My Exeter Family History. Part 1

Maybe ambitiously, I have entitled this post 'My Exeter Family History. Part 1', for here I shall share what I have learnt already of my family's presence in Exeter, with the understanding that I have more to research and learn. Many of my direct ancestors lived in Exeter, but so did their siblings, who I am yet to research and write biographic posts for.

Originally a small village, far outside the city walls of Exeter, the 20th century saw Whipton absorbed by the city. By the time my father and his siblings grew up there in the 1960's and 1970's, it was to them a suburban, working-class area of Exeter. A generation or two before may have been living in rundown cottages in the country or damp two-up-two-downs or crowded tenement blocks in the city, but here they had good-sized council houses with gardens and indoor loos; they had electricity, gas, hot and cold running water - all manner of modern conveniences -; as well as fields and parks for the children to play in. They were beneficiaries of the welfare state.

My dad as a toddler, playing in the garden at Hillyfield Road, c 1964

My paternal grandfather, Les Vernon, and his siblings grew up in Cowley, which unlike Whipton, is yet to be absorbed by the city and remains a hamlet just north of a Exeter. His elder sister Peggy, in old age, remembered watching, from a seemingly safe distant in Cowley, her beloved Exeter being heavily bombed in the Second World War.

In the late 1950's, Les, his wife Delma, and their three eldest children moved out of his parents' family home to a house of their own in Whipton - 25 Hillyfield Road. It was in this house, that my own father was born.

My dad as a toddler, playing outside his home at 25 Hillyfield Road, c 1964

25 Hillyfield Road (left) today

In the late 1960's, the growing family moved around the corner to 10 Heather Close, also in Whipton. During this time, Les worked as a motor mechanic in and around Exeter - firstly at a garage in Blackboy Road and later at garages in the Marsh Barton trading estate.

Les and Delma outside 10 Heather Close, c 1980s

10 Heather Close (centre) today

Les's father, Walter, was not from Exeter, but his mother, my great grandmother, Winifred Violet Vernon (nee Edworthy) (1895 - 1982) was. At the time of her birth, her family lived at 64 Howell Road (and later no.54).

64 Howell Road is now a more modern building, but these two-up-two-downs next door may give an idea of the type of home the Edworthy family were living at the end of the 19th century

54 Howell Road today (on the left), where the Edworthy family were living come the 1901 Census

Howell Road is just around the corner from Exeter Central Station and not far from Exeter St Davids Station. Winifred's father (as a carrier and guard) and later both of her brothers worked for the railway. Winifred's father William, and her sisters who passed away in childhood, were all buried (in unmarked graves it appears) in Exeter Higher Cemetery in Heavitree, Exeter. By the time of the 1911 Census, Winifred, her mother, and brother Frederick had moved to 8 Park Road, which is just around the corner of Exeter Higher Cemetery. Sometime in the 1910's, Winifred and her mother moved away from Exeter towards Paignton.

8 Park Road (centre), where the Edworthy family were living around 1911

Winifred's parents, my great great grandparents, were from the Devon countryside. Her father William had moved to St Sidwell's in Exeter, as young man, from the Coldridge/East Worlington area. He married Bessie Staddon Nott in her native Morcharch Bishop in 1877, but soon after the marriage the couple settled in Exeter, where they brought up their six children. The 1881 Census shows William, Bessie and their baby son living at 11 Follett's Buildings in Exeter.

Follett's Building

Follett's Buildings had been built only seven years earlier in 1874, when an improvement scheme headed by Exeter's mayor Charles Follett had seen their construction. With Exeter's recent cholera outbreaks in mind, Follett oversaw the building of these new tenements of between two and fours rooms, with each tenement having a larder, scullery, water supply, coal cellar and water closet! By 1886, and the birth of their daughter Cora, the family were living in Hoopern Street. Sometime in the early 1890's, they moved to Howell Road, where they were living at the time of my great grandmother Winifred's birth.

Hoopern Street, c 1950s, where the Edworthy family lived in the 1880s

My paternal grandmother Delma Margaret Emma Vernon (nee Wright) (1925 - 1992) spent most of her life in and around Exeter. She was born in the city - the 1939 Census shows her and her family living at 52 Burnthouse Lane. 

Burnthouse Lane, c 1930s

Burnthouse Lane, c 1930s

Burnthouse Lane, VE Day. Are Delma and her younger siblings amongst these smiling children?

She married in Exeter in 1946. Over the next decade she lived with her in-laws in Cowley, but the late 1950's saw Delma, Les and their children return to the city. She would live the remainder of her life in and around Whipton in Exeter.

Delma's father, Ernest 'Len' Leonard Wright (1905 - 1981), my Great Grandfather, was born into a large family in the poor West Quarter area of Exeter. As children, he and his siblings, attended Rack Street Central School.

