Divett

THE DIVETTS OF  BOVEY TRACEY

Malcolm Billinge and Frances Billinge  August 2017.

(See also Adela and Mary Divett in the article  Pioneering Women of Bovey Tracey 1861-1918 – under Topics)

INTRODUCTION
Members of four higher-status families from East Devon moved into the parish of Bovey Tracey during Queen Victoria’s reign. The Divetts from Bystock, Withycombe Raleigh; the Bullers from Strete Raleigh, Whimple; the Hughes from Woodhayes, Whimple and the Fox-Strangways from Rewe. The Hughes and the Fox-Strangways family members were closely related to the Buller family through female lines.

This is one of four companion articles that give details of each family’s connections with Bovey Tracey, and each narrative includes examples of social events attended by members of the different families. The reason for them coming to Bovey Tracey would appear to involve the Bovey Pottery and the Lignite Works and consequently each article will also make reference to details that support this suggestion.

John Divett went into partnership with Captain Thomas Wentworth Buller in order to establish the Bovey Tracey Pottery Company in 1843 and John and his wife Henrietta set up home in Bridge House, Bovey Tracey. Henrietta was a sister of Captain Buller who had married Ann, a sister of John Divett. This article follows the life of John and Henrietta Divett and their daughter Mary in Bovey Tracey before and after John became ‘head of the family’ following the death of his older brother Edward. Edward’s death prompted John’s niece Adela Divett to move to Bovey Tracey and, following John Divett’s own death Adela’s brother George Ross also moved to Bovey Tracey in order to continue his uncle’s involvement with the Bovey Pottery and the lignite works.

John (1811-1885) and Henrietta Divett (1807-1884) and the Bovey Tracey Pottery Company
John Divett was born at Bystock, Withycombe Raleigh in 1810 and he was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.1 Aged twenty-two he married Henrietta Buller from Strete Raleigh, Whimple and their only child, Mary was born one year later. The family moved to Bridge House at the bottom of Fore Street, Bovey Pottery and the new ownership of the Bovey Pottery is confirmed by a report of four ponies having been either stolen or having strayed from a field adjoining the Pottery ‘belonging to T. W. Buller and John Divett of Bovey Tracey.’2

The Bovey Pottery became an important local employer and 1848 was by all accounts an optimistic year for the industry as reported in the local press:

The extensive potteries at Foley are doing a brisk trade; large numbers of persons are employed, and the ancient town of Bovey derives a great benefit from the persons residing at the works.Many of the articles manufactured are equal in beauty and durability to the Staffordshire earthenware. Devon and Cornwall is now chiefly supplied from this pottery, and large quantities are exported to foreign parts.’3

As well as co-owning the Bovey Tracey Pottery Company John Divett also owned the Coal Pit, later to become known as Blue Waters (Fig. 1).

 

 

 

Figure 1. Blue Waters Pit, a lake in 1945. David Lewis Collection with his kind permission.

In 1852 Captain Thomas Wentworth Buller’s daughter Cecie married at the family home in Whimple and among the guests were John, Henrietta and Mary Divett, Miss Lewin and Mr and Mrs Fox-Strangways, showing how these families were connected both socially and through kinship.4

Captain Thomas Wentworth Buller died in 1852 and his place at the Bovey Pottery was taken by his son Wentworth William Buller. At the 1859 Bovey Tracey Mayor’s Monday dinner Dr Haydon of East Street, Bovey Tracey praised Captain Buller and welcomed the latter’s son Wentworth William, ‘who possessed many of his father’s amiable qualities.’5

A tea-party for Pottery workers held in 1857 in celebration of some new gas lighting was attended by John, Henrietta and Mary Divett, Mrs and the Misses Buller (most probably Captain Thomas’ widow and daughters), Lady Lewin and the Misses Lewin, again showing the social and kinship ties.6

John became an important local dignitary and he was involved in the inauguration of the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway which opened in 1866.7 By 1867 a siding into the Pottery had also been constructed which was of great assistance in developing the business.8

John was a J. P. and at the Devon County Sessions he served alongside William Hole, an important Bovey Tracey landowner and resident of Parke. John was also Tithe Commissioner, and he served as a County Magistrate for Teignbridge.9 The magistrates sat on the Highway Board, but this did not prevent John from bringing an action against Newton Abbot Highway Board because of the poor condition of roads in and around Bovey Tracey.10

