Person:John Turvey (17)

Possibly related to Isaac Turvey, born 1806 in Mangotsfield.

Occupation

There is no direct evidence for John Turvey's occupation, but it is clear that keeping horses ran through his family. His eldest son, also called John, was described as a groom in 1832, and his second son, William was described in 1881 as "Stableman (Huntsman)", when he was living, aged 72, in the Barton Regis Union Workhouse. Given his age this was presumably a reference to his previous occupation. John's son (another John) was described as Groom in 1851 and 1881. William's son, also called William, was a coachman, living above the stables in fashionable Bayswater and his son in turn, William Christopher, lived in several French chateaux, managing the stables.

There is a reference in the Mangotsfield parish vestry minutes in 1809 to "Mr Turvey's Stables":

"According to the vestry minutes, the old pound has been taken down ... [it was] twenty yards beyond the Horse Shoe Inn on the Westerleigh Road opposite the big doors of Mr Turvey's stables" - Our Parish Mangotsfield, Including Downend: A Brief Account of Its Origin and History, Arthur Emlyn Jones, 1899

The Horse Shoe Inn is still a functioning pub today, over 200 years later. It is in Downend, a hamlet within the parish of Mangotsfield a mile north west of the village centre. In 1863 the Horse Shoe Inn was sold at auction, the description including "extensive stabling". This is presumably the "Mr Turvey's Stables" that were previously referenced. In 1883 there was still a coach running three times a day from Downend to Bristol in the name of "Turvey", per Kelly's Directory of Somersetshire: With the City of Bristol; Matthews' Bristol Street Directory 1871 included in Downend "Turvey Joseph, grocer, carrier and fly proprietor".

John Turvey himself would have been living in Frenchay, Winterbourne parish, by 1809, as he married Mary Meaby there in 1802. Frenchay is around 2 miles northwest of Downend. However, it is possible this was his family's stables. There were a number of other Turvey families who were known to have been living in or near Mangotsfield at the same time, including:

• William & Elizabeth Turvey, who were both living in neighbouring Winterbourne at the time of the 1841 census when William's occupation was listed as "coachman" although his will revealed he owned a cottage in Staple Hill, Mangotsfield parish. William's brother Robert was a Blacksmith with a workshop on Cleve Road, Downend, Mangotsfield.

• Samuel Turvey, died in Mangotsfield in 1816 aged 72. He may have been the same person who was listed in 1810 as having been "paid 6 shillings for locks for Almondsbury stocks". Some pedigrees show him as the father of Benjamin Turvey, born 1776 and died in Mangotsfield in 1819, listed in some pedigrees as the father of Isaac Turvey, born 1806. Isaac has two children - Job and Benjamin who were both described as "stonemasons", indicating a different family profession.

• John Turvey "junior", father of Elizabeth Turvey, born 1802

• Hezekiah Turvey, 1742-1817, who married in Mangotsfield in 1778 and died there.

• Joseph Turvey, 1787-1865, who married Sarah Howell in 1821 and was the father of Joseph Turvey, b. 1827 and Maria Turvey, b. 1834.

In 1790 there is a record of a Joseph Turvey holding land at Urford's Corner. This is presumably near the present day Urford's Drive, which is in Downend off the Frenchay Road. Urford's Corner was excluded from the sale of the Manor of Mangotsfield in 1790 by Mr John Stephens at the Bristol Exchange Coffee House. (source: Our Parish Mangotsfield)

Ancestry

John Turvey is possibly related to the person who gave the name to "Turvey's Corner" (cited in 1740) (later known as Mason's House and also "Tovey's Corner") in Fishponds, a hamlet in the neighbouring parish of Stapleton

DNA

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Church of England. Parish Church of Mangotsfield (Gloucestershire). Parish registers, 1579-1946. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1989-1997).

   http://www.bafhs.org.uk/burial-data/burial-index/catalog?letter=t&start=1175

2.   [1] See Pigot Transcript