Box People and Places
Latest Issue 48 Summer 2025 
  • This Issue
    • Augustus Perren
    • Church Photos
    • Box Village Photos
    • Bath Photos
    • Pictor Photos
    • Celebration Photos
    • Perren Family Photos
    • Unknown Photos
    • Box People Photos
    • VE Day Full Story
    • Memories of VE Day 1945
    • VE Daty 2025 Anniversary
    • Oral History
  • Previous
    • Issue 46 - Box Hill
    • Issue 45 - Moleyns Lordship
    • Issue 44 - Viking Hazelbury
    • Issue 43 - Late Medieval
    • Issue 42 - Beautiful Box
    • Issue 41 - Becket Plays
    • Issue 40 - Selwyn Hall
    • Issues 30-39 >
      • Issue 39 - Modern Box
      • Issue 38 - Railway Workers
      • Issue 37 - Mill Lane Halt
      • Issue 36 - Box Rec
      • Issue 35 - Inter war
      • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
      • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
      • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
      • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
      • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • FULL Series
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
Townsend and Gilby Connection
Rob Cannon
December 2015
We had an interesting email from Rob Cannon in Western Victoria, Australia, which opened up information about Jane Townsend's article on Henry Townsend:

I'm descended from Henry's sister Elizabeth. The Why so many Gilbys? question posed by Jane Townsend in the October 2015 issue is easily answered - well it is now, though it took me some time to get there. Henry Townend's grandparents were Simon Townsend (from Bremhill) and Susannah Gilby (from Layston, Hertfordshire).

My last research on Townsends and Gilbys was in 2008, so I'm a bit rusty on some details. You have to appreciate most of my work is based on record hunting though I was lucky enough to obtain some very useful information from other people researching the same family. The details I've found about Henry's sibling's dates of death are:

Henry Townsend 1809 -1889 died in New Zealand
John Townsend 1811 - 1849 died in Bath
Susanna Gilby - 1813
Simon Townsend 1814 - 1886 died in Box
Amelia Townsend 1816 - 1836 died in Corsham
Matilda Townsend 1818 - 1889 died in West Melbourne
Frederick Townsend 1821 - after 1861, maybe 1875 in Bath
Thirza Gilby 1823 - married Thomas Sharp in 1855; died 1908 in Bristol
Abraham Townsend 1825 - 1843 died in Wellington, Somerset possibly killed on the railway
Elizabeth Townsend 1827 - 1884 died in Melbourne
Henrietta Townsend 1829 - 1911 died in Buchanan, USA

The usual caveats apply to anything deduced without good documents and I would love to hear of any further information that might arise.

Back to Original Article
Back to Issue 11