INCLUDING
Edward Andrew, Thomas Ball, J W E "Bill" Banks, George Bett, Dr George Blasson, William Bradley, John Branston, Willerton Brown, Joseph Burn, James Watson Burdwood, John Campbell, William Castledine, Frederick Clarke, George Collinson, Albert Dainty, Hugh Delaine-Smith, Harry Dowsett, Charles and Emily Everard, Leslie Ferriby, James Fisher, Reginald Foster, A C Glendening, Thomas Glendening,  Henry Goodyear, James Goodyear, Harry Goodyer, John Grummitt, William Hall, John Hinson, Hugh and Susannah Hobson, Edwin Horn, Henry Kelham, William Kingston, George William Knipe, William Lister, John Lunn, John Mansfield, Thomas Mawby, Thomas Measures, Birt Morris, George Octavius Munton, William Nowell, Frederick John North, Joshua North, Mary Parker, Thomas Pearce, William Pearce, Thomas Pick, William Earle Pick, John Pool, Richard Reeve, John Roberts, Eunice Rogan, Tony Rudd, William Scott, Thomas Shippey, Reg Sones, Ernest Spridgeon, Alec Stokes, Edward Stringer, Stuart Stroud, Henry Stubley, Cecil Sweetnam, George Tory and William Welldon.

GEORGE EDWIN BETT was not born in the town but lived and worked here for more than 40 years and became one of its best known citizens. He moved to Bourne from Stickney, near Boston, in 1913 to take over the old established business of Mr T E Branston, the grocer and draper, with premises at the corner of the Austerby and Eastgate, and he remained in control until 1946 when he retired and sold out to Messrs L and H Hayhurst. During this time he made a significant contribution to local affairs, being elected to Bourne Urban District Council in 1923, retaining his seat by just one vote at the next election in 1926 but remaining on the authority until 1938, serving as chairman twice, in 1928-29 and again in 1936-37.

He was also an enthusiastic worker for the Methodist Chapel in Abbey Road where he held several offices as well as being a trustee and a member of the choir and was one of those responsible for the installation of electricity in the building. Mr Bett was a governor of Bourne Grammar School, a trustee of Bourne United Charities and vice-president of Bourne Cricket Club. He died suddenly at his home in North Street on Saturday 2nd June 1956, aged 83, and during the funeral service at the Methodist Chapel the following Wednesday, the minister, the Rev Irving Scott, said: "Bourne has lost one of its best loved citizens and the honour in which he was held is shown in that he was twice chairman of the council." His widow, the former Hylda May Skelton, of Alford, who he had married in 1923, survived him together with their daughter, Mrs R Creasey and their son, Mr K Bett.

JOHN BRANSTON opened his grocery and drapery business in Willoughby Road around 1860 and over the next 40 years it became one of the biggest retail outlets in Bourne, selling a wide range of goods for the housewife and home. He retired in 1901 and handed over to his only son, Thomas Elmore Branston, who built new shop premises at the corner of Eastgate and Willoughby Road of yellow brick and blue slate in 1909. 

The building survives to this day with the name Branston worked in mosaics in the floor of the main doorway entrance while his initials TEB are included in a stone date plaque on the front facade. After retirement, John Branston remained in his home adjoining the shop premises, one of two semi-detached houses built by him in Willoughby Road in 1900 (pictured above) and still bearing his initials on the stone date plaque on the front, and continued with his social activities, mainly as an active member of the Baptist Church which he had supported all his life. He died on Monday 6th January 1908, aged 72, after suffering a stroke which caused paralysis and loss of speech and he was buried the following Thursday in the town cemetery where the graveside service was conducted by the Baptist minister, the Rev James Carvath. His wife had died on Wednesday 15th May 1907, aged 75. and apart from their son, they also had three daughters. After Mr Branston's death, Thomas continued running the shop until 1913 when he sold the business to George Bett.
See also Eastgate and George Bett.

WILLIAM CASTLEDINE was chairman of Bourne Urban District Council from 1912-13 and a magistrate but is best remembered for leaving the bulk of his estate to his housekeeper. He died at his home in North Road in March 1954 at the age of 94 and the main bequest in his £13,000 will, published the following September, was £10,000 [£162.000 at today's value] to Miss Ethel May Cooper who had cared for him during the previous 16 years. Miss Cooper, an enthusiastic worker for the community, received the news calmly and said that the money would not change her life. She would continue living in and caring for the house Mr Castledine had built 45 years before, tending the garden and looking after the furniture and the car, all of which were included in the legacy.

She also intended to continue as secretary of the Darby and Joan Club, a member of the Red Cross, treasurer of the Bourne Free Churches organisation and with an active participation in the Baptist Chapel at Dyke, the village where she had previously lived. Mr Castledine also left bequests to his hairdresser, William Teat of North Street, his gardener, William E Cooper, the London Missionary Society, Bourne Congregational Church and £500 [£8,000 at today's value] to Bourne United Charities for the improvement of the Wellhead.

