HEBBORN FAMILY HISTORY & NEWS -  February 2005

GARDINERS AND BANTINGS

One of the rewards of studying family history is making contact with someone whose family research connects to your own. Last month two such contacts were made. The first was with Jenny Deverell whose enquiry in the Oxfordshire Family Historian concerned the Gardiners of Shrivenham. This caught my eye as my great grandmother Sarah Anne Gard(i)ner [G002w] was baptised in Shrivenham in 1828. Jenny was able to confirm her  relationship with Sarah Anne Gardner as second cousin three times removed. Now what is my relationship to Jenny Deverell?  Answers by e-mail to the editor. There are no prizes offered for solving this one.

Then Joan Williams made contact with Audrey Potts who was interested in her Banting ancestors. This was a name that I first came across when I obtained the marriage certificate of Charles Heborn and Harriott Holland at Headington in 1843. It was back in 1963 that I bought this certificate for the princely sum of 5s.3d. (27p), it would cost me £7.00 today. My only reason for buying this certificate was that it appeared to be the earliest Heborn marriage in Headington district in the GRO index. When it arrived I was rather disappointed. It did not seem to connect with any of my known Hebborns of Headington. Even more frustrating, as both bride and groom were illegitimate there were no father’s names to follow up. I had come to a dead end, or so I thought. The names of the witnesses, Henry Banting and Maria Banting meant nothing to me at the time.

The certificate lay in the file until 1997 when Jenny Hebborn contacted me. She had traced her husband Barry’s ancestors back to Charles and Harriet Hebborn, but could not find their marriage certificate. I was delighted to be able to provide her with the details from that long dormant file. She was equally frustrated that the father’s names were not on the certificate. We began to have wicked thoughts; could Maria Banting be Charles mother?  A transcript of the parish register of St Aldate, Oxford showed that Henry Banting married Maria Heborn in 1820. Our theory was firmly disproved when we found Charles and Harriet in the 1851 Census. This indicated that Charles was born about 1822 in Oxford, two years after Maria’s marriage to Henry Banting.

Maria Heborn [F012] was baptised at Garsington on 03 Sep 1799, the daughter of William Hebborn [E007] and Mary Hebborn. As far as we know, William and Mary had five sons and two daughters. The other daughter Elizabeth Heborn [F010] was baptised at Garsington on 20 Jan 1793.

The next breakthrough was the discovery of the baptism at St Ebbe, Oxford on 19 May 1822 of Charles William Heborn illegitimate son of Elizabeth Heborn. That second  Christian name William does not appear in any of the later references we have to Charles, but the date fits in well with the details on the 1851 Census form. This appeared to be the entry we were looking for. The mother’s identity remained a mystery. Could it be Maria’s sister? There was no evidence to prove or disprove this.

Then we found the marriage of Joseph Townsend, a widower, and Elizabeth Hebborn at St Ebbe, Oxford on 2 Jan 1842. How could we prove that this Elizabeth was Charles’ mother or Maria’s sister?  Elizabeth’s father is shown as William Hebborn, labourer. That certainly matched the Elizabeth baptised in Garsington. If her age were shown as 50 years it would be conclusive evidence that this was Maria’s sister. Unfortunately, the entry gives the very unhelpful “of full age”. This leaves some doubt for although Hebborn is pretty uncommon, even in Oxfordshire, Elizabeth and William were very common names.

The witnesses’ names were to prove most important in identifying the bride. They were Henry Banting and Eliza Banting. Henry Banting would seem to be Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, who would witness her son’s marriage the following year. Eliza Banting has not been identified so far.

Audrey Potts enquiry set me searching for Bantings in the parish register transcripts of St. Ebbes. Although I found little new information for her, I did discover more about Henry Banting and Maria. They lived in Blackfriars Road, Oxford and Henry was a tailor. They had at least seven children baptised at St. Ebbe’s: 
4 Feb 1821 Henry Banting
18 May 1821  Ellen Banting
23 Dec 1827  Ann Anna Banting [sic]
10 Jun 1830  James Banting
30 Jul 1834 Maria Agnes Banting 
13 Aug 1837 William Banting
20 Mar 1839 Sarah Banting (buried 31 Mar 1839)

There is also the burial of a Joseph Banting age 7 months of Blackfriars Road on 27 Sep 1840. He would appear to be the son of Henry and Maria, but I have not found a corresponding baptism entry. The burial of Henry Banting age 48 years of Blackfriars Road is recorded at St Ebbe on 22 May 1845. Maria Banting age 61 of Church Street appears in the same register on 22 Jan 1860. This age agrees with the baptism of Maria Heborn at Garsington in 1799. 

I came to the conclusion there is enough circumstantial evidence to say that Maria Banting and Elizabeth Townsend were sisters.

John Hebborn.