THE MUDDLE FAMILIES

THE LINEAGE & HISTORY OF THE MUDDLE FAMILIES OF THE WORLD

INCLUDING VARIANTS MUDDEL, MUDDELL, MUDLE & MODDLE

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John Muddle’s Family - Death, Inheritance

& Three Generations Serving their Country

John Muddle was born at Browns Nest (now Firstead Bank) in High Hurstwood during early spring 1834. He was the first child of William and Mary Muddle and his birth came only three months after their marriage the day before Christmas 1833 at St Margaret’s Church in Buxted. They were back at St Margaret’s Church on 13 April 1834 with their son to have him baptised; this was probably a large family occasion as John’s uncle Joseph Muddle and his wife Sarah were having their latest child, daughter Harriet, baptised at the same time.

John was the latest addition to the fairly large Muddle family that was living at Browns Nest. His grandfather John Muddle, now approaching 70, was head of the household and owned Browns Nest and the family farm of Greystones just up the road. But with the recession and bad weather that had come at the end of the Napoleonic Wars farming was in a bad way and grandfather John had been forced to mortgage the farm. Life was no longer as prosperous as it had been for the family when these properties had been purchased back in 1681 by John’s great-great-great-grandfather, yet another John, it having been for generations the family tradition to give the eldest son this name.

Browns Nest was a fairly crowded property when John was born; it was divided into two homes, John with his parents and grandparents were living in one part and Joseph Muddle, the elder brother of John’s father, who had married in 1823, was living in the other part with his wife and their then five surviving children.

John was barely three years old when his brother Charles became an addition to the family in early 1837, and uncle Joseph had now added two more sons to his family. A second brother for John arrived in early 1841 but only lived for ten months, dying from inflammation of the brain on 19 December 1841. Three months later on 8 February 1842 John’s grandmother, Mary Muddle, died at the age of 72, from what was recorded on her death certificate as a Visitation of God. Her death had been reported to the registrar by the coroner so there had been an inquest, probably because Mary’s death had been sudden and unexpected, the inquest presumably found that there were no suspicious circumstances and her death was what we would now call from natural causes.

These two deaths were just the start of a sequence of deaths in the Muddle family at Browns Nest that young John was to experience. Seven months after his grandmother’s death John’s cousin Adelaide Muddle, the latest addition to his uncle Joseph’s family, which had again grown with the addition of two more sons, died on the 11 September 1842 from cholera when only five months old. Six months later a sister for John arrived; Sarah Ann born on 16 March 1843 but this was followed just 14 days later by the death of their father William on 30 March 1843 from consumption (tuberculosis), aged 33. It seems that William may have always been a sickly individual because when he was born his parents had him privately baptised, something that was only done if the child was weak and sickly and not expected to live. William survived childhood but poor living conditions and his weak constitution were probably why he contracted tuberculosis, a disease that it seems he passed on to other members of his family.

The next to die just 3½ months later was John’s grandfather, on 16 July 1843 aged 78; no cause of death was given on his death certificate, but it was probably from old age after a life of hard work on the farm. Grandfather John had made his will on 16 December 1842, seven months before his death and three months before his son William’s death. In this will he left his heavily mortgaged farm of Greystones to his eldest son Joseph with the condition that Joseph paid his sister Mary £50 as her inheritance. To his son William he left the house and land called Browns Nest with the condition that William paid his sister Dorothy £40 as her inheritance. As William would have already been very ill with consumption and expected to die when the will was made it contained the provision that if William died before his father his inheritance was to go equally to his sons John and Charles. The joint executors of the will were Joseph and William, but as William had died Joseph was granted probate by South Malling Peculiar Court on 2 November 1843 as the sole surviving executor.

John’s mother was now very ill with consumption, which she had probably contracted from her husband, and it seems John’s uncle Joseph took advantage of this to claim all the property left by John’s grandfather, the farm of Greystones that he was entitled to and also the house of Browns Nest that should have gone to John and Charles. These were all copyhold properties of Framfield Manor, and Joseph did this by only showing the Manorial Court held on 19 June 1844 a selected section of his father’s will. But as he had now inherited both properties he had to pay both of the inheritances due to his sisters totalling £90 and he did this by mortgaging Browns Nest for that amount to Benjamin Minns, who already held the mortgage of £210 on Greystones.

Just two days after Joseph had got himself admitted to all the family properties John’s mother died of consumption on 21 June 1844, aged 31. Her death was followed less than two months later by that of her daughter, John’s only sister, Sarah Ann, on 12 August 1844, aged 17 months, from consumption that she had probably been born with. John, aged 10, and his brother Charles, aged 7, were now orphans and the only survivors of their family.

