Introduction
Mary Guppy lived at Hardington Moor with her husband, Thomas. She briefly ran a shop there to supplement Thomas’s income from weaving. Their daughter, Emma, married William White, and Emma’s eldest son, George, was raised by Thomas and Mary. Their sons, Samuel and William, both became builders. Additionally, Thomas’s nephew, Herbert Henry Bartlett, achieved success as a building contractor on an international scale and was made a baronet.
Birth
Mary was born at Hardington on 21 July 1799, the second of seven children born to William and Mary Cleale.[1] Her father, William, was a weaver.
Marriage
On 3 February 1825, Mary married Thomas Guppy at Hardington.
Married life
Thomas was a weaver until the early 1860s, after which he worked as a farm labourer.
The 1843 tithe apportionment shows Thomas occupying plot 98B at Hardington Moor.
In the 1851 census, Mary gave her occupation as a shopkeeper. She has no recorded occupation in the 1861, 1871, or 1881 censuses.
Death
Mary died in August 1882 at the age of 83.[2] Thomas died on 2 February 1890 at the age of 89 or 90.[3]
Children
Thomas and Mary had four sons and three daughters:
- 1826 Mary Ann (married Alfred Dodge, a carpenter, at East Coker in 1850; died in 1860);
- 1828 Emma (married William White, a farmer, in 1850; died in 1915);
- 1830 Susan (never married; resided at the Castle Inn, West Coker; died in 1909);
- 1831 Samuel (became a builder at West Coker; died in 1898);
- 1833 Joseph (became a carpenter in London; died in 1912);
- 1836 William (became a builder at Stoke-sub-Hamdon; died in 1903);
7. 1840 John (became a tailor and the landlord of the Duke of Clarence Inn in Yeovil; died in 1901).
References
[1] Hardington parish registers.
[2]Civil Registration Death Index (recorded age 83); Hardington burial register (recorded age 82).
[3] Civil Registration Death Index (recorded age 89); Hardington burial register (recorded age 90).