George Betteridge, 1863-1949 Life and Work of a Quarryman & Publican
Text and Photos Jane Hussey July 2026
Text and Photos Jane Hussey July 2026
My great grandfather George Betteridge was the third child of Mary Taylor from Devon and James Betteridge, engine man waterworks, who was born in Box. George was born at Exeter St Leonards in 1863. His childhood was largely spent there and at Upton Pyne and he would have been in the latter half of his teenage years when the family moved back to Kingsdown after the death of his mother in the Devon County Asylum in 1876. With three of his siblings, George was billeted in Kingsdown with Mary Smith, nee Shell (1828-). There is no known family relationship between the Shell and Betteridge families, and we assume the arrangement provided an income and company for the widowed Mary, whose husband Frederick N Smith, mason, had died in 1871. Most of Mary’s children had left home except probably for her youngest Charlotte (1865-1940).
George and Charlotte were of similar ages and they probably formed a close friendship. But both needed to train and earn an income. By now George was too old to attend school, so he followed in his forefathers’ footsteps in Box and learned the trade of quarrying. Charlotte had moved away from home by 1881 to assist her sister Mrs Elizabeth Beale as a dressmaker. Learning this trade stood her in good stead for later in life. Elizabeth was married to James Beale, house decorator, at the time living at 89 Price of Wales Road, St. Pancras. Despite the separation, George and Charlotte fell in love.
This was not the only marriage because on 27 December 1881, George and Charlotte’s surviving parents, James Betteridge and Mary Smith, were married. Family tales suggest that George and Charlotte were not happy with this marriage as this now made them stepbrother and stepsister and they thought that they themselves might not therefore be able to wed. But it did not deter them and the children were married at Box Church on Boxing Day 1883. Charlotte’s older sister Ann Eliza Betteridge returned to Kingsdown to witness their marriage along with older brother Frederick. Annie Eliza was in service in Worcestershire in the intervening years and she signed her name on the marriage certificate, so she was still single at that time.
Charlotte's sisters did not approve of her marrying George Betteridge, who was a drinking man, a habit they very much disapproved. From that time on, neither Ellen nor Mary Jane paid Charlotte a visit. The other habit George had was to smoke a 'baccy' pipe and he was rarely without it. He had a little card in his possession which read:
George and Charlotte were of similar ages and they probably formed a close friendship. But both needed to train and earn an income. By now George was too old to attend school, so he followed in his forefathers’ footsteps in Box and learned the trade of quarrying. Charlotte had moved away from home by 1881 to assist her sister Mrs Elizabeth Beale as a dressmaker. Learning this trade stood her in good stead for later in life. Elizabeth was married to James Beale, house decorator, at the time living at 89 Price of Wales Road, St. Pancras. Despite the separation, George and Charlotte fell in love.
This was not the only marriage because on 27 December 1881, George and Charlotte’s surviving parents, James Betteridge and Mary Smith, were married. Family tales suggest that George and Charlotte were not happy with this marriage as this now made them stepbrother and stepsister and they thought that they themselves might not therefore be able to wed. But it did not deter them and the children were married at Box Church on Boxing Day 1883. Charlotte’s older sister Ann Eliza Betteridge returned to Kingsdown to witness their marriage along with older brother Frederick. Annie Eliza was in service in Worcestershire in the intervening years and she signed her name on the marriage certificate, so she was still single at that time.
Charlotte's sisters did not approve of her marrying George Betteridge, who was a drinking man, a habit they very much disapproved. From that time on, neither Ellen nor Mary Jane paid Charlotte a visit. The other habit George had was to smoke a 'baccy' pipe and he was rarely without it. He had a little card in his possession which read:
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"Tobacco is a hateful weed - I like it.
It makes you thin, it makes you lean. It takes the hair right off your bean, It's the worst darn stuff I've ever seen. But I like it." |
At the start of their married life George and Charlotte lived at Whirlygig Cottage in the fork of the Lower Kingsdown Road, afterwards occupied by the famous actress Maisie Gay. Their first three children were born there. On the death of James in 1887, the family moved back to Jasmine Cottage (now called Vine Cottage), Kingsdown, to live with their stepmother Mary. This is where my grandmother Alice Maud was born in 1895. It is interesting to note a family feature which has carried on into this generation, the deepset eyes of Mary Shell, mother of similarly featured Charlotte, were very prevalent among many of George and Charlotte's children.
