John Damrel mystery solved?

I've found another John Damrel mystery. As we've seen, in 1861 John was living in Poltimore, Devonshire County, 122 miles southwest of where his future wife, Emily Burton was living (see map). He's working as a stable groom.


Seven years later, in 1868, he married Emily, but she continued to live in Tisbury, Wiltshire County, with her father. The question is, in an age when travel outside of your local village was rare, how did these two young people meet? John worked as a horse groom, Emily kept house for her father. It seems unlikely they would have ever crossed paths.

But I found a description of a modern "horse groom" on the web which may be instructive. It says, "Horse Grooms work in a barn or stable and will be outdoors a good deal of the time, in hot, cold or rainy weather when necessary. Although most Horse Grooms work full time, they may not work regular hours as they travel with horses to shows and races on evenings, weekends and holidays."

So if John Damrel's employer raced horses, just 15 miles away from Tisbury where Emily lived is the Salisbury Racecourse, one of England's oldest. Racing has taken place at the picturesque course since the 16th century and certainly must have been operating in the 19th century. Maybe Emily had just traveled from Tisbury to the nearby big city for a day of shopping and ran into the handsome groom at the local tea shop. It could happen.

Perhaps the reason John is missing from the 1871 census is because John's employer does race horses. In 1871, the census was taken on April 2nd. If that date conincided with the opening of the racing season, or even pre-season practicing, John might be on the road, caring for horses at various racetracks, and be missed by the census takers. This would also explain why Emily was living with her father in 1871. In their three years of marriage, she and John simply had not yet established a permanent home yet.

More on John Damrel

John Damrel, Emily Burton's future husband, can be found living in the village of Poltimore in 1861. His address is listed simply as, "Poltimore Stables." After some reaserch, I decided that John was probably working at Poltimore Manor since I was unable to find any other historic reference to stables in the village. Keep in mind that the poplulation of Poltimore was only 250 persons in 1801 and had only increased to 298 by 1901. Ten of those persons, according to the 1861 census, were stud grooms like John. That's probably 4% of the population! Here's the history of Poltimore manor from the Poltimore.org web site:

Poltimore has a long history, starting with the Domesday Book (1086). The manor of Poltimore was gifted to an officer in William the Conqueror's army, one Haimerius de Arcis. It soon passed to the Poltimores who sold it in about 1280 to Simon Lord Montacute. Then on to William Pointington, a canon of Exeter, who gave the property to his pupil John Bampfylde in 1306.

In 1550, Richard Bampfylde started building his Tudor mansion. Part of the original remains. Successive generations built, rebuilt and added to the house. Large changes took place from 1720-1750, in the 1830's and again in 1908 when the ballroom was added.

John was created a baronet in 1641 by Charles I and George was raised to the peerage as the 1st Baron Poltimore in 1831.

In 1646 the Treaty of Exeter was negotiated and signed at Poltimore, so ending the Civil War in the southwest.

George was the fourth Bampfylde to sit as an MP for Exeter, going back to his great grandfather. As a new Whig peer he helped put the great Reform Bill through Parliament in 1832.

The estate was sold in 1921, ending 600 years of ownership by the Bampfyldes. It became a girls school - Poltimore College; then a home for the evacuated Dover College; in 1945 a change to a private hospital and then it became part of the National Health Service until 1975.

Post 1975, subsequent owners were not so careful. For the last 20 years the House has been allowed to decay. It has been vandalised, set alight, looted and pillaged.

The present grounds and many of the standing trees were probably laid out and planted by the famous Veitch nursery in the 1830s. The great Lime avenue may be earlier, planted to celebrate the accession of George I in 1714.

The Poltimore House Trust, formed in 2000, has taken over the ravaged estate and, with help from East Devon District Council and English Heritage, is now seeking end uses and grants to achieve the restoration of Poltimore to its former eminence.

The Friends of Poltimore House were formed in 2004. They help financially, actively and practically in the affairs of the House to achieve the objectives of the Trust.

The Groom

I've run across another mystery in the Burton family. My great, great, great grandfather, Joseph Burton had a son named John who was a mason. John's only child, Emily, married John Damrel (Damerel) in 1868, a man who lists his occupation, at least in 1881, as a "Groom."

Here's the strange part: when the census is taken in 1871, we find Emily and her two-year-old daughter, Tabitha, living with her father John Burton. No sign of Emily's husband. In fact, there's no sign of John Damrel anywhere in the census record for 1871. We see him living with his family in the 1881 census, but he's gone again in 1891. Emily by that time has a house-full of children aged 13 to 22.

So, where does John go? Into the military? On the road with race horses? If he's working as a groom, maybe he has to live on the estate where he works. That, of course, still wouldn't explain his absence in the census record.

The census actually lists John's employment as "Stud Groom, N.D." The "Studd" part was in incorrect transcription of the census data. The initials mean non-domestic. On the web I found that N.D. meant: "private stable yards and facilities where horses or ponies are regularly bought and sold, broken in, schooled, trained, for reward or profit, and/or are used in the course of a business by a professional/competitive rider."

Deciding I'd look further for John Damrel, I searched the census records for the County of Devon, village of Buckland Filleigh where he is recorded as having been born in 1842. To my surprise, in the 1841 census I found a family there, spelling their name "Damerel," who simply must be his family. I found one-month-old John, who seems to have been born in 1841 not 1842, four-year-old Lewis, a grandfather named Christopher, and John's mother Sarah.

Searching further, I pulled up the 1851 census for Buckland Filleigh and found that John's father, Lewis Sr. had appeared as well as his grandmother, Elizabeth (Betty). They'd been absent in 1841, which seems to be a stardard trait for the Damerel family.

In 1861, Both grandparents are present, but Lewis Sr. is missing again. John by now has moved out on his own and is living in Poltimore, Devon, and working as a stud groom.

Back in Buckland Filleigh in the 1871 census we find that the grandparents have passed away and John's younger brother, William, has also taken work as a groom.

I'm really sorry the Damerels are only distantly related to me as they appear to be a pretty interesting family. I still don't know where the various family members disappear to, but it will probably be fun trying to find out.