My potential Great x3 Grandfather William (c 1822 - c 1862), was an agricultural labourer, father of eight, and the potential grandfather of my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939).
(Several of my DNA matches on ancestry share the ancestors Mary Enoch and Benjamin Branson. It is most likely I am related to them via my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939) and his father John Batchelor. Benjamin and Mary's daughter Fanny married a William Batchelor (c 1822 - 1850's) and had children - including a John Batchelor - so it is likely through this line, though I am yet to confirm just how they connect.)
William was born around 1822, in Little Bourton, Oxfordshire, to Robert Batchelor, a labourer, and Ann Batchelor.
William was baptised on 17th Ferbuary 1822, in Cropredy, Oxfordshire.
William was the eldest of two children:
William 1822
Catherine 1826
[There seems a possibility that William's mother was maybe called Sarah Ann: most of the time going by Sarah, but going by Ann on William and Catherine's baptism records. Because Robert and a Sarah (nee Townsend) have more kids in the village and on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Census are literally a page over from William and his family, meaning they were very close neighbours. Plus I cannot find a marriage for a Robert and an Ann. However I cannot find a record where she goes by Sarah Ann. If the theory is correct, that would mean William and Catherine had more siblings:
Mary 1815
George 1816
Mercy 1818
Mercy 1819
Joseph 1820
William 1822
Evis 1824
Catherine 1826
James 1829
Mary Ann 1835]
Sometime, possibly as a teenager, William moved about twenty miles north from his native Little Bourton, Oxfordshire, to Thurlaston, Warwickshire.
On 28th June 1840, William (about 19), an agricultural labourer, married Fanny Branson (about 25), a single mother of two, in the next village over from Thurlaston, in Dunchurch, Warwickshire.
1840 Marriage Certificate:
Fanny and William did not sign their names, leaving only their marks, implying they could not write.
At the time of their marriage, both Fanny and William were living in the village of Thurlaston, Warwickshire. Within a year, they settled 20 miles south in William's native Little Bourton, Oxfordshire.
Map of the local area
William and Fanny had eight children (3 daughters, 5 sons):
Elizabeth 1840 - 1841 (about 2-3 months old)
Elizabeth 1842
Elijah 1845
Sarah Ann 1847
Levi 1849
Robert 1851
Frederick 1855
John 1857
Their eldest daughter Elizabeth passed away as a baby in 1841. On 19th January 1841, she was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Cropredy, Oxfordshire.
They gave their next daughter the same name.
All their children's births were registered in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Censuses give their birthplace as the village of Little Bourton, Oxfordshire.
William and Fanny only had three of their children baptised: their eldest Elizabeth, Levi and their youngest John. All in Cropredy - a village less the two miles north of Little Bourton, where the family lived.
1841 Census:
In 1849, William's house in Little Bourton was sold. Being a poor labouring family, I assume they rented a small cottage - sadly it is called a 'hovel'.
From the Banbury Guardian of 8th November 1849:
William Batchelor was the only one of that name living in the village on the 1851 Census, so I assume this article from 2 years earlier is regarding their family home. However, William was not a junior and his father was called Robert.
1851 Census:
The 1851 Census describes William's step son John Branson as having impaired faculties and being a cripple. Fanny was likely the primary carer for her disabled son.
In Jul/Aug/Sep 1856, William's older step-son Owen (who lived with his maternal grandparents) passed away, aged twenty-three, in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire. He was buried on 7th Sep 1856, at St John the Baptist, Upper Boddington, Northamptonshire.
There is a possible death registered for his disabled step-son John Branson in Oct/Nov/Dec 1856, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. [No age is given though]
1861 Census:
On the 1861 Census, Fanny is listed as married, but William is not present. On the 1871 Census, Fanny is listed as a widow. William passed away either in the 1860's or 1850's.
There are two deaths registered for William Batchelors in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire: one in 1862, another in 1863. He would have been about forty.
Her husband absent, Fanny worked in the fields. Their sons would go on to be agricultural labourers.
