John Lucas Bridle and Alice Brewer

Stoke Canon Post Office & Stores
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Bill Boaden - geograph.org.uk/p/4054054

John Lucas Bridle, son of Henry Bridle and Emma Lucas and younger brother of William Bridle and Mark Bridle, married Alice Brewer, in Exeter in early 1899. Alice, born in Newton St Cyres, on 29 Jul 1881 and baptised there on 2 Oct 1881, was the daughter of Thomas Brewer from Morchard Bishop and Sarah Heywood (who had married in her parish of Witheridge, on 31 Aug 1873.)

John and Alice had five children:

1. Emma Bridle born 29 Apr 1899, bap. 18 Jun 1899 in Stoke Canon
2. Frances Annie Bridle born 12 Dec 1900, bap. 6 Feb 1901 in Stoke Canon
3. William Henry Bridle born 1902 (Died aged 2, and was buried on 14 Apr 1904 in Stoke Canon. Curiously, the burial record specifies that the child was "unbaptised" and that "Burial Service not used".)
4. George Henry Bridle born 6 Jan 1906, bap. 18 Mar 1906 in Stoke Canon
5. Frederick John Bridle born 18 Dec 1912, bap. 22 Feb 1913 in Stoke Canon

All of the children's baptisms list John as a Paper Maker.

In 1901, John Lucas Bridle (21) Paper mill labourer, Alice (19), Emma (1) and Frances Anne (0) were living at Channings Court, Stoke Canon.

And in 1911, having moved to The Square, Stoke Canon, were John Bridle (30) Paper millhand, Alice (30) Paper sorter, Emma (12), Annie (11) and George (5). 

In 1915 the village of Stoke Canon, just north of Exeter, was the centre of a bitter strike. [...] Workers were in dispute over a pay claim and recognition of the National Union of Printing and Paper Workers. Charles Tremlett, Managing Director of the Stoke Canon Paper Mill, responded by sacking the workers and evicting them from their tied cottages. With nowhere else to go, the union bought the families tents and they were forced to camp in a local field. The strikers won widespread support from around the area. The village schoolteachers took up the cause and funds were raised to support the families.

Among the strikers (pictured here) were John Bridle and family, who lived at The Square. The Bridle family must have moved on, as there's a note on George Henry's school record, dated 15 Oct 1915, which says "Left the Place".

Son Frederick John Bridle married Florence Melita Louisa Coleman, in Bristol, in 1934. They had a daughter in 1935. And in 1939, we find them in Wells Road [Totterdown], Bristol, with Frederick working as a "Labourer Arp Shelters". 

John Bridle, Incapacitated and Alice, were living at 17 Philip Street, Bristol.

Frederick John Bridle (30), Driver, Royal Army Service Corps, son of  J. and Alice Bridle; husband of Florence Melitia Bridle, of Totterdown, Bristol, died on 9 Feb 1943. He is buried at Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery, near Majaz al Bab, Tunisia. (During World War II, Tunisia was the scene of Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 13 May 1943), which was the Allied invasion of North Africa. CWGC Commonwealth War Graves in Béja & Medjez-el-Bab, Tunisia, North Africa.)

John L Bridle died in 1956, aged 77; Alice Bridle in 1964, aged 83; and Frederick's widow, Florence M L Bridle, died in 1988, at 78, all in Bristol.

Medjez-El-Bab Memorial Verity Cridland, CC BY 2.0

Mark Bridle and Maud Lucy Medcalf

Victoria Street, Exeter
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Derek Harper - geograph.org.uk/p/293678

Mark Bridle, son of Henry Bridle and Emma Lucas and younger brother of William Bridle, married Maud Lucy Medcalf (b. 20 Mar 1882), daughter of Arthur Charles Medcalf and Eliza Dale, in St Pancras, London, in 1905. Wonder how they met? Maud's father was from Ballingdon, then in Essex (now a suburb of Sudbury in Suffolk) and her mother from Kensington. 

In 1911, Mark Bridle (35) Blacksmith, Maud Lucy (29); Mark's parents, William Henry (66), Emma (62); nephew, Harry (3) and Elizabeth Deroney (72), were living in Stoke Canon, Devon. 

Their only child, Arthur Albert Mark Bridle, was born on 18 Mar 1917.

