1st husband
George Moore
George Moore
Sarah Hornblow's first marriage was to GEORGE MOORE - his origins remain unknown- They married by banns at St Martins in Fields Westminster 17 June 1810 with Martha Hornblow her sister and William Moore as witnesses -
Sarah & George Moore set up home in East Street Colchester Essex where George was a Porter and they had 3 children .
Mary Catherine Moore born ( 40 weeks exactly after the wedding) on 30 March 1811 at St Peters in Colchester
Mary died age 12 in Grahamstown SA. She and John may well have been twins
John Colton Moore possibly born 1811 .No record of his birth found so far in the Colchester registers .The only record of him comes from Sarahs 1843 Will .
I did find a John Moore, a tailor of the right age , in the census's first in East Street Colchester and later nearby Mistley, Occupation Tailor then Agent for East India Company and finally Sail Maker. John is mentioned in his mother Will of 1843 but it is not possible to confirm his whereabouts after she left him behind in 1816 age-5 or 6.
Interestingly his uncle Captain William Hornblow was ship owner & merchant for EIC .
Sarah Georgiana Moore Bapt. 14th March 1813 at St James the Great Church on East Hill Colchester. As yet it is not possible to confirm her whereabouts between 1816 and when she married in Stepney age 25 i 1838.
1816- Sarah Moore nee Hornblow, married John Cadle in 1816 and the lives of her children were changed forever. So far we have not found a death record for George in the time frame 1813-1815.
Certainly Goerge did not die in Colchester in that period, in fact he is recorded as alive in 1838. Separation may be what happened but that would not have allowed legal re- marriage. Divorce is the other possibility but it was rare , very expensive and required an act of Parliament making bigamy only possible alternative. After a great deal of research I believe that this marriage was bigamous.
2013 & 10 years later AJP still hadn't discovered for certain - with no census records its near impossible however my view is that George almost certainly had care of the two younger children. At that time he could, legally, prevent Sarah from seeing or having any contact with her children if she no longer lived with him. He allowed her to take only Mary - If son John & Mary were twins that might be a reason & in 2018 I discovered that Sarah's mother Elizabeth Young ( Hornblow) had twin siblings John & Mary.
Judging by the Will of their friend Edward Brett, I can imagine that he and his wife Mary may have had a lot of contact with those two little children they were evidently fond of the little girl because Edward Brett , left Sarah Georgiana Moore money in his will in 1854......
click here to see the Will of Edward Brett with the bequest to Sarah Georgiana Moore - who when she had married Augustus Stephen Jeffery Pomery called their first son Augustus Jefferey Brett.
Rev John Hornblow's 1816 obituary states 'unpleasant circumstance took place respecting sentiment, which made much havoc before it subsided. In the course of his pilgrimage many trying circumstances occurred, both as to his religious and family connections, which caused him to go mourning'
Sarah Hornblow may have run away from home to marry George Moore by whom she had the first 3 of her 11 children. Certainly they married in St Martins In Field in London when one expect her to marry from her family home in Braintree .
They lived in Colchester until she left to marry John Cadle
Her daughter Sarah Georgiana Moore married Augustus Frederick Pomery in Stepney in 1837 and the 1841 census showing them living with his parents at 46 Green Street Stepney .
Her connection to the Pomeroy family begins there with the Pomeroy genealogy going back to the Norman Conquest & 60 odd baronial manors mainly in Devonshire
Sarah & Augustus Pomeroy had 8 children beginning in Green Street Stepney before moving to Liverpool in 1846.
Research Finds 2006
Is this him ? George Moore Census 1841 age: 50 birthplace: Witham, Kelvedon Messing Essex
or is this him 1841 census
George & a Caroline Moore living in Mile End Terrace, Stepney, London & Middlesex, in a multi occupancy dwelling,
George Moore, b 1791 ,a ships steward & Caroline Moore b 1801 age 40 - was this George father of the bride & Caroline Maria Moore who witness to the 1838 wedding,, here is no way of knowing.
