13 Pullins Green

The Children of Oliver Higgins

Higgins was a staunch family man.  He and Mary Ann had four children: Edith Blanche born about 1887, Claude Wilfred born on 21st February 1893, Harold Oliver born on 30th January 1895, and Nelson Spencer born about 1896.  The photo below shows Claude, Nelson and Harold.  In 1917 he had another daughter, Joan Dorothy by his second marriage when Oliver was 54 years old.  

We know that Claude was moved on from the Council School and admitted to the Grammar School on 1st January 1905.  He received an 'Attwells Scholarship' ensuring that his parents were exempt from having to pay the school fees for three years.  Claude left school on 18th December 1908 to become a junior draughtsman at the Bristol Waggon Works.  Harold also moved from the Council School and he was admitted to the Grammar School on 21st September 1908.  He received a total exemption of fees for 4 years from the Governors.  He left school on 28th July 1911 when he was at the end of the 4th Form.  He became a bookkeeper for his father.

The three boys fought in the army during the First World War, the eldest, Claude, was a casualty, and the youngest, Nelson, came back with shrapnel in his body.

Claude Higgins
There is a little report in the South Gloucestershire Chronicle dated 26th February 1915 which shows that Sergeant Claude was selected to represent the Aldershot Command at football.  It said that he was a member of the R.A.M.C. and that he had played for the Thornbury Grammar School Old Boys in 1914 and had several matches for Bristol Rover Reserves.  A week later the newspaper reported that Claude played well as centre forward and scored Aldershot command's only goal.

There is a poignant account of what happened to Claude in the local newspaper.  The article has a letter dated dated 27th April 1917 written by a fellow officer, J.L. Craig.  The letter describes how Claude, a Second Lieutenant,  was posted to Mesopotamia and was camped there while waiting to join the North Staffordshire Regiment.  He went down to the river Tigris one afternoon (25th April) with a friend Frank Harrison and another officer, Mr Kirby.  Frank went into the river first and Mr Kirby saw him suddenly throw up his hands.  Next thing, Claude and Frank were both struggling in the water.  Both boys were unable to swim.  It appears that Claude had gone in to try and save his friend.  Both men were swept away by the strong current and never seen again.

It was particularly tragic because Claude had only married in 1916.  We have a photograph of his wedding to Rhoda at Elmley Castle near Evesham with his brother Harold on the left and his wife's parents.  Edith Higgins, his sister, is seated on the left. Click on the photograph to see a larger version.

Nelson Higgins
Nelson also went off to fight in the First World War.  He came back with shrapnel in his body.   It was Nelson who operated the coal delivery business for his father from the coal yard at the railway station.  Nelson  lived in The Cottage, a detached house on the junction of Gillingstool Hill with Horse Shoe Lane.  After the First World War, Nelson married Ella Lilian Burns.  Ella was a widow and her husband, William Burns, had been killed in the First World War.  She had three sons from her first marriage, and two of these, Francis and Mervyn, were to be killed in fighting during the Second World War. Click here to read more about the Burns family and Nelson's later life

Nelson's manhandling of the heavy sacks brought on pains which eventually led to his retirement and closing of the business.  Click here to see some wonderful adverts of the Higgins coal business during the First World War.

Of his other children, Edith became a nurse, Harold (shown below on the right) worked as a signalman on the railways and he died in September 1980 aged 85 years, Joan (shown below on the left) became a teacher.  Joan was the last survivor of Oliver's children.   Apart from a short time away at College, she lived on the Green for most of her long life and had a very good memory of the people who lived around her.  We are grateful to her for sharing some of those memories with us.  Miss Higgins kindly donated many photographs and other material to the Thornbury Museum which have been used to make a display about the trade of blacksmith in general and Oliver Higgins in particular.  Joan died in March 2008 aged 90 years.

This page was last updated: 20/05/2010