FREDERICK JAMES CLARKE was a magistrate for Kesteven and a member of Bourne Urban District Council who was fatally injured in a road accident while riding his motor cycle at Pinchbeck West on 11th November 1933 and died in hospital at Spalding the following morning. He was in collision with an approaching car and was thrown through the windscreen, sustaining severe head injuries and two broken legs. There was some sugar beet on the road at the time. Mr Clarke, a native of Ramsey in Huntingdonshire, was a railway signalman employed at the East Box in South Street.

 He had moved to Bourne 22 years before and had been a member of the Board of Guardians and Bourne Urban District Council, being elected in 1914 and serving as chairman from 1920-21 and in 1926, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. During his time in public office, Mr Clarke was a keen advocate of secondary education for working class children, housing, gas and allotments. He was also a committee member of the local branch of the National Union of Railwaymen and when the Bourne branch of the Labour Party was formed, he became its first secretary. Mr Clarke, was 50 years old and lived at Myrtle Villa, North Road, Bourne. He was a married man with two sons and a daughter, was also an active preacher for the Methodist Church. An inquest on Monday 4th December 1933 returned a verdict of death by misadventure and the lady driving the car involved in the accident, Miss A Riseley of Pinchbeck West, was exonerated from all blame.

HUGH DELAINE-SMITH was one of the best-known businessmen in Bourne in recent years as chairman and managing director of the local bus company known as Delaine Buses Limited, founded in 1890 and now a household name in the locality. He was born in 1920 and became involved in the business while still a boy, cleaning the buses at the age of eight and by the time he was 13, he was helping his father, Thomas Arthur Smith, with the company book keeping, becoming employed full time when he left school at 18. During the Second World War of 1939-45, he joined the Royal Air Force, serving with both Fighter Command and Coastal Command and at one time was involved in the development of the Spitfire fighter.

CHARLES EVERARD was one of the past tenants of Cawthorpe House, a staunch churchman who opened a parish room in the village for services on Sunday evenings. He was a wealthy man who made his fortune from the distribution of coal, and was eventually managing director for the Peterborough-based firm of Ellis and Everard Limited. Born at Groby, Leicestershire, in 1847, he moved to live at Cawthorpe in the late 19th century, becoming increasingly, though usually anonymously, involved in community work and with a high regard for his religion, and soon had a wide circle of friends. He and his wife, Emily Sarah Everard, were in the habit of taking a holiday at the spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire which is where he died after falling in the street during a fainting fit and sustaining serious injuries and a great loss of blood. He lingered for several days and there were encouraging reports of a recovery but he eventually succumbed to a relapse and died on Tuesday 12th March 1907 at the age of 60. His body was brought back to Bourne by train for the funeral the following Saturday when the blinds of houses on the way to the church and cemetery were drawn and businesses closed when the cortege passed as a mark of respect. Directors of the firm, employees, agents and workmen joined friends and relatives at the Abbey Church for the service and that evening, a muffled peal was rung on the bells, while the curate, the Rev R B Paine, made a special mention of the sad event before delivering his sermon from the pulpit on Sunday morning and special music was played on the dead man’s behalf while the congregation remained standing. The family were deeply moved by the way in which Bourne received the news of his death and issued as notice in the Stamford Mercury saying: “Mrs Everard and the family desire to record their warmth and heartfelt appreciation of the tributes paid to her husband’s memory by the consideration and respect so widely manifested in the district; and in particular they wish it to be known that they especially valued the thoughtful action of the residents and tradesmen of Bourne in suspending the ordinary business of the town.”

EMILY SARAH EVERARD, his wife, survived him by nine years. She died at Cawthorpe House on Sunday 6th September 1914, aged 65. She was the daughter of Mr William Miskin of Dartford, Kent, and her death came as a great shock to residents in the district where she had become known for her many acts of generosity and kindness. The Stamford Mercury reported: "She had been in indifferent health for some weeks but the end was most unexpected, for latterly her progress had been hopeful and on Saturday evening she seemed very cheerful. The loss to the hamlet of Cawthorpe will be particularly severely felt for Mrs Everard was a lavish benefactress to the place. She was a member of the general committee of the Butterfield Hospital and identified herself with any movement for the uplifting and advancement of the town and district. Much sympathy is felt with the members of the family in their sudden bereavement." The funeral was held at the Abbey Church and afterwards, Mrs Everard was buried in the town cemetery where there was a large and sympathetic gathering at the graveside.

GLENDENING - FATHER AND SON

THOMAS MONTAGUE GLENDENING (1838-1899) was station master at Bourne for 14 years when the Red Hall was used as the railway booking office and he later served in a similar capacity at Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace in London. He was highly regarded in the town and  when he left in May 1892, he was presented with a purse containing subscriptions from the nobility and leading inhabitants in appreciation of his work as station master, together with a handsome hall clock surmounted with a barometer and thermometer from station employees. The presentations were made by the vicar, the Rev Hugh Mansfield, who referred to the efficient manner in which Mr Glendening has discharged his duties and said that it was a noteworthy fact that during his entire service at Bourne, there had been no collision or accident. Soon after retiring, he died at his home in Muswell Hill on 16th February 1899 at the age of 63. He had been an amateur but talented artist and critics of his work suggested that he might have won fame in that quarter had he pursued painting as a career. His widow, Mrs E S Glendening, died on 14th December 1923 at Porlock Road, Bush Hill Park, North London, at the age of 86. 

