Naomi Dengate

Naomi Dengate

KEY DATES:

Baptism: 25 October 1868, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex

Marriage: 3 June 1896, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex

Death: 6 July 1947, Sedlescombe, East Sussex

Burial: 9 July 1947, St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe, East Sussex

BIOGRAPHY:

Naomi Dengate was born to James and Harriet Dengate in Sedlescombe, East Sussex and was baptised on the 25 October 1868 in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe.

The 1871 census shows Naomi as a two-year old living with her parents and brothers and sisters in Sedlescombe. In 1881 Naomi is living with her parents, sister and brothers as a 12 year-old scholar. "Through the years there were often 'cottage schools' taught by a 'dame' for a charge of a few pence a week...It was not free; payment of perhaps 1d. was charged for attendance and an exercise book had to be provided. In order to avoid this extra expense pupils usually brought slates. Naomi Dengate, mother of the Dengates of The Haven and wife of the last verger and sexton, James Dengate, had been a pupil. The 'Dame' of her day had a blind husband sometimes she would go out and leave him in charge of the children, with a very long stick to keep them in order, which could penetrate to all parts of the cottage room." ¹

^{Naomi was a witness to her sister
Harriet
Agnes Dengate's marriage in 1887 to John MacDougall, along with her uncle Edward
Jarvis.}

In 1891 Naomi is living with her widowed father in one of the Manor House Cottages in Sedlescombe, working as a housekeeper. In another of the Manor House Cottages in 1891 are Naomi's two brothers, Herbert and John Dengate.

Manor House Cottages, Sedlescombe, 2002

Naomi Dengate married James Dengate on the 3 June 1896 in St John the Baptist Church, Sedlescombe. 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 (Meg)- 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

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

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. 298

² Twenty Centuries in Sedlescombe by Beryl Lucey, p. 382

³ Twenty Centuries in Sedlescombe by Beryl Lucey, p. 495