In 1939, Mark Bridle, then employed as a Chauffer / Gardener, wife Maud L and son Arthur A N Bridle, Electrician, were living at 68 Victoria Street, Exeter. 

Maud L Bridle died in Exeter, in 1957, aged 75. Mark Bridle of 49 West Grove Road, Exeter died on 25 Feb 1958, aged 82, at 200 Woodwater Lane, Exeter, leaving his effects to Arthur Albert Mark Bridle, Electrician.

Arthur Albert Mark Bridle died on 19 Jun 2005, also in Exeter.

Charley Stone and Ellen Jones

St George's Church, Tiverton

Charley Stone (Char), son of Charles Stone and Emma Middleton, married Ellen Jones (Nell), daughter of David Jones and Laura Elizabeth White, on 3 Jul 1922, at St George's Church, Tiverton, generally considered to be the finest Georgian church in Devon, and one of the best examples in England. Witnesses were the groom's uncle, Francis Stone; William Henry Middleton, the groom's elder half-brother and their mother, Emily Stone (former Emma Middleton). Given that line up, my feeling is that Bill was best man, while Frank gave away the bride.

Charley Stone born 6 Jun 1898 at 1 Silver Street, Tiverton, and baptised on 20 Jul 1898 at St Peter’s Church Tiverton, lied about his age when he enlisted in the Royal Marines at Exeter on 18 Jan 1915, which is why this and many subsequent records for him suggest he was born a year earlier in 1897. They can't ever have discovered the one year discrepancy though, because his record notes the 139 days he was underage, from 18 Jan 1915 to 5 Jun 1915, but 6 Jun 1915 will only have been his 17th birthday. 

Char did his training at the Royal Marine Depot, Deal, until 18 Aug 1915. Then after a brief period at Plymouth Division, was assigned to HMS Revenge (06) on 1 Feb 1916 and stayed with this ship until 24 Jan 1918, being promoted to Corporal on the 1st day of that year.

Revenge (left) and the battleship Hercules (right) at the Battle of Jutland

Consequently, on 31 May - 1 Jun 1916, just five days before his 18th birthday, Charley Stone took part in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the First World War. "In the course of the battle, Revenge had fired 102 rounds from her main battery [...]. She also fired 87 rounds from her secondary guns. She was not hit by any fire during the engagement." [Thankfully.]

British battleship HMS Glory at Murmansk

From 23 May 1918, until 16 Jul 1919, Char was assigned to HMS Glory (1899), of the British North Russia Squadron, which took him to Archangel and Murmansk during the North Russia intervention. "Glory was based at Archangel to protect supplies that arrived there for the Russian Army. The squadron's mission evolved after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 into preventing the supplies that had been delivered from falling into the hands of the Red Army." 

Char will have arrived just in time for A Fire, a Riot, a Bombing, and a Mutiny. 

Like most who went through these events, Char never spoke about his experiences, except to a brother who was also a Marine, and what I've been told of that only intimated that things were really bad (understatement) up there. 

The Allied Intervention at Archangel and Murmansk in 1918

HMS Royalist (1883)

Continuing his amazing ability to turn up in all the wrong places at the right times, from 12 Feb 1920 to 15 Mar 1922 Char was sent to HMS Colleen (formerly HMS Royalist (1883)), which was then the depot ship at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, at the height of the Irish War of Independence. Being hulked (stuck in one place), allowed more opportunity to fraternise with the locals.

Nell and Char's only child, Charles Francis Stone (Frank) was born, on 17 July 1923 at The Military Families Hospital, Devonport and christened at The Anglican Church of Saint Paul, Durnford Street, East Stonehouse on Sunday, 5 Aug 1923. This was the day after the wedding of his first cousin Frederick Thomas Stone and Kathleen Mullarkey, at which Char was best man. The wedding could have been the new baby's first "social engagement" - not that he'd have remembered it - but it feels like a real connection to the past to imagine that maybe Maria Mullarkey, the bride's mother, may have fawned over the new infant (as you do). The family's address at that time was 36, Admiralty Street, East Stonehouse (now The Fig Tree Restaurant.)

The rest of Char's Royal Marines' career was spent mostly at Plymouth Division - they lived in the Eastern King battery - and at HMS Impregnable training establishments in Devonport: the former HMS Black Prince (1861) in late 1922 and the former HMS Ganges (1821) in 1923/24. Char was promoted to Sergeant from 9 Aug 1924, Colour sergeant from 2 Apr 1931, and Quartermaster sergeant (QMS) in Aug 1932, retiring on 5 Jun 1936. 

