Henry Williams was born on 10th October 1882 in Bredon’s Hardwick in Worcestershire, the seventh and youngest child of Job and Sarah Williams. He was known as ‘Harry’.
Harry attended Bredon Board School as an infant, until 22nd October 1889, when he was admitted to a school in Tewkesbury. Here he attained standard II in 1892 before leaving the school on 15th February 1894.
By 1901, while his parents remained at Bredon’s Hardwick, Harry had moved to Matlock, where he was working as a railway porter. A document ‘Whatstandwell (Bridge) Station Masters and Staff under their control 1871-1908’ records that on 18th June 1903, Harry was promoted from ‘Goods Porter Matlock Bridge’ to ‘Sidings Porter Ambergate’, and that his wage was increased on 21st July 1904 from 19s. to 20s. per week. Harry remained in this position until 19th December 1907.
Harry’s move to Ambergate likely led him to meet Hannah Rebecca Blackham, to whom he became engaged.
Hannah Rebecca Blackham’s engagement ring
Hannah was born in Thurlowbooth, Crich, on 21st February 1884, the daughter of Frank and Ellen Blackham. She was likely named after her maternal grandmother Hannah Briggs. Hannah attended Crich Carr Primary School from 4th June 1888 until 14th October 1891, when her parents returned to Heage. In 1901 Hannah was living with her parents at Toadmoor, working as a mender in the lace trade. In 1906, she wrote her address as Hill Top, Ambergate, although this may refer to Toadmoor Lane.
‘Miss H Blackham, Hill Top, Ambergate. January 1905’
At St Mary’s Church, Crich, on Sunday 26th May, 2nd and 9th June 1907, banns of marriage were read between ‘Henry Williams, bachelor of this Parish, and Hannah Rebecca Blackham, spinster, of St Anne’s Ambergate’. Harry and Hannah were married on 24th June 1907 at St Anne’s Church, Ambergate. Their marriage was witnessed by Hannah’s brother John William Briggs and her sister Ann Blackham. Hannah’s wedding ring was of 22 carat gold, was assayed in Birmingham, and hallmarked with the year 1906.
After their marriage, Harry and Hannah lived at Ambergate, with Harry continuing to work as a railway porter. Their first child Winifred was born in March 1908, and by 27th October 1913 the family had moved to 8 Oxford Street in Spondon, Derby, when their daughter joined Reginald Street Infants School. The school was in the Rose Hill area of Derby, close to the railway station where Harry probably worked, but one month later the family moved again, this time to 82 Francis Street, Chaddesden, and Winnie was admitted to the nearby Nottingham Road Infants School.
On 24th September 1914, the licence of the Plough Inn at Baughton, Earl’s Croome, was transferred to Harry Williams ‘of Nottingham Road, Derby’, and by 28th September Harry, Hannah, and Winnie, had moved into the pub. Harry and Hannah’s second child, George, was born in Baughton on 17th May 1915 and baptised at St Nicholas’ Church on 20th June. The parish register records that Harry was the inn keeper at the Plough Inn.
Located on the east side of Baughton, the Plough Inn was on the main road leading into the village. It comprised of two large buildings and came with a small piece of land and piggeries. In later years its name was changed to the Dog, and by 2021 it was closed and the buildings were converted into homes.
Harry was an inn keeper for just over one year. On 6th November 1915, the Plough Inn was advertised ‘to let’ and in December the family moved to Cheltenham. Harry had found work as a stockman for Mr F. Idiens, owner of a private residential hotel in Cheltenham. The building, demolished in 1993, stood in over ten acres of grounds on the corner of Evesham Road and New Barn Lane, close to the racecourse. Harry, Hannah, Winifred and George lived in rooms within the stable building, together with several other employees of the hotel. The hotel was known as ‘Rosehill’, a name which Harry and Hannah would later adopt as the name for their own home.
The stable building at Rosehill was in the north-east corner of the estate
First World War
Two months after his 33rd birthday, on 11th December 1915, Harry volunteered to enlist with the army to serve in the First World War. After a medical examination he was classed as B1, meaning he was ‘able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes’. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 138 pounds. From the army reserve, Henry was called for duty on 19th September 1916 at Bristol, where holding regimental number 6163, he joined the Durham Light Infantry 2nd/7th Battalion. He was posted on 22nd September but the location cannot be read from his service record due to damaged caused by a fire at the Army Records Centre following bombing in 1940. However, within four weeks, on 15th October 1916, Harry was admitted to the military hospital at the Catterick Camp in Yorkshire, with a ‘septic arm and leg’, where he remained until 26th June 1917.
Although discharged from hospital, Harry was still suffering from callous ulcers on his leg, and a note in his file reads ‘This man’s leg is still broken out. Recommend that he be allowed to dispense with puttees.’ For 2 months, from 14th July to 14th September 1917, Harry was ‘granted agricultural furlough to work with Messrs Idens & Co., Rose Hill, Cheltenham’ - he was back with his family.
