Chapter 12
1858, the second week of August Saturday Must be over a year since I last had a go at the diary. We had a big shock last week when we heard that young Emily Parrott died. Edwards’s wife. She was only thirty-one-years old. The Parrott family were busy with planning for young George’s wedding. That’s planned for this Wednesday coming. They say it’s still going ahead. Not sure how much celebrating there will be. We went to the burial service. All the Parrotts were there. Young Edward Parrott was sat at the front with little Clara, four-year-old William and their grandmother Sarah. William Parrott was there with his wife Sarah. Still can’t get used to her being William’s wife. She has been known as Widow Hickman for such a long time. Sarah came over from Ludgershall with John Hillsden. She was sat next to Edwin. Young George Parrott was there with Sarah Bottrell, his bride to be. Their neighbours, Henry Jordan, the Wallingtons and the Sulstans were in the church. I don’t know what has been going on but we seem to have lost the old characters in the village. It started with Old William Parrott four years back, then Old Jim Parker and Billy Bottle. Phoebe Jordan, of course, eighteen months ago. Old Topsy Turvey went last November. He made it to eighty-three. Left his young wife Sofia, under forty with little Rosanna just a year old. Young William Turvey has taken over as Topsy. Don’t seem right. He can’t be much over sixty! This Spring we had a queer do. Old Billy Dumbleton died and didn’t get to see his new-born son. Exactly the same thing happened a few years back when his son Jonathan died and didn’t get to see his daughter Emily. Old Billy had been in the Stars just the week before he died, bragging about his twenty-seven-year-old wife and fathering a child at his age of seventy! Sad thing was, Old Topsy and Old Jim Parker weren’t there to listen to him. Young Elizabeth Dumbleton gave birth to a baby boy just four days after Billy was buried. Folk who were at the baptising said they thought Old Billy was looking down at the font and smiling when the littl’n was named William Henry. It’s getting a bit worrying with fewer old’ns in the parish. I am wondering if some of the younger folk in the village are thinking that I must be one of the old’ns now. There is Old Henry of course. He is walking a bit slower when we head off to the Stars of a Saturday night. He thinks he is good for a few more years yet. I will be calling in for him in a while. Sunday Windy last night and this morning. A few apples on the ground. I gave the worst of the wormy and scabby ones to the pigs along with some potato peelings from the wife’s pig bucket. Must get the onions dried off and into store this week. Me and Old Henry stopped by the corner of Ludgershall lane on the way to the pub last night. The old cottages have been pulled down now to make way for the school to be built. The farmers have nearly finished carting the rubble away. Henry told me that Thomas Gibbons had shown him a copy of the Oxford Journal. It had an advertisement asking builders to get copies of the drawings for the new school and schoolhouse if they wished to tender for the job. He thought that all the tenders should be in by now. Most of the talk in the Stars was about the school and William Gilbert the curate. No one had any news of Vicar Hill and where he and his young family have gone to. Richard Sulstan said that they might know up at the vicarage but nobody’s telling the likes of us. Everyone seemed to be happy with the new curate we have in the vicarage now. William Gilbert is his name. Henry thought he must be about the same age as Vicar Hill. Mary Ann, the publican’s wife seemed to know all about the curate’s young wife. She’s also called Mary Ann. She thought that she must be in her mid-twenties, about 10 years younger than the curate. She said that they have one young daughter, called Amy and that she is expecting another child in a couple of months’ time. The curate has only been here since the beginning of the year. Old Henry was keen to show that he also knew a fair bit about the family. He told everyone that they both come from somewhere near London and were married about two years ago. He told us that Mary Ann’s family are well off and have a big building business so there shouldn’t be any falling into debt like Vicar Hill. He was happy to give them credit and they were good customers. Henry reckoned that the curate’s last job was up in Lancashire. Everyone agreed that it’s been the new curate that’s really got things moving on the school. He had only been here a couple of months and he set up a committee to find the money. Richard said he thought it was him who persuaded Ann Brown and Thomas Brown and their relations to get behind it. Now it seems that all the bigger farmers are wanting to be involved. Old Henry said that nothing would have happened without Edward Stone. Jim and Mary Ann hadn’t