James Dengate
KEY DATES:
Baptised: 27 July 1873, St James the Great Church, Ewhurst Green, East Sussex
Marriage: 3 June 1896, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex
Death: 13 July 1962, Sedlescombe, East Sussex
Burial: 17 July 1962, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex
BIOGRAPHY:
James Dengate was born to James and Ellen Dengate and was baptised on the 27 July 1873 in St James the Great Church, Ewhurst Green.
St James the Great Church, Ewhurst Green, East Sussex, 2002
James Dengate married Naomi Dengate on the 3 June 1896 in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, where James was recorded as a 23 year old painter. Naomi's brother Herbert and sister Rosina Dengate were witnesses to the marriage. Three years prior to the marriage Herbert Dengate had married James' sister Hannah Dengate.
St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, 2002
James and Naomi had 5 children; James (Jim), Evelyn Naomi, Rosa May, Francis William (Frank) and Nellie Margaret - all baptised in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe.
The 1901 Census shows the family living in Brickyard Cottage, Sedlescombe with James' occupation listed as a house painter. During the First World War the family were still living in Brickyard Cottage, and it was here that they learned of their son Jim's death in Karachi, Pakistan.
Brickyard Cottages, Sedlescombe, 2002
Sometime between the First World War and 1927, the family resided in Springfield Cottage, Brede Lane, Sedlescombe.
Springfield Cottage (right), Sedlescombe, 2002
One of the many things built in the village by James and Frank was the memorial in the church dedicated to the villagers who lost their lives during the First and Second World War. One of the names inscribed there is James' son, James Dengate.
War Memorial, St John the Baptist, Sedlescombe, 2002
"After Dick Guy gave up [grave-digging], James Dengate took over. For some months there had been no grave-digger. James' eldest son, Jim, had died as the result of the war in far-away India and he was broken-hearted. It was in an effort to succour him that the rector, Mr Percival, suggested he should assist him now and again. It was not long before James took over the job of grave-digger and sexton. He was also builder and undertaker. Continuing for over 30 years he was the last grave-digger in the village. Thereafter undertakers provided their own." 1
In 1927, James and son Frank built a home for the family called 'The Haven' beside the road in Sedlescombe with commanding views of the surrounding countryside. When the house was bought from Nellie Margaret Dengate in 1992, the new owners found a piece of board with "Built by Frank Dengate, 1927" written on it.
'The Haven', Sedlescombe, 2002
"James set himself up as a joiner, builder and undertaker with his son Frank in The Haven, the house they built together for the family beside the road, North of Little Castlemans with workshop beside it and surrounded by a garden filled with flowers, vegetables and fruit, planted by the green fingers of Frank, it was a haven indeed, for the family had been turned out of one of the Brickyard Cottages where they had lived for 25 years when it was wanted for the Oaklands Pigman." 2
At some point James had an altercation with the then vicar of Sedlescombe Church and thereafter the family stopped attending the church.
Naomi Dengate died 6 July 1947 in Sedlescombe aged 78 years and was buried 9 July in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe.
James Dengate died 13 July 1962 in the Haven, Sedlescombe aged 89 years "..his thatch of black hair still barely streaked with grey." 3 He was buried with his wife in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe on the 17 July 1962.
James and Naomi Dengate's grave, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex, 2002
CENSUS:
1 Twenty Centuries in Sedlescombe by Beryl Lucey, p. 495
2 Twenty Centuries in Sedlescombe by Beryl Lucey, p. 382
3 Twenty Centuries in Sedlescombe by Beryl Lucey, p. 495
© Copyright N. Goodwin MMII