Box People and Places
Latest Issue 31 Spring 2021 
  • This Issue
    • Celebrity Visits
    • Middlehill Tunnel
    • Doris Pepita Chappell
    • Local Roman Finds
    • Gingell
    • Jut the Ticket
    • Straightening & Levelling
    • Tottle Family
    • Rudloe Part 2
    • Bowdler
    • Bullocks Worldwide
    • James Shell of KIngsdown
    • Bill Peter Recalled
    • Rudloe WW2 Remnants
    • More Stink Pipes
    • Northey Tankard Found
  • Early Medieval
    • Britain in Late Antiquity
    • Box after AD 350
    • Why Speak English?
    • Art and Craft
  • Previous
    • Issue 30 - Georgian Rudloe
    • Issue 29 - Darkest Hour
    • Issue 28 - VE Day
    • Issue 27 - Northey
    • Issue 26 - Heritage Trail
    • Earlier Issues 1 - 25 >
      • Issue 25 - Slave Owners
      • Issue 24 - Highwaymen
      • Issue 23 - Georgian
      • Issue 22 - War Memorial
      • Issue 21 - Childhood 1949-59
      • Issue 20 - Box Home Guard
      • 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
      • 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
  • Series
    • Northeys >
      • Early Family
      • World of the Northeys
      • Unpaid Bill: Smith & Northey
      • Family Tree
      • George Wilbraham
      • Life in Box
      • George Edward
      • Safe & Steady Son
      • Army Life
      • Theatrical Events
      • Rolls-Royce Pioneer
      • Northey Donkey Cart
      • Other Children
      • Later Family
      • Selling Up
      • Northey Legacy
    • Box School Series >
      • Box Charity School
      • Formation of Box Schools
      • Schools WW1 to WW2
      • Box Schools, 1920s
      • Boys' School, 1927
      • Evacuee Schoolboy 1941
      • Box School 1945-83
      • Class of 1954
    • Box Farms >
      • Weavern Farm and Mill
      • Old Jockey Farm
      • Hill House Farm
      • Coles Farm
    • Box Library Project
    • NATS Trails >
      • Heritage Trails 2019
      • Conservation Areas
      • Box NATS Trails 2018
      • Alcombe and Shockerwick
      • Mills on Box Brook
      • Saxon Footpaths
      • New History Trails 2017
      • Roman Road
      • Box Hill Trail
      • Georgian Middlehill
      • History Trails 2016
      • Mad House
      • Thomas Railway
      • Market Place Origins
    • Prehistory >
      • Kingsdown's Menhir Secrets
    • Roman >
      • Early History Hoard
      • Roman Road Finds
      • Ancient Discovery
      • Roman Mosaics in Box
    • Early Medieval
    • Feudal >
      • Magna Carta in Box
      • Monk's Tale
      • Norman Conquest of Box
      • Tracing Bartholomew Bigod
      • When it Rained and Rained
    • Late Medieval
    • Tudor & Stuart >
      • Box in Civil War 1642 - 51
      • Wolf Hall and Box
      • Marsh Family
      • People during Civil War
      • Original Box Revels
      • Tudor Local Government
      • Ordinary People
      • Religion in Box, 1475-1660
      • Where You Live in 1626 >
        • Ashley
        • Central Box
        • Ditteridge
        • Hatt, Old Jockey and Blue Vein
        • Hazelbury
        • Henley and Washwells
        • Kingsdown
        • Middlehill
        • Rudloe
      • Hugh Speke Shaped Box
      • Walter Bushnell
      • Reformation in Box, 1535
      • Ten Tudor & Stuart Mansions
      • Death at Thomas à Becket >
        • For Whom Box Bell Tolled
      • Tudor & Stuart Timeline
      • John Aubrey's Box
    • Georgian >
      • Napoleon versus Box
      • Revolutionary Times
      • Coaches in 1830
      • Agricultral Census 1803
      • Tithe Apportionment
      • Slavery Families
      • Mullins Family, Schoolmasters
      • Box Churchyard
      • Sheridan's Duel
      • Tree of Life at Middlehill
      • Box's Highwayman
      • 1752: Very Odd Year
      • Witches, Quakers and Chapels
      • The New Road, 1761
      • Vulgarity in Box
      • Rebuilding the Village