By 1888 George was on the electoral roll, himself now registered as the occupant of the Newman-Smith Kingsdown cottage with his wife, Charlotte Smith and young family since 1883. He was working as a quarryman with the Bath Stone Firms, a company founded in 1887 out of seven smaller ones: Bath Stone Co. Ltd., Marsh & Co. Ltd., Samuel Rowle Noble, Pictor & Sons, Stone Bros. Ltd., Isaac Sumsion, and Randell & Saunders Ltd.
By 1888 George was on the electoral roll, himself now registered as the occupant of the Newman-Smith Kingsdown cottage with his wife, Charlotte Smith and young family since 1883. He was working as a quarryman with the Bath Stone Firms, a company founded in 1887 out of seven smaller ones: Bath Stone Co. Ltd., Marsh & Co. Ltd., Samuel Rowle Noble, Pictor & Sons, Stone Bros. Ltd., Isaac Sumsion, and Randell & Saunders Ltd.
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George worked in these quarries for 28 years all in all. Earnings in 1882 were about 15s a week for a quarryman. Eventually he became head foreman, partly because of his physical prowess. It is said that when the roof was about to cave in one day, he used his great physique and strength to hold up the roof props (called scaulters or scorters), whilst other men carried out the necessary work to prevent the tunnel collapse. Where stone had been removed the ceiling would still move so these small diagonal props were necessary between the remaining pillar and the ceiling. Vertical tall props were used where there was danger of the roof falling in, but these were rare due to the skill of the quarrymen in cutting out the stone, which was very much a precision job. Another family tale records that, whenever travelling fairground boxers came to the area, George would offer to fight these pugilists, commonly called 'pugs'. If you could last two rounds in the ring you won 5 shillings. George apparently won some and lost some. We have a photo showing George boxing with his son Ernest both in gloves, not bare-knuckle fighting.
One thing we do know is that George left his mark in the Lower Hill Quarry beneath Quarry Hill where he inscribed his name on the stone in one of the headings called Peter's Traverse at the southern end of the quarry. All routes in the quarry had names, some called after famous Roman routes as The Appian Way. The walls of the tunnels were extensively daubed with graffiti, including stone miners' names, sometimes dates, hymns, biblical quotes, and warnings to fellow quarrymen. Some derogatory remarks such as If ..... don't turn up for work on Saturday, I'll bash his head in, but also poems with alternative versions such as:
One thing we do know is that George left his mark in the Lower Hill Quarry beneath Quarry Hill where he inscribed his name on the stone in one of the headings called Peter's Traverse at the southern end of the quarry. All routes in the quarry had names, some called after famous Roman routes as The Appian Way. The walls of the tunnels were extensively daubed with graffiti, including stone miners' names, sometimes dates, hymns, biblical quotes, and warnings to fellow quarrymen. Some derogatory remarks such as If ..... don't turn up for work on Saturday, I'll bash his head in, but also poems with alternative versions such as:
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"The boy stood on the burning deck
His feet all covered in blisters He took (sic) (tore?) his trousers down the front And had to wear his sisters." |
This poem was one often recited by George's daughter, Maud, my grandmother, and I do wonder if she had not learnt it in all innocence from him, and he from other quarrymen! The quarry's working period was 1867-1902 and instructions such as "Want this pies [piece] out and on [one] here" were inscribed on a particular stone, or tallies of stacks of stone, such as "4 feet 5 inches Ashlar, 6 feet of 10 Bonders, 154 building stones 35 feet cube." Maybe this was someone's order or a bill for pay.
Also, tallies are to be found, the calculations daubed directly on to the stone itself, where paper and pencil was probably not present: “25 feet 7 inches. Ashlar, 2 yards, 25s.7d + 1½ yards. 8s.4d = 33s.11d.
George would have had approximately two miles to walk to the entrance of the quarry in Henley over the fields and through the track in the woods and he would have entered probably through Tucker's Quarry, this being the closest to the Peter's Traverse which linked with Tucker's Traverse, between a quarter and half a mile inside the workings. At the end of a long day's shift, the return trek would of course have to be made.
