Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Starcross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Starcross. Show all posts

Monday 8 May 2023

James Edmond and Sarah Ann Wood

British Cemetery Graves, St Sever Cemetery Extension Photo: GiogoSome rights reserved

Sarah Ann Wood, eldest daughter of James Wood and Mary Ann Melhuish, married James Edmond (b. 1888, in Prestonpans, Midlothian, Scotland), son of George Edmond, at St. Mary’s, Kentisbeare on 8 May 1911. At the time of the marriage, James Edmond was a Lodging House Keeper and Sarah was a Domestic Servant. Both gave their address as Ponchydown, Kentisbeare (did they perhaps run the former Ponchydown Inn in Blackborough).

James and Sarah Ann had three children:
  1. James Roland George Edmond b. 24 Jul 1912, bap. 29 Dec 1912 at Blackborough, Devon, although the family's address on the baptism record was given as 2 New St, Prestonpans.
  2. Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond born 23 Dec 1914
  3. Constance Mary Helen Edmond born 11 May 1917
On 23 Jun 1906, James Edmond enlisted for Short Service in the Scots Guards. He served until 23 Jun 1909 and was transferred to the reserve. However, he was mobilised again on 5 Aug 1914, the day after Britain declared war on Germany. James was promoted to Corporal in 1915 and Sergeant in 1916. His army record states that he embarked on the "SS Queen Alexandria", in Southampton on 9 Aug 1916, arriving in Le Havre the next day.

Admitted to hospital on 14 May 1918, dangerously ill, having received a gunshot wound to the head, James died of his wounds, at the No 5 General Hospital, Rouen, on 25 May 1918. Sgt James Edmond is buried at the St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Plot: Q. I. A. 3.

In 1921, Sarah Ann Edmond (36) Widow; James Roland George Edmond (8), Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond (6) and Constance Mary Helen Edmond (4) were living with Sarah's mother, Mary Ann Wood, at Downlands, Kentisbeare.

Devington Park, Exminster
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Sarah Charlesworth - geograph.org.uk/p/990195
A huge complex of apartments, housed in what was once the Devon Mental Hospital.

Sarah Ann Edmond, widow, of The Mental Hospital, Exminster (originally Devon County Lunatic Asylum, Exminster), died on 4 Dec 1933, leaving her effects to her son James Roland George Edmond, Guardsman.

Constance M H Edmond, in 1939, Incapacitated, was resident at the The Royal Western Counties Institution For Training And Treatment Of Mental Defectives, Starcross. "Originally known as the Western Counties Idiot Asylum, this institution opened in 1864 in a house and land, rented from W.R. Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon." "It later became known as the Western Counties Institution, Starcross, and was certified as 'a residential special school for mental defectives'. Residents were trained in carving, weaving, basketry, lace-making and carpentry, and worked on the institution's agricultural holdings." The institution was closed in 1986, and demolished.

Constance M H Edmond had died in 1949, aged 32.