heard much of Edward Stone and wanted to know how he fitted in. Old Henry wasn’t going to let anyone else tell this tale and wouldn’t start until everyone was settled down to listen. He made sure everyone heard, even if some of us had seen some of the Stone family in the village from time to time. Henry talked of Job Stone and his family living in the village and owning quite a few cottages and land down at Cowleys. He told everyone that Job and his family went to farm at Wotton Underwood about forty years ago. He said there were only two of his sons alive now. One of them, Edward, got married to old John Brown’s daughter by his first marriage, Ann Brown. They had been farming at Wotton since his father had died. The younger one, Thomas, an attorney, lives in London with a young family. Old Henry said that both Edward and Thomas were worth a bob or two. Jim Maycock was asking about the old cottages and the site for the school. Henry explained that it was Edward that owned the cottages and the land that they used to sit on. He had heard word from Manor Farm that Edward might be giving the land to the village. Henry said that some folk still weren’t too happy about moving out of their cottages. He said that Old John Reynolds and Widow Gaskin had lived there for ages. William Hillsden said he couldn’t see where the money to build the school and the schoolhouse was going to come from. Richard Sulstan said that’s just the start of it and there will be wages to be found for a schoolteacher as well. Jim rattled the collection box that had been sitting on the bar for the last couple of weeks. That was a sign for most folk to set off for home. Monday The wife has been talking with Old Sarah Parrott today. Sarah had moved out of the wheelwrights a few weeks back to allow young George to be on his own with his new bride. Sarah showed her around her cottage. She told the wife that she thinks it best if Edward and his two children move in with her. The wife told me that that Edward doesn’t know what to do at present. She reckoned that he can’t accept that his young wife has died. Sarah thought that it would be best if she did the cooking and cleaning for all of them. She didn’t think that Edward was in a position to look after little Clara and William on his own. Sarah said that they all needed to look to the future. She thought that Old William would be really proud to think that young George was going to be running the wheelwright’s business on his own. Sarah told her that Old William would have been delighted about marrying one of William Bottrell’s girls. She talked about the Parrotts and the Bottrells being friends and neighbours for years, even going back to the days when they were in Launton. Old Sarah was pleased that she was getting another Sarah Parrott as a daughter in law when George marries Sarah on Wednesday. She still thought of her daughter Sarah as Sarah Parrott, even though she is now a Hillsden, living in Ludgershall. Not only that, her son William has gone and married a Sarah. She said there will be three Sarah Parrotts in Piddington come the weekend! The wife asked Sarah about her son Edwin. She told her that she didn’t think it would be long before he would be married. He has been seeing someone over in Launton, a niece of Phoebe Jordan. She’s another Sarah! Sarah Fenemore. Related to the Fenemores that used to farm Chilling Place. She comes from a farming family as well. Old Sarah told the wife that Edwin is bringing her to the church on Friday so we will be able to meet her then. Wednesday The church was full for the wedding service. There were quite a few people we didn’t recognise. We got to talk to some of them afterwards. They were Sarah Bottrell’s relatives from Islip, her mother’s family and the Bottrell’s girls’ cousins. Sarah’s elder sister Martha and younger sister Mary were in the front pew on one side. Young George Parrott with his brother Edwin on the other side. Behind them Old Sarah and her son Edward with her grandchildren Clara and little William sitting between them. The rest of the Parrotts, the Hillsdens and the Sulstons behind them. The new curate took the service. Edwin went up with George and Sarah to sign the register. Edwin was accompanied by someone we hadn’t seen before. The wife said she must be Sarah Fenemore from Launton that Old Sarah had talked about. Folk were stood in the churchyard for ages. It was interesting to see so many different villagers together at the same time. There were the shopkeepers and the farmers and the Parrotts and Bottrells. All neighbours all talking together. It was just a short walk down to the Bottrell farmhouse. We walked with Richard and Sarah Sulston and their two boys. Richard said that there is a sale of Old Billy Bottle’s horses and stock planned for next month. He thought the other two Bottrell girls might be going to move out soon. Old Henry was talking with Sarah Fenemore. They reckoned