Rack Street Central School (left) and Follett's Building (right), c 1963

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 6 Teigh/Tighe Place, a small court off Rack Street. Alas the West Quarter was overcrowded and poverty stricken, an historic but poor area of Exeter. Bathhouses, temperance societies and soup kitchens were set up to help alleviate the appalling conditions; nonetheless, in 1925, the council began plans for demolition, clearance, and re-building of the West Quarter. Most families were relocated to new houses in Burnthouse Lane by the mid 1930's. Around 1912, before the clearing, Len and his family moved from the West Quarter to 11 Clinton Street. 

11 Clinton Street (centre), where the Wright family were living in the 1910s, today

In 1925, Len, by then a railway refreshment attendant, married Ivy Jane Boobier (also from Exeter). By the start of the Second World War, Len, Ivy and their children were living in the new Burnthouse Lane. I know little to nothing of Len and Ivy's later life, but that they passed away in Exeter in the late 1970's/early 1980's.

Len's father, Francis 'Frank' - Wright (1868 - 1939), my great great grandfather, was another ancestor of mine who spent his whole life in Exeter. At the time of his birth, his family were living in Prospect Place, which was another small court off Rack Street in the West Quarter. The 1881 Census shows the family at no.11 and the 1891 Census at no.3. In 1892 or 1893, as a young married man, Frank, his wife Emma, and their eldest children moved from Prospect Place to 5 Mermaid Lodge, still in the West Quarter; however, within five years, they were back at 10 Prospect Place. Around 1900, they moved again - this time to 6 Teigh/Tighe Place, where Frank was born.

The Wrights lived in Exeter for generations. Frank's father, my great x3 grandfather, William Wright (1821 - 1880), a man of many varying occupations, including shoemaker and mason's labourer, was born in the area of St Sidwell in Exeter. At the time of his birth, his family lived in Spiller's Lane. The 1841 Census shows him and his widowed mother Mary, a washerwoman, living in Summerland Street in St Sidwell. By the time of the 1851 Census, William, then a young married man, his wife Sarah, and their eldest son were living in Coombe Street Place in the district of St Mary Major in Exeter.

Coombe Street, where the Wright family were living around 1851, c 1920s

From the mid 1850's into the 1860's, the growing family lived in Sun Street, also in St Mary Major. And in the late 1860's, they moved to Prospect Place, where they were living at the time of Frank's birth.

Frank's wife Emma Wight (nee Bennett) (1871 - 1944), though born just over the border in Somerset to Devonian parents, after the tragic death of her father, when she was a baby, moved to Exeter, where her mother remarried, Scottish veteran of the Crimea War James Clapperton, and had more children by him. The 1881 Census shows the growing family at 69 Little Clifton Street in St Sidwell. Between 1885 and 1888, they moved to 2 New Cheeke Street. Emma's father James Bennett (1842 - 1872), came from Upton Pyne, a village just north of Exeter, and as a young man lived with and worked as a manservant for the Hodge family, headed by dairyman William Hodge, at 7 Colleton Building, in Colleton Grove.

When Emma was about fourteen, her younger half-brother James, around the age of eleven, alas turned to stealing. And not being a fast runner, he was twice caught. On 31st August 1885, James, 11, acted as watch-out, as his young friend Charles Henry Green, 9, stole threepenny worth of sweets from a shop at 54 Richmond Road, the property of a Miss Osborn. Their crime was witnessed by a William Kerslake, who subsequently caught James. Charles said James, the older lad, had told him to steal the sweets. Only a week later, on 7th September 1885, James attempted another steal with Charles, and another lad, Frederick Charles Hookaway, 10. They stole 50 prawns, worth 1s 6d, from a fish shop at 15 Paris Street, the property of a Mrs Smith. She ran after the boys down the street and once more James was caught. He was sentenced to three weeks in prison, to be followed by five years in a Reformatory School.

Paris Street, c 1900

Tragedy struck seventeen-year-old Emma and her family in 1888: as an accident involving a lorry killed her father, so an accident involving a tram killed her younger half sister, Ada. On the evening of 11th April 1888, Ada was only a toddler, out of her mother, Sarah Ann's sight for barely a minute while she fetched water from the house next door, and watched over by an older brother; but in a passing moment a younger brother left the front door open and little Ada wandered out, just when the older brother wasn't looking; she wandered onto Paris Street near Morgan's Square, where lots of children were at play, just when a tram came pass. The tram-driver braked suddenly, but too late. The elder brother, oh how racked with guilt and shock and sadness he must have been, when he then ran to his mother to tell her.

So that's my Exeter family history on my paternal grandmother Delma's father's side. Delma's mother, my great grandmother, Ivy Jane Wright (nee Boobier) (1905 - 1978) and her family were also from Exeter. Ivy and her sister Ellen grew up in the early 1900's at 4 Colleton Grove.

Ivy (left) and her older sister Ellen, likely outside their home in Colleton Grove, c 1906

They attended Holloway Street Infant School, then Holloway Street Girl's School. Ivy's mother, Mary Ann 'Polly', a laundress, passed away when Ivy was ten, and her father, Walter, a labourer, passed away when she was nineteen. By the 1920's, orphaned Ivy, then a young woman, had moved a few streets away to 26 Melbourne Street. Sometime after marrying Len in 1925, they moved to Burnthouse Lane.

