Introduction
Rose Reynolds spent her entire life in Hardington Mandeville. She earned her living as a glove machinist, remained unmarried, and lived with close family members. Although the surviving records reveal little about her personality, they suggest that her life revolved around home, work and family. She overcame the loss of her mother but was tragically affected by the death of her brother twelve years later.
Early life
Rose was born at Hardington Mandeville on 1 November 1887, the fifth of eight children born to Arthur Reynolds and his wife, Susanna Wildren Reynolds (née Smith). She was probably born at Ivy Cottage on Coker Hill, where the family lived during the late nineteenth century. Her father combined several occupations, serving as assistant overseer of the poor and as an agent for the Prudential Insurance Company.
By March 1901, the family lived at High Street cottages, and Arthur was a “farmer grazier”. By 1903, they had moved to Bulshay, and Arthur rented ten acres at Hardington Marsh from the Vassall Trustees.
Rose’s childhood was affected by her father’s difficulties in later years. After losing his position as assistant overseer in 1897, he faced financial struggles and periods of erratic behaviour. He passed away from splenic anaemia on November 13, 1905, at the age of forty-nine, when Rose was just eighteen years old.[1]
Later life
After Arthur’s death, the responsibility for supporting the household largely fell to his widow. She took up market gardening, assisted by her son Joseph, while Rose contributed to the family income as a glove machinist. The 1939 Register described her as a glove maker paid by piecework, suggesting she made gloves at home, as many women in the Somerset glove industry did.
Joseph married in 1915 and established his own household on Coker Hill, leaving Rose as the only child still living with her mother. By 1921, Susanna’s unmarried sister, Elizabeth Smith, also resided with them. The three women formed a small household that appears to have remained together for many years.
In 1938, Rose’s brother Frank left the Royal Navy and took up residence at Bulshay, while Susanna and Rose moved to a cottage in Rectory Lane. Two years later, Susanna died at the age of eighty-four. Rose was then fifty-two years old and, for the first time in her life, found herself living without her mother. Nevertheless, Frank’s presence in the village provided some family support and companionship.
This support was suddenly taken away when Frank died on 1 June 1952. Less than four weeks later, on 26 June, Rose died at her home in Rectory Lane. An inquest held two days later recorded her death as due to vagal inhibition from hanging, concluding that her mental state had been disturbed. .[2]
Conclusion
Rose Reynolds never married, remained closely connected to her mother and siblings, and spent her entire life living in Hardington Mandeville. While much about her daily life remains unknown, the available evidence suggests a quiet existence shaped by family responsibilities, home-based work, and an enduring attachment to the village where she was born and died.
References
[1] Death certificate of Arthur Reynolds.
[2] Death certificate of Rose Reynolds.
