Birth

Frederick, the third child of Joseph and Mary Ann Miller, was born at Langton Matravers, Dorset, in 1865. His father, Joseph, was a farm labourer.

Childhood

Frederick had a stable childhood because his parents remained at Langton Matravers until he was at least ten. They then moved about nine miles west to Tyneham, where Frederick worked as a farm servant, and further west again to Puddletown before settling in Weymouth, where Frederick met his future wife, Elizabeth Sarah Caines.

Marriage

Frederick and Elizabeth were married by banns at Wyke Regis on Boxing Day, 1889. Frederick signed the register with a cross. His sister, Margaret, and Elizabeth’s brother, Arthur William Caines, were the witnesses.

Elizabeth was the daughter of George and Caroline Caines, who lived at 1 Hartley Terrace, Wyke Regis. Before settling in the town, Elizabeth’s parents lived in several places in Dorset, Surrey and Berkshire, where her father worked as a farm labourer.

Coincidentally, Elizabeth was born at Langton Matravers like Frederick, but she left the village by the age of three.

Occupation

When he married, Frederick was a dairyman at Wyke Regis, or at least this was the occupation he gave.

Over the following fifteen to twenty years, Frederick worked as a labourer, cowman or dairyman in a variety of places in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire:

December 1890- a labourer at Winfrith Newburgh, Dorset;

April 1891- a cowman at Over Compton, Dorset;

April 1892- a dairyman at Hardington Mandeville, Somerset;

April 1893-June 1900 (approx.)- a cowman at Clench, Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire;

1901-1903+ (approx.)- a dairyman at Lower Merley, Canford Magna, Dorset.

At Canford Magna, Joseph Hart, a dairyman in his twenties, was Frederick’s live-in servant.

Puddletown

Frederick adopted a more settled lifestyle in his forties, making Puddletown his permanent home.

By April 1911, he was a cowman living at Water Barn, Puddletown, Dorset. His five surviving children, Mabel Kate, Beatrice May, Florence Evelyn, Elsie Victoria and Harold Bertram, all lived at home. Also in his household was Mabel’s illegitimate son, Wilfred, who had been born the previous year.

Over the next ten years, Mabel, Beatrice and Elsie married, leaving Florence and Harold at home.

By June 1921, Frederick lived at Northbrook, Puddletown, and his entire family, except Wilfred, who was still at school, did dairy work for a farmer named Mr T. Duke.

Death

Frederick died at Puddletown in December 1930, aged 65.

Elizabeth’s later life

Elizabeth continued living at Northbrook. Her grandson, Wilfred, married in 1931, her son, Harold, in 1933, and her daughter, Florence, in 1940.

Elizabeth died in April 1957, aged 89.[1]. Her last address was 2 Mill Street, Puddletown.

Children

Frederick and Elizabeth had eight children, three of whom died in infancy. Their daughter, Beatrice, lost his first husband in the First World War.

References

[1] The Civil Registration Death Index and the Puddletown burial register incorrectly record Elizabeth’s age as 85.