26 Melbourn Street, where Ivy lived in the 1920s, today

Ivy's father, my great great grandfather, Walter Boobier (1871 - 1924), a manicipal labourer, was born and baptised in the area of St Leonard in Exeter, though his parents weren't originally from the city. The 1881 Census shows him and his family living in Jubilee Street in St Leonard. When Walter was a teenager, both his parents passed away. He and his brothers supported themselves and each other, and by the 1891 Census were living together in Weirfield Place. Sometime in the 1890's they moved to 5 Paragon Place, also in Exeter. In 1901, Walter married laundry maid Mary Ann 'Polly' Manning. At the time of their marriage, Walter lived at 14 Melbourne Street, and Polly lived at 4 Colleton Grove. At the latter address, Walter and Polly set up home.

14 Melbourne Street, where Walter lived c 1900, today

My great great grandmother, Mary Ann 'Polly' Boobier (nee Manning) (1869 - 1916), was also born and baptised in the area of St Leonard in Exeter. Before they married, Polly and Walter were neighbours. The 1871 Census shows Polly and her family living in Weirfield Place, and the 1881 Census shows them living in Jubilee Street, where Walter and his family were living at the same time. Sometime in the 1880's, Polly and her family moved to 4 Colleton Grove, where Polly would stay and start her own family with Walter.

Polly's parents were not native to Exeter; however, her mother, my great x3 grandmother, Mary Ann Manning (nee Ireland) (1842 - 1908), a laundress, moved as a toddler with her family to Heavitree (then a village just outside Exeter, but now part of the city). The 1851 Census shows them living at Cholwell Cottages in Heavitree.

Cholwell Cottages, where Mary Ann lived around 1851

In the 1860's, she married labourer William Boobier and they settled in St Leonard in Exeter. In the 1870's, Mary Ann's surviving children attended Rack Street Central School in Exeter's poor West Quarter. It was reported that many of the school's poor pupils started their day with a Farthing Breakfast at the Coombe Street mission, before walking to school. The family soon moved to Jubilee Street. Jubilee Street was at the bottom of Weirfield Road in Exeter, and consisted of rows of slum terraced houses, close to the River Exe. Sometime in the 1880's, Mary Ann and her surviving family moved from Jubilee Street just around the corner to 4 Colleton Grove. Mary Ann's mother had been a laundress before her, and Mary Ann built up the family business. Her son William, listed as a laundry assistant in the 1901 Census, took over Mary Ann's laundry business after her death. The 1911 Census shows him living three doors down at 1 Colleton Grove (his laundress sisters remain at 4 Colleton Grove); there he is listed as a laundry man and employer, and his wife a laundress, running a launderette at their home, like Mary Ann had done before.

Those are all my direct ancestors on my father's side who lived in Exeter in the 19th and 20th century and the homes in which they lived. 

A few on my mother's side also lived in Exeter. My great great Grandmother Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (1855 - 1924), a dressmaker, was born and baptised in Holy Trinity in Exeter. During her childhood, she and her family lived at 5 Trinity Place, near South Street. At the time of her marriage in 1888, she and her husband, mason George Mutters, were living in Centre Street in Exeter. After moving around a little, they settled in his native Woodbury. 

Emma's mother, my great x3 grandmother, Joanna Brealey (nee Sampson) (1820 - 1872), a domestic servant from Broadwoodkelly, moved as a young woman to Fore Street in Exeter. There she lived with and worked for the Brock family, who ran Willcocks and Brock Wholesale and Retail (later William Brock & Co), before marrying George Brealey and settling in Trinity Place.

A sigh for William Brock & Co can still be seen on Fore Street today

My great x3 grandfather, George Brealey (1830 - 1894), a carpenter from North Tawton, moved as a young man to Exeter. He and Joanna lived at Trinity Place, till the 1870's, when Joanna passed away. George remarried laundress Charlotte Filleul and they moved to 12 Melbourne Street - the same street members of father's side of the family would live on a generation or two later. 

George's younger half brother, Henry 'Harry' Brealey, had also made the move from North Tawton to Exeter. Harry was the black sheep of the family. I shall let you read why...

On the night of Thursday 1st August 1889, Harry struck his mistress Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Redway, who fell back, hit her head and died. He was soon arrested and charged with manslaughter. The incident happened at their home - a shared house called 'The Barracks' at 8 Mary Arches Street. He had returned home late drunk and the pair had quarrelled over his spending all their money on drink. Lizzie used her last breath to shout 'Murder!' which, along with the sudden stop to the quarrelling with a thud, alerted neighbours. Young Kate Parsons (about thirteen) was sent for a policeman, whilst charwomen Elizabeth Holman and Eliza Tiley went to see if Lizzie was all right. Harry would not let them in - said Lizzie was sleeping. When the policeman arrived, he let him in, but claimed Lizzie had had a fit. It was reported, when Harry sobered up, he realised his guilt and "suffered deeply". He pleaded guilty in court; was imprisoned from the August till the November, when the court sessions re-opened and he was sentenced to an additional ten days hard labour. The sentence "evidently surprised both the prisoner and those present in court". You can read further about the case in local articles from the time available on Find My Past. 

