Box People and Places
Latest Issue 48 Summer 2025 
  • This Issue
    • Augustus Perren
    • Church Photos
    • Box Village Photos
    • Bath Photos
    • Pictor Photos
    • Celebration Photos
    • Perren Family Photos
    • Unknown Photos
    • Box People Photos
    • VE Day Full Story
    • Memories of VE Day 1945
    • VE Daty 2025 Anniversary
    • Oral History
  • Previous
    • Issue 46 - Box Hill
    • Issue 45 - Moleyns Lordship
    • Issue 44 - Viking Hazelbury
    • Issue 43 - Late Medieval
    • Issue 42 - Beautiful Box
    • Issue 41 - Becket Plays
    • Issue 40 - Selwyn Hall
    • Issues 30-39 >
      • Issue 39 - Modern Box
      • Issue 38 - Railway Workers
      • Issue 37 - Mill Lane Halt
      • Issue 36 - Box Rec
      • Issue 35 - Inter war
      • Issue 34 - Fogleigh House
      • Issue 33 - KIngsdown Post Office
      • Issue 32 - Chapel Lane
      • Issue 31 - Saxon Box
      • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issues 20-29 >
      • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
      • Issue 28 - VE Day
      • Issue 27 - Northey
      • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
    • Issues 10-19 >
      • Issue 19 - Outbreak WW2
      • Issue 18 - Building Bargates
      • Issue 17 - Railway Changes
      • Issue 16 - Quarries
      • Issue 15 - Rail & Quarry
      • Issue 14 - Civil War
      • Issue 13: Box Revels
      • Issue 12 - Where You Live
      • Issue 11 - Tudor & Stuart
      • Issue 10 - End of Era 1912
    • Issues 1-9 >
      • Issue 9 - Health & Leisure
      • Issue 8 - Farming & Rural
      • Issue 7 - Manufacturing
      • Issue 6 - Celebrations
      • Issue 5 - Victorian Centre
      • Issue 4 - Slump after WW1
      • Issue 3 - Great War 1914-18
      • Issue 2 - 1950s & 1960s
      • Issue 1 - 1920s
    • Index By Author
    • Partner Sites & Book Reviews
    • Currency Converter
  • People
  • Places
  • General
  • FULL Series
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
​
​Bullock and Say Family
Bob Bunyar
Photographs Bob Bunyar
​

January 2019
 
I own a Bullock of Corsham grandfather clock which just has the name Bullock on the face.  A friend of mine is a horologist who formerly worked in Bath but now resides in Swanage Dorset, where I also live and he has examined my grandfather clock and has dated it circa 1870 and being made by Thomas Bullock.
 
This clock was in the Say family from Corsham (this is my mother’s father side of the family) and I understand was kept at the Three Brewers public house in Priory Street, Corsham which was run by Edwin Say.  I’ve not been able to ascertain if the clock was in the public area or the private accommodation at the pub, but it is none the worse for its time there, and it is still in pretty good working condition. I cannot find out much information about Edwin Say but another Say, called Stephen, is mentioned as running the Duke of Cumberland public house in a 1915 Directory. More family research is required when time permits!

​I do however have a little further information which might be of interest. I understand that Edwin Say ran the Three Brewers Public House in Corsham, was born in 1854 and died in 1936 aged 82 in Royal United Hospital, Bath. According to my mother, who is now 94, he was a market gardener and grew grapes. He also worked on Methuen Estate as well as running the pub.
Picture
He was married on 27th April 1885 to a Sarah Gingell who was born on 25 December 1862. Edwin and Sarah had at least three children, Annie born 1886, Alice born 1888 and Edwin born 1890. I believe that their son, called Edwin Charles Say, died of a disease whilst serving in World War 1. His details are Serjeant Say, EC, service number TS/3138, died 23 January 1915 age 25, 118th Coy (Hythe) Army Service Corps, buried Hythe Burial Ground. He is mentioned on the War Memorial at Corsham Church/cemetery.
 
My mother does remember Edwin the father and can remember hearing something about son Edwin, but only when she was a child. Her father’s name was Ernest Say who married Josephine Harvey.
 
Stephen Say in Corsham ran the Duke of Cumberland Public House and is shown in a 1915 Directory. His wife may have been Marion, but not sure of that. What all the links are I don’t know as yet, and as I mentioned it’s all something to look at in the future! I would welcome any further information about the family to help me.​
Picture

​Pat Whalley (nee Say) Added to the Story
The picture of Bob’s clock is practically identical to the one we had, which unfortunately was destroyed. I did some research on Stephen Say because I thought there was something odd in their story. The war records of Corsham, produced after 1918 by Lord Methuen, stated that Edwin Say (presumably Edwin Charles) was thrown from a horse and injured on 19 January 1915 and died in Shorncliffe Military Hospital on 28th of that month. It must have been a very serious fall.
 
Mrs Edith Purnell was running the Duke of Cumberland pub according to the 1871 census with her husband George. George died in 1896 and she married Stephen Say in 1897. She died in 1901 and he married his niece Alice Sarah Say early in 1902. It all sounded rather sudden, but I checked the death certificates and there was apparently no suspicious reason for these deaths and sudden marriages. Alice's son Norman was born in October 1902.
Back to Issue 24