Edward Ackerman was a baker at Hardington from about 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 1861, the family lived in East Street.

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

Edward became a journeyman baker by trade. In April 1881, he was a bread moulder living in the household of a baker named William Bryant at Dowlish Wake.

On 19 April 1882, he married Mary Jane Edwards, a baker’s daughter, at Bridport parish church. Edward was twenty-five, and Mary was four years older. Mary had an eight-year-old son, Harold, born out of wedlock.

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 when Hilda was only a few months old, as they had her baptised there on July 6 1884. They lived at Hardington Moor.

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 and lived at Priory Buildings, St John’s Street. The census of 1891 describes Edward as a baker, ‘employed.’

Three more moves followed. In January 1897, they were at Somerton; in March 1901, they were at Tolpuddle; and in January 1905, they were at East Street, Beaminster.

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

As a couple, they had a total of eight children, one of whom died aged 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.