One of William and Fanny's daughters - likely Sarah Ann - had an illegitimate son called William Batchelor in Oct/Nov/Dec 1869, in Bourton. On the 1871 Census, William is listed as Fanny's son (very unlikely as she would have been in her mid fifties and her last child was born over a decade before) and on the 1881 Census, he is living with Levi and his wife, and listed as his nephew.
My Great Grandfather William (c 1882 - 1939) was a railway worker, farm labourer, blacksmith, and father of four.
Alas, despite my best efforts in researching William, his early life and origins remain a mystery...
Pre 1923
Later records imply he was born around 1882 (age given as 46 on May 1928 marriage certificate and as 57 on October 1939 death certificate) or even 1st Oct 1883 (date of birth given 1939 register, just over a fortnight before William died). As William was near death at the time of the 1939 register, it is unlikely he gave his personal information - likely his younger wife Dinah did.
However, looking at records of births from this timeframe has yet to determine a William which we can confirm is ours.
His marriage certificate also states his father was called John, a farmer and deceased before 1928.
Family legend says William came down to Devon laying roads and/or railway lines, possibly from Birmingham or the midlands; whilst, a newspaper article from the 1920s, says he was a native of Oxford.
Mine and my mother's DNA is presently (2026) coming up as 100% Devon and Somerset. However, this does not mean William, my great grandfather and her grandfather, was from Devon and/or Somerset. My mum would share approximately 17% to 34% with her maternal grandfather, but she very much looks like her paternal side. Presently, I would assume William was British, most likely English.
What we know of William's life is from 1923 onwards...
William the Navvy
From around February to July 1923, William was hired as a workman for the North Devon and Cornwall Junction Light Railway, to help construct the line from Halwill to Torrington in North West Devon. It is reported by the Colonel Stephens Society that "unemployed men had been shipped in for construction but lacked either skills or willingness, and in June 1923 rowdiness turned to a fairly nasty fracas".
What was this fracas? On Saturday 23rd June 1923, many of the company's workers spent the evening in Hatherleigh, dancing to the music of the Town Band in the square. Unfortunately, several were unhappy when police encouraged them to return to their camp at the end of the evening. Things quickly grew violent and two policemen were attacked. We know William was not one of the main culprits, but he could have known the men involved.
After what is reported as a 'short holiday', William returned to that area of North Devon on Monday 30th July 1923, arriving by train at Okehampton Station. Could the working class man afford to go on a short holiday or did he purposely leave the area after the fracas?
What we do know is that day (30th July 1923) at Okehampton Station, William's life changed forever...
The Accident
From the station, William got a lift in a lorry belonging to Mr J. H. Treneman of Hatherleigh. The lorry, driven by Frederick Northcott, carried six further railway workmen, and heavy iron and steel girders for use in the construction of the railway bridge over the River Torridge.
At the top of the hill, chains on the lorry broke, causing it to become a runaway. The driver shouted to the other men to jump, whilst he tried to control the vehicle. All the men, apart from William, managed to escape. The lorry quickly gained speed, reaching about fifty miles an hour. At the bottom of the road, it crashed into the garden wall of the police station. William Weeks was at work there at the time and was instantaneously killed. Our William and the driver were thrown forward, and the girders hurled through the air, landing on and around them. They were rendered unconscious and seriously injured. William sustained broken ribs and a fractured jaw.
The pair were taken by motor ambulance to the Okehampton Workhouse Infirmary and treated by Dr Wright. A month later, they were still too ill to give evidence in the inquest of the death of William Weeks; however, our William was able to get out of doors.
Family legend states that William was subsequently unable or found it difficult to work due to his injuries.
1925 and 1926 electroral registers show William living at Sheepwash.
At Stockleigh Farm
Despite his injuries, William at some point between 1926 and 1928 managed to find a little work at Stockleigh Farm, which is about half way between Hatherleigh, where the fracas took place, and nearby Highampton.
Stockleigh Farm was owned by one John Isaac.
