The genealogical history pertaining to the Hornblowers of Kent is minimal beside those of the adjacent lines of Wellesley and Wellesley-Pole. Though the Wellesleys diverged through the acquisitions of titles, all intermarrying lines maintained voluminous records that are comparable to the detailed compilations of Royal Houses; but the omission of the Hornblowers in the Wellesley Compendium is distracting to numerous genealogists for the Peerage. Here, two families alike in their renown, both at the climax of their political and social influence during the wane of the Napoleonic Wars, married through the person of Barbara Georgiana Wellesley, seem to divorce in seceding generations. Conspiracy theorists suggest familial feuds with the dismissal in the Wellesley Compendium on that �distinguished sailor from Kent,� disregarding the documentary errors rampant in the pages of The Genealogy of the Hornblowers of Kent.

The primary records concerning the esteemed Horatio Hornblower, 1st Baron Hornblower, were provided by Richard Arthur Hornblower, 2nd Baron Hornblower. Not to be sceptical of the 2nd Baron, it is difficult to approach his works open-minded as ample evidence exists that he destroyed most documentation of the illicit relationships of his parents, particularly that between Lord Horatio and Sir Archie, no doubt to remain in the graces of her moral majesty, Queen Victoria. Dismissing the entertaining scandals of court and theatre, hundred of archive searches have caused genealogists to remain landlocked. From registrar to registrar record, no sources in Kent have been uncovered confirming the epic poetry concocted by the 2nd Baron of the shipwrecked orphan Horatio adopted by the childless Dr and Mrs Hornblower of Smallbridge in Kent. Even the convoluted attempts to connect the Hornblowers of Kent to those of Shropshire have produced any viable links beyond both lines producing talented individuals who earned the privilege of knighthood.

There is no dispute that Horatio Frederick Hornblower was born on 04 July, 1776 in the bourough of Maidstone, in the county of Kent, son of Charles Hornblower and Lydia Merrill, and he was baptized 23 August 1776 in the Old Havilland Church in Hollingsbourne by Rev Erasmus Fletcher. From these two facts, historical accounts diverge. The 2nd Baron Hornblower recounted the heroic exploits that the respected Dr Hornblower performed throughout Maidstone, while his son Arthur, 3rd Baron Hornblower, maintained that �Herr Doctor� Hornblower dabbled in dubious practices from breeding leeches to elocution seminars. As for the venerated Mrs Hornblower, the fragile angel who nursed orphans in that tales of the 2nd Baron, the 3rd Baron discounted this with word from his Grandaunt Sylvia that she was among the lazy maids at Farthingale Manor before wedding �Herr Doctor.� So, which descendant is to be accepted as the truthful chronicler when Richard burned indiscreet love letters and Arthur forged real estate documents?

Before the enigmatic background of Horatio Hornblower can be studied further, it is essential to establish the Kentish backdrop. There are no reservations that Hornblower was native to the burgeoning bourough of Maidstone, but not to the county town of identical name. Through this vicinity of vivid greens flows the river Medwey, once the major thoroughfare for markets until the turnpike roads appeared in the 1740s to assist the epidemic commerce against aged roads. Among these ancient roads are two noted Roman roads and the Pilgrims� Way, along which the village of Hollingsbourne is found. Here, the major attractions for the modern tourist include the Elizabethan Manor, Greenway Court, and the All Saints� Church. East of Hollingsbourne, along the Old Mayoral Trail, lie the parishes and villages of Smallbridge and Wormshill.

Smallbridge, population 562, is noted as the seat of the Hornblowers while Wormshill, population 203, is noted for its inhabitants descending from immigrants from Hanover. Besides Hornblower, the most populous surnames in these two towns include Hazelton and Fletcher, both corrupted from their German originals. The Old Hanover Hill burial ground is populated by Haseldens and Feitchers from 1752 to 1774, and among these graves include Sylvia Horngebl�se (1774-1774), daughter of Karl and Lydia, and Julianna Hornblower (1775-1778), daughter of C and L.

Horatio Hornblower, the son of Hanoverian emigrant? Such was inconceivable to the romantic-minded heir who penned his family history with inspiration from �[his] most beloved friend of the pen, Baron Lytton,� so wrote his spinster daughter Augusta Clarissa to her intimate friend Sir Percival Farthingale. As to her brother, forger extraordinaire, she wrote, �[i]f only he exerted such effort in his political pursuits instead of glorifying himself because his real mother was nothing more than common stock, and her mother was a theater whore.� Such was the truth written by the children of Richard Hornblower, but to include nothing from his major detractor Dalton Thomas, 5th Baron Farthingale? Well, he summed it all as �Herr Lord Noseblower is not only foreign, but he is the son of sea, soot, and theater scum.�

