Two Families, the Hoopers and the Sedgebeers, In and Around Stowey Mill

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Ann Hooper.jpg
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Stowey Ruins.jpg
SP-320E.jpg

Title

Two Families, the Hoopers and the Sedgebeers, In and Around Stowey Mill

Description

The watercolour seen above depicts Stowey Mill in better times. On 26 April 2022, this copy of the painting was shared with the St. Petrock's History Group by Noel Dawson of Saltford, a great grandson of Robert and Ann (nee Hooper) Sedgebeer (she is pictured with the lantern in the second photograph). Their youngest child was Rosa Edith Sedgebeer, born on the 31st of December 1877 at the mill and is the subject of the third photograph, probably taken in the later 1930's. The original of the watercolour has stayed in her family, passed down to Rosa's grand-children, Jane Croft and her brother, Peter Gray. Jane was told by their mother, Alice Gray ( Rosa's youngest child), that the watercolour was done by a traveling artist who was staying with the Sedgebeer family at the mill.
It is very likely the artist was Clara Lizzie Hooper, a niece of Ann Sedgebeer. Mr. Dawson and his cousins, Jane and Peter, are the descendants of the two families, the Hoopers and the Sedgebeers, that lived at and operated Stowey Mill and yet for reasons, some personal and some beyond their control, had to abandon.

Stowey Mill was located in a valley of Putnam Wood, at the junction of two streams and west of Stowey Farm. The mill and the farm have post-medieval origins (1). While thought by many to be in Timberscombe Parish, both Stowey Mill and Stowey Farm, just east of Cutcombe and Wheddon Cross, were in the Civil Parish of Cutcombe (2). In earlier times, the mill that became Stowey Mill was likely associated with another farm.

On the Cutcombe Tithe Map and Apportionment Book of 1842, Stowey Farm was occupied by the Edbrooke family (as they had since the 17th century) and a cottage situated by the mill was owned by Sir Thomas Buckler Lethbridge of Sandhill Park near Bishops Lydeard (3). The mill itself, with its house and an orchard and garden, were owned by James Pocock (1816-1872) of Luxborough (4). His tenant in 1842 was Thomas Hooper. Mr. Hooper had been baptised in Timberscombe at St. Petrock's Church on the 20th of January 1811, the son of William Elstone, a farm labourer and Ann (nee Ellard) Hooper (5). William and Ann had married at St. Petrock's on the 26th of March 1802 and were buried there, respectively on 22 December 1842 and 17 August 1843 (6). William Hooper was born as Williemus Hooper in Dunster, where he was baptised on the 27th of March 1780, the son of Edward and Elizabeth Hooper (7).
The parents of Ann, William's wife, were Robert and Ann Ellard , who had her baptised on the 15th of September 1786 at Monksilver (8).

The son and grandson of these unions, Thomas Hooper, was certainly in Cutcombe on the 11th of January 1834, when he married Ann Baker at St. John the Evangelist, the same church where she had been baptised on the 8th of February 1807 as "the daughter of William Baker and Amy, his wife" (9). Subsequently the seven children of Thomas and Ann would be baptised here as well. The first of these was William, baptised 27 April 1834, followed by Elizabeth on the 13th of July 1836. At both ceremonies, their father, Thomas was listed as a labourer. It is not until the baptism of the third child, Ann Underwood (a middle name that seemed to disappear) Hooper on Christmas Day in 1838 , that Thomas was listed as a miller (10). That seems appropriate as Ann Hooper would be the child having the longest association with Stowey Mill.

Thomas and Ann Baker Hooper's fourth child, George, was baptised at St. John the Evangelist on the 1st of November 1841 but sadly they returned for his burial only eleven days later (11). Another boy, Thomas, was christened 23 March 1845, followed by John on 5 December 1847 (12) and finishing with Mary, 16 February 1851 (13). (Some sources have a daughter, Emma, being born between George and Thomas but that Emma was the child of another Thomas and Ann Hooper in Bridgwater.) Ann Baker Hooper died in March 1869 and was buried at St. John the Evangelist (14).

Her husband continued as the miller at Stowey Mill, working there for at least 30 years (15). He was still milling at the time of the 1871 Census. Living with him were his two youngest children, 21-year-old John and 19-year-old Mary, as well as his 85-year-old mother-in-law, Amy Baker. Also at the mill was his 25-year-old son, Thomas, now a farmer of 50 acres, with his wife, Annie and their one-year-old child, Clara Lizzie Hooper--- the probable painter of the watercolour above.

