In April 1881, Arthur was an insurance agent living at Coker Hill with his sister, Bessie.

Birth

Arthur Reynolds, the son of Joseph Reynolds and Eliza (nee Poole), was born at Coker Hill, West Coker, on 14 March 1856.

Father

Arthur’s father owned some freehold land at Coker Hill called Mary’s Plot. The tithe apportionment shows him and his brother, Joel, as the owner of three houses in Bridle Plot (numbers 200, 201 and 202). However, he made his living by manual work. The 1841 and 1851 censuses recorded him as a labourer, that of 1861, as a bailiff working away from home at Poole. He died in 1880, aged 66.

Mother

Arthur’s mother was born at Hardington in about 1816. She died in 1878, aged 62.

Early life

In April 1871, Arthur was a labourer, like his father.

In April 1881, Arthur was an insurance agent living at the Apiary, Coker Hill, with his sister, Bessie Reynolds. Trade directories of 1889 and 1895 list him as an agent for Prudential Assurance.

Marriage

On 12 May 1881, he married Susan Wildern Smith, the daughter of John Smith, a farm bailiff from Stratton, Dorset. Over the following eleven years, they had seven children.

Married life at Coker Hill

In April 1891, Arthur was an assistant overseer, living with his family at Ivy Cottage, Bridwell Plot, Coker Hill. His wife’s sister, Elizabeth, lived with them.

The voters’ lists of 1888-93 show him owning freehold land in St Mary’s Plot.

Bulshay

In March 1901, Arthur and his family lived at High Street cottages, and Arthur was a “farmer grazier”. By 1903, they were at Bulshay. In 1903, Arthur rented ten acres at Marsh from the Vassall Trustees.

Overseer

Arthur was the assistant overseer from 1884 to 1898.

Death

Arthur died on 13 November 1905, aged 49. The probate grant recorded his occupation as a farmer. The gross value of his estate was £465-5s; the net value of his personal estate was nil. He left everything to his wife.[1]

Susan’s later life

Susan continued living at Bulshay. In April 1911, she was a market gardener.

Between 1901 and 1911, her father, John Smith, retired to Coker Hill, where he died in 1919.

The 1915 guardian valuation recorded Susan as the owner of two cottages in Rectory Lane.

The curate, Charles Godfred MacCarthy, rented rooms from her and on 18 March 1913, she witnessed his will.

In June 1921, Susan lived at Bulshay with her daughter, Rose, and sister, Elizabeth. MacCarthy’s daughter, Eleanor, was staying with her as a visitor.

By September 1939, Susan lived in Rectory Lane with her daughter, Rose.

Susan died in 1940, aged 84.

Children

Arthur and Susan had three sons and four daughters:

1882 Ann Elizabeth

1883 Eliza

1884 Lily

1886 Frank

1887 Rose

1891 Walter

1892 Joseph

Ann married Arthur Adams, a colliery worker and later gardener. Frank served in the Royal Navy and later lived at Bulshay. Rose lived in the village until she died in 1952. Joseph was a labourer and later storeman who lived at Hardington and West Coker.

References

[1] The will of Arthur Reynolds, dated 26 November 1898, proved at Taunton on 8 December 1905.