Introduction

After being orphaned by the age of 14, Edward Ackerman worked as a journeyman baker in various locations across Somerset and Dorset for over forty years, including a period at Hardington Moor from 1884 until 1888.

Childhood at Bridport

Edward was born at Bridport in about 1859. His parents, James and Jane Ackerman, met and married while working as servants at Sherborne and moved to Bridport a few years before Edward’s birth. In April 1861, the family lived in East Street.

Edward’s mother, Jane, died when he was eleven years old, and his father, James, died three years later. After his father’s death, his older siblings probably took care of him. By age twelve, Edward was working in a local twine factory.

On 12 August 1874, Edward witnessed the attempted rape of a thirteen-year-old girl named Lavinia Knight as she walked home from work through the fields between Bridport and Symondsbury. His testimony helped to convict the attacker, who was sentenced to two years hard labour.[1]

Dowlish Wake

Edward eventually left Bridport and became a journeyman baker. By April 1881, he was a bread moulder living in the household of a baker named William Bryant at Dowlish Wake.

Marriage

On 19 April 1882, he married Mary Jane Edwards, a baker’s daughter, at Bridport parish church. Edward was twenty-five, while Mary was four years older. Mary had an illegitimate eight-year-old son, Harold, who lived with Edward and Mary until he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in 1893.

Edward and Mary’s first child, Hilda Emma, was born at Cheriton Bishop, Somerset, on 6 January 1884.

Life at Hardington

Edward and Mary moved to Hardington Moor when Hilda was just a few months old, and they had her baptised at Hardington church on July 6 1884.

On 6 April and 13 April 1888, Edward advertised in the Western Gazette for a new position as a baker.[2]

Later life

By 14 October 1888, Edward and his family had moved to Wells, where they lived at Priory Buildings, St John’s Street. The 1891 census describes Edward as an employed baker.

The family moved several more times. In January 1897, they lived at Somerton; in March 1901, they lived at Tolpuddle; and in January 1905, they lived at East Street, Beaminster.

Mary Jane died at Beaminster on 20 January 1905 at about 52 years of age. Edward continued living in their East Street home until January 1931, when he died at 72.

Children

Edward and Mary had eight children, one of whom died at the age of 15 months.

References

[1] Western Gazette, 23 August 1874, p.8; Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 27 October 1874, p.3.

[2] Western Gazette, 6 April 1888, p.8; 13 April 1888, p.4.