William Read was a tailor, as was his father before him. In fact the whole Read family were entrenched in the clothing business - not only William's father but his brother, sister-in-law, one of his sisters, both his sons and a son-in-law all worked in the clothing trade.
He owned a prominent shop and house in the middle of Netherbury village (now known as The Redes) which, while no longer a shop, still retains part of the shop-front facing onto the top of Bridge Street. It was a grocer's and general store as well as the base for William's tailoring business.
He was born in 1850 and baptised at St Marys church on 3rd March. His parents were George and Sarah and according to the census, a year later, in 1851 he joined an older brother, three older sisters and Sarah's mother Anne Eames in the household in Bridge Street. His brother Thomas was ten years older than William and by the census of 1861 Thomas is no longer listed as living with the family having apparently moved to London (Paddington), married a dressmaker (Mary Ann Clarke), carried on in the family tradition of tailoring and started a family.
William's father George died aged 53 in 1867 and left everything to his widow, Sarah. Initially she tried to let the shop and business with an advertisement appearing in the Dorset County Chronicle on 14th November:
TO BE LET BY PRIVATE CONTRACT,
for a Term of 3, 5, or 7 years, with immediate possession,—All that DWELLING-HOUSE; comprising a shop, workshop, parlour, three bed-rooms, kitchen, and other offices and garden, situate in the middle of the Village of Netherbury, and late in the occupation of Mr. George Read, deceased, who for several years past successfully carried on the business of tailor therein.
The Tenant will be required to take the Stock-in-Trade of the late Mr. Read and the Fixtures at a Valuation, in the usual way. To view apply to Mrs. Read, on the Premises ; and for further particulars to Mr. Peter Cox, Solicitor, Beaminster.
Dated 9th November, 1867
It's not known what the response was, it's possible there wasn't much interest but it's also possible that it took a while for the eighteen year old William to persuade his mother and others that he was capable of running the family business. Whatever the reason a second advertisement was placed, this time in the Bridport News, about three months later:
Netherbury, February 3rd, 1868
It is assumed that business was at least reasonable because a little less than three years later, on New Year's Eve 1870, William married Elizabeth Sarah Goodchild a Schoolmistress from Corfe Castle. A few months later his mother, Sarah, is listed in the 1871 census as having moved out and is now living on her own somewhere nearby, possibly nextdoor, in High St, Netherbury.
Some three years after their marriage William and Elizabeth started a family of their own with the arrival of George John in 1873, then Lilian Emily just over two years later and Herbert William after a further two years. Their last child, Effie Mary, was born in 1881.
By then it can be assumed that the business was doing well because, the year before Effie was born (1880), William purchased an orchard which lay to the south of his house and shop, including some "cottages and buildings" in its south-west corner - meaning he now owned the land on the eastern side of the High Street (now St James Rd) all the way from Bridge Street as far as Bay Tree Cottage. Nowadays the orchard has been replaced by more houses and their gardens but Read's block consisted of what now makes up The Redes, Atlasta, Corner Cottage, the Telephone Exchange, the Denziloe flats and bungalows, Little Orchard, Orchard Lodge and Jasmine Cottage on St James Rd.
Newspaper reports reveal that part of running a retail business in those days involved giving people goods on account and inevitably taking people to court to recover debts. William is recorded as pursuing several people to settle their accounts, usually for a few pounds, occasionally a few shillings. In all the cases reported the debts were not disputed and William was successful with the verdicts.
One much larger debt of £100 was owed to him by William Hine Martin a Salway Ash butcher, originally from Powerstock. Although it is not known what the debt was for it is possible that it was inherited by William from his father who certainly knew William Hine Martin as he was a witness to George Read signing his will. Martin was listed as an Innkeeper and Butcher in Bridport in the 1861 census and seems to have moved around the area between Christchurch, Bournemouth and Bridport sadly ending his days in the Union Workhouse, Christchurch, Hampshire. In 1885 his debt to William was settled by making over the title to a property he owned (now known as Footfalls) extending Read's St James Rd property holdings further to the south.
This house, then divided into four tenementRented dwelling
or lands, was to be at the heart of the fire that destroyed 13 cottages in 1892. The house itself was not burnt because it had a slate roof but all the cottages surrounding it were. William featured prominently in the contemporary newspaper reports where it was recorded that he "rushed into the house of Mr. Charles Watts, and on going upstairs found the old man trying to take down a bedstead. The room was filled with smoke, and but for Mr. Read's assistance the probability is that Mr. Watts would have been stifled." William & Charles Watts were probably friends as William was named as an executor in Watt’s will which was drawn up the year before the fire in 1891.
The fire did not prevent the Read family continuing with the planned opening of a second shop, this time in Beaminster, which was to be managed by William's oldest son, George, then aged 23. The following advertisement started appearing in the Bridport News on 18th March and was repeated every week in a campaign lasting more than two months
- W. Read, -
NETHERBURY,
BEGS TO INFORM THE CLERGY, GENTRY, AND INHABITANTS GENERALLY OF
BEAMINSTER
AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD THAT HE INTENDS OPENING A GENERAL
TAILORING BUSINESS
AT THE ABOVE ADDRESS, EARLY IN APRIL,
George went on to marry Alice Crossman four years later (1896) followed by his sister Lilian, who married Arthur Hedge of Stedford Yardley, Worcs. a Clothier, four years after that (1900). There was then a bit of a hiatus before the youngest of William and Elizabeth's children, Effie, married Robert Peacock from High Offley. Staffordshire in 1907. Then, just a year later (1908), their youngest son Herbert married Mary Ford of Heaton Moor.
William was actively involved in the local Conservative Party and was frequently named in the local papers as attending their meetings and the events of supporting organisations. In 1895 he was elected as one of the eleven members of the first Parish Council serving Netherbury. However, in December of that year, it was decided to declare his seat on the Council vacant because of his non-attendance for the previous six months.
A 61 year old William is described in the 1911 census as "Retired Tailor & Shopkeeper" when it's just him, Elizabeth and a "Domestic Servant" (Lillian Travers) living in the house. Sadly he didn't enjoy a long retirement. He died on 29th September 1912 and was buried in Netherbury where he'd lived his whole life.
His widow, Elizabeth, obtained the freehold to the "Footfalls" house in her own name in 1917 and then sold it almost immediately. In the conveyance document she's listed as one of the occupants but there are similar lists from the same period that do not include her. Later on the 1921 Electoral Role records her as occupying "The Cross" (The Redes).
In a letter written in 1985 Frank Read, William and Elizabeth's grandson, says Elizabeth stayed with her daughter Lilian Hedge in Birmingham after selling The Redes. Her death at the age of 86, on 13th July 1927, was registered in South Birmingham and when she was returned to Netherbury to be buried alongside her husband William two days later her address was recorded in the parish register as Edgbaston.
