Introduction
For more than thirty years Albert Taylor Leach pursued a varied working life away from Hardington, running businesses and holding several occupations. Then, in his fifties, he returned alone to his native village while his wife and children remained in London.
Early years
Albert was born in 1851 at East Chinnock, the eighth of eleven children of Robert Leach and his wife Ann (née Taylor).[1] His father was a smallholder who, in about 1856, moved the family to North Lane, Hardington Mandeville. On 8 January 1865, Albert and his younger sister Laura Bartlett were baptised at Hardington church.[2] The delay in their baptism was probably not due to religious conviction, since several of their siblings were baptised in infancy.
Marriage and family life
By 1871, Albert had left home and was working for William Luffman in his bakery business at Preston Plucknett. He later resided in Middle Street, Yeovil. While living in the town, he met Sarah Ann Gould, the daughter of a boot and shoe maker. The couple were married at Holy Trinity Church on 9 March 1876.[3]
They appear to have begun married life at Hardington, where their daughter Lily Maud was born in 1879. They then moved to Chickerell, where they had three more children. The 1911 census recorded that Sarah had given birth to eight children, four of whom were still living. The identities of the four who died in childhood have not been established. In 1881, the family lived in Putton Lane, Chickerell, and Albert worked as a general dealer and Sarah as a dressmaker. Albert’s sister, Laura, also lived with the family at that time.
In November 1883, Albert’s father Robert died, leaving an estate with a net value of £713-2s-1s. Robert left legacies of £20 each to nine of his children, including Albert, with the remainder held in trust for all eleven children equally. Albert acted as an executor. When he obtained probate, he recorded his occupation as baker, possibly because he believed it sounded more respectable than dealer.[4]
This inheritance may have facilitated Albert’s move to London. By 1891, he and his family resided at 1 Sutton Terrace, St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, where Albert ran his own grocery shop and wine merchant business. However, this venture may have failed, as by 1901, they had moved to 199 Brixton Road, Lambeth, and Albert was working as a foreman in a haddock smoker. Sarah’s widowed mother lived with them at that time. His apparent decline in economic circumstances may partly explain what happened next.
Return to Hardington
Sometime during the first decade of the twentieth century, Albert left London and returned permanently to Hardington, while Sarah and the children remained in the capital. The 1911 census shows Sarah living with three of their children and her widowed mother in a nine-room house at 38 Norwood Road, Herne Hill, while their eldest child worked as a housekeeper in Redhill.
Initially, Albert lived with his brother John Robert and sister Ellen in North Lane. His primary occupation was as a cheese dealer, a role he continued until at least 1921. However, in July 1918, he planted potatoes in allotments at Coker Hill for James Saint Partridge.[5]
Albert also rented some land. On 5 May 1921, he sued James Saint Partridge for £20 in damages for harm caused to his crops. Partridge had bought the land of which Albert had been the yearly tenant for fourteen years, and then turned his stock onto it. The judge found Partridge liable, and he was required to pay £7 in damages.[6] This case suggests that Albert returned to Hardington in about 1907.
Later years
Ellen died in 1919, followed by John in 1921. By June 1921, Albert was living with his nephew, Archibald Abraham Partridge, at Hardington Moor.
Later, Albert was admitted to Cotford Hospital, Bishops Lydeard, which was the county mental hospital. He died there on 21 April 1933 from lobar pneumonia at the age of eighty-one. His death certificate described him as a general dealer of Haselbury Plucknett, although no other evidence links him to that village.[7] Sarah had died in the Croydon area four years earlier.
Two of Albert’s sons became hotel keepers. In 1921, Archibald was at a Temperance Hotel in Dorking, and William was at the Bear Hotel, Maidenhead.
Conclusion
Albert spent more than two decades of his life back in Hardington, supporting himself through small-scale trading and farming. The reasons for his permanent separation from his wife and children remain unclear, but this decision greatly affected the later part of his life. Initially supported by his siblings and later by his nephew, he eventually required specialist help and passed away in the county mental hospital.
References
[1] Civil registration birth certificate; family reconstitution.
[2] Hardington Mandeville baptism register.
[3] Holy Trinity, Yeovil, marriage register.
[4] The will of Robert Leach, dated 22 May 1879, proved at Taunton on 27 May 1884.
[5] Western Chronicle, 5 July 1918, p.7.
[6] Western Chronicle 13 May 1921, p. 6.
[7] Death certificate of Albert Taylor Leach.
