John Rendell kept a shop at Hardington Moor in the 1880s. The 1881 census recorded him as a shopkeeper, and the 1891 census recorded him as a grocer.
Early life (1839-1862)
John was born at Hardington in about 1839. He was the son of John, a weaver, and his wife, Elizabeth. The 1841 census shows them living in Barry Lane.
In March 1851, John was an errand boy.
In April 1861, he was a canvas weaver living with his widowed father and his sister at Oil Moor. His mother had died about four months earlier.
Marriage (1862)
On 20 December 1862, John married Harriet Louisa Purchase, the daughter of Thomas and Grace Purchase. John joined his wife in the home of her parents in Moor Lane. John’s widowed father may have moved in, too.
Family tragedy (1865)
Two and a half years later, the household suffered a terrible blow when, on 17 June 1865, Harriet’s mother hanged herself.[1]
Family unity (1865-1884)
In April 1871, Thomas Purchase headed a household that included John, John’s wife, and John’s father (who was by then a pauper). John was then a farm labourer, and so was Thomas.
By April 1881, the same four individuals lived together, but John was the household head. He was a shopkeeper, and his father and father-in-law were weavers.
His father-in-law died in 1883, and his father in 1884.
A couple alone (1884-1896)
John and Harriet continued living in the same house.
Trade directories of 1889 and 1895 list John as a shopkeeper.
By April 1891, Harriet’s four-year-old niece, Addie Purchase, lived with them. The 1891 census recorded John as a grocer.
John died in 1896, aged 56.
Harriet alone (1896-1911)
After John’s death, Harriet continued to run the shop. Trade directories of 1897, 1902, 1906, and 1910 list her as a shopkeeper.
Near the end of her life, Harriet went to live with her niece, Grace Watts, the wife of William Watts, the village blacksmith. Harriet died on 15 April 1911, aged 67.
John and Harriet did not have any children.
References
[1] Western Gazette, 23 June 1865, p.5; Sherborne Mercury, 27 June 1865, p.8