Kane William Horneck (1726–1753) was an officer in the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
.
Life
He was a son of
William Horneck
William Horneck (1685-1746) was a British Army engineer of German descent.
Life
The son of the German-born preacher Anthony Horneck, he learned military science under John Churchill and designed works in Britain, Newfoundland, Minorca and els ...
and a grandson of
Anthony Horneck
Anthony Horneck (german: Anton Horneck; 1641–1697) was a German Protestant clergyman and scholar who made his career in England. He became an influential evangelical figure in London from the later 1670s, in partnership with Richard Smithies, ...
. He married Hannah Muggles (1727–1803) from Devon and they had issue:
*Catherine (1750–1799); married satirist
Henry William Bunbury
Henry William Bunbury (1 July 1750 – 7 May 1811) was an English caricaturist.
The second son of Sir William Bunbury, 5th Baronet (see Bunbury baronets), of Mildenhall, Suffolk, he came of an old Norman family. He was educated at Westminster ...
*Mary (1753–1840); in 1770 traveled to France with
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
and his family, to whom she was introduced by Joshua Reynolds; married Colonel Francis Edward Gwyn in 1778
He was close friends with
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_ NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style"> ...
, who on Kane's death became his daughters' guardian. Just before his death Horneck had inspected the defences of
Antigua
Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...
- after his death his friend and fellow engineer officer
Leonard Smelt worked up Horneck's sketches and memoranda into a full report. Hannah was also a friend of
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
and
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...
, who painted Hannah and both her daughters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horneck, Kane
Royal Engineers officers
1753 deaths
1726 births