Caroline Maria Moore Born: 25 Jun 1815 Bapt 27 Dec 1816 SAINT DUNSTAN, STEPNEY, LONDON, daughter of Edward Moore & Elizabeth
Their first child was Georgiana Augusta Pomery. Born in Stepney in September 1839
Georgiana went on to marry Dr George Shearer in Liverpool in 1868.
She was their only daughter and of their 7 sons, 4 survived into adulthood.-
Augustus Pomeroy worked as a clerk for the East India Company until 1846 when they moved to Liverpool . He began working for the Merseyside Harbour Board where there were newly constructed offices controlling the recently built Albert Docks .
Augustus S J Pomeroy was 48 years old in 1863. He had initially been employed by the MDHB in June 1846 as Clerk to the Superintendent of the Albert Dock Liverpool. His salary at this point was £150 per annum. In 1858 Augustus was promoted to Principle of General Office and his salary raised to £250 per annum. In 1863 A S J Pomeroy was still in his position as Principle of General Office and in addition was Receiver of Charges and duty Superintendent of the Albert Dock Offices his wage was £275 per annum, plus house and coals. A S J Pomeroy was 63, when he was superannuated ( retired) in 1880. He received a pension of £300 p/a, the house and coals. He had worked for the MDHB for 34 Years.
The Pomeroy family lived at Dock House right in the midst of the Royal Albert Dock complex Around the same time that the Pomeroy's were settling into Liverpool in South Africa a gentleman, arrived by ship in Port Elizabeth, SA .
The Evidence - Why I think Sarah's second marriage was bigamous.
1. I was not able to find a death for George Moore in the time frame 1814 - 1816 in Colchester. despite an extensive, and expensive, search of the records. He is recorded as present at the marriage of his daughter Sarah Georgiana to Augustus S J Pomery in 1838
2. The entry in the Deptford register showing that ' marriage' finds that Sarah declares herself 'spinster of the parish of Deptford BUT uses her married name of Moore witnessed by 2 of her siblings
3. When daughter Sarah Georgiana Moore married in 1838 in Stepney, some 22 years after her parents separated , her father George is recorded as present- occupation corn merchant. Her brother John Cotton Moore also appears to have been married in Stepney but hemay have lived in Messing in Essex, suggesting that father George might be in Stepney.
4. I have found no record of grandmother Elizabeth Hornblow taking or adopting Sarah Georgiana and her brother John who remained in England, yet her eldest child . In 1819 the widowed Elizabeth Hornblow B 1753 was sent away from Braintree and settled at Cottage Place Kentish Town, St Pancras where she died Age 68 Buried 29 Apr 1821
Mary Catherine Moore , age 8, went with her mother to South Africa and is found on the passenger list of HMS Ocean in the Howard Party.
Why did she leave 2 of her children behind at all, if their father was not dead ; why didn’t she take the children after 1821 ?
George may have refused to let Sarah have the children, as was his legal right in those days. When Sarah and her new husband went to South Africa in 1820 with their new family they took her eldest daughter Mary Catherine Moore, who sadly died a few weeks after John Cadle who had drowned in 1824
The final peice of evidence
When daughter Sarah Georgiana Moore on 16 SEP 1838 was married to Augustus Stephen Jeffrey Pomery, born Stepney 1818. The wedding was at in St Dustan’s (in the East ) Stepney, London and it appears that her father was present - George Moore is recorded as corn merchant (ie not deceased ) They married by Licence, witnessed by & Caroline Maria Moore and her father Richard Pomeroy (commercial clerk)
So this was not a long awaited for marriage by banns but a quicker ceremony by licence .
Looking for George Moore
1841 Mile End Terrace, Stepney, London & Middlesex, England
multi occupancy dwelling
George Moore b 1791 ships steward
Caroline Moore b 1801 age 40
Rootschat 2006
GEORGE AUGUSTUS MOORE
Christening: 29 NOV 1783 Spitalfields Christ Church, Stepney, London, son of WILLIAM LACY MOORE and GRACE TAYLOR.
