In April 1861, John Yeandle was a baker at Oil Moor.

Childhood at Timberscombe

John was born at Timberscombe in about 1822, the son of Robert Yeandle, a farm labourer, and Christiana, his wife. In June 1841, he may be the John Yeandle, aged 15, working as a servant at Manor Mill, Chipstable.

John’s father died in 1845, and his mother died in 1851.

Life on Jersey

1848, John married Anne Genge in the Yeovil district. Soon after, they moved to Jersey, where Anne’s older sister, Mary, lived with her husband, Samuel Gifford, a cooper.

John and Anne’s first child was born at St Peter, Jersey, in about 1849. She was named Mary Elizabeth Gifford Yeandle, presumably as a mark of respect to Samuel Gifford. A second daughter, Susan Maynard Yeandle, was born about a year later.

Life at Hardington

 When Anne’s father, Richard Genge, died in December 1850, John Yeandle and his family moved to Hardington to take over the bakery business and look after Anne’s mother. Although the census taken on 30 March 1851 records John’s occupation as ‘tailor’, this may denote the occupation he pursued in Jersey rather than Hardington. The baptism entry for his third child, William, on 5 February 1852 gives John’s occupation as ‘baker.’ Sadly, William died in infancy.

John ran the bakery and shop at Oil Moor for about fifteen years.

The Extraordinary Duck Case

From December 1865 to March 1866, John was entangled in what the local newspapers called “the Extraordinary Duck Case.”[1]  He accused Hugh Cox, a miller of West Coker, of stealing his ducks, which led to Cox’s arrest and prosecution. After the Yeovil magistrates acquitted Cox, he sued John for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The Assizes jury ordered John had to pay Cox damages of £15, which was an affordable sum, but John’s legal expenses must have been substantial.

e declared bankruptcy on 25 April 1866.[2]

New venture in Yeovil

However, by 1868, he had recovered sufficiently to open a grocery shop in Yeovil (on the corner of Silver Street and Vicarage Street) that ran until 1873.[3]

John promoted the shop with adverts in the Western Gazette from April 1868 to June 1868, announcing that he had commenced as a ‘grocer, baker, corn-dealer and general provision merchant.’[4] From June 1872 to January 1873, he used another series of adverts to promote himself as the Yeovil agent of the Standard Measure Wine Company of London.[5]

Move to Stoke-Sub-Hamdon

In about 1873, John and his family moved to Stoke-sub-Hamdon, where John had a farm or smallholding. In March 1875, he was elected as an overseer. In August 1875, he was caught moving cattle infected with foot and mouth disease, for which he was fined £3.[6]

Return to Yeovil

It is possible that the disease harmed him financially and forced him to give up farming and return to Yeovil. He died at Yeovil on 10 June 1876, aged 54, leaving effects valued at under £300. When probate was granted to his wife on 18 July 1876, she lived in Middle Street. In April 1881, she was an annuitant living at 13 Middle Street. She died at Alvington, at the home of her younger daughter, Susan, in 1887, aged 63.

John Yeandle’s will

John appointed his wife as his executor.

He left his estate to his wife for life and then to their two daughters equally.

References

[1]Langport & Somerton Herald 16 December 1865 p.5; Pulman’s Weekly News and Advertiser 20 December 1865 p.7; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 16 December 1865 p.5 p.5; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 31 January 1866 p.5; Western Gazette 2 February 1866 p. 7; Bristol Times and Mirror 29 March 1866 p.6; Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 29 March 1866 p.5; Western Gazette 30 March 1866 p.5; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 4 April 1866 p.8.

[2] Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette 28 April 1866 p. 6.

[3] Western Gazette, 10 April 1868 p. 1; Western Gazette 20 December 1872 p. 4.

[4] Western Gazette, 10 April 1868, p.1; 26 June 1868, p.1.

[5] Western Gazette, 28 June 1872, p.5; 3 January 1873, p.6.

[6] Western Gazette, 2 April 1875, p. 7; 3 September 1875, p.8.