THORNBOROUGH AND OTHER THORNBER VARIANTS
BAPTISMS IN LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND
17TH, 18TH & 19TH CENTURIES

Part 1. Parishes A to M

The data below is taken in part from the International Genealogical Index and in part from my own examination of parish registers in Lancashire for variants of Thornber and Thornborough. Entries in the IGI noted as "relative of" or "born about" without any information from a register are excluded as are those without parent's names.  In each case the child's name is given first; the dates are in the form year, month, day. Where the mother's maiden name is quoted in the baptism register it is shown in brackets.  I am grateful to Tony Foster for the information on Blackburn Nonconformist baptisms.   The objective is to compare the spelling variants, places and dates as a start to seeing whether families can be identified.  For anyone interested in these families the first step is to consult the full entry in the appropriate register to seek information on abodes, occupations etc.  The second step is to consult the burial records at the same place to see if any of the children died in infancy.

There are a number of examples where the variants of Thornber and Thornborough are used for the same family. Several occur in Blackburn in the early 19th century when the vicar wrote Thornborough in the marriage register but the person involved signed as Thornber. This makes it necessary to consult both this page and those dealing with Thornber records in Lancashire.

Altham and Accrington

An Alice Thornborough, daughter of Richard Thornber of Clayton, died of chin cough and was buried aged 11 months on 3 April 1817 but the dates do not fit exactly.

Blackburn Area

The record for George & Hannah Thornburg fits with those for George and Hannah Thornber.  George Thornber married Ann Ward at Blackburn St. Mary 11 June 1778.  (all marriages had to be in Anglican churches at that time)

The record for Richard and Alice Thornbury may fit with a Thornber family as shown on the Darwen page..  Blackburn St. Peter was Nonconformist until the late 1820s and the family may have then switched allegiance to Clayton Street Independent.

Also in Blackburn we have the following two entries

Blackrod St. Katherine

Bolton St Peter

Henry & Mary Thornborrow are probably the same couple as that recorded at Great Bolton Ridgeway.  See also the Henry and Mary in Wigan at the same period who married in 1797.

Brindle

Thomas and Martha may be the same couple as that recorded at Blackburn St. Mary.  Thomas Thornber married Martha Murray at Blackburn St. Mary on 26 July 1790

Burnley, St Peter

Robert and Grace Thornberg are undoubtably the same couple who appear in the registers of St. Peter's at Burnley under the name Thornber, where Robert Thornber married Grace Pollard on 25 October 1788.  These entries have been abstracted from the original register.  The family is shown in much more detail in the section on Thornber families of Burnley.

As all other entries for Burnley are under the name Thornber, I suspect that the following also are spelling variants of Thornber.

Rob. Thornburgh married Ann Horabine, Burnley, 1589 (Boyd's Marriage Index)

Cartmel

The IGI has entries under both Cartmel and Cartmel Priory Church.  Cartmel was the home of a Thornborough family for several centuries.

The entries for Christopher and Ann form a coherent group and the one from Warton almost certainly belongs to the same family as the son is given the mother's maiden name as a forename.  Christopher Thornborrow married Anne How at Cartmel on 29 January 1778.

There is a marriage record for Christopher Thornborrow and Hannah Borrow at Cartmel on 24 September 1815.

Chistopher (written Xpofer short for Christopherus) Thornburgh married Issabell Swaynson at Cartmell Priory Church on 25 Nov 1600 which relates to the following baptism:

Other baptism entries at Cartmel:

Other marriages have been identified in Boyd's Marriage Index for Lancashire:

Geo. Thornburgh married *** Cartmel, 1562
Nic. Thornburgh, married Jenet Brockbank, Cartmel 1594
Cris Thornburgh married Isb Swainson, Cartmel, 1600
Roland Thornborrow and Ann Green, Cartmel, 1762
Edw Thornborrow and Sarah Caddy, Cartmel, 1776
Edw Thornborrow and Jane Martin, Cartmel, 1800
Thomas Thornborrow and Ester Dodgson, Cartmel, 1806 (also down for Cartmel Fell)
Anth. Thornborrow and Mgt. Bigland, Cartmel 1826 (also down for Cartmel Fell)

