Introduction
George Eastment’s life reflects a pattern followed by many rural Somerset labourers in the late nineteenth century. Born into a large labouring family in Hardington, he left the village for the South Wales coalfield during the mining boom of the 1890s, where he spent much of his working life. After more than twenty years in Wales, he returned to Hardington, acquiring a small holding at Hardington Moor, where he remained until his death.
Childhood
George was born at Hardington on 18 December 1867, the fifth of twelve children born to Henry and Harriet Eastment. His father worked as a farm labourer. In the mid-1880s, the family moved from Swins Lane to Hayward’s Cottage near the church.
After leaving school, George worked as a labourer, but like many young men from rural Somerset, he sought greater opportunities elsewhere.
South Wales
In the early 1890s, George moved to South Wales. There, he married Elizabeth Thomas in 1893 and established a home in the Rhondda Valley, one of the fastest-growing coal-mining districts in Britain.
By 1901, George and Elizabeth lived at 18 Salem Terrace, Llwynypia, in a six-room house with their two children, Harriet Jane and Joseph Henry. They also accommodated two boarders, which helped supplement the household income. George was employed as a coal miner.
The family remained in South Wales for many years, but tragedy struck when Elizabeth died in 1913 at the age of thirty-seven.
The First World War brought further changes. On 10 May 1918, George’s son Joseph enlisted in the Royal Navy, serving until February 1919.
Hardington
The 1921 census recorded George and Joseph living near the shop at Hardington Moor. George described himself as a farmer, while Joseph was employed as a coal miner by the Glamorgan Coal Company.
It is unclear exactly when George returned to Hardington. However, in June 1919, banns were called at Hardington for the forthcoming marriage of his daughter, Harriet, to Frederick Arthur Farnham, a railway signalman of the Clydach Vale, Glamorganshire. This suggests that the couple had met in South Wales but married only after Harriet moved to Hardington.
The return marked a significant change in George’s circumstances. In the estate sale of October 1920, he purchased Moor Close for £190. The parish rate book compiled on 31 December 1923 recorded him as the owner-occupier of Moor Close and a cottage of 21 perches at Hardington Moor. Although modest in scale, this holding represented a measure of independence for the son of a farm labourer who had spent much of his life working for wages.
George remained at Hardington Moor for the rest of his life. By 1939, he described himself as a general labourer, suggesting that the smallholding alone was insufficient to support him.
He died at Hardington Moor on 19 November 1951 at the age of eighty-three. He left no will, but his estate, valued at £1,318 7s. 10d, was administered by his daughter, Harriet.
Joseph’s later life
Joseph did not remain in Somerset. He returned to South Wales, where he married Leah Trump in the final quarter of 1921. Their daughter, Edwina Elizabeth, was born the following year but died at the age of two. Leah herself died in 1925 at the age of twenty-five.
After his wife’s death, Joseph moved to 17 Junction Terrace, Radyr, where he lived with his sister. He worked as a road-stone quarrier and remained in South Wales for the rest of his life. He died on 1 June 1961 at the age of sixty-two, leaving an estate valued at £1,899 19s.
Conclusion
George Eastment’s life linked two very different worlds. Born into a labouring family in rural Somerset, he spent much of his adult life in the industrial landscape of the South Wales coalfield before returning to the village where he had grown up. His purchase of Moor Close represented a modest step beyond the circumstances of his childhood and provided him with a permanent foothold in Hardington during the final thirty years of his life.