CD1

(71 mins)
 

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BORN REXTON FARM, STOGUMBER 1908 / FAMILY BACKGROUND / SCHOOL / LYDEARD ST LAWRENCE / FATHER'S JOB

[recorded Timberscombe, 17.4.2001]

Born Rexton Farm, Stogumber 20^th September 1908. His father was a head carter on Rexton Farm. During the time he worked at Rexton Farm he worked for 3 bosses. His mother did farm work such as pulling swedes as she had to work as there were 8 in the family. Five girls and 3 boys. DP is the eldest.

He went to Lydeard St Lawrence School which is two and a half miles away. They had to walk, or run, that two and a half miles as there were no buses in those days. They used to gather children from different farms on the way to school. At the school there was a head teacher and a Miss Crocker who was the infant teacher. The head teacher was called Freddie Knight. After school they had to walk all the way home again. Often when he got home his mother asked him to go to the shop so he had to go back two and a half miles again.

Lydeard St Lawrence had a shop, a post office, a chapel and a church. They had a baker's shop run by a man called  Mr Pullen.

He got on very well at school and the schoolmaster when he was coming towards the end of leaving school, he gave him an examination which he passed and then said to his parents that he would like him to go on to a higher school in Taunton. His parents said they could not afford to send him there so the schoolmaster said he would have to leave school one year earlier. He left school at 13 rather than 14 as he had passed all his tests. He went to work at a farm in Brompton Ralph, which was called Winters Farm.

As he was the eldest of 8 children he had to do a lot of work at home. There was an 18 months/2 years gap between each of the children.

He remembers going to help his father in the stable. He would get up at 6, in the stable at 7 and at 8 he would have the horses ready in the fields for ploughing or whatever there was to do on the farm. He can remember taking his breakfast into the field where he was working. He would stop his horses and have his half an hour for breakfast. He would then work with his horses until 12 o'clock. There was a 2 hour break when he would have an hour to take his horses into the stable and give them a feed and a rest and have a rest and his lunch ready to go back into the field with the same horses at 2 o'clock. He spent the rest of the afternoon at his work. He would have his horses back in the stable on harness and making them comfortable between 5 and 6 o'clock at night. He was head carter and had another chap under him - Harry Webber. There were 2 horses for his father and 2 for the under carter. They had to be groomed , cleaned, fresh bedding put in, brushed down, combed down every night. He would then come and spend his night at home. They never went anywhere because there was nowhere to go. They were on a farm away from Stogumber and away from Lydeard St Lawrence. [Back to top]
 

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HOME LIFE / MOTHER / HARE AND HOUNDS / SCHOOL / GRANDPARENTS / AUNT GIRT

They had a large kitchen. There was no electricity or water. They had 3 bedrooms upstairs. Three sisters and 2 brothers have now died. In the evenings they would play with toys or he would go out and help his father in the garden which was large. There was no wireless and no television. There was also no telephone. They weren't a musical family.

His mother used to have to work to help keep them.

He got into trouble at school once playing Hare and Hounds. During their dinner hour they used to send off one boy to be the hare and the others would be the hounds who would follow him. One day he was two minutes late getting back for 2 o'clock school and he had a hiding for that. The schoolmaster did that across the desk. He got one slap with the cane.

He had an old granny and grandfather whom he called Gonker. This was his mother's father. They lived at Westowe which is between Stogumber and Lydeard St Lawrence. He would live with them during holiday times. Gonker was a timber fellow. He would saw down trees with a cross-saw. There were no chain saws then. His granny was just a ordinary housewife. She had a sister that they used to call Aunt Girt who lived in London. She gave him his names. He is Kenneth Dudley Parsons. Dudley was her favourite name because of  Mr Dudley Ward a member of parliament. She was a banquet cook in London. She used to cook for government people; people doing plays and films at the Pinewood Studios. She was head banquet cook for that. She used to have him with her as he was her favourite. She took him to London on holiday. He was 17 when he first went to London. She more or less took command of him. [Back to top]
 

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FIRST JOB / WINTERS FARM / SOUITH QUARME / FRANK RAWLE / PLOUGHING / CHRISTENING

When he went out to work at 13 he had to look after himself. He was driving horses like his father. For his first job he went to Winters Farm where he was just a boy - not learning his trade - but he had to do what the farmer told him. This was  Mr Shaddock of Winters Farm, Brompton Ralph. He would get up early in the morning to feed the cows and help milk the cows. He lived in for this job. He was paid half a crown a week. He went there because his father had been working for  Mr Shaddock at Wrexham Farm. He thought it was a grand thing leaving home. His next job was with a farmer who was  Mr Frank Rawle of South Quarme. He was with him for 18 months - driving horses, ploughing and doing all sorts of things. He was then 18 to 20 years old. When he was ploughing the farmer would put a stick out in the field to indicate how far he had to plough. He used to move the stick but the farmer became aware of that so he got a sheep rack into the field which he knew he couldn't move.

