Betty James

Betty, or Elizabeth, was the wife of a Market Lavington baker, Walter James.

This is a good point to remind readers of our Museum Miscellany on 4^th October in Market Lavington Community Hall. We always have interval food made from our museum recipes and this might include some Walter James recipes.

But back to Betty who was a James by marriage but who was born a Gye in 1869 in Market Lavington. She was the daughter of James and Mary Ann. James was a carpenter and wheelwright and his descendants followed him into that line of work, setting up the yard on White Street.

In 1904 Elizabeth married Walter James who was establishing himself as a baker in the village. He had taken over the bakery at number one High Street which is now the Post Office.

This picture of Elizabeth is in an album that belonged to a member of the Gye family which we have in Market Lavington Museum.

Betty James – a photo in an album at Market Lavington Museum

The photo has a caption which would have been added later.

The photo caption

In 1901 Elizabeth was at home and had work as a dressmaker.

By 1911 the James family – young Walter had been born, were in their High Street premises which stayed in the family until well after World War II.

But Elizabeth (Betty) James died in 1927.

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120 ways of using bread

Back in the early 1930s a little bit of colour was needed in austerity  Britain. But many people were desperately short of money and needed to make the most of what they had.

Bread was a staple foodstuff, but it was important to ensure none was wasted. So here we have a 1930s cook booklet, devoted exclusively to bread.

120 ways of using Bread is a recipe book at Market Lavington Museum

It’s called 120 Ways of Using Bread for tasty & delightful dishes. The book cost 6d (2½p). That was quite a lot of money for you could have bought a couple of large loaves for that. But no doubt the lovely colour picture of an up to date kitchen tempted people, along with the idea that any stale bread could find a use.

But in fact it seems this book was given by an Easterton based baker, Percy Bullock. He gave it to occupants of Clyffe Hall in Market Lavington. We do not know if he used it to welcome new residents and remind them that his business existed, or whether it was a thank you for making use of his firm.

It was given to residents of Clyffe Hall by Percy George Bullock of Easterton

But for whatever reason, it was given with his compliments.

Interesting to note that you got a bit more than you bargained for – 127 ways of using bread.

You’ll be able to sample recipes from this book if you buy a ticket and come to our Museum Miscellany on October 4^th. Tickets are on sale in Market Lavington Post Office.

A W James bill head

Walter James was a baker in Market Lavington who also sold groceries. He took over the business from the Sumner family having been employed by Mrs Sumner first. The bill head gives us a clue as to eras for it was pre-printed with most of the year. We are looking at the 1910s. His premises were at Number One, High Street – where the Post Office is today.

Walter James bill head from 1912

This bill was for July 1912 and once again we realise that shop keepers had to carry risk and allow credit to customers. Walter clearly had a customer here on a monthly account who would settle up as and when. Sadly the items written on this one have faded, but we can clearly see that the bottom number is a ten – in the shillings column. Ten bob, or 50p as we call it today, sounds like next to nothing. In terms of Walter’s income, it is equivalent to some £200 today. So actually, it was a significant amount of money.

The bill heads for Mr James were provided by an advertiser, in this case Home and Colonial Tea which we are told was ‘The tea which everyone should drink’.

Jim Sheppard again

Today we’ll complete the recently given sequence of photos of Jim Sheppard. Jim, as we know, was the ‘Tip Top’ baker in Easterton. We have seen him with a colleague, using a motorbike and sidecar and we have seen him with his first van.

A second van was needed and Jim purchased a similar three wheeler, this time a late 1930s version. But we don’t see Jim at work here. We see him on a little jaunt.

Jim Sheppard, Tip Top baker of Easterton relaxes in front of his delivery van

There’s Jim, relaxing on a deck chair with the van behind.

Close up on Jim

He has driven this van up Salisbury Plain, to the top of Easterton Hill. We can see that Jim is a bit older here, but he still retains his jaunty, cheerful look.

He came up the hill with his daughter. She is standing behind a low arm chair they obviously brought up the hill. The family dog appears to have occupied that one.

Jim’s daughter and dog

 What a charming photograph – it looks like a very happy family life.

We would like to thank descendants of Jim for making these photos available to us. They show a way of life that has vanished and yet it was probably very typical of the 1930s rural scene.

The baker’s delivery van

We are continuing our look at Mr Shepppard who ran the Tip Top bakery in Easterton today.

Yesterday we saw his motorcycle combination delivery system. Today we see his first delivery van.