Also working at the farm, as a domestic servant, was young Dinah Bessie Easterbrook. Dinah had already had two children out of wedlock. Dinah was forced to give her eldest, Evelyn Mary (born 1920), up. But she was able to keep her second child, Donald Jasper (born 1924), who family legend says was the son of Dinah's employer, farmer John Isaac.
John Isaac passed away on 1st May 1928. Soon his funeral took place and principal mourners included William and Dinah.
In his will, John Isaac had left Dinah "a legacy of two hundred pounds... [and] for her absolute use my freehold cottage known as 'Legge Cottage' in the parish of Highampton with the land attached". He also left Donald "a legacy of five pounds". Despite this inheritance, Dinah and her family did not stay in Highampton. Family legend says Dinah had to sell Legge Cottage to get money to get by.
Days after John Isaac's funeral, William (his age is given as 46, implying he was born around 1881/1882) and Dinah (25) married, on 10th May 1928, in Highampton.
Marriage Certificate:
Their wedding was reported in the Western Times on 18th May 1928:
Husband and Father
That summer, John Isaac's brother sold Stockleigh Farm, meaning William and Dinah had to find work elsewhere.
After his marriage, William unofficially adopted Dinah's young son Donald. William and Dinah also had four more children:
Victor William John 1929 - 2016 (87 years old)
Bessie 'Bette' Anne 1930 - 2010 (79 years old)
Stillborn twin (or died shortly after birth) 1930 - 1930 (0 years old)
Audrey Dinah 1934 - 2001 (66/67 years old)
The pair, with their young children, moved around mid Devon following work.
The 1929 electorial register shows William at Cookbury.
The 1930 electorial register shows William at Bondleigh. His and Dinah's daughter Bette (and her twin who was either stillborn or died shortly after birth) was born there at Council Houses.
The 1931 electorial register shows William at Winkleigh.
On her marriage certificate, William's daughter Bette lists his occupation as blacksmith. As did his widow Dinah on his 1939 death ceritifcate.
Did he find work as a blacksmith during the 1930s? Or did he perhaps work as a blacksmith prior to working for the railway? By the 20th century, there was less call for traditional blacksmithing; however, if skilled and trained in working metals, he would have been ideal to replace the unskilled workmen originally brought in to construct the railway lines.
Alas William grew ill and by 1939 was incapacitated. By then the family were living in Town Cottage, West Worlington.
1939 Census:
Death
On 13th October 1939, William passed away, aged about fifty-seven, due to heart failure (cardiac syncope and mitral valvular disease), at Town Cottage, West Worlington.
Death certificate:
After William's death, their young daughter Bette was distraught. Dinah, not knowing what to do, sent Bette to live with an 'Aunt Braund' in a cottage near Meldon Quarry, near Okehampton. Bette didn't known if 'Aunt Braund' was a blood relation or family friend. It seems likely 'Aunt Braund' was a family friend, and likely a relation of the Walter Braund who was William's best man in 1928.
Dinah's eldest son, Donald, then only fifteen, became the breadwinner. He worked as a farm labourer, and found cottage homes for his mother and young siblings on or near the farms where he worked. Within a few years, younger brother Victor, was also working as a farm labour.
Still the family struggled to get by. Bette, remembered that because of their poverty, they often had to accept help from the church.
Bette adored her father. She fondly remembered him playing his piano accordion.
She also remember that, unusually for the time, William wore earrings.
Why? It may have been a blacksmith or navvy superstition to protect the wearer, or perhaps a sailor superstition. Or he may have had Gypsy, Eastern European or Mediterranean heritage?
Bette had near-black hair, hazel eyes, and skin that tanned to light olive in the summer. Did she inherit her colouring from William?
Whether he was a Gypsy or from mainland Europe, a English blacksmith or Midlands navvy, hopefully I will one day be able to determine his origins.
I like to picture him as a younger man, mop of dark hair, singing and playing his piano accordion, looking a bit like Alfie in Lark Rise to Candleford:
