Corley

The Corley Family

Denis Hawkings, in his books about the family from which most of this information comes, suggests the name may be Irish, or from Corley in Warwickshire.

The connection with our family was created when Jesse Hawkings married Annie Corley in 1885 in Highbury Wesleyan Chapel. 

The Corley’s were a strong Methodist family.

John Corley [1747-1785] and Sarah Summers [1748-?] one son William, married at St Leonards Church, Shoreditch when John was 34, he died 4 years later, aged 38.

1790 William Corley [1768-1858] married Mary Hawkins in Hertfordshire (St Albans Abbey). When William Corley was born on 29 November 1768 in London, his father, John, was 21 and his mother, Sarah, was 20. William had one son (Samuel Farren} with Mary Hawkins in 1797. He died on 10 August 1858 in Hertfordshire having lived a long life of 89 years.

1797 Samuel Farren (Ferrand in later records) [1797-1889] Corley born – St Albans When Samuel Ferand Corley was born in 1797 in Hertfordshire, his father, William, was 29 and his mother, Mary, was 28. He married Jane Bridges on 20 October 1825 at St Pancras, London. He died on 3 January 1889 in Holloway, Middlesex, at the impressive age of 92. Listed as Barristers Clerk. Ardent Tory! 

  • Elizabeth Corley m James Fairhurst
  • Alfred Corley m Eliza Carr (first cousin) many children died of TB (intermarriage?)
  • Samuel Bridges Corley (1827-1882), lived near Ilminster.
  • Charles Corley, station master at Oswestry, Shrops, m Jane, Annie spent holidays with them.
  • Lottie Corley, m Walter Kettle
  • Mary Ann (Polly) Corley, m George Davey, son Arthur Davey (received Samuel’s watch in his will)
  • Ellen Maria (Nellie) Corley, m Richard Howle, 8 children, 1861 in the census at 11 Thornhill Place, Islington. Nellie is listed as having been born in Paddington.
  • Ferrand Albert Corley b 1841-1919 St Pancras, edited the Finsbury Methodist Circuit Magazine, lived at 11 Thornhill Place with Nellie.

“We next learn that Ferrand Albert Corley of 11 Thornhill Place, Islington was married on August 15th, 1861, to Mary Ann Tripp of 11 Story Street, Islington.     The wedding    took place at   Islington Parish Church and the Rev L.   Stanham (Curate) officiated.     The witnesses on this occasion were John Tripp (Bride’s father),   Ellen  Corley  and Eliza Corley (Bridegroom’s sister and sister-in-law respectively).

Mary Ann Tripp [1841-1911] born in Marylebone, her father John Lewis Tripp [1807-1997] was born in Burnham.

At the time of his marriage, Ferrand was a solicitor’s  clerk, and he was to spend the remainder of his working life in the legal profession.  Worked in the Taxing Masters office.

He became private secretary to Lord Selbourne who was Lord Chancellor, and it was necessary for him  to  be in  attendance at  the House  of Lords whenever it  was sitting  and this  often involved  him in  arriving home very late  at night.     On special occasions he had to wear  Court Dress  and this resembled  that which  was worn  by a  Gentleman Usher-complete with sword.”

Ferrand and Marian’s children (11)

  • Annie Sarah Corley 1862-1900 m Jesse Edmund Hawkings in 1885
  • Bertha Corley died in infancy.
  • William Corley – ditto
  • Albert Ferrand Corley 1868-1941 (Uncle Bert) m Florence Adeline Stanton, Finsbury Methodist Chapel 1894
    • Solicitor, partner in Sir Walter Prideaux and Co,  “a great raconteur. He could apparently keep one amused for hours with tales of the great personalities of the Bar such as “F.E. 11 (Lord Birkenhead) ad “Old Dearie” (Mr. Justice Darling)”.
    • 2 daughters
      • Bertha Corley – foreign correspondent of Mssrs Dunhills, m Erenst Ward, retired to Goring-on-Sea
      • Hilda Mary (Nan) Corley, m Henry Rossiter, Methodist minister and missionary in China, South Rhodesia, Bahamas, settled in Wiltshire – 3 children Pauline, John and Michael.
  • Ernest Frederick Corley, 1871-1963 m Bessie Florence Lock from Barnstable (d 1930).  Ernest was a solicitor, succeeded his father in the Taxing Master’s Office.
    • Ferrand Frederick lecturer in Horticulture, Wiltshire Agricultural College, m Daisy Cook, retired to Paignton.
    • Leonard, emigrated to Canada – developed colour television with his son David, retired to Florida
    • After the death of Bessie in 1930 – Ernest remarried – Mary Cranch
  • Charlotte Mary Corley b 1873-1951 (Aunt Lizzie), m Walter Kettle, at the Wesleyan chapel, Finsbury Park he was in the treasury and awarded OBE, and a musician. Lived at Winchmore Hill, London.
    • Douglas d 1965 worked in Burma Teak industry
    • Mary d 1965, lived in Winchmore Hill and ran the house after the death of her parents
    • Lancelot – died young in 1949
    • Maurice – musician
  • Louise Corley died aged 5 in 1880
  • Ferrand Edward Corley d 1937, went to St John’s College, Oxford where he became a fellow and tutor, m Elsie Maria Early d 1999, from the Witney Blanket manufacturing family, her father was a naturalist who visited Brean Down when it was the home of the Hawkings family. Ferrand went to India to run a Methodist college in Madras.  Ill health led him to retire to Amersham and died there.  The Madras college was renamed after him. They visited Brean Down in 1912 with their children and Indian nurse
    • Elsie Phylli Corley s m John Gray Churchill Spencer-Barnard, lived near Aylesbury in a stately home, Nether Winchendon, 4 children
    • Michael Early Ferrand Corley b 1909, barrister, Crown Court Judge,
    • Hugh Vanner Corley, m Elizabeth (Betty) Henry, farmer, 9 children
  • Sydney Walter Corley b1879, worked in insurance, m Annie Louise Sholl
    • Kenneth Sholl Ferrand Corley, Director of Lucas, knighted in 1972, governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, m Olwen Yeoman 1937
  • Douglas Hilary Corley b 1882, visited Brean Down when young, went swimming wearing his glasses and a straw hat. m Dorothy Stancliffe and emigrated to the US in 1922 after he was ordained d 1963, Dorothy was living with a daughter in Louisville, Kentucky later.
  • Francis Stanley Corley b 1883, career in law, working for Barclays bank, m Gladys Henman and lived in Palmers Green, London but she died when her daughter was born in 1930, he then married Eva Vidler and they lived in Sevenoaks in Kent.

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