Following on from the last newsletter, we had just learned from the 1919 Kelly’s directory that the Bond family were living at ‘Willstock Farm’. Nothing else is said about the farm in that record and so the next available record that mentions the farm is the 1911 census.
According to the 1911 census there were 6 living at ‘Willstock Farm’. The census also identifies that the Bond family were born in or near Stokeinteignhead, Devonshire.
-George Harry Bond is the head of the house, he is 55 and lists his occupation as “Farmer”
-Ellen Louisa Bond (George’s wife), who is 50
-Arthur George Bond, 22 years old, “Farmer’s son working on Farm”
-Ethel Ellen Bond, 14 years old, “School” and therefore without occupation
-May Primrose Young, 18 years old, “Governess, (Domestic)” who would have been schooling Ethel
-Eva Ellen Symes, 18 years old, “General Servant (Domestic)”
One of the great things about the 1911 census is that it was the first one to be completed by the people who actually lived at an address, so you can see their actual handwriting. Previous censuses taken would have been recorded by someone who went door-to-door which meant that information would be written as it sounded which leads to variation in spelling over time due to pronunciation.
Going back further in time to 1904 shows a map of the farm house and some of the surrounding land. At this point in time the farm is still known as ‘Willstock Farm’.
The 1901 census identifies the Bond family living at Buckland, Coombe, Devon. This time there is another son listed called ‘William Bond’ who is 14. They have ‘Ethel Penhey’ living with them as a Servant and on the day of the census being taken they have a visitor called John Botton. As the Bond family are no longer at ‘Willstock Farm’, we’ll move on.
In the next edition we’ll return to ‘Willstock Farm’ to learn about the ‘Aplin’ family living there at the time of the 1901 census.
Written by Wilstock News