Clara Lizzie Hooper spent her childhood at Stowey Mill (16). Likely leaving school at the age of 14, she began working as a servant and at some point, before she was 20-years old, became employed as a cook for two sisters, Sara F. King and Alice King, an "Authoress", living at 134 The Avenue in Minehead (17). No doubt, on days off, Clara Lizzie would have returned to Stowey Mill, perhaps with a painting kit. In 1894, she married Herbert Dyer at St. John the Evangelist in Cutcombe (18). He too was born in Cutcombe but by this time, Herbert Dyer was already a successful tailor in Minehead, eventually with a shop on Friday Street (19). On the backing of the watercolour, torn bits of what appears to be an outfitters advertisement for "H. Dyer" were pasted, as well a piece of brown tape-- on which there is clearly a signature being "C. Dyer". Later in life, Clara Lizzie 's parents, Thomas and Annie lived with her and Herbert, as well as other Hooper relatives at various times (20). Clara Lizzie Dyer died in 1944 (21).

In the 1870's, Stowey Mill appears to have been thriving, consisting of about six buildings (some semi-detached), with three other families occupying the living accommodations. Two of these were headed by Agricultural Labourers, James Farmer and Charles Fox. The third household was headed by 37-year-old Roger Sedgebeer, also an Agricultural Labourer, with his wife and their four sons, Frederick, Francis, Lewis and Herbert. Sedgebeer's wife and the mother of the four boys was the former Ann Hooper, Thomas Hooper's third child.

(The spelling of "Sedgebeer" varies over the years, with"Sedgben", "Sedgsbeer", "Ledgbeer" and "Sedgbrel" being just a few examples. The most consistent difference is "Sedgbeer" but "Sedgebeer" appears more often on official sources and is used by the family. Ann Hooper is seen as "Anne" but she is more often "Ann", especially when handwritten on documents such as her Marriage Register and Baptism Records.)

By 1881, 69-year-old Thomas Hooper had moved to Hertfordshire where he had taken work as a Bailiff and was accompanied by his 16-year-old grandson, Frederick Sedgebeer, Ann's eldest. Thomas Hooper died in Hertfordshire in June 1890 (22). Leaving in the 1870s, Hooper may have left a Stowey Mill somewhat reminiscent of what the visiting water-colourist painted. The 1881 Census does record that the surrounding houses remained full with the Farmer and Fox families. Also still there was the Sedgebeer family, with Robert Sedgebeer now listing his profession as a Road Contractor. He and Ann had three more children, Joseph, Harry and Rosa. Yet there was no miller at Stowey Mill and it appears there never was a replacement for Thomas Hooper.

(Noel Dawson knew of another child born to Robert and Ann Sedgebeer, who had died young, that the family identified as "Lucy". Indeed there was another infant, born between Joseph and Harry, that Robert and Ann Sedgebeer had baptised on the 21st of June 1872 . As the parents, they are named on the Cutcombe Church Baptism Record but the child has no recorded name (23)).

It is not clear exactly why the mill failed. The family of Mr. Dawson had heard the mill became impractical to operate because a farmer above the mill, in Wheddon Cross or Cutcombe, dug a bore hole looking for water and damaged the underground supply which fed the mill (24). It is probable the mill was having problems for a while and may be why Thomas Hooper had left his life's work at Stowey Mill to become a Bailiff in Hertfordshire. What is more clear are the maps. The Tithe Map of the 1840's clearly depicts the mill stream running between the mill and one of the other buildings--as pictured on the watercolour. The rendering of the mill on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1844-1888 (likely executed in 1886) shows blue water flowing above and below Stowey Mill but no longer between the two structures, where it would have fed the wheel . On the 1894-1903 Ordnance Map, buildings are still depicted but the break in the blue stream remains and Stowey Mill is labelled "Disused". Ironically on the 2019 map, a computerised stream looks again like it was depicted on the Tithe Map, yet all the structures are gone (or in ruins) and what water actually remains was described by Mr. Dawson as "just a trickle".

