The Georgian House
Early Tenants
No. 1 St John Street
No. 1A St John Street
No. 3 St John Street
No. 5 St John Street
No. 7 St John Street
No. 9 St John Street
No. 11 St John Street
No. 13 St John Street
No. 15 St John Street
No. 17 St John Street
No. 19 St John Street
No. 21 St John Street
No. 23 St John Street
No. 2 St John Street
No. 4 St John Street
No. 6 St John Street
No. 8 St John Street
Although the Georgian House was actually owned by the Meredith family during the period from 1862 to 1898, they chose not to live there.
Charles Pauley
The 1871 census shows that The Georgian House was
occupied by family of Charles Pauley and his much younger wife, Sarah Ann
(nee Rendell) who was
thirteen years his junior. They had not been married very long when they
moved into the house as they married in the
December quarter of 1868. Their marriage was registered in Bristol, but both
of them came from Hinton St George in Somerset. Charles had been a
grocer before he retired and Sarah's family had been in the same trade.
At the time of the census, Sarah's parents Charles and Catherine Rendell
were staying with them. Charles and Sarah had three children who were
born in Thornbury; Silla, Charles and Florence. The family had moved to
Southampton by the 1881 census, where they remained until Charles died aged
91 in the final quarter of 1910.
Misses Annie and Mary Paynter
By 1881 another family had moved into the house.
This time it was occupied by a spinster lady, Miss Annie Paynter and her
sisters, Mary Paynter, also a spinster, and Harriett Edwards, a widow.
They lived with a young servant, Ellen Pym, to look after them. The ladies
were the daughters of Commander John Meyrick Paynter who was in the
Royal Navy and worked as a coastguard. The three ladies did not
stay in the house for very long as they had moved by the 1891 census to Butt
Lane and later Annie lived in the Bristol Road end of the High Street.
They all remained in Thornbury where they were buried in the cemetery.
Mary and Harriett both died in 1896 and Anne died, aged 87, in April 1909.
Henry William John Carter
By 1891 there was yet another change in occupancy. The
family living here at that time were Henry William John Carter and his wife
Sarah Ann (nee Howell). The couple had married in the last quarter of
1875 in Clifton. They had their first child, Augustus Robert Archibald
in Clifton. The next seven children were born in Thornbury. They
were; Walter Henry Shipway Carter, Henry William W. Carter, Miriam Louisa
Carter, Arthur Edward Norman Carter, Eugene Victor Carter, Mary Louisa
Shipway Carter and Nina Shipway Carter. One housekeeper, Sarah Harris, was
employed to look after them all.
Henry W. J. Carter was from a well known Thornbury family. His father, Henry Carter, and his mother, Ann Carter (nee Whittard). were the master and mistress of the Free School in St Mary Street. Henry began having children rather late in life with Sarah Ann, who was 28 years his junior, and his youngest child was born when he was 64. He died in 1876 aged 84. Henry and Sarah Ann were buried in church yard of St Mary's Church in Thornbury.
The 1861 census shows Henry still living with his parents and being trained as an architect's clerk. Henry seems to have been quite versatile. The 1891 census describes him as a timber merchant. He must have been very successful in life because he was buried in Pau cemetery in France. Pau was a very fashionable resort at the time and a favourite place for rich British people to retire to.
Click here to return to the Owners of The Georgian House
This page was last updated: 13/01/2008