Charley Stone's uniform tunic now in the possession of the Royal Marines Museum

Nell and Char on their
25th Wedding Anniversary
in 1947, in the garden of 117,
Corisande Road, Selly Oak.

After he retired from the Royal Marines, Char took a job as a Post Office Van Driver in Birmingham, which is where we find the family in 1939, at 117 Corisande Road, Selly Oak with Charley Stone, Postman Driver (Heavy Work) still listing himself as a year older and Ellen trying to be two years younger than she was. Frank (16) was working as a Stationery clerk at the Screw Works. 

Char worked as a gardener before he'd joined the marines, having worked, casually, in the kitchen garden at Knightshayes Court in Tiverton. In Birmingham, he grew soft fruits - I remember being sent up the garden to pick raspberries and blackcurrants - and he had a greenhouse stuffed full of his favourite fuchsias that, in his Devon accent were always pronounced foosherrs.

Charley Stone died on 10 May 1973 at Selly Oak Hospital. He was 75.

Ellen Stone died on 31 Jan 1993 in Highcliffe, Dorset, in her 99th year.

William Henry Middleton and Alice Maud Osmond

Admiralty Mews, Deal
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Philip Halling - geograph.org.uk/p/1407334

William Henry Middleton, son of Emma Middleton, married Alice Maud Osmond in Tiverton in 1918. Alice Maud, known as Maud, born 2 Nov 1888 and baptised 23 Dec 1888 at St. Mary, Willand, was the daughter of John Osmond (son of Henry Osmond from Halberton) and Annie Osmond (daughter of John Osmond of Willand) - it's likely her parents were cousins.

In 1891, John Osmond (29), Annie (34) lived in a cottage in Kentisbeare, Devon along with daughters Alice M (2) and Emily M (0). At that time, William Henry (2) was living with his grandmother, Jane How at Habridge Cottages, Steart Road, Stoodleigh, Tiverton.

By 1901, however, when Maud (13) was still at home with her family, then living at 1, Crosslands [Cottages], Halberton, William Henry (13) had already left home and was employed as an Agricultural Labourer by John Hussey (38) Farmer at Wood & Honeyland, Tiverton. (Honeyland Plantation?)

William Henry "Bill" Middleton, born 10 Dec 1889, then enrolled in the Royal Marines on 4 Nov 1907, at Exeter (his record says was underage between then an 9 Dec 1907), and was sent off to the Royal Marine Depot, Deal until 2 Oct 1908, before being sent to Plymouth Division. William Henry was promoted to Corporal in 1911, and Sergeant in 1916 while serving on HMS Roxburgh (1904), which he was with from 4 Jun 1912 until 13 Aug 1916 - she was hit by a torpedo on 20 Jun 1915 but escaped with serious damage to her bow - latterly at the North America and West Indies Station.

From 13 Apr 1917 until 26 Nov 1918, Bill was with HMS Highflyer (1898), which means that he was present in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the Halifax Explosion on 6 Dec 1917. "Royal Navy cruisers in port sent some of the first organized rescue parties ashore. HMS Highflyer, along with the armed merchant cruisers HMS Changuinola, HMS Knight Templar and HMS Calgarian, sent boats ashore with rescue parties and medical personnel and soon began to take wounded aboard."

From 27 Nov 1918, Bill was transferred back to Plymouth Division, with a brief sojourn at HMS Excellent (shore establishment) near Portsmouth on 23 Dec 1918, but was Invalided on 25 Sep 1919. Whilst I don't know the nature, I can only surmise it may have been as a result of effects of the Halifax blast.

Remarks on his marine's record say, "Has a good knowledge of semaphore ..."

In 1939, William H Middleton, Road Chargeman for Devon County Council, and wife Alice Maud were living at Trickey Cottage, Ash Thomas, Devon. Lodging with them was Frederick H Kerslake (20) Railway Clerk. He was their nephew, son of Maud's sister Emily and her husband, Frederick James Kerslake.

Bill and Maud didn't have any children, for what reason I'm unaware, but they did have a cat named "Stripy" (a tabby, obviously), who, I was told, used to drink milk out of a jug on the windowsill, by dipping his paw in the jug (like Arthur from the Kattomeat ad). In our family, if you cleaned your plate at the end of a meal, someone would exclaim, "Poor old Stripy!", intimating that the poor cat, fed on scraps, would therefore go without. I only hope this was in jest!

