The Descendants of George Zachariah Wombwell

If this side of the Wombwell family knew anything, they knew cows, and James Wombwell's eldest son was to prove no exception. Born in 1843 in Hackney, George Zachariah married Eleanor Barber (1850-1928) in 1867 at St John the Baptist Church, Shoreditch. From London, George Zachariah and Eleanor made their way up to Bradford, Yorkshire where they settled down, and George set up business as a tripe dresser, patiently preparing cow's stomachs to a point where they would be fit for human consumption.

When, later in life, he and his family had tired of tripe, he took a leaf out of his Uncle George Wombwell junior's book and attempted to establish himself as a photographer. He died in Boroughbridge in 1936.

George Zachariah Wombwell and Eleanor Barber's children and grandchildren, in other words, the fourth cousins x1 removed, and fifth cousins, respectively of Hetty Jane Owen were:

i. Ellen Sophia Wombwell (1869–1941). Ellen was born in Islington and died in Buckrose, Yorkshire. She married Ben Ewart Charlesworth, and they had two children, George Wombwell Charlesworth (1896-1900) and Gertrude Charlesworth (1900-1971). Gertrude married an Arthur Clarkson.

ii. Elizabeth Augusta Wombwell (1871–1938). Elizabeth was born at 12 Trees Court, Bower Street, Horton, Bradford. She married Joshua Bywater in 1896 at St Peter, Bradford. They had five children: Samuel Bywater (1896–1896), May Evelyn Bywater (1897–1987), Irene Bywater (1900–1901), Eleanor Wombwell Bywater (1902–1981), who married George Pearson, and Chrissie Bywater (1912–2000), who married Alfred James Beardmore. They were all Yorkshire born and bred, and lived out their days in the county.

iii. George Henry Wombwell (1875–1881).

iv. Ernest Wombwell (1877–1948). Ernest married Sarah Ann Clayburn at St Clement, Bradford in 1900. Their four children were: Percy Wombwell (1901–1972), who married Louisa Dean; Edith Wombwell  (1903–1989), who married James William Flatt; George Wombwell (1905–????), who married Hilda Pickles; and Winifred Wombwell (1910–1998). This line too remained rooted in Yorkshire.

v. Percy Wombwell (1883-1852). Percy married Christiana Wood. Their children were William Henry Wombwell (1908–1978), who married Irene Proudfoot, and Nellie Wombwell (1911–1986):, who married Wilfred L. Binns. The family remained in Yorkshire.

vi. Gertrude Wombwell (1885–1962). Gertrude married Lawrence Gilbert Mountjoy Hardy (1881–1944). Their children were: Annie Hardy (1910–1910), Sydney Hardy (1911–1977), who married Muriel Ferguson; Dudley Wombwell Hardy (1914–1965), who married Audrey Wilkinson, Gilbert Percy Hardy (1916–1941), Fred Hardy (1918–2003), who married Mary Moss, and Geoffrey Hardy (1923–2002), who married Mona Teresa Webster.

Interestingly, the third, fourth and fifth children were all born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, so sometime after 1911, the family must have emigrated there only to return to Yorkshire after the First World War in 1919.

Dudley Wombwell Hardy must have acquired a taste for life on the other side of the Atlantic. He died in Santa Clara, California.

Able Seaman Gilbert Percy Hardy meanwhile was lost on HMS Diamond on April 26th, 1941 when it was attacked and sunk by German fighter jets whilst evacuating UK military from Greece. 

HMS Diamond in Hong Kong before the war.
Taken by a Warrant Officer Class 2 in The Royal Scots (British Army) who died in world war II. Submitted by Aileen & Bernard Trinder - Submitted to OTRS, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3604020

vii. May Wombwell (1886–1893), and
viii. Doris Evelyn Wombwell (1891–1892) both died young in Bradford.