The 1901 census shows the whole family living on Kingsdown in a house with more than five rooms. This was not at the Swan Inn pub as Francis Goodhind was the then publican with George's uncle Henry still living there and running the Inn. Probably they were at the Kingsdown cottage home of Mary Betteridge, George's mother-in-law, but as George was stated as the head of household, maybe she had already relinquished the family home to her daughter and son-in-law. George's younger brother John, his wife Christina and their new-born son of 10 weeks, Robert John, were also there, which would fit with the cottage layout (which sometimes was divided into three separate cottages). Altogether twelve Betteridges were living there in 1901.
Also, tallies are to be found, the calculations daubed directly on to the stone itself, where paper and pencil was probably not present: “25 feet 7 inches. Ashlar, 2 yards, 25s.7d + 1½ yards. 8s.4d = 33s.11d.
George would have had approximately two miles to walk to the entrance of the quarry in Henley over the fields and through the track in the woods and he would have entered probably through Tucker's Quarry, this being the closest to the Peter's Traverse which linked with Tucker's Traverse, between a quarter and half a mile inside the workings. At the end of a long day's shift, the return trek would of course have to be made.
The 1901 census shows the whole family living on Kingsdown in a house with more than five rooms. This was not at the Swan Inn pub as Francis Goodhind was the then publican with George's uncle Henry still living there and running the Inn. Probably they were at the Kingsdown cottage home of Mary Betteridge, George's mother-in-law, but as George was stated as the head of household, maybe she had already relinquished the family home to her daughter and son-in-law. George's younger brother John, his wife Christina and their new-born son of 10 weeks, Robert John, were also there, which would fit with the cottage layout (which sometimes was divided into three separate cottages). Altogether twelve Betteridges were living there in 1901.
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Running the Swan Inn
George took over the tenancy of the Swan Inn about 1904. Charlotte ran the inn and George continued to work at the quarry. At this time the Swan Inn was owned by the brewery JH and H Blake Ltd of Lacock. in those days the stairs went up immediately from the front door in the middle of the pub and beneath them was a serving hatch from the tap room from which the beer was served. All the floors were stone-flagged. There was only one bar, the rest of the ground floor being given over to a scullery, shed and stable as shown on the plan of 1904. The Swan did have its own water well with a pump which was at the bottom of the orchard. A pipe leading from it up to a big storage tank in an outhouse on the back of the pub served it and every Sunday morning a man came to pump up the water until the tank was full. The only toilet was an outside urinal built into the garden wall (pubs being a male domain). The garden now forms the car park to the pub. |
George held the pub licence for about four years. The family believe that their last two children, Jack (John William) and Kathleen, were born at the pub in 1903 and 1906 respectively. In 1905 his mother-in-law, Mary, died there. George paid £17 rent a quarter to the owners, JH and H Blake Ltd, and a tithe to the church of 2s.5d. He was also liable for the rates, but the owners paid the insurance on the pub. I was recently taken into the cellar of the pub by a caretaking landlord and shown George's Room (as he knew it) the furthermost room on the right of the pub, empty but for a modern freezer!
A recent landlord told me that three ghosts were to be seen at the Swan Inn: the first was a shadow of a shape smoking a clay pipe in the corner by the fireplace accompanied by the smell of smoke. Could this have been George the elder? The second is of the bottom half of a girl in a frilly skirt with black stockings and black boots on - we do not know of a child of our family dying there. And the third is of a man seen in the bar in moleskin breeches and hacking jacket - was he a ferreter? George the younger certainly was keeping Airedale terriers and ferrets for that purpose, but he did not die at the Swan.
A recent landlord told me that three ghosts were to be seen at the Swan Inn: the first was a shadow of a shape smoking a clay pipe in the corner by the fireplace accompanied by the smell of smoke. Could this have been George the elder? The second is of the bottom half of a girl in a frilly skirt with black stockings and black boots on - we do not know of a child of our family dying there. And the third is of a man seen in the bar in moleskin breeches and hacking jacket - was he a ferreter? George the younger certainly was keeping Airedale terriers and ferrets for that purpose, but he did not die at the Swan.
