Introduction
Francis George Purchase left Hardington at the age of sixteen to join the Royal Navy, where he served for twenty-three years, including four years aboard the royal yacht. After completing his service, he returned to the village with his wife, Emma, and their son, Leonard, and ran the village Post Office for about twenty years. Francis and Emma doted on Leonard, paying for a musical education, which allowed him to become a music teacher, organist and the Musical Director of Yeovil’s Amateur Operatic Society.
Childhood
Francis was born at Hardington on 21 July 1853, the youngest of ten children born to Thomas and Grace Purchase. His family lived near the centre of the village, and his father worked as a canvas weaver. By April 1861, the family had moved to Moor Lane, Hardington Moor. When Francis was eight months old, his four-year-old brother, Walter William, died suddenly from natural causes.[1] When he was eleven years old, his mother hanged herself.[2]
By then, only Francis and his older brother, John Simon, remained at home. John married Emily Bartlett in December 1865, and Francis joined the Royal Navy in 1869 at the age of sixteen.
Navy career
On 1 September 1869, Thomas signed a consent form for Francis to join the Royal Navy, and he enrolled two days later as a boy second-class. At the time, he was five feet and a half inch tall with a fair complexion, light hair, and blue eyes.[3] On 1 October 1870, he was promoted to boy first-class and on 21 July 1872, he was given a contract for ten years’ continuous service. At the end of that period, he renewed his contract for another ten years.[4]
Francis became a cook’s mate at the age of twenty and a cook at the age of twenty-nine, His conduct was consistently assessed as exemplary or very good.[5] For the final four years of his naval career, he served aboard the royal yacht, Victoria and Albert.
Marriage
In 1883, a series of events occurred that had a significant impact on Francis’s life. On 4 May 1883, Rev. William Vassall, the rector of Hardington, died, prompting his wife and family to relocate to Godalming, where some of his sons attended Charterhouse School. The Vassall family took with them some of their servants, including Francis’s niece, Emma Marsh, and a gardener named John James Sharman. They also took with them or hired when there, a housemaid from Exeter named Emma Kirk Milford. It is reasonable to suppose that Emma Marsh told Emma Milford about Francis, which led to a meeting and a relationship.
Francis and Emma Milford were married at Godalming on 25 December 1888. At the time, Francis was 35 years old, and Emma was 37, although they both gave their age as 34. Both signed the marriage register, which was witnessed by John James Sharman and Emma Marsh.
Emma Kirk Milford
Emma Kirk Milford was born in Exeter in 1851, the youngest of four children born to John and Mary Ann Milford. Her father was a cooper with the City Brewery and, for the last four years of his life, the landlord of the Anchor Inn, Exeter. Her mother was a corset maker.[6] Emma’s mother died in 1865 at the age of 49, “after a long and painful illness,” and her father died a year later in unusual circumstances.[7] He was found dead under the water wheel at the brewery after apparently falling through some rotten boards while asleep on the toilet.[8]
After her father’s death, Emma entered domestic service. By April 1871, she was a housemaid at 1 Lawn Terrace, Dawlish.[9] She is not recorded on the 1881 census, creating a seventeen-year gap in her history.
Portsmouth
Francis and Emma initially settled in Portsmouth, where their only son, Francis Leonard, was born on 30 September 1889.[10] He was commonly known as Leonard.
They maintained a connection to Godalming, as Leonard was baptised there on 10 November 1889. The baptism register records his parents’ address as Frith Hill, where Mrs Vassall lived.
Hardington
The family moved to Hardington after Francis left the Navy in 1892.[11] They lived at Broadstone, where they ran the village post office.[12] The regular income from the post office, together with Francis’s naval pension, gave the family a reasonable income, sufficient to pay for Leonard’s music lessons.
From 1907 to 1917, Leonard was very active in the musical life of the village, serving as the organist and choirmaster, giving recitals, and organising concerts. He was also an enthusiastic sportsman. Two weeks after Leonard’s wedding, Francis and Emma treated the members of the Athletic Club and their friends to a cold luncheon at the New Inn, Hardington. The celebrations continued at the Post office until two o’clock in the morning.[13]
On 13 February 1917, Leonard enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving at HMS Vivid 1, a shore establishment at Devonport dedicated to teaching seamanship, signalling and telegraphy.[14] After the war, he and his wife moved to Yeovil.
Death
In his sixties, Francis suffered from heart disease, which ultimately led to his death on 21 May 1920 at the age of 66.[15] He may have given up the Post Office shortly before his death, as his death certificate recorded his occupation as a Navy Pensioner.
Emma’s later life
The 1921 census recorded Emma visiting Francis’s niece, Adelaide Dedman, at East Grinstead. Emma may have later lived with Leonard and his wife in St Michael’s Avenue. She died in 1937 at the age of 85.[16]
References
[1] Death certificate of Walter William Purchase.
[2] Western Gazette, 23 June 1865, p.5; Sherborne Mercury, 27 June 1865, p.8.
[3] Francis later grew to 5 feet 5 and a half inches tall.
[4] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939.
[5] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939.
[6] RG9, piece 1869, folio 425, p17.
[7] Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 25 August 1865, p.5.
[8] Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 27 July 1866, p.2.
[9] RG10, 2072, folio 24, page 13.
[10] Godalming baptism register; Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939.
[11] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939.
[12] RG13, piece 2297, folio 44, p.8; RG14, piece 14381.
[13] Western Chronicle 7 February 1913 p. 5.
[14] Royal Navy Registers of Seamen’s Services, 1848-1939; Wikipedia article on HMS Vivid.
[15] Death certificate of Francis Leonard Purchase.
[16] The Civil Registration Death Index recorded her age as 83.
