Alas, despite my best efforts in researching William, his early life and origins remain a mystery...
Pre 1923
Later records imply he was born around 1882 (age given as 46 on May 1928 marriage certificate and as 57 on October 1939 death certificate) or even 1st Oct 1883 (date of birth given 1939 register, just over a fortnight before William died). As William was near death at the time of the 1939 register, it is unlikely he gave his personal information - likely his younger wife Dinah did.
However, looking at records of births from this timeframe has yet to determine a William which we can confirm is ours.
His marriage certificate also states his father was called John, a farmer and deceased before 1928.
Family legend says William came down to Devon laying roads and/or railway lines, possibly from Birmingham or the midlands; whilst, a newspaper article from the 1920s, says he was a native of Oxford.
Mine and my mother's DNA is presently (2026) coming up as 100% Devon and Somerset. However, this does not mean William, my great grandfather and her grandfather, was from Devon and/or Somerset. My mum would share approximately 17% to 34% with her maternal grandfather, but she very much looks like her paternal side. Presently, I would assume William was British, most likely English.
What we know of William's life is from 1923 onwards...
William the Navvy
From around February to July 1923, William was hired as a workman for the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway, to help construct the line from Halwill to Torrington in North West Devon. It is reported by the Colonel Stephens Society that "unemployed men had been shipped in for construction but lacked either skills or willingness, and in June 1923 rowdiness turned to a fairly nasty fracas".
What was this fracas? On Saturday 23rd June 1923, many of the company's workers spent the evening in Hatherleigh, dancing to the music of the Town Band in the square. Unfortunately, several were unhappy when police encouraged them to return to their camp at the end of the evening. Things quickly grew violent and two policemen were attacked. We know William was not one of the main culprits, but he could have known the men involved.
After what is reported as a 'short holiday', William returned to that area of North Devon on Monday 30th July 1923, arriving by train at Okehampton Station. Could the working class man afford to go on a short holiday or did he purposely leave the area after the fracas?
What we do know is that day (30th July 1923) at Okehampton Station, William's life changed forever...
The Accident
From the station, William got a lift in a lorry belonging to Mr J. H. Treneman of Hatherleigh. The lorry, driven by Frederick Northcott, carried six further railway workmen, and heavy iron and steel girders for use in the construction of the railway bridge over the River Torridge.
At the top of the hill, chains on the lorry broke, causing it to become a runaway. The driver shouted to the other men to jump, whilst he tried to control the vehicle. All the men, apart from William, managed to escape. The lorry quickly gained speed, reaching about fifty miles an hour. At the bottom of the road, it crashed into the garden wall of the police station. William Weeks was at work there at the time and was instantaneously killed. Our William and the driver were thrown forward, and the girders hurled through the air, landing on and around them. They were rendered unconscious and seriously injured. William sustained broken ribs and a fractured jaw.
The pair were taken by motor ambulance to the Okehampton Workhouse Infirmary and treated by Dr Wright. A month later, they were still too ill to give evidence in the inquest of the death of William Weeks; however, our William was able to get out of doors.
Family legend states that William was subsequently unable or found it difficult to work due to his injuries.
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| Amazingly the above is photograph of the crash site in 1923! (courtesy of Hatherleigh History Society) |
Sheepwash
1925 and 1926 electroral registers show William living at Sheepwash.
At Stockleigh Farm
Despite his injuries, William at some point between 1926 and 1928 managed to find a little work at Stockleigh Farm, which is about half way between Hatherleigh, where the fracas took place, and nearby Highampton.
Stockleigh Farm was owned by one John Isaac.
Also working at the farm, as a domestic servant, was young Dinah Bessie Easterbrook. Dinah had already had two children out of wedlock. Dinah was forced to give her eldest, Evelyn Mary (born 1920), up. But she was able to keep her second child, Donald Jasper (born 1924), who family legend says was the son of Dinah's employer, farmer John Isaac.
John Isaac passed away on 1st May 1928. Soon his funeral took place and principal mourners included William and Dinah.
In his will, John Isaac had left Dinah "a legacy of two hundred pounds... [and] for her absolute use my freehold cottage known as 'Legge Cottage' in the parish of Highampton with the land attached". He also left Donald "a legacy of five pounds". Despite this inheritance, Dinah and her family did not stay in Highampton. Family legend says Dinah had to sell Legge Cottage to get money to get by.
Days after John Isaac's funeral, William (his age is given as 46, implying he was born around 1881/1882) and Dinah (25) married, on 10th May 1928, in Highampton.
Marriage Certificate:
Their wedding was reported in the Western Times on 18th May 1928:
Husband and Father
That summer, John Isaac's brother sold Stockleigh Farm, meaning William and Dinah had to find work elsewhere.
After his marriage, William unofficially adopted Dinah's young son Donald. William and Dinah also had four more children:
- Victor W J 1929 - 2016 (87)
- Bessie 'Bette' Anne 1930 - 2010 (79)
- Stillborn twin (or died shortly after birth) 1930 - 1930 (0)
- Audrey Dinah 1934 - 2001 (66/67)
The pair, with their young children, moved around mid Devon following work.
The 1929 electorial register shows William at Cookbury.
The 1930 electorial register shows William at Bondleigh. His and Dinah's daughter Bette (and her twin who was either stillborn or died shortly after birth) was born there at Council Houses.
The 1931 electorial register shows William at Winkleigh.
On her marriage certificate, William's daughter Bette lists his occupation as blacksmith. As did his widow Dinah on his 1939 death ceritifcate.
Did he find work as a blacksmith during the 1930s? Or did he perhaps work as a blacksmith prior to working for the railway? By the 20th century, there was less call for traditional blacksmithing; however, if skilled and trained in working metals, he would have been ideal to replace the unskilled workmen originally brought in to construct the railway lines.
Alas William grew ill and by 1939 was incapacitated. By then the family were living in Town Cottage, West Worlington.
1939 Census:
Death
On 13th October 1939, William passed away, aged about fifty-seven, due to heart failure (cardiac syncope and mitral valvular disease), at Town Cottage, West Worlington.
Death certificate:
After William's death, their young daughter Bette was distraught. Dinah, not knowing what to do, sent Bette to live with an 'Aunt Braund' in a cottage near Meldon Quarry, near Okehampton. Bette didn't known if 'Aunt Braund' was a blood relation or family friend. It seems likely 'Aunt Braund' was a family friend, and likely a relation of the Walter Braund who was William's best man in 1928.
Dinah's eldest son, Donald, then only fifteen, became the breadwinner. He worked as a farm labourer, and found cottage homes for his mother and young siblings on or near the farms where he worked. Within a few years, younger brother Victor, was also working as a farm labour.
Still the family struggled to get by. Bette, remembered that because of their poverty, they often had to accept help from the church.
Bette adored her father. She fondly remembered him playing his piano accordion.
She also remember that, unusually for the time, William wore earrings.
Why? It may have been a blacksmith or navvy superstition to protect the wearer, or perhaps a sailor superstition. Or he may have had Gypsy, Eastern European or Mediterranean heritage?
Bette had near-black hair, hazel eyes, and skin that tanned to light olive in the summer. Did she inherit her colouring from William?
Whether he was a Gypsy or from mainland Europe, a English blacksmith or Midlands navvy, hopefully I will one day be able to determine his origins.
I like to picture him as a younger man, mop of dark hair, singing and playing his piano accordion, looking a bit like Alfie in Lark Rise to Candleford:
I like to picture him as a younger man, mop of dark hair, singing and playing his piano accordion, looking a bit like Alfie in Lark Rise to Candleford:
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