Introduction
Robert Reader spent his early life as a labourer at East Coker. When he was about 21 years old, his father and brother died of typhus fever. In his late thirties, he became a gardener at Hardington Rectory, where he worked for several years. He and his large family later moved to Crewkerne and then Yeovil. His wife remained at Yeovil until her death in 1888, but Robert seems to have moved away at some point after April 1871. While living at Yeovil, four of his children died before reaching the age of thirty.
Early life at East Coker
Robert was born at East Coker in about 1818, the fourth of eleven children born to John and Hannah Reader. He was baptised with two sisters and one brother on 19 May 1822. Robert’s father worked as a farm labourer.
In 1839, the family was struck by typhus fever, which claimed the life Robert’s brother, Herbert, on 21 June at the age of 14, followed by his father on 20 August at the age of 57.[1] The impact on the family would have been devastating. By June 1841, Hannah, Robert’s mother, lived at Shearcroft, near North Coker House, with her children Robert, Mary and John. Hannah worked as a bag sewer, while Robert was a farm labourer. Tragically, Mary died just two years later, on 20 March 1843, from an abscess of the hip at the age of 21.
Marriage
On 17 October 1841, Robert married Susannah Sartin of East Coker. Robert signed the marriage register, while Susannah made a cross. At the time, Robert was a twenty-three-year-old labourer, and Susannah was a twenty-year-old weaver.
Married life at East Coker
In March 1851, the couple resided in Burton Lane. Robert worked as a farm labourer and Susannah as a glover. His brother, John, and another young man lodged with them, while their mother, Hannah, lived in one of the almshouses.[2]
During their time at East Coker, Robert and Susannah had nine children.
In October 1847, the Labourers’ Friend Society awarded Robert a prize of 7s for the high standard of his allotment.[3]
Hardington
Between 4 January 1857 and 1 May 1859, the family moved to Hardington, where Robert worked as a gardener for the Rev. William Vassall, who was instituted as rector of Hardington on 27 September 1857.
While living at Hardington, they had two children: Jane and Henry. By April 1861, their eldest child, Catherine, was working as a nursemaid at Parsonage Farm, Pendomer.
On 3 July 1861, Susannah was summoned by Elizabeth Delamont for an assault, and the Yeovil magistrates ordered Susannah to pay the costs.[4] About twenty years earlier, they had been sisters-in-law, but the nature of their dispute is unknown.
Crewkerne
Between 5 May 1861 and 12 November 1865, Robert and his family moved to Crewkerne, where he continued to work as a gardener. Their twelfth and last child, Alice, was born at Crewkerne in 1865.
Yeovil
By May 1870, the family had moved to 140 Belmont Street, Yeovil, from where Robert advertised his services as a jobbing gardener in the Western Gazette.[5] Susannah took up work as a laundress.
Tragically, three of their children died while they lived at Belmont Street: Henry in December 1870 at age 9; Catherine in July 1871 at age 29; and Herbert in September 1871 at age 18. A fourth child, Frederick, died at Hendford Hill in March 1880, at the age of 22, after being invalided out of the Royal Navy two years earlier.
During the 1870s, Robert appears to have left home, but his whereabouts are unknown. By April 1881, Susannah and her youngest daughter, Alice, were living at 65 Huish, Yeovil, in the home of Thomas Knight and his wife, Fanny. In the 1881 census, Susannah recorded her marital status as married.
In April 1888, Susannah was one of ten women applying for a vacant position in the Corporation Almshouse. She was unsuccessful but received 1s 6d as a consolation prize.[6] She died in June 1888, at the age of 66. Her last address was South Street.
Children
Robert and Susannah had seven sons. Robert became a basket maker and musician; James became a coachman; William joined the police force; and both John and Frederick served in the Royal Navy. Unfortunately, Herbert and Henry both died young.
They also had five daughters. Catherine died unmarried at the age of 29, Mary Ann became a farm labourer’s wife and lived at East Coker, Sarah married a drayman and lived in Essex, while Jane and Alice both married cabinet makers and lived in London.
References
[1] Death certificate of Herbert Reader; death certificate of John Reader,
[2] It is not clear what happened to John Reader after March 1851.
[3] Sherborne Mercury, 16 October 1847, p.4.
[4] Sherborne Mercury, 9 July 1861, p.5. Elizabeth Delamont’s first husband was Richard Sartin, the brother of Susannah Reader.
[5] Western Gazette, 20 May 1870, p.4.
[6] Western Chronicle, 13 April 1888, p.5.