Bill Middleton died in 1967, aged 78. Alice Maud Middleton of Tidcombe Hall, Tiverton, died on 21 Sep 1982, only a few weeks short of her 94th birthday. 

Tiverton : Tidcombe Hall
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/6337380
Early 19th century house, shown as Tidcombe Rectory on late 19th century Ordnance Survey map. Much altered in late 20th century. The building was also once a Marie Curie daycare unit.

George Burt and Fanny Jerwood

Tiverton : St Peter's Church
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/1654824

George Burt married Fanny Jerwood on 25 Dec 1884 at St Peter's Church, Tiverton. George Burt's Rank or Profession was given as Sailor. Fanny Jerwood was the daughter of John Jerwood (b. 1830), Labourer and his wife Sarah Davey (who had also married at St Peter's on 31 May 1853). George Burt's father is listed on the marriage certificate as William Burt, Labourer, however, this looks like an error as records suggest George's father was Edward Burt. As his father had died when George was two, he would never have known him.

On 26 Nov 1837, Edward Burt (b. 1816), son of Richard Burt, had married Mary Ann Prescott (b. 1821), daughter of John Prescott and Ann Warren, also at St Peter's Church, Tiverton. In 1841 they were living in Bampton Street, Tiverton with son George Burt (b. 1840). By 1851, Edward Burt (34) Labourer and Mary Ann (30), had added Edward (b. 1842), John (b. 1846), Richard (b. 1848) and William (b. 1851). Living with them was Mary Carter (71) Lodger. 

In 1859, the son George born in 1840, died, aged 19.

George Burt, born 1863, was actually registered as Sidney George Burt.

Their father, Edward Burt, then died, in 1866, in Tiverton, aged 50. 

In 1870, listed simply as George Burt (Sidney is never used again), son of a widow from Bampton Street, he was registered at Heathcote School.

In 1871, Mary Ann Burt (50) Widow, Seamstress, was still living in Bampton Street with her children: John (25) Mason's Labourer, Lucy (19) Lace Hand in Tiverton Factory, Charlotte (17) Laundress, James (11) and George (7), both at School. Emily Peters (19) also Lace Hand in Tiverton Factory and her son Berty Peters (2) were Lodging with them. Mary Ann Burt died in 1877, aged 56.

And so, George Burt, born 4 Nov 1863, enlisted in the Royal Navy, at 15, as a Boy 2nd Class on 8 Apr 1879. He served until 1 Nov 1901 and joined the Royal Fleet Reserve on 18 Aug 1902. He was brought back into service on 2 Aug 1914 until 18 Jul 1917, although at shore establishments HMS Vivid (II and III). 

HMS Superb (1875)

In 1881, George Burt (17) Boy 1st Class was with the 1st Class Iron Screw Ship HMS Superb (1875), moored in Valletta (Grand Harbour), Malta.

George and Fanny's only child, Charles Edward Burt, was born on 4 Dec 1887.

In 1891, Fanny Burt (27) with son Charlie (3), were living at 150 Pembroke Street, Devonport, while George was with HMS Amphion (1883) in the Pacific.

Young Charlie was then enrolled at Heathcote School in 1894 and at that time, his mother's address was Melbourne Street, Tiverton, even though George was predominantly in Devonport in 1894, first with HMS Himalaya (1854) and then at HMS Vivid II, joining HMS Grafton (1892) on 23 Oct 1894.

In 1901, George Burt (38), now a Leading Stoker, was again at HMS Vivid II, before being pensioned on 1 Nov that year. Fanny (37) was living at 2, Wellbrook Street, Prospect Place, Tiverton, with Charles (13) now a Silk lace maker and Sarah Jerwood (70) Widow, Boarder (Fanny's mother.)

Sarah Jerwood having died in 1910, in 1911, George Burt (48) Grocer and dealer, wife Fanny (47) Assisting in the business and son Charles Edward Burt (23) Lace machine hand, were living at 24 Wellbrook St, Tiverton.

George Burt died in Tiverton in 1937, aged 73.

Fanny Burt died in 1938, aged 74.

Tiverton: Wellbrook Street
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Martin Bodman - geograph.org.uk/p/1993212