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.

Great Great Aunt Lily Emmeline Barner (nee Mutters)

My Great Great Aunt Lily (1890 - 1970) was a lacemaker, domestic servant, housewife, mother of four, and an elder sister of my Great Grandmother Violet Grace Mutters (1894 - 1953).

Lily Emmeline Mutters was born on 13th December 1890 in Cullompton, Devon, to George Mutters (24 or 25), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (35), a dressmaker.

Though the couple's third child, their first two children had passed away as babies, about a year before Lily was born, leaving Lily as their eldest surviving child.

Lily was the third 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 (77/78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (0 - 3 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

For some time, when Lily was but a baby, her father was ill. The 1891 Census shows him as a patient at Devon and Exeter Hospital, whilst Lily and her mother Emma stayed in Cullompton:

Though born and living in Cullompton for a time, around 1892, when Lily was about one year old, she and her parents moved about sixteen miles south west to her father's native Woodbury. There, Lily was soon joined by more surviving siblings.

On 26th May 1894, a three-and-a-half-year-old Lily began attending Woodbury Church of England Primary School. Her younger siblings, Charlie, Violet and Willie, would also go on to attend the school.

In Apr/May/Jun 1896, when Lily was five, her youngest sister Anna/Anne passed away, aged only zero to three months, in Woodbury.

1901 Census:

In July 1905, at the third annual Arts and Crafts Exhibition (in connection with the Exeter branch of the University Extension Guild), fourteen-year-old Lily exhibited her Honiton lace. Lace-making had been a common occupation for women in east Devon for centuries, and Lily and her school-friends' work was encouraged and celebrated as a successful revival of the craft.

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

In her teens or early twenties, Lily moved from her native Devon all the way east to London. There she can be found on the 1911 Census, aged twenty, working as a domestic servant (and sole live-in servant) for the Aria family. The Aria family was headed by New-York-born widow Marie Aria, who lived at 47 Chatsworth Road in Brondesbury, in North-West London, with five of her adult children - the majority of whom worked as cherks.

1911 Census:

On 20th April 1918, when Lily was twenty-seven, her father George passed away, aged fifty-two. Though he passed away in Wales, he was buried in his native Woodbury. Six years later, on 9th May 1924, when Lily was thirty-three, her mother Emma passed away, aged sixty-nine, in Woodbury. She was buried alongside her husband.

At some point, Lily returned to Devon, for in Apr/May/Jun 1924, Lily (33), a domestic servant, married William James Barner (33), a postman, watchman and caretaker, in the district of St Thomas, Exeter. At the time of their marriage, Lily was between five and seven months pregnant, for the couple's first child Reginald was born in the August of that same year.

Lily and William would have four children (2 sons and 2 daughters):

• Reginald W  1924 -
• Joyce V  1927 -
• John/Joseph C  1928 - 
• Betty H  1932 -

The birth records of their middle children imply Lily and her family moved to the district of Crediton in the late 1920s - electoral registers from this time show they were in fact living in Shute - ; the electoral register of 1931, shows they had moved to 1 Council Houses in Cadbury; and by the birth of their youngest child Betty in 1932, they where living in the district of Tiverton.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Barner family were living at 15 Parr Street in Exeter. According to the 1939 Census, William was unemployed at the time, and Lily carried out unpaid domestic duties, leaving the breadwinner, their fifteen year old son Reginald, who worked as a shop porter.

I know little of Lily's later life but its end. In Jan/Feb/Mar 1970, she passed away, aged seventy-nine, in Exeter.

Great Great Uncle Henry George Mutters

My Great Great Uncle Henry (1889 - 1889) was an elder brother of my Great Grandmother Violet Grace Mutters (1894 - 1953)

Henry George Mutters was born in Oct/Nov/Dec 1889 in the district of Tiverton, Devon, to George Mutters (23 or 24), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (34), a dressmaker.

Henry was the second 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 (77/78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (0 - 3 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

In Oct/Nov/Dec 1889, Henry passed away, in the district of Tiverton, aged only zero to three months old.

Henry's older sister, Charlotte, herself only one year old, passed away soon after, in Jan/Feb/Mar 1890, no doubt leaving their young parent's bereft.

Great Great Aunt Charlotte Irene Mutters Brealey (later Mutters)

My Great Great Aunt Charlotte (1888 - 1890) was the eldest sister of my Great Grandmother Violet Grace Mutters (1894 - 1953).

Charlotte Irene Mutters Brealey was born in Jul/Aug/Sep 1888 in Exeter, Devon, to George Mutters (22 or 23), a mason and bricklayer, and Emma Mutters (nee Brealey) (33), a dressmaker. Charlotte was born before her parents married.

Charlotte may have been named for her mother Emma's Jersey-born stepmother Charlotte Mutters (nee Filleul).

When Charlotte was three to six months old, her parents married. On 2nd December 1888, George and Emma married in Holy Trinity Church, Exeter. At the time of their marriage, the couple - and likely little baby Charlotte too - were living in Centre Street, Exeter.

Charlotte was the eldest 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 (77/78 years)
• Violet Grace  1894 - 1953 (58 years)
• Anna/Anne  1896 - 1896 (0 - 3 months)
• William 'Willie' George  1898 - 1910 (11 years)

Sometime in Charlotte's short life, she and her parents moved about fifteen miles north from Exeter to the Tiverton area.

Sadly Charlotte passed away as a baby. In Jan/Feb/Mar 1890, Charlotte passed away, between fifteen and twenty-one months old, in the district of Tiverton.