Bertie Walter Dyke, a beloved husband mourned
Western Gazette, 23 June 1922, p.12. The In Memoriam notice shown above appeared in the Western Gazette newspaper on 23 June 1922. It contains conventional verse testifying to a wife missing her husband, but also includes a religious message that without the hope of meeting again in heaven, life would be meaningless. The death certificate […]
MISS JEARUM-MUSIC TEACHER AND CHURCH ORGANIST
Introduction This is the story of how the Surrey-born Lillie Louise Jearum became a music teacher and church organist in the small, relatively secluded village of Hardington Mandeville in Somerset. In this modest setting, her musical talents served to enhance the services in the parish church, enrich the lives of her pupils, and generally add […]
An autumn vigil
On the evening of Thursday, 21 October 1886, Thomas Pine Laver left a meeting of the Melplash Agricultural Society at Beaminster to ride the six miles home to his farm at Mappercombe. At 38 years old, he was a widower with three young children, having lost his wife, Betsy, just six months earlier. A witness […]
Tragic death of village’s adopted son
On the fateful day of 28 January 1952, Anthony Vivian Younger of Hardington and Ronald Russ of West Coker were killed when their lorry crashed through a barrier at Netherton Lane, Closworth, and ended upside down in a river. The workmen building a dam for the new reservoir rushed to the scene, but their efforts […]
A Wartime Wedding
The context for this wedding is that it occurred during the darkest days of World War Two, a time of unremitting hardship and sacrifice for the country. France had fallen, a nonaggression pact existed between Germany and Russia, and America had yet to enter the war. Despite these challenges, people came together for family celebrations. […]
Hardington Women’s Institute Theatricals
I am grateful to Jennifer Woolmington for this photograph of four Hardington ladies engaged in a theatrical performance or entertainment. The are, from left to right: -Eunice Burridge of the Old Track, Hill End, wife of Philip (AKA Oscar) Burridge and mother of Jane and Roger. -Gladys Rawlins of Vale Farm, Hardington Marsh, wife of […]
August Fun
On Monday, 5 August 1918, Scouts of the 1st Yeovil and Holy Trinity Troops commenced a fortnight’s camp at Bridge Close Farm, invited by Mrs Hinks, the owner, whose son, Geoffrey, was probably a troop member.[1] Undeterred by the shortage of tents, they stayed in a shed next to the orchard, The weather, save for […]
Drunken antics on a Sunday afternoon
On 6 March 1867, Elias Rendall, Isaac Stevens and Joseph Withey were summoned for damaging a stile belonging to John Hayward of Hardington on Sunday 10 February. John’s wife, Harriet, told the court that she saw the three men coming across the fields between three and four o’clock in the afternoon. When they got to […]
Gifts from Portugal
In 1885, Rev Cleife’s uncle, John Cleife, paid for various improvements to the church, namely patent duplex lamps, a hot air heating apparatus, matting and a clock for the tower. Messrs. Hancock, Cox, and Co. of Yeovil supplied the clock of “iron frame or Denison type, fitted with Graham’s dead beat escapement.” It had two […]
Publican in trouble with the law
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the police and magistrates strictly enforced the laws that applied to licensed premises. The police would often visit pubs to ensure everything was in order. On Monday, 12 December 1921, at about 9.30 p.m., P C Roberts, the policeman stationed at West Coker, visited the Royal Oak Inn […]