Tip Top Bakery van in Easterton – early 1930s

What a stunning picture this is. Jim Sheppard is driving the van.

Jim Sheppard owned the business and the van

This looks very much like a motortrike. It appears to have handlebar steering. But having a small van body it had space for advertising.

The side of the van names the business

This vehicle was the forerunner of the Reliant Robin – made famous as Del Boy’s transport in the TV sitcom, ‘Only Fools and Horses’. It dates from the very early 1930s and was actually produced by Raleigh.

Now we’ll turn our attention to the other person in the picture.

Ralph Maule was a neighbour on High Street, Easterton

This lad is Ralph Maule. He was a neighbour who later became Jim’s apprentice. We think he was born around 1918 although we find no record for a birth. He appears on the 1939 electoral roll for Easterton, living on High Street, Easterton with Alice who we guess was his mother. Ralph may have had two wives. He first married in 1942 and then he married Monica Burgess, in 1981.

Does anybody know any more about him?

Delivering the Bread

Just recently people have been arriving at the Market Lavington Museum blog having searched for items about bread delivery carts and vans. This post, which follows on from yesterday’s offering, adds a different dimension to bread delivery – via the motorbike and sidecar.

The people are the same as those shown yesterday – Jim Sheppard in control with Chris Cooper behind. Jim was Easterton’s ‘Tip Top’ baker and Chris was an employee.

Jim Sheppard and Chris Cooper complete a bread delivery round in Easterton – late 1920s

The photo isn’t a brilliant one. Clearly it was taken more or less straight into the sun. The location is just outside Jubilee Cottages. Perhaps this was the end of a delivery for the motorbike is about to cross the bridge over the stream in front of the garage. Behind them we see a section of the terrace of houses that still line the Easterton Street.

Unfortunately, we can’t make out what the motorbike is but the sidecar is clear enough. It clearly has boxes for bread and the standard baker’s bread basket for delivering to the door. It was probably very suitable transport for a new business in the late 1920s.

Our next hope is to know more about Chris Cooper. We’ll take a guess and hope somebody will tell us if we are wrong. We only find one Chris Cooper in the area. He was born in 1909 in Little Cheverell but his father, brick worker Sidney was a Market Lavington man and Chris had an Easterton born granny. In 1926 Sidney and his wife Lottie appear on the electoral roll as living at Fiddington Sands so it seems a fair bet that Chris would have lived in the area too, although at a mere 17 years of age he’d not have been an elector. We suspect this Christopher is the young man in both today’s and yesterday’s photo.

Jim Sheppard

Easterton’s Tip Top Baker

About a month ago we featured a paper bag we had been given. This bag told us it was used by J Sheppard of Tip Top Bakery in Easterton. At the time we said it would be good to have a photo.

And as a result, we have not one photo but four delightful, period images. They are too good to use up on one blog post so we’ll look at them one at a time.

Today’s photo is of the man himself – Jim Sheppard and his assistant.

Jim Sheppard is on the right in this photo of him outside his bakery in Easterton

Descendants of Jim have come up with the following rough chronology for Jim.

Jim Sheppard came to Market Lavington as a qualified baker to work for Waltons.
He then moved to All Cannings to work for Mullings.
He came to Easterton in 1926 and rented a bake-house, now demolished, at the bottom of the High Street.
In 1927 he bought 1 Jubilee Cottages, which already had a wooden garage. He built a brick bakehouse behind the garage and installed a steam oven. At a later date he demolished the garage and replaced it with a brick garage with loft above it which was used to store sacks of flour.
This bake-house was next door to Coleman’s bake-house. Easterton supported 2 bakers.
In 1945 Jim sold the thriving business to Mr Cotton, the baker at West Lavington.
For a period of time after this Jim lived at Easterton Sands and was village postman.

On the left we have Chris Cooper, who was an employee of Jim’s and on the right is the man himself. That’s Jim (or James or Jimmy) Shepherd of Tip Top Bakery, Easterton. He is standing outside his bakehouse at 1 Jubilee Cottages, Easterton.

By the early 1950’s 1 Jubilee Cottages had reverted to a private house.

We can add a little more to this. James Sheppard was born around 1896 in Wiltshire. From census data we think this was at Grittleton. His father was James – a groom/gardener and his mother was Mary. James had an older sister, Mary and a younger brother, William.

By the time of the 1911 census his sister had departed from the family home which was then at Castle Combe. 15 year old James had an occupation then. He was a baker.