I encourage you too to delve into your family history, be in it Exeter or not. Just be aware you may find skeletons in closets - even in Exeter homes.

Old Drawing of Mary Arches Street, where Lizzie met her end by Harry's fist in 1889

In finishing this little piece, I must acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Exeter Memories for much of the information about and pictures of historic Exeter, which helped me paint a more detailed and colourful picture of my Exeter family history.

Great Great Aunt Edith Ellen Trigger (formerly Moore; nee Vernon)

My Great Great Aunt Edith (1891 - 1971) was a housewife, mother of four, and the elder sister of my Great Grandfather Walter Charles Vernon (1892 - 1965).

Edith Ellen Vernon was born on 6th June 1891 in Kennerleigh, Devon, to Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (22), an agricultural labourer and farm carter, and Lucy Vernon (nee James) (23), a former domestic servant.

Edith was the eldest of four children born to Harry and Lucy (one daughter and three sons):

• Edith Ellen  1891 - 1971 (79)
• Walter Charles  1892 - 1965 (73)
• William John  1894 - ? (?)
• Frank  1896 - ? (?)

Edith's mother Lucy was ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and passed away from the disease, aged twenty-nine, on 25th March 1897, in Kennerleigh, when Edith was only five-years-old.

Before Lucy passed away, it seemed Harry may have begun an affair with Ellen Tonkin - her son Fred Tonkin, born Apr/May/Jun 1897, was conceived before Lucy's death and Harry would later recognise him as his son. On New Year's Eve 1897, Harry and Ellen married. Before they married, Harry was described as Ellen's lodger. From this marriage, young Edith gained a step-mother and ten younger half siblings (8 half brothers and 2 half sisters):

• Frederick 'Fred' (born Tonkin, later Vernon)  1897 - 1915 (18)
• Mabel Ellen  1898 - 1994 (95)
• George  1900 - 1900 (0 - 3 months old)
• George Henry  1901 - 1973 (71)
• Ernest Isaac  1904 - 1997 (93)
• Isaac Harry (went by Harry like his father)  1906 - 1964 (58)
• William Harwood  1908 - 1972 (64)
• Florence Emily  1911 - 1993 (82)
• Sidney 'Sid'  1913 - 2004 (91)
• Percy  1915 - 2002 (86)

The fact that the family moved around mid-Devon a lot, likely as Harry sought rural work, is revealed in the children's different places of birth and their attending different schools...

Edith was born in Kennerleigh, but a year later baby Edith and her family seemed to have moved to Crediton, as her younger brother Walter was born and baptised there in 1892; however, they seemingly soon moved back to Kennerleigh, as their mother Lucy passed away there in 1897. Kennerleigh and Crediton are only five or so miles apart.

At some point, they appear to have moved from Kennerleigh, about eight miles west, to Lapford, for Edith attended school there as a young girl. By 1898, when Edith was seven, the family seem to have briefly returned to Crediton again, as there her younger half sister Mabel was born in Tolleys on 25th November, and Edith attended Crediton Hayward School for one week from 28th November. Mabel's birth certificate shows that though she was born in Crediton, her mother's residence was Shobrooke, which is two miles west of Crediton. At some point, around this time, Edith and Walter attended school in Thorverton, which is four and a bit miles east of Shobrooke.

1899 saw them move again, about four and a bit miles, this time from Thorverton to East Coombe. Whilst the family resided there, Edith and Walter attended nearby Stockleigh Pomeroy Church of England School from the October. 1900 saw them move again: that year the moved East Coombe, about three miles east, to West Bowley, Cadbury; Edith and Walter attended Cadbury School from the 12th March to the 7th September, when the family left the area.

As reported in the Tiverton Gazette (Mid-Devon Gazette) of 21st August 1900, Edith's father Harry was fined 1 shilling for neglecting to send Edith regularly to school. "The child had made 59 attendances out of a possible 89, between 4th May and 22nd June last."

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1900, when Edith was nine, her younger half brother George passed away as a very young baby - only zero to three months old. Her father and step mother would name their next born son George also, likely after their lost child.

The 1901 Census shows they had moved back to Thorverton:

At some point between 1901 and 1904, they family moved three and half miles south to Upton Pyne, for there Edith and Walter attended school for a time, before returning to Crediton in 1904. From 10th October 1904, Edith and Walter attended Crediton Hayward School, whilst the family lived at Chapel Down, Crediton. Edith's last day at the school was 3rd June 1905, for three days later she would have turned fourteen and been deemed too old to attend. Presumably from this time she either found work or helped at home, looking after her many younger siblings.

