Introduction
Sarah Purchase was the wife of William Purchase, who kept a beerhouse at Hardington Moor. After his death, she ran the beerhouse for her own for several years before moving to the High Street, where she supported herself through glove-making and with the help of her children. Her story is one of persistence in the face of loss and hardship. As widow, publican, and mother of nine, she kept her household together at a time when many others left the village behind.
Childhood
Sarah was born at Hardington around 1822, the seventh of ten children of Abraham and Joan Partridge. The family lived in Lyatts Lane, which by 1841 had fourteen houses and seventy-one inhabitants. Her father worked mainly as a farm labourer, although the 1841 census listed him as a lime burner.
During the early 1830s, Sarah lost two sisters, Elizabeth and Edith, who died young at the ages of 25 and 27, leaving her as the only daughter among six brothers. [1] By the time of the 1841 census only four children were still at home: Sarah, who was employed as a glover, and her brothers William, Richard, and James, all of whom were farm labourers. Their widowed grandmother, Elizabeth Denty, was also living with them.
In the early 1840s, the household continued to shrink. Abraham died on 18 June 1841, at the age of 60, due to inflammation of the lungs, depriving the family of its principal breadwinner at a time of widespread economic hardship.[2] Elizabeth Denty died in March 1843, and William married the following year.
Marriage
About half a mile from the Partridge household stood the White Horse Inn at the foot of Pig Hill, kept by William and Charlotte Purchase.[3] William combined beer retailing with work as a sleighmaker and loom repairer. Charlotte’s death in January 1843 left him with two young sons, Henry and Alfred John, to care for.[4]
Over the next two years, William and Sarah formed a close relationship, despite their twenty-four-year age difference. They married at Hardington Church on 4 September 1845, and overnight, Sarah took on the demanding roles of stepmother and publican’s wife.
Over the following fifteen years, William and Sarah had nine children, all of whom reached adulthood.
Family emigration to Australia
Like many rural families in the 1840s, Sarah’s relatives were drawn to emigration. In 1849, three of her brothers left for Australia: John with his wife and four children, sailed on the Kate with his unmarried brother James; while Edward, his wife and three children travelled on the Petrel. A first cousin, Richard Partridge, also sailed on the Kate with his family.[5]
By March 1851, Sarah’s mother, Joan, was living with her son Richard and his family. Joan died later that same year, and in 1854, Richard and his family departed for Australia on the Lady Ann.[6] Only two of Sarah’s brothers, Abraham and William, remained in England.
Death of William
William Purchase died on 21 October 1859 from an abscess of the prostate gland at the age of 61.[7]
Sarah’s later life
As a widowed with nine children, Sarah continued to run the White Horse Inn for several years.[8] She lived in the same house until around 1868, although she may have ceased innkeeping earlier.[9]
She was still living at the inn in December 1865, when her young son, Richard, played a pivotal role in the “extraordinary duck case.” He misinformed John Yeandle that he had seen Hugh Cox carrying Yeandle’s missing ducks, causing a considerable amount of trouble.[10] When the case was heard at the Somerset Lent Assizes the following year, Richard could not be found because Sarah had hidden him away.[11]
By April 1871, Sarah had left the inn and was living in the High Street with five of her children, once again earning her living as a glover. She died on 1 May 1877, from chronic heart disease at the age of 54.[12]
Children
William and Sarah had nine children.
References
[1] Sarah’s sister, Harriet, died in infancy in 1825.
[2] Death certificate of Abraham Partridge.
[3] Rev. Sawyer’s unpublished history of Hardington Mandeville.
[4] Death certificate of Charlotte Purchase. She was probably the sister of Susan Parsons, who married Sarah’s brother, Abraham, in 1833.
[5] New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896.
[6] New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896.
[7] Death certificate of William Purchase.
[8] 1861 census, trade directory of 1861.
[9] Guardian valuations.
[10] Sherborne Mercury, 12 December 1865, p.8.
[11] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 4 April 1866, p.4.
[12] Death certificate of Sarah Purchase.
