Francis Collinson noted three songs from a Mr Wanstall at Aldington in 1942. Based on the 1939 Register, there were several men with the surname Wanstall living in Aldington at that time, and it is not possible to identify Collinson’s singer with any degree of certainty. Biographies of the most likely candidates are given below.
Songs
- The Oak and the Ivy (Roud 21860)
- On Board a ’98 (Roud 1461)
- The Umbrella Courtship (Roud 12626)
Fred Wanstall, 1864-1954
Fred Wanstall (and he does seem consistently to be Fred rather than Frederick) was born on 12th October 1864, and baptised on 11th December at St Martin’s, Aldington. His father John worked as a sawyer; his mother’s name was given as Marianne, although census records have her as Mary Ann, née Earl.
In 1871 and 1881 the family were living at Aldington Frith. Fred was one of eleven children. In 1871 John Wanstall’s occupation was given as “Lab and sawyer”, while his wife Mary Ann and 13 year old son John were both listed as “Carrier”. In 1881 John was shown as “Agr lab & carrier”, and no occupation was given for his wife. Fred was “Agr lab son”.
John died in 1886, so in the 1891 census Mary Ann was head of the household, her occupation now “Carrier & grazier”. The family was living at Stone Street Green, Aldington. Fred, 26, was one of four children still at home. He was also working as a carrier; two of his sisters were working as dressmakers.
Towards the end of 1893 Fred married Lydia Caryer in Aldington Church. At the time of the 1901 census they were living at Handen Farm, Aldington. Fred was now described as a Farmer & grazier. He and Lydia had two children, and Thomas Howland, “Yardman on farm”, was living with them. Ten years later they were still at Handen Farm, they had another son, and Fred’s occupation is given as Carrier. In truth he was both farmer and carrier, as his obituary made clear:
Born at Aldington, he helped his mother run a carrier’s business at an early age and made regular trips to Ashford market with a horse and van. He later took over the business and continued it until 1923, when it was transferred to his son, Mr. Frank Wanstall, and became modernised.
Mr. Wanstall was also a farmer for over 40 years. From 1890 to 1919, he farmed Handen Farm, an outlying portion of the Brabourne estate and then went to Bank Farm until 1929 which is now run by his eldest son, Mr. J. Wanstall.1
Further detail is provided in the Kentish Express, 18th June 1987, in a report on a meeting of the Aldington local history society, where a Mr Crook had given a talk about Fred Wanstall:
He lived to be 89 and was a farmer in the village for 40 years. From 1903 — 1923 he was the carrier with a horse and cart. He plied from Hamden [sic] Farm and then from Bank Farm to Ashford on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday leaving about 10am and returning at about 8pm. He would take in goods and return with, among other items, groceries, casks of beers from Shepherd Neame in Bank Street, Ashford, and sweets and cigarettes from Mrs Nye’s sweet shop on Forge Hill. In 1932 he realised the days of the horse and cart were over and bought a small bus which was driven by Frank, one of his sons.2
As stated in his obituary, by the time of the 1921 census Fred and Lydia had moved to Bank Farm, Aldington. Also living with them were their sons John (22) and Frank (15), both of whom were listed as “Assisting Father In General Farm Work”. If he farmed for 40 years from 1890, that implies he retired around 1930; certainly by September 1939 he and Lydia were living at The Gables, Aldington, and Fred is listed as “Retired Overseer”. In fact, local newspaper reports on the marriage of his sons allow us to date the move to The Gables as at some point between April and October 1929. In April 1929, on the occasion of Frank Wanstall’s marriage to Lilian Nutley, the bridegroom is described as “one of Aldington’s popular young men, being conductor of the Al Freyle Dance Orchestra and a good cricketer. For some years he has managed his father’s business as a general carrier (known as Wanstall’s Service) between Ashford and Aldington”3. Then in October of the same year his brother John married Dorothy Uden; the newspaper refers to “Mr. and Mrs. Fred Wanstall, of The Gables, Aldington, and late of Bank Farm”4.
Fred’s wife Lydia died in May 1943, and he passed away on 23rd January 1954 “after a long illness patiently borne”5. His obituary stated that “He was in his 90th year, and was the last of four well-known brothers”, continuing
He knew every yard of the district and could trace his ancestors back to smuggling days. He was also a Parish Councillor for many years a school manager, a bell-ringer until five years ago, and member of the Bellringers’ Guild. He had a fine bass voice and sang in the church choir and in many concerts and oratorios in other villages.
