John Francis Fortescue Horner

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Born
John Francis Fortescue Horner

(1842-12-28)28 December 1842
Died21 March 1927(1927-03-21) (aged 84)
Mells, Somerset, England
EducationEton College
Sir
John Horner
Born
John Francis Fortescue Horner

(1842-12-28)28 December 1842
Died21 March 1927(1927-03-21) (aged 84)
Mells, Somerset, England
EducationEton College
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
OccupationBarrister
Spouse
(m. 1883)
Parent(s)Rev. John Stuart Hippisley Horner
Sophia Gertrude Dickinson
RelativesWilliam Dickinson (grandfather)
Ann Lambton (granddaughter)
Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith (grandson)

Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner, KCVO (28 December 1842 – 21 March 1927) was a British barrister. His family had lived at Mells Manor for generations and many have memorials in St Andrew's Church, Mells. He and his family became associated with The Souls, a social group which included many of the most distinguished English politicians and intellectuals of the Victorian era.

Horner became Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues and became a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his service.

Memorial window to John Francis Fortescue Horner in St Andrew's Church, Mells
Detail of memorial window

He was the son of the Rev. John Stuart Hippisley Horner (1810–1874) and his wife Sophia Gertrude Dickinson (1814–1902), daughter of William Dickinson MP.[1]

Horner's family were descended from the "Little Jack Horner" referred to in the children's nursery rhyme derived from an earlier jingle which was changed from the original to justify the use of the Horner name. The poem since has been associated with acts of opportunism. The family took possession of Mells Manor in Mells (near Frome), Somerset, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.

He went to Eton College in 1855, and matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1861, graduating B.A. in 1866, M.A. in 1873.[2][3]

Career

He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1868.[4] Horner worked as a barrister in London and served as Commissioner of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues from 1895, for which he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1907.[5]

Cricketer

A keen cricketer, Horner made five appearances in first-class cricket between 1866 and 1873, playing for Southgate, the Marylebone Cricket Club and the Gentlemen of England.[6]

Personal life

References

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