Lord Farthingale did not have official records to substantiate his claims, but Rev Erasmus Fletcher, son of George Feitcher, had them in his eccentic church registry at Hollingsbourne to confirm the foreign element. On 20 January 1774 he presided over the marriage of �herr doctor� Karl Aloysius Horngeblase of Wormshill and Lydia Clarissa Merrill, daughter of Thomas, of Headcorn. Little more than five months later, Rev Fletcher had the honor of christening Sylvia Louise Horngebl�se, godchild of John Haselden and Sylvia Merrill, elder sister of Lydia Horngebl�se, nee Merrill; and little more than three weeks passed before he presided over the funeral of the child buried at the Old Hanover Hill burial ground. In her private correspondence with Rev Fletcher, Sylvia Merrill wrote �my sister gives many thanks that you can console her husband with his alien grief.�

Can there be any doubt of the foreign origins of Charles Hornblower of Wormshill, born Karl Aloysius Horngebl�se of Hanover? If any skepticism remains, one need only consult the court docket at Maidstone for 02 November 1779 when Dr Peter Mugglestone of Maidstone accused Dr Charles Hornblower of �bewitching patients with spells in rough foreign tongues� and �seducing good women with foppish ways.� Obviously, the suit was dismissed for lack of eyewitnesses and the doctor practiced his sorcery throughout Maidstone. In 1780, Cecil, 3rd Baron Farthingale, wrote to his friends that �the eccentric apothecary from Hanover� healed his �dysfunctional part� through application of strong leeches and stronger spirits. Whether this praise contributed to his medical practice, it remains unknown, but Dr Hornblower is cited in private correspondences among the Kentish elite as �raising enlivening leeches� and �learning to speak like a real gentleman from our business.�

Foreign doubts aside, what of the suggestion that the 2nd Baron Hornblower possessed soot and theater in his blood? His mother, Maria Ellen Mason, whom he portrayed with the �noble fortitude born to frail earthly angels,� instructed informal grammar schools in the parlor of the boarding house her mother operated. The character of this establishment was precarious as it was reported to moral authorities for �attracting theatre ilk into a decent neighborhood like rats to a feast� and �housing wayward sailor boys during unnatural hours.� What occurred in the upstairs confines remains unknown, but Mrs Mason, nee Helena Snodgrass, was formerly famous on Drury Lane for her portrayal of Ann Trulove in A Rake�s Progress before disappearing forever from the stage in 1772. At the onset of her theatre absence, murder was suspected by her compatriots as she was involved with �a quarrelsome sailor from Yorkshire.� Fears of foul play were dispelled when she reappeared in 1773 as Mrs Mason, though no records exist to substantiate her marriage to the enigmatic Mr George Mason.

This was not the only dust swept under the rug as the 2nd Baron cleaned his family reputation. What dirty laundry did his paternal grandmother, Lydia Merrill, own that marred his gilded fa�ade? The daughter of Thomas Merrill and Almantha Jane Rowan, both of was born in 1752, married in 1774, and died 06 December 1784 which is sufficient for most family records, but not for those paranoid by the fact she was employed to attend the blind mother-in-law of Lord Farthingale. No diaries or letters indicate she was of nefarious character, but what about her speedy marriage? It is suspicious because one may speculate she had relations with the Farthingale sons, though �Herr Doctor� tended to the blind mother-in-law from the Low Countries for she �loathed being prodded by Englishmen.�

The ancestral background for Horatio Hornblower has been established, yet what of the childhood for this naval hero only surpassed by the likes of Nelson and Cochrane? If one consults the 2nd Baron, he would have one believe that �young Horatio assisted his father in tending the needs of his community, thereby learning the rudiments of the doctorly trade that would assist him in saving several lives at sea.� Consulting the 3rd Baron results in tales about the social aspirations that the widowed doctor had for his son, though all were thwarted by �the inability to appreciate singing and dancing.� Then there is the 4th Baron Farthingale who recollected the solitary youth obsessed with Greco-Roman history and the blonde wife of the French dancing master from Flanders. Yet, the youth of this hero is best summed by his granddaughter Augusta Clarissa who described him �as secretive about the whole affair because of the shame the Wellesleys forced upon him for he was not one of them, and none of his offspring could ever hope to be one.�

Perhaps it is better for the dozens of new biographers to grapple with the daily minutiae in the life of Lord Hornblower, from the nature of his relationships with Albertus Thorton-Thatcher, the 6th Earl of Edrington, and Sir Archibald Kennedy, to his participation in mutinous activities aboard the Renown. By any means, the deconstructing of his legend will uncover truths such as those of his ancestry, both hidden by the pages of the Wellesley Compendium and the The Genealogy of the Hornblowers of Kent, and he will continue to fascinate as the idol of Victorian prudery topples to reveal the complicated man of intelligence and cunning.