Tuesday 16 July 2019

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.

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