On the 1891 Census, only one family remains listed at Stowey Mill, being Robert and Ann Sedgebeer, with 22-year old Herbert, 16-year-old Harry and 13-year-old Rosa still with them. In truth, more than likely only Robert was actually there. Mr. Dawson and other family members believes that Ann and the children left Stowey Mill around 1886, when she was about 50-years-old and Rosa was 9-years-old. The evocative photograph of Ann (nee Hooper) Sedgebeer holding the lantern was shared by the family in 2022, found in a collection of old family photos likely handed down the generations from Rosa --that were taken with them when she and her mother and siblings left the mill --and their father and husband (25).

Family lore has it that Robert Sedgebeer rode his horse up to one of the pubs at Timberscombe every night and at the end of the evening his friends would put him back on his horse, which dutifully carried him home. Even if that is not strictly true, the family has always understood that Robert "was a hard drinker and this is why Ann left him" (26). Another factor in Ann's actions could have been the death of her third son, Lewis, who died aged 19, early in the year of 1886, the result of a tobogganing accident on a steep hill behind the mill (27). Notwithstanding all this, at some point Ann and the children left and if Robert Sedgebeer did somewhat fudge the 1891 Census, Ann appears to have done a bit of the same in 1901. On that census, she was living at 36 Bridge Street in Bristol with her son, Harry, who listed his employment as "Fitter (Engines)". Ann gave her name as "Annie" Sedgebeer and claimed that she was a "Widow". She was not.

Robert did eventually leave the mill, perhaps its final inhabitant, but he was quite alive, being the very last person listed on the Timberscombe 1901 Census. Sedgebeer was living alone at Alders, a former farm on the northeastern edge of the Timberscombe with post-medieval origins, that was now divided into two residential structures that will be demolished in the coming years. Living in the smaller house, Robert Sedgebeer described himself on the census as being 66-years-old, an "Ordinary Agricultural Labourer", the "Head of Household"(despite no household members listed ) and "Married" (which he was but only in name). Next door, in the main house at Alders, was a legitimate widow, Mary Hole, aged 68, with her 25-year-old son, John, a Labourer.

Also in 1901, Joseph (Joe) Sedgebeer, the 5th son of Robert and Ann, died at the age of 29 during the Boer War, on the 14th of April while serving with the Imperial Yeomanry at Brakspruite, South Africa. His next of kin was listed as "mother", who was certified to be granted his effects in case of death but this was changed during July 1902, signifying his belongings were to be sent to "Fa. Robert" (28). Any further relations between Robert Sedgebeer and his remaining children appear to be few.

Frederick, the eldest sibling, did not remain in Hertfordshire after the death of his grandfather. Frederick became a Leather Currier in Porlock, before marrying Mary Floyd in 1884 at Luccombe, where they continued to live (29). After retiring, Frederick and Mary Sedgebeer returned to Porlock, lived at Redgate Cottage and in 1945 they died within a month of each other and were buried at the Porlock Cemetery (30). Harry, the 6th son, the one his mother was living with in Bristol during the 1901 Census, passed away at Weston Super-Mare in 1966 (31).

Possibly the most extreme estrangement was between Robert Sedgebeer and his second son, Francis Richard Sedgebeer (known as Frank). By 1885, Frank had already left Stowey Mill and was in Bristol, where he married Martha Betsey Horier, recording his occupation as a "Steel Worker" (32). By the 1891 Census and still in Bristol, the surname of Frank and Betsey (as she was called) was listed normally as "Sedgebeer". Yet in 1901, when Frank was living in Neath, Glamorganshire, Wales and still working in steel, he and Betsey had become "Mr. and Mrs. Hooper"-- reverting back to his mother's maiden name, perhaps because of the extreme break from his father. By the 1911 Census, 72-year-old Ann had also come to Neath and was living with Frank and Betsey Hooper. Ironically his mother was still Ann Sedgebeer and also still claimed she was widowed--perhaps to receive a pension.

Back in Timberscombe, it would appear that Herbert Sedgebeer, the fourth son of Robert Sedgebeer, had the most (if not the only) interaction with his father. Like his brother, Frank (as so many others did during this time), Herbert left Somerset to go to find work in Wales. He could have met his future wife, Eva, either in Somerset or Wales. Born as Eva Winter, she had been baptised in 1872 at Winsford, Somerset, not so far from Cutcombe (33), by her parents, John and Emma (nee Burgess) Winter--both born in Cutcombe (34). John Winter, had been a Farm Labourer working variously at Selworthy, Winsford, Wootton Courtenay, Kingbrompton (later Brompton Regis) and Timberscombe, where his two older sons had enrolled at Timberscombe School in the 1880s, as well as his two youngest sons in 1894 (35). In the later 1890s, John, Emma, his wife, all six of their sons and their three daughters made the move to Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales, where Mr. Winter (almost 60- years-old) and his boys went to work in the coal mines (36).

