John Skynner Egerton BISHOP

(2 Jan 1816 - 1889)

According to the 1877 Bishop Genealogy (supplementary pages 30* and 30**), and other sources, John Skinner Egerton BISHOP was born on 2 Jan 1816 in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  He died in 1889.  He was the first child of John Green BISHOP and Maria Ethelreda SKYNNER (they subsequently had 12 more children).  On 12 August 1841 he married Emily Davenport HUNTER (1819-1878), daughter of Christopher HUNTER MD and his wife Sarah Elizabeth THOMAS. 

The 1877 Bishop Genealogy does not give the name of Emily’s mother (her name, Sarah Elizabeth THOMAS, was discovered later through Ancestry).  It simply states, without explanation, that John and his wife Emily were cousins.  Knowing that John’s parents’ surnames were Bishop and Skynner, and Emily’s parents’ surnames were Hunter and Thomas casts doubt on the statement that John and his wife Emily were cousins.      

On the other hand, there is clear evidence that John Skynner Egerton BISHOP’s son Henry Davenport BISHOP and his wife Maria Augusta BARNES, who married in 1876, were first cousins.  Maria Augusta BARNES was the daughter of John’s sister, Maria Augusta BISHOP (1818-1850).  The 1877 Bishop Genealogy mentions this marriage, but does not mention that they were cousins.

Not much is known about John Skynner Egerton BISHOP’s life. He was reputed to have been a merchant in the City of London who lived in Islington, North London, but later retired to an estate in Devonshire. He had nine children: seven sons and two daughters.

The Angel, Islington, (shown in the pictures above) is a well-known landmark in North London, even today.