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Gallery: Wimborne Pictures
H. C. Farrant, Baker, Wimborne Minster, Date Unknown
@iamtimbo / 9 years ago / 3988 views / 1 comments
Image Details
Presumably this is Farrant himself, stood with his delivery horse and van. The van says it's from the St John's Bakery, although I'm not sure of the exact location.
He was born in about 1881, and in 1911 was living at "Leigh Common, Wimborne". His occupation was listed as 'Baker and Grocer'. He lived with his wife Bessie, and their children Millicent and Phoebe.
Mr Farrant appears to have been a man of many professions. In the 1915 Kelly's Directory, he is listed at 19 Leigh Road, at a temperance hotel.
Hint: Drag the orange pegman to see the Streetview image...
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Coming back to look at this photograph, I decided to do some digging as I was not aware that there had ever been a "St John's Bakery" and, like you, I wondered where it was.
I found that Henry Charles Farrant was born in Hillfarrance, Somerset, in 1877, the son of Charles, a gardener, and Sarah. In 1898, he married Bessie Ann Burden at Hampreston, where Bessie had been born in 1872.
In the 1901 census, Henry and Bessie were living at Leigh Common on the outskirts of Wimborne and Henry is described as a master baker and Bessie as a shopkeeper. Tim describes above the situation in 1911. Henry appears in the 1916 Jury List as "a baker &c". In the 1939 register, he and Bessie are living at Brightside, Wimborne Road in either Colehill or Leigh Common (Leigh Common is in Colehill parish). Aged 62 at the time, he describes himself as a lorry driver seeking work. Henry died in 1946.
Where was St John's Bakery? Until about 7 - 10 years ago, there was a cafe on the main Wimborne road at Leigh Common called The Old Bakehouse, and on the wall above it was an old advertisement for, I think, flour. The building is now demolished. I think that must have been Henry Farrant's St John's Bakery as it pretty much adjoined the St John's area of Wimborne. Incidentally, I'm not sure that it is Henry in the picture. It must have been taken around 1900, when Henry would have been only 23 or so.