William Park, thatcher – Hardington History

Introduction

William Park was a thatcher at Hardington from the 1860s until his death in 1915. He faced significant personal loss, as four of his siblings died in their twenties, which may have contributed to his reluctance towards long-term commitments. He fathered a child with a village woman and was required to pay maintenance. Eventually, he married at the age of 48 and had three daughters. William succumbed to tuberculosis in 1915, and three years later, his widow, Fanny, also fell ill with the same disease. As a consequence of either William’s death or Fanny’s illness, two of their daughters were adopted, while the other went into care.

Childhood

William was born on 26 March 1859 at Hardington, the youngest of eight children born to John and Elizabeth Park.[1]

At the time of William’s birth, his father, John, was a farm labourer, although he had previously been a sailcloth weaver. He took up thatching in the 1860s.

When William was fifteen, his sister Emily died on 6 October 1874 from tuberculosis at the age of 24.[2]

Early adulthood

By the late 1870s, William was the only one of the six surviving siblings still at home. He worked with his father as a thatcher, possibly for the Portman Estate.

In his early twenties, he experienced the deaths of three brothers in quick succession. George returned home from Westbury-on-Trym, where he had been working as a butler, to die from liver and heart disease on 22 May 1880.[3] Samuel died at his home in Frome from falling down stairs on 30 August 1881, a few months after leaving the police.[4] John returned home from Fisherton Anger, where he had been working as an assistant in an asylum, to die from tuberculosis and heart disease on 28 February 1883.[5]

This exposure to grief may have deterred William from forming long-term commitments. However, he did have a relationship with Harriet Eastment in 1884. On 30 September 1885, Harriet gave birth to a daughter, Katie Beatrice, and claimed that William was the father. She applied for an affiliation order, which was granted on 29 September 1886. William was ordered to pay 2s 6d a week and costs.[6] Despite the order, William did not pay anything, and seven weeks later, he was ordered to pay the arrears of 15s and the costs of 12s 6d, or face imprisonment for a month. He said that he could not pay because he had no work.[7] It is unclear whether he served the prison sentence.

Death of parents and brother

William’s mother died on 14 August 1890 at the age of 70.[8] Following her death, William’s sister, Elizabeth, came home from Ilminster to act as a housekeeper to William and their father.

On 29 October 1891, William’s brother, Thomas, died at Hardington from heart disease and congestion of the brain at the age of 51.[9]

On 30 August 1897. William’s father, John, died at the age of 76.

After John’s death, William and Elizabeth continued living in the family home, a four-roomed cottage near the church, number 335.

Marriage

On 11 November 1907, William married Fanny Kate Elliott, the daughter of a dairyman of Pykes Mill, Crewkerne. William was 48, while Fanny was 34. At about the same time, William’s sister, Elizabeth, married Charles Milton.

Inheritance

Fanny’s father died on 12 March 1910, leaving an estate valued at £255. In his will, he bequeathed one-third of his cash to Fanny.[10]

Married life

William and Fanny had three daughters: Julia Fanny Elizabeth, born on 27 June 1908; Emily Elliot Florence, born in 1910; and Mildred Annie, born on 28 October 1911. The birth of Julia was announced in a local newspaper.[11]

The 1911 census recorded the family living in a three-room house with George Haggett, a sixty-year-old farm labourer, as a lodger.

Death

By 1915, William was suffering from tuberculosis. He died at Hardington on 8 June 1915 at the age of 56 with Fanny by his side.[12]

Fanny’s later life

After William’s death, Fanny was separated from her daughters and admitted to the Yeovil Workhouse. Julia and Mildred were adopted by different families, while Emily entered Yatton Hall, an institution for children with learning difficulties.

Fanny was later transferred to the Somerset and Bath Asylum at Cotford. In about June 1918, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died two and a half years later, on 8 December 1920, at the age of 47.[13]

The following year, Emily died in the Sanatorium at Taunton from tubercular peritonitis on 16 December 1921 at the age of eleven.[14]

Julia and Mildred

By June 1921, both Julia and Mildred lived in Yeovil. Julia was the adopted daughter of Albert and Mary Hammett, a couple in their sixties residing at 9 Sparrow Lane. In 1933, Julia married Albert William Valentine Hann, a French polisher. They lived at 59 Grass Royal, Yeovil, and Julia died on 8 September 1990.

By June 1921, Mildred was boarding with Lucy Ellen Partridge, a widow, at 25 Camborne Grove, Yeovil. Lucy’s husband, Arthur John Partridge, lost his life on the Western Front on 27 January 1916. Mildred married Stanley William Osborne, a plasterer, in 1936. They resided at Montacute, and Mildred died in 1994.