Category: EYA 2023

The idea of big families – called ‘long families’ in old dialect – is often considered a characteristic of rural families in the 18th and 19th centuries including those who lived and worked at Hoar Oak Cottage.  We at The Friends had fallen into that trap of thinking Hoar Oak Cottage must have been positively crammed with adults and children and indeed, as such a small cottage, it may well have seemed it at times.  However, during research for our book The Women of Hoar Oak Cottage: An Untold History, a better understanding of not only family sizes but the lives and deaths of children emerged. There were indeed some big families, but that’s not the entire story.   Starting with the first child known to be born at Hoar Oak in 1819, we summarise the findings below linked to their mothers’ names and ending with the last family the Antells in the 1950s: Elisabeth Vellacott nee Passmore:  2 children at Hoar Oak followed by 7 elsewhere. 2 died. Maria Dovell nee Pile:  1 child at Hoar Oak Cottage followed by 4 elsewhere. 2 died. Elizabeth Richards nee Rawle:  1 son followed by 3 at Hoar Oak Cottage. Mary Saunders nee Lancey:  1 child at Hoar Oak Cottage.  4 elsewhere.  2 died. Mary Bale nee Brook:  1 daughter.  Both mother and daughter died at Hoar Oak Cottage. Betsy Moule nee Berry:   6 children, only 1 born at Hoar Oak and two of whom died young.  Agnes Vellacott nee Crocombe:  5 children, 2 born at Hoar Oak. All survived to adulthood. Fanny Davidson nee Littlewood:  4 children at Hoar Oak Cottage, 2 more at Winstitchen. Helen Renwick nee Rodgers:  3 children, all at Hoar Oak, one of whom died in infancy. Sarah Johnstone nee Thomason:  13 children, 10 at Hoar Oak Cottage, all survived to adulthood. Christina Jackson nee Michell:  1 son and 1 daughter born at Hoar Oak Cottage. Both survived to adulthood. Florrie Bass nee Squires:  5 children, 1 at Hoar Oak Cottage, 3 died in Lynton Hospital from the effects of tainted milk. Alice Hobbs nee Jones:  1 child at Hoar Oak Cottage. Dorothy Little nee Jones:  4 children, 3 at Hoar Oak Cottage. Gertie Antell nee Ridd:  2 children, neither at Hoar Oak, 1 died aged 12 in Bideford Hospital.  Clearly, the number of children in Hoar Oak families shrunk from Elizabeth Vellacott nee Passmore and her 9 children to Gertie Antell nee Ridd’s two children.  The big family of 13 Johnstone children seems to have been a ‘blip’ rather than the ‘norm’.  These records also show the sad fact that many Hoar Oak families lost at least one, if not two children in infancy or youth, with the most startling loss being the three Bass children who died due to drinking ‘tainted’ (unpasteurised) milk.  In the case of Hoar Oak Cottage, it is safe to say that the idea of ‘big’ families was a bit of a myth and infant mortality meant there were rarely as many children at any one time as we might think. You can purchase a copy of The Women of Hoar Oak Cottage: An Untold Story by contacting info@hoaroakcottage.org  Cost is £5.95 + P&P.