It is not clear when Eva, the eldest of the three daughters, married Herbert Sedgebeer but on the 30th of January 1899, they had baptised their first daughter, the wonderfully named Vivo May Annie Sedgebeer at the Church of St. Thomas at Neath, the same Welsh town where Frank and Betsey (now) Hooper settled (37). By the time of the English 1901 Census, Herbert, Eva and 2-year-old Vivo were back in Somerset at a cottage in Cowbridge, just a short walk away from Alders and Robert Sedgebeer. Herbert's next three daughters, Jessie, Daisy and Olive were born and baptised in Timberscombe (38). Respectively in 1903 and 1905, when Vivo and Jessie were registered by their father, Herbert, at Timberscombe School, their addresses were given as "Alders". On 12 February 1909, the school records indicate that the girls "Left Village"(39), surely because their parents were now living at 1 West Street in Minehead, where their father was working as a Building Labourer (40). Later the family moved to 68 Marshfield Road , Minehead (41). Herbert Sedgebeer died on the the 12th of March 1957 and was buried at the Minehead Cemetery, as was Eva (42).

At some point before the 1911 Census, Robert Sedgebeer relocated from Alders to live the short distance away in Cowbridge. Perhaps he did so to be closer to Herbert and his family or perhaps he moved into the cottage that they vacated around 1909. On the census, he is 77-years-old, is alone but still identified himself as married and a "Farm Labourer". Interestingly, next door is 78- year-old Mary Hole , his former neighbour from Alders. Mrs. Hole died in 1914 and Robert Sedgebeer died in March 1917 at the age of 84, with his death listed only as being in the Williton District (43). Without a birthplace or address indicated, it appears that Mr. Sedgebeer died in the Williton Poorhouse. The records of this institution were lost during bombings of the Second World War, but Robert Sedgebeer's fate was confirmed by his family in August 2023.

On the 29th of July 1922, 25-year-old Frank John Sedgebeer, like his father, Frank Richard, a steel worker, was married at the Parish Church in Neath, Wales. On the Marriage Register, his father was recorded as "Frank Richard Sedgebeer" and "deceased" (44), suggesting that Frank and Betsey never had their surname changed to "Hooper" officially. It is quite likely that Frank John's grandmother, Ann Sedgebeer, was in attendance at his wedding. At age of 83, Ann (nee Hooper) Sedgebeer, died the following October in Neath (45), outliving by more than five years the husband she had claimed was dead for at least the last twenty-one years.

Rosa Edith Cummins, as pictured in the third photograph above, was the last child baptised by Robert and Ann Sedgebeer on the 30th of March 1878 at St. John the Evangelist in Cutcombe, just as the previous seven Sedgebeer children had been. The church was also where her mother and the six other Hooper children were baptised, both generations defining the last decades of Stowey Mill. When Rosa and her mother left the mill, it is not clear where they went directly but certainly Rosa Edith Sedgebeer was in Bristol for the balance of the rest of her life. She married Joseph James Wright Cummins there in 1899 and as he worked (usually on the night shift) as a Fitter for the Bristol Tramways and Carriages Company, she raised eight children, living at least initially at 59 Richmond Street, Barton Hill, Bristol (46). Their youngest child was Alice, who when she died left the original of the watercolour of Stowey Mill to her son, Peter and her daughter, Jane, who shared it here.

Rosa passed away in 1952 at Bristol and was buried, as was Mr. Cummins, in Avon View Cemetery at St. George's, Bristol Unitary Authority, Bristol (47). Before her passing Rosa did return to Stowey Mill, accompanied by family. As the ruins of the mill came into sight, Rosa ran straight through the stream in her leather boots, so pleased was she to be "home". In November 2021 her grandson, Noel Dawson, took the fourth photograph, depicting ruins of the mill, a place he had visited and explored since he was a young boy. The photograph, among others of what little remains of Stowey Mill, have been graciously donated by Mr. Dawson and are stored with the St. Petrock's History Group Archive. Also provided by Mr. Dawson and his family was a copy of the backing of the watercolour, providing the clues to it's likely creator and shown as the final image above.