Joseph had not been clever enough in his deceit over his father’s will, not realising, or not knowing, that two small plots of land that went with Browns Nest were separate copyhold properties as far as Framfield Manor was concerned and the Manorial Court had been issuing proclamations requesting those with a claim to come forward. On one of these small plots Joseph’s sister Dorothy had built a house and their father had left this plot of land to her, so at the court held on 17 June 1846 Dorothy produced another selected extract of her father’s will and was admitted to this plot, but it still left the other small plot unclaimed.

The following year it seems that Joseph and Dorothy tried, not very well, to stop the Manor asking about this last small plot by taking their orphaned nephews, John and Charles, to the Manorial Court held on 16 June 1847 and with another selected extract from their father’s will they got their nephews admitted to this plot, which they were entitled to, and also at that court they got themselves made the guardians of their nephews, presumably so they could have control of any queries that might arise because the section of the will they had now deposited had the potential to give the whole game away.

It took three years, but it seems the Manor finally realised that it had been duped by Joseph and worked out what the correct inheritance of all the properties should be. So at the Manorial Court held on 14 November 1850 Joseph had to surrender Browns Nest to his nephews John and Charles, with the result that he had to repay the mortgage on it, and this he could only do by selling his inheritance of Greystones to Joseph Marten for £300, this being his total mortgage on Browns Nest and Greystones, and ended up owing nothing, but also owning nothing.

John and Charles, who were now young teenagers, allowed Joseph and his large family to remain living at Browns Nest, and for a number of years they lived there with them. In 1851 Charles was still at Browns Nest but John had struck out on his own and was a live-in farm labourer for Joseph Wickens at Brookhouse on the border of High Hurstwood and Rotherfield parishes.

Five years later John, aged about 22, enlisted as Private 4375 in the 9th Regiment of Foot at Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. He received a bounty of £9 for enlisting and was described as being 5ft 4ins tall. How John came to be in Castlebar from being in Sussex is something of a mystery, possibly he had met a member of the regiment in Sussex who persuaded him to go back with him to Ireland to enlist. John and other recruits were marched the 90 miles to the Regimental Depot at Limerick in 11 days, and John then spent 43 days in hospital. Eighteen months later John was one of a group of 21 men from the 9th Regiment that became part of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Foot (then known as The Royal Regiment of Foot) at Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland, and John’s service number became 4375/407. The regiment was at Curragh Camp until 3 August 1857 and then transferred to Glasgow where they embarked for India. By the end of 1857 they were stationed at Secundarabad in central India.

It was while John was serving with the army in India that his brother Charles, aged 21, married his second cousin Sarah Charity Muddle at Hadlow Down in 1858. It was probably this marriage that triggered the sale of Browns Nest by John and Charles to Albert Henry Hills for £50 that was recorded at the Manorial Court held on 23 June 1859. John was still in India so he must have sent his written permission for the sale, possibly as a result of Charles writing to him asking him if he would sell. It does seem likely that John used some of his £25 share of the sale to have the photograph taken that we have of him in uniform, which in those early days of photography would have otherwise been far too expensive for an ordinary private in the army. Albert Henry Hills was an absentee landlord, who allowed Joseph Muddle and his family to continue living at Browns Nest until he finally came to live there in the 1870s; Joseph died there in 1866.

During early 1861 John was with his regiment at Trimulgherry, to the north of Hyderabad, and receiving 1d Good Conduct pay, then during early 1865 John was with his regiment at Kamptee (now Kamthi) near Nagpur and receiving 2d Good Conduct pay. So it seems that the photograph we have of John in uniform with one Good Conduct stripe was probably taken sometime between these two dates.[1]

While in India John completed his term of engagement and requested to be discharged; this was granted by his Commanding Officer at Kamptee on 1 November 1865. As his regiment was to continue being stationed in India John was sent back to England, departing on 23 December 1865, and was discharged from the army on 13 April 1866, aged 32, having served 10 years and 74 days. His discharge papers describe him as being 5ft 5½ins in height (1½ins taller than when he enlisted) with a fair complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair and no marks or scars. They also recorded that his conduct had been exemplary; that he was in possession of two Good Conduct Badges; his trade was that of labourer and he intended to reside in Uckfield. On discharge his final pay was for 5 days at one shilling per day and his conveyance to Uckfield was paid for.[2]

Having done his service for his county in the far reaches of the Empire John remained for the rest of his life in Uckfield. In 1871 he was working as a carman and boarding with the family of fellow carman William Blackman in Uckfield somewhere between the river and Church Street.