On his return from furlough, Harry was transferred to the Labour Corps of the 648 Agricultural Company on 14th December 1917 at Bristol. He was allocated regimental number 498218 and posted to Newcastle under Lyme in Staffordshire. It appears that Harry returned to Horfield Barracks at Bristol on 20th February 1919 for a final medical examination, following which, five days later, he was demobilised on 25th February.
Rosehill, Cheltenham
After leaving the army, Harry returned to work as a stockman at the Rosehill Hotel, living with his family above the stables. Hannah’s brother Arthur Blackham also lived here for a short while after he was discharged from the army, although by 1921 he was living with his brother Ernest Blackham in Woking.
With livestock to look after, Harry was working at the stables rather than within the hotel itself.
Gloucestershire Echo, 17th August 1920
Hannah worked at Cheltenham Racecourse, helping jockeys with their horses. Her third child, Doris, was actually born at the racecourse in July 1923.
Harry Williams and family, circa 1927
Return to Ambergate
Between 1923 and 1930, he family moved back to Ambergate, and Harry found work at the wireworks of Richard Johnson and Nephew Limited. It is thought the family initially lived in a house on Toadmoor Lane, next door to Hannah’s sister Annie Whittingham and her husband William. Hannah’s mother Ellen was living with Annie at the time.
In 1931 the family moved into a new home, Rosehill, at the top of Devonshire Street, Ambergate, which Harry and Hannah are said to have had built for them. Their daughter Doris recalled moving in to the house when she was 8 years old. Their new home was next to Toadmoor Lane, home of the Blackham’s, and Hannah’s mother Ellen moved into the house with them.
A teapot, sugar bowl, and milk jugwhich belonged to Harry and Hannah Rebecca Williams
Harry was a keen gardener and kept an allotment near to the house, and later had a greenhouse. One of his grandsons recalled that Harry used to sell cabbage plants at a penny a score, and grew and sold tomatoes. It is thought that Harry also did gardening for Henry Peach, a well-known local artist, who often paid Harry for his work by giving him paintings.
Paintings by Henry Peach (1856-1937) which were owned by Harry Williams
The 1939 register records that Harry was working as a wire gauger at the Ambergate wireworks, although it is believed that in the late 1940’s he was a weigh man. While working here, he was hit by a forklift truck, breaking his lower right leg. Harry was taken to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary where he stayed in Ward 1. Following this, Harry always wore a bandage on his leg: Hannah used to ask for any old sheets, which she used to wrap around his leg. Harry retired from the wireworks in 1948.
During the Second World War, Hannah was involved with the making of hospital supplies. She was issued with a certificate in 1946, having undertaken over one hundred hours of service. The certificate came with a letter of thanks and details the service undertaken, although it is not known whether this letter still exists.
Hannah’s Certificate for Service in Central Hospital Supply Service
In June 1948, the Urban District Council of Ripley renumbered the houses on the street where Harry and Hannah lived. This change wasn’t welcome by many of the local residents, and Harry did not place the new number on his house. The clerk of the council wrote to harry in August 1949 requesting him to add the number. Their address was changed from ‘Rosehill, Devonshire Street’ to ‘1 Birch Avenue, Ambergate’, although it was often referred to as ‘Rosehill, Birch Avenue, Ambergate’.
Harry and Hannah are remembered by their grandchildren as being faithful and regular attendees at church. Since Hannah was a Nonconformist and Harry was Anglican, on Sunday they would attend the morning service at the Bethel United Methodist Church on Devonshire Street, perhaps with Hannah’s mother Ellen, and attend Evensong at St Anne’s Church, Ambergate. The following week they would swap this around, attending St Anne’s in the morning. Later in life, Harry and Hannah only attended St Anne’s Church, where Harry was a sidesman. Harry is said to have read his Bible twice, and on a Sunday Hannah would not sew or do any kind of work except prepare their meal before going to church.
Harry and Hannah Rebecca Williams on holiday
Harry Williams died at Babington Hospital, Belper, on 4th March 1954, aged 71. His death was registered by his son George, and he was interred at Belper Cemetery.
Harry had written his last will and testament on 21st May 1945, and asked Hannah’s brother Frank and his wife Emma to be witnesses to it. He bequeathed his house, its contents, and ‘any money I have’ to his wife Hannah.
After her husband’s death, Hannah didn’t want to live alone, but since she wouldn’t move in with her daughter Doris, Doris and her husband Jack went to live with her at 1 Birch Avenue. Hannah would also stay with her sister Winifred and her family at Horsley Woodhouse when Doris, Jack, and their family went on holiday.
Hannah Rebecca Williams died at 1 Birch Avenue on 13th August 1957, aged 73, and was buried with her husband. Their memorial stands in Belper cemetery.
Henry and Hannah Rebecca Williams were my great-grandparents.