Railway Delivers Parcels by Horse and Cart
Written by Angela Gooch on May 10th, 2008 in Early Skegness, Family History, People, Social History, Transport.
Flash back to the horse era
THIS photograph of Mr John Wells, 13 Richmond Drive, Skegness, was taken 25 years ago. He is seen delivering parcels for the railway company with a horse and dray. A few days afterwards lorries were introduced for the task.
When Mr. Wells first started the horse and cart delivery for Hydes and Son of Skegness, he had to cover the whole of the town on his own. Later his task became lighter when he worked with three agents.
Now aged 78, Mr Wells passes his time by doing a certain amount of jobbing gardening. This month sees the 25th anniversary of the replacement vehicles.
Unfortunately, I haven’t got an exact reference date for this news story, so if anyone can help please leave a comment. However, I have found John Wells on the 1901 census for Skegness, living in Mayfield Villas on Wainfleet Road, with his father, aged 57, working in the Gravel Pits, and mother, Maria. John (in the photo) is aged 21 on the 1901 census, so from the clues we have, we can date the news article to 1958. Therefore we can deduce that the picture was actually taken around 1933, which it seems is the year that the horse and cart was ousted by the railway in Skegness, in favour of delivery lorries.
If you require more research into John Wells’ family history, or any other Skegness families, please ask.
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