He was a member of the ‘County set’ holding a Game License for many years and he made several donations to good causes such as the Fortescue Memorial and the British Association Reception Fund.11

Aside from such business affairs we know that the Divett family lived in some comfort at Bridge House. It was a large Victorian residence with stabling situated alongside the river Bovey and census returns from 1851 to 1881 record father, mother and daughter living with between five and seven servants.12

John and Henrietta, sometimes with their daughter, took part in many social events, some involving the local nobility and gentry. They went to balls, Archery Club meetings at Powderham Park, art exhibitions and fashionable weddings.13 At the 1867 Bovey Tracey Horticultural and Industrial Show held in the grounds of Parke John exhibited a Swiss carving of ‘Grace at a peasant’s table’, and Wentworth William Buller was praised in the press for his management of ‘the Industrial and Art Loan Department.’14 Henrietta socialised with other leading ladies in the wider locality and she was on the committee that planned the retirement of Mrs Murch, who had fulfilled an important role at society functions over many years such as the 1852 wedding of Cecile Buller where the, ‘elegant breakfast arrangements were conducted by Mrs Murch.’15

John Divett remained active in his later years and he was regularly re-elected as a County Magistrate for Teignbridge at least until 1883.16 In 1870 he fined Elizabeth Lavis of the King of Prussia for selling beer during unlawful hours on a Sunday.17 Donations and subscriptions to good causes continued: John and Henrietta both subscribing £1 to the Western Counties’ Idiot Asylum in 1870 followed by a £50 donation a year later; £4 to the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War; £5 from John towards the restoration of Saddington Church, Leicestershire, and £5 towards a commemorative window in Crediton parish church.18

The only time that John appears to have found himself in some difficulty was in 1874 when he and Lady Charles Pelham Clinton were alleged to be liable in respect of shares in the Wheal Vivian mine.19

Henrietta was active in her own right and in 1880 she was granted leave by the Newton (Poor Law) Board to visit the Work House at any suitable hour. She was also present at the reopening of Ashburton Church luncheon in 1883.20

In 1884 Henrietta Divett, aged seventy-eight died and less than a year later in 1885 so did John Divett, aged seventy-three, leaving their daughter Mary. They are all buried at the Bovey Tracey parish church of St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Thomas with the inscription on the gravestone saying,  ‘Now the labourer’s task is o’er’ (Fig.2).

 


Figure 2. Gravestone for John, Henrietta and Mary Divett, Sts Peter, Paul and Thomas Bovey Tracey. Frances Billinge 2017

Mary Divett (1834-1914) and her local ‘Good Works’
Mary grew up in favoured circumstances and as a young lady she was a bridesmaid at Cecie Buller’s wedding in 1852 at Whimple.21 That year there was also an impressive fair at Crediton at which one stall was manned by Mrs and Miss Buller (of Downes House or Strete Raleigh?), Misses Divett (probably Mary and cousin Julia b. 1839) and Misses Lewin.22

In 1861 Mary, her mother and her cousin Miss Gertrude Buller (Captain Buller’s daughter) took part in an archery tournament held at Powderham Park.23 A little later, in 1867 she attended a Charity Bazaar held in Exeter in aid of the Albert Memorial Building (Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter) along with her mother Henrietta and her aunt, Mrs Ann Wentworth Buller (née Divett), as well as many titled Ladies.24

At an 1872 Ladies Day event at Teignbridge there was an ‘elite gathering’ after cricket between Teignbridge and Boconnoc with dancing until late. Mary and her mother were again present as were several Buller relatives.25 The Lewin family was not represented as by this time  they had left the area.

In her middle-age Mary Divett took up more serious interests. In 1878 she sang at a public concert to raise money for the local St John’s cottage hospital.26 In 1880 she wrote to the local press in relation to the teaching of needlework in local Elementary schools.27 Mary was by then president of a committee wishing to improve the plain sewing of the children of working people, a committee that included Lady Clifford of Ugbrooke House.

