Introduction

Robert Crumpler was the eldest son of a Dorset farmer. He became a gamekeeper in his late twenties and worked on estates in south-east Dorset before moving to Hardington in the late 1880s. His family may have been the last to live at Daisy Down. Later, he moved to South Perrott, where he would spend the final twenty years of his life.  While living there, he and his wife adopted a baby boy. Tragically, Robert’s life was cut short by a farming accident.

Childhood

Born in 1848 at Lytchett Minster, Robert was the first of ten children born to Stephen Hooper Crumpler and his wife, Mary. His father was a farmer, and his mother was the daughter of John Jeffery, who also worked as a farmer.

By April 1861, Robert’s family had moved about thirty miles east to Kings Lane Farm, Boldre, near Lymington, Hampshire, where the 1861 census recorded Robert as a scholar (schoolboy).

Early career

By April 1871, Robert had left home and was a miller, lodging at the Canford Post Office. He later changed to gamekeeping, and by February 1875, he was an under-keeper on the Uddens estate.[1]

Marriage

In the last quarter of 1877, about six months after the death of his mother, Robert married Jane Elizabeth Kail, the daughter of Benjamin Kail, a coachman. Robert was about 29 years old, while Jane was three years younger.

Early married life

In August 1878, Robert and Jane were living at Uddens, near Wimborne, where their first child was born. By October 1880, they had moved to a house near Crow Farm, Ringwood, where their second child was born.

The 1881 census recorded Robert’s occupation as a farm labourer, but he was probably still a gamekeeper as he remained one until almost the end of his life.

In August 1885, Robert and Jane’s third child was born at Lytchett Matravers.

Hardington and South Perrott

Between August 1885 and April 1891, Robert and his family moved to Hardington, where they lived at Daisy Down. In about 1894, they moved to South Perrott, where Robert continued to work as a gamekeeper.

In 1895, a single woman named Mary Ann Perry gave birth to a son in South Perrott, whom they named Frank Edward Perry.[2] Robert and Jane appear to have virtually adopted the boy, as he is recorded as part of their household in the 1901 and 1911 censuses, later living in their son’s household as well. The census described Frank as Robert’s nephew, though the veracity of this claim is uncertain, as Mary Ann Perry has yet to be identified. It is possible that the term “nephew” was used to conceal the de facto adoption.

By March 1901, Jane’s unmarried sister, Maria, also lived with them after many years spent in domestic service. She died in March 1908 and was buried at South Perrott.

A distressing discovery

On the evening of Tuesday, 25 September 1906, at about 6.15 p.m, Robert was walking past the fishpond at South Perrott when he noticed a hat and coat hanging on the rails. Going nearer, he saw a body near the rushes at the edge of the pond, lying face downwards. Noticing no signs of life, he left the body as it was and went to fetch the policeman. On finding him out, he left a message and returned to the pond with another man, only to discover that a gamekeeper had already removed the body. Upon seeing the face for the first time, he immediately recognised the deceased as Thomas Caddy of Chedington, a man in his sixties who had worked with him the day before.

At an inquest held at the Reading Room two days later, Thomas’s son testified that his father had left home at seven o’clock in the morning to make hurdles in Spray Coppice.[3] He stated that his father had been in low spirits all summer and complained of pains in his head. A blacksmith named Fred Steer reported seeing Thomas at the Coach and Horses Inn at around 11 o’clock. Thomas was having something to eat and drink, and they had two pints between them. When they parted, Thomas said he was going across the fields by a shortcut to his work. A sixteen-year-old boy named Thomas Rodford said he had seen the hat and coat on the rails at dinner time, but thought nothing of it, assuming that someone was at work there. After reviewing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict that Thomas had drowned himself while temporarily insane.[4]

The newspaper report of this case described Robert as a labourer and mentioned another individual as a “keeper.” However, the 1911 census lists Robert as a gamekeeper.

A tragic accident

By 1914, Robert had become a farmworker, employed by Arthur Neale at Pickett Farm, South Perrott. On the afternoon of Monday, 28 September 1914, he and Neale were standing on a rick during the threshing operations when Neale suddenly noticed that Robert was missing. Looking down, he saw him lying on the ground. Robert told Neale that he had fallen on his head and complained of pains in his chest and head. Neale immediately sent for a doctor, and Dr Orchard of Crewkerne attended. On seeing the seriousness of Robert’s injuries, the doctor sent him to Crewkerne Hospital. There, the medical staff found that Robert had fractured his spinal column. Though he survived for six days, paralysis of his respiratory muscles ultimately led to his death. An inquest was held two days later, and he was laid to rest at South Perrott two days after that.[5]

Jane’s later life

Jane outlived Robert by twenty years. On 12 February 1920, she married Robert Candow, a former Staff Sergeant Farrier in the Royal Artillery, at South Perrott.[6] After his death in 1927, Jane appears to have moved to the Radford district in Nottinghamshire, where she died in 1934 at the age of 82.

Children

Robert and Jane had three children: Nellie Prudence, Alice Maud Mary and Herbert Stephen. Herbert Stephen’s son, Lance Corporal Austin William Stephen Crumpler, died on 28 June 1942 while on war service in Egypt.

Their adopted son, Frank Edward Perry, served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the First World War and later worked as a motor mechanic. In 1923, he married Dorothy May King, who was the daughter of a motor mechanic, at St George’s Church, Islington. They eventually emigrated to Australia.

References

[1] Southern Times and Dorset County Herald, 6 February 1875, p.6.

[2] Birth certificate of Mary Ann Perry.

[3] Spray Coppice is on the east side of Chedington.

[4] Bridport News, 28 September 1906, p.5,

[5] Death certificate of Robert Crumpler; Western Gazette, 9 October 1914, p.3.

[6] Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admissions and Discharges, 1914-1925.