George Hartnell, a dairyman, was at Landground Farm from about 1876 to 1880 and at Marsh Dairy House in 1892.

George was born at Staple Fitzpaine in about 1842. His father, George, was a farm labourer from Pitminster, and his mother, Mary, came from Bridport. By March 1845, his parents had moved to Pitminster. By April 1861, his father farmed ten acres at Otterford while George was a farm labourer.

Marriage

In 1865, George married Elizabeth Hillacre, the daughter of a dairyman. They spent their first few years of marriage in the area they knew. Their first child was born at Otterford in 1866, their second at Pitminster in 1868, and their third at Otterford in 1870. In April 1871, they ran a grocer’s shop at Holmen Clavel, Otterford.

Move to Dorset

Elizabeth’s father died in May 1871, and George’s mother died in July 1871. Their deaths may have prompted George and Elizabeth to leave the area and explore fresh opportunities.

They moved thirty miles east to the Dorset village of Yetminster, where their fourth child was born on 16 April 1873.

Life at Landground Dairy House, Hardington

By the second quarter of 1876, George and his family lived at Landground Dairy House, Hardington. His wife, Elizabeth, died there on 23 June 1879 after giving birth to their seventh child.[1]

In the last quarter of 1879, George married Octavia Hill. Born in Gillingham, Dorset, in 1843, her father had died when she was young, and she and her sister, Jane, were raised by their mother, who worked as a charwoman and laundress to support them. In 1849, her mother had an illegitimate daughter, Mary Emma. Octavia left home as a teenager and worked as a domestic servant at Instow in Devon and Lewisham in Kent.

On 19 January 1880, George held a sale at the dairy as he was leaving.

1881-1891

In April 1881, George was a dairyman at Stembidge, Huish Episcopi. By April 1891, he was a dairyman at Steeple Langford.

Second spell at Hardington

George must have returned to Hardington to work at Marsh Dairy House in 1891 or 1892. On 22 December 1892, he held a sale there because he was leaving. The sale included furniture and effects, a carpenter’s bench and vice, parsnips and potatoes.[2]

1892-1928

In March 1901, George was a farmer at Pibsbury, Huish Episcopi. By April 1911, he was a farmer at Wrantage, North Curry.

Octavia died at Wrantage in 1920, aged 75. George died in the Shaftesbury registration district, probably in the home of one of his children, in 1928, aged 86.

References

[1] Western Gazette, 4 July 1879, p.6.

[2] Western Gazette, 16 December 1892, p.1.