Later that same summer, Edith's younger brother Walter, aged twelve, whose character on his school report was listed as 'bad', stole a silver watch and chain from farmer Mr Daniel Butt of Burridge Farm, Chawleigh. Walter threw the watch and chain into a field, but it was soon discovered. Consequently he was sent to a industrial school for three years. Industrial school and later the army would reform his character.

Did Edith and Walter live apart from their father and step family for a time? Notable, whilst Edith and Walter attended Crediton Hayward School and their address is listed as Chapel Down in Crediton in October 1904; their younger half siblings Fred, Mabel and George began attending Sandford School from 25th June 1904, and their address is given as Priorton Mill (a mile north of Sandford, and three and a bit miles north of Crediton). These three stayed at Sandford School for three years, till the family left the area in July 1907. Also Walter appeared to be staying, neither in Crediton nor Sandford, but with their grandfather in Chawleigh in the summer of 1905, when he stole the watch.

The family moved next back to Crediton, where Fred, Mabel and George attended Credtion Hayward School, like their older half siblings had done before them. Then from February 1908, they began attending Dunsford County Primary School. By this time, the family were living at Sowton Cottage, in Dunsford, which is about nine miles south of Crediton where they last lived. They left the school only five months later, in July 1908, when they family moved again - this time, five miles east, to Holcombe Burnell, where they again attended the local school.

Around 1909, Mabel, George, Ernest and Harry attended school in Longdown (only a mile west of Holcombe Burnell where they previously attended), before the family moved about ten miles east to Hittisleigh - the children attended the school there from September 1910. At the time they lived at Beer or Beara Cottage, which was seemingly about half way between Hittisleigh and Cheriton Bishop. They were still there a year later at the time of the 1911 Census. In November 1911, the children left the school on their leaving the district.

1911 Census:

Edith's father and step family continued to move around mid Devon, but in 1911, Edith, by then a young woman, left them to marry. On 5th June 1911, Edith (20) married William Henry Moore (21), a labourer, in Drewsteignton, Devon. Edith's father acted as witness at the wedding. Edith and William don't appear to have had any children.

Edith was twenty-three, when the First World War began. Edith's younger brother Walter, younger half brother Fred, and her second husband all fought in the First World War. Sadly Fred (18) and her first husband William (about 24) passed away in the first years of the war. Young Edith soon remarried. In Oct/Nov/Dec 1915, in Honiton, Edith (24), a widow, married William Trigger (27), a male nurse at a mental hospital (or, as it was termed at the time, an asylum attendant - likely at the Devon County Mental Asylum).

A blurry copy (unfortunately I don't have the original photograph)
of Ellen, William and their eldest daughter Phyllis, c 1918

The couple remained in Honiton for a few years. They married there in 1915 and their first child was born there three years later; but by 1920, they had moved to Kerswell Cottages in Kenn. Electoral registers show that a few years after that, in late 1922 or early 1923, they moved to Holly Bank in Exminster - the family remained there for some years, and can still be found at 16 Holly Bank sixteen years later in the 1939 census, though William seems to be missing from the census. Ellen 'Nellie' Trigger, William's elder sister, is however shown living with Edith and her two sons.

Edith and her second husband had four children (1 daughter and 3 sons):

• Phyllis Lucy E  1918 -
• William Henry John  1920 -
• Reginald James H  1924 - 
• Cecil A E  1925 - 1928 (3)

In Apr/May/Jun 1928, when Edith was thirty-six, her youngest son, three-year-old son Cecil, sadly passed away, in Exeter. Edith's two surviving sons would have been young men during the Second World War. Did they serve in the war? If they did serve, they survived.

1939 Census:

On 13th June 1959, Edith's second husband William passed away, aged seventy-one, at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. The cause of his death was respiratory failure and heart failure.

On 7th April 1971, Edith passed away, aged seventy-nine, at Dawlish Hospital. At the time of her death, her address was 21 Jubliee Close, Exminster. The cause of her death was a cerebral haemorrhage and hyperpiesia. Their eldest son William was the informant of both his parents' deaths.

Great Great Uncle William 'Willie' George Mutters

My Great Great Uncle Willie (1898 - 1910) was the younger brother and youngest sibling of my Great Grandmother Violet Grace Mutters (1894 - 1953).

William 'Willie' George Mutters was born on 25th March 1898, in Woodbury, Devon, to George Mutters (32), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (42), a dressmaker.

Willie, along with his brothers, was given the middle name George, likely after their father.

Willie was the youngest of seven children (4 daughters and 3 sons):

• Charlotte Irene  1888 - 1890 (1 year)
• Henry George  1889 - 1889 (0 - 3 months)
• Lily Emmeline  1890 - 1970 (79 years)
• Charles 'Charlie' George  1892 - 1970 (78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (2 - 4 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

Before Willie was born, three of his elder siblings - Charlotte, Henry and Anna/Anne - passed away as infants, leaving Willie the youngest of four surviving siblings.

