable and continues as ‘Churchill & Sim International ltd’. Records of the company can be found in the National Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives.
When Jane Sarah was baptised in January 1817 the family lived at Stamford St in Southwark in London. The 1841 Census shows that the family lived in Sussex Place Marylebone.
The 1851 Census shows that the family lived in Berkeley House in Berkeley in Somerset. Sarah Churchill the widow of Charles Churchill was 64 years old and described as an annuitant and fund holder. She was head of household living with her daughters, Sarah Ann aged 32, Cordelia aged 29, Ann Maria aged 28.and Emily aged 26. There were seven live-in servants.
Miss Ellen Churchill died of dysentery, aged 40, and was buried on 7th September 1858 at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Athens.
In the 1861 Census Jane Sarah’s sisters, Anna Maria and Emily were shown to be in Walmer in Kent as ‘lodgers’ in the household of a builder’s widow Jane Hookham aged 59 and her 25 year old unmarried daughter Louisa. It is possible that they were on holiday.
In 1871 George de Strohm was still living at Thornbury Park, living on income from funds, but the head of the household was shown as his unmarried sister in law Anna Maria Churchill.
The London Daily News 13th November 1876, Deaths “Nov 9th at Thornbury Park, Gloucestershire, Monsieur G J D Strohm, Professor of the University of Dorpat, late of Athens, aged 80.”
In Oldbury on Severn one of the inscriptions, in gothic script, reads “ George Joseph Drinsoff Strohm of Dorpat in Russia. Died Nov 9 1876. Aged 80 years.” Strohm’s death certificate showed that he died whilst residing at Thornbury Park; the cause of death was given as “Decay of Nature”, certified by Dr W G Salmon who was present at the time of death.
Gloucestershire Archives has a counterpart lease, dated 23rd September 1874, of mansion house and lands called Thornbury Park between Mrs. Frances Newman and another sister, Miss Emily Churchill. It is thought that the grounds let with the house totalled nearly 24 acres. We are not sure whether this was a renewal of a lease or whether a different member of the family had previously held the lease.
In 1877 a local trade directory lists ‘The Misses Churchill’ at Thornbury Park. However the Rate Books from 1876 onwards confirm that it was Emily Churchill who was the tenant of Thornbury Park which continued to be owned by ‘Mr Newman’.
In 1880 Anna Maria Churchill of ‘The Park’ paid £325 to buy the Castle Coffee Tavern in St Mary Street Thornbury. This obviously indicated her sympathy for the Temperance Movement and her readiness to make charitable donations to the town.
After George’s death, Jane de Strohm seems to have lived Walcot, Bath. The Census of 1881 shows that her sister Emily was staying with her. The Gloucester Citizen 13th February 1886 announced that ‘Feb 6th at 20, Circus, Bath, Jane Sarah widow of the late George Joseph Denisoff Strohm, of Thornbury Park and eldest daughter of the late Charles Churchill of Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, died aged 69 years.’
In April 1881 newspapers reported an unusual court case in which the Austin Freeman Grove, the landlord of The Swan in the High Street, took an action against Emily and Anna Maria Churchill for the injury incurred by his greyhound dog when it was allegedly attacked by a ‘colley – one of the scotch breed of sheep dog’ owned by Anna Maria and Emily Churchill. The landlord claimed that the dog was notorious in the area for its ferocity and offered to bring Frederick King who had been attacked and Benjamin Vaughan, a chemist who had treated the wound, John Ford who had seen the attack, George Mallett, the vet who treated the dog, and several other people, including Mark Savery the ironmonger, who had all seen the dog behave aggressively, as witnesses. He said that the dog was worth more than £50 and that he had incurred great expense in treating its injuries. The dog was also said to have a potential value as a prize winning racing greyhound. The ladies maid and Captain St John (who apparently visited very frequently) both gave evidence as to the general good character of the dog but the defendants were still fined £33 5s.
Emily and Anna Maria remained at Thornbury Park. The sudden death at Hartlip, Kent, on March 23rd 1882, aged 60, of ‘Emily Churchill, of Thornbury Park. Gloucestershire, youngest daughter of the late Charles Churchill, Esq, of Sussex-place’ was reported in the ‘Bristol Times and Mercury’ and several Kent newspapers. Probate was granted to Emily’s sister, Anna Maria, her nephew Charles Thomas Fraser Churchill and Michael George Luck. Her estate amounted to £15,508.
Despite the fact that Emily had died, the Rate Books continued to show her as the tenant of Thornbury Park until at least 1885.
Anna Maria Churchill of Thornbury Park died aged 67 in 1886. She died at Thornbury Park and was buried on 13th July 1886 in the nearby churchyard of St Mary’s Church.
The Illustrated London News of September 1886 announced that ‘the will (dated May 8th 1886) of Miss Anna Maria Churchill, late of Thornbury Park who died on 8th July last year was proved on the 2nd ult by Charles Churchill, the brother, and Charles Thomas Fraser Churchill the nephew, executors, the value of the personal estate amounting to over £45,000. The testatrix gives many legacies to relatives and others; she directs the residue of her real and personal estate to be divided into thirteen parts and these she distributes among nine of her nephews and nieces.’ The CPI inflation calculator website suggests that the £45.000 left by Anna Maria is the equivalent of over 6.5 million pounds in 2022.
Click here to read about Hon. Robert Rodney and his wife Henrietta
Click here to read about Richard Alexander Bennett and his wife Albinia
Click here to read about the early history of Thornbury Park