| Description | DOB: 30th October 1876
DOD: Unknown
Born in Abingdon, Berkshire.
Henry's father and mother had eight children, 4 girls and 4 boys; Henry being the 5th child.
His father was a monumental mason, which had been a family occupation.
His Grandmother was a Godfrey, and their name is in the Sutton Courtney Church Register at the very beginning, about 1550.
Soon after Henry was born, his father moved back to Sutton Courtney, to take over the Plough Inn, as his mother (Henry's grandmother), who was a widow, had died.
At Sutton, Henry's mother gave birth to 3 more children, first 2 boys, then a girl.
His school master lived to be over 90, and died at Benson, Oxon in 1940. Henry went to his funeral, and Henry's brother made the master's tombstone.
When Henry was 11, he was sent to the Culham College Practicing School, which was three miles from their village. Most boys came from Abingdon, and had to pay eight shillings a term.
He left school in July 1890.
Christian
One daughter and son
Manual fire engines was exhausting work, but the pay was good compared with the ten shillings a week paid by the farmers.
Farmers would give men permission, when out of work, to grub up tree stumps which they would sell as blocks for a shilling a wheelbarrow-full.
Henry worked at the Otney Farm race course for 6 years.
Several fires took place in Sutton while Henry was a boy.
The Village feast, which took place on Corpus Christi Day.
Steeple chase every May, held in the meadows along the river between Sutton and Abingdon.
Queen Victoria's Jubilee celebrations of 1887
Great depression (Agricultural/financial)
The Great War |