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William Hall – Gamekeeper

William Hall was the son of Leah Hall; he was baptised at East Burton, a chapelry of Wool, on the 13th of September 1867. In 1861 Leah, a laundress was working at Melbury House, in Melbury Sampford, the home of the Earl and Countess of Ilchester. She was one of twenty-four servants: the Earl’s bailiff and gamekeeper had cottages on the estate. Later in his life William Hall would be employed by Ilchester.

Leah Hall later married Josiah Pople but it seems William did not live with his mother. The 1881 census for East Burton by then in the parish of Winfrith Newburgh, has him living with his grandfather Joseph Hall and aunt Isabella Hall. There is nothing to suggest he was ever adopted by Josiah Pople.

William married Sarah Anne Longman in 1889. Usually the column on a marriage certificate referring to the father is left blank in the case of an illegitimate child marrying. However, in this case William declares his father was William Hall (deceased) – was this for appearances sake? We are left to wonder. A strict interpretation of the baptism entry at East Burton suggests he was baptised William Hall Hall and his civil birth certificate leaves no doubt about his illegitimacy. The practice of using a surname as a middle name was often used by single women to name and perhaps shame the child’s father.

The Overseer’s records for Wool and Winfrith have not survived and it is impossible to say if a bastardy order was ever issued against anyone in respect of William. Interestingly, if we could say for certain that no bastardy order was issued that might tell us something, but it seems we will never know.

In a conversation with William’s son Frank and daughter Elsie on 25th of August 1970 at Lympstone in Devon, I learnt “He was a gamekeeper and worked for Lord Ilchester in Dorset. Then, he worked for the Honourable Mark Rolle in 1899. The family lived in Torrington (Devon) for 8 years. Then, he worked for Lord Clinton who inherited from the Rolle estate. He was working for him in 1911 when the picture of him standing with his gun and dog was taken.” (Photo in the gallery.)

William Hall, gamekeeper, lived in Evershot and Gershot, Dorset, until at least January of 1892 when his son, Fred, was born at Gershot. Sometime thereafter the family moved to Somerset where a daughter, Mabel, was born at Queen Camel. Then before the birth of son Frank, in April 1899, the family moved to Torrington in Devon where daughter Elsie was born in April 1907. The family lived in Merton, Devon at some point.

After starting his working life as a groom, William became estate gamekeeper to Lord Rolle and Lord Clinton on their Devon estates. William is listed in the 1901 census at Greater Torrington, Devon, aged 33, his occupation given as gamekeeper and that record confirms he was born at Winfrith, Dorset. He is described as a gamekeeper on the marriage certificate of his son William, in 1916.

His grandson, Norman Hall, told me during a conversation in July (2006) that William “used to train wild dogs – domesticated them…he had a special way with animals.” After his retirement, he used to visit his eldest son, William, and his family every Saturday, coming from Colaton Raleigh with chickens, eggs and butter for them.

He was 75 when he died and his occupation is listed as Estate Gamekeeper. His eldest son registered his death. William Hall is buried in the churchyard at Colaton Raleigh with a holly tree nearby.

Note: There is a photograph in the gallery of William Hall with his wife and children.

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