that they must be related through the Coles family from Launton, Phoebe’s relations. The Browns were there, Thomas and his wife Matilda and Thomas’s brother’s, William and Charles. They seemed to know the Alley family from Islip and were talking with young Mary Bottrell and her cousins. William Gilbert was getting to know villagers. He was talking about the vicarage garden. He seemed to be very interested in his apple trees and vegetables. His young wife was talking about the flowers in her garden. Both of them were busy drumming up support for the school funds. William Parrott and his wife Sarah seemed very supportive. Old Henry thought that William was keen to show that he was one of the farmers now and was making a show of mingling with the Browns. We left after we talked with Old Sarah. She told us that she thought that her job would be done now, with young George married. Now she has two more little Parrotts to look after. |
Sources & Inspirations
Emily Parrot’s death: Burial 8th August 1858 Emily Mary Parrott, 31 Old Topsy’s death: Burial 29th November 1857 William Turvey, 83 Billy Dumbleton’s death and the birth of his son: Burial: 23rd March 1858 William Dumbleton, 70 Baptism: 29th March 1858 William Henry Dumbleton, son of William and Elizabeth, labourer, born 27th March. Tender to build school and schoolhouse: Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Saturday July 31st, 1858: To Builders. New School and House at Piddington, near Brill. Any Builders wishing to Tender for these Schools are requested to signify the same (by letter) to the Reverend the officiating Minister, the Parsonage, Piddington on or before the 2nd day of August, from whom they will obtain orders to see the drawings and specifications, and information as to the conditions, &c, of the competition. N.B. Piddington is situated 5 miles from the Bicester Station, and 3 miles from Brill. William Gilbert, the curate: Confirmation of his appointment: “Samuel by Devine Permission, Lord Bishop of Oxford, To our beloved in CHRIST William Gilbert Clerk in Holy Orders, … to perform the Office of Stipendiary Curate in the Parish Church of Piddington…. with the yearly Stipend of One hundred pounds to be paid quarterly… with the use of the Parsonage House (wherein you are required to reside) and the Garden and Offices” 26th December 1857. William was born 1821 Redbourn, Hertfordshire. Aged 36 when he arrived at Piddington. Married Mary Ann Oades 1st January 1856 St John, Egham Surrey. Born 1832 Egham. Aged 24 when she arrived in Piddington. First child, Amy Gilbert born Wigan, Lancashire October 1856. The old cottages pulled down to make way for the school: Cottages purchased by Edward Stone: Lot 4 in an auction 10th May 1853: 3 good cottages with a large garden each in the occupation of Thomas Walker, William Turvey and Widow Haines, all rents amounting to £5 10s 0d per annum. Also living in those cottages in 1851: Sarah Gaskin, widow and her son; John Franklin and son; John Reynolds. Bottrell Sale: Bicester Advertiser Saturday 18th September 1858: Piddington, near Bicester. 58 Half-bred SHEEP, 15 first-rate DAIRY COWS, 6 STURKS and CALVES, 5 CART HORSES and COLTS, 4 fat HOGS, SOW and PIGS, IMPLEMENTS, 12 Milk Leads, Dairy and Brewing Utensils, Horse Churn, &c, also about 80 tons of prime MEADOW HAY, 2 ricks of Red WHEAT and a cock of BARLEY, (all to go off,) 2 ricks of BEANS, I ditto of OATS, and other Effects, the property of the late Mr Bottrill, TO BE SOLD by AUCTION, by Messrs. JONAS & THOS. PAXTON, on the premises at Piddington, on Wednesday , September 29th, 1858, at Eleven o’clock. The usual Credit will be allowed on the Hay and Corn subject to the usual conditions. Author’s Notes I have spent a lot of time during the last two weeks researching the building of the school and validating notes I had made years ago. The curate William Gilbert played a key part in this and yet he is not even listed amongst the “Vicars of Piddington” It has been very difficult to trace his life and that of his family. They were away from Piddington at the time of the 1861 census. I was fortunate to find a note of his appointment as Vicar of Chearsley on leaving Piddington and found his place and date of birth from his listing in Chearsley in the 1871 census. He and his wife and children were rarely in the same place at the time of each census. William and Mary Ann would go on to have nine children, eight girls and one boy. From what I have found out recently I think that their son would have caused them more concern than their eight daughters put together! I would like to press on with the diary to cover the building and opening of the school in the next chapter. I have come to regard this as something of a milestone that I would like to reach. A significant moment in the history of the village. After the next chapter I will give myself an extended break from the 19th century! David Cook 11th July 2020 |