Over several years Mary contributed to Art Exhibitions at Kingskerswell, Torquay and Newton Abbot.28

Her mother died in 1884 and her father in 1885. Two days after John’s funeral, needlework prizes were distributed at Bovey Tracey Town Hall by Miss Chichester, and Mary’s cousin George Ross Divett gave a vote of thanks to Lady Clifford for having founded the society. Mary had been very involved in this scheme but understandably does not appear to have attended this meeting. A report of her father’s funeral stated, ‘we regret to say the sore affliction brought about by so quick a removal one after the other of her mother and father has very materially interfered with her (Mary’s) state of health.’29 Mary later commissioned a stained-glass window in St. Michael’s parish church at Ilsington in memory of her parents (Fig.3).30

 

Figure 3. Commemorative Window to John and Henrietta Divett, St Michael’s Church  Ilsington. Frances Billinge 2017.

 

Following her parents’ deaths Mary became involved in the administration of local Poor Law relief, and like her mother before her she was elected as visitor to Newton Workhouse in 1904.31 From 1899 to 1906 she donated gifts of flowers and grapes for the inmates of Newton Abbot Hospital and in 1907 Mary gave cut flowers to the Board of Guardians following a gas explosion accident that injured the hospital matron. From 1899 to 1909 Mary contributed to the Infirmary Christmas dinner and to the ‘Christmas for Little Ones’ under the ‘Scattered Home System’.32

John Divett had owned Langaller estate from at least 1867 which Mary had inherited, and Mary’s tenant there in 1887 was selling livestock and other produce from the farm.33 Mary started to purchase more property, acquiring Lamb Park in Ilsington in 1890.34 Mary’s involvement with her land holdings continued and in 1902 Henry Snell was charged with poaching on her land near Cummings Cross.35 In 1911, in response to a call for the culling of wood-pigeons, Mary reported that there were hardly any pigeons on her land.36 In 1912 a workman cracking stones for Mary at Langaller Farm injured his eye.37

Mary was developing into a business woman as seen by an indenture of conveyance in 1894 between Edward Ross Divett, John Ross Divett, and Mary Divett, which records her involvement in the finances of the Bovey Pottery.38

Meanwhile Mary continued to maintain her involvement in local and society events. In 1882 she and her cousin Mrs Ross Divett were judges at the Bovey Tracey Horticultural Show and her relative Miss Violet Fox-Strangways won a prize for her entry.39 Mary contributed an exhibit to the 1889 flower show held at Indio, the residence of Mr Charles Aldenburgh Bentinck, lord of the manor of Bovey Tracey from 1855 to 1883.40 At the 1890 Bovey Tracey Flower Show, likewise held at Indio House, George Ross Divett was the president and Mary the treasurer. Mary gave prizes for the best cut flowers and her relatives Miss Fox-Strangways (Violet or Mary) and Gertrude Hughes both won prises, as did Mary herself.41 In 1894 the Officers of the Depot Devonshire Regiment gave an ‘at home’ at Higher Barracks, Exeter for most of the local gentry including Sir William and Lady Hughes (Bovey Tracey) and party, Harriett Fox-Strangways and her two daughters, and also Mary Divett.42 In 1895 Mary Divett was the Treasurer of the newly formed Bovey Tracey Social and Debating Society.43

Mary took part in a Costume Bazaar and Fancy Fair organised to raise funds for a drill hall for the Volunteer Battalion Devonshire Regiment in 1887, an event also attended by Harriett Fox-Strangways, and in 1889 Mary patronised a Volunteer Fête at Chudleigh raising funds for the Chudleigh Volunteer Company.44 Lord and Lady Clifford had a theatre built at Ugbrooke and Mary was a guest at performances in 1903 and 1905.45 The next year she was among a long list of society invitees to a garden party at Ugbrooke held in honour of Queen Natalie of Serbia.46

She travelled by her own coach and horses and in 1907 a traction engine driver was fined at Newton Abbot Petty Sessions for causing an obstruction when her coachman had to back his carriage and pair whilst taking her towards Lustleigh.47 Mary, like her father, contributed to good causes and in 1889 following the failure of the West of England Bank she agreed to make an annual subscription of £2 for five years in order to help those affected financially.48

Mary held strong political views and counted herself as a committed Unionist.49 We know also that Mary expressed a concern for the welfare of animals and in 1895 she signed a petition calling for the licensing of drovers in order to reduce cruelty.50

Following her parents’ deaths, Mary continued to live at Bridge House which earlier had been renamed Riverside. She died in 1914 aged eighty and her funeral was held in Bovey Tracey where she was buried in the parish church with her parents.