1901 Census:

Willie, as his elder siblings before him, attended Woodbury Church of England Primary School. Willie, aged four, began at the school on 7th April 1902.

Sadly Willie passed away as a child. On 12th March 1910, aged eleven, Willie passed away, in Woodbury. He was buried on 16th March 1910, in Woodbury.

My Woodbury Family History

My own formative years were spent in the seaside town of Exmouth in south-east Devon. Going to the main school there, a small bus load of children, including one of my best friends, travelled in every day, through the woodland, from the nearby village of Woodbury. Researching my family, I discovered I myself had familial links to the village.

My great grandmother Violet Grace Sandford (nee Mutters) (1894 - 1953), the beloved mother of my maternal grandfather, who sadly passed away whilst he, then only twenty, was completing his national service in the middle east; this once doting mother to three mischievous little boys, it turns out was born and grew up in the same village as my schoolfriend. A young Violet and her surviving siblings - Lily, Charlie and Willie - one hundred years earlier, even attended the same village primary school as my friend had.

Photograph of Woodbury Primary School, c 1900. Violet and her siblings attended the school in the 1890s and early 1900s. May they be amongst this group of Woodbury schoolchildren?

Around the turn of the last century, one would have found the Mutters family living on Globe Hill in Woodbury. There they are recorded on the 1901 and 1911 censuses; and it seems, according to electoral registers, that they lived there till Violet's mother (my great great grandmother) Emma's death in 1924.

Photograph of Globe Hill, Woodbury, 1904

Photograph of Globe Hill, Woodbury, 1914

Violet's parents and younger brother Willie, who passed away aged only eleven, are buried in Woodbury's churchyard (St Swithun's). The Woodbury History Society lists their plots: Violet's parents, George and Emma, are buried together at A331, and Willie is buried at A457. These plots are helpfully marked on their map of the churchyard. One day I should visit their graves.

Whilst Violet's mother Emma was originally from Exeter, her father, my great great grandfather George Mutters (1865 - 1918), though born in nearby Exton, was baptised, as were all his siblings, at the church in their own father's native Woodbury; and the family moved back to Woodbury when he was a very young boy. As a young man, George moved briefly to Exeter, where he met and married his wife Emma; they moved around a little, before returning to settle in Woodbury, where they brought up their surviving children.

George's father, my great x3 grandfather George Mutters (1825 - 1896), apart from living for a short while in nearby Exton, was born and lived most of his life in Woodbury. As a teenager in the 1840's, he worked as a servant for the Ashford family at Venmore Farm, as did his future wife Anna Maria Havill.

Photograph of (Higher) Venmore Farm, Woodbury

As well as an agricultural labourer, George went on to act as sexton, like his father John before him, at Woodbury Church.

Photographs of St Swithun's Church in Woodbury, c 1895, where George and his father John each acted as sexton in the 1800s.

In addition to being a religious man, it seems George was a keen gardener. Woodbury began an annual flower show in 1881, and in its first year, George won first prize for his spring-sown onions. In 1883, he won third prize for best cultivated cottage garden; and in 1884, he won joint third prize for best cultivated cottage garden.

Two of George and Anna Maria's children passed away as toddlers; poignantly, part of a sexton's duties included digging graves, meaning George likely dug the graves of little Elizabeth and William, and well as other family members. The death of little Elizabeth, one April morning in 1856, in their little labourer's cottage in Woodbury, was a most tragic accident. I will let you read of it...

From the Western Times of 3rd May 1856:

How traumatic her infant daughter's death must have been to Anna Maria. She's washing - such a normal domestic situation - and her attention is off her infant for but a moment, but in that moment, that life-changing moment, her daughter manages to pull the tub of boiling water over herself. Imagine the screams, the cries.

Another duty of George and John's as sexton was to keep order in the church during service. One Sunday in January 1863, this appeared a struggle for George, as young lads were laughing and chatting, disturbing the service and greatly annoying the rector; indeed, so much so that one lad, Sameual Lockyer, was later charged with indecent behaviour.

From the Western Times on 16th January 1863:

A decade later saw George himself in the dock, when he was accused of stealing the shawl of a Mrs Sarah Street, who had left the shawl at church. Though the shawl was later found at his home, George was found not guilty. George's wife Anna Maria claimed she had taken the shawl away to look after it until the owner could be found.

From the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on the 15th May 1874:

From the Western Daily Mercury on 2nd July 1874:

The vicar at Woodbury, one Rev. Fulford, defended George's character, calling him "an honest man"; but thirty years earlier the word of Fulford was not so respected in Woodbury.

When Fulford came to Woodbury in 1846, he caused upset in the village as he preached the new Tractarianism (which later developed into Anglo-Catholicism) and not Church of England Protestantism.

In an incident reported in the Western Times of 22nd January 1848, George's father, my great x4 grandfather, John Mutters (1804 - 1862), then sexton, was described as "respectable", standing up to Fulford by refusing to hand over the church keys.