ARTHUR CHANNING GLENDENING (1861-1904), their sixth son who was unmarried, was also an artist of some merit, and lived with his parents in Bourne during the late 19th century, painting many local scenes. As a boy, he was both studious and talented and in February 1894, he won a prize of five guineas in a best handwriting competition run by a London newspaper, the Weekly Telegraph. He subsequently went to Cambridge University as a student where he distinguished himself with illustrations that appeared in a number of literary publications. He eventually joined his parents in London and after his father's death, lived with his mother for a long period before she too died in 1923. The effects of Robert Mason Mills which were sold by public auction after his death in 1904, included a painting of the Red Hall in Bourne, one of the only recorded examples of A C Glendening's work. It was one of 140 oil paintings and engravings amassed by Mills and it fetched the highest price of ten guineas (worth £626 at today's values). No other paintings appear to have survived although it would seem possible that there may be others that languish unknown and unidentified in houses around Bourne and in North London.

JAMES GOODYEAR was born in 1810 in humble circumstances and began his working life in a menial position but rose to become one of Bourne’s most influential farmers. When he died, the shops and business premises in the town were closed and the blinds drawn as a mark of respect and of sympathy with his family and friends as the funeral cortege passed on the way to the town cemetery where he was interred. The Stamford Mercury reported on 4th August 1871:

By his integrity, industry and economy, he had risen from being a farm servant to comparative influence, taking a very active part in establishing the important ploughing meeting now held annually at Bourne.

Goodyear died in tragic circumstances on Friday 28th July 1871 at the age of 61 after being gored by one of his own bulls at his farm premises in Star Lane [now Abbey Road]. The previous Monday, Mr Edward Smith, a castrator, of Thurlby, was called to operate on the bull and Goodyear went into the pen alone but the bull broke loose from its fastenings, snapping a chain attached to a manger that gave way. There was a ring in the animal’s nose but it was not secured at this time and it was supposed that Goodyear was about to attach a staff to the ring to lead the bull out of the pen when it charged, pinning him to the door post, its horns around him and its head pressing heavily against his body. The bull then pushed him out into the farmyard and thrust its head against him again but Mr Smith grabbed a hayfork and held it at bay while Goodyear managed to crawl away. The bull was then safely tethered until the arrival of Quartermaster-Sergeant Harrison from the Bourne Rifle Corps who despatched the animal with one shot through the forehead with his rifle. An inquest was held at the Windmill Inn [in North Street] the following day before Mr William Edwards, coroner. Mr Frederick John Glencross, a surgeon from Brook Lodge, Bourne, said that he had been called to the farm immediately after the accident and had tended Goodyear until the time of his death. There were several contusions on the abdomen, chest and back, a small scalp wound and a slight contusion of the left arm but no fracture. The immediate cause of death was the bruising of the intestines and peritoneum, with exhaustion. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

HENRY GOODYEAR, his son, who inherited the farming business, suffered a similar mishap 25 years later but survived. On Saturday 21st November 1896, he was moving a three-year-old bull to a fresh shed on his farm in the Austerby when the nose ring at the end of the securing chain fell out and the animal got loose and pinned Goodyear between its horns against the metal frame of the manger. He struggled to get underneath the manger but the bull attacked him again and gored him badly, and then tossed him over its back. A farm labourer, Benjamin Rogers, ran to help and after squeezing himself between the bull and the wall, attacked it with a pitchfork until it ran bellowing from the shed. Mr Goodyear was taken into the house with serious lacerations to his body in several places, one of which exposed a main artery. Dr George Blasson was called and treated his injuries from which he eventually recovered. At the annual dinner of the Bourne Fat Stock Society the following month, a collection of £1 3s. [£75 at today's value] was made for Rogers in recognition of his bravery in risking his life to save Mr Goodyear.

JOHN GRUMMITT was a farmer who devoted more than a quarter of a century of his life to public service. He was born into an old established farming family in 1912 at Grove House in North Fen, Bourne, which was to become his lifelong home. The farm, about half a mile from the village of Twenty and close to the main Bourne to Spalding road, was previously owned by his father, Marshall Grummitt, a tenant farmer for many years who got the chance to buy the the farmhouse, outbuildings and 95 acres of grass and arable land at an auction held at the Angel Hotel on 31st January 1918. Bidding opened at £4,000 and the final price was £7,050 [£175,000 at today's values], about £20 higher than any auction price in recent years. This was considered to be high price but the Stamford Mercury reported that there was great satisfaction in the room when it was knocked down to Mr Grummitt because his family had been there for so many years.

John was educated at Spalding Grammar School where he took a keen interest in sport, later becoming a playing member of Spalding Rugby Club and chairman of the Bourne Services Rifle Club. Soon after the end of the Second World War of 1939-45, he followed the family tradition and set up in farming on his own. About the same time, he began his public service, being elected to Bourne Urban District Council in 1947 at the age of 35, the youngest member of the authority. He remained on the council for 24 years, becoming chairman twice, in 1954-55 and again in 1965-66, and during this time he sat on all of the council committees and had been chairman of most of them.

