Introduction

Born the son of a farm labourer at Staple Fitzpaine in 1841, George worked hard to advance himself. He initially kept a grocery shop in Otterford before running dairies in at least five different locations across Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire. Around 1900, he became a tenant farmer at Huish Episcopi and later farmed at North Curry until his retirement in his seventies. However, he was unable to accumulate durable savings. When he passed away in 1928 at the age of 86, he left no will nor anything to warrant letters of administration.[1]

George was at Hardington in 1876, a dairyman at Landground Farm, Hardington, in 1879 and 1880, and at Marsh Dairy House, Hardington, in 1892.

Childhood

George was born in 1841 at Staple Fitzpaine. His father, George, was a farm labourer from Pitminster, and his mother, Mary, came from Bridport.[2] By March 1845, his parents had moved to Pitminster. By April 1861, his father farmed ten acres at Otterford while George worked as a farm labourer.

Marriage

In 1868, George married Elizabeth Hillacre, the daughter of a dairyman. The couple spent their early married life in the area they knew. Their first child was born at Pitminster in late 1868 or early 1869, and their second at Otterford in 1870. By April 1871, they ran a grocer’s shop at Holman Clavel, Otterford.

Move to Yetminster

The deaths of Elizabeth’s father in May 1871 and George’s mother in July 1871 may have prompted them to explore fresh opportunities outside their neighbourhood.

On 3 February 1873, they held a sale of their farming stock and furniture.[3] They then moved thirty miles east to the Dorset village of Yetminster, where their third child, Saul, was born on 16 April 1873.

Hardington

According to the birth certificate of their daughter, Annie Laurie, George was a farmer at Hardington in May 1876. It is difficult to know whether he briefly became a farmer before returning to dairyman or claimed to be a farmer on the certificate while actually being a dairyman.

Stoke-sub-Hamdon

After their brief stay at Hardington, George and Elizabeth moved to Stoke-sub-Hamdon, where their son, John Henry, was born on 16 September 1877.[4]

Landground Dairy House, Hardington

They returned to Hardington to run the dairy at Landground Farm, where Elizabeth gave birth to their sixth child on 18 June 1879. The birth severely weakened her, and on 23 June, her condition suddenly deteriorated, and she died before a doctor could be summoned. An inquest was held at which the jury returned a verdict of “died from exhaustion, occasioned by shock to the system from her confinement.”[5] After Elizabeth’s death, George remained at the farm for about seven months.

Second marriage

In the last quarter of 1879, George married Octavia Hill. Octavia was born in Gillingham, Dorset, in 1843, a few months after her father’s death. She and her sister, Jane, were raised by their mother, who worked as a charwoman and laundress to support them. In 1849, her mother had an illegitimate daughter named Mary Emma. Octavia left home as a teenager and worked as a domestic servant at Instow in Devon and Lewisham in Kent.

On 19 January 1880, George held a sale at Langround Dairy House as he was leaving. The sale included “16 cwt. of household cheese, partly blue.”[6]

Huish Episcopi and Steeple Langford

In April 1881, George was a dairyman at Stembridge, Huish Episcopi.[7] In April 1882, swine fever was found on George’s premises.[8] By April 1891, he was a dairyman at Steeple Langford in Wiltshire.

A third spell at Hardington

George must have returned to Hardington to work at Marsh Dairy House in 1891 or 1892. On 22 December 1892, he held a sale there because he was leaving. The sale included furniture and effects, a carpenter’s bench and vice, parsnips and potatoes.[9]

Huish Episcopi and North Curry

In March 1901, George was a farmer at Pibsbury, Huish Episcopi. By April 1911, he was a farmer at Wrantage, North Curry. He was still there ten years later, but by then he had retired.

Death

Octavia died at Wrantage in 1920, aged 75. George died in the Shaftesbury registration district, probably at Stour Provost in the home of his son Saul, in 1928, aged 86.[10]

References

[1] When George’s father died in 1893, he left an estate valued at £14.

[2] Mary was George Hartnell senior’s second wife, his first having died in 1834.

[3] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 29 January 1873, p.1.

[4] Birth certificate.

[5] Western Gazette, 4 July 1879, p.6.

[6] Western Gazette, 16 January 1880, p.5.

[7] The 1881 census recorded a “son”, Frank, aged 14, as part of the household. In 1871, this boy lived with George’s parents. No record has been found of his birth or baptism.

[8] Western Gazette, 28 April 1882, p.6.

[9] Western Gazette, 16 December 1892, p.1.

[10] Saul Hartnell adopted the name Samuel from about 1901.