Adela Divett (1848-1926) supporter of St John the Evangelist  ‘Tractarian’ church and the local cottage hospital
John Divett’s older brother Edward Divett of Bystock died in 1864. Edward’s wife had died before him in 1856. Their daughter Adela Divett, aged sixteen, moved to Bovey Tracey as her father’s will had appointed her uncle John as her guardian.51 Adela is listed under Bovey Tracey in the Morris and Co.’s Directory and Gazetteer of 1870 but we do not know if Adela stayed initially with her uncle John where the spacious Bridge House would have accommodated her easily.52 However on the 1871 census the twenty-two year old Adela, described as a landowner, was lodging with the Parnell family at St John’s Parke, Bovey Tracey.53

Adela had an older sister, Julia Ann Maria and two years after their father died Julia married Rev. Henry Llewellyn Hussey at the Bovey Tracey parish church. This also testified to John Divett’s new role as the head of the Divett family.54

The youthful Adela enjoyed an early social life in and around Bovey Tracey. She, too was a member of the South Devon Archery Club, along with her aunt, Henrietta and cousin Mary Divett, and she took part in the tournament held at Powderham Park in 1866.55 One year later Adela appeared as a Westphalian peasant at an Exmouth fancy dress ball.56

Like her uncle John, Adela gave £5 towards the restoration of Saddington church in Leicestershire in 1872, and during the 1870s Adela took an active interest in St John’s church, Bovey Tracey, and the nearby community including St John’s Cottage Hospital. She donated her brilliants, which she had worn when presented at Court, to decorate a cross which is now on the Mary Altar at St. John’s (Fig. 4) In 1873 Adela had St Mary’s built as her impressive family home. It had eleven bedrooms and was sited next to St John’s church (Fig.5).57

 

 

 

Figure 4. Adela Divett’s Brilliants set in a cross, Mary Altar St John’s Church. Frances Billinge 2017.

 

Figure 5. St Mary’s Bovey Tracey. Frances Billinge 2017.

In 1881 Adela sailed to Bombay and in 1882 she married Francis Beaufort of the Royal Artillery at St Paul’s Church, Umballa, Punjab. He had recently fought in the 2nd Afghan war. The wedding was witnessed by Adela’s cousin by marriage, Lieutenant-General William Templer Hughes. He had stayed with the Divett’s at Bridge House, Bovey Tracey in 1871, shortly before the birth of his fifth child and the later death of his first wife, Katherine née Buller.58

One year after their wedding  Adela and Captain Beaufort had a son, Francis born in Camberley, Surrey and in 1885 Olga was born in Farnham, Surrey.59 In June 1891 Major and Mrs Beaufort arrived back at Liverpool from India and with them was their one year old baby Victor who had been born in Quetta. However by August, Francis died at Lewisham aged thirty-nine and his military funeral took place at Bovey Tracey Cemetery with his body carried on a gun carriage, a firing party and a military band.60

The 1901 and 1911 census returns showed Adela living at The Hove, Ashburton Road, Bovey Tracey with three servants but no children. (Fig. 6).

 

Figure 6. The Hove, Avenue Road, Bovey Tracey home of Adela Beaufort. David Lewis collection with his kind permission, Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust.

Daughter Olga appears to have had some sort of special need as she was boarded-out with carers, while her brother Francis attended Wellington College, a public school in Berkshire.61 Francis  became a Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and served in India before returning to this country, marrying but, now a captain, being killed at  Richenbourg l’Avoue in 1915. 62 Adela arranged for a memorial to Francis to be affixed to the outer wall of St John’s church, Bovey Tracey and she would have been able to see this from her new abode, The Hove. (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. Memorial for Francis Hugh Beaufort, St John’s church, Bovey Tracey. Frances Billinge 2017.

Their son Victor became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Devonshire Regiment Royal Flying Corps and was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. He later served in the R.A.F. and lived until 1957. Adela died locally aged seventy-nine in 1926 and she and her husband are buried at St. John’s which also has a window and a side chapel she had funded to dedicate to her parents.