In Britain, the expectation of a daily postal delivery might be considered a long-standing tradition – at least since 1635 when Charles 1st introduced a public mail service.  You can read more about the history of the post on this link www.postalmuseum.org.   However, this was not a tradition for the inhabitants of Hoar Oak Cottage who could not expect a postal delivery until Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Concession list of 1897 which ordered a daily postal service to every household in Britain. This was formalised in the ‘Postal Official Circular’ of 1897 page 157 {Cite: PostOfficeMuseum-Archive} which gives instructions on these changes coming into force on ‘Jubilee Day.’  How exciting this must have been for the inhabitants of the many lonely cottages scattered around the British countryside including the Johnstone family who were then living at Hoar Oak Cottage.  Sarah Johnstone came from Wales and must have longed for letters from her parents and siblings.  Her husband Shepherd James Johnstone came from Scotland, and he too must have looked forward to receiving a letter from home.  But sadly, history shows that this ‘concession’ was not to be.  At least not until 1902 when, on July 24th, the North Devon Journal {Cite: British Newspaper Archive} posted this short piece reporting on the outcome of local MP’s representation to the Postmaster-General to grant a daily delivery to the remote cottages out on Exmoor and served by Lynton Post Office. Despite Mr Soare’s sterling efforts this newspaper report shows that the cottages at Badgeworthy and Tom’s Hill were still considered too far away to get a delivery of post. Deliveries out on to Exmoor at that time were by horse and the 3 mile ride to Hoar Oak must have been considered quite far enough to deliver a postal service.  Badgeworthy and Toms Hill cottages were nearer to 5 miles away, over very rough terrain, and so the occupants were left to pick up their post from Lynton. Or perhaps their post was dropped at Hoar Oak Cottage and the inhabitants of the three cottages made their own ‘last mile’ delivery arrangements. By 1902, Queen Victoria, alas, was dead so the interpretation of her ‘jubilee concessions’ must have been left to others who had hard decisions to make.  Elsewhere in the British Postal Museum Archive are records of the local North Devon posties demanding an increase in salary – and who can blame them. Some years ago, the then archivist at the Exmoor Society set out to try and discover more about the old postal routes on Exmoor.  Their project didn’t include Hoar Oak Cottage, but the report makes for an interesting read including this lovely image shared below from that report. Read more on: https://www.exmoorsociety.com/assets/uploads/riding-an-old-postal-route.pdf 

When John Knight purchased the Royal Forest of Exmoor in 1818 he was keen on the idea of importing Scottish cattle to run on the wild uplands of Exmoor.  His thinking was that if the cattle can manage on the hills of Scotland they will manage on the hills of Exmoor.   By the 1860s, John’s son Frederic Wynn Knight was importing Scottish sheep down to Exmoor along with their Scottish shepherds and in many cases their wives and families.  Although the train infrastructure was well and truly on its way to being developed in the 1860s the journey down to Devon from the Scottish Borders would have been quite an expedition for both sheep and humans.   More information about this Scottish migration can be found on this link:  The Scottish Shepherds on Exmoor – hoaroak (hoaroakcottage.org) One interesting result of The Friends research into the Scottish shepherds on Exmoor is to do with this idea of the trip from Scotland to North Devon being something of an ‘expedition’.  Perhaps if one was travelling with a flock of sheep or even a flock of small children – when shepherds moved south with their wives and families – it would undoubtedly have seemed like an expedition.  Head Shepherd Robert Tait Little, who came originally from Dumfries, gives us a hint of what was involved with such a train journey.   You can read more about Robert and his wife Jane and their incredible story as part of the Scottish migrants on Exmoor on this link Robert Tait Little – hoaroak (hoaroakcottage.org) but for now we want to focus on one page from his extensive diaries he kept.   It is from January 1879 and is preceded by several days recording very bad weather, snow and icy conditions.  We understand from his descendants,  that Robert’s mother had died and he needed to return to Dumfries for her funeral.  His diary entry reads as follows: January 29, left Exmoor for a visit to Scotland & left Dumfries to return to Exmoor Feb 3rd with the 7pm train arrived at South Molton ¼ before 10 Tuesday morning Feb 4th. Left South Molton with the 4 PM train arrived at Dumfries at 6 AM Jan 30th. Railway Fair (sic) South Molton to Dumfries £1.11.8 January 29th left Exmoor for Dumfries Feb 3rd came back to Exmoor.                                            Robert Little Reader – you are challenged to make this ‘expedition’ from South Molton to Dumfries and back.  Leave South Molton at 4pm on Jan 29th and arrive Dumfries at 6am the next morning.  Leave Dumfries at 7pm and arrive South Molton before 10am the next morning.  All for £1.11.8 Now that would be an expedition.