Ollery Hall Farm - Herbert Searle Daft (1866 - 1925)
The next occasion we see Herbert is when he was baptised at St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall on 14th October 1890, at the curious age of 24 years. Why were the Dafts in Halsall? Herbert had secured a position as a farm student at Ollery Hall Farm and had been accompanied by his parents, who, according to the baptism record, were still living in Lisbon, Portugal. (Note that Victor and Halsall were added to his name).
Nevertheless, before then he is mentioned in a legal notice advertised in the Telegraph newspaper in 1899. In fact his whole family was mentioned because it was a change of surname name, although the legal notice doesn’t say what their new surname was to be!Â
Their new surname was in fact Dartford – this information was discovered in various guises when looking through the family records from 1900 onwards – wedding certificates, death notices, passenger lists, census records, probate documents and electoral registers all contained this new surname.
As mentioned previously, Herbert was living in Norfolk in the early part of the 1900s; he was boarding with Reverend Augustine Brutton and his wife Katie at Hempnall vicarage.
 Whilst living there, tragedy struck the household. In the summer of 1904, Reverend Brutton was on board SS Afric, a vessel which was a combination of a cargo and passenger ship working the Australian trade. Mysteriously, the SS Augustine vanished during the early hours of the morning of Tuesday 19th July. His death was logged in the Register of Passenger Deaths and recorded as ‘Disappearance’. He was only 48 years old.
After the death of Reverend Brutton, his wife Katie and Herbert were required to vacate the vicarage. Katie remarried some years later and Herbert found himself living in Essex; sadly he was a patient of the Co-operative Sanatoria in Billericay. Looking at the 1911 census, this appears to be a nursing home for men with learning difficulties or dementia. The youngest resident was a 17 year old boy and the oldest was an 87 year old gentleman who was a retired auctioneer. In total there were 30 men in the home being cared for by Mr. Edwards, the superintendent and Miss Jarvie, a mental nurse. The other members of staff were a mother’s help, a cook, a gardener and an attendant.
This is the first time we learn of Herbert’s disability; he was referred to as ‘feeble minded since birth’ which can be described as an individual ‘with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities or development delays’ BirminghamHistory.co.uk . It seems that his parents were paying for him to stay there as he was living on ‘private means’ – they, meanwhile, were still living in Portugal.
Poor Herbert seems to have been dealt a bad hand in life – literally being passed from pillar to post and living with whoever would take him in while his parents and siblings were travelling first class between Southampton and Portugal on luxury liners…
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Herbert’s father, Owen Henry Dartford died in Portugal in June 1913. Would Herbert have been told about his father’s death? How often did Herbert see his parents and did he remember them? These questions remain unanswered…
Thankfully, Herbert left the nursing home and in 1921 was living in the village of Kelvedon with Alfred and Rose Smith, their three children and another gentleman boarder. Alfred was a baker at the Poplar Board of Guardians Training School in Hutton, Essex which was a place with quite a history!
Later in 1921, Herbert’s mother, Rachel Cecily Dartford died in Lisbon, Portugal on 25th September.
Herbert lived another four years – he passed away on 20th April 1925; the cause of death was dementia, epilepsy and cardiac exhaustion. His eldest brother, Henry William was the informant on Herbert’s death certificate and interestingly, he gave Herbert’s occupation as ‘formerly a commercial clerk’; even in death the family could not face the truth about Herbert.
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Further research led to the discovery of Leo Daft, Herbert’s first cousin (their fathers were brothers). Leo was a British engineer who emigrated to America. Amongst many ventures, he built the first successful standard gauge electric locomotive in America, the ‘Ampere’ at Newark, New Jersey as well as the ‘Second Street Cable Railway’ in Los Angeles. Leo Daft – Wikipedia
Leo’s father (Herbert’s uncle) was Thomas Barnabas Daft (1816-1878) ‘an ingenious and prolific inventor’ according to his obituary published in 1879 by the Institute of Civil Engineers. Whilst his brother, Owen Henry, was dealing in wine over in Portugal, Thomas Barnabas was known for creating ‘elastic bands’ from india-rubber and subsequently worked for Charles McIntosh & Co (the creator of raincoats, no less!) as manager of their india-rubber works at Manchester. Thomas Barnabas Daft – Graces Guide
And finally … Herbert and Leo’s grandfather, another Thomas Daft (1794-1867) (father of Thomas Barnabas and Owen Henry) was a ‘Metallic Hot House’ maker (Greenhouses) from Birmingham. Thomas Daft and Son – Graces Guide
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