Introduction

Henry served as his mother’s bailiff at Kingswood Farm, Hardington, until her death in 1863. His wife, Emma, was a milliner and dressmaker who took no interest in farming. After his mother died, Henry gave up farming and he and his wife ran a grocery shop at Haselbury. Both were devout Baptists. Late in life, they had to deal with their eldest son’s desertion from the army.

Birth

Henry was born in about 1817 at North Perrott, the fifth of five children born to Emanuel and Ann Slade. His father, Emanuel, was the tenant of Kingswood Farm.

Father’s death

Henry’s father died in December 1848, leaving Henry three yards of land at Misterton (held for the remainder of a term of 2000 years), £200 and one-quarter of the farm livestock and deadstock upon the death of Henry’s mother, Ann, along with one-quarter of the residue.[1]

Haselbury

In March 1851, Henry lived in Haselbury village in the household of his future wife, Emma Rendell, and her grandmother, Elizabeth Rendell. Emma was the illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary.[2] Emma worked as a dressmaker and milliner.

Marriage

Henry and Emma married at Haselbury on 23 October 1851.

Return to Kingswood Farm

By April 1861, Henry acted as his mother’s bailiff at Kingswood Farm. However, while he lived at the farm, Emma resided at 4 South Street, Haselbury, with her son and an elderly female border.

Following his mother’s death in February or March 1863, Henry quit the farm and sold the livestock and deadstock by auction on 10 November 1863.^[3]

Return to Haselbury

After leaving Kingswood farm, Henry and Emma ran a grocery shop in West Street, Haselbury for eighteen years.

Religion

Henry and his Emma were Baptists who fell under the spell of the energetic Baptist Evangelist James Bartlett. A native of Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset, James Bartlett began preaching at a young age and spent about eight years at Crewkerne before moving to Street in the early 1880s.[4] He witnessed Henry’s will on 24 February 1881 and acted as one of Emma’s executors.[5]

Emma’s religious faith provided solace when her son, Henry James, died in 1885.

Death

Henry died on 23 March 1881, aged 61, leaving an estate valued at “under £1,000,” which he bequeathed entirely to his wife.[6]

Emma’s later life

After Henry’s death, Emma moved to 5 North Street, Haselbury, where she lived with a young female servant. In the 1880s, her son, John Bradford, left home and moved to Christchurch.

Emma died on 17 November 1896, aged 73, leaving an estate valued at £866-6s-3d gross and £826 1s 1d net.[7]

The will of Emma Slade

Emma appointed Samuel Newick of Crewkerne, accountant, and James Bartlett of Street, Evangelist, as her executors.

She gave each executor £5 for their trouble.

She gave her son John Bradford Slade her household furniture and effects and £100.

She gave the remainder to her executors on trust to convert to money and invest, paying the income to her son, John Bradford Slade, for life and then giving the capital to his children equally as tenants in common.[8]

Children

Henry and Emma had two sons, Henry James and John Bradford. Henry James enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers as a young man but regretted his decision. In 1879, he was arrested for desertion and returned to his regiment.[9] He died on HMS Jumna on 13 December 1885 while returning home from India. His brother, John Bradford, became a journeyman carpenter and joiner, married in 1886 and had eight children.

References

[1] The will of Emanuel Slade, dated 3 July 1848, proved in London on 30 March 1849.

[2] When she married, Emma entered her father’s name as John Sampson, glover.

[3] Dorset County Chronicle, 5 November 1863 p. 20.

[4] Central Somerset Gazette, 30 May 1924, p. 8; information about births of James Bartlett’s children.

[5] The will of Henry Slade, dated 24 February 1881, proved at Taunton on 31 May 1881; the will of Emma Slade, dated 2 December 1889, proved at Taunton on 9 February 1897.

[6] The will of Henry Slade (see above).

[7] The civil registration index recorded her age as 72, but she was baptised at Haselbury on 22 June 1823

[8] The will of Emma Slade (see above).

[9] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 5 June 1879, p.3.