Introduction
Robert William Bartlett was the eldest son of Henry Bartlett, who served as the secretary of the village club for many years. Robert lived at Hardington Hill, in a house situated on the current site of Townsend Farm, from 1869 until 1920. Later, he lived near Manor Farm until he sadly developed senile dementia and was admitted to the Yeovil Public Institution, where he passed away at the age of 92.
Birth
Robert William Bartlett was born at Hardington on 13 April 1845, the first of ten children born to Henry and Ann Bartlett, who had married just one month earlier. His father, Henry, was a farm labourer.
Farm labourer
Robert was a farm labourer until about 1910. However, the 1871 census recorded him as a pipelayer, indicating this was likely his specialization at that time.
Marriage
On 16 November 1869, Robert married Elizabeth Sandiford, the daughter of John and Susan Sandiford, at Hardington. Susan’s father was a small-scale farmer who farmed twenty acres before his death in 1862. His farmhouse was located where the present Townsend farmhouse stands.
Residence
Robert joined his wife at the farmhouse, which may have comprised two households at that time. The 1871 census shows five houses at Hardington Hill: Susan Sandiford lived at number 4, and Robert and his family were at 5.
Elizabeth’s mother, Susan Sandiford, died in 1880 at the age of 72.
Robert’s address in subsequent censuses was as follows:
1881 Hardington Hill Cottage
1891 Cold Harbour Hill, No 338
1901 Townsend
1911 Townsend
Family structure
Robert and Elizabeth had seven children: Walter William, Marshall, Alice Blanche, Leila Mary, Mary Louisa and twins Mary Jane and Nathaniel. The 1881 census shows all seven living at home.
Over the next decade, the family unit gradually diminished. Nathaniel died in 1883 at the age of four, and five others moved away. Walter moved to Yeovil, where he worked as a tradesman’s porter; Marshall moved to an unknown location and turned up in Woolwich in 1902; Alice moved to Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, where she worked as a scullery maid; Leila moved to Tottenham, finding work as a domestic servant; and Mabel moved to Yeovil, where she worked for a journalist as a general domestic servant. By April 1891, Mary Jane was the only sibling still living at home. What happened to her subsequently is unknown.
By April 1901, Robert and Elizabeth were living alone. However, by this time, Leila had left Tottenham and was working as a general servant at a mill in Yetminster. By April 1911, she had moved back in with her parents and was engaged in dairy work at home, but she later moved to Croydon, marrying there in April 1912.
Overseer
In April 1895, the parish elected Robert as an overseer.[1]
Farmer
Trade directories of 1910, 1914 and 1919 list Robert as a farmer. The 1911 census also lists him as a farmer.
The 1920 estate sale catalogue shows Robert occupying Townsend Farm, a 28-acre holding, on an annual tenancy.
Death of wife
Elizabeth died in about 1917 at the age of 79.
The 1920 Estate sale
The Portman Estate increased the size of the farm to just over fifty acres and sold it as lot 33 in the 1920 estate sale.
James Raymond bought the farm, and Robert then moved into a house near Manor Farm, where he lived alone.
On 4 December 1924, Robert sold his furniture by auction because he was leaving the neighbourhood.[2]
Death
Robert died in the Yeovil Public Institution (formerly known as the workhouse) on 5 March 1938 due to senile cerebral degeneration at the age of 92.[3] It is unclear whether he entered the institution in 1924 or at a later date.
Children
Robert and Elizabeth had seven children:
Circa 1870- Walter William (moved to Cardiff in the early 1890s, where he married Mary Pinch in 1893; worked as a bricklayer; died in 1937);
1871-Marshall (married Lydia Florence Ada Crown at Woolwich in 1902; worked as a typewriter mechanic; died in 1960);
Circa 1873- Alice Blanche (married Charles Blanchard, a waiter, in about 1902; resided at Woolwich; died in about 1961);
1874-Leila Mary (married Walter Edward Osborne, a mechanic of Norton-sub-Hamdon, at Croydon in 1912; resided at Norton-sub-Hamdon; died in about 1940);
1876- Mabel Louisa (married Clifford Daniel Mepham, a postman, in about 1900; he died in 1915; married Lionel Edgar Daby Skertchly, a commercial traveller, in 1918; resided in Croydon; died in 1961);
Circa 1879-Mary Jane (living at home in April 1891; not found subsequently);
Circa 1879- Nathaniel (died 1883 at the age of four).
References
[1] Western Chronicle, 26 April 1895, p.6.
[2] Western Gazette, 21 November 1924, p.1.
[3] Western Gazette, 18 March 1938, p.16; death certificate of Robert William Bartlett. The newspaper gives his age as 93, but his death certificate gives it as 92.
