Keeping the bells ringing

St Mary’s Church in Market Lavington had its bells rehung in a metal frame in 1927. This was, no doubt, an expensive business and an awful lot of people gave money to enable this to happen. It is a huge list of names which, interestingly, includes not only members of the Church of England community but also members of the Congregational church in the village.

Of course, even radio was in its infancy in 1927. The BBC had started broadcasting in 1922.  The church bells had been general messengers for many years. If the bells rang out, people wondered why and gathered to find out. National and international news events might cause people to be ‘summoned by bells’. Perhaps this explains the importance to people who were not natural church folk.

The list of names is almost like a village directory for 1927 – although some from far and wide also subscribed and some used a pseudonym to hide their real identity.

Let’s have a look at a little of the list as published.

Top of document listing people who contributed to the 1927 bell fund at St Mary's, Market LavingtonSome of the names listed and the result of the appeal

And here are the names listed – it is a long list. Maybe there’ll be names that mean something to you. If so, do let us know.

A Friend	Mr and Mrs Allen
E Andrews	Mrs Arnold
Mrs Arnold	Mrs M Awdry
C Arnold	Mrs Axford
Colonel H W Awdry	H and E Barlow
Mr and Mrs B B Baker	Mrs Beaven
Mrs Bash	C J Bird
Rev E E Benson	Mrs Bishop
G W Bishop	R J M Borough
Mr and Mrs Wm Blake	E O P Bouverie esq.
Miss A P Bouverie	H Buckland
M Breach	A and E Bullock
Mrs Buckland	Mr and Mrs Burbidge and family
Mrs G Bullock	G Burgess
Mrs Burnett	Mrs J Burgess
G Burgess	S Burgess
Mr W W Case	Mr and Mrs Charman
Miss J Chinnock	L Clarke
S Coleman	Mrs Cooke
Mrs A Cooper	Mr and Mrs Bert Cooper
G T Cooper	Mr Jos Cooper
Mr and Mrs Crassweller	Mr Henry Crees
Mr Crondall	Miss Croom
Mr and Mrs F Davis	Mr and Mrs Fred Davis
G J Davis	Mr Henry Davis
Mr and Mrs John Davis	Mr and Mrs Dawes
Mr Doubleday	Mr Drury
E Duck	Mrs Duck
Miss Edwards	Mrs Elisha
Miss Fielder	Edward Fisher Esq
Mrs Morgan Gale	Mr C O Gauntlett
Mr George Gauntlett	F George
F M George	Mrs G Gibbon
W Godden	Miss Goodway
Mr Frank Green	Mrs Grist
Mr and Mrs Gye	Mrs Gye
E Gye	Mr and Mrs Tom Gye
Mr and Mrs Tom Haines	Miss Hatfield
Mr and Mrs E G C Hawes	Mr G Hiscock
J Hiscock	J J Hoare
Mrs Hobbs	Mrs Hoddinott
Mrs Holloway	E and A Hopkins
J E Hopkins	Miss Hulbert
Mr Huntley	Mrs Albert Hurle
Mrs James Hurle	Mr and Mrs J Hussey
E Hutton	J Ingram
Mr J James	Mr W J James
J R Jerram Esq	L A Jones
J Jordan	Mrs Judd
Mr H J King	Mrs H J King
H J King	M A King
Miss R King	Sidney King
J Kyte	Mr W S Laycock
Mr Little	Dr J S Lush
Mrs Lye	Mrs Malcolm
Miss Marshall	Miss M Matthews
Mr and Mrs Maynard	P Maynard
Mrs McDonnell	Mr H Merritt
Mr and Mrs J H Merritt	Mr T Merritt
A Midwinter	E Miles
R Milsom	Mr Moody
A Mullings	S Mullings
Mrs A Mundy	Mrs E M Murray
Mr and Mrs T Neate	Nr N Notton
Old Choirboy 1887	Mrs Bert Oram
Mr Harold Oram	Mrs Henry Oram
Mr Henry Oram	Mr and Mrs John Oram
Mr W Oram	Mrs Osmond
Mr Parfitt	Parkyn J Atherton esq
Mr and Mrs Parsons	W Perry
Mr Peters	Mrs Phelps
A E Phillips	A J Phillips
E Phillips	Mr and Mrs F Phillips
Mr amd Mrs G H Pike	W Pike
F Pitman	I K Pitman
Mrs Plank	Mrs P Plank
Mrs Polden	Mr and Mrs Arthgur Potter
A K Potter	Miss A K Potter
Mrs E Potter	Mr E A Potter
E J Potter	Miss H M Potter
R Potter	W Potter
A E Price	E J Price
Mrs Riddle	Mr and Mrs Robbins
Mr and Mrs Rose	Mrs and Miss Ross
Salisbury Diocesan Guild of Ringers	Mrs Saunders
Mr and Mrs Saxton	Mr F H Sayer
W J Seymour	Eshare
Mrs Shepherd	Mrs F Shepherd
Mrs Wm Sheppherd	Mrs Shergold
Mrs Shore	M Small
Mrs Smith	Mrs Smith
A Smith	Mrs Amelia Smith
Mrs E Smith	Mr Tom Smith
W D Smith	Mrs Smythe
L Sowden	W Spiers
Sir Guy Stephenson	Mr Fredk C Strofton
M Strong	H A Stubbs
A J Sturton esq	Rev J A Sturton
MJrs Sturton	“The Sands”
Mrs Thynne	W Trotter
M Tucker	Mrs L Tupp
Capt and Mrs H W Turner	Mr and Mrs Wturner
Usher’s Wiltshire Brewery Ltd	Dr F de C Veale
Mrs Veale	Mr and Mrs W G Wadman
Mr and Mrs Walton	Mrs Ward
Lord Warrington of Clyffe	Miss C Watts
Mr P J Watts	J Weeks
Miss Welch	Mr Jack Welch
Mr and Mrs James Welch	Major and Mrs Welchman
C E Weston	Mrs Whitchurch
Mr W R Wilbraham

Tags: church, Market Lavington, Museum