The Barratts of Church Street, Sidmouth - Nostalgia continues a family history

THIS week we continue the link between the Barratt family and Fields of Sidmouth, as recalled by Barratt Wilkins from Tallahassee, Florida.

Both Edwin Barratt as well as his father William Baker Barratt were master tailors. Upon Edwin Barratt’s death, one of his son’s, Henry Hill Barratt (1866-1921) became proprietor of Barratt and Company and a master tailor at the Church Street property.

Edwin had seven son’s, William Baker Barratt (1858-1910), a master tailor in London, his twin brother Donatus Samuel Pratt Barratt (1858-1936), a London Regent Street furrier; Lucius Frederick Edwin Barratt (1860-1940), a London-based furrier; Alfred Harold, a tailor; Henry Hill Barratt, a master tailor in Sidmouth; Edwin John Barratt (1866-1947), a master tailor and partner in Broom, Barratt, and Howell, a Gloucester Square, London, tailoring concern; and, Septimus Cecil Barratt (1872-1940), owner of a Sidmouth book store.

It seems the seven Barratt brothers were somewhat the ‘swells’, at times walking arms linked and abreast down Sidmouth streets, singing English songs.

Edwin and Louisa Evans Barratt had four daughters - Nina Louisa Hill Barratt (1857-1926), Minnie Matilda Barratt (d. 1945), Charlotte Dorothy Barratt (1861-1949); and Blanche H. Barratt (d. 1953).

Nina, Minnie, and Blanche died unmarried. Charlotte Dorothy Barratt married George W. Wilkins (1860-1919) in Sidmouth Parish Church on July 31, 1886 and emigrated to the United States in August that year.

Barratt Wilkins says: “Charlotte and George Wilkins were my grandparents and lived in the United States. George became a successful piano retailer and civic leader in Atlanta, Georgia.”

William Baker Barratt and the earlier Barratt’s are buried in Sidmouth Parish Church cemetery. Edwin and Louisa Barratt and his unmarried sister and daughters are buried in “Barratt’s Corner” in Sidmouth town cemetery, while many of the Barratt brothers are buried in the London area.

“Nina Louisa Hill Barratt inherited enough money from her aunt Charlotte in Brighton to buy the Regency style house known as Eglantine on Seafield Road, Sidmouth.

“Eglantine became the touchstone for the Barratt family in Sidmouth until Blanche Barratt’s death in 1953 and the sale of the house and the Church Street property by her executor and nephew Leonard Lucius Edwin Barratt, a London banker,” writes Barratt.

“Cousin Leonard told me that during renovation of the Church Street house they had found a space behind one of the fireplaces. He asked the renovators if any of the “special brew” had been found. Evidently the Church Street house had been used in earlier times as a pub and possibly had been used by smugglers.

“There are a few cousins still living in Sidmouth: John Barratt, his brother Alvin Barratt, and Brenda Legg Hook. Their grandfather was Henry Hill Barratt

one of the sons of Edwin Barratt. There are other cousins living in England, Canada, Australia, and the United States.”

Barratt has visited Sidmouth several times, the last being in 2007.

*If you have an interesting link with Sidmouth’s past contact Nostalgia on 01392 888 502.