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.
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| 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.
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| My dad as a toddler, playing outside his home at 25 Hillyfield Road, c 1964 |
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| 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.
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| Les and Delma outside 10 Heather Close, c 1980s |
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| 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).
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Burnthouse Lane, c 1930s |
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| Burnthouse Lane, c 1930s |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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