During this period, George's widowed mother-in-law, Mary, made her will. Perhaps she was ill in 1893 or perhaps she had by now seen enough of her son-in-law to know her mind. She left her house and garden to her daughter Charlotte with George as sole executor. This was Jasmine Cottage, later called Vine Cottage until the name changed back in 1961. One of the witnesses to the will was another son-in-law, James Beale a builder from Kentish Town, London, and husband of Mary's second daughter Elizabeth. Mary also bequeathed to Charlotte her insurance money which presumably would have paid for her funeral. Elizabeth and James Beale had already received the original cottage below the orchard during Mary's lifetime (probably in 1897) when Mary lost her electoral rights as a property owner. Nothing was left to her other surviving children, one of which (Ellen) would have welcomed some inheritance having married a gardener, John Peacock of Bathford. The bequest of this last house, however, did leave it in the hands of the Betteridges but George and Charlotte when Mary died in 1905.
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Times must have been hard and family stories tell that George left some of his lunch from down the quarry and bring back bread all covered in stone dust and chippings. The family would fight over the remainder of this quarr(y) bread. George appears to have decided that there was insufficient profit in the pub for his whole family and resolved to pass the licence to his son in 1909. By then, the Swan was holding stocks of 54 barrels of beer, 6 barrels of stout, 24 dozen bottles of sorts and 19 gallons of spirits valued at £32.10s. and no doubt stored in the cellar and tap room.
The move to South Wraxall
George and Charlotte could not move into their inherited property in Kingsdown, part of which was occupied by other relatives, Emma, the wife of Charlotte’s late brother Jacob Smith, and her second husband Jack Ash. Jack Ash was an unpopular person in the family and was proving difficult to remove from the cottage. George and Charlotte believed they owned both Vine and the top cottage because of the through door, which had recently been blocked up to give the two families their own privacy.
Nor were they able to live in the Swan Inn in 1905, where Francis Goodhind remained as publican. So they took the vacant tenancy of the Long Arms, South Wraxall, about 5 miles away in 1908. Their son Frederick was mentioned in the log of Box School on 25 September Frederick Betteridge, Standard IV, leaving to go to South Wraxall school, the family having moved from the parish. Another son, Ernest, then took over the tenancy of the Swan Inn from 1908 until 1911 before eventually becoming a driver for Carter's Travel of Bath. We have a photograph of him driving one of their charabancs on a men's outing taken outside the Longs Arms, South Wraxall in 1928.
Before leaving Kingsdown George sold some of his animals: Pony, smart, four years, been ridden and drove, will pass motors or trams. Also prize bred pigeons, Tumblers, best blood obtainable. G. Betteridge, Swan Inn, Kingsdown, Box. These were advertised in the Bath Chronicle, as were two stray dogs which he found wandering on Kingsdown.
George became the licensee of the Longs Arms and also ran the adjacent village stores (now the kitchen of the pub), where they sold home-cured ham, cream and butter, both of which daughter Amy made. She had won prizes and certificates for her butter making at the County Itinerant Butter School. They also ran a smallholding with chickens, pigs, two horses - one being a stallion called Boxer - and three cows called Daisy, Jersey and Lilly in the field (near the post office). In the cowshed opposite the inn (now a garage), Kathleen their youngest daughter relates that Lilly didn't like being milked so they always tied her legs together stopping her from kicking. Son Fred drove the cows home from the back field for milking but he was too lazy to walk back and used to ride astride one of them, his long legs dangling. The pigs were kept in a field adjoining the road just down from the pub. The current car park was the family's vegetable garden and grandson Bob Ford recollects the wall was 5 ft high at the back increasing to 8 ft high as it dropped to the road and Naylor the Airedale terrier used to jump over it to get out. The garden wrapped around the back of the pub and behind the shop was the dairy in which the butter was made. There was also a fridge there – presumably an early model. The Betteridges had a pony and trap, a so-called Governor's Cart hauled by Boxer the stallion, which was the local 'taxi service' bringing people to and from Bradford on Avon station, etc. This cart had solid rubber tyres – not the old iron-banded wheels of his other carts.
George was a bit of a slave driver, laying down the law at home, particularly with his wife Charlotte.
Despite his being very strict, George doted on his wife, whom he called Lottie. A letter to her when she was visiting relatives in Dawlish closed with the words Roll on Saturday, can't sleep, miss my bed chum. Four kisses end the letter. The family gradually rose in social status. Their son Frederick became eligible to vote on account of being in the services, but against him there is a letter "a" signifying that he was still absent, not yet returned from the War, where he had been serving in France and been through the 2nd battle of the Somme and Passchendaele.
