The villages of
Stoke St. Mary, Thurlbear and Orchard Portman, Somerset, England.

PERSONAL PROFILES PAST & PRESENT

MAURICE BURT

Maurice Burt born 6th November 1915 at 6, Middleway, Wilton, never really knew his mother Rita (nee Jennings of Stoke St Mary). He records that following difficult times, both he and his older brother Hubert Frederick Charles, born 1913, were left abandoned by their mother on the steps of the Workhouse at Chard. Maurice's father George Burt returned from the trenches in WW1 and upon arriving at the family home at Creech found no sign of his wife Rita Burt, or her sons Maurice and Hubert. Father George went to the police and with the help of Gussie Hopkins at Tuckers, Stoke St Mary, located the boys at the Chard Workhouse although their mother was not then found.
Initially George Burt arranged for the boys Maurice and Hubert to stay with Fred and Mrs Challis and their children at Homelea in Stoke St Mary. Sarah Burt (George's sister) married Bill Hardwell and it was in 1918 with this family at Mount Pleasant, Stoke St. Mary that Maurice grew up with Bill and Sarah's daughter Stella Hardwell (1921-1995) being born there. In 1918 Mount Pleasant consisted of three cottages. William Hardwell (1890-1935) and Sarah Hardwell (1892-1970) lived at the east end where the water pump was located and in the middle cottage lived Mr. Harry Marquis Silke (1897-1950) and Mrs. Gladys Gertrude Silke (1897-1991) and their children, Dorothy (born there 1926) and John Edwin Silke (born there 12th January 1927 died 1993). The third cottage on the west side was then occupied by the village policeman. The young brothers Maurice and Hubert were separated when Maurice went to Mount Pleasant. Hubert then was cared for by his Dad's brother, uncle Tom Burt, who lived at Vine Cottage, Stoke St. Mary, next Woodfordes.
Maurice remembers water-butts at Mount Pleasant, used for the collection of the soft storm water for washing clothes and linen, the well water being extremely hard.

Photograph circa 1950 of Mount Pleasant, showing Tinker, Dorothy Silke's cat. Photograph courtesy of Maurice Burt February 2002. The frame which holds this picture contains underneath an old coloured glass photograph shown (right) of a gravestone of Mabel died 1885 aged 6 months and Conrad died 1896 aged 8. Only and Beloved children of C & S Powell. (C and S Powell were tenants at Mount Pleasant Mount Pleasant when Maurice Burt and Dorothy Silke (Hardwell) lived there as children.

Maurice started school at Thurlbear when he was 4 years old. He was unable to walk at the time (too weak) and was taken in a pushchair. He remembers his schoolteacher Granny Jackson with some affection and some trepidation. In 1930, when he was fourteen, Maurice left Thurlbear School and simultaneously the Hardwells also left Mount Pleasant moving to Rose Cottage, only a hundred yards or so from Mount Pleasant on the village road. Maurice's first job was with Edwin Winters, Ironmongers in Taunton but after six months he left to work for Sydney Shattock at Lower Holway Farm where he stayed for 35 years. Maurice continued to live at Rose Cottage from around 1930 until his marriage when aged 27 to Gladys Brice of Stoke St. Mary, in 1942 when he lived in rooms at Stoke Hill Farm. He moved to Bridge Cottage at lower Henlade in 1943 and has lived there since. Today his daughter Shirley lives with him.
William Burt the brother of George Burt, is remembered by an inscription on the font in the church at Stoke St. Mary as being the sole WW1 casualty from the village). It is recalled by Maurice Burt (January 2002) that William said on his departure for the trenches that he would not return!

Narrative arp and tjr January 2002.

Up Watery Lane, Stoke St. Mary.
The original vehicular approach
to Mount Pleasant.

The brass inscription on the Font cover
To the glory of God and in memory of all those
who gave their lives for their country
in the Great War 1914-1918
Especially of William Burt of this parish
who was killed in France
on the 29th August 1918.

The marriage of George Burt to Gussie Hopkins of Tuckers, Stoke St. Mary. Son Maurice Burt is on the extreme left.