William Dengate

William Dengate

William and Rosaline Jane Dengate

KEY DATES:

Baptised: 1 December 1861, Crowhurst Parish Church, East Sussex

Married: 10 April 1882, Crowhurst Parish Church, East Sussex

Died: 18 August 1941, Broadstairs, Kent

BIOGRAPHY:

William Dengate was born to James and Charlotte Dengate in the small village of Crowhurst, East Sussex. He was baptised 1 December 1861 in Crowhurst parish church.

The 1871 census shows William as a twelve year-old agricultural labourer, living with his parents and siblings in Crowhurst. In 1881 William is continuing to live with his parents and siblings, living in Rectory Cottages in Crowhurst.

Rectory Cottages, Crowhurst, left, Charlotte Elizabeth Dengate and possibly Louisa Dengate, c.1900

On 10 April 1882, William Dengate married Rosaline Jane Taylor at Crowhurst parish church. Witnesses to the marriage were James Dengate and Mary Martin.

William and Rosaline had their first five children in Crowhurst, before moving around 1890 to the Minster / Broadstairs area of Thanet in Kent. There they had a further five children.

William and Rosaline with their cats

The 1891 census shows William, Rosaline, their children, Ernest Taylor (Rosaline's sister) and a lodger living at Ebbs Fleet in Minster. William continued to work as an agricultural labourer.

By 1901 the family had moved to Reading Street, Broadstairs, where William was working as a park gardener. William's grandson, James Rose, has clear recollections of his grandfather: 'When I knew him in the late 30's as a lad of 7 or 8 he was suffering from a form of senility / dementia and could not recognise his wife and spoke of his time in Mesopotamia (where he had never been). The white cats were his constant companions. When we took him out he inevitably needed the loo and as he had no zip or fly my job was to hold down a very heavy flap whilst my father dealt with the other part of the operation. From what I recall from conversations he was in his time a very fine upstanding man.'

William Dengate died 18 August 1941 in Broadstairs, Kent. Rosaline Dengate died eight years later in 1949.

CENSUS:

Grateful thanks to Adrian R. Watkins for the photos and information of William and Rosaline and to Leslie J. Dengate for additional information. Also thanks to John Dengate for the photos of Rectory Cottage.