Author: Hornby, Mary
Biography:
HORNBY, Mary, formerly SPIERS (1765-1829: findmypast.com)
She was baptised on 4 Feb. 1766 at Clifford Chambers, a village two miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the daughter of Alice and Thomas Spiers. On 10 Jan. 1788 she married Thomas Hornby, a butcher, at Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon. Only one baptism appears to have been recorded with their names, for a daughter named Sarah in 1797. (There may have been other children: in any case, the Hornbys have Australian descendants in the 21st century.) From about 1806 they were custodians of Shakespeare’s alleged birthplace in Stratford, a lucrative tourist attraction. After the death of her husband (date uncertain), Mary Hornby carried on as keeper and began publishing works that she claimed to have composed in the house: the verses listed here (with a historical account of the house) and two prose plays, The Battle of Waterloo, a Tragedy (1819) and The Broken Vow, a Comedy (1820). But she was forced out of the house by rising rents. She responded by stripping the place of furniture and documents that she later displayed as “reliques” from a house across the street, causing a feud with the new owner, Jane Iliff. She died in Stratford on 27 May 1829, death notices adding “It is said she was one of the descendants of Shakespeare.” (findmypast.com 15 Nov. 2022; ancestry.com 15 Nov. 2022; Madeleine Cox, “On the Trail of Mary Hornby,” Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 2 Oct. 2015, shakespeare.org.uk 15 Nov. 2022; Worcester Journal 11 Jun. 1829) HJ