Introduction
Henry Sandiford lived in Cardiff for about ten years before returning home to help his father run Pen Hill Farm. In about 1904, he and his family moved to Sherborne, where he worked as a domestic gardener. After his father’s death in 1911, he became licensee of the New Inn at Hardington. Despite inheriting £500, he was declared bankrupt in April 1923 and died a few days later.
Childhood
Henry was born on 22 July 1868 at Bermondsey, the second child of Henry, a police constable, and his wife, Jane Augusta.[1] Their first child had died three years earlier at the age of one.[2]
In about 1878, his parents returned to Hardington to take over the running of the New Inn, following the death of Jane’s father, the previous landlord, in December 1877.
Cardiff
As a young man, Henry moved to Cardiff. In the first quarter of 1891, he married Mary Baker in the Cardiff registration district. By April that year, they were living in two rooms at 50 Richards Street. Henry’s occupation was a railway fireman. His uncle, an engine driver, Francis Sandiford, lived in the next street.
In July 1891, Mary gave birth to a son, George Henry. Tragically, she died ten days later from puerperal mania and cerebral congestion, and George died from convulsions on 28 March 1892, at nine months old.[3]
How Henry cared for his son during those months is unclear. As a railway fireman, he could not have managed alone. Possibly, the responsibility fell on his aunt or her thirteen-year-old daughter, Susan. One wonders whether he regretted not returning to Hardington, where his mother could have helped him.
Despite his changed circumstances, Henry remained in Cardiff for another nine years.
In early 1901, he married Frances Mary Brooks in Cardiff. She had been born at Notting Hill, London, on 23 November 1876, the daughter of Richard Brooks, a plasterer from Ilfracombe, and his wife Harriet, who grew up on Mounters Farm, Itchingfield, near Horsham.[4] Harriet died when Frances was three. For a short time, the children were separated: Frances went to live with her mother’s brother in Streatham, while two of her brothers lodged with their paternal grandparents at Ilfracombe. By 1881, Richard Brooks had remarried and reunited most of his children at Ilfracombe. His eldest son, Edward, remained in London, where he died in 1883. By 1901, Richard had returned to London with his son Ernest, while Frances had moved to Cardiff. Shortly after her marriage, her brother Ernest also married in Cardiff and settled at 103 Richards Street, the same street in which Henry had lived.
Return to Somerset
By March 1901, Henry and Frances were living at the New Inn, where Henry assisted his father with farm work. Their only child, Ernest Richard, was born at Pendomer on 11 August 1902, suggesting they lived for a time at Pen Hill Farm.[5] However, working with his father did not work out for some reason. His father gave up the tenancy in 1904, and Henry and his family left Pendomer. By April 1911, they were living at 7 The Grove, Sherborne, where Henry was employed as a domestic gardener.
The New Inn
Soon after his father’s death on 9 June 1911, Henry became the licensee of the New Inn.[6] He inherited £500 and a life interest in the income from the residue of his father’s estate.[7]
In addition to running the inn, he kept some livestock. In October 1914, he advertised ten young turkeys and two goslings, and at the time of his death, he owned a sow.[8]
He took little part in parish affairs but was present at the annual parish meeting on 17 April 1920, where he complained about the poor state of a wall at Broadstone.[9]
Unfortunately, he may not have had a head for business because he was declared bankrupt on 9 April 1923.[10] Before his case could be heard, he died on 14 April, at the age of 54, from heart disease and asthenia. He left no will. A sale of his belongings was held on 9 May 1923 to help meet his debts. Items included a cob, three carts, a sow, hay, and various implements and outdoor effects.[11]
His widow Frances outlived him by more than three decades, dying on 18 May 1956, at the age of 79. His son, Ernest, died on 1 May 1979 at the age of 76.
References
[1] Baptism register of Christ Church, Bermondsey.
[2] Death certificate of John Walter Sandiford.
[3] Death certificate of Mary Sandiford; death certificate of George Henry Sandiford; Burial register of St Andrews, Cardiff.
[4] 1939 Register; Civil Registration Death Index.
[5] Birth certificate of Ernest Richard Sandiford. The certificate recorded Pendomer as the place of birth, but it is reasonable to assume that they lived at Pen Hill Farm.
[6] The licence was officially transferred to him on 2 August 1911 (Western Gazette, 4 August 1911, p.4.)
[7] The will of Henry Sandiford, dated 4 May 1911, proved at Taunton on 18 July 1911.
[8] Western Gazette, 30 October 1914, p.7; Western Gazette, 27 April 1923, p.1.
[9] Western Gazette, 23 April 1920, p.10.
[10] London Gazette, 13 April 1923, p.2783.
[11] Western Gazette, 27 April 1923, p.1.
