Introduction
Ernest Leopold Hawkins spent most of his life at Hardington, working as a mason and bricklayer. His life story included three years’ service with the Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War, the loss of a brother in that conflict, and two sisters who moved away to work in domestic service, one of whom left a significant estate that benefited her siblings.
Early life
Ernest was born on 20 December 1883 at Hardington Mandeville, the second of eight children born to John Henry Hawkins and his wife, Frances (nee White).[1] His middle name, Leopold, may have been taken from Queen Victoria’s fourth son, Prince Leopold, a popular figure at the time. Ernest’s father was a stonemason, while his mother was the daughter of a farmer. The family lived at Hardington Marsh at the time of his birth, but they moved to Hardington Moor around 1890.
Ernest’s childhood appears to have been relatively stable, although the family experienced some misfortunes. One brother died in infancy in 1892, and another brother, Reginald, had a lucky escape when he fell forty feet from an oak tree and lay on the ground for five hours with concussion and a broken arm before he was found.[2]
After leaving school, Ernest joined his father and older brother in the construction trade. The 1901 census listed Ernest as a walling mason, the 1911 census as a mason, and the 1921 census as a bricklayer employed by Bird & Pippard of Middle Street, Yeovil.
Ernest’s two sisters, Ethel and Annie, found work in domestic service in the London area, where they settled. All his brothers remained in the local area.
Marriage
On 11 August 1914, Ernest purchased a cottage and garden in Barry Lane from Henry Vassall for £90. The property covered 22 perches and was number 183 on the Ordnance Survey map.[3] The purchase suggests that he had accumulated some savings and was planning for the future.
On 14 August 1915, Ernest married Dora Lily Hackwell at East Coker parish church. The officiating clergyman was the Rev. Charles Ralph Milligan, the curate in charge of Hardington following the death of the Rev. Cleife. Ernest was 31, and Dora was 22.
Dora was born on 23 November 1892 at East Coker and grew up in the hamlet of Holywell.[4] Her father was a blacksmith and later a foreman in a coal yard. The 1911 census recorded Dora as a housemaid in a middle-class household at West Park, Yeovil. She married Ernest shortly after her father passed away at the age of 44.
First World War
Ernest’s two brothers, Reginald and Albert, enlisted in the army early in the war and served with the Grenadier Guards.[5] Reginald was killed in France on 27 February 1915 at the age of 28 and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial at Dud Corner Cemetery.[6]
On 24 June 1916, Ernest was deemed to have enlisted under the Military Service Acts and placed in Industrial Group 30. His trade was recorded as “bricklayer and w[alling] mason,” and he was not called up until June 1917, suggesting that his civilian work in the building trades may have delayed his mobilisation.[7] During this time, his son Leslie Ernest John was born on 30 April 1917.
After initial training at Deal, which lasted until 6 September 1917, Ernest was on active service until 4 January 1919. From 13 November 1917 to 28 August 1918, he served with the British Expeditionary Force in France, during which time he sustained a gunshot wound to the neck on 25 August 1918. He was demobilised on 14 February 1919. Throughout his service in the Royal Marines, his character was uniformly assessed as very good.[8]
Ernest returned to civilian life and resumed his previous trade. His second child, Denis Norman, was born on 2 July 1920.
Hardington Moor
In October 1920, Ernest’s father purchased his house from the Portman estate as the sitting tenant.[9] When he died on 18 December 1922, he bequeathed his household effects and the use of his house for five years to his wife, Frances, after which the house passed to Ernest. He bequeathed the remainder to all his children equally on Frances’s death, which occurred on 4 December 1935.
By 1939, Ernest and his family had moved into the cottage at Hardington Moor, which they called Moorland Cottage. By then, Leslie was a motor mechanic, and Denis was a bricklayer. Leslie married Ada Bessie Kate Butcher at Warminster in February 1942, while Denis married Margaret Valentine Mico at Wyke Regis in October 1947.
In 1953, Ernest’s sister, Annie Maud, died at St George’s Hospital, London, from coronary occlusion due to atheroma. .[10]
Her youngest brother, Albert, registered her death, and her body was returned to Hardington for burial. Her last position was as a lady’s companion at Coles Park, Buntingford, Hertfordshire. She had worked as a maid for wealthy families for much of her adult life and travelled to the USA several times. She died a spinster and intestate, leaving an estate valued at £4,577 12s 6d. Assuming that her estate, after expenses and duties, was divided equally between her surviving siblings, Ernest would have received one-fifth of the distributable amount.
Ernest died on 19 May 1965 at the age of 81, leaving an estate valued at £4,774 8s 0d. He bequeathed his wife his personal estate absolutely and his real estate for life with the remainder to his sons equally.[11]
Dora continued to live at Moorland Cottage until her death on 8 December 1972, at the age of 80. Her estate was valued at £1,559.[12]
Conclusion
Ernest’s life illustrates a sustained attachment to place, rooted in family continuity, property ownership, and long familiarity with Hardington Moor. Unlike his sisters, whose working lives took them to London and beyond, Ernest remained within the local economy, following the established path of the building trades. However, his experience was not untouched by wider forces. The First World War interrupted his working life and brought personal loss, while the gradual disposal of large estates and the earnings of relatives in domestic service reshaped the distribution of property and wealth within the family. His life, though outwardly steady and local, was quietly shaped by the wider social and economic changes of the early twentieth century.
References
[1] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register.
[2] Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 11 October 1898, p.6.
[3] Property deeds of The Laurels, Barry Lane.
[4] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register.
[5] Western Chronicle, 5 February 1915, p.6.
[6] Soldiers died in the Great War, 1914-1919; Find a Grave® Index.
[7] ADM 159/179/2286.
[8] ADM 159/179/2286.
[9] Portman estate sale catalogue.
[10] Death certificate of Annie Maud Hawkins.
[11] The will of Ernest Leopold Hawkins, dated 19 December 1941, proved at Winchester on 2 December 1965.
[12] National probate calendar.