Daughter of Dr. William Henry Hugo and Stowe Margaret Temple, mother of  Dr. Hugh Selwyn Gaskell and wife of Rev. Thomas Kynaston Gaskell

Horatia was borne in the High Street, Crediton, Devon on 15^th June 1851.  Her birth certificate indicates that she was not given a name when the birth was notified on 23^rd July 1851. However, she was baptised Horatia Octavia on 26^th September 1851 in Crediton.

Horatia was initially taught at home, along with her sisters, by her mother.  She was later sent to Queen’s College for Girls in Harley Street, London. On leaving School she became a governess.  While acting as governess to the two daughters of the Rev Richard Kay Haslehurst, Ethel and Edith, at Digswell, Hertfordshire, she met the Rev Thomas Kynaston Gaskell, curate to the Rev Haselhurst.

Horatia married Thomas on 17^th September 1878 at St Nicholas Church, Newton Abbot, Exeter - See Thomas Kynaston notes.

The marriage celebrant was Frederick Temple - Horatia’s mother’s brother and, in 1878, Bishop of Exeter, later Archbishop of Canterbury.

Horatia was noted as resident in the Parish of St Nicholas.

She moved in 1924 to live in Stowmarket near her eldest son, Hugh Selwyn Gaskell, in a house in Bury Road called “The Durdans”. Her daughter, Dorothea Grace, lived with her throughout her life.

Her eldest son Hugh Selwyn writes “she used to come out with me on my rounds almost every day for over 5 years, and said to me, before she went up to London for an operation which she secretly hoped would end fatally, ‘anyhow, I have had five happy years here’. She told me she wished her end to be quick and sharp; she did not want to linger on ....  in pain for months” sadly her illness lasted 17 months before she died in Stowmarket.

Her will written in July 1924 records that she then lived at Oakley, Windsor Walk, Weybridge, but she also had a house in Stowmarket.

Inscription on tomb of Horatia and Thomas Kynaston in Cobham cemetery, Surrey.

Also of his wife Horatia Octavia Who died at Stowmarket June 13^th 1930 Aged 79 years "Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience; and experience, hope" 

Non documentary information comes from the papers of Hugh Selwyn Gaskell.