Creator

Anonymous /
Anonymous but a Minehead photographer /
Anonymous /
Noel Dawson

Date

undated but possibly 1860s to 1880s
c.1886
c. later 1930s
November 2021

Language

English

Identifier

An undated watercolour of Stowey Mill, possibly painted from the 1860s to the 1880s / photograph of Ann (nee Hooper) Sedgebeer, likely taken c. 1886 by a Minehead photographer / photograph of Rosa Edith (nee Sedgebeer) Cummins / photograph of Stowey Mill ruins taken November 2021 by Noel Dawson

Acquisition Date

2022
2022
2022
2022

Acquisition Method

Gift

Category

PLACES: Mills / Timberscombe (actually Cutcombe)
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe (actually Cutcombe)

Condition

Good

Condition Notes

entered by Tom Sperling

Condition Date

2023

Dimension Type

W X L

Dimension Units

cm

Dimension Value

11.5 X 18.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
18 X 27 (ARTWORK--of watercolour of Stowey Mill)
18.5 X 12.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
13.5 X 10.5 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
13 X 17 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
12 X 18 (PHOTOGRAPHS)
17,5 X 26.5 (ARTWORK-backing pasted on reverse side of the watercolour of Stowey Mill)
four other photographs of the remains of Stowey Mill, taken and donated in 2021 by Noel Dawson, the great great grandson of Thomas Hooper, the last miller at Stowey Mill, are archived at VILLAGE HISTORIES
16.5 X 11.5
11 X 11
13.5 X 18
15.5 X 11.5

Institution Name

St. Petrock's History Group

Notes

(1) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MMO1089 and MMO570, Proceedings of The Somerset Archive, Archaeological and National History Society, Volumes 44-46 and Volumes 50-52 and The Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1898, page 94 (2) 1841, 1871, 1881, and 1891 England Censuses (3) "History of the Hundred of Carhampton, in the County of Somerset" by James Savage, published by William Strong, Clare Street, Bristol, 1830, pages 212 and 217, England & Wales. Perogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1381-1858, historyofparliamentonline.org and National Portrait Gallery, npg.org (4) England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 and England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995 (5) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (6) Somerset England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1914 (7) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (8) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (9) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (10) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (11) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1914 (12) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (13) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (14) Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1914 (15) 1871 England Census (16) 1871 and 1881 England Censuses (17) 1891 England Census (18) Somerset, England, Marriages Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (19) 1871 and 1881 England Censuses and Minehead Residents and Street Addresses, 1910, mineheadonline. co. uk (20) 1901 and1911 England Censuses and 1939 England and Wales Register (21) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (22) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (23) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (24) as recalled by Noel Dawson, 22 April 2022 (25) in email from Noel Dawson to members of his family and shared with Thomas Sperling, St. Petrock's History Group, 17 May 2022 (26) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO9264 and SEM 8508, unpublished document Dawson, Noel and as recalled by Noel Dawson in 2022 (27) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 and as recalled in 2022 by Noel Dawson (28) UK Army Registers of Soldier's Effects, 1901-1929, UK, Imperial Yeomanry Records, 1899-1902 and UK Casualties of the Boer War, 1899-1902 (29) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and 1901 England Census (30) 1939 England and Wales Register and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (31) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995 (32) England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 and Bristol, England, Church of England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 (33) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (34) 1901 England Census (35) 1881 and 1891 England Censuses, Timberscombe School LOG BOOK, 8 March 1872-31 August 1892 and SP-243 (where the younger boys, John and Thomas Winter are in the c. 1888 school photograph) (36) 1901 Wales Census (37) Glamorganshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1570-1994 (38) 1911 England Census and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (39) Timberscombe School ADMISSION REGISTER, 1897-1944, Nos. 168 and 202 (40) 1911 England Census (41) 1939 England and Wales Register (42) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (43) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (44) Glamorganshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1570-1994 (45) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (46) 1911 England Census (47) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current

Storage Location

St. Petrock's History Group Archive

Storage Date

2023

Storage Notes

St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group ARTWORK

Item Reference

SP-320

Technique

copies

Comments

Citation

Anonymous / Anonymous but a Minehead photographer / Anonymous / Noel Dawson , “Two Families, the Hoopers and the Sedgebeers, In and Around Stowey Mill,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed March 28, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3582.