John Ross Divett (1851-1909) Banker and Bee-keeper
John Ross and George Ross were Adela’s two younger brothers, and George Ross came to live in Bovey Tracey after the death of their uncle John Divett in order to assume part-control of the Pottery. Before that time, however, John Ross Divett spent some time in Bovey Tracey and he is recorded as living with Adela at St Mary’s in 1881. That year John Ross married Maud Robinson in Torquay and in 1882 he won first prise for the best honey at the Bovey Tracey Flower Show.63 John Ross became a bank manager in Tavistock by 1891.64

George Ross (1849-1894) and Florence Divett (1850-1920) – Continuing the Pottery Business and a Liberal County Councillor
George Ross Divett was John Divett’s nephew who became proprietor of the Pottery and owner of Bluewaters Lignite Works sometime after John Divett died in 1885.65

George, aged twelve, became a naval cadet.66  Ten years later, in 1871, the twenty-one year old George faced a Court Martial at Portsmouth for failing to transfer from HMS Repulse to HMS Vanguard. He wished  to leave the Royal Navy for unspecified reasons and although the case was not proved he was nevertheless dismissed.67 Later that year George married Florence Ann Lellyett and this probably explained his desire to quit the navy.68

By 1875 George and Florence were living at The Castle, Wiveliscombe, Somerset, and in 1878 they made one of their fields available for games to the children of the Church of England Sunday School.69 In 1881 George, now thirty-one and described as a student, and Florence, twenty-eight, were living in Fulham with one servant but this move to London is unexplained.70

George and Florence Divett would have moved into Bovey Tracey at some time after John Divett’s death in order for George to assume his responsibilities at the Bovey Pottery and also the nearby lignite works. By 1890 George was president of the Bovey Tracey Flower Show and in 1892 his wife Florence was a judge at the Bovey Tracey Horticultural Show. Here they socialised with several members of both the Hughes and Fox-Strangways families.71

In 1891 George convened a meeting to consider the re-establishment of the Bovey Tracey Arts & Crafts Society which had started in 1867 but fell through when Mr Phillips moved to Aller Pottery. Miss Divett proposed a committee which included the Misses Fox-Strangways and also George.72 By this time George and Florence were living at Moorside, Bovey Tracey, with a cook, housemaid and a stable-boy/groom, George being described on the census return as a lignite mine owner.73

 George and Florence attended a ball at the Dolphin Hotel, Bovey Tracey in 1891 along with other better-off residents including Violet and Mary Fox-Strangways.74 In 1893 he took part in the South Devon hunt at Stover.75 He was appointed a land tax commissioner for Mid-Devon in 1893.76

Florence and Mary Divett attended Jabez Mugford’s funeral in 1894; Jabez had been a significant figure in the pottery business.77

George was to develop a strong interest in national and local politics. His father, Edward Divett having been a Liberal M.P. for Exeter from 1832 to 1864. Meetings between Mid-Devon liberals were held in Newton Abbot and in 1889, 1891 and again in 1903 George Ross was proposed as a vice-president.78 At another such meeting George Ross moved to thank the speakers and he urged his fellow men to vote for Charles Seale-Hayne M.P. at the forthcoming election. Seale-Hayne was duly re-elected.79

In 1892 George Ross, now of Chapple, Bovey Tracey, stood as candidate in a local election and later that year he was confirmed as County Councillor for Bovey Tracey. In 1894 George Ross stood again as County County candidate for the Bovey Tracey Division and he addressed a meeting at Moretonhampstead but he died that same year.80

Florence Ann Divett was forty-two when her husband died. She was described as being a partner in ‘John Divett & Co.’ along with Mary Divett, and Charles Davy Blake an important local clay owner/merchant. Florence appears to have acted in a peremptory way and sold the pottery company to Charles Blake without the consent of the other named executor of her husband’s will. This could have caused considerable disagreement within the family but Mary Divett acted generously and was willing to meet Florence’s financial demands.81

The lignite plant was up for sale in 1894, and following employee unrest the Bovey Pottery closed for a short while.82

In 1901 Florence was living in Croydon with her unmarried sisters Frances, Helena and Jessie and by 1911 Florence had moved to Beckenham. She died in the Bromley District in 1920 aged sixty-eight.