      • Speke Family
      • Georgian People
      • Georgian Timeline
    • Rail & Quarry >
      • Crane 57
      • Railway Men Remembered
      • Old Clay Pipe
      • Recalling Box Quarries >
        • Oily Series
      • Quarrymen and their Families
      • Built in Stoneyards
      • Quarries in 2000
      • Single Ticket
      • Trainspotting in Box
      • Light Through Box Tunnel >
        • More Light on Tunnel
        • Brunel Myth
        • Sunrise at Box Tunnel
      • Marl at Middlehill
      • James Moodey
      • Railway Staff in Box
      • Impact of Railways
      • Vivash Follow-up
      • Underground Quarries
      • Lambert's Stoneyard
      • Cranes at Work
      • Railway Policeman
      • Terror in Tunnels
      • Vivash Family
      • Railway Buildings and More
      • Why Railways Came to Box
      • Box in 1830
      • Building Box Tunnel
      • Boxing and Quarrymen >
        • More Jem Mace
      • Clift Quarry Steam Loco
      • Timeline 1830 - 1870
      • Trial Shaft
      • Underbridges
    • Late Victorian >
      • Edwardian Love Story
      • Northey Estate Sale 1912-1923
      • Box Fete & Friendly Societies
      • Methodism in Box
      • George Reeves, Quarryman Ganger
      • Dipsomania in Box
      • 1870 Start of Era
      • Victorian Farming
      • Ashley Leigh
      • Steam Mill and Cottages
      • Class Division
      • Grove Inn
      • Box House
      • Celebrations >
        • Jubilee Mug 1887
      • Parish Magazine History
      • Postcards of Box >
        • Postcard Solved
      • Skeate, Speck and Ponting
      • 1899 A Year of Festivities
      • Valens Terrace
      • Village Outings >
        • Excitement for Outings
        • Cycling Craze
      • Timeline 1840 to now
      • Local Pubs
    • Great War >
      • Photos 2014
      • Cecil Lambert's War
      • VAD Working Parties
      • After the War
      • Box School Research
      • School WW1 Projects
      • List of Servicemen
      • Embroideries
      • In Memoriam
      • Never Forgotten
      • Where They Lived
      • Christmas 1913 and 1914
      • Children in WW1
      • Neighbour Against Neighbour
      • Home & Far Away
      • Finding Private Hall
      • Box Before the War
    • Inter War Years >
      • Shops in 1920s
      • Fascism
      • Sports Day 1931
    • WW2 Index >
      • Land Girl Remembers
      • World War 2 Scrapbook
      • Box in 1943
      • Aircraft Factories
      • D Day Implications, 1944
      • Peace
      • VE Day 1945
      • After the War
      • Epitaph to WW2
      • Wartime Memories
      • Wartime People
      • Bath Blitz 1942
      • Invasion Threat 1942
      • Children in War
      • Air Raids on Box
      • Military Camps
      • Royal Visits
      • Your WW2 Tributes
      • Dunkirk Evacuation
      • Box Home Guard >
        • Home Guard Names
      • Life at Home
      • Evacuee Children
      • Village & Ammunitions Depot
      • Memories of WW2
      • In Service at Home
      • At War
      • Lead up to War
      • Servicemen & Women
      • Timeline 1939-45
      • VE Day Remembered
      • Dennis Moss >
        • Hazelbury Air Crash
        • Air Crash Wreath
        • Flight Crew Lost
        • Graham Brayshaw
      • Evacuated From Belgium
      • WW2 Resting Place
      • Sherman Tank Disaster
    • Modern >
      • Modern Art
      • Centre of Commerce
      • Shoe Sculpture >
        • Stiletto Sculpture
      • Characters in 1940s
      • Teenage Rebels, 1960s
      • Swingin Sixties or Not?
      • A Box Childhood
      • Box People from 1950s
      • Shops in 1950 Box
      • Box in 1950s
      • Village in 1950s
      • Summer of 1959
      • reCollections
      • Residents After the War
      • Coach Trips 1950s
      • Never Had It So Good !
  • Contact
    • Blog
    • Q&A
Picture
James Vezey:
Master Butcher and Publican


