My great great grandfather, John William Furby was baptised in 1812 at Saint Mary-Le-Bone church near Regents Park in London. The actual church he was baptised in had been built in 1740 and was close to the site of the present church which was consecrated in 1817. A number of famous people have been baptised or have worshipped at St. Marylebone Parish Church. This includes Lord Byron, Lord Nelson and Charles Dickens.

The map below shows the city of London and surrounding boroughs including the places associated with our Furby ancestors. In the west, can be seen Marylebone where John William Furby was christened in 1812. In the east, can be seen Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney where many of our Furbys lived. Between Shoreditch / Bethnal Green and Whitechapel is Spitalfields where John William Furby (b.1812) married Elizabeth Collier in 1833. In the south, is Lambeth where George Frederick Furby was baptised in 1820 and where his father John Furby may have married Sarah in 1811.

My great great grandfather married Elizabeth Collier in 1833 at Christchurch, Spitalfields. Their children were born between 1834 and 1847 at Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and later Hackney. James Joseph Furby, my great grandfather was born at Hackney Wick in 1847 and he married at St. Peter's Church in the Parish of West Hackney in 1865 not long before moving to Liverpool.

A very old picture of London Bridge (shown here) shows various buildings with names attached to them including (highlighted) one with the name "Furby". A copy of this document was obtained from the family history papers of Grace Furby who did research into the name in the 1950s. Nothing is known of the origin of this picture but the building is believed to be the home of two Furby journalists.