Postscript
With the deaths of George Ross, Mary and then Adela the presence of Divett family members in Bovey Tracey drew to a close. John and George Ross Divett may be remembered through their association with the Bovey Pottery and John, Henrietta and Mary are buried together at the Church of St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Thomas, Bovey Tracey. John and Henrietta are also remembered by a commemorative window in St. Michael’s church, Ilsington. Adela bequeathed her jewels to St. John’s church, Bovey Tracey where she and her husband Francis are buried and she also arranged for a window dedication to her parents and a plaque to her son Francis who died in the Great War.

The Bovey Pottery was re-opened under new ownership and management in 1895 following the freehold purchase by Charles Davey Blake in 1894.83 Charles Blake, ball clay supplier, together with directors of the Bristol-based Pountney & Co. Pottery formed a new company, the Bovey Pottery Company Limited which only ceased production in the 1950s. The House of Marbles on Pottery Road, Bovey Tracey provides a fitting testimonial to the Divetts of Bovey Tracey.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to David Lewis for sharing his memories and photographs. Also thanks to Viv Styles Chairman of Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust for providing the photograph of The Hove.

REFERENCES

  1. Births and Christenings, Eton School List, Cambridge University Alumni ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017.
  2. Exeter Flying Post 19 June 1845, p. 3.
  3. The Western Times 19 January, 1850, p. 8.
  4. The Western Times 14 August 1852, p. 5.
  5. The Western Times 14 May 1859, p. 6.
  6. Exeter Flying Post 3 December 1857, p. 5.
  7. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 29 June 1866, p. 6.
  8. The Western Times 3 September 1867, p. 8.
  9. See note 1 Eton School List.
  10. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 30 November 1866, p. 6.
  11. North Devon Journal 28 November 1861, p. 1, Fortescue Memorial; Tiverton Gazette 7 August 1866, p. 4, British Assoc. Reception Fund.
  12. The National Archives Census 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017.
  13. Exeter Flying Post 24 November 1853, p. 5, Devon County Ball; The Western Times 29 July 1854, p. 5, Archery Club; The Western Times 14 September 1869, p. 5, Art Exhibition; East and South Devon Advertiser 7 November 1874, p.4 , fashionable wedding; as examples.
  14. The Western Times 6 September 1867, p. 7.
  15. The Western Times 14 August 1852, p. 5, wedding; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 15 May 1868, p.6, committee.
  16. The Western Times 27 December 1878, p. 7, as an example.
  17. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 2 December 1870, p. 7.
  18. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 6 September 1870, P. 2, asylum; Shipping and Mercantile Gazette 16 September 1870, p. 7, Aid to the Sick; Leicester Chronicle 5 October 1872, p. 1 Saddington Church; The Western Times 19 March 1879, p. 1, Crediton Church.
  19. Royal Cornwall Gazette 28 February 1874, p. 4.
  20. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 20 August 1880, p. 7 workhouse visiting; The Western Times 1 December 1883, p.3, Ashburton luncheon.
  21. 1852 wedding, see note 15.
  22. The Western Times 21 August 1852, p. 5.
  23. The Western Times 17 August 1861, p. 5.
  24. The Western Times 10 December 1867, p. 8.
  25. The Western Times 19 July 1872, p.8.
  26. The Western Times 25 January 1878, p. 8.
  27. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 17 September 1880, p. 8.
  28. The Western Morning News September 14 1869, p.5, Newton Abbot; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 24 March 1887, p. 2, Kingskerswell; Exeter Flying Post 3 May 1890, p.7, Torquay.
  29. The Western Morning News 25 September 1885, p. 3.
  30. Bill Ransom, 2005. A History of Ilsington (Cornwall, Phillimore) p. 40.
  31. East and South Devon Advertiser 21 May 1904, p. 8.
  32. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 20 September 1906, p. 4, Newton Abbot Hospital as an example; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 29 August 1907, p.3, Board of Guardians; East and South Devon Gazette 2 January 1909, p. 5 Infirmary Christmas Dinner and Scattered Home System as an example.
