William Hawkins Walbridge was born to his father John and mother Sarah in Litton Cheney and baptised there on August 13th 1854. By the time he was six the family had moved to No.2 North Bowood where his father worked as an Agricultural Labourer. Ten years later the family had moved into Netherbury village where his parents were working as "Beer Retailers" on the High Street (now Bridge Street).
On 2nd December 1878 he married Selina Newberry at St Matthews Church, Southampton, Hampshire. Their first daughter, Florence, was born on 5th June, 1879 followed by her sister Beatrice on 19th July, 1880. The 1881 Census shows the family living in Bridge Street with a "Family Servant Dom." who was Selina's younger sister, Jemima, and the 26 year old William is listed as a Grocer & Baker. William and Selina had four further children baptised at Netherbury between 1882-5 but it is thought only Howard, born in 1882, survived beyond childhood.
On 17th April, 1885 The Bridport News reported on a civil court case saying:
"Mrs.Walbridge, wife of the postmaster Netherbury, corroborated the evidence of the plaintiff".
This is the earliest mention of William being the Postmaster.
Selina died only three years later at the age of 37 and was buried in Netherbury churchyard, alongside her parents Robert & Elizabeth Newberry, on 17th March, 1888.
The 1889 Kelly's Directory of Dorsetshire details the Post Office with the entry:
POST OFFICE, Netherbury. - William Hawkins Walbridge, receiver. Letters from Beaminster R.S.O. arrive at 8 a.m. ; dispatched at 5 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Beaminster. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.
William also has an entry in the Trades Directory's Bakers section giving his addess as Post office, Netherbury, Beaminster.
An announcement in the Southern Times and Dorset County Herald of Saturday 16 November 1889 declared:
WALBRIDGE—LAWRENCE. Nov. 4, at Southampton, Mr. Walbridge, of the Post-office, Netherbury, to Sarah, eldest daughter of William Lawrence, of Mill Ground, Beaminster.
He embarked on his new marriage at a time when his business was not doing well and in early 1890 notices were posted in the London Gazette declaring his bankruptcy. On 14th February the Western Chronicle stated he had "Liabilities, £863 2s 2d ; assets, £291 11s 9½d ; deficiency, £571 10s 4½d" and reported the "causes of failure" as "Bad debts, family sickness, and loss of horses".
His new wife may have wondered what she'd married into but things were about to get much worse. Six months after his second marriage Jemima Newberry, his former sister-in-law, accused him of "seducing" her and being the father of a child that was born on 20th March that year. At a hearing at the Bridport Court of Petty Sessions which was reported in the local press William denied all this and suggested that "eight or nine" others could be implicated in the case and detailed how he had caught Jemima alone in the back kitchen with someone called Daniel Warren on "a great many occasions". Warren, who was both "deaf and dumb" was called to give evidence but "could not be made to understand what was required of him". The case was dismissed.
The next Census, in 1891, shows Jemima living in Ryme Intrinsica working in service for the Whittle family. No record has been found for her child. There is a one year old boy living in the household - William Whittle - who is recorded as the Grandson of Abel Whittle (the head of the household). His birth place is given as Toller Pocorum but, so far, no record of his birth or baptism has been found.
However 1890 hadn't finished with William and his young family. In December the five year old Gertrude died suddenly from bronchitis prompting an inquest to be held and then Gertrude's older brother Howard was given a place at a prestigious boarding school in Bristol, Queen Elizabeth Hospital school, which he qualified for as an "orphan".
The next year the census records William Walbridge as the Postmaster at the Post Office in Netherbury with his new wife, Sarah, his two surviving daughters and a visiting Nephew, Henry, from Bristol. Later that year the family expanded with the arrival of a son, Arthur.
The following year William featured in the Bridport News' coverage of a major disaster that struck the village. Under the headline "A Disastrous Fire!" on 1st April 1892 the article says:
"It appears the fire was discovered by Mr. Wallbridge, postmaster, about ten minutes to eleven when he saw a chimney on fire in the end house of one row, occupied by George Watts."
Unfortunately, despite him raising the alarm and even offering advice about how to extinguish the chimney fire, it went on to catch the thatch on the Watts' cottage and then spread to 12 more, destroying them all.
The following summer the Walbridge family expanded once more with the birth of Fanny on 26th July.
In the summer of 1894 The Bridport News carried a report of the annual festivities of the Netherbury Provident Society and Sick Club saying
"Mr. Walbridge has worked well as the secretary of these two funds".
By the 1901 Census William had become the local Census Enumerator an appointment he retained for the next reckoning, a decade later, in 1911. By then the Post Office had become a real family affair with William recorded as the Postmaster, Sarah was Postmistress, Arthur was a Postman and Fanny's occupation was listed as "Postal Work".
Beatrice, the younger daughter from his first marriage had married James Pye in 1909 but sadly died, aged 31, in 1911. William had recorded her details for the Census in April that year as being 30 years old with two children - Hilda aged 1 year and Olive just 3 months.
Florence, William's oldest child, had married George Rawls from Melplash in 1905 and they moved to Bridport.
William's son, Arthur, didn't survive the 1914-18 War. He was reported to have "Died of wounds" on 30th April, 1917 in France, where he was buried, and his name is amongst those on the Netherbury War Memorial.
In 1919 an article in the Western Gazette recorded William as purchasing the former "Parish Poor House" for £400. Described as "A row of five stone and reed cottages" ... "facing the road to Waytown, together with an acre of pasture land" it was being auctioned along with several other properties owned by the Governors of the Beaminster and Netherbury Grammar School.
William died at the age of 72 on 13th February, 1926 and was buried at Netherbury. He was survived by Sarah who inherited an estate worth £669 3s 9d. He died without making a will which may suggest his death was unexpected. Sarah lived for another four years before she died at the age of 80 and was buried in Netherbury on 1st March, 1930.
A few months after he died William's youngest child, Fanny, married Arthur Martin at the age of 32. She eventually died at the age of 79 and was buried in Netherbury on 24th November, 1972. Before that she appears to have followed in her father's footsteps as she is listed in the 1939 England & Wales Register as living in the Post Office, Netherbury with her occupation as "Sub Post Mistress". She was still living at what is now Japonica Cottage when she died.
