Introduction

Leonard William Saunders was a dairyman and farmer who spent most of his life in Dorset. He was born at Eling near Southampton to parents originally from Dorset, who returned to their native county when he was about ten. In 1892, he married Harriett Laura Vine, the daughter of a local farmer. They lived and worked at several farms, including at Hardington Mandeville; Broom’s Farm, Wynford Eagle; Elworth, Abbotsbury; Lower Farm, Portesham and North Down Farm, Sutton Poyntz. While his life had many similarities with other farmers of that time, it also included distinctive elements, such as his commitment to temperance, a devastating fire and the posthumous birth of a daughter.

Childhood

Leonard’s parents were married at Litton Cheney in Dorset on 8 June 1858. His father, John, was the youngest son of Robert Saunders, a farmer of Higher Kingcombe, while his mother, Maria, was the second surviving daughter of Richard Mellish, a farmer of Litton Cheney.[1]

Initially, Leonard’s parents lived at Long Bredy, where his father, John, farmed 50 acres and kept the Hut Inn.[2] Between 1861 and 1864, they moved sixty miles east to the parish of Eling near Southampton, where John worked as a dairyman, probably at the dairy attached to Testbourne Farm.[3] Seven of their nine children were born at Eling, including Leonard, who was born in late 1865 or early 1866.

The family’s relocation to Eling may be linked to John’s stepmother, Ann Barter, who came from Bishop’s Waltham, ten miles east of Eling. She also influenced the life of John’s brother, William, who married her illegitimate niece, Sarah Ann Barter.

In about 1875, the family returned to Dorset, initially residing at the Manor Farm, Litton Cheney, and then moving to the Manor House, Portesham, in 1902.[4] Leonard worked on his father’s farm at Litton Cheney until his marriage.

Marriage

On 28 January 1892, Leonard married Harriet Laura Vine, the daughter of Stephen and Sarah Vine, at Long Bredy church. Harriet, born at Long Bredy Farm on 23 March 1868, was the tenth of thirteen children. Two years before their marriage, Harriet’s older sister, Anna Helena, married Leonard’s brother, Henry Richard, at the same church, and both Harriet and Leonard signed the register as witnesses.[5]

Temperance

Harriet and Helena belonged to a family that rejected alcohol. Their parents actively promoted temperance in the parish and were chiefly responsible for closing its only pub.[6] When the family held a family party at the farm on Boxing Day 1895 to celebrate the youngest child’s twenty-first birthday, a local newspaper reported that “the whole of the family are total abstainers. The father and mother have been teetotalers for over 30 years, and many of the children have never tasted alcoholic liquor.”[7]

Leonard was probably an abstainer, too. When he advertised for a dairy lad in February 1894, he specified, “Abstainer preferred.”[8]

Hardington

Leonard and Harriet’s first child, Laura Gertrude, was born at Hardington on 5 November 1892.[9] According to her birth certificate, Leonard’s occupation at the time was dairyman, but the name of the dairy is not mentioned. However, it was probably the dairy at Moor Farm owned by Abraham Genge. in November and December 1891, Genge advertised his dairy of thirty cows to let from 2 February 1892.[10] When those advertisements failed to attract a suitable dairyman, he sought “Dairy Managers” who were “good butter and cheese makers.”[11]

The distance from Long Bredy and Litton Cheney to Hardington is about twenty miles, raising the question of why Leonard and Harriet moved there. The 1891 census indicates that Leonard’s sister lived at 3 Cranbourne Road, Yeovil, suggesting her proximity could have influenced their decision. Another possibility is that Leonard and Harriet wanted to begin their married life without interference from parents and siblings.

Wynford Eagle

After their time at Hardington, the family moved to Broom’s Farm, Wynford Eagle, where they remained until their lease expired on Lady Day (25 March) 1901.[12] The farm comprised a farmhouse, 72 acres of pasture, stalls for twenty cows, and other outbuildings. Leonard and Harriet’s second child, Archibald Leonard, was born at the farm on 25 January 1892.[13] While living at Broom’s Farm, Leonard won a highly commended award for his Dorset Blue cheese at the Dorchester Show in September 1896.[14]

Portesham

After leaving Broom’s Farm, Leonard and his family lived briefly at Elworth, Abbotsbury, before moving to Lower Farm, Portesham. Not long after, Leonard’s father, John, moved to the Manor House in Portesham.