His particular interest was in roads and traffic and while chairman of the highways committee, he donated the John Grummitt Road Safety Cup which was competed for annually until the council disbanded under the local government reorganisation of 1974. From 1959 until 1971, Mr Grummitt served as a magistrate, as a county councillor from 1964-67, a governor of Bourne Grammar School and a trustee and chairman of Bourne United Charities, and in 1968, an inscribed silver ashtray was presented to him by BUDC to mark his record in public service. He was also an active freemason and a member of the National Farmers' Union while his dedicated service to the village of Twenty is still remembered, being a founder member of the village hall committee and a man who always had the welfare of the community at heart. An illness in 1971 forced him to give up all of his public duties, making his sole interest the Fenbourne School of Equitation at North Fen run by his daughter, Miss Gillian Grummitt. He died suddenly on 28th April 1972 at the age of 60, leaving a widow, Mrs Constance Grummitt, and three daughters. See also Tree planting ceremony in 1965.

WILLIAM HALL, a cabinet maker with premises in South Street, Bourne, was also a prominent member of H Company, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment, based at the Drill Hall. He held the rank of sergeant and won a reputation as a crack shot, representing the company several times at Bisley, the venue in Surrey for the annual competition of the National Rifle Association since 1890, and after he had retired from the company, he was still known in the town as Sergeant Hall. He was undoubtedly the longest serving soldier in the Volunteers and when he eventually resigned in May 1890, his impressive record was detailed by the Stamford Mercury:

His length of service, his conspicuous ability as a non-commissioned officer, his almost unique success as a marksman, combined with his geniality, have rendered his name familiar among the rank and file of British volunteers. He has been practically identified with the Volunteer movement since its inauguration in this locality, having joined the 15th Company, 2nd Administrative Battalion, the Lincolnshire Rifle Volunteers, upon its formation in January 1860. He was made a corporal in 1864 and sergeant in 1871. When, in 1872, the 15th was disbanded, he joined the 18th Company, now the H Company, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment. He has been an efficient marksman every year and upon three occasions he proved himself the best shot in the regiment. He has attended the National Rifle Association prize meetings every year since 1863 with one exception. He has been a winner at Wimbledon every year since 1872 and upon several occasions, a winner in the Queen's prize series, his successes in this competition being without a break from 1873 to1879. He secured the Prince of Wales' prize in 1873 and was the only volunteer in the county who won the three great Wimbledon badges - Queen's, Prince of Wales and St George's. He had the distinguished honour of dining with the Prince of Wales at Wimbledon in 1887 at the invitation of Lord Wantage.

In January 1891, the contribution he had made to the unit was acknowledged when he was presented with a purse of money and a handsome testimonial as a token of the high esteem in which his services to the volunteer movement were held.
Hall's politics were Conservative and he was an ardent supporter of the cause, being secretary to the Conservative Club in Bourne whose members presented him with a gold watch for his services three years before his death and handed over by Mr William Younger, MP for the Stamford division which included Bourne. He retired from business in 1904 and soon afterwards, he contracted cancer with lead to a long and painful illness and after a spell as a patient in Peterborough Infirmary, he spent the final five months of his life in a Bath chair which became a familiar sight in the streets of the town. He died on Friday 7th July 1905, leaving a widow, three sons and three daughters. Two members of the volunteers represented his old company at the funeral. 

JOHN WILLIAM HINSON was a sportsman with a keen sense of humour who earned himself a reputation as one of Bourne's best loved local characters during the early years of the 20th century and he never tired of telling friends of the fun that had filled his life. He was born in Eastgate in 1880 and went to work at the age of 13 for the mineral water manufacturers of R M Mills and Company, later moving to Lee and Green, but in 1897, he moved to Nottingham for higher wages and became an apprentice bricklayer for 8d. an hour which was 1½d more than he was getting in Bourne. He then moved to London for a spell but returned to Bourne in 1920 and stayed. Football and athletics gave him a great deal of pleasure and after winning three track events at the annual sports meeting at Holbeach, Lincolnshire, in 1905, he received a cheque that enabled him buy a ring with which he married Minnie and they went to live at No 21 George Street where they celebrated their golden wedding fifty years later. He turned out regularly for Bourne Town and when his playing days were over, he became a soccer administrator, serving as secretary of both the Bourne Hospital Cup competition and the Bourne and District Football League and in 1931 received a long service medal from the Lincolnshire Football Association. He was also a member of the Hereward Lodge of Freemasons and a Past Grand Standard Bearer of the Lincolnshire Royal Arch Masons. He was best known by his nickname of Nipper and had a deserved reputation as a wit and raconteur who always looked on the bright side of life, often taking to the stage to entertain his friends. He and his wife lived to be 84. John Hinson died on 14th November 1964 and Minnie in 1966 and are buried in the town cemetery. They had three children, all of whom predeceased them.
See also Bourne Town Football Club's 1905-06 season

EDWIN BARNETT HORN was a shopkeeper and stalwart worker for the community for much of his life, serving on a variety of organisations as well as the local council. He was born at Manthorpe, near Bourne, on 28th August 1914 and educated at Stamford, leaving to join the old-established family tailoring business in Bourne which he ran for 37 years, apart from a five year break during the Second World War of 1939-45 when he served as a fitter-armourer with the Royal Air Force. It was this wartime service that provided the motivation for one of his main activities in  later years, the Royal British Legion, rarely missing a monthly meeting and holding many offices, including that of chairman and later president.

