profession Archives

Inside the Hare & Hounds, Witheridge c1940s via Historical Witheridge

On the night of the 1861 census, in the Devonshire village of Witheridge, 14 year old Drusilla WREFORD was recorded as head of the household and her occupation as ‘Innkeeper ?’ (note the question mark). Also in the household were 4 siblings aged 7 and under (including my direct ancestor, Augusta Harriet), and a 17 year old servant, Emily CHERITON. Their parents, George and Harriet, were nowhere to be seen. I knew they weren’t dead, as George WREFORD and his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1864. So where were they?

12 Fore Street, Witheridge – 1861 census

This remained a mystery for some time until a chance search led me to discover that George WREFORD was in jail for bankruptcy at the time (you can read my post about that discovery here and here). I still haven’t been able to locate the parents on the 1861 census but I’m still keen to find out more about the business.

George was recorded on bankruptcy notices as an innkeeper, butcher and farmer but I haven’t been able to discover which inn George (and Drusilla) was keeping.

On my last visit to Witheridge (I’ve been twice), I picked up the ‘Witheridge Village Trail & Local Walks’ pamphlet which mapped some of the pubs (old and current) in the village. Armed with this pamphlet, I used Google Maps to pinpoint the pub locations.

Assuming the family lived in/above the inn being kept, the map indicates the pub was the Hare and Hounds (in Fore Street). According to the pamphlet, “it burnt out in 1995 and was rebuilt”. I was able to find this picture of the Hare & Hounds Inn circa 1955 from the excellent Historical Witheridge site:

Hare & Hounds on Fore Street, Witheridge

Here is a picture of Fore Street today from a similar location and perspective via Google Street View:

I’m now in the process of trying to find a directory closer to 1861 which will hopefully attach George’s name to the correct pub.

UPDATE
I have found evidence that they actually kept the Commercial Inn – see post here

Next Steps:

check for 1860 directories
obtain a copy of ‘Researching Brewery and Publican Ancestors’ by Simon Fowler for more information

I’ve finally managed to scan some of my grandmother’s photos that I brought back from my holidays.

This one appears to be a photograph of a sketch:

On the back, my grandmother has written “Done by Charles Buchan during WWI. He was in medical unit doing chiropody“.

Charles BUCHAN was my grandmother’s father. She had written a letter to me years ago, when I first became interested in family history, in which she told me:

“Dad had a slight heart problem (valve) so had not been accepted for active service & ended up in medical corp & it was there that he did his training (or experience) in CHIROPODY (lots of feet there to practice on) & on returning to NZ, decided to set himself up as CHIROPODIST much to Grandma Reid’s disapproval. ‘Why on earth would he decide to out on his own, when CLUFFS (or whoever) would have been more than happy to re-employ him?'”

Grandma REID was Charles’ mother-in-law, who seemed to be a rather stern sort (maiden name – Janet HUNTER – grandaughter of James BROWN). I’ve tried to research ‘Cluffs’ and its variations but came up blank (any help from New Zealand would be welcome).

While trying to find out more about Trentham Military Camp, imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this page from Archives New Zealand :

There was no mention of Charles by name or any further information on his drawing but a look around provided me with another World War One sketch by my ancestor:

Swabbing While You Wait – another drawing by Charles Buchan, 1916

I had never seen this picture before and got very excited. I will be contacting the archives to see if I can obtain a copy of the second image or at the very least if they will credit the images to Charles.

Pub Crawl

Chiropody at Trentham