The Spill family

George Jessop Spill - there is some confusion over George's full name.  His birth was registered as George Henry Spill, baptised on 4th August 1850, the son of Samuel Spill, a labourer and his wife, Hester.  The FreeBMDs website shows him as George Jessop when he married and several of his baptism records as recorded on Scribes Alcove website show him as George Jessop.  In the 1901 census he is listed as George J. Spill.  His gravestone however shows 'George H. Spill'.  Perhaps Jessop and Henry were his middle names and he used them both at different times.

The 1851 census show George living with his parents in Rock Street  (then called Back Street).  Samuel was working as a grocer's porter.  By 1861 the family had moved to Chapel Street (then called Rotten Row).  In 1871 Samuel was called a warehouse man and George had found work as a grocer's porter.

On 11th August 1872 George married Jane Hinder, the daughter of James Hinder, a labourer.  Jane was born in Hawkesbury Upton about 1845.  The 1876 Rate Book has George Spill living in two properties, one at 61 High Street, the other at 5 Upper Bath Road.  We suspect he may have moved from the former address to the latter one as that is where he was living in the 1881 census.  The census shows that George was a labourer.  He and Jane had had 3 children: Emily aged 7, Hester Eliza aged 5, Jane aged 3 and Samuel aged 7 months.

By 1891 George had become a carter.  By now they had had another son, William Henry born in 1884.  One more son, John Jessop, had been born in 1885 but he died a year later.

The 1901 shows George and Jane still living in 5 Upper Bath Road.  George was a labourer in a grocer's.  George died in 1904 aged 54 years when he was living at Raglan Castle.  The 1905 shows Jane is living in the house.  She died in 1907 aged 61 years.

Samuel James Spill
Samuel was born in Thornbury in 1880, the son of George Joseph Spill, a labourer and his wife, Jane.  Samuel was baptised on 7th May 1882.

By 1901 Samuel had become a porter in a grocer's.  He was the third generation of this family to take up this occupation.  We understand that Samuel started work for Councells' grocers shop in the High Street.  He went on a wagon delivering their goods to outlying villages as far away as Charfield.

Samuel is listed as a postman living in St John Street in the 1916 Prewett's Street Directory and Pullins Green the 1918 electoral register.  We suspect he took over the house when his sister, Hester Eliza English moved away in 1915.  In 1920 he married Mabel Victoria Brock and their only child, Hubert Samuel Spill was born that year.  Mabel was born in Thornbury in 1887.  Her parents were Richard Brock, a platelayer and his wife, Flora or Florence (nee Morgan).  They lived in Grovesend when Mabel was born.  Richard had moved from his home in Devon to Thornbury to help with the building of the railway.  He stayed on when the work was finished and helped maintain the tracks.

Samuel and Mabel lived in 4 Pullins Green and Samuel was still being employed as a labourer.  Samuel was a postman and for many years he would sort the mail which came in from Bristol in the post office before delivering it covering an area as far as Grovesend and coming back over Milbury Heath, walking all the way.  In the afternoons he cycled round the area emptying mail boxes.

Samuel lived in Pullins Green until he died in 1950 aged 69 years.  Mabel had bought the property from Frederick Henry Burchell on 8th May 1951.  She carried on living there after his death.  She died on 11th October 1973 aged 86 years.

On 6th December 1973 Hubert Spill sold the cottage to Thornbury Rural District Council for £5000.

Hubert Spill
Hubert started at the Council Infants School in 1925.   After school he started work in Dearings shoe shop on The Plain.  He carried on working there for about 5 years selling shoes in the shop and then on the travelling van selling boots, shoes and and clothing and delivering orders for people's approval.  This travelled all round the villages and as far away as Slimbridge.

In 1940 Hubert was conscripted into the Royal Army Corps at Bovington Camp in Dorset.  He became an instructor on driving and maintaining tanks and armoured vehicles.  He later moved to Catterick awaiting posting overseas.  Here he met Gladys in a garrison church.  Although he was posted to Egypt a few weeks later he kept in touch with her and they became engaged six week after he left Catterick.  When he demobbed in 1946 they married at Gladys's hometown of South Woodford, Essex. 

They moved to a council flat Thornbury where Hubert worked for 2 months on home grown timber production and then began helping an army friend win a grocery business in Horfield.  After a couple of years, he became caretaker of the Council School at Gillingstool, the school he had attended as a child.  Hubert and Gladys were living at North Road at the time.  They had two sons, Trevor born in 1950 and Paul in 1958.

One job Hubert remembers well is that of looking after the school’s heating which was based on tortoise stoves using coke – there were 28 stoves to look after at one time!  He had to clear each fire every evening and remake it for the following morning.  He had to start work at 6.30am in the heating season and finished at 6pm, often later.  He worked at Gillingstool for about 10 years and he was then appointed caretaker at The Castle School when it moved to Park Road. This was in 1963.  At the Castle School they lived in a caretaker’s bungalow.  He retired in 1985 when he as 65 and they lived in Buckingham Parade.  Hubert died on 24th January 2009 aged 88.