Introduction

Joseph Purchase was the only son in a family of eight children. In 1895, he married Emily Bartlett, the youngest daughter of Henry and Ann Bartlett. He worked as a farm labourer, including roles as a land drainer and later as a carter. Sadly, he died at the young age of just 44. His widow, Emily, stayed in the village until the mid-1920s, earning a living through laundry work and cleaning the village school.

Childhood

Joseph was born at Haselbury in 1868, the third of eight children born to William and Elizabeth Purchase. His father was a farm labourer.

The family, who originally came from Hardington, returned there after a brief period and settled in the High Street.

Joseph had seven sisters and no brothers. When he was 14, his sister, Elizabeth, died from a parasitic infection at the age of 5.[1]

By April 1891, Joseph and his two youngest sisters were the only siblings still living at home. His other four sisters were working away in domestic service.

Occupation

Joseph worked throughout his life as a farm labourer. The 1891 census recorded his occupation as a land drainer, a specialised form of farm work. The 1911 census recorded him as a “Horseman on Farm.”

Marriage

In November 1895, Joseph married Emily Bartlett at Hardington. Joseph was about 26, and Emily was 31.

Wife

Emily was the daughter of Henry and Ann Bartlett. Her father, Henry, was a farm labourer.

She worked as a laundry maid at Montacute Vicarage when she was sixteen and continued to use her laundry skills to earn a living for the next thirty years.

On 14 March 1890, Emily gave birth to a daughter, Sarah Jane. In September 1890, she applied for an affiliation order against Robert Burt, a Hardington labourer, but was unsuccessful. The magistrates deemed the evidence against Burt insufficient, probably because he had married another woman nine months earlier.[2]

Emily’s daughter was five when Emily married Joseph Purchase.

Death of father

Joseph’s father, William, died from heart disease on 5 November 1896 at the age of 54.[3]

Children

Joseph and Emily had two daughters: Florence Bertha, born on 30 March 1896, and Ada Bessie, born on 23 November 1900.

Residence

In March 1901, Joseph, Emily, Sarah and Ada lived in a three-room house at Rydons Cottages, next door to Emily’s parents. Florence lived with Joseph’s widowed mother in the High Street.

Death

Joseph died on 29 August 1913 from acute gastroenteritis at the age of 44.[4]

Emily’s later life

Following her husband’s death, Emily relied on her laundry skills, offering her services from home.[5]

In 1920, she held a monthly tenancy of the western end of Rydons Cottages. Instead of buying the cottage in the estate sale, she moved to Hill End.

By June 1921, she was the cleaner at Hardington School, while her daughter, Florence, was a servant in Yeovil and her daughter, Ada, was a servant at Hardington Rectory. Her other daughter, Sarah Jane, had married in 1918 and was living at Odcombe.

In 1924, Ada married Edmund Reginald Gill, a farm carter, and they moved to the New Forest, taking Emily with them.

Emily died intestate at Boldre on 3 May 1957, leaving an estate valued at £128 1s.[6]

References

[1] Death certificate of Elizabeth Purchase.

[2] Western Gazette, 8 August 1890, p.6; 5 September 1890, p.6.

[3] Death certificate of William Purchase.

[4] Death certificate of Joseph Purchase.

[5] Western Gazette, 10 October 1913, p.2.

[6] National probate calendars.