The Cottages opposite Laburnum Terrace

Henry Allen & his family

By 1901, number 1 Gloucester Road, Thornbury was occupied by Henry Allen, a gardener aged 30 from Biddestone in Wiltshire.   Henry was living with his wife, Alice aged 27 from Wishenger, Gloucs.  They had 4 children:  Alfred J.D. aged 9, Edward aged 7 and Eveline aged 6, all born in Kingswood and Herbert aged 1 born in Thornbury.  The family must have moved to Thornbury in 1898 as Edward and Alfred John Allen, both sons of Henry Allen of Gloucester Road started at St Mary's School having transferred from a school in Kingswood.  All their other children also went on to attend St Mary's School.

The Allens were to occupy the house for the next 65 years or so.  Henry and Alice had a large family.  Reginald Henry Allen was baptised in 1900, Dorothy Millicent Allen in 1902, Philip Furber Stephen Allen in 1908 and Mervyn Miles Allen in 1913.  Mervyn died 9 months later in 1914.

Henry applied for military exemption in 1918.  The record shows he was born on 22 May 1869, married on 22/3/1892.  In 1918, he was working as gardener and cowman for Edmund Cullimore at the Shen.  In response to the question ‘how long have you been employed in this employment’ he answered ‘Life’.  His reason for exemption was that he was 'engaged in milking and feeding pigs.  He also has 4 vegetable plots to cultivate and has to assist in the cultivation of a field which he has been ordered to plough this summer'.

Henry also worked as a gardener for Dr. E.M. Grace as he was left £10 in the Doctor's will.  Henry died on 18 March 1945 aged 75 years.  Alice died on 10th March 1948 aged 78.  They are buried in Thornbury Cemetery (click here to see  an image of their grave).

Herbert Henry also applied for military exemption in 1918 on the basis that he was an apprentice saddler and harness maker employed by Frank Symes and still had to 'serve his time' until April 1919.  Herbert died in 1926.

Another son, Edward did go to War.  The Parish records show he was was a soldier aged 25 when he married Elsie Louise Peters, aged 27, from Morton, the daughter of Arthur John Peters, labourer.  The photo on the left shows Edward whilst serving for the 2nd Leinster Regiment.

Local people still remember the time when the Allens lived at number 1 with their daughter, Dorothy.   Both Henry and Dorothy are remembered as being very small.  Apparently when Dorothy worked as a servant, Dorothy had to stand on a stool to reach the sink.

Dorothy worked for the Grace family.  We are told she worked at Dr. Grace's home at Park House, but the electoral registers throughout the 1930's show that she was living at West Shen, the home of Francis Henry Grace, the son of E.M. Grace.  

By the end of the the war Dorothy had returned to live with her mother and continued to live in the Gloucester Road house after her parents deaths.  Her name appears up to the 1965 electoral register as living there.  The cottages were demolished about this time but it is not known where she lived after moving away.  She died in December 1987.

Dorothy Allen was something of a local character and she was generally known as "Dolly" Allen.   As she became older she seems to have become a little confused and sometimes wandered out of the house in her nightdress.  Mrs Excell said that the neighbours used to keep a look out for her and take her home again but it must have been a cause for worry because the cottages opened straight out onto the road, although there was less traffic than there is now.  There is a humorous side to this story though because Win Jenkins said that just after they moved into a house opposite in 1960, her younger son Stephen heard Dolly in the street late one night and thought it was a ghost going down the road.

Go to main page for 1 Gloucester Road or go to: No3, No5, No7, No9, or No11

This page was last updated: 25/06/2008