Introduction

Edward Hayward was a stonemason who lived at Underhill, Hardington, from the late 1880s until 1894. His property included a field where rabbits were bred for sport, which attracted men known to the police as poachers. After selling the property in 1894, he returned to his home parish of West Coker, where he passed away in 1897.

West Coker

Edward was born in West Coker in about 1823. His father, Edward, was a farm labourer, born in West Coker, and his mother, Susan, was likewise born in the village.

Edward was a stonemason until he was in his late sixties, or possibly older.

On 13 July 1846, at West Coker, he married Sarah Gould, the daughter of Richard Gould, a labourer.

Until the late 1880s, Edward and Sarah predominantly lived at West Coker. In March 1851, they lived in Chur Lane; in April 1861, they lived in West Coker Street. However, they had two periods away from the parish: in 1848, when they lived in Vicarage Street, Yeovil and around 1871, when they lived at 17 Range Road, Denton, near Gravesend, Kent.[1]

From the late 1870s until the 1890s, their son, George and his family lived with them at West Coker and Hardington until they moved to South Wales.

While living at West Coker, Edward committed a minor offence by allowing a horse to stray onto the highway on Sunday, 22 April 1883, for which he was fined 5s plus 6s in costs.[2]

Poaching

Edward’s son, George, had a reputation as a habitual poacher. On 2 September 1885, he was summoned for using a dog to flush rabbits and hares from some standing wheat in a field at West Coker called “Big Wash,” where he was tying up corn. The complainant, Mr W. Moore, testified in court that upon seeing George in the field, he had approached him and remarked, “I am surprised to see you here, as it is well known that you get the greater part of your livelihood by poaching.” Despite testimonies from several harvest workers stating that George’s dog did not enter the wheat or kill anything, the magistrates sided with Moore and fined George 10s plus costs of 12s 6d.

At the same court sitting, George appeared alongside his father and wife, Ellen, to testify on behalf of a West Coker man, Robert Parsons, who was accused of poaching with a dog at Hardington on Sunday, 23 August 1885. Farmer Abraham Genge alleged that he saw Parsons and two men working a hedge with a yellow lurcher, while Parsons maintained that Genge had misinterpreted the situation, and he had given directions to two men with a puppy. Edward, George and Ellen all testified that Parsons did not have a dog with him on the morning in question. Despite their testimony, the magistrates fined Parsons £1 11s.[3]

Move to Hardington

Edward and Sarah moved to Hardington in about 1887 or 1888. From 1888 to 1893, Edward was listed on the Hardington voting rolls for a freehold house in Broad Lane.

In February 1891, Edward and his son, George, were witnesses in another poaching case. During the case, it was noted that Edward lived in a house 300 yards from Chur Lane and owned a field where rabbits were bred. Furthermore, the West Coker policeman told the court that he knew George to be a poacher.[4]

The freehold house, coach house, and land (numbers 184, 189, and 190 on the tithe map) were sold by auction on 23 October 1894.[5]

Following the sale, Edward and Sarah returned to West Coker. Edward died there on 11 May 1897, aged 73; Sarah died there in April 1898, aged 70. They were both interred at West Coker.

Children

Edward and Sarah had seven children, five of whom died in childhood, including a twenty-month-old daughter who tragically died after spilling a cup of hot tea on her chest.[6]

Their two surviving sons both became stone masons. George Gould Hayward married Ellen Harriett Merrix at Settle, Yorkshire, in 1873; the location suggests he may have worked on the Ribblehead Viaduct, which was built between 1869 and 1874. Their second son, Edward, was at Denton in Kent in April 1871; his later whereabouts are unknown.

References

[1] St John, Yeovil, baptism register: entry for 9 August 1848; 1871 census.

[2] Western Gazette, 4 May 1883, p.6.

[3] Western Gazette, 4 September 1885, p.6. A man named Richard Rendall also testified that Parsons had no dog with him. He was an unruly character who was bound over to keep the peace after fighting his brother in the street in May 1883 and fined for being drunk and disorderly in November 1884 (Western Gazette, 8 June 1883, p. 6; 5 December 1884, p.5). Rendall testified in defence of George Hayward when he was accused of poaching with a dog at “Big Wash” on 21 August 1885 (Western Gazette, 4 September 1885, p.6).

[4] Western Gazette, 9 January 1891, p.6.

[5] Western Chronicle, 12 October 1894, p.1.

[6] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 23 August 1859, p.2.