Thomas Edgar (3): Into the Dark World's Fire

My previous post on Thomas ended in 1879, when, probably still the tenant of Down Hall Farm, he sold the Preston St Mary mill to one John Thomas Allen for £1,150. The writer from whom I took this information describes it as a 'tidy sum'[1] - and quite rightly so, as it's over £100,000 in modern terms, and much more than that if you do the calculation in one of the other possible ways. Of course, Thomas might not have been the sole owner of the windmill, but, however many siblings he had to split it with, as a tenant farmer with cash in the bank he was in a strong position, even though agriculture in Suffolk had been depressed since the early 1870s. He certainly doesn't seem like a man on the verge of financial disaster.

But when we reach the next available record, the Census of 1881, that's exactly what's happened.

That Census records the family living in Debenham Road, Stonham-Aspal - I'll put all the places Thomas lived after Preston St Mary in bold to bring out more clearly what happened to him and his family. Stonham is about 17 miles from Preston, to the east of Stowmarket. 

Google Maps

Thomas is a Farm Steward (Bailiff) and Harriet a Dairy Woman - a note adds 'Ag(ricultural). Lab(ourer).' - like most of the village's population.

Occupational Structure of Stonham Aspal at the time of Thomas and Harriet's Arrival
"1881 Occupational orders" by Afmoores - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

The children living with them are: Alice Louise, aged 4, Herbert Sidney 2, and Katie Mary. Baby Katie was born in Stonham Aspal and is only three weeks old; as her older brother Herbert was born in Preston, we have an idea of when Thomas moved: some time between Herbert's birth on October 5, 1878 and Katie's on (roughly) March 11, 1881.

The Ten Bells Inn was there in Thomas and Harriet's time

 "The Ten Bells Stonham Aspal - geograph.org.uk - 529965" by Keith Evans. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - 

Further proof that Thomas had fallen on hard times, is that the same Census shows that his oldest child, Arthur Thomas, had been sent to live with his grandparents, the Worters, who farmed at Milden. (He was still there in 1901, when he'd risen to 'farm manager'.)

Thomas was now no longer a farmer but the bailiff on another man's farm. His wife was an ordinary agricultural labourer - like most British people before the modern age. And, as we shall see, both parents and children would take jobs completely typical of the era they lived in, one which still had one foot in that traditional rural world, the other on the rapidly changing terrain of modernity.

What had happened?

There is no documentary evidence to show the cause of Thomas's disaster, but his grandson Wilfred ('Bay') Edgar explained it to me thus:

I understood my paternal grand-father had been sold up the river by Lloyds before WW1 and the family dispersed.[2]

Although there is no documentary evidence to support the claim that Thomas was let down or even swindled by Lloyds Bank, it does account for the way in which a family that seemed to be doing well in 1879 had started to go into decline by 1881. If Bay is correct, then our branch of the Edgars left their small 'corridor' of Suffolk - from Combs to Preston - after more than 300 years of documented presence that was probably closer to twice that in fact - because of the actions of a bank.

Still, Thomas and Harriet didn't have to move far, and the position of farm bailiff was at least a responsible one - the fall from tenant farmer was real, but not precipitious. Sadly Thomas's problems were only just beginning.

There were clearly issues with the post at Stonham Aspal, as within two years, Thomas and Harriet had turned back south-east, over-shooting Preston St Mary, and ending up the other side of Lavenham. Stanley James Edgar was born in Great Waldingfield, about 5 miles south of Lavenham, on  March 3 1883. He was their fourth child - reader's of my previous post will know that Arthur Thomas Edgar was born on April 10, 1875, Alice Louise on September 12, 1876 and Herbert Sidney on October 5, 1878 - all during the Preston St Mary period.

Google Maps

One source claims that Thomas was in Great Waldingfield in 1882/1883 and that he was a farm bailiff there too. This seems plausible.

St Lawrence Church, Great Waldingfield: Thomas was a church warden in his first and last towns, so he almost certainly attended services (at least) here 

"St. Lawrence church, Great Waldingfield, Suffolk - geograph.org.uk - 151418" by Robert Edwards. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - 

Next it was up north again, to Worlingworth, another ten miles beyond Stonham Aspal, but still in Suffolk. 