George was elected a parish councillor for South Wraxall from 1919 - 1928, his original 3-year term of office being extended twice more and was listed as a Juror on the voters lists from 1922 until 1927. His role on the parish council included supervision of the roads and footpaths, maintenance of stiles,
rebuilding dry stone walls, and allocation of allotments. Many homes in South Wraxall had no running water (or gas or electricity for that matter) and George was appointed to obtain a cost from the Rural District Council as an urgent necessity. George was allowed an occasional licence at the Wiltshire Petty Sessions for the South Wraxall Fete to be held in his field lent for the purpose.
George relinquished his council duties in March 1928, concurrent with him leaving the village. He had already sold his farm implements and effects by auction on 8th October 1926. however wanted the remainder of a rick of hay and clover which was a year old and that did not sell. Nor could he sell his chestnut mare described as being 14.3 hands tall and quiet in nature, along with the milk cart harness and the crank axle spring cart – maybe they were all too old and did not reach their reserve, but I do wonder what happened to the poor old horse. This mare was either replaced by Boxer the stallion, or it replaced him, as my mother recollects there was only ever one horse and one pony at her grandfather’s.
A transcript of the sale details is included from which can be seen that George still ploughed and harrowed with the horse and used it in conjunction with the various carts. My mother recalls all the harnesses being stored in the tack room in one of the many sheds on the premises. The fact also that he sold all his hens and cockerels, yet resumed this occupation in retirement, and that even these sold for differing amounts, depending on age and quality. Most of the carts sold, but nobody wanted Townsend’s Ford van. How many people could even drive then in rural South Wraxall?
George and Charlotte could not move into their inherited property in Kingsdown, part of which was occupied by other relatives, Emma, the wife of Charlotte’s late brother Jacob Smith, and her second husband Jack Ash. Jack Ash was an unpopular person in the family and was proving difficult to remove from the cottage. George and Charlotte believed they owned both Vine and the top cottage because of the through door, which had recently been blocked up to give the two families their own privacy.
Nor were they able to live in the Swan Inn in 1905, where Francis Goodhind remained as publican. So they took the vacant tenancy of the Long Arms, South Wraxall, about 5 miles away in 1908. Their son Frederick was mentioned in the log of Box School on 25 September Frederick Betteridge, Standard IV, leaving to go to South Wraxall school, the family having moved from the parish. Another son, Ernest, then took over the tenancy of the Swan Inn from 1908 until 1911 before eventually becoming a driver for Carter's Travel of Bath. We have a photograph of him driving one of their charabancs on a men's outing taken outside the Longs Arms, South Wraxall in 1928.
Before leaving Kingsdown George sold some of his animals: Pony, smart, four years, been ridden and drove, will pass motors or trams. Also prize bred pigeons, Tumblers, best blood obtainable. G. Betteridge, Swan Inn, Kingsdown, Box. These were advertised in the Bath Chronicle, as were two stray dogs which he found wandering on Kingsdown.
George became the licensee of the Longs Arms and also ran the adjacent village stores (now the kitchen of the pub), where they sold home-cured ham, cream and butter, both of which daughter Amy made. She had won prizes and certificates for her butter making at the County Itinerant Butter School. They also ran a smallholding with chickens, pigs, two horses - one being a stallion called Boxer - and three cows called Daisy, Jersey and Lilly in the field (near the post office). In the cowshed opposite the inn (now a garage), Kathleen their youngest daughter relates that Lilly didn't like being milked so they always tied her legs together stopping her from kicking. Son Fred drove the cows home from the back field for milking but he was too lazy to walk back and used to ride astride one of them, his long legs dangling. The pigs were kept in a field adjoining the road just down from the pub. The current car park was the family's vegetable garden and grandson Bob Ford recollects the wall was 5 ft high at the back increasing to 8 ft high as it dropped to the road and Naylor the Airedale terrier used to jump over it to get out. The garden wrapped around the back of the pub and behind the shop was the dairy in which the butter was made. There was also a fridge there – presumably an early model. The Betteridges had a pony and trap, a so-called Governor's Cart hauled by Boxer the stallion, which was the local 'taxi service' bringing people to and from Bradford on Avon station, etc. This cart had solid rubber tyres – not the old iron-banded wheels of his other carts.
