Introduction

William Guppy was a prominent tenant farmer in Hardington during the early nineteenth century. He married late in life but had no sons to inherit the farm; he had two daughters, one of whom died young, while the other married a silversmith with no interest in farming. William continued farming until he was in his seventies, subsequently retiring first to East Coker and then to West Coker. In the 1820s, he was actively involved in organising religious nonconformity in Hardington.

Birth

William was born at Hardington around 1782, the sixth of eleven children born to Samuel and Sarah Guppy. His father, Samuel, was a farmer.

Inheritance from father

When William’s father died in 1821, he left his entire estate to his wife for her lifetime. Upon her death, he left pecuniary legacies amounting to £130 and the residue to his sons, William and Joseph, equally.[1] As his estate was valued at “less than £300,” William probably inherited about £85 when his mother died in 1822.

Marriage

On 8 April 1823, William married Susan Apsey at Hardington. At the time, William was about 41 years old, and Susan was 40. Both signed the marriage register.

Susan was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Apsey. Her father, Joseph, was a farmer. Her siblings included Sarah, who married Roger Baker, Edward, and Mary, who married John Whebby.

Occupation

William was a farmer throughout his adult life. The tithe survey shows him occupying a farmhouse near Broadstone, 161 acres owned by Lord Ilchester, and a one-acre orchard owned by Lord Portman.

The 1851 census recorded him as the farmer of 170 acres employing nine labourers. He and his wife also employed a sixteen-year-old house servant, Sarah Delamont.

Nonconformity

William and his brother, Edward, were nonconformists. Their names appear in an 1825 application to license Henry Sandiford’s home for independent worship.[2]

Parish offices

William was elected as an overseer in 1825.[3]

A testimonial for antibilious pills

On 26 June 1826, William wrote a letter to Edward Granger, a chemist and druggist of Yeovil, praising his antibilious pills. Granger used this testimonial in his newspaper adverts until 1864.^[4]

Trusteeships

In his will dated 8 November 1824, William Strode appointed his brother, Thomas Strode, and William Guppy to act as his trustees until his sons, Thomas and Robert, turned twenty-one and could take on the role of his executors.[5]

In 1850, William Guppy and William White acted as the trustees of Mark Dodge’s will.[6]

Daughters

William and Susan had two daughters: Emily Wilhelmina, born in about 1824, and Sarah, born in about 1827.

Emily Wilhelmina died on 24 November 1848 from an abscess of the groin at the young age of 24.[7]

Following Emily’s death, William and Susan focused their hopes and aspirations on their remaining daughter, Sarah, envisioning a genteel urban middle-class life for her rather than the life of a farmer’s wife. The 1851 census shows Sarah as a visitor staying with her aunt, Mary Ann Bailey, a widow and fundholder, in Bath.[8]

Sarah married William Cox, a silversmith of Yeovil, at Holy Trinity, Yeovil, on 25 October 1854.[9] In the marriage register, William’s rank or profession is recorded as “Gentleman.”

Retirement

By the time Sarah married, her parents had retired to Burton, East Coker.[10]

William held three sales in preparation for his retirement: the first included corn, hay, feed, cider, and other effects on 1 August 1854; the second was livestock and farming equipment on 5 September 1854, and the last, on 14 September 1854, featured the remaining equipment, apples, feed, and other items.[11] On 5 September 1854, he also sold his freehold house and garden.[12]

Death

William died at West Coker on 19 July 1857, at the age of 75, and was buried at Hardington four days later.[13]

He left an estate valued at “less than £1,000.” He bequeathed his wife a life interest in his house at Hardington, his furniture and his residue.[14]

Susan’s later life

By April 1861, Susan was living with her daughter and son-in-law in Clarence Place, Yeovil. She died at Park Villa, Yeovil, on 7 April 1867 at the age of 84 and was buried at Hardington six days later.[15]

Her daughter, Sarah, died childless in 1880 at the age of 53. The following year, Sarah’s husband married Sarah’s cousin, Jane Guppy, at St George’s, Bloomsbury.

References

[1] The will of Samuel Guppy, dated 19 May 1818, proved at Wells on 7 June 1821.

[2] Somerset Heritage Centre D/D/rm/7

[3] Hardington Jury list.

[4] Morning Advertiser. 13 September 1826 p. 1; Western Gazette 30 July 1864 p. 8.

[5] The will of William Strode, dated 8 November 1824, proved in London on 12 March 1825.

[6] The will of Mark Dodge, dated 16 March 1850, proved at Wells on 30 March 1850.

[7] Death certificate of Emily Guppy; Sherborne Mercury, 2 December 1848, p.4.

[8] Mary Ann Beale, the daughter of Joseph Apsey, married William Bailey, a former partner in the Bath firm of Mumford and Bailey, at Widcombe Old Church on 16 October 1847 (Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 21 October 1847, p.2). Her previous husband, William Beale, died in 1839.

[9] Dorset County Chronicle, 2 November 1854, p.20.

[10] Dorset County Chronicle, 2 November 1854, p.20.

[11] Sherborne Mercury, 25 July 1854, p.2; 29 August 1854, p.2;12 September 1854, p.2.

[12] Sherborne Mercury, 29 August 1854, p.2.

[13] Dorset County Chronicle, 23 July 1857, p.22; Hardington burial register.

[14] The will of William Guppy, dated 18 April 1857, proved at Wells on 5 October 1857.

[15] Sherborne Mercury, 9 April 1867, p.3.