Google Maps 

Alice Louise and Herbert started at Worlingworth C. of E. Primary School on October 20, 1884. Kate joined them there on April 20, 1885. Their sister Annie Gertrude Edgar was born at Worlingworth, on July 23, 1885.

Then the family left Suffolk for the first time - although no further than neighbouring Essex. Wilfred Henry Edgar was born on May 28, 1888 in Tendring Essex.[3] When he joined the Essex Militia in 1904 - he was a gardener in Romford at the time - he gave Clacton as the parish of his birth.[4] Tendring is just over 7 miles inland to the north of Clacton. 

There were a number of farms in the Tendring area, so perhaps they worked there rather than in Clacton itself.

But they didn't stay there long. The next move took them back to Suffolk.

Herbert started at Wetherden County Primary School on November 4, 1889. 

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Wetherden

"Wetherden3" by DJIPhantom - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - 

 Wetherden is a tiny village 4 miles northwest of Stowmarket. 

Google Maps

Stanley and Katie Mary are also registered as having begun school on that date. The family were living at Rose Cottage. Herbert and Katie are said to have previously attended a school at Clacton-on-Sea,  But Stanley[5]  and Annie Gertrude, who started on March 17 1890, were also attending for the first time.[6] If the family were living in Tendring, as I suspect, it must have been a long, tiring day for Herbert and Katie as it's 8.5 miles from Clacton by road.

It wasn't long before the family moved yet again.

Frederick Johnson Edgar was born on 16 October 1890[7] at Woodbridge, Suffolk. Woodbridge is just under 3 miles from Great Bealing(s), which is where the family are recorded as living in 1891.[8]  

"GreatBealingsSign" by Phil Holmes at the English language Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - 

Great Bealing(s) is in the south of the county, just 6 miles from Ipswich - the base area of the richest branch of the Edgar family! 

From the 1891 Census we learn that Thomas had fallen still further down the social scale: he had now dropped from the managerial role of bailiff to a mere 'agricultural labourer'. Harriet it seems wasn't working, but Herbert was a farm worker like his father.

It's pretty clear why Thomas has been  moving so often: since losing his farm tenancy, he's failed to find a niche in the job market. And socially he's moved downward, and there's not much further to go - but his next move, to the border with Cambridgeshire, must have offered him some hope that the bad times were coming to an end.

The couple's last child, Thomas John was born on April 17, 1894, in Gazeley, Suffolk and baptised in All Saints Church on May 13. The Baptismal record tells us that his father was a bailiff living in that village. If that's true then he had managed to claw back some of his social position and rise again from the role of mere labourer. If so, it was be a prelude to a fall to a position close to the bottom of the class structure.

Some time before the next Census the family moved back to Essex.

In 1901 they are living at Curter Hint Green, Stapleford Abbots, Ongar, Essex, England just over 4 miles north of Romford and Thomas is still an agricultural labourer. The family now consists of Kate, Stanley, Anne, Wilfred, Frederick, Thomas. Stanley is a postman. Wilfred joined the Militia as a reservist in 1904 and his Attestation form has him working as a gardener for a Mr. Webb of Romford and living at Chigwell four miles from Stapleford Abbots. 

Thomas was 58 and he'd lived in Preston St Mary until about 1880. In the succeeding twenty years he'd had seven homes. Our branch of the Edgars had left their ancestral villages of Combs and Preston for good. They were now in the dark world's fire: a  rapidly urbanising and industrializing society, an unforgiving jobs market that, for at least two of Thomas's children, would include the territories of the British Empire, and no welfare 'cushion' for the sick, the old or the unlucky. Furthermore, a brutal war, on a scale new in human history, was already visible on the horizon; four of Thomas and Harriet's sons would fight in France, and one would not return.

But at least the couple had found a secure home before that conflict began. It would take two more moves to do it. And the first would see a new social humiliation for a man who began life as the son of a comfortably off tenant farmer.

Geographically Stanford Rivers is not too far from Stapleford Abbots but socially Thomas has dropped below the position of labourer he held there, and Harriet is recorded as working for the first time.

