Page 28 • The HERALD • 9th May 2024 v BRINGING THE GOOD NEWS TO YOU SINCE 1994 v Kitchen & Bathroom Showroom with free design service Tel: 023 8084 3787 Email: showroom@pcbuildingsupplies.co.uk Web: www.pcbuildingsupplies.co.uk FLAT ROOFING SPECIALISTS All Roof Repairs Tel: 023 8184 5632 Mobile: 07880 508415 Email: steve@braithwaiteroo ng.co.uk THE FLAT ROOF SPECIALIST Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH TALES FROM THE GRAVEYARD William Vincent Giles William Vincent Giles was born in the July of 1859 in the town of Sherborne in Dorset. His father John was a butler and his mother Sophia was a maid in the same household. John was born in Droxford in Hampshire. William was the only son and he had one sister called Frances Hannah, who had been born in 1856. By 1881, William, aged just 21, was recorded as running his own shop on the corner of Ashlett Road and Calshot Road, in Fawley. He was described as a grocer, draper and baker. At that time, this would have encompassed a large selection of household goods as well as food. Much of the food would have been unpackaged and arrived at the shops in large barrels. Many of the surrounding farms would have produced much of their own food. However, sugar would be served by scooping it out from a special sack, with a small metal scoop, weighed on a scale and wrapped in a dark blue thick paper called ‘sugar paper’. Butter and lard were very o en served from a large block of the product, patted into the customers requested amount by wooden ‘butter pats’ and wrapped in a piece of grease proof paper. Biscuits o en arrived at the shop in large cardboard boxes and were weighed out to the correct quantity. Bacon would be sliced directly from the whole joint of pork. Fortunately, William had his sister Frances living with him at that time, which must have been a great help. By 1883 he was also listed as ‘postmaster’ in the o cial directory, but a year later he had given this role to a Mr. Richard Talling, who lived at Laurel Cottage, in the Square, at Fawley. At this period in history, Fawley was in its original situation before the coming of the oil re nery. It was a bustling little village with a great variety of shops, serving the surrounding countryside and farms and gentry. ere were several large properties in the area each supporting a substantial household, all of whom would need to be fed and cared for. Black eld hardly existed, so Fawley was the ‘commercial centre.’ William, when he was aged twenty- four, married Lydia Mary Tomlin who was born in Warnford, in Hampshire, in 1862. ey were married at South Stoneham in 1883 and by 1891 they had 5 children. However, later documentation narrated by a younger daughter called Daisy, shows that eventually they had ten children. One wonders how they all tted into the household, which was probably accommodation over the shop. William must have worked hard, because he owned stables in Ashlett Road large enough for two horses, he owned a donkey, a goat and two horse vans. At one time he owned three caravans. ese had been converted from London horse vans, and he had equipped one of them with a bath! ey used to take the caravans to places like Ringwood. It must have been quite an undertaking getting the three horse drawn caravans prepared, the numerous children into the caravans, and then safely travel across the forest as it was at that time. ere would have been no smooth roads, just gravel or dirt tracks, which were probably full of potholes and ruts (no change there, then!). e horses must have been very strong to pull the vans through those tracks. Other outings were taken in Mr. Waterman’s Wagonette where the family would go to places like Denny’s Wood, for a picnic. Sometimes the family would travel by barge across the estuary to Hamble, and then by cart to Hedge End to the famous Strawberry Fields, to pick strawberries. It must have seemed so exciting to the children. On the way back they would pick crabs from the sea shore. At that time Ashlett Creek was a very busy little port. Most heavy goods would have been transported there by barge as the road system was very rudimentary. Transportation was quicker and smoother by water William Vincent Giles outside his shop by Patricia Hedley-Goddard, Churchyard Archivist for the ancient parish of All Saints’ Fawley Continued on page 29
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