After he had been there a little while,  Mrs Lily Rawle said that as he had not been christened he should be christened and confirmed. So he had to go to Exton Church and go through the christening vows and then they said he had to be confirmed. As he was still living with  Mr &  Mrs Rawle they were his godfather and godmother.

His mother would not have any of them christened. He doesn't know why. As a family they were churchgoers. They didn't go to church from Wrexham very much. Stogumber was the parish but Lydeard St Lawrence was where they all got their livelihood. [Back to top]
 

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WINTERS FARM / SOUTH QUAREME / BICYCLE / ENTERTAINMENT / GIVING NOTICE / WORK

He was at Winters Farm 18 months. He was living in while he was there. He had his own room and he remembered having a lovely fried breakfast. He got used to being away from home. He used to have to clean the son's shoes. He did general farm work. From there he went on to South Quarme. He had to pick up his things from Winters Farm and meet  Mr Rawle with a horse and cart at Raleghs Cross where he took him to South Quarme. There he had to look after the horses and milk the cows and feed them. South Quarme was in Exton parish. It was in Exton church that he was christened. He bought himself a bicycle while he was there and he used to cycle to Wheddon Cross and cycle to Bridgetown. He remembers there was a fancy dress dance at the Rest and be Thankful. There was no village hall in Wheddon Cross but they had a club room at the Rest and be Thankful. He dressed up and blacked his face and went as a tramp. He got first prize.

They had to make their own entertainment. They used to go to Bridgetown and Wheddon Cross and Winsford from South Quarme. He was out in the barn feeding the calves with  Mr Rawle one morning with his hands in a bucket of milk and the calves used to suck his fingers. One day he might have said something wrong to  Mr Rawle and  Mr Rawle picked up the bucket of milk and chucked it all over him. So he said he was leaving. So he left there.  Mr Rawle said you can't go - you have to stay for three months  Mr Rawle said he paid him half a crown a week per quarter. DP said he was going. He got his things together and somehow got to Wheddon Cross. He would get the half a crown a week all at once at the end of the quarter. You had to wait 13 weeks for your money. He relented and paid him the money that he owed him.

 Mr Rawle would hang up a lantern in the yard after 10 o'clock at night and make him clean the yard. [Back to top]
 

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WOOTTON COURTENAY / MILL FARM / FIRST WIFE / COUNCIL HOUSE / BILLY BURNELL / GARAGE BUSINESS / GENERAL MECHANIC

He got a job at Wootton Courtenay which is the village where he spent most of his life. He lodged at Ranscombe Cottages and got a job there as a carter. The man whom he lodged with was Charlie Hodge. He was paid £1 per week. He had to walk to Mill Farm which was about 500 yards from where he was lodging. There he looked after horses, drove them and did general farm work. He stayed there for eighteen months that would bring him up to 21 years of age. He was married when he was 21. He met his first wife. He met her at Wootton Courtenay where they went courting. His wife's name was Beatrice Baker - known as Beatty.

They were married at Wootton Courtenay church about the end of 1928. He didn't get married until he had a house to live in. He told George Burnell, who was a parish councillor, that he wanted a council house. There wasn't a council house vacant but George Burnell said he would see what he could do. He got him a council house at 2 Stoney Close, Wootton Courtenay which was one of the only four council houses in Wootton Courtenay. At that time it was difficult to get a council house as they were doing away with the farm labourers cottages. He then went to work for George Burrell. He'd only been married a short while. The business was a garage. He was W G Burnell, William George Burnell, known as Billy. He used to sell gramophones, no wirelesses because there weren't any wirelesses then. [Back to top]
 

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GARAGE JOB / PETROL / TAXI / MAINTENANCE / ENGINEERING DAYS / EXPANSION / REFUSE COLLECTION JUG AND BOTTLE COMMITTEE / DUNKERY IRON PITS / COUNCIL TIPS

DP worked for him as a general mechanic, mending gramophones and bicycles. He used to be an agent for Coventry Bicycles and he used to do maintenance of bicycles. He thought it was great as he was learning to drive a car. At that time George Burnell had a taxi service. DP got his first driving licence at 18.

 In that period he was married, learnt to drive, drove a taxi, did general repairs in the garage and sold petrol. The name of the petrol they used to sell was National Benzole. There was a high National Benzole and there was a commercial National Benzole. The commercial was 11d per gallon and the other was 1/- a gallon. Village customers would come in to buy the petrol. There wasn't a motorway through, or main road, or anything like that. It was just the connection between Luccombe, Timberscombe and other villages. Not everyone had transport.