The 1911 Census - the last to be currently available - has Thomas, Harriet, Wilfred and Thomas Jr. listed in the household of Horace S. Palmer, a 22 year old farmer of Stewarts Farm, Toot Hill, Ongar, Stanford Rivers, Essex, 

Parish Church, Stanford Rivers

"Parish Church, Stanford Rivers, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 79855" by John Winfield. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Thomas and Harriet are both listed as servants (housekeepers), Wilfred and young Thomas are both unmarried, Wilfred's a reservist in the militia, Thomas a shop assistant.[9] 

In pre-modern times - already largely over by 1911 - most working class English women were domestic servants. Thomas was now presumably too old at 68 for the heavy labour of the fields, so he too was working in service. One might speculate that he was employed as an adjunct to his younger (59) wife. There's really only one step further down now, and Thomas and Harriet must have dreaded it: it's hard for those of us lucky enough to have been born in Britain after WW11 to remember the terror of our ancestors when faced with the thought they might end their lives in the workhouse. In a future post I'll tell the story of an Edgar (a relation, but not on the direct line) who spent several years in one of these dreadful places with her children. But happily Thomas and Harriet avoided this fate.

Ongar Union Workhouse where the poor of Stanford Rivers were sent

Image: Blackmore Area Local History

http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/stanford-rivers-ongar-union-workhouse.html

There was one last journey that I've been able to find so far although when they made it is uncertain.

The couple moved to 1, Mount Road, Theydon Garnon...



...a village about 3.5 miles from Epping,[10] 

Google Maps

While here Thomas became a churchwarden again.[11] According to the letter from Bay Edgar, cited above, the couple lived in a 'grace and favour' home (leased rent free to deserving citizens by the monarch or a charity) suggesting money was still short (although one online estate agent estimates its current value as in excess of £1.6 million![12]).

He had probably moved before September 1,1913, because on that day at Theydon Garnon Parish Church, he signed the marriage certificate of his daughter Katie Mary - 'spinster' of that parish - who was marrying Joseph Love, an engineer (according to Bay with shipbuilders Harland and Wolf). However, Herbert's army pension record from 1914 has a handwritten note saying that his father (and younger brother Stanley) were living in Stapleford Abbots, which suggests that he might not have kept up-to-date with his parents location - or that perhaps Katie had gone to Theydon Garnon before her father, but I don't think that's very likely.

All Saints Church Theydon Garnon where Katie Edgar was married on September 1, 1913 

Image: John Salmon, Wikipedia

On April 11, 1920, Thomas, in his capacity as churchwarden, assisted at the unveiling of a memorial at All Saints to those who'd died in the war.

On it was the name of his son Thomas John:

Image: Blackmore Area Local History, http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/theydon-garnon-war-memorial.html

Harriet died later in  the year - on November 11 -  and Thomas on November 27, 1929, both in the Epping District, probably in Theydon Garnon.  Probate on Harriet's effects - £367 5s. - was granted to Thomas, described as a 'farm bailiff'. Probate for Thomas was given to  Stanley James, at that time a grocer; the effects were £442 9s and 3d. This has about £24,000 purchasing value in 2014 terms - much more if you calculate by other methods. A relatively humble sum, perhaps, but enough to suggest a modest recovery of fortune from the days as an agricultural labourer or in domestic service.

In my next post I'll examine the fate of Thomas and Harriet's children - expelled from the family domain and eventually scattered all over the world.

---

[1] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf

[2] Bay Edgar, undated letter to Brian Edgar.

[3]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1888%2f3%2faz%2f000164&parentid=bmd%2fb%2f1888%2f3%2faz%2f000164%2f301&highlights=%22%22

[4]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbm%2fwo96%2f0762%2f112%2f001&parentid=gbm%2fwo96%2f762%2f1419112&highlights=%22%22

[5]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0073&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692015&highlights=%22%22; http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0076&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692123

[6]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbor%2fschool%2fsuffolk%2fa2703_3%2f0073&parentid=gbor%2fschool%2fa27033%2f692015&highlights=%22%22

[7]http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1890%2f4%2faz%2f000156&parentid=bmd%2fb%2f1890%2f4%2faz%2f000156%2f276&highlights=%22%22

[8] http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbc%2f1891%2f1474%2f0149&parentid=gbc%2f1891%2f0010796255

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stapleford_Abbotts

[10] http://www.everymanremembered.org/profiles/soldier/1752685/

[11] http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/duffell2.htm

[12] https://www.houser.co.uk/1,-mount-road-cottages,-mount-road,-theydon-garnon,-epping-cm16-7ph-p25929367

Thomas Edgar (2): The 1870s

Johnson Edgar, the tenant of Down Hall Farm and the owner of the windmill at Preston St. Mary, died in 1872, leaving behind him his wife Sarah and four boys (plus one girl, assuming Sophia was still alive).

