Introduction
Although Samuel Foss spent most of his life in or near the Bredy Valley in Dorset, he married a school teacher from Suffolk. While he pursued the trade of shoemaking, it was his wife’s teaching positions at Hardington and later Coryates that shaped their lives together. After her death, he lived with relatives.
Early life in Dorset
Samuel was born at Litton Cheney around 1804, the third of five children born to Samuel and Susanna Foss. His father was a dairyman.
During the 1830s, Samuel met Thirza Beart, whose twin sister, Mahala, taught in Dorset. Thirza and Mahala came from Wickham Market in Suffolk. On 12 August 1838, Samuel married Thirza at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone. At the time, Samuel was a butcher living at Askerswell, while Thirza was the schoolmistress at the National School, Harrow on the Hill. They soon moved to Dorset, where their first child was born at Askerswell on 19 July 1839.
Life at Hardington
By the time their second child, John, was born on 23 March 1841, the family had moved to Hardington. They lived in the schoolhouse on the south side of the churchyard. John worked as a shoemaker, an occupation he pursued for the rest of his life. A third child, who was named Frank or Francis, followed on 7 March 1843, and a fifth child, Thomas, was born in the spring of 1845.[1]
Life at Coryates, Portesham
Between 12 November 1845 and 31 January 1847, the family moved to Portesham after Thirza was appointed a teacher at the free school in Coryates.[2] Samuel continued to work as a master shoemaker. They had a son, Walter, in 1847, followed by another son, Frederick, in 1849.
In November 1849, the family suffered a series of tragedies. It began on Tuesday, the 13th, when two-year-old Walter died of convulsions. On the same day, four-year-old Thomas started showing symptoms of scarlet fever and died five days later. On the day Thomas died, six-year-old Francis displayed symptoms of the disease, and he, too, died five days later. A neighbour, Martha Slade, provided some support during this difficult time and registered all three deaths on Saturday, 24 November.[3]
This heartbreaking event reduced their number of children from six to three. However, they had a son, Frank, in 1851 and a daughter, Frances Mary, in 1855. Their eldest son, Samuel, attended Litton Cheney School and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1857. Their second eldest son, John, had also left home by 1861 but has not been found in the 1861 census.
Thirza remained at Coryates school until her death from rheumatic fever at the age of 56 on 12 May 1867.[4]
Life with relatives
After Thirza’s death, Samuel lived with relatives. In April 1871, he lived with his brother, John, on a dairy farm at Broome, near Swindon. Later, he moved in with his sister Mary and her husband, James Vine, on their farm at Sydling St Nicholas.[5] In July 1875, he became critically ill with asthma, which led to paralysis. He died on 31 July at the age of 71 and was buried alongside his wife in Little Bredy churchyard.
References
[1] Birth certificate of Frank Foss. His death certificate refers to him as Francis.
[2] Samuel Foss acted as a witness to a wedding at Hardington on 12 November 1845; Walter Foss was baptised at Portesham on 31 January 1847.
[3] Death certificates of Walter, Thomas and Francis Foss.
[4] Dorset County Chronicle, 16 May 1867, p.20.
[5] The 1871 census recorded James Vine as farming 356 acres. When he died in 1877, he left an estate valued at “under £800.”