David Ibberson
March 2015

Among the many photographs collected by the late Phil Lambert was the one left marked James Vezey. He ran
the Chequers pub in the Market Place and was a member of the same family who owned the candle factory on Quarry Hill.

There has been very little written about the Chequers branch of the family and James Vezey, Master Butcher, of Box. So I hope this article will balance the interest in this important village family.

All photos courtesy Margaret Wakefield
In the previous issue we saw how the Vezey family became the manufacturers of soap and candles at Quarry Hill in Box. This was only one branch of the Box family and another existed who were shop-keepers in the Market Place. At times, the two branches seem to have evolved independently, perhaps because of a perceived difference in social status.

James Vezey, Master Butcher
How did the Vezey family learn their trade as butchers and publicans? There appears to be a strong link between the Box Vezeys and a family of the same name in Batheaston. Among the Batheaston Vezeys is at least one James who also was a butcher. The 1861 census records a James Vezey living in Bristol whose occupation is that of grocer. We don't know if either of these references is the same man as James Vezey Senior, Master Butcher of Box, or of his son, James Vezey, Junior. 
James Vezey Senior (1805 - 1865) was born in Ditteridge. He and his wife, Frances, had at least six children: Thomas W (b 1834), Elizabeth, Mary (b 1838), Frances Junior (b 1841), Jane (b 1842), James Junior (about 1848).
We know that James Senior was the publican from 1848.[1] It is not clear when he relinquished the pub to his son, James, but he died in 1865 and James Junior took over the work. James Junior (1848 - 1906) married Elizabeth (1848 - 1911) and in 1881 he called himself Master Butcher & Innkeeper at The Chequers.

We have more information about James Junior through the history of Box Cricket Club written by Donald Bradfield (his grandson) and his cricket colleagues including the Lambert family. Phil Lambert had a photograph (below, courtesy Margaret Wakefield) of the Chequers, standing outside of which is a large man wearing a top hat and white apron.

Picture
James Vezey outside the Chequers pub and butcher's shop.
There is also a photo of James playing in one of the cricket teams of this time.
Picture
We get an amazing insight into the character of James Junior from Donald Bradfield who says: He owned two farms, Henley and Blue Vein, a butcher's business where he slaughtered and sold his own-bred beasts and an inn with its own brewery [2]  Donald goes on to say that he wasn't wealthy because he helped others to his own detriment. He was Overseer for the poor for 29 years, and sat on the parish and district councils besides being a member of the Board of Guardians. And his most notable claim to fame was through his beloved cricket: Dr Martin credited him with the biggest hit ever made in Farm Mead. A towering six which carried clean over an old elm tree down by the Vicarage wall. That year was 1887.

James Junior and Elizabeth had at least five children: William, Helen, James, Percival and Annie. We are lucky to have photos of several of these people from the Lambert  photo albums.

Picture
William Vezey
Picture
Helen and Percival Vezey
Picture
Helen Vezey (later Mrs William Bradfield)
PictureElizabeth (Mrs James Jnr) Vezey
On his death on 9 June 1906, James Junior left £3588.5s.9d to his widow, Elizabeth, and his nephew, John Cook Vezey, tallow chandler.

The two families were still very close because Elizabeth (right) continued to run the pub until her death in 1911, when it was taken over by Percival. On Elizabeth's death on 9 July 1911 she left £943.19s.11d to William and Percival Vezey, butchers, and Thomas Vezey, solicitor (son of James the candle manufacturer).

Probably by then trade had declined and the Chequers premises were sold out of the Vezey family to Ushers Brewery in 1913, who put in their own licensee, Clifford Marshman, in that year.


Most of the Vezey family were in exempted trades during the Great War.
But Percival enlisted aged 37 and served in the Army Supply Corps. He contracted tuberculosis and was discharged in May 1918. He died in April 1919, leaving his remaining assets worth £793 to his sister Annie who lived at 2 Rockleigh. The connection of the Vezey family with the Chequer's butcher shop and pub was broken.

Vezey Family Tree
Early Family and Candle Factory Family

See Clive Banks' Vezey Family of Box

Butchers & Innkeepers
1. James Vezey Senior
James Senior (1805 - 1865) born Ditteridge married Frances Senior (d 22 November 1868).
Children: Thomas Wilton (b 1834), Mary (b 1838), Frances Junior (b 1841), Jane (b 1842), James (b 1846 or 1848).
On his death at the Chequers on 20 June 1865, James Senior left effects valued at under £800. Probate was sworn by his relict, Frances, and his brother, Edwin, victualler of Batheaston.
On Frances Senior's death in 1868 her estate was sworn by her son, James, butcher and John Cook Vezey, Soap Manufacturer.

2. James Vezey Junior
James Junior (1848 - 1906) married Elizabeth (1848 - 1911) and they lived at The Chequers.
In 1881 James called himself Master Butcher & Innkeeper
Children: William (1872 - ), Helen (1873 - ), James (?), Percival (1879 - 1919), Annie (1881 - )
On his death on 9 June 1906, James left £3588.5s.9d to his widow Elizabeth and his nephew John Cook Vezey, tallow chandler.
On Elizabeth's death on 9 July 1911 she left £943.19s.11d to William and Percival Vezey, butchers, and Thomas Vezey, solicitor.

References
[1] Claire Dimond research
[2] Donald Bradfield, A Century of Village Cricket, p.36
Back to Issue 8