My great-grandfather Thomas, described as a farmer of Preston, was one of the executors, and he proved Johnson's will, which included effects of less than £1000.[1] This might be proof that Johnson's position was shaky in his last years, but, as we shall see later, there's evidence against this hypothesis, and perhaps he had just arranged his affairs to avoid what we now call inheritance tax - it might be significant that in 1881 a law was passed to prevent the obvious dodge of making gifts to your heirs while you were still alive.[2]

Who inherited or took over the lease on Down Hall Farm on Johnson's death? Perhaps it was the eldest son, John, because when he himself died two years later (1874) the death was registered in the Cosford District, which includes Preston, not in Stowmarket where he was working as a miller in 1871.  I shall provide evidence below that proves that Thomas was in possession of the lease on Down Hall soon after John's death - so if it was John who took it over in 1872 it went out of his branch.

A macabre incident of 1873 shows there was a 'Mr. Edgar' employing labour at Preston St Mary in that year, but unfortunately doesn't tell us if it was Thomas or John.

In the February of that year, one Daniel Lambert, returning home from his work at Mr. Edgar of Preston's heard a 'melancholy cry' from the bottom of an embankment close to Lavenham Station.  

"Lavenham Railway Station" by Steven Duhig from Bowie, Maryland, USA - Lavenham Railway StationUploaded by oxyman. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Lambert and another man went to investigate and found It was from George Eary, a nineteen year old who had to try to get a free ride by hiding in a pig truck attached to the open cattle truck of the Bury-Colchester train. As he jumped out, he fell with his right foot on the rail and the train ran over his leg and  smashed it to pieces. He died in spite of an amputation by Mr. Barkway, surgeon.[3]

Another court case - this one in early 1874 - also fails to tell us for certain which Edgar was at Down Hall Farm.

On January 16 1874 William Howe, a labourer of Lavenham, was found guilty of trespassing in search of rabbits on the land of 'Mr. Edgar of Preston' on December 23.  Ruffel Spraggous (sic) deposed that he'd seen the accused in a field and when he approached he'd started to dismantle his gun. He seems to have been interested in poaching partridges as well. Thomas Edgar 'had the shooting' and had asked to look out for him. Howe said in his defence he had a family of 12 and no work (his record on Ancestry shows that if he was exaggerating the size of his family to win the sympathy of the court, he wasn't doing so by very much.) He was fined 7s. with 7s. costs or two weeks jail. Howe's son was found guilty of poaching on Spraggous's own land on the 20th. December.[4] Does this mean John was 'Mr. Edgar,' who leased the farm while Thomas had the shooting licence? (In a previous post we saw Thomas's interest in shooting.) Or are the two Edgars one, both in fact Thomas, who leased the land and had the shooting? And, although it's a reasonable assumption that the land on which Howe was attempting to carry out his poaching was Down Hall Farm, this isn't actually stated in the report.

But six months later there's no further doubt: when Thomas married on June 30, 1874 he was described as 'of Down Hall'. John died in the April-June quarter of that year, and it may or not be a coincidence that Thomas married soon after. The bride, Harriet Ann, the second daughter of Mr. Thomas Worters, [5] was from Milden, so the wedding was held there, presumably at this church:

"St Peter's Church, Milden - geograph.org.uk - 724655" by Andrew Hill. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons 

Two months later, Harriet was pregnant. Thomas was just over 30, his wife was 22.

But country life went on around them, and before they could welcome their first child, they had to suffer another foul incursion on the Edgar lands.

