St John Hornby

Charles Harold St John Hornby (25 June 1867 – 1946) was a founding partner of W. H. Smith, deputy vice-chairman of the NSPCC, and founder and owner of the Ashendene Press.

Charles Harold St John (pronounced 'Sin-jun')[1] Hornby was born on 25 June 1867 at Much Dewchurch, Herefordshire, the eldest son of the Reverend Charles Edward Hornby, then a curate, and his wife, Harriet, daughter of the Revd Henry Turton, who was the vicar of Betley, Staffordshire.

[2] In 1900, Hornby met Emery Walker and Sydney Cockerell (then William Morris' secretary at the Kelmscott Press).

Together, they encouraged and instructed Hornby and helped in devising two typefaces for his own use, Subiaco and Ptolemy.

[4] The National Portrait Gallery has a 1923 sanguine and white chalk drawing of Hornby by Sir William Rothenstein.