He was elected to the executive, social and service committees in 1947 and became poppy organiser in 1970, pushing up receipts from £450 in 1958 to £5,500 in 1992, while his popular personality was responsible for recruiting many new members. Meanwhile, his work elsewhere in the town was prolific, becoming a member of Bourne Urban District Council and later the Town Council, serving as deputy mayor in 1975-76, a  member of South Kesteven District Council for six years, a trustee of Bourne United Charities (chairman 1974-75), founder member and later chairman of Bourne Chamber of Trade (1937-70), founder member and later president of the town's Rotary Club, member of the local Post Office Advisory Committee, the Disabled Employment Advisory Committee (Stamford) and treasurer of the Bourne Plate Glass Insurance Company (1936-70) and in 1979, he became a foundation trustee of the Darby and Joan Hall. In his younger days, Mr Horn played tennis, badminton and cricket and also helped run the various clubs devoted to these sports. Although he sold the tailoring and outfitting business in North Street, Bourne, when he retired in 1973, he stayed on to advise, a period that lasted for a further six years.
He married twice, his second wife being Mrs Margaret Weyman, formerly clerk to Bourne Town Council, who he married in 1979 and survived him, and there was a son, David, and a daughter, Susan, from his first marriage to Mona Evans. Mr Horn, who lived in a flat at Bourne House in West Street, died on Friday 2nd September 2005 at the age of 91 and the funeral service was held at the Abbey Church.

GEORGE WILLIAM KNIPE was one of the leading auctioneers and valuers in the town during the 20th century and the firm he founded late in his career continues today. He was born at Northorpe in 1917 and after attending Bourne Grammar School, joined the firm of Hodgkinson and Son whose offices were then in West Street, although they also had branches at Billingborough and Stamford, qualifying as a chartered auctioneer and valuer and eventually becoming a senior partner.

During the Second World War of 1939-45, he served with the Royal Air Force as a navigator, reaching the rank of flight-lieutenant but resumed his professional career on demobilisation, playing an active part in the life of the town and holding a number of public appointments. Mr Knipe was chairman of both the Lincolnshire and Wisbech branches of the Agricultural Valuers Association, secretary, treasurer and a committee member of the annual Deeping Ploughing Match and clerk to the trustees of the Thurlby Causeway Estate Charity, a position he held for 40 years, treasurer of Bourne Rotary Club and a member of the Hereward Lodge of Freemasons. He was also deeply interested in education and involved with local schools, serving as clerk to the governors of the Robert Manning Secondary School in Abbey Road [now the Robert Manning Technology College], and the Abbey Road and Westfield primary schools. Mr Knipe was keenly interested in sport and was treasurer and later chairman of Bourne Cricket Club. He died on Wednesday 15th March 1995, aged 78, and the funeral service was held at the Abbey Church before a packed congregation of relatives, friends and business associates. The firm of chartered surveyors, agricultural valuers and auctioneers, Stephen Knipe and Company, which he founded with his son Stephen in January 1987, continues from their offices at No 1 Abbey Road.

GEORGE OCTAVIUS MUNTON was one of the most distinguished medical men to work in Bourne during the 19th century. He lived in West Street and was one of five operating in the town at that time. They were then described as surgeons and referred to as plain Mr, the other four being Francis James Bellingham, James Burn and William Hardwick, all of North Street, and George Nicholls of South Street. George Munton's name appears most frequently in the archives of the town for the mid-19th century, indicating that he was a very busy man who went about his business on horseback to reach the sick and dying in outlying areas and it was on such a visit that he met his untimely death. On Saturday 25th November 1863, he was returning from attending a patient at Morton village when he was killed after his horse shied and threw him to the ground. He was only 57 years old. An inquest was held by the coroner, Mr William Edwards, the following Monday at the Lord Nelson Inn at Morton when Mrs Elizabeth Handford, who lived in a cottage at the roadside, said that at about 12.30 pm on Saturday, she heard the noise of a horse shying about on the road outside and heard a person speaking to it in an attempt to calm the animal. She assumed that the horse was frightened and did not go outside for fear of making the situation worse but on hearing a heavy fall, rushed out to help and found Mr Munton lying on his back on the ground with both arms outstretched and he appeared to be struggling. Neighbours came up to assist and lifted him into an armchair but he was in a most serious state. A pair of drags [a rough kind of sledge] loaded with two oak trees, stood near the hedge a little further along the road from the spot where Mr Munton's horse had taken fright. Mr Rollings Handford, son of the previous witness, said that at the time of the accident he was standing with some other men near Morton bridge which was a short distance from and in sight of the place where Mr Munton fell. He saw the horse become troublesome, shying from one side of the road to the other, and eventually throwing its rider who fell so heavily on his head that the noise was heard by him and his companions. The horse shied before it reached the drags and he did not therefore think this was the cause of the accident. Another Bourne surgeon, James Burn, happened to be in the village at that time and he arrived at the scene within a few minutes. He told the inquest: "I found Mr Munton quite insensible and at once directed his removal to a nearby house and remained with him until he died at about three o'clock the same afternoon. It is my opinion that the injuries he sustained would prove fatal and there was little that could be done. It is my opinion that death was occasioned by a fracture of the skull at the back of the head, causing extravasation of the blood [extensive bleeding] and compression of the brain." The inquest jury accepted the medical evidence and returned a verdict of accidental death but the foreman, Mr J P Parker, added a rider on behalf of the jury, warning about the dangerous practice of leaving things standing upon the sides of highways. George Munton was buried in the town cemetery. He was survived by his wife Frances Ann who died in 1904, aged 90.