On January 19, 1875 Alfred Snell was accused of trespassing in search of rabbits on 'land in the occupation of Mr. Thos. Edgar of Preston'. William Turner, a gamekeeper of Brent Eleigh had seen him and his dog get over the fence from 'Mr. Root's stubble field'. Snell denied everything, including ownership of the dog, but was fined 10s plus 7s cost or 14 days in prison.[6]

Arthur Thomas Edgar was born on April 10, 1875 into a hopefully peaceful and crime-free Preston St Mary.

The next year gives us the first glimpse of something that -whenever its started - was to remain with Thomas for the rest of his life. On Friday October 22, 1876, Thomas, attended a conference convened by the Lord Bishop of Ely in the Athenaeum Lecture Hall, Bury St Edmunds.[7] 

Image: http://athenaeumbse.co.uk/about-the-athenaeum/

He was there in his capacity as a churchwarden, and, as we shall see, he occupied the same position in the Essex village where, after many wanderings, he ended his days.

The family continued to grow. Alice Louise was born on 12 September, 1876 at Preston, and my grandfather Herbert Sidney in 1878 - he was registered in the district of Cosford,[8] so he too was presumably born in Preston, and most likely at Down Hall Farm.[9]

Herbert Sidney Edgar in Vansittart Road, Windsor

In between these births - on February 4, 1877 - Thomas's uncle Johnson (not to be confused with his late father of that name) died at Down Hall Farm.[10] For about 30 years this farm had been central to the life of the extended family of our branch of the Edgars. But it wouldn't be long before it passed out of our hands.

Parts of Down Hall farmhouse date back to the fourteenth century - this is a detail from some recent repair work: http://www.traditionaloakcarpentry.co.uk/projects-repair-down-hall.php

In June 1878 the freehold of Down Hall Farm came up for sale by auction. Four lots were offered, and it's not clear how much of the land and buildings thereon was being farmed by Thomas at the time; lot 3 was described as 'Down Hall Farm' and that had just under 75 acres but the whole thing was 172 acres of 'very fertile...agricultural land'. with a farm house, agricultural buildings, double cottage and off-hand farm premises.[11] As Johnson Edgar was described in the 1871 Census as farming 172 acres, I think that Thomas's lease was probably for that area too. I don't know who bought the farm and I can't be sure that whoever it was allowed Thomas to stay on as tenant, but I think he probably did for a reason that will soon become clear.

Before 1878 was over, Thomas had lost his mother. Sarah Edgar died aged 90 on November 11 - described in the typical phrase of the time as the 'relict' (widow) of Johnson Edgar of Down Hall.[12]

What makes me think that the Edgars were still at Down Hall - which was probably where Sarah died - is the fact that in 1879, Thomas, described as a farmer of Lavenham, sold the Preston mill to one John Thomas Allen for £1,150. For the earlier history of what the historian of Suffolk windmills has described as a 'fine' tower mill,[13] see http://edgarfamilyintheworldblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-wealth-of-edgars-johnson-and-his.html

The 1881 Census has John Allen, a miller and corn merchant, living in Mill Road, Preston. The mill continued in service until about 1919 and was pulled down in 1928. [14]

This suggests that by 1879 Thomas had the lease of a farm - almost certainly Down Hall - and that by direct inheritance from Johnson in 1872 or later through John's family - he had also acquired the family mill. The fact that he sold it for a sum worth, however conservatively you do the calculation, over £100,000 in today's values, suggests that Johnson's will (see above) might not have represented his true wealth..

And Thomas's windfall makes what happens next amazing.

---

[1] England and Wales National Probate Calendar.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_Tax_(United_Kingdom)

[3] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, February 18, 1873; pg. 5

[4] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, January 20, 1874; pg. 5;

[5] The Ipswich Journal, Saturday July 4, 1874.

[6] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, January 19, 1875; pg. 8;

[7] The Bury and Norwich Post, and Suffolk Herald (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), Tuesday, October 26, 1875; pg. 3;

[8] http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1878%2f4%2faz%2f000168%2f323

[9] http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/cosford.html

[10] Bury etc. Tuesday, February 13, 1887, 5.

[11] Ipswich Journal, June 1, 1878.

[12] The Ipswich Journal (Ipswich, England), Saturday, November 16, 1878

[13] Boydell, 1979, 72

[14] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf, page 4.