James died in 1987.

Eric James

Eric James was born towards the end of 1913. His parents were Walter John James and the former Miss Elizabeth Hannah Gye. Although Wiltshire people, they married in the Marylebone area of London in 1904.

In 1911 Walter was a baker and grocer living and working on High Street, Market Lavington. Wife, Elizabeth (known as Betty), helped him run the business and the only child they had, at the time, was young Walter who was aged 3.

The house and bakery was at number 1 High Street – where the present Post Office is sited.

Our photo, of Eric James was taken in about 1918. It shows a very sweet looking lad.

Eric James of Market Lavington in about 1918

The 1926 electoral roll shows Walter and Elizabeth still on High Street – but Elizabeth died in 1927. She was buried in St Mary’s, Market Lavington.

Eric married Rosa Matthews in 1938. We can find an extensive family on High Street. Eric was the head of the family, with wife Rosa. But Walter was there as well, as was young Walter. It would seem that the youngest man, our Eric, may have been regarded as the head of the household.

Walter died in 1943. He was some ten years younger than Elizabeth, his wife. He, too, is buried in the graveyard of St Mary’s, Market Lavington.

In the 1954/55 directory, Eric is listed as living at Cherry Orchard. The directory only shows a head of house so it is not possible to see who was with him. However, Eric was still at Cherry Orchard Farm on Kings Road, Market Lavington for the 1964 electoral roll and Rosa and brother Walter were with him. Eric was still there for a 1966 directory.

And there we lose touch with Eric and other James family. Eric, and Rosa are not buried in Market Lavington churchyard but then they could still be alive. Did they move to Rowde? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Uncle Walter James

One of the recipes in Lucretia Gye’s hand written note book is called Uncle Walter James’ Fruit Cake.

Recipe for Uncle Walter James Fruit Cake as written by Lucretia Gye. Her recipe book is at Market Lavington Museum

This is one of the items you may be able to try at the Museum Miscellany on Saturday 17^th September in market Lavington Community Hall, but here we consider who Uncle Walter James was.

Walter James was born about 1880. His father was a carpenter. We can find the James family on the 1881 census living on Church Street and in 1891 on New Street (The Muddle). By this time young Walter was described as a garden boy.

In 1901 the family lived on Parsonage Lane and Walter was now called a baker.

Walter James married Elizabeth Gye in 1904 in the Marylebone district of London. Elizabeth was the sister of Lucretia’s husband, Joseph so in calling him ‘Uncle’ , Lucretia  was using the name used by her children – amongst them, Tom Gye.

In 1911 Walter and Elizabeth lived at 1, High Street in Market Lavington (now the Post Office) along with their young son who was also Walter.

The James family were still on High Street in 1926. Elizabeth died in 1927, but Walter continued his business and was still on High Street with his son in 1939.

Uncle Walter James died in 1943.

For a picture of Walter James click here.

His cake recipe lives on and you may be able to sample it on September 17^th.

A Bread Cart Carriage Lamp

In times past, lighting was very different from what we are used to today. Even in fairly rural Market Lavington and Easterton we expect street lamps and we expect vehicles moving at night to be clearly visible and to deliver enough light for drivers to see everything.

In the days of the horse drawn bread cart night was a much darker time (and what glorious night skies people would have seen as a result). When the Notton family had the bakery business (based between the present Post Office and the Co-op) a couple of candle lamps on the cart were all they used for illumination. Of course, the speed they went was probably that of a walking horse, so poor light would not have been too dangerous.

One of the Notton’s lamps has found its way to Market Lavington Museum.

Carriage lamp from the Notton's bread cart believed to date from about 1880

At the time of the 1851 census, Thomas Notton was a baker and glover on High Street, Market Lavington. His son, Richard, born in 1827 in Market Lavington was running the business in 1861.

By 1871 Catharine Notton, widow of Richard was a baker on High Street, Market Lavington. It must have been hard coping with the business and a young family.

In 1881 Catharine, still only 60, was running the business with two sons who were adult and bakers by then.

One of these sons, Alfred was the baker in 1891, but mother Catharine was still there.

In 1901, the business was in the hands of Edward Notton, his wife, Helen and five children. Edward was described on the census as a baker and corn factor.

Edward was still a Baker in 1911. In fact Edward remained a villager until his death in 1941. He is buried in the churchyard.

After a brief look at the Notton family, back to the lamp, which we believe, dates from around 1880.