George Moore son of Edward & Mary Moore Born 7 Feb 1787 Bap 6 Sept 1789 in St James Colchester
Also trying to track a possible relative who witnessed the marriage my gg grandmother in 1838 at St Dunstans Stepney
Caroline Maria Moore born 25 JUN 1815 christened 27 DEC 1816 Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London, Eng. parents EDWARD MOORE and ELIZABETH
Caroline Maria Moore married 1848 James Reed in Stepney
IGI
Martha Sarah Moore Born 6 Jul 1823 Baptism 28 Nov 1823 dau George & Caroline Maria at SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST ,LONDON, ,ENGLAND
Richard Deacon Moore Born 30 Nov 1824 at Serles Coffee House Bat. 12 Jan 1826 dau of George& Caroline Maria at SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST,LONDON
Caroline Maria Moore Born 7 Dec 1826 Bapt. 31 DEC 1826 dau of George & Caroline Maria SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST, LONDON
FMP 2007 This one looked hopeful
1841 census George Moore age: 50 EDB 1791 birthplace: Witham , Kelvedon Messing Essex
FMP
He turns out to be a farmer with wife Sophie age 50 , daughter Sophie age 20 so married since about 18201
other children were George & Susanna & Arthur age 6 - with farm servants living at the Lodge, Messing Witham
IGI Census of 1851
George Moore is age 61 widowed
Farmer of 370 acres employing 12 Ag Labs
Census 1851
Messing, Essex, England, Birth 1790
Children Sophia Moore, Edward Moore, Arthur Moore
George & Caroline Moore
had children
Martha Sarah Moore Born 6 Jul 1823 Baptism 28 Nov 1823 dau to George & Caroline Maria at SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST ,LONDON,
Richard Deacon Moore Born 30 Nov 1824 at Serles Coffee House Bat. 12 Jan 1826 dau of George & Caroline Maria at SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST,
Caroline Maria Moore Born 7 Dec 1826 Bapt. 31 DEC 1826 dau of George & Caroline Maria SAINT DUNSTAN IN THE WEST, LONDON
St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London & is associated with The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers since the 15th century.
Grahams Town Journal ~ Thursday 12 January 1843
We have pleasure in announcing the arrival on Friday last in Algoa Bay of another vessel the Margaret Hardy from London 17th October with immigrants for this Colony.
The list of passengers Geo. MOORE Gentleman, Thos.DAVIS Engineer, G.WINDER Jeweller, Edward OWEN Gentleman, Mrs.CROFTON, Thos.FORRESTER (and wife) Farmer, A.McMASTER, wife and 2 children Surgeon Thos.COCKLIN Farmer, Maria PRINDERGRASS Servant, Mary VITCH do. ,Thos. PRINDERGRASS Farmer's man, Jno.SELBY (and wife) Farmer, J.M.JOHNSON do., C.HUMPHREY do., D.HUBBARD Carpenter, Mrs.KERSWELL and 1 child, Geo.GUNN (and wife) Coach builder, Mrs.BUCHANAN J.WALLACE, wife and 2 children Tinman, Mrs.LOVELL and child, W.C.DAVIS and wife, Eliza DAVIS Mary DAVIS and 4 children, J.MITCHELL and wife Carpenter, W.PIKE and wife and 3 children Farm labourer ,R.DUDGLY and wife Mason, H.D.WILLIAMS Painter, Jas.PIKE Labourer, Alex McDONALD Farmer ,Wm.McDONALD and wife do., Honor McDONALD, J.J.ABINGTON, wife and child Gentleman, Jno.WILLIAMS Farmer, Henry EDWARDS Draper, Mary LOVELL Servant. Total in steerage 66 souls
Whether it is the same George Moore it is impossible to tell. If this was her mislaid husband come visiting Sarah , now Mrs Gurney, must have had a bit of a shock, o have a first husband turn up might have caused something of a social stir!
Unless they were in agreement and had some sort of friendly arrangement that he would be introduced as an old friend from England. Who knows.
Sarah Hornblow/Moore/Cadle/ Thomas/ Gurney named all her children in her 1843 Will, including the two left behind, would seem to indicate that a communication was maintained but I suspect that this was between her and her friends Edward and Mary Brett in Colchester. Mary Brett appears the 1861 census a visitor at the home of Augustus and Sarah Pomeroy so it was obviously a connection of long standing.