My father once remarked, when reminiscing about the past that, “most families seemed to have a simple daughter, who was kept at home, to look after the house and care for the elderly parents”. However, despite this, the only unmarried women our researches had discovered so far had been qualified as seamstresses, milliners, and in one case as a teacher. Continue reading
All posts by Belinda Baker
The Lindfields of Chailey, Part 2: The Story of Sarah Bridger
My curiosity about the elaborate dresses in the old family photograph remained and, to find out more about these, it was necessary to dig deeper into the Miles family. Next to the headstones of Thomas and Rebekah Miles in the Wivelsfield graveyard, stands a memorial to Sarah Bridger which reads, formerly of Burgess Hill, died at Hove, November 28th 1895, aged 62 years. Continue reading
The Lindfields of Chailey, Part 1: Hasted Lindfield
In my father’s house there was a photograph, which fascinated me. The picture showed a family in a country garden. The man is standing, holding the hand of a little girl and the woman is seated, with a baby on her lap. Although he is not smiling, the man’s face appeared good-humoured to me, the woman looked more severe. But what stole my attention and always brought me back to gaze again, were the elaborately-fashioned dresses of the woman, the child and the baby. How had these country folk come by such clothes and who had made them? It was not until many years later that I was to learn the answers to these questions. The people were Hasted Lindfield and his wife, Mary Miles, taken in 1872. The infant on the lap was, in fact, a boy and my grandfather, also called Hasted. Mary’s distinctive features were to be handed down through several generations of Lindfields. Continue reading