Danny Howell writes:
The Warminster Postmaster George Strode Manley
Edmund and Charlotte Manley’s son, George Strode Manley, was nominated Postmaster at Warminster by Treasury letter on 19 April 1875 and took up his duties on 31 May. He had previously been postal clerk for nine years.
George Strode Manley was responsible for 17 sub-offices and he periodically visited, inspected and tested postman’s walks, and even measured the whole distance to Imber using a measuring chain (six and a half miles), the villages of the Wylye Valley as far as Steeple Langford, and Horningsham and Kingston Deverill.
George Strode Manley retired in 1915 after 40 years service as Postmaster. No pension was granted on the grounds that a private business had been operated from the Post Office premises at the same time. Thus ended the Manley family connection with Warminster Post Office.
Following a well-earned retirement in good health, George Strode Manley passed away after a sudden heart attack on Tuesday 7 January 1936. His death occurred at his home at 42 Boreham Road (later re-numbered No.35), Warminster. He left a family of three sons and a daughter – William Manley who resided at Capetown; Frank Manley who worked for the post office in Bristol; schoolteacher Victor Manley; and Miss Manley who resided with her father.
George Manley’s wife, Charlotte Emma, who was the eldest daughter of Mr. Toomer, the postmaster at Salisbury, predeceased him on 10 December 1923. She was of a retiring disposition, rarely taking part in public life. She enjoyed remarkable health, retained by long country rambles, which were her chief delight. A repetition of a short but serious illness she suffered during the winter of 1922 occurred in October 1923 during which she battled bravely. She died of heart trouble, aged 68. Her funeral at St. John’s Church, Boreham Road, Warminster, was conducted by the Rev. Canon Jacob. Mrs. Manley’s obituary referred to her as “A quiet, unobtrusive character, whose meekness and singular purity of heart, combined with much virility displayed in the management of home life, made her indeed saintly in the eyes of her intimate friends and acquaintances.”