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William Merrifield

William Merrifield - teacher, librarian and photographer of Tavistock, Devon - was born in the town on 10th March 1804. He died there on 27th January 1885, aged 80.

Tavistock Court Gate In January 1841, William Merrifield was chosen out of five candidates to become librarian of the Tavistock Library. The library was housed in the old "Court Gate" of the former Tavistock Abbey in Abbey Place (now Bedford Square) and included rooms for the librarian and his family.

In 1851 he was living there with his wife, Ann who was born in South Petherwin, Cornwall. With them lived their 18-year-old son Samuel, a carpenter; 16-year-old son John, a pupil teacher; 14-year-old son William, another carpenter; 12-year-old son Richard, a tailor; 10-year-old son George, an errand-boy; 7-year-old daughter Mary Sarah Jane, still at school; and their lodger, Hugh Doney, an unmarried 27-year-old granite mason.

In the 1860s - possibly earlier - William took up photography and took some stereographs (early 3D photos) of the Tavistock area. These reached Tavistock Library sometime during the 1970s or early 1980s and copies were made. I've scanned some of these and you can see them here.

William's salary was gradually raised to 30 pounds and he remained librarian until he had to retire in 1871.

In April 1871, William, Ann and his daughter Mary were living in Bedford Square in the librarian's house. Mary was unmarried and working as a dressmaker.

His wife Ann died on 10th February 1873 was buried in a vault in Tavistock's Dolvin Road cemetery. The vault already had one occupant, William Richard Minhinnick, who had died, aged 49, on 17th November 1872. William Minhinnick is shown in the 1851 as a Tavistock-born Veterinary Surgeon, living as a lodger with the Venner family in Brook Street, Tavistock.

Mary Anne, the wife of William Merrifield's son John, died on 31st July 1873 and was the next person to be buried in the vault. John was to marry again within the next four years.

She was joined shortly after 18th March 1877 by Bessie, William Minhinnick's widow.

By 1881 William was living at 12 Kilworthy Lane with his unmarried daughter Mary Sarah Jane acting as his housekeeper. He is described in the census rather touchingly as "late a librarian". William's son John - a pupil teacher in 1851 - was a mathematics teacher living in Gascoyne Place, Plymouth. He lived with his second wife, Anne (or Anna) Maria, aged 36 and family. His 16-year-old daughter Mary, his 13-year-old son John (both by his first wife), his 3-year-old daughter Minnie, and 1-year-old daughter Janette. His unmarried niece Emily Merrifield Minhinnick, aged 24, was a "visiting teacher" living with them. Their household also included cook, Nora Hewitt, and a nurse, Maud Stellier.

Of William's other children, Samuel, William and Richard do not appear to be recorded in the 1881 Census. George, an errand-boy in 1851, had thirty years later become a plumber and was living at 1 Trelawny Cottages in Tavistock. With him were his wife Mary, and children Annie (13), William (11) and Minnie (9).

William himself died on 27th January 1885 and was laid to rest in the vault with his wife. They were joined in 1887 by his son John's second wife Anne (or Anna) Maria and in 1891 by John Merrifield himself.

The vault remained untouched until 1927 when William's daughter Mary Sarah Jane was buried there. She had married at some point after 1881 and died on 27th November.

The last member of the Merrifield and Minhinnick families to be buried in the family vault was Emily Merrifield Minhinnick who died in 1941.