Introduction

Robert Helyar was a stone mason from East Coker, who married Ellen Burt, a servant from Pendomer, on Christmas Day in 1886. After their marriage, they settled at Hardington, where they lived for about ten years. During this time, Robert began working in South Wales, and eventually, his family joined him there. They lived together at Taff’s Well for about forty years. They had ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood. The family maintained a close-knit bond, and from 1908 onward, Robert and Ellen welcomed the families of three of their married daughters into their home, one after another.

Early life at East Coker

Robert was born on 10 October 1862 at East Coker, the second of seven children born to John Helyar and Mary Helyar. Mary was John’s second wife; his first wife, Ruth Parsons, had died in June 1858 at the age of 23, less than a year after their marriage. John was a shoemaker, while Mary had been a servant at Hardington Rectory, working for the Vassall family. She had moved with Mrs Vassall from Yorkshire in 1857.[1]

After their marriage, John and Mary settled with John’s parents, William and Sarah, who lived in Back Lane, East Coker. William and Sarah would have played an important role in raising their grandchildren. However, in the 1870s, they moved into one of the nearby almshouses. Sarah died in 1881, and William followed in 1889.

By April 1881, Robert’s brothers, John and Charles, had left home.[2] At that time, Robert was an eighteen-year-old stone mason

On Christmas Day, 1886, Robert married Ellen Burt, a servant at East Coker rectory. Robert was 24 years old and Ellen was 22. Ellen’s father was a railway platelayer and he and his family lived at Kithill Cottages, Pendomer.

Life at Hardington

After their marriage, Robert and Ellen lived at Hardington, initially lived at Hardington Moor, then in Barry Lane, and later in the High Street.

During their time at Hardington, they had four children: Edith, Ethel (who died in infancy), Ethel May and Walter John. Following a five-and-a-half-year gap, they had their next child, Beatrice Maud. This delay was due to Robert moving to South Wales for work, while Ellen and the children remained at Hardington. The 1891 census shows Ellen and their three young children living in High Street, Hardington, while Robert was boarding at 11 Vaughan Street, Llantrisant, Wales, working as a stone mason.

Life in South Wales

By July 1896, the entire Helyar family had moved to Wales.[3] They first settled at Penygraig, where their daughter, Beatrice Maud, was born, before moving to 12 Victoria Street, Ystradyfodwg, by March 1901.

Tragically, while living in Ystradyfodwg, they lost two daughters: Dorothy Ellen, born in 1900, died in infancy, and Ethel May sadly passed away at the age of fourteen around 1904.  [4] After Dorothy, they had four more children, but the youngest died in infancy in 1910.

In March 1905, Robert and another mason were involved in a drunken altercation with a builder named Isaac Williams from Taff’s Well. Williams had hired them at a rate of 9d per hour but attempted to reduce their pay to 8.5d to align with his other workers. During the ensuing fight, Robert sustained injuries, including a cut on his nose and a black eye. At Llandaff Police Court, both men were fined 10s.[5]

By April 1911, the family resided at 23 Moy Road, Taff’s Well, where the census recorded Robert, Ellen, and their six surviving children. Living in the same property, but listed as a separate household, were their daughter Edith, her coal miner husband Edmund Dowling, and their two children.[6] As Edith was listed in both households, the total number of individuals in the property came to eleven. At that time, Robert was unemployed.

Over the course of the next decade, Robert found work with Cardiff Council, Edith and her family moved across the road to 26 Moy Road, and Beatrice Maud married a labourer from Durham named George Burnett, who moved in with them. The last of the siblings to marry were Doris in 1931, Lilly Louisa in 1933, Walter John in 1936 and Robert in 1947.

By September 1939, there had been another reshuffle. Robert had retired and was living with his married daughter, Edith, at 26 Moy Road, while Ellen remained at 23 Moy Road with their son, Robert. Also living with Edith was her daughter, Lilly Louisa, Lilly’s husband, David John Blackburn, and their five-year-old daughter, Dorothy.

Death

Robert died in 1944 at the age of 82, followed by Ellen in the following year at the age of 81.

References

[1] John Helyar and Mary Noble were married at Hardington on 2 July 1859.

[2] John Helyar’s location in April 1881 is unknown, but by 1901, he was working as a messenger for the Board of Trade and living in Tottenham. Charles’ location in April 1881 is also unknown, but by April 1891, he had returned to East Coker.

[3] Hardington voters’ lists; birth date of Robert and Ellen’s daughter, Beatrice Maud.

[4] Digital image of death certificate unavailable.

[5] South Wales Daily News, 4 April 1905, p.3; Western Mail, 4 April 1905, p.6.

[6] Edith Helyar married Edmund Dowling in 1908.