Introduction
Jack and Amy Palmer lived at Struckmead Farm, Hardington, from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. Their lives illustrate a move from suburban Surrey to small-scale farming in Somerset, followed by retirement in Yeovil.
Childhood
Jack was born on 2 April 1909 at Thames Ditton and was baptised at the nearby St Nicholas Church on 25 July 1909.[1] His father, Frederick James, was born at Farnham in 1877, the son of Alfred Palmer, a farm labourer.[2] Alfred was admitted to Brookwood Asylum, Woking, in May 1890 with dementia and died the following year.[3] After Alfred’s death, Frederick left Farnham, where he had worked as a farm boy, and moved to Thames Ditton, where he found work as a platelayer, probably for the London & South Western Railway Company.[4]
In 1897, Frederick married Edith Spiret, whose father, Thomas Charles Spiret, worked as a carman at Bagshot.[5] The couple settled in Thames Ditton, living initially in three rooms at 18 Clump Terrace, Queens Road, before moving to a five-room house at 1 Alexandra Terrace, Alexander Road.[6] Although it appears to have been a respectable working-class area, Edith gave evidence in 1903 at the inquest of a female neighbour who was murdered by her own husband.[7]
By April 1911, Frederick was employed by the Metropolitan Water Board, starting as a general labourer and becoming a “waterman” by 1928.[8] This steady employment may have exempted him from military service during World War I.
Frederick and Edith had six children, but four died young. The two survivors were Lilian Doris, born in 1904, and Jack, the youngest. Both children grew up in a pleasant environment near the River Thames and Hampton Court Park, which provided them with plenty of space and freedom.
Jack probably attended a local school from September 1914 until the spring or summer of 1923. What he did immediately after leaving school is unknown.
Early married life
In his late teens or early twenties, Jack began courting Amy Laura Pridham, who lived with her parents at 52 Linden Road, Hampton, about three miles upriver.[9] Her father, Frederick Samuel Pridham, served as a Metropolitan Police constable from 1906 to 1922, after which he became a plumber.[10] Amy’s brother also became a police constable, although not with the Metropolitan force.
Jack and Amy married in the Kingston registration district in the third quarter of 1930. Initially, they lived with Jack’s parents and later with Amy’s.[11] During these years, they had three sons: Maurice Frederick, Edward John and Alan.
By September 1939, the family was living at 47 Boleyn Drive, West Molesey, where they remained until at least 1950.[12] The 1939 Register recorded Jack’s occupation as a milksalesman.
Hardington
In the early 1950s, Jack and Amy bought Struckmead Farm, Hardington, where they specialised in poultry farming. They kept chickens in battery cages housed in sheds on the west side of the farmyard, and sold eggs both wholesale and to passing customers. In January 1954, their twenty-year-old son, Edward, was fined 15 shillings for two cycling offences.[13]
Jack was short and thin, habitually wore a cap, and drove a small grey Massey Ferguson tractor. Amy was taller and more solidly built, speaking with a distinctive, soft voice that had a musical ring. In later life, she suffered from deafness.
Retirement
In the mid-1970s, Jack and Amy retired to 11 Willow Road, Yeovil. Amy died in February 1995 at the age of 86, and Jack died on 8 March 1995 at the age of 85. Jack left an estate “not exceeding £125,000.”
References
[1] St Nicholas baptism register.
[2] Farnham baptism register.
[3] Admissions to Brookwood and Holloway Mental Hospitals, 1867-1900; Lunacy Patients Admission Registers, 1846-1921.
[4] RG12, piece 570. Folio 14, p.24; RG13, piece 669, folio 79, p.10.
[5] Civil Registration Marriage Index.
[6] RG13, piece 669, folio 79, p.10; RG14, piece 3552.
[7] Chichester Observer, 20 May 1903, p.8; Northwood News, 15 August 1903, p.7.
[8] St Nicholas, Thames Ditton: marriage record for Lilan Doris Palmer, 23 December 1928.
[9] RG15, Hampton, district 4, schedule 69.
[10] Kelly’s Directory of Middlesex, 1926, p. 172.
[11] Voters’ Lists.
[12] Voters’ Lists.
[13] Bristol Evening Post, 27 January 1954, p.9.