George was a bit of a slave driver, laying down the law at home, particularly with his wife Charlotte.
Despite his being very strict, George doted on his wife, whom he called Lottie. A letter to her when she was visiting relatives in Dawlish closed with the words Roll on Saturday, can't sleep, miss my bed chum. Four kisses end the letter. The family gradually rose in social status. Their son Frederick became eligible to vote on account of being in the services, but against him there is a letter "a" signifying that he was still absent, not yet returned from the War, where he had been serving in France and been through the 2nd battle of the Somme and Passchendaele.
George was elected a parish councillor for South Wraxall from 1919 - 1928, his original 3-year term of office being extended twice more and was listed as a Juror on the voters lists from 1922 until 1927. His role on the parish council included supervision of the roads and footpaths, maintenance of stiles,
rebuilding dry stone walls, and allocation of allotments. Many homes in South Wraxall had no running water (or gas or electricity for that matter) and George was appointed to obtain a cost from the Rural District Council as an urgent necessity. George was allowed an occasional licence at the Wiltshire Petty Sessions for the South Wraxall Fete to be held in his field lent for the purpose.
George relinquished his council duties in March 1928, concurrent with him leaving the village. He had already sold his farm implements and effects by auction on 8th October 1926. however wanted the remainder of a rick of hay and clover which was a year old and that did not sell. Nor could he sell his chestnut mare described as being 14.3 hands tall and quiet in nature, along with the milk cart harness and the crank axle spring cart – maybe they were all too old and did not reach their reserve, but I do wonder what happened to the poor old horse. This mare was either replaced by Boxer the stallion, or it replaced him, as my mother recollects there was only ever one horse and one pony at her grandfather’s.
A transcript of the sale details is included from which can be seen that George still ploughed and harrowed with the horse and used it in conjunction with the various carts. My mother recalls all the harnesses being stored in the tack room in one of the many sheds on the premises. The fact also that he sold all his hens and cockerels, yet resumed this occupation in retirement, and that even these sold for differing amounts, depending on age and quality. Most of the carts sold, but nobody wanted Townsend’s Ford van. How many people could even drive then in rural South Wraxall?
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And Back to Beloved Kingsdown
George retired from the Longs Arms in 1928 and he and Charlotte returned to their former Kingsdown home, firstly to the top end cottage before transferring to next-door Jasmine Cottage, now rechristened 'Vine Cottage', after a legal battle to evict Jack and Emma Ash. The top cottage had two bedrooms upstairs, a kitchen and pantry downstairs. Vine Cottage had one bedroom and an attic upstairs, the same downstairs. They both shared an outside washhouse and closet. They were described in 1909 as being old, possibly suggesting they were built in the early 18th century. The hamlet of Kingsdown was still without mains water at this time, their source coming from a bucket-well enclosed in a cupboard at the back of the cottages. The village drew its main supply of water from a dipping place which had constantly to be repaired. This water was rarely in a fit state for use and in 1929 George attended a Box parish council meeting to complain and my mother remembers the dirt and dead flies which would be brought up in the bucket. It was shortly afterwards that mains water was brought to Kingsdown, a few years ahead of the Ashley part of Box where George's sister Mary Ann (Polly) kept the Post Office. |
In retirement George became a so-called poultry farmer as stated on the marriage certificate of his daughter Kathleen to Claude Gibbons in 1931. His bantams received prizes at the Batheaston Fair and he sold the chickens commercially, both eggs and plucked chicken meat. The cess pit was also just beyond the privy shed at the end of the gardens and, when it overflowed, the chickens had to be brought higher up the garden and enclosed.
George also kept the ferrets at Vine Cottage and used to take his grandson Dick Gibbons with him on ferreting expeditions in the 1940s. The ferrets were kept in a cage in the outside privy at the bottom of the garden and my mother recounts that on privy visits she would sit and remove them from their hutch, draping them around her neck like a stole. On one occasion she was caught by her own mother Alice Maud who didn't know whether to scream with terror or retreat. By the next time they visited Kingsdown, the ferret hutch had been moved to a safer place. George would go out and net the rabbit holes and send the ferrets down to flush them out. During the Second World War they either made a rabbit stew or sold them for a tidy profit on the black market. George also had three dogs in succession all called Naylor, but numbered 1, 2 and 3.
