Avril Henry from
near Exeter, great-niece of the Tetts mentioned below, has provided the following.
Since first
presented, her information has been updated, and research continues.
Tetts' Teashop, as it
was known in my family, was run by my great-aunts and great-uncle, Pam, Myrtle
and George Tett. They were three of the thirteen children of my great-grandfather
John Tett, 'The Miller of Askerswell' (born 1835 in Crewkerne) and Edith (née
Whittle, baptised 1841 in Fordington, Dorchester) who married in 1861.
To my sorrow, I never met any of The Miller's children except my beautiful
grandmother, Lucy, but I remember my father telling me about Tetts' Teashop.
The two women were hard to trace, as they used nicknames rather than their
given names, and census indices commonly mistranscribe Tett. Pam, the eldest
child, was really Frances Maria Tett, born 1862 in Askerswell. Her sister
Myrtle was really Maria Holman Tett, born 1864 in Frome Vauchurch. In 1871
the three siblings were with their family in Whitehall Row, Frome Vauchurch.
By 1878 they were in Southampton, where my grandmother, their younger sister,
was born that year. Pam and Myrtle were already away in service, Pam in Eastbourne
with her uncle Frederick G. Shilson (born in Weymouth); George was 11. In
1901 (the year in which George married), Pam aged 38, Myrtle aged 36 and George
aged 32 were listed as confectioners in the 'bakershop', King St, Weymouth.
My uncle told me that Pam & Myrtle lived together in Radipole, and that the
teashop they ran with their brother made so much money that they all retired
comfortably in their 40s (with Income Tax at 6p in the £), after which George
devoted his life to Freemasonry. If
my uncle was right, they must have been running the shop well before 1901.
In 1920, at the age
of 58, Pam married George Henry Brown (known as Henry).-how I would love to
know that story. My uncle said that Myrtle, Pam and Henry lived together until
Henry died in 1937, aged 76, and was buried at Radipole St Anns. Pam was buried
in the same place in 1951, aged 88. Myrtle lived in Weymouth at least until
1952, as shown by the EII stamp on a postcard, signed 'Mertie', written from
West Haven, Carlton Rd North (was this a retirement home?).
George Tett was born in Askerswell in 1868. By 1891 he was with his uncle
Robert Tett's family in 63 King Street, Weymouth, as a 'servant confectioner',
with his cousins Joseph, William, Maria, Charles, baby Gertrude, and his grandmother
Elizabeth Tett (née Holman). In 1901, when he was running the Teashop, he
married Alice Lillie Cousens at the Congregationalist Chapel, Gloucester St.--he
lived at 25 King St at the time. George died in Bridport in 1951 (the same
year as Pam) aged 82.
The daughter of George and Alice, Kathleen Myrra (known as Chum) was born at Frome St Quentin in 1907 (the same year as her cousin, my father). At one stage, Chum lived or stayed with the Hopkins family at Crews Farm, Station Rd, Sway, New Forest, where my great-aunt Emily (née Tett) and her husband ran a shop: W. J. Hopkins, Baker and Grocer. We have a card from Chum showing Alexandra Esplanade, Weymouth, and dated 22 Sep [19]33, sent from Sway to my grandmother: 'Mrs Henry, 14 Bedford Avenue, Woolston, Southampton; Shall expect you tomorrow unless it is wet, love till we meet Chum.' In the later 1980s, having discovered that she was my late father's cousin, I sought her out in her bungalow in Crock Lane, Bridport. She was already an old lady, though indefatigably walking 5 miles every day with her little dog. Chum died in 2003, aged 96, in Leatherhead, Surrey, to which a nephew had removed her for care.
At some stage, one or more of the two sisters who helped to run Tetts' Teashop lived at 84 Spa Road, Weymouth, but the relevant postcard is undated. Somewhere between April and June 1929, their mother Edith died aged 87, in Southampton, where another daughter (Elizabeth Alice) had nursed her for years. The death prompted a flurry of journeys and postcards. A card from Weymouth, dated 25 July 1929, is to Lucy my grandmother in Southampton: "Thanks for your letter. Will meet train on Friday next. Hope you'll have nice weather. With love from Pam & Henry, not forgetting Mertie". On September 29 1931 Myrtle wrote again to Lucy from Weymouth: "Hope to see you tomorrow Wednesday. Train arriving Southampton West 1.32. If I don't see you at the station I will go straight on to Alice and will come to you in the afternoon. Love to all Mertie." The last card from Mertie, its EII stamp dating it 1952 or later, shows Exmouth Promenade but was written from West Haven, Carlton Rd North, Weymouth, and posted there. It is to Lucy again, who by now is in Bitterne, Southampton: 'Thanks for letter shall pleased to see you, don't come on Tuesday I may be away all day the 17 love Mertie.' The hand is very shaky. Mertie died early in 1959 at the age of 94 in the Southampton area (perhaps in Sway), where several of her younger relatives lived.
What a long-lived lot they were-how energetic and close-knit. I wonder how long it will be possible to visit Weymouth and stare at what used to be Tett's Teashop.
QUERY: It has been pointed out to me that Dorset boasts biscuit-like "Tetti-cakes". Could they originate with Tetts, so many of whom seem to have been bakers? (Joseph Tett, George's eldest brother, a ship's baker based in Southampton, is actually named on his death certificate as 'a.k.a. Baker'.) The baking gene does not seem to be very dominant: I recently baked my first loaf, a few parts of which were edible.
Click here for a picture of Edith Tett
Avril Henry February 2006
Link to Picture of Tetts Bakery in King St.
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