He married his wife Pamela while on leave in 1944 before returning to active duty which included a six-month spell stationed in India and when the war ended, he came home to run the family business until retiring in 1986. John North had a youthful love of soccer and cricket, joining local teams in later life and to keep fit he frequently played badminton at the Vestry Hall. He was a dedicated freemason for 56 years as a member and past master of the Hereward Lodge and was also active with the local branch of the Royal British Legion. He died on Monday 28th March 2005, aged 83, and after a thanksgiving service at Bourne Abbey he was cremated at Peterborough, leaving a widow and two married sons.
See also Trades and occupations.

WILLIAM NOWELL headed the firm of agricultural engineers based in Abbey Road, Bourne, that had been established by his father, Thomas George Nowell, during the 19th century. But he also made his mark in public life and in 1903 he was elected a member of Bourne Urban District Council at his first attempt, securing second place in the poll. In 1907, he was re-elected with the largest number of votes ever recorded for any candidate in any previous election. He served on all of the council committees, particularly highways of which he was chairman, and it was mainly through his advocacy that the present recreation ground in Recreation Road was purchased for the town. In 1910, he was elected chairman of the council for the ensuing year during which time he earned a reputation as a man of tact and ability. In the spring of 1907, he became a trustee of Harrington's Charity, the biggest of the many charities now administered by Bourne United Charities, and during his time in office, pensions paid from the proceeds were increased, a particularly welcome benefit for those on small incomes prior to the introduction of state old age pensions in 1908. Ill health forced Mr Nowell to resign from the council in 1913 and he was soon unable to undertake any public work whatsoever. His condition deteriorated and after four months being confined to his bed, he died on Saturday 28th November 1914 at his home in Abbey Road at the age of 56. His funeral service was held at the Congregational Church [now the United Reformed Church] followed by interment at the town cemetery. The pastor, the Rev J Comyn Jones, made a touching reference to the deceased during the service. "He was a man who acted according to his convictions and conscience", he said, "and in all things he did what he thought ought to be done." There were many floral tributes, including a wreath from the officers and colleagues from the Bourne and District Liberal Club of which he was a founder member and former committee chairman. Mr Nowell's association with the Congregational Church dated back half a century because he had been a scholar at the Sunday School and in later life, continued as a regular worshipper. He left a widow and six children.

MARY PARKER was a schoolteacher and local councillor in Bourne whose warmth and friendliness became known to many people who she stopped to talk to in the street. She was born Lilian Mary Graham in 1926 at North Shields, Northumberland, where she attended Newsam Primary School and Blyth Grammar School before completing a BA general degree at Leeds University and it was here that she met her future husband, William John Scott Parker. The couple were married at St Anne's Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where her father, the Rev Thomas Graham, was vicar and who conducted the wedding service.

 In 1948, she took up a teaching post at St Peter's Junior School in Newcastle and several similar appointments in the city followed before she moved to Bourne in 1966 with her husband and three children, where she took up a teaching post at the Abbey Road School [now the Abbey Primary School] but later moved to Morton Church of England Primary School where she remained until retirement 14 years later. She became a town councillor in 1984, serving as Mayor of Bourne in 1989-90, and after the death of her husband in 1990, was responsible for the formation of Bourne Cruse, an organisation providing bereavement counselling and advice. Mrs Parker was also involved with the Children's Society, the Council of Churches, the Mother's Union and the Bourne Twinning Association. Her husband, a retired electrical engineer, affectionately known as Scottie, died after being admitted to hospital in January 1990, aged 72. She died at the Cedars Retirement Home on Monday 19th July 2004, aged 78, when a former vicar, Canon John Warwick, returned to the town to assist with the funeral service at the Abbey Church, conducted by the present vicar, the Rev Christopher Atkinson, which was followed by cremation at Peterborough. The church was packed with mourners including her son and two daughters, Michael, Anne and Kate.

WILLIAM EARLE PICK was a baker, confectioner, corn and flour merchant and miller, with premises in West Street, Bourne, where he also lived but had previously been in business as a baker and corn dealer at Thurlby and in 1899, he became involved in the arrest of 15 tramps accused of begging, a case that attracted national interest. His family had been millers for generations and his father Thomas Pick had formerly run the mill in South Street, now known as Baldock's Mill, from 1876-85. In the spring of 1912, William Pick had a serious accident in a hay field when he fell from the top of a loaded wagon on to some pieces of iron and sustained a serious head injury from which he never recovered and he died on Saturday 2nd May 1913, aged 57. He left a widow and four children, two of his sons being engaged in the business. The funeral service took place at the Baptist Chapel in West Street the following Wednesday and afterwards he was buried in the town cemetery. See also
The 1899 case of the fifteen tramps.

