Introduction

Edward English was a gardener for most of his working life. He was born at Minterne Magna and worked at various places in Dorset, Wiltshire and Somerset before becoming the head gardener at Hardington Rectory, where he served for nine years. After leaving that position, he moved to Eastfield and took employment as a non-domestic gardener.

Early life at Minterne Magna

Edward was born at Lyons Gate, Minterne Magna, in 1842. His father, Daniel, was a farm worker and later an underkeeper. His mother, Sarah, was born in Blandford and was the daughter of a soldier.

Edward’s first job was working as an indoor domestic servant. In April 1861, he was a hall boy at Minterne House, and, by April 1871, he was a ‘servant’ living at home with his parents.

By the time he married Emma Holt at Hermitage in April 1873, he had changed to outdoor work. The record of their marriage describes him as a ‘labourer’.

Wiltshire

After a short time at Hermitage, Edward and Emma moved to Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, where their second child, Edward Charles, was born on 17 July 1875. Given that Limpley Stoke is fifty miles from Minterne Magna, Edward may have responded to a newspaper advertisement or received help from a gentry family in his home parish. As the parish contained a reformatory for girls and a Hydropathic Institution, either of them may have employed Edward rather than a private householder.

Edward and his family lived at Limpley Stoke for only a few years before moving eleven miles east to Keevil, where their third child was born on 4 October 1877. The baptism entry for this child records Edward’s occupation as a “gardener.”

East Coker

Edward then took a position as a gardener at or near East Coker. By April 1881, he and his family lived at South Down Cottage, East Coker, and by April 1885, they had moved to Hew Hill, near Holywell, West Coker.

Hardington

In about 1887, Edward accepted a position as a gardener at Hardington Rectory. His duties included decorating the church for the Harvest Festival and Christmas services.[1] He possessed impressive horticultural skills, as evidenced by harvesting a crop of 130 pounds of potatoes from twelve planted potatoes in October 1893.[2] The rector recognised his value as an employee and even sent him to attend a Conservative Party dinner at Yeovil Town Hall in October 1892.[3]

Edward remained at the rectory for nine years. However, a disagreement with the rector or another reason led him to seek a new position in April 1896.[4] Although he was happy to move anywhere in the Yeovil area, he secured a new position nearby. He and his family moved from 331 Broadstone to Eastfield, and the 1901 census recorded his occupation as “Gardener, not Domestic,” a description which suggests he was a market gardener.[5]

Edward died in 1903, aged 56. After his death, his widow, Emma, moved to Tarrant Hinton to live with her married daughter, Henrietta Augusta. Emma died in the Yeovil area in about 1934, aged 84, probably while staying with another relative.

Children

Edward and Emma had four children:

1873-Ida Elizabeth (moved to Bournemouth where she married Joseph Batten, a general labourer; died in 1946);

1875-Edward Charles English (worked as a postman, gardener, chauffeur and sexton; died in 1958);

1877-Henrietta Augusta (had an illegitimate daughter, Bessie May, in 1901; married Charles William Haine, a shepherd, at Tarrant Hinton, in 1906; died in 1958);

1885-George (married Lily Agnes Baker at West Coker in 1906; worked as a chauffeur in Dorset, Devon and Kent; ran a garage in Yeovil in 1939; died in 1965).

References

[1] Western Gazette, 28 September 1888, p.7; 1 January 1892, p.6; 30 December 1892; Western Chronicle, 28 September 1894, p.6; Western Gazette, 28 December 1894, p.6

[2] Southern Times and Dorset County Herald, 14 October 1893, p.6.

[3] Chard and Ilminster News, 15 October 1892, p.3.

[4] Western Gazette, 24 April 1896, p.4.

[5] Hardington voters’ lists.