Ten years after his discharge from the army John, aged 42, married 30-year-old widow Frances Wheatley, whose maiden name was Elphick, at Holy Cross Church in Uckfield on 27 May 1876. They were both living in Uckfield and John was a labourer. Frances was the daughter of John and Frances Elphick and she had been born at Isfield in 1846. In 1867, aged 21, Frances had married James Wheatley and they had at least three daughters, Ann, Louisa and Fanny. In 1871 they were living at Ringles Cross and James was a brewer’s labourer. James died in 1875 aged 37.

John and Frances lived in Uckfield, where they had five children born between 1877 and 1889, while John worked as a brewer’s labourer. In 1881 they were living at 13 Alexandra Road with their then two children and Frances’ three daughters from her first marriage.

After 13 years of marriage John died on 22 April 1889 from phthisis (another name for consumption or tuberculosis), aged 55, and was buried in Uckfield Cemetery on 27 April 1889. John’s brother Charles, who had lived at Buxted, had also died from phthisis back in 1878, aged 41. In 1891 John’s widow, Frances, and her five children by John were living at Mill Mead in the New Town area of Uckfield, and Frances was working as a charwoman.

Six years after John’s death Frances, aged 49, married her neighbour, 41-year-old bachelor and hoopmaker Henry Tyler Hedges, at Holy Cross Church on 9 November 1895. Henry was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Ann Hedges and he had been born at Liverpool in 1854. After his father’s death Henry’s mother had married Peter Mansbridge in 1872; in 1881 Henry was living with them at Bolney, then in 1891 he was living with them in Alexander Road, Uckfield.

In 1901 Henry and Frances were living at 5 Fox Hall Terrace in Framfield Road with Frances’ youngest son, James Theodore Muddle. Henry’s mother and his stepfather were then living two doors away at 3 Fox Hall Terrace. Frances died in 1903 aged 57. Then in 1911 Henry was living with his mother and stepfather at 135 Framfield Road. His mother, aged 83, and his stepfather, aged 74, were both retired, and Henry, aged 56, was continuing to work as a wooden hoopmaker. Henry died in 1933 aged 79.

John Muddle’s Children

The three sons of John and Frances all joined the army; the eldest served in the Boer War and the other two in India like their father. They also served in France during the First World War, as did the two sons-in-law of John and Frances, with one son-in-law making the ultimate sacrifice of giving his life for his country.

The first child of John and Frances was a son born at Uckfield on 2 March 1877, and in keeping with family tradition he was named John Muddle at his baptism at Holy Cross Church on 15 April 1877.

On 19 December 1899 John, aged 22, was working as a labourer for C W Peckham in Uckfield when he enlisted as Private 8123 in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, which was a militia light infantry battalion. He was put on active service on 6 February 1900 and then on 29 March 1901 he embarked with the battalion for South Africa where he served as mounted infantry during the Boer War for which he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with three Colony Clasps for Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal, and also two Date Clasps for South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902. John returned to England on 11 September 1902 and was taken off active service. He was present at annual militia training in 1904 and 1905 and was discharged on 18 December 1905 on completion of the 6 years that he had enlisted for; 2 years and 218 days on active service and of this 1 year and 167 days in South Africa. On discharge John’s conduct and character were described as very good, and his description was 5ft 2¼ins tall with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair.[3]

When he was 27 years old John married 25-year-old Ellen Mitchell at Holy Cross Church on 27 August 1904, in a double wedding with that of his sister Mary. John and Ellen lived in Uckfield where they had three children born between 1905 and 1909. John was a labourer but by 1908 he had become a platelayer on the railway. They then moved to Lewes where they had another child in 1913.

They were living at 102 Malling Street in Lewes and John was a stableman when he enlisted at Lewes on 2 November 1914 as Private 20129 in the 72nd Provisional Battalion of the Territorial Force of the County of Sussex. He was immediately posted to the 3rd National Reserve Company of the 5th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, and then on the 16 October 1915 he was posted back to the 72nd Provisional Battalion. After serving 1 year and 123 days with the Territorial Force John was discharged on 3 March 1916 so that he could re-enlist in the Regular Army.[4]

The following day John enlisted at Woolwich as a horsekeeper in the Army Veterinary Corps. John was Private 15215 in the Army Veterinary Corps before being transferred to the Royal Engineers where his service number was 245663 and then WR/265950. For his service during the First World War John was awarded two campaign medals, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.[5] To have been eligible for these medals John must have served in a theatre of war, most likely in France.