John was both carpenter and sexton. Poignantly again, as the village carpenter, he likely made the coffins of his parents and three children who died young, and well as digging their graves, in his role as sexton - that is till his son George took over the role.

Whilst the men were sexton-ing around Woodbury, the women were busy lace-making. George's wife, my great x3 grandmother Anna Maria Mutters (nee Havill) (1826 - 1897), though not born in Woodbury, spent most of her adult life in the village and died and was buried there; she and her adult daughters are recorded on censuses as lacemakers; as are the generation before them, John's wife, my great x4 grandmother Mary Mutters (nee Marks) (1797 - 1869) and her adult daughters.

Being a lacemaker was a common occupation for labouring women in east Devon till recent history. Lace-making required great skill and was often taught to girls from a young age, with the skill and knowledge being pasted down, as in this side of my family, from mother to daughter. One can picture them, in their little caps, sat on the front step on sunny days, or huddled around a single lamp indoors on dark evenings, craving the light to see their detailed work by; the older ladies supervising, the younger learning their craft, whilst those younger still play around, there not long ago in the front rooms and on the front steps of labourer's cottages in quiet, old Woodbury.

Whilst sexton John's parents were not native to Woodbury, his lace-making wife Mary's were. This far back one can no longer look to censuses, but is forced to rely on church records - records long scrawled in Woodbury Church by the famous Fulford's predecessors.

Mary's mother, my great x5 grandmother, Mary Marks (nee Pearse) (1767 - 1837) was baptised, married and buried in Woodbury - it seems she spent her whole life in the Devon village. Her parents, my great x6 grandparents, Henry Pearse and Grace Pearse (nee Westcombe), had married in Woodbury Church in 1763 and were both described as of the parish of Woodbury; however, I cannot find record of their own baptisms there.

Mary's father, my great x5 grandfather, Thomas Marks (1772 - 1845), agricultural labourer, and his siblings were also baptised in that same church. There too their parents, another set of my great x6 grandparents, William Marks (1734 - 1792 or 1806) and Elizabeth 'Betty' Marks (nee Howell) had married in 1758. Both parties were described as of the parish of Woodbury, and it appears likely William at least was baptised there in 1734, with his parents, my great x7 grandparents, John Marks and Joan Marks (nee Perryam/Perium/Periam) being married also in Woodbury Church in 1733.

A John Marks was baptised in Woodbury in 1705. His mother's name is not given, but his father was called William Marks. The baptism records of John Marks and his siblings in the late 1690's and early 1700's are the earliest records of the Marks family in Woodbury. However, John Marks' wife, my great x7 grandmother, Joan Perryam/Perium/Periam was also baptised in Woodbury in 1705. Being base, her father's name is not given, but her mother was called Elizabeth.

An Elizabeth Perryam/Perium/Periam was baptised in Woodbury in 1696 - too young to be Joan's mother, being about nine in 1705, if baptised soon after birth. However, there was definitely a Perryam family in Woodbury in the late 1600's, as church records prove. Indeed they seem to have been in Woodbury for generations before this.

There you are - I can trace this particular branch of my family tree all the way back to Woodbury in the late 1600's, if not before, with over two hundred years of my family's history taking place in that small Devon village. And to think, as a child, all I knew about Woodbury was that was where one of my friends lived.

Great Great Aunt Anna/Anne Mutters

My Great Great Aunt Anna/Anne (1896 - 1896) was the youngest sister of my Great Grandmother Violet Grace Mutters (1894 - 1950).

Anna/Anne was born on 20th February 1896 at Globe Hill in Woodbury, Devon, to George Mutters (30), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (40), a dressmaker.

Anna/Anne was the sixth of seven children (4 daughters and 3 sons):

• Charlotte Irene  1888 - 1890 (1 year)
• Henry George  1889 - 1889 (0 - 3 months)
• Lily Emmeline  1890 - 1970 (79 years)
• Charles 'Charlie' George  1892 - 1970 (78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (2 - 4 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

In Apr/May/Jun 1896, Anna/Anne passed away, aged only two to four months, in Woodbury.

Her name on her birth record is listed as Anne, but on her death record it is listed as Anna.

Great Great Uncle Charles 'Charlie' George Mutters

My Great Great Uncle Charlie (1892 - 1970) was a mason, bricklayer, and father of one.

Charles 'Charlie' George Mutters was born on 11th April 1892, in Woodbury, Devon, to George Mutters (26), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (37), a dressmaker.

Charlie was baptised on 12th June 1892 in Woodbury.

Charlie was the fourth of seven children (4 daughters and 3 sons):

• Charlotte Irene  1888 - 1890 (1 year)
• Henry George  1889 - 1889 (0 - 3 months)
• Lily Emmeline  1890 - 1970 (79 years)
• Charles 'Charlie' George  1892 - 1970 (78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (0 - 3 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

Charlie, along with his brothers, was given the middle name of George, presumably after his father.

A few years before Charlie was born, his eldest siblings, Charlotte and Henry, passed away as infants.

