Harry Shillaker

1865-1924

HARRY SHILLAKER was a prominent agriculturalist in South Lincolnshire who farmed at Deeping St Nicholas before retiring to Bourne where he bought a stone property in the Austerby, subsequently re-named Shillaker House..

He was a man of a quiet and retiring disposition and never entered into public life but after some persuasion by his friends, agreed to be nominated for election to Bourne Urban District Council in 1913, gaining second place in the poll and subsequently becoming vice-chairman of the council's allotments committee.

Mr Shillaker was also a dedicated freemason and a member of the Hereward Lodge in Bourne where he supported many local charities with regular donations, particularly to the Widows of Bedehouse Bank and Eastgate. His wife, Annie Jane Shillaker, was a talented amateur artist and her husband built her a studio in the grounds of their home where she worked (below). She was also a proficient musician and formed a string band which performed at many social and charitable functions in the town.

He died on Saturday 11th October 1924, aged 59, and the funeral took place the following Wednesday at the Abbey Church and at Bourne town cemetery where he is buried. He left an estate worth £11,754 which is more than £410,000 in today's money. Mrs Shillaker is pictured below relaxing in her rather grand studio. She died on 14th January 1937 at the age of 74, and is buried with her husband.

The house and studio were demolished in 1954 to make way for a block of council flats known as Shillaker Court.

See also The Austerby