Thursday, 28 May 2020

Great Great Half Uncle George Henry Vernon

My Great Great Half Uncle George (1901 - 1973) was the younger half brother of my Great Grandfather Walter Charles Vernon (1892 - 1965).



George was born on 20th September 1901 in the Thorverton, Devon, to Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (31), an agricultural labourer and farm carter, and Ellen Vernon (nee Tonkins) (24), a former domestic servant and now a housewife.

George and his older brother Fred were baptised together on 5th April 1903 in Brampford Speke. George was likely named for his older brother of the same name, who had passed away, aged only zero to three months old, the year before George Henry was born.

George had four older half siblings (one half sister and three half brothers) - the children of his father Harry and his first wife Lucy James - :

  • Edith Ellen  1891 - 1971  (79)
  • Walter Charles  1892 - 1965  (73)
  • William John  1894 - ????  (?)
  • Frank  1896 - 19?? (?)

And nine full siblings (seven brothers and two sisters):

  • Frederick 'Fred' (born Tonkins, later Vernon)  1897 - 1915  (18)
  • Mabel Ellen  1898 - 1993  (94)
  • 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)

At some point between 1901 and 1904, the family moved to Upton Pyne, for there George's older half siblings Edith and Walter attended school for a time; and George's next younger brother Ernest was born in Netticott, Upton Pyne, in January 1904.

From 25th June 1904, George, with his older siblings Fred and Mabel, attended Sandford School. On their school record, their address is given as Priorton Mill (a mile north of Sandford). They stayed at the school for three years, till July 1907, when the family moved about three miles to Crediton. There George and Mabel attended Crediton Hayward School, as their older half siblings had down before them.

Then from February 1908, George, along with Fred and Mabel, began attending Dunsford County Primary School, which is about nine miles south of Crediton where they last lived. They left the school only five months later, in July 1908, when the 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 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.

The family were still there a year later at the time of the 1911 Census:


In November 1911, George, Ernest and Harry began attending Drewsteignton Primary School (Drewsteignton is only about four miles from their previous home in Cheriton Bishop). At the time, the family lived at Tenants Piece (or Tenantspiece) Cottage in Drewsteignton. They left the school in May 1912, when they moved to Whiddon Down, a hamlet just to the west of Drewsteignton.

Around 1912 or 1913, the family moved about three miles east to South Tawton. There, at their home of Turnpike Gate, George's younger brother Sidney was born in April 1913. But the family had moved back towards Whiddon Down, within a few years: in February 1915, George's youngest brother Percy was born at their home of Toll Bar House in Whiddon Down. On a second look, they might not have moved at all, for a toll-house, which often had a gate across the turnpike road, was a cottage on which the charges for the turnpike road were often displayed. Also Whiddon Down is within the district of South Tawton.

During my father in his family tree research of the 1990's, he met with George's younger siblings, by then old men, he Great Half Uncles Sid and Percy. Sifting through some his research now, I just found scribbled that Sid (and presumably George and the rest of the siblings also) was "brought up at Barnstaple Cross, near Crediton".

George was twelve when the First World War began. His older half brother Walter and older brother Fred both served in the war. Whilst Walter, an experienced soldier, survived; teenage Fred was not so lucky. He was killed on Thursday 30th September 1915, during (or just after) the Battle of Loos, aged only eighteen. His name appears on the Men of Dunsford war memorial.

Alas I know next to nothing of George's adult life. My father's research puts his death year as 1973 (though I cannot confirm where he got this information from). There was a George Henry Vernon who married, had children, and then died in Staffordshire in 1973 (born around 1901); however, there was also a George Henry Vernon born in Staffordshire in 1901, so the death is more likely of this George and not ours.

Our George may well not have stayed in Devon or perhaps he didn't get married or have any children, meaning he comes up less frequently in records.

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