George CUMBLETON

In 1881 he was still living with his parents in the same village but, aged 14, he had now left school and was working as an agricultural labourer, himself.

In 1890, he married Annie Wakeley in the Dorchester Registration District (which includes Bradford Peverell).

The 1901 census shows George and Annie living with four of their children in Bradford Peverell, although the birth places of the children (Godmanstone, Dorchester, Higher Bunton[?], and Dorchester, respectively) indicates that the family had moved around in the intervening years. By this stage, George was a farm thatcher: it is not known whether this referred to the thatching of farm buildings or the thatching of the tops of haystacks to protect them from the weather (or both).

By 1911, George was the farm bailiff at Poundbury Farm, Maiden Newton, Dorset. He was living there with his wife and 7 children, the eldest three of whom were also farm workers.

Of the three sons, the two eldest emigrated to Canada, but in World War I, they both enlisted and returned to Europe to fight. Herbert George was a Sergeant with the 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles and William Leonard was a Lance-Corporal, who came from Canada with the first Canadian Expeditionary Force. Their third son Percival Joseph joined the 4th Dorset Regiment as a Private and was initially posted to India. The Western Gazette, of 7 May 1915, has an article about the patriotic family. All three sons survived the war, though two of them were injured, with the youngest losing both an arm and a leg.

George remained at Poundbury Farm, at least until 1929 but by 1939, was living in the Borough of Dorchester. He died died 11 May 1948 at The County Hospital Dorchester. His widow died in 1955.