  33. The Western Times 5 April 1867, p. I, and Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 11 March 1887, p.1 both refer to Langaller.
  34. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 25 October 1890, p. 5.
  35. The Western Times 24 October 1890, p. 8, Ilsington land; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 28 November 1902, p.11, Cummings Cross.
  36. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 27 January 1911, p.9.
  37. The Western Times 22 October 1912, p. 2.
  38. 1894 December 22 Indenture of conveyance between Edward Ross Divett [1] and John Ross Divett [2] and Mary E. Divett [3], private collection Bovey Tracey.
  39. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 17 August 1882, p.3.
  40. Totnes Weekly Times 24 August 1889, p. 3.
  41. The Western Times 13 August 1890, p.3.
  42. The Western Times 15 June 1894, p .8.
  43. The Western Morning News 10 October 1895, p.5.
  44. The Western Times 11 November 1887, p. 2, Costume Bazaar; The Western Times 23 July 1889, p. 4, fête.
  45. The Western Times 5 January 1903, p. 3; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 5 January 1905, p. 3.
  46. East and South Devon Advertiser 15 September 1906, p.5.
  47. The Western Times 21 August 1907, p. 2.
  48. The Western Morning News 24 January 1889, p. 5.
  49. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 19 January 1895, p. 8.
  50. East and South Devon Advertiser 7 December 1895, p. 8.
  51. Will of Edward Divett probate 1 October 1864, Principal registry
  52. Morris and Co., 1870. Commercial Directory and Gazeteer, p.459-61.
  53. The National Archives Census 1871 ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017.
  54. The Western Times 3 August 1866, p. 8.
  55. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 14 September 1866, p. 6.
  56. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 25 January, 1867, p. 7.
  57. Saddington church see note 18; Adela’s contributions to St John’s are described in Victoria Kennedy, c.2004. St Mary’s Bovey Tracey, manuscript available at Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust; Frances and Malcolm Billinge 2017 Health Services in Nineteenth Century Bovey Tracey boveytraceyhistory.org describes Adela’s involvement with the cottage hospital
  58. British India Office Ecclesiastical Returns findmypast.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017.
  59. Portsmouth Evening News 1 August 1883, p. 2; Homeward Mail from India, China and the East 20 July 1885, p. 21.
  60. Homeward Mail from India China and the East 15 June 1891, p. 25; The Western Times 14 August 1891, p. 8.
  61. The National Archives Census 1901,1911 ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017
  62. UK Soldiers Died in the Great War ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017.
  63. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 5 August 1882, p. 2.
  64. The National Archives Census 1891 ancestry.co.uk accessed 15 June 2017
  65. Devon Heritage Centre, Bere, Buller and Divett families, 4622M-O/T/19 Notice of call 1870 ; ibid., T/20 Share Certificate 1870; ibid., T 21/Assignment 1878.
  66. Naval and Military Gazette 1 March 1862, p. 2.
  67. Western Morning News 29 March 1871, p. 2.
  68. The Western Times 12 June 1871, p. 2.
  69. Somerset County Gazette 10 August 1878, p. 6.
  70. Census 1881, see note 12.
  71. The Western Times 13 August 1890, p.3; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 17 August 1892, p.3.
  72. Totnes Weekly Times 17 January 1891, p. 2.
  73. Census 1891, see note 61.
  74. Totnes Weekly Times 17 January 1891, p. 2.
  75. East and South Devon Advertiser 4 November 1893, p. 8.
  76. The Western Times 8 September 1893, p. 5.
  77. East and South Devon Advertiser 17 November 1894, p. 8.
  78. The Western Times 6 May 1889, p. 3.
  79. East and South Devon Advertiser 12 April 1890, p. 8.
  80. Morning Post 4 July 1894, p. 1.
  81. Indenture of Conveyance 22 December 1894. Private collection Bovey Tracey.
  82. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 26 December 1894,1.
  83. Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 19 November 1894, p.4.

FURTHER READING

April Marjoram, 2016. Edward Divett, M.P.for Exeter and the Bystock Estate, Exmouth. Rep Trans.Devon.Ass.Advmt Sci., 148, 165-190.

Brian Adams, 2005. Bovey Tracey Potteries. (Bovey Tracey, House of Marbles).