The Symes Family

Marjorie Iris (nee Symes) and Albert James Pridham

The youngest daughter of Charles Symes was Marjorie Iris Symes who was born 5th May 1903, born when the family were living in the what became known as The Georgian House.  She worked in her parents house and the shop until she married Albert James Pridham in 1927.  On the left is a photograph taken at the time of their marriage.  It was taken in the garden of  The Georgian House and also shows Charles and Jane Symes.  

Albert James Pridham was born in 1903, the son of James Boucher Pridham who originated in Tiverton and Lilian Phelps, the daughter of John Evomy Phelps, who was technically an  assistant  to Doctor E M Grace but actually acted as a doctor in Thornbury.  Albert's parents and the other children moved to Reading in 1927, the year in which he married Marjorie Symes.  Albert lost contact with most of his family, only finding many of them again when he was in his 70's.

Their first home when they married was at the bottom of St Mary Street opposite The Plough Inn.  The remains of their home can still be seen in the traces of the fireplace and chimney in the piece of ground to the left of the old 'malthouse' (which in more modern times was Green and Burton's shop).  The 'malthouse' was then being used as the Thornbury Fire Station and Albert Pridham was involved for some time in the Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Marjorie and Albert had one son, John Brian (known as Jack) born in 1929, who was the source of much information about the Symes family and the Georgian House and the photographs of them, for which we are very grateful.  Jack lived at The Georgian House until he left home to go to University.  His travels and studies have taken him away from Thornbury but he remains very fond of the town and often revisits.

The family moved to The Georgian House in 1933 following the death of Marjorie's parents.  It was too big for Marjorie's sister, Rose Symes, to manage on her own and they were able to help her out in the house, shop and garden. 

Albert worked for Francis Grace.  He was a skilled electrician and was able to turn his hand to almost any kind of practical work.

Francis Grace's enterprises were many and varied and Albert had an interesting working life.  He was chiefly involved in the Thornbury and District Electricity Co. Ltd which gradually brought electricity to every part of Thornbury.  It converted the Grain Mill (near the Anchor pub ) which had been powered by water from the mill pond to electric power.  However the T&DE Co also dealt with every aspect of electricity and Albert's work included anything from collecting the shillings from the coin operated meters in peoples' houses, through wiring up houses right up to repairing faults in the high tension lines that came into Thornbury.  Albert was also responsible for helping to replace the gas lamps and to install electric street lighting in Thornbury.  The lights were operated by clocks and yet another of his tasks was to wind the clocks on the lamp posts - and of course to change them when the hour had to be adjusted for Day Light Saving Time.

Through his work for Francis Grace, Albert was also involved in the Thornbury Picture House, the cinema in the High Street.  There are people in Thornbury today who can remember his wife Marjorie working at the box office while Albert was sometimes the projectionist. 

Jack Pridham has given us many interesting details about the actual building of the Georgian House.

There is a cellar beneath the two rooms on the left side of the building.  He told us that this was used for hanging hams from the beams and for wine-making.  Part of the cellar was used in WW2 as an air raid shelter with bunk beds.

Apparently the house had one of the earliest bathrooms in Thornbury (the Pitchers also claimed to have the earliest and we don't feel able to make any judgements in this matter!).  The water was pumped up by hand from the cistern underground that collected the rainwater to the rainwater storage tank in the roof.  This tank provided the water for the toilet and the bathroom. In Jack's day this was a weekly task and was done every Sunday morning.  The water was soft and good for the hair but sometimes contained the remains of rats. 

It was not until the early 1950's that the house was fully connected to the mains water supply, the cistern discontinued and a tap installed in the kitchen.  Prior to this there had been only one mains water tap which was on the ground floor next to the pump.

Click here if you wish to read more about the early history of the Symes family 

This page was last updated: 13/01/2008