Person:Benjamin Hornet (1)

Benjamin Hornet was baptised on 29th March 1730 at Shephall in Hertfordshire, son of Elizabeth Hornet, formerly Warner, and her husband Benjamin Hornet.

On 19th September 1754, when he was 24 years old, Benjamin married Mary Coulson, who was from the nearby parish of Watton at Stone. They married in Watton, and had their first daughter baptised there less than two months later. They then returned to live in Benjamin's native parish of Shephall for a few years, having eight children baptised there between 1756 and 1766. They then moved to the neighbouring parish of Knebworth where they had a son baptised in 1769, before moving again to the nearby small town of Stevenage, where their youngest two children were baptised in 1773 and 1775. Some of the children's baptism records describe Benjamin as a labourer.

Benjamin's father died back in Shephall in 1783.

Benjamin and Mary later returned to Knebworth, where Benjamin died at the age of sixty, being buried at Knebworth on 29th September 1790. Mary survived him by eight years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Shephall Parish Registers, 1560-1935. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies).

   1730
   Benjamin the Son of Benjamin Horner [sic] and Elizabeth his Wife was Baptized March 29th Day

2. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Knebworth (Hertfordshire). Knebworth Parish registers, 1596-1950. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Buried 1790 / Benjamin Hornett Sep[tember] the 29th

   There is an alternative burial of a Benjamin Hornet on 19th May 1804 at Knebworth, but as the burial of this Benjamin's wife in 1798 described her as a widow, the man buried in 1804 must be someone else.