Category: Wheelwrights, Publicans and a Country Lad
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Bankrupt in Bognor
I recently wrote about my Great Grandfather’s move from Bognor in Sussex to Oxted in Surrey and pondered about what made him make this move. I had been researching his life in South Bersted, just outside of Bognor on the main Chichester Road. He had become what I had presumed to be a successful entrepreneur…
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Henry Comes to Oxted
In last week’s post I described Henry Spillett’s arrival in Bognor after leaving home in Canterbury. Henry, my Great Grandfather, became the Licensee of The White Horse in South Bersted while also operating a Coachbuilding business at the back of the pub. In this post I explain his arrival and first decade of life in…
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Henry Leaves Home
In previous posts I have established the origins of my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, in Canterbury, Kent. He was born in 1858 in Ivy Lane. He and his mother were living in her mother’s house with his older brother John and his Uncle Stephen. This is recorded in the 1861 Census return. Because his…
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From Canterbury to London
Previously, I outlined the story of my paternal Great Great Grandparent. A strong maternal upbringing of two generations of the Spillett family in the cathedral town of Canterbury in Kent. I had discovered my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, living in Ivy Lane. This week I am looking at how Henry and in particular, his…
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A Canterbury Tale
My Father, Bill Carver, spoke fondly of his childhood and early life but did not give away much detail. There is a video recording of him in a ‘talking heads’ interview that my sister made in the 1990’s. He spoke, with some prompts, of his upbringing and life in Oxted, Surrey, where he was born.…
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Lodsworth, gateway to the Carver family
The history of the Carver family has its roots in the agricultural 19th Century county of West Sussex. The small village of Lodsworth lies between Petworth and Midhurst, just above the South Downs. The views from Google street view suggest that the village was an idyllic place to have lived in, although I suspect that…