FAVOURITE HYMN
At the funeral on Wednesday at Aldington Church where he was once a sidesman the congregation joined in singing one verse of the hymn “Forty days and forty nights.” On the day before he died, Mr. Wanstall had sung the last verse of this favourite hymn. The organist was a Bonnington farmer Mr. Eyton Boulden.6
Eyton Boulden was also the organist on Good Friday 1931 when Mr. F. Wanstall (bass) was mentioned as having taken part in a performance of “In the Desert and in the Garden” by the Choral Society in Aldington parish church.7 Fred Wanstall would also have been very familiar with Harry Barling, as George Frampton has identified him as a member of Aldington Brass Band, playing the flute.8 Being known to two other men from whom Francis Collinson noted songs does not necessarily mean that Collinson also collected songs from Fred Wanstall but, combined with the fact that we know he was musical, and clearly well known in the village, does make this very plausible.
Ernest John Wanstall, 1886-1965
1930s editions of the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald frequently mention darts matches at the Walnut Tree in Aldington, which were followed by a smoking concert. For instance a report on the match between Aldington and Dymchurch in October 1933, states that
There was a big gathering afterwards, when the room was packed for a smoking concert. Mr. Arthur Francis (capt.) presided and the artistes were Messrs. George Finn, A. Harris, A. Higgins, F. Fifield, D. S. Wild, J. Paton. J. Hyder, E. Wanstall, A. H. Heap, A.T.C.L. (pianist), and J. R. Anderson.9
Some of these men, including E. Wanstall, had also provided the entertainment at the annual share-out of the AIdington Slate Club in December the previous year.10 Meanwhile, a brief report on a Whist Drive at Aldington names Mr E.J. Wanstall as the MC.11
The gentleman at the Whist Drive would have been Ernest John Wanstall, the son of John Wanstall, Fred’s older brother. He was born on 12th September 1886 and baptised on the 1st November. His mother Lucy, whose maiden name was Boulden, was the younger sister of Eyton Boulden’s father David. In 1891 the family lived at Hurst Cottages, Forge Hill, Aldington. John worked as a General labourer; Ernest was the second youngest of five children (two more would arrive in subsequent years).
The 1901 census found them at Church Street, Aldington. Ernest, now fourteen years old, was working as an Assistant shepherd. 10 years later, residing in the family home at Church Hill, he was “Shepherd and cattleman on farm”. By 1921, still at Church Hill, Ernest was now “Farmer – Own Account”.
He married Margaret Howland in April 1930, and the 1939 Register shows them living at Goldwell Farm, Aldington. Ernest’s occupation is given as “Farmer General”. He died in the first quarter of 1965.
Edward Wanstall, 1886-1964
Of course, there is no reason to assume that the E. Wanstall who regularly sang at darts match smoking concerts was the same person as the E.J. Wanstall who chaired the Whist Drive meeting. The singer could well be Edward Wanstall, whose life span corresponded almost exactly with that of Ernest, but who appears to have belonged to an entirely different branch of the family. His father George William Wanstall came originally from Nonington, his mother Jane née Daniels was from Stelling. They married in 1880, and by the time of the 1881 census were living in Aldington. George was at that time a Journeyman blacksmith, living in a cottage – probably next door to the Forge itself, and just down the hill from the Walnut Tree.
Edward was born on 20th September 1886, the fourth of, eventually, seven children. Although the family lived in Aldington, he was baptised at nearby Bonnington, in the church of St Rumbold, on 1st November. By 1891 his father was shown in the census as Blacksmith. Their address is only given as Forge Hill, so it’s not made clear if they are now in the Forge House itself, but that was given as their address in 1901 and 1911. The two eldest sons, George and Charles, were working with their father in the forge. In 1911 Edward and his younger brother Herbert both have the occupation “Tar paver”.
Edward married Bessie Maud Cheeseman at St Stephen, Lympne with West Hythe, on 28th September 1914. By the time of the first post-war census they were living with a son and a daughter at Court-At-Street, between Aldington and Lympne. Edward was working as a Builder’s Labourer, employed by Hayward & Paramor of Folkestone.
In September 1939 he and Bessie were back in Aldington, living at 8 Goldwell Houses, on Roman Road, opposite the primary school – and just a few minutes’ walk from the Walnut Tree, where darts matches took place. His occupation was “Roadstone Quarrier”.
Having been born just over a week after Ernest Wanstall, Edward preceded him to the grave by a few months, dying in the second quarter of 1964.
- Kentish Express 29 January 1954 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 18 June 1987 ↩︎
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald 13 April 1929 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 12 October 1929 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 29 January 1954 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 29 January 1954 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 10 April 1931 ↩︎
- George Frampton, Country Magazine in Kent, Bygone Kent, Vol. 16, No. 7 ↩︎
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald 28 October 1933 ↩︎
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald 31 December 1932 ↩︎
- Kentish Express 09 December 1932 ↩︎
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