James Smith (1827-1884) pig dealer, beerhouse keeper and gelder; Ann Smith (1830-1877) nee Brewer, his wife; Lucy Smith (1858-1881) their daughter
James Smith began his career as a pig dealer in the village of Spaxton but made many trips to the cattle and pig market in Bridgwater. He finally moved to Bridgwater around 1870. His family Bible gives us a glimpse of his personal life not recorded in official documents.
His eldest son Thomas Smith (1853-1911) also has a biography on this website.
James Smith the Elder
James Smith the elder (1787-1854) was a gelder or castrator also described simply as a cutter of farm animals in west Somerset. He was born in Thurloxton, married at Combe Florey to Ann Burston, then settled with Ann at Spaxton. James Smith the younger, the subject of this biography, was the fourth born in a family of six brothers, of whom four are known to have survived to adulthood.
The farmers of West Somerset relied on men like James Smith the elder because castration was an important tool in animal husbandry. They worked primarily with male horses, cattle, sheep and pigs. Castration makes a male animal more docile, the meat may taste better and the size of the herd can be managed. The farmer could select which male animals to keep entire for breeding. Some farmers could carry out the procedure themselves, but an expert would usually be faster and more accurate with less risk of haemorrhage. The farmer would not want to lose a valuable animal but at the same time he would want the surgery to be effective.
As a skilled man, James Smith the elder earned more than the average labourer, so was able to send his sons to the local school for a basic education. He dutifully taught them his trade, but a village like Spaxton did not have enough work for them all. George Smith (1820-1884) moved to West Monkton and was a castrator there for many years. John Smith (1830-1897) took over the family business in Spaxton. That left two sons who chose related occupations. William Smith (born 1825) was a farm labourer in Spaxton and James Smith the younger became a pig dealer.
James Smith the Younger
About 1853 James left Spaxton for Bristol, still working as a pig dealer. It is likely that his father owned some pigs and perhaps fattened them for sale, because James described his father as a pig dealer when he married. James had then taken over that side of the family business. It is also possible that James and the clergyman were protecting the young bride from too much information. Ann Brewer was the daughter of a Chard shoemaker and so less likely in tune with the necessities of animal husbandry. In Victorian society, when women were present, anything concerning sex or reproduction was taboo. James and Ann married in January 1853 in Bristol. Thomas arrived exactly nine months later while his parents were living near the cattle and pig market in Bridgwater.
James Smith the elder died in January 1854. He was in his late sixties so would have been considered an old man then. It partly explains why his son James brought his bride back to Spaxton. They raised four children - Thomas, Henry, Harriet and Lucy - at Spaxton.
By 1861 James and Ann and their family were living at the King William pub in Spaxton and James was a pig dealer and beerhouse keeper. This was a way of increasing the family income as Ann and the older children could share the work of running the pub, especially when James was away at the market. The King William beerhouse was probably in quite small premises with the family living upstairs. A beerhouse rather than an inn implies that accommodation was not offered and that James was licensed to sell beer and ale but not wine nor spirits. At this time James’s widowed mother Ann was the housekeeper of the Spaxton police constable, making an interesting family connection. Public drunkenness was a regular problem on Saturday nights in most villages and towns so the constables kept a close watch on pubs and beerhouses.
The Brewer family, James’s in-laws, lived further away. Manus Brewer (1800-1872) was a cordwainer (shoemaker) in Donyatt and Chard. He and his wife Sarah (1803-1873) nee Chalice, had four children: Hannah, James, Harriet and Ann. In 1842 Hannah married Giles Randle, a young carpenter and steam sawyer from Bridgwater. Hannah and Giles lived in Russell Place and soon had a houseful of little children. Whether it was to help Hannah or because Bridgwater was an up and coming town, Manus and Sarah soon followed and in 1851 were innkeepers in Back Lane. Within a couple of years, James Brewer married and settled in North Curry, Harriet married John Harwood, a Bridgwater mariner, and Ann married James Smith. When the inn became too much for him, Manus found work as a gardener and he and Sarah lived in Valletta Place.
By 1871 James and Ann Smith had left the beerhouse in Spaxton and were living at Gloster Place, Bridgwater. Manus and Sarah Brewer were in their late sixties and had moved to Mount Street, next door to Dr Morgan’s School. The Randles had moved to Goosemoor, also called Gupworthy, a remote hamlet in the Brendon Hills between Kings Brompton (now Brompton Regis) and Luxborough. Carpenters and sawyers were in demand to supply timber props and frames for the nearby iron ore mines. Between 1868 and 1871 the Randles had living quarters in the stores buildings at Gupworthy railway station, where Giles and his carpenters built a new coal store. The railway was built to enable the mines in the Brendon Hills to transport iron ore to Watchet and onward to South Wales for processing. As a result, it was up to Ann and her sister Harriet Harwood to provide whatever day-to-day care Manus and Sarah required in Bridgwater. The alternative, the workhouse, was unthinkable. Their grandson Thomas Smith was lodging with them but he worked during the day. However it happened, James and Ann lived apart for two years.
Manus went to stay with Giles and Hannah Randle after they moved to Withiel Florey. It would have been relatively straightforward to go by train or by ship to Watchet, then via the West Somerset Mineral Railway up the steep incline at Roadwater and into the Brendon Hills, to Gupworthy. Once the Randles met the train it was a mile and a half by horse and cart to their home. Manus died of acute bronchitis at Withiel Florey, Kings Brompton, on July 2nd, 1872. Then Sarah became ill and died at her home in Mount St on March 21st, 1873, so Ann lost both her parents in less than twelve months. James Smith was clearly glad to have Ann home again as he wrote this special inscription in the family Bible:
December 13th 1873.
James Smith and his wife agreed to live together after two years separation.
On another page James recorded Ann’s date of birth and his own:
1830 Ann Brewer was born November Six about half past two in the morning.
1827 James Smith was born November First about seven o’clock in the evening.
Mrs Ann Smith died in September 1877 at Somerset Place, near Mount Street. She was forty-seven and had been ill for nearly two years. James moved to Barclay Street and earned a living as a gelder, the skill he had learnt from his father as a boy. At first his daughter Lucy Smith, a charwoman, was able to care for him, but Lucy was suffering from tuberculosis, then called phthisis or consumption. She had been unwell for two years when she died aged twenty-two in January 1881.
James died aged fifty-one of kidney disease and dropsy in March 1884 in the Bridgwater Infirmary. He is buried with Ann and Lucy in the Wembdon Road Cemetery.
By the time James came to live in Bridgwater around 1870 there were trained veterinary surgeons practicing there, but not every farmer could afford them. Even ten years later, when James relied on gelding for a retirement income, there were still some who preferred the old ways. Advances in veterinary science since then have made huge changes to the care of animals.
by Jillian Trethewey and Clare Spicer 7/1/26
With special thanks to Carol Morse.