In later life John was a night watchman for Johnson and Phillips, an electric power company that became part of Seeboard on nationalisation in 1947. His wife Ellen died in 1953 and John then lived with his daughter Alice at 85 Malling Street until his death in 1967, aged 90.

The second child of John and Frances was another son, William Charles Muddle, born at Uckfield on 16 October 1878.

William was working as a blacksmith for Weston Carriage Works in Uckfield when at the age of 17 he enlisted at Lewes on 24 August 1896 for six years as Private 7187 in the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, which was a militia light infantry battalion. William was then described as 5ft 4½ins tall, weighed 120lbs, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes, brown hair and no distinctive marks. William was present for the annual training in 1897 but then on 20 January 1898 he purchased his discharge.[6]

Two years later William at the age of 21 enlisted as Gunner 3611 in the Royal Field Artillery at Eastbourne on 17 January 1900 for 12 years (7 years active service, then 5 years on reserve). After serving nearly a year and nine months in England William was posted to India, sailing on 8 October 1901. During April 1904, while in India, he extended his period of active service to 8 years. There are two photos of William taken while he was serving in India. The earlier photo shows him in the white Far East uniform with one good conduct stripe on his left sleeve; taken at Peshawar on the North-West Frontier. The later photo shows him in normal dark uniform with two good conduct stripes above which are the crossed guns of an Artillery Prize winner; this photo was taken at Meerut, 40 miles north-east of Delhi.

After six years in India William arrived back in England on 11 January 1908 and was discharged to the reserve.[7] He worked as a blacksmith’s mate until emigrating to Canada on 2 February 1910, and in 1911 he was a labourer living in Montreal. On 16 January 1912 he was discharged from the reserve, and later that year he made a visit to England. After returning to Canada he married Mabel Graddy and then on 26 January 1915 he enlisted in the 24th Battalion of the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force. He was posted to England and in October 1915 Mabel also travelled to England. William was discharged from the Canadian army and they both returned to Canada and then came back to England in December 1923. William became the licensee at the Halfway House in Isfield from 1924 until his retirement 1952, when they moved to Uckfield. William died in 1956, aged 77, and Mabel died the following year.

The third child of John and Frances was their eldest daughter, Mary Muddle, who was born at Uckfield in 1881. In 1901 Mary, aged 19, was a live-in cook to widower James Wilkinson and his son at Vernon Place, Uckfield. Then on 27 August 1904 Mary, aged 22, married Richard Keeley at Holy Cross Church in the already mentioned double wedding with her brother John. Richard had been born at Hawkhurst and with Mary he had five children while living at 88 Framfield Road. During the First World War Richard served in the artillery, and while in France he was subjected to a gas attack in which many of his comrades died; and this event affected him deeply. In the mid-1920s they moved to 3 Harcourt Road. Richard worked for Durrants, the Uckfield firm of builders, and one of the projects that he worked on was the building of Maresfield Army Camp. Mary died in 1967, aged 85, and Richard, who had remained active until his death, died in 1978, aged 95.

The fourth child of John and Frances was their second daughter, Alice Muddle, born at Uckfield in 1883. In 1901 Alice, aged 17, was a live-in housemaid to the family of grocer and draper William Dendy at Manchester House in Uckfield High Street. Then in 1912 Alice, aged 28, married William Welfare, who had been born at East Chiltington in 1888. During the First World War William enlisted at Lewes in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment as Private G/1552. He was sent to France on 1 June 1915 and after 3½ months there he was killed in action on 13 October 1915, aged 27. He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Loos Memorial in Dud Corner Cemetery. William was awarded three campaign medals, the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914/15 Star.

The fifth child of John and Frances was their third son, James Theodore Muddle, born at Uckfield in 1889.

James, aged 21, had been working as a shop assistant when he enlisted at London on 1 May 1911 as Gunner 35223 in the 46th Company of the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was then described as 5ft 6¼ins tall, weighed 137lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, brown hair and was of good physical development. He was first stationed at Newhaven and then Dover where on 1 February 1912 he transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles as Rifleman 9920. During his first 15 months in the army James suffered from haemorrhoids for which he was hospitalised three times, at Shorncliff and then twice at Aldershot, to have them removed.

