Habgood

The Habbgood family  moved to the village in the 19th century and were tenants or owners of several farms.   This picture of Ernie Habgood  is taken from a picture taken in the Village Hall c 1950 which is shown in the page about the St John family.  The Habgoods moved to Chewton Mendip in the early to middle 19th century when two John Habgoods appear in the records.

John Habgood was  40 year old schoolmaster,  who was married to Susan, who was 30, in 1841  when they were living in Ford according to the census of that year. The 1840 tithe map shows he was occupying land which now contains Ford House but the 1840 map shows it as an empty field.

John Habgood may have been a grocer before he became a schoolmaster.  Emele Emelia Habgood was the daughter of John and Susan Habgood and was baptised on 4th June 1830 in Chew Stoke. Sarah Ann was also baptised in Chew Stoke on  6th June 1831. John Habgood, their father, was described as a grocer.  Sarah may have been the 6 year old daughter of John Habgood the school teacher living in Chewton Mendip in 1841, the dates of birth and ages recorded in the census rarely matched.

The 1841 census records he had other children in 1841. James was  seven but he may have died in 1858. Ann was five and John was two years old. William was eight months old, he probably died in 1917 and is buried in Chewton Mendip.

The Kingsmill family owned most of the centre of the village at the time but they sold a lot of land in  1848 when John Habgood may have been living in what is now called the Old Vicarage or possibly the school.

J Habgood was shown as occupying a lot of land in 1848, some of which had been occupied by Elizabeth Curtis.  J Habgoods holding included land in various parts of Chewton Mendip village and Ston Easton but this was probably a different person.

A John Habgood  was a collector of income and taxes from  1861 to 1866 and was a tenant at Chewton Cottage from 1861 to 1866. This was John James Habgood who married to Martha Culliford Salvidge which has been confirmed by his granddaughter, Ruth Frean.  Martha Culliford Salvidge was the daughter of William Culliford Salvidge and Christiana Curtis. Christiana was a daughter of Charles Curtis and Martha Kerslake

Chewton Cottage was the name the Habgoods gave to what was called  Veal’s Farm in Lower Street but is now a a number of separate houses.

John James Habgood who was farming Blackmans farm in 1872. The Culliford family were paying poor rates for part of the Blackmans estate c 1734 which may support the theory that the Habgoods inherited money from the Cullifords but it could be coincidence.

John James Habgood had a reputation for the  living the good life so he may have built or enhanced the prestigious building that is now known as Waldegrave House. John Parfitt was the previous occupant of Blackmans/Waldegrave House who was the Waldegrave’s land agent so it is assumed John James Habgood performed a similar role.

Double Farm and Quarrs Farm are other possibilities for properties acquired by John James Habgood in 1848 and he may have acquired land that belonged to the Parsonage Farm,  Shooters Bottom, Franklyns and Cutlers Green and East End Farms.

John James Habgood died in 1882 and Martha Habgood was a widow in the 1891 census when she was living in Everards Farm with her three children. They were tenants of the Waldegraves because  John James Habgood has spent all the money!

Christiana was 25 in 1891 and later married Benjamin Thayer. Winifred was 23 and Ernest John, shown above, was 10. Martha died in 1899.

Ernie had to start as a tenant farmer but he ended up owning land in  Green Ore before retiring to Chewton Cottage. The previous owners were the Barff family who ran it as a girls and music school. The Barffs called the house Chewton Villa but the Habgoods though that pretentious so they renamed it Chewton Cottage.

Ernie employed a number of people on his farm including Stanley Humphries,  Mervyn and Percy Clavey and Fred Speed.

Ernie lent money to George Gane to enable him to buy five cows to help George get a fresh start after fighting in the first world war.

Ernie also lent £500 to build the Village Hall and he is remembered sitting at the entrance to functions collecting the money. The fundraising was not entirely succesful so Ernie donated the remaining £100.

Ernie was the captain of the skittles team and is sen in the picture of the skittles team taken c1950. He was also a member of the cricket club.