When John died on 14 October 1907, he left an estate valued at £3,524-6s, of which Leonard received a mere. £53. However, according to John’s will, all his children had received various sums of money from him in his lifetime, and he had arranged his affairs to distribute his estate as equally as possible among them.[15] On that basis, Leonard received a few hundred pounds from his father while he was alive.[16]

Sutton Poyntz

By November 1907, Leonard and his family lived at North Down Farm, Sutton Poyntz, which was part of the Weld Estate.[17] Shortly after their arrival, they suffered a dreadful calamity. The previous tenant, Mrs Macey, had stored some of her furniture in one of Leonard’s barns. On Saturday, 18 April 1908, a fire broke out in the barn, quickly spreading to adjacent thatched buildings and causing extensive damage. The fire destroyed all the outbuildings on Leonard’s farm and Mrs Macey’s home at Old Court House. Fortunately, Leonard’s farmhouse remained unharmed because it had a slated roof. The Weymouth fire brigade worked throughout the night to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading across the road, aided by a plentiful water supply from the Weymouth Water Works located in the village.[18]

Around Christmas 1914, Harriet became pregnant after an eleven-year gap since her last child. Tragically, Leonard died on 30 January 1915 at the age of 49, possibly unaware of his wife’s pregnancy. Harriet gave birth to a daughter, Marjorie Constance, on 1 October 1915.

A few months later, on 11 January 1916, Harriet’s elderly father, Stephen Vine, died after falling from a bedroom window due to senile dementia.[19] Under the terms of his will, Harriet probably inherited around £200 or £300.[20]

Harriet continued at North Down Farm until the 1920s or 1930s, eventually retiring to Preston, where she died on 14 December 1956 at the age of 88. Her estate was valued at £5,362-6s-2d.

Children

1892-Gertrude Laura (married Harry Edward Brown, a local printer);

1894-Archibald Leonard (emigrated to Australia);

1899-Ernest Alfred (lived at North Down Farm until at least World War II);

1901-Margaret Amy (married Thomas John M. Norris, a farmer from Charmouth);

1902-Reginald John (at school in 1911; then disappears from records);

1903-Kathleen Helena (married Edgar Reginald Hillard of Yeovil in 1933; he died in 1935, aged 27; in 1948, she married George W. Perry);

1915-Marjorie Constance (a bank clerk in 1939; married Alfred Leslie Smith, a bank clerk, in 1942).

 £5,362 6s 2d.

[1] Dorset County Chronicle, 17 June 1858, p.20.

[2] 1861 census.

[3] 1871 census; baptism registers for Marchwood and Netley St Matthew’s.

[4] Bridport News, 18 October 1907, p.8; 20 December 1901, p.4.

[5] Leonard’s brother, Albert Edwin, married Alberta Dorothy Vine, the youngest child of Stephen and Sarah Vine, in 1900, making another link between the two families.

[6] Southern Times and Dorset County Herald, 7 March 1908, p.7.

[7] Bridport News, 3 January 1896, p.5.

[8] Western Gazette, 16 February 1894, p.4. His later advertisements omit any reference to abstainers being preferred.

[9] Birth certificate; Western Gazette, 11 November 1892, p.8.

[10] Western Gazette, 20 November 1891, p.4; 27 November 1891, p.4; 4 December 1891, p.4; 11 December 1891, p.4.

[11] Western Gazette, 8 January 1892, p.4; 15 January 1892, p.4; 29 April 1892, p.4.

[12] Western Gazette, 8 March 1901, p.5.

[13] Bridport News, 2 February 1894, p.8.

[14] Weymouth Telegram, 8 September 1896, p.6.

[15] The will of John Saunders, dated 7 October 1905, proved at Blandford on 11 November 1907.

[16] The legacy of £53 suggests that precise calculations underlay the will. As these do not survive, it is impossible to know precisely what Leonard received in his father’s lifetime.

[17] Western Gazette, 8 November 1907, p.6; Western Gazette, 24 April 1908, p.11; Bridport News, 24 April 1908, p.7.

[18] Western Gazette, 24 April 1908, p.11; Bridport News, 24 April 1908, p.7.

[19] Western Times, 17 January 1916, p.3; Western Gazette, 21 January 1916, p.3.

[20] The will of Stephen Vine, Dated 29 November 1913, proved In London on 5 February 1916. Gross value of estate £5,278-13s-3d; net value of personal estate £4,343-3s-9d. Stephen authorised his executors to carry on his farm called Look Farm for the remainder of the lease and employ as much of his capital as they thought fit for that purpose. He directed them to pay his wife an annuity of £30 and divide the residue of his estate among all his children (13 in total) except Richard Jone Vine, who had already received his share of his father’s estate.

The will  of Leonard William Saunders

The will of John Saunders

Table to show legacies and the amount available to distribute to the residuary beneficiaries (excluding expenses).