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Brentford Families - Henrey

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Henrey family notes

I have discovered that Thomas was ordained in 1849 by the Bishop of Chester, but the records have not survived. Shortly after his ordination he took his young son (William, my great grandfather) and his wife to Cape Town, South Africa only to return a year or two later in 1853 with a daughter.

Upon his return he was vicar at Forest Chapel, Macclesfield. Sadly his wife, Charlotte died of peritonitis in 1853, she was only 29.

Thomas married Catherine Jane TAYLOR in West Derby (Liverpool) in 1856. They had three sons, Thomas Selby, Frederick William and Edward E.

• I have no information regarding Frederick at all
• Edward died aged 33 in Liverpool in 1900
• William Melville married Mary and had three children, Thomas George Frederick (my grandfather), Maud M Henrey and Charlotte
• and Thomas Selby became a vicar and married very well indeed!

I have established that Thomas Henrey had been incumbent at seven parishes, they were:

• Approx 1850 to 1853 Cape Town, South Africa
• 1853-1856 Forest Chapel, Macclesfiels, Cheshire
• 1856 -1858 Christ Church, Belper (I question this though)
• 1859-1863 St, Pauls Halifax (It was here Thomas Selby was born, and his brother Edward)
• 1865 Lezayre, Isle of Man (Frederick was born here)
• 1871 St Pauls, Tipton, Staffordshire
• And finally 1878 is the year he died of a stroke whilst he was at Crossons, St. Meols, Lancashire.

Do you have any idea where Robert and Madeleine's son may be? (see responses below). His name is Bobby Henrey and he was a child actor, his most famous role was in 1948 when he appeared in 'Fallen Idol' with Ralph Richardson. He would be approx 66 if he is still alive. I have managed to find a photograph of Bobby Henrey online, which was taken by Cecil Beaton and donated to the National Gallery!

I also discovered that Robert, son of Thomas Selby, attended Eton, then went on to Magdaleine College, Oxford, but 'dropped out' before taking his exams.

He is supposed to have met Madeleine Gal at the Savoy where she was a manicurist,and he was a customer!

I do hope I manage to track Bobby down, as I am hoping that he may be able to provide me with additional information.

I think that there was a family rift as William, who was a scholar in his youth, seemed to leave his family behind and became a boilermaker at Widnes Foundary. It did seem a very strange direction for him to take given the fact he seems to have come from a genteel, educated family!

He had three children that survived, Maude May (a lovely genteel lady who dies aged 94), Charlotte, who died of complications following a broken leg aged 33, and Thomas, my grandfather who was a sapper in world war 1, and then an engineer at ICI in Widnes. He was a lovely, kind, gentle man, he died aged 84 (ish) in 1976.

May and Charlotte were unmarried.

Tom went on to have six children. Pauline, Eunice (died in 2007), Jean (my mother), Patricia, Brian (died aged 63 in 1994) and Anita.

Whereabouts of Bobby Henrey, former child actor

Apparently he lives in America, and a little while ago I came across a site (Avon Theatre Film Center) which referred to a talk he had given in May 2006 on his experiences as a child star:

Out of curiosity, after writing to you, I did some further searches for Bobby Henrey, and downloaded a recent interview with him about the film, and found a photo of him and his wife. Apparently he retired from a financial job with the well-known firm Coopers & Lybrand and retrained as a lay chaplain working with hospitals for his church. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Mrs Henrey devoted a lot of one of her other books ("Green Leaves") to her mother-in-law. That might have some more about Brentford, certainly about the house.

Henrey family tree

Thomas HENREY (ca 1823 - 1878): married Charlotte CLARK in Liverpool, 1844; one surviving son; Charlotte died 1853; Thomas remarried Catherine JANE TAYLOR in West Derby Registration District in 1856; three further sons:
• Joseph HENREY (ca 1846 - ): born in Liverpool
• William Melville HENREY (ca 1847/8 - ): married Mary (-) in West Derby, 1884; great grandfather of Anne Wallace; children include:
  • Charlotte HENREY (1886 - ca 1919): born Earlstown, Lancashire
  • Maud May HENREY (1889 - ca 1983): born Halton, Lancashire
  • Thomas George Frederick HENREY (1894 - 1976): born Widnes; six children including Anne's mother
• Charlotte G HENREY (ca 1852 - ): born in Cape of Good Hope
• Thomas Selby HENREY (1859 - 1941): born in Halifax; in 1891 he was curate of St Botolph, Aldersgate in London; vicar of St George Old Brentford from 1895 until his retirement in 1930; married Harriet Euphemia Susan LINDSAY in East Yorkshire in 1897; she was the daughter of Sir Coutts LINDSAY, 2nd Bart and Caroline Blanche Elizabeth FITZROY; see below for a photo of Rev Henrey; children found on FreeBMD include:
  • Katharine Helen HENREY (1898 - c.1990): born in Brentford; lodging in Bournemouth with her nurse at the time of the 1901 census; Dr Selby Whittingham adds: 'died c.1990 in Kensington; she had spent some time in Egypt; unmarried'
  • Robert Selby HENREY (1901 - 1982): born in Brentford; married Madeleine GAL (1906 - 2004) in 1928, one son:
    • Robert Edward (Bobby) HENREY (1939 - ): born in France, child film star; married Lisette Coghlan; children
  • Blanche Elizabeth E HENREY (1906 - 1983): born in Brentford; Dr Selby Whittingham adds: 'she left her library on flora to the Natural History Museum on the condition that it be kept together there (obituary in The Times); unmarried'
• William HENREY (1861 - ): born in Halifax
• Frederick William HENREY (1863 - ): born in Halifax
• Edward Ernest HENREY (ca 1867 - 1900): born on the Isle of Man, died aged 33, death registered in West Derby Reg District

Janet McNamara provided a scan of this photo and it is published here courtesy of St Paul's Church, Brentford.

The photo was taken in 1928, two years before Rev Henrey retired. His home, St George's Vicarage, no. 28 High Street, was demolished in 1931 to allow for an expansion of the Gas Works.

A small pre WW1 photo of the Henrey family in the grounds of the Vicarage appears in Brentford Past (Q51).

Notes on the Taylor and Henry families

'Looking at your entry on the Henrey, I can add some details.'

'William Taylor (1806/9-82), paint manufacturer at Liverpool, (my gt gt grandfather) had as his eldest daughter Catherine Jane (1830-1924), who was the second wife of Rev. Thomas Henrey.'

'Of their grandchildren Katherine Helen died c.1990 in Kensington. She had spent some time in Egypt. Blanche Elizabeth died 9 March 1983. She left her library on flora to the Natural History Museum on the condition that it be kept together there (obituary in The Times). Both were unmarried. In the next generation Robert Edward (Bobby) married Lisette Coghlan, whom I think he met at Oxford, and they have children.' (Lisette Coghlan graduated from Somerville College, Oxford, 1959, having studied zoology ( Somerville biography booklet published 2009,)

'According to my grandmother, her father Walter Robert Taylor(1849-1928) (who expanded the paint firm at Liverpool and London) was quite a friend of his nephew Rev Thomas Selby Henrey - though they were different generation, they were not so separate in age. Katherine Henrey however referred to him as "the iceberg"!'