Introduction
Jesse Axe was one of many young men from Somerset who were drawn to the South Wales coalfield. He spent about twenty years working there before returning to his native area in the aftermath of the First World War. His life story reflects both the opportunities available in industrial South Wales and the continuing pull of home.
Early life
Jesse was born at East Chinnock on 28 December 1883, the sixth of ten children born to John Axe and his wife, Sarah (née Garrett).[1] His father was a farm labourer, and his mother was a glover who worked at home. The family lived at 439, College.
South Wales
After leaving school, Jesse and his older brother, Fred, moved to the coalfields of South Wales. The 1901 census recorded them both as coalminers, boarding at the Star Coffee Tavern in Ystradyfodwg.
In 1903, Jesse married Alice Mary George, the daughter of a coal miner. Her parents had moved from Taynton, Gloucestershire, to South Wales shortly before her birth. Over the next twenty-two years, they had thirteen children, six of whom died before the age of two.
Initially, the family lived at 4 Great Street, Pontypridd, and Jesse continued to work as a coal miner. Around 1910, they moved to 8 Eirw Road, Britannia, Porth, where Jesse left coal mining for a time. By April 1910, he was working as a house painter, probably employed by his brother Fred, who lived in the same street.[2] According to a 1910 trade directory, Jesse was also a fried-fish dealer at that time.[3]
While they were living at 8 Eirw Road, Alice returned to East Chinnock with Edith, their only surviving child. Having already lost two children, they may have believed that country air would protect their third. However, Edith contracted diphtheria and died on 2 April 1910 after eight days at just sixteen months old. Jesse was present at the death and registered it two days later.[4]
By 1911, the family had moved to a five-room house at 15 Jenkins Street, Porth.
By 1916, Fred had returned to East Chinnock, which may have prompted Jesse to return to coal mining. Alternatively, he may have responded to the surge in the demand for miners. On 5 November 1919, four of his children were baptised at the parish church of Llanddewi Rhondda. The baptism register recorded their address as 21 Danylan Terrace (in Pontypridd) and Jesse’s occupation as a miner. This return to the coal industry is confirmed by the birth certificate of their daughter Mary, born on 22 July 1919, which recorded Jesse’s occupation as coal hewer.[5]
Move to Hardington
Between November 1919 and July 1920, the family returned to Somerset. Their return coincided with the difficult post-war conditions in the South Wales coalfield, where falling demand and industrial unrest made employment increasingly uncertain.
Their eleventh child, Robert, was born prematurely at Hardington on 29 July 1920 and died two days later. When registering the death, Jesse gave his occupation as journeyman house painter.[6] Two more children followed: Ruth, born in 1923, and Tudor, born in 1925.
In the estate sale of October 1920, Jesse purchased lot 42, a pair of thatched cottages in the High Street, along with a small adjoining orchard, for £170.[7] This purchase, just months after his return, suggests that Jesse had saved enough during his years in South Wales to invest in property upon his return home.
By June 1921, Jesse, Alice and their five surviving children lived in one of these cottages, and Jesse worked as a painter and decorator employed at Petters Aircraft Works.
Jesse appears to have sold one of the cottages, as the rate book for 31 December 1923 recorded him as owning one cottage and garden of ten perches, and land of two roods and five perches.[8]
By September 1939, they had moved to Coker Hill, from where Jesse continued to work as a painter and decorator. Alice died on 10 May 1957 at the age of 76, leaving an estate valued at £990 7s 10d.[9] Jesse lived for another ten years, passing away in the Taunton area on 15 October 1967 at the age of 83. Both Alice and Jesse were buried at Hardington.
Conclusion
Jesse’s life illustrates the movement of rural workers to the industrial coalfields before the First World War and their later return when economic circumstances changed. Despite spending about twenty years in South Wales, he ultimately re-established himself in Somerset, where he lived for the rest of his life.
His experiences also highlight the heavy toll that disease and poor living conditions could take on families in the South Wales coalfield. Between 1904 and 1919, Jesse and Alice had ten children born there, of whom five died before reaching the age of two, including Edith, who died at East Chinnock after contracting diphtheria. After their return to Somerset, another son died two days after being born prematurely at Hardington.
References
[1] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register; family reconstitution.
[2] Death certificate of Edith Axe.
[3] Kelly’s Directory of South Wales, 1910, p.1253
[4] Death certificate of Edith Axe.
[5] Birth certificate of Mary Axe.
[6] Death certificate of Robert Axe.
[7] Eddy Colin Turner’s copy of the Portman estate sale catalogue.
[8] Hardington rate book for 31 December 1923.
[9] National probate calendar.