There was no pump at first. The garage had an old bowser supplied by National Benzole. They also got involved in motorcycles. DP had his own motorcycle and he got involved in the maintenance of motorcycles [?]. People used to come in with a broken clutch cable or something similar and DP would have to solder it. He then went to BOC (British Oxygen Company) where he learnt welding. He then used to do a lot of welding in the garage. His job then was to do repairs on tractors etc.

The firm got bigger at that time and he [George Burnell] employed more people. He had 7 lorries which were working at Triscombe Quarries and various places for the council. He had 3 buses. He also had 3 school contracts which had to be driven and seen to everyday. They also started a refuse collection for the Williton District Council. There was a refuse dump in Wootton Courtenay where everything was dumped from bedsteads, ashes, cookers etc. The parish council decided they ought to do something about it and clear this dump which was in the centre of the village.

There was a jug and bottle committee in the village who were formed to deal with the removal of the refuse dump. They had to get permission to bury the stuff on a site. They cleared the site with horses and carts on a Saturday afternoon. They had to find somewhere to tip it. At the foot of Dunkery there is what is called 'iron pits'. They used to take iron ore there years ago when there were great pits. Dunkery Hill in those days belonged to the Hughes, Sir Gon Pilcher and all that, who lived at Bossington House. He gave permission to tip into these pits and fill them up one at a time and bury them. Whilst they were doing this over two or three years the Williton District Council decided they would have their refuse collection and so the jug and bottle committee started the Williton District Council refuse collection. This was still with a horse and cart.

A contract was put out for the council refuse collection which the company still has. They had to get a lorry with chutes. There was a tip at Williton; a tip at Bossington and a tip at Dunster. Dunster and Bossington had incinerators and Billy Burnell had to supply a man to burn the refuse and put the burnt tins back into a tip. There was also a tip at Stringston, which is near Bridgwater. In those days Williton Council used to nearly reach the outskirts of Bridgwater. Before the refuse collection, people used to tip their rubbish anywhere. DP had to collect refuse sometimes but he was mainly used as a maintenance man to look after the lorries etc. [Back to top]
 

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SCHOOL CONTRACTS / VEHICLES / GARAGE PREMISES / EMPLOYEES / EXPANSION / DRIVING LICENCES / THE BURNELLS / RUNNING BUSINESS / LEAVING GARAGE

George Burnell then got 2 school contracts. He picked up at Withycombe, Carhampton, Higher Rodhuish, Lower Rodhuish, Croydon Hall and took them to Washford School. That was a daily job. There was another run going to Roadwater to pick up children and take them to Williton School.

These were marked 'Burnell Buses'. It was quite a big firm in the end. All the buses were kept at Wootton Courtenay. At the time he's talking about, they had two 20-seater buses and a 14-seater bus which did these contracts. In between dropping the children off at school and collecting them in the afternoon they did day trips to Lynmouth. DP had to do the maintenance of all these vehicles.

The garage expanded. At the back there was an orchard. Years ago it was called the 'Pound Orchard' because if any animals strayed off of Dunkery Hill it was put in pound in this orchard. The gate was locked and you had to pay to get your horse, sheep or whatever had strayed off the hill. The Burnells built a bus shed on this land, a paint shop and a MOT shop.

DP had to have a HGV licence so he could drive and test the lorries that came in. He also had to have a PSV licence which he kept until he was 70 years old.

In the early '30s George Burnell, son, was going to the High School in Taunton. He also had a sister. DP was working for them when they were both born. One day in 1945 he arrived at work and found that George Burnell, senior, had left his wife and gone to South Africa. Meanwhile the business had to be run. Eventually it was sorted out that the business would be George Burnell, junior, when he was 21 and when he had finished his schooling. During this time DP took over as the boss and ran the business. When George was 21 DP handed it over to him.

At this time DP left the business and set up on his own as an agricultural engineer. [Back to top]
 

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RUNNING GARAGE / WAGES / GEORGE BURNELL / CHANGES TO BUSINESS

During the period he ran the Burnells' business, DP had complete authority and the daughter, George's sister, did all the accounts. His wages then were 52/6d per week. During the farming days his wages were 32/6d and his rent and rates were 12/6d. This was when he was working for  Mr Thorne at Fairgarden Farm, Wootton Courtenay. He left the farm and went into the council house, working for Billy Burnell, in the early '30s.

When George Burnell [senior] left his wife and family, solicitors dealt with the money side of things. They decided that George Burnell junior should have the business on reaching 21 but he would have to keep his mother until she died.

George Burnell [junior] had learnt everything off DP mechanically, and driving. He had had a wonderful start in life. When he took over the company he started selling. He got rid of the bus contracts. He got rid of the 7 lorries one by one [expands]. DP left because he was fed up with it, and went on his own direct, logging. Billy Burnell left the business in 1945/46. Nobody knew he was going. [Back to top]