RICHARD REEVE was more than half way through his term of office as Mayor of Bourne when he died in January 1987. He was rushed to the Peterborough District Hospital after swallowing paraquat at his home in Mill Drove and died ten days later in the intensive care unit. He was 50 years old. Reeve had been a town councillor since 1979. He was born at Market Deeping but moved to Bourne with his family when a baby and was subsequently educated at Stamford School. He served with the Fleet Air Arm for 12 years and then returned to the town to set up in business as an electrical contractor. During his mayoral year, he had been raising money to help the youth of the town and had already passed the target figure of £3,000. 

He was on the committee of Bourne Youth Centre and was also a member of the Royal British Legion in Bourne, the local Lions Club and a founder of the Bourne Caledonian Society for Scots living in the district. His most lasting achievement was in re-launching the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, acting as vice-chairman and publicity officer, and the organisation survives to this day. He was also an active supporter of the town twinning with Doudeville and made several successful visits to France to help seal the partnership. Mr Reeve was married to Ina, a close marriage and partnership of 13 years, and he was devastated when she died suddenly of a heart attack at their home in Mill Drove in September 1986 at the age of 46, while serving as his mayoress. He never recovered from the loss. Hundreds attended both funerals at the Abbey Church, including many mayors and councillors from neighbouring authorities. During Mrs Reeve's funeral service on Friday 12th September 1986, her last wish was fulfilled when a lone piper, Pipe Major Pat Lee, of the Stamford Pipe Band, played Amazing Grace at the graveside, thus acknowledging her Scottish roots and her work with the Caledonian Society in Bourne. At the service for Mr Reeve, on Tuesday 3rd February 1987, the mayoral chain of office was carried on the coffin until interment at Bourne cemetery where he was buried alongside his wife.

Tony Rudd (right) with Peter Berthon

TONY RUDD was the brilliant engineer who played a major part in the success of British Racing Motors (BRM) which thrived at Bourne during the 20th century. He was one of the country's most successful designers of high performance cars and is best remembered for his work on the first of the V8 engines which went 

on to win the World Championship for BRM in 1962 with Graham Hill at the wheel. Rudd was born at Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, in 1923 and educated at Ratcliffe School, Wolverton, before starting his career with Rolls Royce in his late teens, analysing engine defects reported in Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bombers. He joined BRM in 1951 as assistant to the engineering director Peter Berthon and eventually replaced him, working on the last of the company's front engine cars, the P25, which won BRM its first Formula One race at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1959. He met and married Pamela Carvath, daughter of a local dentist, and they bought a house in Mill Drove, Bourne, where they raised three daughters, Carolyn, Lesley and Philippa. After leaving BRM in 1969, he joined  the Lotus team and moved to Little Melton, Norfolk, where he died on Friday 22nd August 2003 at the age of 80. He loved sailing, shooting, good food and wine, and is remembered for his gift of instant recall, in later years discussing with friends the finer details of designs produced 50 years before and subsequent checking invariably proved him to be 100 per cent accurate. After his retirement in 1991, Rudd wrote his autobiography It Was Fun and later collaborated with Doug Nye on BRM - The Saga of British Racing Motors. Publisher John Blunsden, former motor racing correspondent of The Times, remembered Rudd as a talented engineer and first class administrator. "He rescued BRM from the threat of oblivion", he said. "He turned the team around when he was put in charge of engineering and team management and the fact that they won the World Championship in 1962 says it all."

THOMAS SEATON SHIPPEY was the last member of a family who worked as saddlers and harness makers in Bourne for more than a century, originally occupying thatched premises next to the Nag's Head Hotel in the Market Place, on the corner with South Street, later replaced by the present three-storey yellow brick and slate building that now occupies the site. The shop can be seen above in this photograph from 1885 by William Redshaw on a market sale day, a weekly event with sheep pens erected around the Ostler memorial fountain and an an assortment of characters assembled by Redshaw to make his shot more interesting.
The business was probably in existence in the 18th century and the first mention is in trade records of 1826 under the name Thomas Shippey. Five Thomas Shippeys were born at the house, he being the last on 5th May 1841, and it was inevitable that he would take over the business and after retiring from the trade, he went to live at The Woodlands in West Road. Mr Shippey never took part in the civic life of the town although before the parish council was formed in 1894, he served for a time as a member of the Town Assessment Committee which was elected annually by the Vestry Meeting.

He died on Sunday 24th March 1918, aged 75. The funeral took place the following Wednesday at the Abbey Church, conducted by the Rev Harry Cotton Smith, and afterwards he was buried in the town cemetery (left). His wife, Mary, born 26th August 1844, survived him and she died on 11th February 1936, aged 91, and is buried in the same grave.
Mr Shippey's retirement had severed the family connection with the business and it was sold first to Robert Blacklock Sanger (circa 1900) and then Alfred James Gant (circa 1909-22) and in recent years the premises have been used as a sweetshop and now a hairdressing salon.

