Huccaby Tales

There is in fact a tale about Huccaby, called the Huccaby Courting, but you will have to find out about that one via the link provided. The two tales I wish to tell you about were handed down by Auntie Hilde, reflecting on her visits to Huccaby as a young woman. One is about a Viccar named Mr Fox and the other is about escaped prisoners. They were recorded by my dad in 1978, when she was 96 Years old.

Copyright of the Dartmoor Trust

But first, let me introduce you to Huccaby. Huccaby is a wonderful farmhouse set within Dartmoor, only a few miles from Princetown, where a high security prison was (& still is) located. Only a few bridges led off the moor. Even today, there are no houses in its direct vicinity. Above is a picture taken by Robert in the 1890s; below are some pictures we took of Huccaby in 1978. If you look at Robert's entire picture collection, you will find that Huccaby House figures prominently in about a dozen pictures.

The first is about Reverend Fox, a clergyman who would regularly come to visit Huccaby. It was in 1903 or 1904 that the cousin who usually managed the Household for Charles .F. Burnard went on holiday for three weeks and Hilde was asked to stand in for her. As so often, Reverend Fox would come over for his one or two visits per week and, as so often, would not leave as dinner time was approaching. Hilde was surprised to hear that he was from Australia, having assumed that the reason why people go out there usually prevents them from coming back.

Dinner was served and at about 9:00 pm, “Grandpa” Charles got up and said: “I am going upstairs to sleep, please have the lights of the pony cart lit up for Reverend Fox”. Well, there was no sign that Rev. Fox was about to get the hint. At about 9:30 pm Hilde said to Sarah, the cook (comment: she may be pictured on one of Robert’s photos): “Please have the lights on the pony cart lit up now, Grandpa did say Rev. Fox is about to leave.” - Rev. Fox remained seated. At about 10 pm Sarah appeared with a big loaf of bread from the kitchen and gave it to Rev. Fox. “Who’s bread is this?” Hilde asked. “Your Grandfather’s” Sarah replied.. “Well, then you can not give it away without asking me” Hilde said “after all, I am supposed to be running this household”. Rev. Fox kept the loaf of bread, but he was not very friendly as he finally left.

A few days later Reverend Fox visited Uncle Bob (Robert), who had a farm nearby Huccaby (Comment: I was not aware that there were several farms, but Hilde’s memory was usually very accurate). Reverend Fox told him he had recently met the rudest most and most “impertinent” girl ever at Huccaby and he believed she was from Germany. “Oh, Robert said, that is my favourite niece!” and laughed. Reverend Fox did not stay for dinner that night.

The second tale is about prisoners escaping. Huccaby farm is actually on Dartmoor, only a few miles from Princetown, where a high security prison was and is located. As you can see from its website, the prison was in those days considered to be the hardest and most severe in England and had some very notorious and dangerous inmates.

There were only a few bridges leading off Dartmoor, one of them was very close to Huccaby. When prisoners went missing a number of cannons would be fired and all bridges would be guarded. Well, most of the time. Sometimes one or both of the guards would come for Tea in Huccaby. One time Hilde was visiting when the cannons were fired and the usual procedure was followed: Some food and warm clothing was left on the porch outside and the whole house was locked up. The justification was: “These poor sods will get caught soon anyway, so why let them freeze and go hungry along the way?” More likely, it was a pretty good tactic for making sure some very dangerous people do not try to enter the house.

This time, though, there was a knock on the door, which kept getting louder & louder. Uncle Bob (Robert) was there; all in all three men. Uncle Bob said: “We can handle an old convict. If he needs something, he can have it; if he attacks us, we’ll teach him a lesson”. The men took the irons from the fireplace and the women anything they could find & Bob opened the door.

Outside was the 17 year old son of the caretaker. He had been sent by his dad to say: “You can all go back to sleep. The escaped prisoner has been sighted near several miles away. So they did. The next morning the news arrived that the prisoners had been caught uncomfortably close to Huccaby. Perhaps the boy was a decoy sent to test the strength of the “troops” in the house.

Burnard Family Close-Ups

My "Auntie" Hilde was incredibly fond of her relatives in Plymouth and Huccaby. I will record some of her memories at a later stage. For this reason, she had a wonderful collection of Photos to remember them by. I am proud to say, these pictures are probably unique and completely new to the internet:
This is the closest we have ever been to Robert Burnard's family, given that most pictures were taken from some distance away. In the back are Dorothy Blanche Burnard (born Aug. 9th 1877) and her sister Olive Louise Burnard (born May 17th 1848) . In the front left is Fanny Evans (Born June 26th 1844, dies 1921) married to Edward Paget Headly of Cambridge, in the center is Laurence Freidrich Burnard (born July 27th 1874) and their mother, Fanny Louisa Burnard (nee Pearce). They feature on many of Robert's family pictures.

Here is a further picture of Dorothy... with her dog named Peggy. If you are wondering how come I even know the dog's name, remember that Robert kept meticulous records of the people he photographed and, in line with the love for dogs and horses we all seem to share with our ancestors, he even recorded the names of his dogs. I will have to introduce you to Bruce, Tag, Di and ... spotty Peggy in due course.


Above is Di, another 4 legged character that appears on several of Robert's pictures, together with Peggy sitting on Olive's lap above Fanny, her mum. I am not sure who the two gentlemen are. The one on the rights looks like John Steed from the "Avengers", but that TV series was some 70 years later.

I only recently discovered that it is Queen Victoria to we have to thank for redefining the role of our pets. She made it fashionable to keep dogs in the house and the Burnard family certainly took this to heart. It was a recent phenomenon at the time, whereas it seems totally notmal to us today. Dogs Homes & Animal Protection as we know it today began as a result of Queen Victoria's initiative. Apparently, she had more pictures of her pets commissioned that any other regent before her. Battersey Dogs Home was the first dog sanctuary in the world & it was opened by Queen Victoria.

New Findings in the Family Archives

I recently went to visit my cousin Monika in Lengerich, because she told me on the phone that she had boxes full of archived material, much of which related to Mary and her family. She was not exaggerating! We managed to look at about 10% of what there is. Naturally, I was particularly keen on photographic material ... & there is plenty of that. Some of this I have added in the relevant locations, but other treasures warrant a new chapter.

Below you can see the family tree prepared by Charles Frederick Burnard. You can see all his children (three of which died very young) and those of the photographer, Robert Burnard. You can also see the reference to Mary Beatrice, including the reference to her marriage to Richard.

You can also see at the top that the name dates back to 1543 , and that is appears from the Chantry Rolls of Devon and Cornwall in 1546. But the family tree, which initially recorded only the deaths, begins in earnest with John Burnard of Treroose, who died in 1788 .