Introduction
John Wakely’s story is a story of social upward mobility tragically cut short. After rising from labourer to tenant farmer and then to haulier and road contractor, his life ended unexpectedly. He left behind a widow and seven children.
Childhood
John Wakely was born at Hardington in 1840, the fourth of seven children born to John and Anne Wakely. The family lived in Lyatts Lane, and his father was a farm labourer.
The following eight years were difficult for the family. Anne had three more children who all died in infancy. After becoming pregnant again, she died from complications related to a premature birth on 31 October 1848, at the age of 37.[1]
After Anne’s death, her husband raised the surviving four children by himself. Over the next eleven years, the only child to leave home was the eldest, Robert, who joined the Royal Navy on 3 January 1854.[2]
The family suffered another tragedy when John’s father died on 1 March 1859, at the age of 59, after falling into a burning lime kiln.[3] His death forced the remaining children into the world. Elizabeth married Thomas Park in March 1860, and John married Emma Brake of Odcombe the same month. The fourth child, Charles George, lived with John and Emma for a while before moving away.
Married life
Emma was the daughter of George and Rosanna Brake of Odcombe. Her father, George, was a carter, while her mother, Rosanna, died when Emma was just nine years old.
John and Emma settled at Hardington, where they lived in John’s family home. John continued his father’s trade of lime burning.
Their first child, Julietta, was born on 15 May 1860, just two months after their wedding. Over the years, they would have six more children.
Occupations
John initially combined lime burning with work as a labourer. The 1861 census recorded his occupation as a lime burner. During the 1860s, the baptism registers for Hardington and Odcombe listed him as a labourer.[4]
By April 1871, John’s position had improved significantly, and he was a farmer of 18 acres employing three men and one boy. Ten years later, he was a haulier.
By February 1886, John had become a road contractor. At a meeting on 15 February 1886, the Yeovil Highway Board accepted various tenders to repair roads for the ensuing three years, including tenders from John for Pendomer, Sutton Bingham and West Coker.[5]
The voters’ lists for 1888/89 show him occupying land at Kit Hill, Pendomer, and owning land at Lyatts.
Death
Tragedy struck just as he was on the verge of business success. On 8 March 1889, while walking home from the New Inn in West Coker, he fell into a ditch and drowned in fourteen inches of water. He was only 49 years old. His last words, spoken to an acquaintance, were that he wanted to get home quickly to do some writing.[6]
Emma’s later life
The censuses of 1891 and 1901 described Emma as a farmer. The meat she produced was distributed as far as London. On 10 June 1893, she was fined £50 and 5 guineas in costs for sending diseased meat to London’s Central Market.[7]
Emma’s daughter, Beatrice, married and left home in 1885. By April 1891, three more of her children had moved away, leaving only the three youngest at home. At that time, Emma’s niece, Rosina Marsh, also lived with them.
In 1900, Emma’s youngest daughter, Rosina, married George Rendall, a blacksmith of East Chinnock. A few months after their wedding, Rosina developed a serious infection in her sinuses. She was taken back to Hardington to be cared for by Emma, but unfortunately, she passed away on April 30, 1901, at the age of just 28.[8]
Emma’s sons, Leonard and Carlton remained living at home with her.[9] Carlton died six months before his mother, while Leonard outlived her.
Emma died on 28 September 1926, at the age of 88, leaving an estate valued at £25, which she bequeathed entirely to her son, Leonard.[10]
Children
John and Emma had three sons and four daughters:
186-0 Julietta (married Sidney Edward Nash, a grocer; resided in Lewisham; died in 1949);
1862- Beatrice Helena (married Henry John Helyar, a mason; resided at East Coker; died in about 1953);
1864- Cornelius (moved to Cardiff, where he became an engine driver; married Martha John in 1893; died in 1957);
1866- Wilhelmina Dorcas (moved to Lewisham; married William Edward Harvey, who later became a master builder; died in 1940);
1870- Leonard (remained at Hardington; married Sarah Shire in 1926; died in 1951);
Circa 1873- Rosina (married George Joseph Baker Rendall, a blacksmith of East Chinnock, in 1900; died in 1901);
1878- Carlton Sealey (remained at Hardington; never married; died in 1921).
References
[1] Death certificate of Anne Wakely.
[2] Royal Navy Continuous Service Engagement Books.
[3] Pullman’s Weekly News and Advertiser, 8 March 1859, p.2.
[4] Three of John’s children were baptised at Odcombe and the other four at Hardington. All the baptism entries, except the last, recorded his occupation as a labourer. When his youngest child, Carlton Sealey, was baptised at Hardington on 4 August 1878, John gave his occupation as a tenant farmer.
[5] Western Gazette, 19 February 1886, p.6.
[6] Western Gazette, 15 March 1889, p.6.
[7] Cambridge Daily News, 11 June 1902, p.2.
[8] Death certificate of Rosina Rendall.
[9] Gertrude Guppy, the four-year-old illegitimate daughter of Edith Jane Guppy lived with Emma in April 1901. Charlotte Lush, a married woman, boarded with Emma in June 1921.
[10] The will of Emma Wakely, dated 24 May 1921, proved at Taunton on 31 December 1926.