Charlie and his surviving siblings all attended Woodbury Church of England Primary School. Charlie began attending the school on the 21st February 1896, aged three, nearly four.

In Apr/May/Jun 1896, when Charlie was about four, his youngest sister Anna/Anne passed away, aged only zero to three months, in Woodbury.

1901 Census:

As a teenager, Charlie followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a mason's labourer.

In 1907, along with his younger sister Violet, Charlie attended evening school in Woodbury.

On 12th March 1910, when Charles was seventeen, her youngest brother Willie passed away, aged only eleven in Woodbury.

1911 Census:

Charlie would have been twenty-two when the first world war began, but I cannot find record of him serving in the war.

On 20th April 1918, when Charles was twenty-six, his father George passed away, aged fifty-two. Though he passed away in Wales, he was buried in his native Woodbury.

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1923, Charlie (31), a mason and bricklayer, married Florence Putt (33) in the district of St Thomas, Devon.

Charlie and Florence had one son:

• Horace G  1925 -

It seems Charlie and his family lived at Globe Hill in Woodbury till his mother Emma's death in 1924. On 9th May 1924, when Charlie was thirty-two, Emma passed away. She was buried alongside her husband. According to the electoral registers, Charlie then moved from Woodbury to 2 Johnson's Place in Withycombe Raleigh (now part of Exmouth) in 1925. A year later, he moved to 12 Claremont Terrace in Exmouth.

In 1927, Charlie and Florence can be found living at 65 Rosebery Road in the Colonies (land reclaimed from the sea in the 19th century) in Exmouth. In 1928, they moved to 45 Phear Avenue, also in Exmouth, where it seems they stayed for some years - they can still be found there eleven years later on the 1939 Census.

1939 Census:

When the census was taken, Charlie was 'seeking work', meaning the sole income was that of his fourteen-year-old son Horace, who worked as a shop assistant.

Alas I known little of Charlie's later life, other than its close. In Oct/Nov/Dec 1970, Charlie passed away aged seventy-eight, in the district of Devon Central.

Occupations of my 56 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandparents

The most common occupation of my 28 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandfathers in the 19th and early 20th century was farm work (25) - be it as a farm/agricultural labourer (15), farm servant (5) or horseman on a farm (5). This was followed by a far second of working for the railway (6) - be it as a workman/labourer (2), lorry driver (1), packer (1), guard (1) or refreshment attendant (1).

Other notable occupations were: stone mason/mason's labourer (3), being in the army (3), and working with metal (4) - be it as a blacksmith (2), tinplate worker (1) or labourer in an iron foundry (1). Religion also drew some to volunteer their time (2), as a sexton (1) or lay preacher (1).

My Great Grandfather Walter Vernon in his army uniform, in the 1910's

The most common occupation of my 28 Great, Great Great and Great x3 Grandmothers in the 19th and early 20th century was an unpaid one: that of being a housewife (28) or - as it's sometimes written on later census - 'unpaid domestic duties'. Often before she married, the woman was in service (16) - be it as a domestic servant/maid (10) or a farm servant (6). Other notable occupations were: housekeeper (3), laundress (3), lacemaker (3) and dressmaker (2).

No doubt if I had been born a hundred or so years earlier I would have been a little maid, living and working from a young age on a farm or in a middle class household, expected to marry and become a housewife. The lace-making women of my family came from around the same south-east area of Devon where I was brought up, so I may have learnt this craft too. If I'd have been a boy, I would have likely been sent off to live and work as a farm servant, then progressed to farm labourer or even a horseman. If my father had a trade, such as a mason, I would have likely followed in his footsteps. Or if I moved to the city for work, found work with the railway.

My Great Grandfather Walter Vernon in his railway uniform, in the early 1960's

Some occupations have not changed that much. For example, my nanny, as a teenager in the 1940's, was sent away from home to work as a sort of mother's help, whilst my mother worked as a childminder around the millennium, and I myself trained as a childcare apprentice in the 2010's.

Whilst my male ancestors began the 20th century mainly on the farm, working with horses, through the course of that century they and their children found work with more modern forms of transport - the railway, building roads, as labourers and mechanics. Their grandchildren (my parents) left behind the agricultural working class - they were born in towns and worked in offices. As white collar workers, they entered the lower middle class.

My great grandparents left school around the age of eight, my grandparents around the age of thirteen, and my mother at sixteen; whilst my father (the first in his family) and my sister have been able to go to university. Cottagers for hundreds of years, suburban council houses in the 20th century, gave my great grandparents and grandparents better homes; old age pensions meant they could retire in their old age. The NHS saved my grandmother's and my mother's life, when the latter when born premature in the 1960's; saved my life at its start, and my grandfather's near its end. Our lives have been improved by the welfare state. Yet, unlike my parents, I have never wanted to work in an office, but longed for a little cottage of my own in the country - all domestic and agricultural. A return to my roots, but with the independence and health afforded to me by modernity.