Thomas Hollebone - born 1749 - died 1794

This Thomas Hollebone is the reason that I like family history.  Discovering him made me interested in discovering as much about my genealogy as I could.  Maybe something else would have later grabbed my interest, but it all started with this Thomas.

In 1991 I spent a year overseas, predominantly living in London.  Mum, Dad and my sister Ruth came over to England for a holiday.  On Monday 5 August we had drived to Battle (as in of Hasings) to soak up the history.  Dad was also very keen to visit the area because his family had lived in the region before migrating to Australia.  Two well known towns in the area are Eastborne, a lovely little sea-side village, and Lewis, an old market town.  Between the two is West Firle.  Firle itself is just a T-intersection! West Firle is little more than a shop, a few houses and the Church.  Dad tried to get us to wander around the graveyard beside the church looking for family ancestors.  Mum, Ruth and I were much more interested in the beautiful church!  But eventually Dad’s enthusiasm enticed us to go and assist.  And our efforts were rewarded when we discovered a number of relevant graves including one for Thomas Hollebone – a direct ancestor.

Thomas was born in 1749 and baptised at Southover, Lewes, Sussex on 9 April 1749.    His parents were Richard and Elizabeth Hollebone.  He had at least two sisters; Phoebe and Delphia.

On 9 July 1776 he married Elizabeth Bollard at Seaford, a fishing village to the west of Eastborne.   Elizabeth had been baptised at Seaford in 1751.  Their first child, Charles was also baptised at Seaford in 1778.  The family relocated to West Firle where Thomas worked as a blacksmith.  Thomas and Elizabeth’s children: Rueben, 1779; Richard 1783; Flora Ellis, 1786; and Thomas, 1787, were baptised in the Parish Church. 

Thomas did not live a particularly long life.  He died when he was 45 and was buried in the Churchyard of the West Firle Parish Church on 15 January 1794.  His tombstone reads: “To the Memory of Thomas Hollebone; 1784; Aged 48 years” (Even though his age is only 45!). The rest of the writing can’t be deciphered…

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather]