Introduction
Edwin Chapman worked as a platelayer on the railway track at Hardington Marsh and Pendomer from the line’s earliest days until his retirement in about 1906. After marrying for the first time in 1860, he initially resided in Barry Lane and later moved to one of the railway cottages at Hardington Marsh. After his first wife died in 1866, Edwin soon remarried and, in the mid-1870s, moved to a railway cottage at Kit Hill, Pendomer. He fathered a large family, having fourteen children, six of whom died young, including one in tragic circumstances.
Birth
Edwin, the fourth child of William and Elizabeth Chapman, was born at Hardington in about 1839. He was a brother of Charles, Walter and William.
Occupation
By the age of eleven, Edwin was a farm labourer. Ten years later, he was a railway platelayer, a job he retained until his retirement.
First marriage
On 25 December 1860, Charles married Mary Ann Hallett at Hardington. She was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Hallett of Hardington Moor. Her father, John, died in February 1857 when Mary Ann was fifteen.
Barry Lane
By April 1861, Charles and Mary Ann lived in Barry Lane, Hardington.
Death of first wife
Mary Ann died on 23 February 1865, aged 23, after suffering for twelve days from “cold enteritis,” otherwise known as viral gastroenteritis.[1] This infection causes symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Her early death left Edwin solely responsible for the care of their one-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Jane.
Second marriage
The following year, Edwin married Mary Jane Haggett at Hardington. She was the daughter of George and Eliza Haggett of Pendomer. At the time of their marriage, Edwin was about 27, and Mary Jane was either 14 or 15.[2] They went on to have thirteen children together, six of whom died young.
Hardington Marsh
By 1871, Edwin and his family lived in one of the railway cottages at Hardington Marsh.
On 17 August 1875, tragedy struck when their one-year-old daughter, Kate, was run over and killed by a passing train.[3] When this dreadful accident occurred, Mary Jane was three and a half months pregnant at the time, and it is likely the shock of the event affected the child’s development.[4] Although the child, named Laura, grew to adulthood, she led a quiet life, staying close to her family.
Pendomer
Following the accident, Edwin and Mary Jane were probably desperate to move to a different house, although they had to wait for one to become available. Between February 1876 and August 1878, the family moved to Kit Hill railway cottages.[5]
Death
Mary Jane died in March 1891, aged 39. Although Edwin had four children under twelve, he did not remarry. His daughter, Alice, acted as his housekeeper at Pendomer until her marriage in 1906. After her marriage, Edwin and his daughter, Laura, moved in with her at 1 Brunswick Street.[6] By then, Edwin had retired from the railway and was living on his railway pension. He passed away in his chair on the morning of 24 November 1910, aged 70.[7]
Children
William and Mary Ann had one daughter, Elizabeth Jane, born in 1863. She married Tom Sherstone, a gardener, in 1885 and died at Wimborne one year later.
William and Mary Jane had five sons and eight daughters.
1867-Mary Alice (married William Edward Daleymount, a Yeovil coal dealer in 1906; died circa 1946);
Circa 1869-Ann Eliza (died in infancy);
1870-Edwin George (died in infancy);
1872-Bessie Flora (married Charles Edward Paine, a caterer’s porter in 1901; he died in 1919; resided in Brighton; died 1940);
Circa 1874-Kate Chapman (killed by train on 17 August 1875, aged one);
1876-Laura (no occupation; still single in June 1921; lived with Alice and later Beatrice; died after 1921);
1877-William George (died aged one);
1879-Rosa Ellen (married William Benfield Waight of Weymouth in 1901; he was killed on the Western Front in 1917; she died in 1958);
1882-Beatrice Maud (married Frederick Henry Gordon, a Weymouth postman in 1915; died in 1947);
1884-Ernest Edward (employed by GWR as a goods checker at Pen Mill Station, Yeovil; married Susan Ellen Purchase of Hardington in 1908; died 1954);
1886-Mabel Mary (married William John Hatton, a Weymouth seaman in 1907; died circa 1969);
1889-Unnamed male;
Circa 1891-Unnamed male.
References
[1] Death certificate.
[2] The birth of Mary Jane Haggett was registered in the Yeovil district in Q3 1851. The marriage of Edwin and Mary Jane was registered in the Yeovil district in Q2 1866. At that time, the legal age limit for girls to marry was twelve.
[3] Southern Times and Dorset County Herald, 21 August 1875, p.7.
[4] Laura Chapman was born on 7 February 1876 (Western Gazette, 11 February 1876, p.8-surname erroneously printed as “Chitman”). The statement that Mary Jane was three and a half months pregnant assumes the child was born at full term.
[5] Hardington baptism register; Pendomer baptism register.
[6] Edwin’s son, Ernest, may have moved to Yeovil at this time, too, as he did not marry until 1908.
[7] Western Chronicle, 25 November 1910, p.4; 2 December 1910, p.5.