REG SONES, son of Frederick Sones, was a familiar face in Bourne for most of the 20th century, playing a prominent role in the business and sporting life of the town. Born Joseph Reginald Sones on 13th September 1908, he attended the old Board School (now the Abbey Road Primary) and in September 1920 was among the first 52 scholars to attend Bourne Grammar School which opened in that year at temporary premises in the Vestry Hall, North Street. On leaving in 1924, he joined his father's accountancy businesses and also undertook some freelance work as a journalist, reporting local news items for the Grantham Journal.

He met Phyllis Cooper, a fellow pupil at the grammar school, and they married at the Baptist Chapel, Dyke, on 14th March 1936. After being called up in 1940 for military service during the Second World, he joined the Royal Corps of Signals, serving with the 8th Army during the Battle of Alamein in the North Africa campaign where he was wounded but after a spell in hospital was fit enough to take part in the invasion of Sicily and he spent the rest of the war with a signals unit at Bari in Italy. Returning to Bourne on demobilisation in 1945, he took up book-keeping full time and in June 1946, joined Tuck Brothers at their garage business in Station Road where he remained until retirement in April 1977, having reached the position of secretary and managing director. Swimming was a lifelong passion and apart from his involvement with Bourne Swimming Club for 69 years, he also took a regular early morning dip at the outdoor pool from May until September each year. Reg was also a life member of Bourne Cricket Club and although appearances on the field were rare, he was the regular scorer while both he and Phyllis were keen playing members of Bourne Hockey Club with occasional games of badminton when time permitted. He was also an active member of the Bourne Chamber of Trade, serving as secretary for twenty years from 1945-65, a past president of Bourne Probus Club, a life member of the Bourne branch of the Royal British Legion and a regular worshipper at the United Reformed Church where he was also a trustee and treasurer of the Sunday School for 56 years. In his later years, he went to live in Worth Court and died in Grantham Hospital on 4th January 2003, aged 94, the funeral service being held at the United Reformed Church in Bourne on January 15th followed by cremation at Peterborough.
See also Frederick Sones.

ALEC STOKES was a key worker at British Racing Motors (BRM) for over 30 years, from 1946, before the first car actually took to the track, until 1977, latterly as chief draughtsman, specialising in gearboxes and achieving a formidable reputation in the motor racing world as a transmission designer for Formula One cars. He was passionate about the company and a notable team player, popular with his colleagues, and always ready to organise social events to cement relationships.

After leaving BRM, he completed a spell with Lotus before retiring but continued to organise reunions for his former colleagues, keeping a list of all 247 people who had worked for the company from the early days, their addresses and telephone numbers. Mr Stokes also had a passion for sport, playing in goal for Bourne Town Football Club in the late 1940s and early 1950s, subsequently becoming manager of the reserve side and refereeing in minor league matches. He was also a keen ornithologist and an active member of the Bourne Probus Club. He died at Peterborough District Hospital on Tuesday 8th November 2005, aged 80. His wife Betty died in 1977 and they had two children, a son Paul and a daughter Paula.

CECIL WALLIS SWEETNAM worked as a family doctor in Bourne during the latter half of the 20th century, earning a reputation as a doctor who believed in the value of meeting patients in their own homes rather than at the surgery. He was born at Wimbledon on 29th November 1919 and became a medical student at Trinity College, Dublin, qualifying in 1944, and in 1951 he joined Dr John Galletly at his practice in North Road, Bourne, where he remained until retirement in 1987. During this time, he also served as medical officer at St Peter's Hospital and assisted in the treatment of tuberculosis at Bourne Isolation Hospital as well as practising obstetrics and anaesthetics, all in addition to his work as a general practitioner.

Dr Sweetnam was a founder member and past president of the Rotary Club of Bourne and a keen swimmer, notably at the Outdoor Pool where he was among an enthusiastic band of early morning swimmers who took exercise before going to work. Despite being in good physical health, his life after retirement was dogged by illness and heart bypass surgery followed by a series of strokes left him struggling with his mobility and he never fully regained his power of speech. He died on 6th September 2004, aged 84, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, Norfolk, and after a funeral service, his body was cremated. A thanksgiving service was held at the Abbey Church, Bourne, on Friday 24th September attended by his widow, Jean, and their three children, David, Judy and Kate, and fellow doctors paid tribute to his public work.

GEORGE TORY was a candle maker in Bourne in those days before electricity, when candles were used for lighting in the home and all towns had small businesses that specialised in their production and sale. The leading tallow chandlers in Bourne during the 19th century were Edward Wherry and Sons with premises in North Street and Eastgate.

Their senior tallow chandler was Mr George Tory who is pictured left circa 1890 with his latest batch of candles ready for sale. George was born at Dyke in 1846 but his mother died and his father, Thomas Tory, re-married before emigrating to America in 1850, leaving his four-year-old son with relatives, and he never saw his father again. George married Mary Ann Allen of Frampton, near Boston, and they had eight children. 

He was employed by the firm for most of his working life, living first in New Street and then at No 7 Exeter Row, Back Lane West, which was off North Street. He died in 1914 at the age of 68.