The Thorndyke Family

Sometime in the late 1860s a young girl moved from Hapton to London and started a story that led to a unique family company that has existed here in Forncett for over a hundred years.

Maria Elizabeth Feek was born in Hapton in 1842. Her father was an agricultural labourer and, like many young girls at that time, by the age of 18 (in the 1861 census) she was working as a servant. Soon after this Maria moved to London, almost certainly looking for better-paid work. There she met a young man from Norwich, George West, and in April 1867 they married in Battersea. George became a dairyman and over the next 18 years Maria and George had six children. The youngest of these was Mary West who, by the age of 15, became a dressmaker.

In April 1903, aged just 18, Mary married a local man, James Edward Thorndyke. James came from a family of eleven children and his father was a bricklayer but, rather than following in his father's footsteps, at the age of 17 (in 1901) James was selling and fitting house blinds.

James and Mary Thorndyke settled in Battersea and by 1911 James had moved into the tarpaulin business, making tarpaulins for a variety of uses including on railway coal wagons. Later, James Thorndyke started a harness-making business which was very successful during WWI when there was very high demand for his products. The family grew rapidly and by 1916 there were six children aged between 8 and 1. However, the health of their young children was not good, probably due, at least in part, to the fact that the family home at 50, Battersea Park Road, was very close to the Nine Elms locomotive depot and the air quality would have been very poor.

50 Battersea Park Road - now an Italian Trattoria, was the Thorndyke's home in 1911

James and Mary were advised that a move to the countryside would be very beneficial and so it's perhaps not surprising that the Thorndykes decided to move to Norfolk, close to Hapton, the birthplace of Mary's mother. In 1920 James sold his business in London and the family initially moved to Hapton before buying Homestead Farm in Forncett St Mary. Homestead Farm was part of the Tacolneston Estate owned by Sir Maurice Boileau and the whole estate was offered for sale by auction in March 1920! There were a total of 97 lots, including 16 mixed farms, the village pub - The Pelican, and 56 cottages. Homestead Farm was Lot no. 26 which totalled 47 acres of land, the farmhouse and a range of farm buildings. 

Details of Homestead Farm from the sale catalogue of 1920

Here James set up a new business making tarpaulins, sacks, ropes and other products for local farmers. In the early days of the business all the tarpaulins were hand sewn but later hand-operated sewing machines were used.

In the 1921 census eleven people were living at Homestead Farm. James was away on business but Mary and her six children were there, along with Mary's sister-in-law, Alice Thorndyke and Alice's two-month-old daughter, Doris. Also in the house were William Groom, a farm labourer working for the Thorndykes and a five year-old girl, Louisa Hancock from London.

Following the move to Forncett, James and May had two more children, Harold (b. 1922) and Jessie (b. 1931). A photo probably taken during this period shows James (front row, second from left) as a smiling member of the White Horse PH darts team in Hapton.  

By the 1930s the Thorndyke's business was well established and the farm was also thriving. A photo taken in 1936 shows the family exhibiting their wares at a local fair. They are advertising "Covers, tents, ropes and lines" with stack covers and waterproof covers clearly on display.  

L-R Harold Thorndyke, Albert Thorndyke, William (Billy) Holmes, James Thorndyke, Elizabeth Thorndyke, Margaret Thorndyke

By the time of the 1939 register, the oldest Thorndyke boy, Edward (b. 1908), had moved back to London but the rest of the family were settled in Forncett. Five of the Thorndyke children were still living at Homestead Farm: Elizabeth (b. 1911) was working as a canvas machinist and was soon to marry William Holmes who was also working for the business as a canvas machinist. Horace (b.1913) was working on the family farm and was soon to marry Mary Evans who was working as a cook at The Grange in Tasburgh. In 1937, Emily (b.1915) had married a local lad, Jack Womack, and she was also working as a sack machinist. Harold (b. 1922) and Jessie (b.1931) were also at home.

Albert Thorndyke (b. 1910) was working as a tractor driver on the family farm. He had married a local girl, Helen Green, and they were living at No. 4, Spicer's Lane. Margaret Thorndyke, who was also a sack machinist, had married Leonard Ellwood from Brooke and they had settled in Tharston.

When Billy Holmes and Elizabeth Thorndyke married they moved into Horsenford farmhouse just down the road in Tharston. James Thorndyke had purchased the farmhouse (which was divided into two dwellings) and some associated land. Horace Thorndyke and his wife, Mary, moved into the other half of the farmhouse.

The business became a very significant local employer and at its peak during WW2 they employed fifteen machinists in a two-storey building built alongside the farmhouse.

Billy and Elizabeth Holmes at Homestead farmhouse with the workshop behind them.

In about 1944, Billy and Elizabeth Holmes moved to live in Hapton, where their third child, Robin, was born. Then in 1947 the business became J. Thorndyke and Co. with James Thorndyke and four of his children, Elizabeth, Emily, Margaret and Harold as partners. It was at this time that James Thorndyke decided to step back from the day-to-day running of the business and he and his wife moved back to live in London. Billy Holmes and his family moved into Homestead farmhouse and Billy became responsible for running the tarpaulin business. Around the same time Horace Thorndyke and his family moved to live at Bayes Farm near Hapton and Horace concentrated on running the Thorndyke's farming interests. Horsenford farmhouse was finally condemned by the council, but Horace Thorndyke sold it and it was subsequently restored. 

James and May Thorndyke at their home in London

Although James Thorndyke and his wife moved back to London when they retired, they later bought a property, Fairview, in Spicer's Lane and they would come to stay there from time to time. The Thorndykes kept a car (a Ford Prefect) here in Forncett and Billy Holmes would be asked to go down to London and drive them back to Forncett when they wanted to spend time here! Eventually James and Mary Thorndyke moved back permanently to live at Fairview in Forncett. Mary Thorndyke died in 1962 and James Thorndyke died two years later, aged 80. 

Harold Thorndyke and his wife lived for a while in Tacolneston and then, in about 1960, they moved to Hill Farm in Forncett End. 

J. Thorndyke and Co. stopped trading in 1969. Billy Holmes and his wife retired and moved to live in Ashwellthorpe. Their son, Robin, Holmes decided to continue the business and built a new building (constructed from a post-war prefab) on land owned by the Thorndykes next to Horsenford Farm.

The business, Holmes Tarpaulins (https://www.holmestarpaulins.co.uk/), is now run by Robin's son, Gary, and so this family business can trace its roots back for over 100 years here in Forncett!

With sincere thanks to Robin Holmes and Quinton Spratt for their invaluable help in researching this article.