in the Wembdon Road Cemetery
Kindly Supplied by Richard Hinxman, Wiltshire, May 2023
John Donniger HINXMAN (1815-1864)
John Donniger was the link between the other family members mentioned below.
His unusual middle name commemorates his parents’ friendship with John’s godfather: the rather splendidly named Ezekiel DONNIGER IV (c.1772-1820+), who was a Solicitor from Bishops Waltham in Hampshire.
We know quite a lot about John Donniger’s life, beginning with his childhood spent on the family’s farms in Hampshire – a period when many clues suggest the family was also involved in smuggling.
His father died when John was 18, and a couple of years later John took the adventurous decision to serve overseas as Commissariat Clerk to the Auxiliary (or British) Legion, a volunteer expeditionary force supporting the Liberal cause and Queen Isabella II of Spain against the Carlists, in the First Carlist War – a Spanish civil war.
A couple of years later John was back in London. There in 1840 he married his 1st wife, Frances Mary PHILIPS (1816-1845), he became a Wine & Spirit Merchant (probably making use of old smuggling contacts), and they had 3 children. But only 1 child survived, and within several months of the 3rd birth in 1845 both Frances and the baby were dead.
Nearly 3 years later in 1848 and still in London, John married a 2nd time: to Katherine Susanna ROBERTSON – and their story continues below.
John Donniger HINXMAN is buried in plot 20/556 at the Wembdon Road Cemetery. The damaged memorial stone to John, plus his 3rd wife Charlotte & their last child Kate, still survives there.
Katherine Susanna HINXMAN (nee ROBERTSON, 1813-1854)
Katherine married John Donniger HINXMAN in 1848, and it was the 2nd marriage for both of them.
Their 1st son James HINXMAN (1849-1850) lived for only 3 months and died in London, which possibly triggered their move to the Bridgwater area sometime after 1851.
But Katherine died in 1854 (probably of puerperal fever), just 22 days after the birth of their 2nd son Walter Henry HINXMAN (1854-1916) at Wembdon.
Katherine Susanna HINXMAN is not mentioned on the memorial stone for plot 20/556 at Wembdon Road Cemetery. But she was possibly the first to be buried in this plot, in 1854, being joined later by the other family members named above.
Walter Henry ‘Harry’ HINXMAN (1854-1916) & Kate HINXMAN (nee FRANCIS, 1862-1936)
Walter left home aged 17, in 1871, to travel to Australia - probably seeking his fortune in one of the Australian gold rushes.
He may have returned richer in experience, but not in wealth, as he's next recorded as a Porter at the Bridgwater Workhouse in 1891.
In 1897 Walter married Kate FRANCIS, a Dressmaker, at St George's in Wembdon, and by 1901 they were living at Camden Road in Bridgwater, running a Grocer's Shop. Walter died in 1916, and his widow Kate continued to run their business until her death.
Walter HINXMAN was buried in a grave (now unmarked) at the Wembdon Road Cemetery.
Kate HINXMAN was probably buried in the same (now unmarked) grave at Wembdon Road Cemetery, 20 years later in 1936.
Charlotte HINXMAN (nee HOOPER, 1831-1912)
But back to John Donniger HINXMAN. In 1859 he married his 3rd wife Charlotte HOOPER, at St Mary's in Bridgwater. By 1861 they were running the Bridgwater Arms in Fore Street, Bridgwater, and apparently doing well there.
Interestingly, John Donniger’s reputation for being mixed up in smuggling resurfaced here. Local legend has it that the Bridgwater Arms possessed a secret tunnel leading to the bonded warehouse on Bridgwater West Quay, allowing the publican to remove imported spirits before it was taxed.
The fact that John was known as a Wine & Spirit Merchant, not just as a Publican, fits this story. And the smuggling link seemed to be further confirmed in 2008, by the discovery of such a tunnel during archaeological excavations at the foot of Castle Street.
John Donniger HINXMAN died in 1864, but Charlotte took over the business, and managed it successfully for another 20 years as the Wine & Spirit Merchant in charge.
By 1881 she was living in grand style with her two daughters in the 13 major rooms of No. 14 Castle Street in Bridgwater, where she continued to live until her death aged 81 in 1912. She must have become a well-known figure in Bridgwater over her many years there.
According to the memorial stone for plot 20/556 at Wembdon Road Cemetery, Charlotte HINXMAN is buried there along with John Donniger HINXMAN and their last child.
Kate HINXMAN (1863-1917)
Kate was the youngest child of John Donniger and Charlotte HINXMAN. She never married, but lived until her death at 14 Castle Street, Bridgwater, with her mother and her sister Blanche.
According to the memorial stone for plot 20/556 at Wembdon Road Cemetery, Kate HINXMAN is buried there with John Donniger HINXMAN and her mother.
George Cecil HINXMAN (1860-1926) & Amy Ellen HINXMAN (nee ROPER, 1871-1958)
John Donniger HINXMAN & Charlotte had three children, of whom George Cecil HINXMAN was the eldest.
Like his half-brother Walter, George Cecil HINXMAN travelled to Australia in about 1875, aged 15 - presumably to seek his fortune too. In 1880 he married Margaret COLQUHOUN (1856-1894) in Sydney, Australia, and they produced five children – now with many modern descendants. Their 1st surviving son was named John Donniger HINXMAN II (1888-1956), in honour of his deceased grandfather back in England. But George Cecil appears to have kept this marriage - and all of his children - secret from his English relatives.
In 1900, after his wife Margaret died, George Cecil HINXMAN just walked out from his Australian family one day, with no explanation – and to their consternation, he never came back.
Unknown to them he returned to England, but settled in Birmingham – not Bridgwater. There (claiming he was a bachelor, when in fact he was a widower) he married Amy ROPER (1871-1958). The couple do not appear to have had any children, and by 1911 they were living in St. Austell, Cornwall.
After George died in 1926, Amy returned to Birmingham and she died there in 1958.
George Cecil HINXMAN was buried in a separate grave at Wembdon Road Cemetery, which has no surviving memorial.
Blanche HINXMAN (1861-1936)
Given George Cecil’s earlier reluctance to communicate with his Bridgwater relatives, it seems odd that his death in 1926 (not just his burial) was reported as happening in Bridgwater.
Possibly he was then staying (or even living) with his full sister Blanche HINXMAN, who by then was the sole owner of the family home at 14 Castle Street.
After George’s death, Blanche married Ernest Frederick THOMAS (1858-1945) at Bridgwater in 1931. She died in 1936, leaving considerable wealth and a tantalizing mystery.
Blanche had inherited a sizeable collection of HINXMAN family portraits. But despite Blanche being in touch with other HINXMAN relatives, the collection was given to a friend of her later years called Reverend Stanley Lane COWARD (1897-1958). The whereabouts of these portraits is now unknown; a sad loss to the family’s heritage.
The burial locations of Blanche HINXMAN and her husband Ernest Frederick THOMAS have not yet been confirmed.