Then on 11 December 1912 James transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and the same day sailed from England to serve in India for about 18 months, the 1st Battalion being recalled to England when it looked as if there would be war with Germany. On the way home he was hospitalized in Aden with Sand Fly Fever for 12 days from 15 June 1914. He arrived back in England on 9 October 1914 and with the 1st Battalion he was sent out to serve with the Expeditionary Force in France on 5 November 1914. James was in France for three months, returning to England on 5 February 1915. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion on 12 March 1915 and appointed a Lance Corporal on 15 November 1915. Then he was appointed an Acting Corporal on 7 December 1916 and sent out to France again on 29 December 1916 to serve with the 1st Battalion. He was transferred to the 15th Battalion on 5 February 1917 as a Lance Corporal and appointed an Acting Sergeant on 29 April 1917; then after eight months in France James returned to England on 27 August 1917.

There is a photo of James in the army’s Hospital Blues uniform with his cap having the badge of the Royal Irish Rifles that, together with his character reference indicating that his health suffered due to his war service, seems to indicate that James may have spent considerable time in hospital between his two tours of duty in France and again after the second tour, though his surviving army records make no mention of this. This would explain the almost two years between his two tours in France, which would have otherwise been very unusual.

James was an Acting Sergeant in the 15th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles at their depot in Dublin when he was discharged on 11 April 1918 as physically unfit for further war service. He had served a total of 6 years and 346 days. He stated that after his discharge he intended to live at 16 Herondale in the parish of St Swithun’s in Lewes. His pension was to be £1 12s 6d for the first 4 weeks and then £1 2s 9d for the next 48 weeks and then reviewed.[8]

For his war service James was awarded the Victory Medal, the British War Medal, the 1914 Star with Clasp and the Silver War Badge. The 1914 Star was awarded to those who had been in France and Flanders between 5 August and 22 November 1914 and the Clasp was for those who had actually been under fire between these dates. The Silver War Badge was awarded to those military personnel who were discharged as a result of sickness or wounds contracted or received during the war.[9]

On his discharge documents James was given a glowing character reference as a man of the highest character, who had served his country long and well and suffered in health in consequence, with employers being urged to extend a preference to him in appreciation of his high character and war service. This reference would have helped James get his job at Chatham Dockyard where he worked as a wireman (electrician). On the 22 December 1950 the King awarded the Imperial Service Medal to James for his service as a wireman at H.M. Dockyard, Chatham.[10] After he retired from the dockyard, which was probably an early retirement because of ill heath, he went to live with his widowed sister, Alice Welfare, in Pipe Passage, Lewes. James died in Brighton General Hospital on 18 August 1951, aged 61, and he was buried in Uckfield Cemetery on 23 August 1951.

John Muddle’s Grandchildren

The only grandchildren John had were the nine children of his son John and daughter Mary, and only the four children of his son, a daughter and three sons, carried the Muddle name forward to a new generation. The eldest of these three sons didn’t fully comply with the old family tradition of calling the eldest son John as he was named William John Muddle, though he was always known as Jack the pet form of John. It was his two younger brothers who carried the newer family tradition of serving their country on to a third generation ‘Dick’ Richard Charles Muddle serving in the army and ‘Bert’ Albert George Muddle serving in the RAF during the Second World War.

Many of the descendents of these grandchildren still live in Uckfield and the surrounding area, and two of these, Theresa Geer and Bill Matthews, supplied all the photos and some of the information in this article.

[1] TNA WO 12/1927 to 1936 Musters of the 1st Regiment of Foot 1857 to 1866.

[2] John Muddle's discharge papers from 1st Regiment of Foot, privately held by his family.

[3] TNA WO 96/637 Militia Attestation Papers for John Muddle of the Royal Sussex Regiment,

      TNA WO 100/187 & WO 100/332 Queen's South Africa Medal Rolls for Royal Sussex Regiment,

      & John Muddle's discharge certificate from the militia, privately held by his family.

[4] TNA WO 364/2618 First World War Army Pension Documents for John Muddle,

      & John Muddle's discharge papers from Territorial Force, privately held by his family.

[5] TNA WO 372/14 First World War Medal Card for John Muddle.

[6] TNA WO 96/637 Militia Attestation Papers for William Muddle of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

[7] TNA WO 97/5556 Army Discharge Papers for William Muddle.

[8] TNA WO 363/M1898 First World War Army Service Documents for James Theodore Muddle.

[9] TNA WO 372/14 First World War Medal Card for James T Muddle.

[10] Supplement to The London Gazette 22 December 1950 p.6392.

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