Lives of Quarrymen and Their Families
Compiled by Mark Jenkinson, Carl Vivash, Richard Pinker
January 2017
Compiled by Mark Jenkinson, Carl Vivash, Richard Pinker
January 2017
Henry Bull
It is quoted that Henry Bull walked from Colerne to Clift Quarry and back every day for his work.[1]
It is quoted that Henry Bull walked from Colerne to Clift Quarry and back every day for his work.[1]
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Frank Thomas Fletcher (1875 - 1954)
Frank Fletcher was nicknamed Smuts and he had something of a local reputation as a poacher and was frequently dismissed from his work for fighting.[2] It is possible that the name Smuts relates to his work as a fireman at one point? He was a complex character and we have told the story of his boxing exploits at Boxing and Quarrymen. He had other brushes with the law often occasioned by drinking too much alcohol, a common issue with some quarrymen. In 1906 he had a skirmish with Mrs Hancock, the landlady of the Quarryman's Arms, Box Hill, when he was refused more drink because he was already drunk. He declined to leave, annoyed other customers and was ejected at closing time. It wasn't the first time that he had been found to be drunk on licensed premises, as made clear in the report (right) from the Bath Chronicle dated 26 July 1906. |
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He had another side to his character. When he married Eliza Shoring (Shewring) at Box Church on 7 April 1900, she was a widow from Westwells, fourteen years his senior. She had previously been married to William James Vivash in 1881, a quarryman at Box Hill, with whom she had six children: Florence, Laura, Millie, Lillian, Dorothy and Ada. William James Vivash had died in 1892 (1897?). Frank and Eliza lived at Albion Terrace, Box Hill. Frank knew the family well and, to his great credit, he cared for the younger children and also Richard Vivash, who was Millie Vivash’s son. Millie was working as a servant in Bath for a Dr William Bregue when the 1911 census was taken and Richard was living with his grandmother, Eliza Shewring.
The day that the First World War broke out, Frank Fletcher volunteered to join the Wiltshire Special Reserve at Devizes on 4 August 1914, and tried to enlist a month later with the Wiltshire Regiment. He was immediately transferred as a private, aged 39, regiment number 15278, to the 7th Royal Dublin Fusiliers. At that time he was measured as 5 foot 4¾ inches, weight 120 lb, fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark grey hair. But he never served. He was immediately admitted to hospital and was discharged after 64 days as not likely to become an efficient soldier with Subacute Rheumatism at Curragh Camp in November 1914.
There is a record of a death for Frank T Fletcher in Devizes in 1954 which we believe is the same person. Eliza Fletcher died in 1926.
The day that the First World War broke out, Frank Fletcher volunteered to join the Wiltshire Special Reserve at Devizes on 4 August 1914, and tried to enlist a month later with the Wiltshire Regiment. He was immediately transferred as a private, aged 39, regiment number 15278, to the 7th Royal Dublin Fusiliers. At that time he was measured as 5 foot 4¾ inches, weight 120 lb, fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark grey hair. But he never served. He was immediately admitted to hospital and was discharged after 64 days as not likely to become an efficient soldier with Subacute Rheumatism at Curragh Camp in November 1914.
There is a record of a death for Frank T Fletcher in Devizes in 1954 which we believe is the same person. Eliza Fletcher died in 1926.
Henry John Thomas (Jack) Simpkins (1876 - 1946)
Jack Simpkins was a similar age to Frank Fletcher and he is also mentioned in the article on Boxing and Quarrymen. Jack's mother, Elizabeth (b 1857), from Atworth was widowed before 1881 and she worked as a laundress to bring up her two children, taking in stone miner lodgers to pay her rent on Quarry Hill. She married again to George Smith, another Labourer Quarryman and they lived at Box Hill.
Jack tried to join the army (3rd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment) as a 17 year-old quarry labourer and was admitted into the army in 1894 but was imprisoned a year later for among other things making a false statement on enlistment. The issue was a conviction for indecent assault in July 1892. Henry John Thomas Simpkins (aged 17), Frank Thomas Fletcher (aged 17) and Edward Henry Pearce (aged 20, box-maker) were convicted of raping Mary Morris at the Assizes in July 1892.[3] The prosecutor claimed that the assault was the worst outrage that had ever taken place in the county. Pearce was given seven years penal servitude but Simpkins and Fletcher only got 15 months hard labour in prison, persumably because they had a lesser part in the offense.
He married Elizabeth Jane Vivash in 1903, the sister of William James Vivash, which made him a brother-in-law of Frank Fletcher. Elizabeth had previously been married to William Franklin, another quarryman, who had died in 1901. The first son of Elizabeth Vivash and William Franklin was William James Franklin who died of frostbite at Salonika in 1915 and is commemorated on Box War Memorial. It was a very close-knit community. Jack served in the army until 1903 then had 3 years in the reserve before re-enlisting from 1906 to 1910.
At one time he seems to have married Ellen Wilkins and they lived at Box Hill. Elizabeth died in 1940 and then Henry married Eleanor Morgan in 1941. He died in 1946, aged 70 years.
Jack Simpkins was a similar age to Frank Fletcher and he is also mentioned in the article on Boxing and Quarrymen. Jack's mother, Elizabeth (b 1857), from Atworth was widowed before 1881 and she worked as a laundress to bring up her two children, taking in stone miner lodgers to pay her rent on Quarry Hill. She married again to George Smith, another Labourer Quarryman and they lived at Box Hill.
Jack tried to join the army (3rd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment) as a 17 year-old quarry labourer and was admitted into the army in 1894 but was imprisoned a year later for among other things making a false statement on enlistment. The issue was a conviction for indecent assault in July 1892. Henry John Thomas Simpkins (aged 17), Frank Thomas Fletcher (aged 17) and Edward Henry Pearce (aged 20, box-maker) were convicted of raping Mary Morris at the Assizes in July 1892.[3] The prosecutor claimed that the assault was the worst outrage that had ever taken place in the county. Pearce was given seven years penal servitude but Simpkins and Fletcher only got 15 months hard labour in prison, persumably because they had a lesser part in the offense.
He married Elizabeth Jane Vivash in 1903, the sister of William James Vivash, which made him a brother-in-law of Frank Fletcher. Elizabeth had previously been married to William Franklin, another quarryman, who had died in 1901. The first son of Elizabeth Vivash and William Franklin was William James Franklin who died of frostbite at Salonika in 1915 and is commemorated on Box War Memorial. It was a very close-knit community. Jack served in the army until 1903 then had 3 years in the reserve before re-enlisting from 1906 to 1910.
At one time he seems to have married Ellen Wilkins and they lived at Box Hill. Elizabeth died in 1940 and then Henry married Eleanor Morgan in 1941. He died in 1946, aged 70 years.
Can You Help Please?
The information about these quarrymen is patchy and photographs are rare. We would love to hear from you if you can add to the information, correct any details or contribute a photograph of the people mentioned.
The information about these quarrymen is patchy and photographs are rare. We would love to hear from you if you can add to the information, correct any details or contribute a photograph of the people mentioned.
References
[1] Cotham Spelaeological Society Memoirs, Vol IV, 1968, p.8
[2] Roger Tucker, Scripta Legenda Vol 1 p.34 Cotham Spelaeological Society Memoirs, Vol IV, 1968, p.8
[3] The Warminster and Westbury Journal, 9 July 1892
[1] Cotham Spelaeological Society Memoirs, Vol IV, 1968, p.8
[2] Roger Tucker, Scripta Legenda Vol 1 p.34 Cotham Spelaeological Society Memoirs, Vol IV, 1968, p.8
[3] The Warminster and Westbury Journal, 9 July 1892
