Introduction

Walter George Chapman worked as a railway packer or platelayer for most of his life. He and his family initially lived at Hardington Marsh before moving to Pendomer. After his untimely death, his widow and their six children maintained a strong connection to one another and eventually relocated to Bournemouth.

Birth

Walter George was born in 1837 at Hardington, the third of nine children born to William and Elizabeth Chapman. He was the brother of Charles, Edwin and William. His father, William, was a weaver and later a labourer. The tithe survey recorded William occupying a house and garden at Underhill (number 183) and an allotment in Cold Harbour.

Occupation

In March 1851, Walter was a farm labourer living in his parents’ home at Hardington Moor. By April 1861, he was a railway packer, a job he pursued for the rest of his life.

Marriage

On 15 March 1862, Walter married Sarah Burt at Pendomer. Sarah was the youngest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Burt of Pendomer. Her father died when she was five, and she and her siblings were raised by their mother. One of her siblings was Walter Burt, the father of Robert Burt.

Hardington Marsh

Walter and Sarah settled at Hardington, where they had six children, two of whom died in infancy. By April 1871, they were living in one of the railway cottages at Hardington Marsh.

Pendomer

Between October 1873 and November 1874, they moved to Pendomer, where they had two more children.

Sudden death

On 15 May 1877, the thirty-nine-year-old Walter was taken ill while working as a packer on the railway and was conveyed home. He died around four o’clock the following morning. Walter left behind a widow and six children.[1] The inquest heard evidence that Walter had always been a delicate man and that he had been seized with a fit five minutes before he died. The jury returned a verdict of “Death from natural causes.”[2]

Strangely, his father, William, had died about a week earlier.

Sarah’s later life

In April 1881, Walter’s widow, Sarah, was a farm servant living in a cottage at Pendomer with her six children.

The family proved to be remarkably cohesive. Over the next twenty years, Sarah accompanied her sons, Charles, Frank and Henry, as they migrated in search of farm work. By April 1891, they were living at Rowden Mill, Caundle Stourton, and ten years later at the Lodge, Bentham Hill, Southborough, Kent.

By April 1911, her sons had given up agriculture for gardening and the building trade. By then, Sarah and all six of her children had settled in Bournemouth. Sarah, Samuel, Charles and Annie lived at 51 South Road, Henry at 57 South Road, Walter at 265 Windham Road, and Frank at 267 Windham Road.

Sarah’s death

Sarah died at Bournemouth in 1927 at the age of 83.

References

[1] Somerset County Gazette, 19 May 1877, p. 11.

[2] Western Gazette, 25 May 1877, p.5.