Church Kirk

At this parish there were three marriages of interest:

Martha x Thornborough married Frederick x Lancaster, both of Church Kirk, witn: Geoe: Heyes & Jno. Crossley, 19 Apr. 1818
Ellin x Thornborrow, married Zacheus Walsh, both of Church Kirk, witn: Geoe. Heyes & William Cowell, on 24 Nov. 1822.
Nancy x Thornborrow, spr. married George x Clegg, bachelor, both of Church Kirk, witn: Henry x Clegg & James Crossley, on 3 Oct. 1825

And three burials:

John Thornborrow of Duckworth hall, husbandman, 5 Feb 1704
Ann Thornborrow, Duckworth hall, vidua, 14 Feb 1710
Grace Thornborrow of Church, 3 Dec 1733.

Cockerham

Deane by Bolton

Garstang

Boyd's Marriage Index shows:

Jn Thornborrow married Betty Wardlow, Garstang, 1812
Rob. Thornborrow married Agnes Johnson, Garstang, 1835

Garstang Independent

Great Bolton Ridgeway (see also Bolton St. Peter above)

Francis was not a common name in the families and it could be that another set of nonconformist entries in Manchester relate to the same Francis with a second wife.  See also Manchester trade directory  for the name Francis.

Halton

Boyd's Marriage Index notes: Georg Thornborrow married Mary Croft, Halton, 1655.

Hawkshead

Boyd's Marriage Index reports Jn. Thornbro married Elz or Jane Bownas at Hawkshead in 1755

A John Thornborrow married Betty Greenrod at Hawkshead on 16 July 1787 and this may be related to the first entry below.

Kirkby Ireleth

Probably all in the same family:

Other entries

Lancaster St. John

The first four entries could be for the same family:

Lancaster St. Mary

John Thorneborrow married Isabella Wilson at Lancaster St. Mary on 11 November 1792.  John and Isabella entries appear to be one family, see also Preston St. John.

John Thornburrow married Hannah Sandham at Lancaster St. Mary on 13 Dec 1784.  There are also entries for a John and Hannah at Preston St. John

The following could be more than on family.  The name Giles is of interest as it occurs commonly in the Thornber families of Slaidburn.

Other entries:

Boyd's marriage Index shows:

Geo Thornborrow and Elz Greg at Lancaster in 1749
Adam Thornborrow and Cath Crompton, Lancaster, 1819

Liverpool St. Nicholas

Probably the same family:

Compare the following with the Lancaster St. Mary record for a child of Giles in 1757:

Other entries:

Liverpool St. Peter

The following are split into possible family groups by alphabetical order of father's name.

Benjamin Thornber married Elizabeth Lea at Liverpool St. Nicholas, 28 July 1801

Compare the entry below with that for Warrington.

There is a record for the marriage of James Thornburgh and Mary Johnson at Liverpool St. Nicholas on 9 December 1832, which may correspond to the first group below:

Manchester Cathedral

The John and Theresa entries for three different churches could relate to the same family as Theresa is a very unusual name among the Thornborough and Thornber families.

Probable family groups:

(see also Manchester Trade Directories for Francis and the possible baptism of this Francis at Bolton as shown above)

Although there are four spellings it is likely that the following relates to a single family. See details of two deaths from this family on the Manchester page.

Other entries:

Boyd's Marriage Index shows Jn Thornbro married Ann Nab at Manchester in 1769 which could relate to the first entry in the block above.

Melling

Boyd's Marriage Index shows Rob. Thornborrow married Ann Grimshaw at Melling in 1787.

To Part 2. Parishes N to W 

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