Interestingly it was a clause in the lease of the Kingsdown Quarry of 1904 where George had worked for many years which stated that they would dismiss any labourer or workman who shall have been convicted under any Act of Parliament of poaching or killing game or trespassing in pursuit of game or rabbits on any land belonging to the Lessor [George William Northey] in the said parish." It was fortunate that George was never caught. George and Charlotte celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1933 at their tiny home with their surviving children and their spouses. A short article and photograph appeared in the local newspaper.
After 57 years of marriage Charlotte died in February 1940 of acute bronchitis. Her oldest daughter Winifred had come down from Romford, Essex, to help look after her. George lived a further nine years a widower, with daughter Amy having moved back in with them to look after both of them in their old age. George and Charlotte are buried in Box Cemetery also together in unmarked plot number 449. I was born a year before his death and my mother always told me that “he was pleased to have ‘met’ his great-granddaughter.
George also kept the ferrets at Vine Cottage and used to take his grandson Dick Gibbons with him on ferreting expeditions in the 1940s. The ferrets were kept in a cage in the outside privy at the bottom of the garden and my mother recounts that on privy visits she would sit and remove them from their hutch, draping them around her neck like a stole. On one occasion she was caught by her own mother Alice Maud who didn't know whether to scream with terror or retreat. By the next time they visited Kingsdown, the ferret hutch had been moved to a safer place. George would go out and net the rabbit holes and send the ferrets down to flush them out. During the Second World War they either made a rabbit stew or sold them for a tidy profit on the black market. George also had three dogs in succession all called Naylor, but numbered 1, 2 and 3.
Interestingly it was a clause in the lease of the Kingsdown Quarry of 1904 where George had worked for many years which stated that they would dismiss any labourer or workman who shall have been convicted under any Act of Parliament of poaching or killing game or trespassing in pursuit of game or rabbits on any land belonging to the Lessor [George William Northey] in the said parish." It was fortunate that George was never caught. George and Charlotte celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1933 at their tiny home with their surviving children and their spouses. A short article and photograph appeared in the local newspaper.
After 57 years of marriage Charlotte died in February 1940 of acute bronchitis. Her oldest daughter Winifred had come down from Romford, Essex, to help look after her. George lived a further nine years a widower, with daughter Amy having moved back in with them to look after both of them in their old age. George and Charlotte are buried in Box Cemetery also together in unmarked plot number 449. I was born a year before his death and my mother always told me that “he was pleased to have ‘met’ his great-granddaughter.
Betteridge Reunion 1953 at 66 Kingsdown. Left to Right, Back Row: Ern, Ted, Claude, Charlie, Fred and Fred. Front Row: Bertha, Kath, Ethel, Amy, Win and Maude
My aunt Amy inherited Vine Cottage and finally married her long-standing and patient beau Charlie Freeme. I spent many a happy holiday with them and their little dachsund Candy and being taken around the countryside in Amy’s Morris Minor which was kept on the piece of land on the opposite side of the road a little further down. The garage at Box told us once that they tried to keep the “old lady” going for the old lady! This was the last generation of Bettridges to live in Box and Kingsdown.
Family Tree
James Betteridge (1832-1887) of Box first married Mary Taylor (1833-1876). Children:
Frederick (1857-)
Ann Eliza (1860-)
George (1863-1949)
Charles Henry (1866-)
Mary Ann, known as Polly (1868-)
John (1871-).
George Betteridge (1863-1949) married Charlotte Smith (-1940) in 1883. Children:
Winifred (1885-)
Cicely (1886-)
Ernest (1888-)
Maud (1890-)
Amy (1895-) married Charlie Freeme
Frederick (1899-)
Kathleen () married Claude Gibbons in 1931
James Betteridge (1832-1887) of Box first married Mary Taylor (1833-1876). Children:
Frederick (1857-)
Ann Eliza (1860-)
George (1863-1949)
Charles Henry (1866-)
Mary Ann, known as Polly (1868-)
John (1871-).
George Betteridge (1863-1949) married Charlotte Smith (-1940) in 1883. Children:
Winifred (1885-)
Cicely (1886-)
Ernest (1888-)
Maud (1890-)
Amy (1895-) married Charlie Freeme
Frederick (1899-)
Kathleen () married Claude Gibbons in 1931