Individual Details

"Hornby Research": of King Street and subsequently of Brookhouse Lodge, Blackburn; and of Shrewbridge Hall and subsequently of Pool Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire; M.P. for Blackburn, 1857-69, and first mayor of Blackburn, 1851. Chairman of the Conservative party in Blackburn aat the first election in Dec., 1832. Leader of the Conservative Party in the Borough for many years. Chosen by the newly-constituted Town Council first mayor of Blackburn, 10 Nov., 1851. Contested Blackburn in by-election, March 1853, but was defeated. An ardent promoter of the Ten Hours Bill, for regulating the hours of work in factories. Elected M.P. for Blackburn, unopposed, March, 1857. Re-elected, after contests, in Gen. Elections of 1859, 1865 and 1868. His return in Nov. 1868, with that of his colleague and kinsman, Joseph Fielden, Esq., was petitioned against. The petition was tried at Blackburn by Mr. Justice Wiles in march 1869, and the election was declared void. In April, 1840, Mr. W. H. Hornby had founded Sunday Schools in connection with St. Michael's Church at Derrikens in Brookhouse, and he was a governor of Blackburn Grammar School. He was a leading promoter - and chairman - of the railway between Blackburn and Bolton and Clitheroe, and after the amalgamation of the Company with the Lancs. and Yorks. Railway, he became a Director of the latter. He succeeded his father in the family cotton business, as owner of the Brookhouse mills, but although retaining the ownership played no active part in the business after leaving the family home in King Street, Blackburn, for Shrewbridge Hall, Nantwich, in 1856. A statue of him was subsequently erected at Sudell Cross, Blackburn, which was removed in the 1960s to a new site in Central Blackburn.

Birth	2 Jul 1805	Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Marriage	19 May 1831	Margaret Susannah Birley
Death	4 Sep 1884	Of Blackburn, Lancashire, England
Occupation		M. P. For Blackburn, J. P. D. L.

Spouse	Margaret Susannah Birley (1810 - 1899)
Child	John Hornby (1832 - 1901)
Child	Elizabeth Henriana Hornby (1834 - 1851)
Child	Frances Mary Hornby (1836 - 1887)
Child	Augusta Margaret Hornby (1838 - )
Child	Edward Kenworthy Hornby J. P. (1839 - 1887)
Child	Henry Sudell Hornby (1840 - 1840)
Child	Sir William Henry Hornby D. L. J. P. (1841 - 1928)
Child	Capt. Cecil Lumsden Hornby (1843 - )
Child	Caroline Louisa Hornby (1845 - )
Child	Albert Neilson Hornby J. P. (1847 - 1925)
Child	Charles Herbert Hornby (1849 - )

Father	John Hornby (1763 - 1841)
Mother	Alice Backhouse (1769 - 1827)
Sibling	Elizabeth Hornby (1796 - 1798)
Sibling	John Hornby (1797 - 1809)
Sibling	Daniel Hornby (1800 - 1863)
Sibling	Rev. Robert Hornby (1804 - 1879)
Sibling	Elizabeth Hornby (1804 - 1807)
Sibling	John Hornby Esq. M. A. M. P. (1810 - 1892)