Holy Trinity Thorps

Tracing the family line before Robert Thorp, Henry Thorp’s father and my 4th Great Grandfather has proved near impossible. James, my father, hit this particular brick wall early in the quest to find the family roots. I’m now in the process of exhausting various strategies to make some concrete connections back in to the 18th Century. As of December 2019 these are largely fruitless other than eliminating potential Thorps from inquiries.

Hull, Hell and Holmfirth good Lord deliver me

With apologies to the original beggar’s lament and to the town of Holmfirth but the early 1800 Thorps are somewhere between the three! As a key east coast port Kingston upon Hull in the 1790s and early 1800s was a busy bustling place. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793 – 1815), the construction of new docks and the usual trade drew in a transient population. This complicates tracing the family line as it is conceivable that life event records – births, deaths, marriages – in Hull may simply be the single brief contact between place and people who had been drawn from far and wide. The parish records for Sculcoates give a brief glimpse of this transient population of mariners, seamen, sailors, soldiers and militia men passing through.

Robert Thorp “Sailor”

Against this backdrop is the baptism record for Henry Thorp at Holy Trinity, the son Robert and Ann Thorp, placing Henry and his parents in Hull on 10th September 1801. The Holy Trinity baptism record gives no details of occupation or origin, unlike neighbouring Sculcoates which fastidiously recorded occupation. We rely on Henry’s marriage certificate to Francis Roebuck some 45 years later for the absent fathers occupation: “Sailor”. This throws up any number of possibilities for research. Robert may well have been part of the great flux of people who found themselves flowing through the port at this time and as a sailor he may well have been a denizen of any other part of the British Isles or even North America. Equally, he may have been drawn from the more immediate hinterland of East Riding, Lincolnshire or Norfolk villages. Did “sailor” have a particular and specific meaning in a world where the sea and all its trades had more relevance than today? Was he a sailor in the Royal Navy by choice or a pressed man? Is it possible that Henry never knew his father or his profession and offered “sailor” with an irreverent sense of humour? Although, the marriage certificate is a legal document. Nevertheless, an occupation and a location provided a starting point and offered several avenues for further investigation:

• Holy Trinity Records – do Robert and Ann appear before or after Henry’s baptism?
• Navel and maritime records – are there any Robert Thorps who may fit the bill?
• Births, Marriages, Deaths – are there any records for Robert and Ann in the surrounding area that might be linked?
• Parallel lines – did Henry have brothers or sisters or did Robert have brothers and sisters that offer better connected routes to the past?

Each of these avenues would come to contain tantalising possibilities and their own challenges.

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church at the time was the parish church for Kingston upon Hull. Assuming Robert or Ann and their families lived in the parish of Hull there ought to be BMD records before or after Henry’s baptism. James had in fact carried out this search early on in the process but to be on the safe side copies of the Parish records were duly ordered and searched.

It is conceivable that 1794 Robert baptising his son Robert is the same Robert baptising Henry. It is quite possible that Robert who died 1804 is the 1794 son or the father(s) of Robert or Henry! Family Search IGI found the 1804 death but provided no further information. Online searches have not found any Robert and Ann marriages at Holy Trinity, although, a possible marriage between Robert Thorp and Ann Hurd at Bubwith, Shipton by Thorpe in 1797 did pop out. Next stop:

• East Yorkshire Archives to search Holy Trinity Marriages and Burials – something I’m pretty sure was done by James in the 1970s.
• Sculcoates Records – the parish covering the north of the city.
• St John the Evangelist – may not have kept separate records.
• Navel Records