Artisans From England
Robinianna Bonner, daughter of Thomas Bonner and Mary Branston, was born on 8 February 1792 in Clack, Wiltshire, England. She was christened on 11 November 1792 in Clack, a hamlet in the parish of Lyneham. Thomas Bonner was a shopkeeper. Robinianna had at least two brothers and one sister: George Wilmot, Mary Ann and Samuel.
Several sources note that Robinianna Bonner was the niece of well-known wood-engraver Robert Branston. Therefore her mother, Mary Bonner, may have been the sister of Robert Branston and the daughter of Robert Branston and Elizabeth Beats, christened on 26 November 1770 in Buxton, Norfolk, England. Robinianna Bonner married Abraham John Mason on 27 June 1815 at St Mary Islington Church, Upper Street, Islington, London. They had a family of eight children, five of the children are believed to have died as infants. In 1829 Robinianna together with her husband and three surviving sons went to New York where they remained for the next ten years, returning to London in 1839. |
Robinianna and Abraham Mason remained in London until 1856 when they decided to follow their sons to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Abraham John Mason died two years later on 20 August 1858 in Newtown, Sydney. Robinianna remained in Sydney and was living with her youngest son, George Birkbeck Mason at 2 Nithsdale Street in Sydney, when she passed away from 'old age' on 11 June 1881. She was 89 years old.
Descendants of Thomas Bonner
Thomas Bonner was born in about 1770 in England. Thomas married Mary Branston. Mary was born in about 1770 in England. They had at least four children: Robinianna, George Wilmot, Mary Ann and Samuel.
- Robinianna Bonner was born on 8 February 1792 in Clack, Wiltshire, England and died on 11 June 1881 in Newtown, New South Wales at age 89 years. Robinianna married Abraham John Mason on 27 June 1815 in Islington, Middlesex, England. Abraham was born on 4 April 1794 in Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England and died on 18 August 1858 in Newtown, New South Wales at age 64 years. They had eight children: Robert Thomas, (daughter), (daughter), (daughter), Walter George, Mary Ann, Charles Voelker and George Birkbeck.
- Mary Ann Bonner was born in about 1793 and was christened on 14 July 1793 in Lyneham, Wiltshire, England. She is mentioned in a poem written by her brother-in-law Abraham John Mason.
- George Wilmot Bonner was born on 24 May 1796 in Devises, Wiltshire, England and died on 3 January 1836 in London, Middlesex, England at age 39 years. He was buried on 11 January 1836 in Southwark, Middlesex, England. George married Sophia Louisa Harding in about 1822. Sophia was born in about 1789 in Surrey, England and died in March 1856 in Newington, London, England at age 67 years. She was buried on 28 March 1856 in Norwood Cemetery, Lambeth, London, England. They had six children: George Frederick, Sophia Sarah, Frances Harding, William Harding, Fanny and Thomas Edward Wilmot.
George was a well-known artist, wood engraver and illustrator. He trained a number of apprentices including his nephew, Walter George Mason. George’s son, George Frederick Bonner, continued the art of wood engraving after his father’s death.
|
- Samuel Bonner was born on 2 September 1798 in Devises, Wiltshire, England and was christened on 3 October 1798 in Devises, Wiltshire, England.