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Brentford Families - Norbury

There are three Norbury PCC wills in the 1828 - 1845 period and taking them together with census returns and parish register entries it is possible to piece together a family tree. The family ran a printing / book selling business at 110 High Street for over 100 years and also ran New Brentford's first post office. The printing business was taken over by Cornelius Stutter when William Philip Norbury retired: there appears to have been no male Norbury heir to take on the business, WPN leaving two daughters aged under 10 when he died.

Family Tree

Philip Norbury (c. 1740-1830): printer of New Brentford; married Elizabeth Bouchet, a widow of St Dunstan's, Stepney, 7 Sep 1765 by licence (see notes on Bouchet below);
Philip was a bachelor, age 25, of St Bride, Fleet Street and this is where the couple married; he died 26 Jan 1830, the death notice in The News (London), 31 January 1830: 'at Brentford, Mr Philip Norbury, in the 90th year of his age, and many years Postmaster of that town'; The Morning Herald of 30 Jan notes he was 'universally respected'; The Reading Mercury of 8 Feb adds 'printer'; he left a will; his wife Elizabeth died on 24 July 1821 'after a lingering illness' and was buried at New Brentford 29 Jul; she was in her 79th year, so born around 1742/3;
In 1774 Philip Norbury, stationer of the City of London, took on an apprentice named Thomas Cox; this could be the PN from Brentford
Philip Norbury, printer of Brentford, was declared bankrupt (Derby Mercury 20 October 1780); he complied with the requirements placed on him and the London Gazette of 23 Sep 1786 reported he would shortly regain his certificate ;
True Briton reported, 4 October 1803, that Philip Norbury, Gent, was appointed Lieutenant of the Ealing and Brentford Volunteers
the children of Philip and Elizabeth included:

• Elizabeth Norbury, baptised 9 Nov 1766 at New Brentford;
  buried here on 9 Nov 1828, age 62, and left an emotional-sounding will; she was a spinster
• Philip Norbury (1769-1845): baptised at New Brentford 15 Aug 1769;
  the eldest son, he took over the printing business when his father died in 1830;
  Philip junior died in 1845; Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette of 13 September 1845 notes he was a printer and died at Brentford on 8 Sep after a 'long and severe illness'; he left a will that mentions no wife or children, presumably he did not marry; he was probably buried at New Brentford with other family members, but the burial registers are not online for this period
• infant William Norbury was buried 6 Sep 1770
• Henry Norbury,baptised at New Brentford 29 Aug 1773, born 31 Jul; buried at New Brentford 23 Jul 1807 at the age of 34 'Henry Norbury son of Phillip a printer'; A2A includes a ref to a Henry Norbury, printer of New Brentford in a deed dated 1807
• infant Mary Norbury was buried 23 Aug 1774
• Ann Norbury, born 17 Aug and baptised 7 Sep (1777); a burial of Ann Norbury, spinster 8 Nov 1795 at New Brentford is presumed to be her
• Mary Ann Norbury, baptised 28 Nov 1779; remained at 110 High Street when her brother died in 1845; a spinster; in the 1861 census she is recorded as the head of household, occupation 'printer etc';
  she died in 1865
• William Francis Norbury, baptised at New Brentford 15 Aug 1784; he was apprenticed to his father in 1799 and must have assisted in the running of the family business; more detail follows.
• Catherine Norbury, baptised 19 Mar 1786 and buried 18 Nov the same year

Apprenticeship

Phillip's younger son, William Francis Norbury, was apprenticed at the age of 15 to his father and the Indenture recording this survives (Ancestry):
This Indenture Witnesseth, That William Francis Norbury the Son of Philip Norbury of New Brentford in the County of Middlesex, Printer (without any Sum of Money, or other thing, given or contracted for with the said William Francis Norbury to the said Philip Norbury the Father herein after named) doth put himself Apprentice to Philip Norbury Citizen and STATIONER of London, to learn his Art ...

The pre-printed text that follows records the length of the apprenticeship as seven years and sets out the rules the apprentice had to abide by:
'He shall not commit Fornication, nor contract Matrimony within the said Term. He shall not play at Cards, Dice, Tables, or any other unlawful Games ... he shall not haunt Taverns, or Play-houses ...'

The indenture is dated 6 August 1799 and was signed by William Francis Norbury, Mr James Bates and Joseph Baldwin (a squiggle after Baldwin may be 'eth' or perhaps 'CH' or 'Ck').

The next generation

William Francis Norbury (1784-1823); married Mary Wilkenson by banns at St George Hanover Square on 3 Nov 1814, with R Norbury as a witness (who is he?);
William Francis Norbury was buried at New Brentford 15 May 1823, age 39; their children, born in New Brentford, include:

• William Francis Norbury, born 5 Jun, baptised 6 Jun 1815 at New Brentford
• William Philip Norbury, baptised 27 Apr 1817; living with his aunt and uncle in 1841; married to Ann (-) by 1861; took over the running of the High Street business when his aunt, Mary Ann Norbury, died in 1865;
  he was a widower in 1881, when he was recorded in the census as a printer employing two men;
  in 1882 he remarried Laura E Thick, who was his assistant in 1871 & 1881;
  in 1891 he was a widower and 'retired printer' living on Boston Road; he appears to have had no children by his first wife but had two daughters by his second wife;
  he died 7 Dec 1893 'gentleman of the Butts'; and left a will, estate over £15,000, executors Eliza Jane Gough spinster and William Ruston, gentleman;
  his wife, Laura Elizabeth, died before him, 15 Oct 1890 in her 40th year (Uxbridge & W. Drayton Gazette 18 October 1890)
  • Laura E Norbury (30 Nov 1884 - ): born in New Brentford; Middlesex Independent 6 December 1884 has a birth notice for her (not no forename)
  • Mary P Norbury (ca 1887 - ): born in Brentford
• Mary Anne Norbury, baptised 6 Dec 1818 at New Brentford;
  teacher in Brighton in 1851;
  married Robert Seapey, a tutor of Brighton at New Brentford 24 Jul 1873; he was a widower, the son of William Seapey, yeoman; William Phillip and Ann Norbury were witnesses;
  in 1881 Robert and Mary Anne Seapey were living in Broadwater, Sussex, he a retired tutor and she a tutor's wife, ages 52 and 62;
  Mary Anne Seapey died at 13 Ambrose Place, Worthing (the same address as in 1881) on 22 Oct 1899, leaving an estate valued at over £6,000. Her husband died before her in 1890;
  Robert Seapey had previously married Catherine Jones at Parkstone, Dorset 19 Jul 1859, at which point he was a teacher in Brighton
• John Wilkinson Norbury (ca 1820 +): a JWN married in Southampton in 1845

The family home

The 1798 Land Tax Redemption records Ph: Norbury as occupier of two properties in New Brentford owned by Thomas Caldwell.
Recorded between the two Norbury properties was another,owned by Mr Fanner and occupied by Mrs Nellums.
The three properties were assessed at £3 2s 6d; £1 17s 6d; and £3 8s 9d.
The next property was also occupied by Mrs Nellums, but owned by Josh Payne: £2 1s 8d.

In the 1811 census of New Brentford Philip Norbury was again listed twice but with no occupants recorded against the westernmost of the two properties; it may have been were the printing press or shop were or perhaps was behind where he lived. William Marshall was recorded between the two Norbury properties, presumably having succeeded Mrs Nellums.

The Norbury household comprised 4 males and 3 females in 1811: Philip Norbury senior and junior and William Francis would be three of the males and it is possible they had an apprentice living in; the females could be Elizabeth, wife of Philip senior, and their daughters Elizabeth junior and Mary Ann.

Bouchet notes

Elizabeth Bouchet may be the Elizabeth Bouchet who married Thomas Bouchet in 1763. He died the following year and left a Prerogative Court of Centerbury will dated 3 Jul 1764. He was an apothecary of St Mary, Islington. He mentions his father, Francis Bouchet, in his will, so cannot have been very old; he appointed his loving wife Elizabeth as sole executrix and probate was granted to her 15 Aug 1764.

The sequence of events fits but does not prove this is the same Elizabeth. There are some baptisms in London around the time Elizabeth was born which suggest the family were Protestants from France - Huguenots.

Published around 2010; last updated March 2022