Life for the agricultural labourer in the 19th century was difficult. Low wages, little job security and large families made it a struggle for a man to feed, clothe and keep a roof over the head of his family. Some Dorset men moved to Wales to work in the mines, allowing better pay but worse conditions. It was not until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th that young men in any numbers were able to seek out a better future for themselves.
It would have been difficult for Thomas Gundry to support a wife, six children and his widowed mother-in-law on an agricultural labourer’s wage but he does appear to have enjoyed a measure of job security, for he was able to live out his life in one area: Walditch near Bridport in West Dorset. He and his wife Harriet had several children; his son Walter was born at Walditch in 1849 and later, in 1871, he married Emily Hawkins who he met while living and working at Bothenhampton.
Like his father, Walter was an agricultural labourer and like many other men working on the land in the 19th century he had to take work wherever it was offered. Through out their married life Walter and Emily, with their growing family, were constantly on the move. At the time of his marriage Walter was living at Bothenhampton with his uncle who was a Dairyman; the couple’s first child was born there. Two years later they are at Bradpole and from there they moved back to Walditch before going to Bradford Peverell; then it was onto Portesham, where they stayed for five years before travelling onto Piddletrenthide. Here their last child, Leonard, was born on 14th of October 1889.
From Piddletrenthide Walter and Emily moved to Dewlish, where Walter was working as a Thatcher. Two sons, Frederick and Joseph, were working as Carter Boys and their youngest, Leonard, was still at school. In their sixties Walter and Emily lived at Compton Valence. After 47 years of marriage Walter passed away in 1918 aged 68; Emily passed away early in 1923 aged 76.
At the age of 17 the youngest son, Leonard, was working as an agricultural labourer like his father and grandfather. He wanted more out of life so he left home and took a job with the Eddison Steam Rolling Company of Dorchester and soon found himself driving a steam roller for the Newton Abbot Rural District Council in Devon.
In 1913 Leonard Gundry left Dorset for London, where he joined the Metropolitan Police and served for 26 years; for the last eight years with the police he held the rank of Inspector. His time with the police saw him working in Camden Town, Whitehall, Kensington, Stepney, Bethnel Green, Hackney, Islington and Shoreditch. As a Constable in ‘A’ Division he saw duty at Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace, Marlborough House and No 10 Downing Street.
In 1918 he married a London girl, Ethel Brabham, and had one son, Alfred, who had a career in banking. Leonard Gundry was a man who broke free and secured for himself a better standard of living and a better life.
