Sunday 2nd November 2025
Sheelagh Wurr writes:
Hi Danny,
I met an interesting gentleman today in the church in Upton Scudamore. His name was Rodney Doel and he was brought up in Warminster. His family was from Horningsham.  I thought he might be a descendant of Mildred Doel but he doesn’t think he is – he has traced his family back to the 17th century. He says there a quite a few Doels around. He is in his eighties and has written a book about his family called ‘A Warminster Lad’. He kindly gave me a copy and I have read some of it – lots of Warminster history in it.  I wondered if you already had it? If not, I will get a copy for you.
Best wishes, Sheelagh.
Danny Howell replies:
Hello Sheelagh,
Thank you for your message. I do know of Rodney Doel and I do have his book. I’ve got a vague recollection I spoke to him over 20 years ago, possibly in Salisbury, where he lived. His family and mine are connected by a marriage (which ended in divorce).
One of my mother’s uncles was a man named Edward Ball. He lived in Warminster and in 1933 he married a lady called Eva Cousins. She had been living with her parents at Obelisk Terrace. Eddie and Eva ran a fish and chip shop in Warminster for a while and Eddier later worked as a painter and decorator with his own business. Eva Cousins was a very attractive young lady and before and after marrying Eddie she had lots of boyfriends. Edward wasn’t exactly faithful either. With Eva going to dances and parties with other men, Eddie began an affair with Vera Robbins, who was married to a greengrocer called Herbert Robbins. Herbie and his wife sold fruit and veg from their shop at Silver Street, Warminster. There is a photo of Herbie Robbins and Vera with their horse-drawn float decorated with fruit and bunting for the street procession in Warminster on 6th May 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary, in one of my books – An Old Postcard Album of Warminster. (page 23).
Vera before her marriage to Herbie was Vera Shadbolt – who figures in Rodney Doel’s family tree and is referred to in his book. Vera Shadbolt was an aunt of Rodney Doel’s.
Vera and Eddie were the same age, both born in 1907.
It was always very much more than frowned upon about ordinary people having extra-marital affairs. Of course it all came out in a small town what was going on. Vera divorced Herbie, and Eddie divorced Eva.. There was a lot of gossip in Warminster about them. My grandmother was horrified about it. To escape scrutiny Eddie and Vera went to live in Bristol. They married in Bristol in 1947. I remember as a young boy in the late 1950s, early 1960s going with my parents to Bristol to see them on several occasions. And they would come to Warminster some weekends and visit family still here. I still have a World Cup Willy Diary that Vera gave me on one occasion when she came with Eddie to visit my parents in 1966 (when England won the World Cup, football). Vera worked in a factory in Bristol that made novelty items. The diary was made in the factory where she worked.
Eddie’s ex-wife Eva Ball (nee Cousins) later (1955) married Jim Edmonds, a work colleague of my father’s. Jim and my dad worked together as Gate Police at the REME Workshops, Warminster. Jim and Eva lived at The Dene, the same street as my parents. When Jim died (1975), Eva went to live in a bungalow at The Ridgeway, Warminster.
Vera died in the mid 1970s and Eddie started coming back to Warminster more often.and he and Eva got re-acquainted (I was instrumental in re-introducing them to each other). They were both a lot older then. Eddie started staying at our house most of the week. He would go back to Bristol one day a week to collect his pension from his local post office. To begin with his routine at our house was sleeping in the spare room at night, he would get up in the morning, get washed and dressed, have breakfast with us and then he would go up to Eva’s at The Ridgeway and spend the day and the evening with her, returning back to our house at 10pm. If the weather was bad, like a couple of times when it snowed, I would walk with Eddie up Boreham Road, to make sure he didn’t fall over and to see he got to Eva’s safely. After a long while Eddie moved in with Eva. We told them to just be together and enjoy each other’s company. They got on really well together.
I do remember I was keeping cattle at that time and sometimes Eddie would go with me to local cattle markets just to have a change of scenery. In the truck, going to and from markets in places like Frome and Ringwood we would have some very interesting conversations. He would regale me with stories about Squire Temple and other people. I used some of the things he told me in my book Yesterday’s Warminster (page 33).
Not long after, in 1985, Eddie died. He died at Eva’s one lunch time. He was in an armchair reading the horse-racing information in a newspaper. He was going to place some bets on the horses. Shergold and Riley, the bookmakers were close by at East Street. Eva went into the kitchen to start cooking their dinner. She went back into the living room to ask him if he wanted his potatoes mashed and he was dead in the chair. I can remember a policeman coming to my door (it was P.C. Brian Hinton) to tell me that Eddie had died. Eddie’s funeral was held at St. John’s Church, Warminster. He still had his house in Bristol and for some reason it fell upon me to have to go there and clear some of it out.
Eva carried on living at The Ridgeway and although very old she remained active. She would walk down through the Masons Arms Car Park and along part of East Street to get her shopping. One of the last times I saw her was in the Kwiksave/Gateway supermarket. I took a lovely photo of her in the supermarket. I think it was her birthday and she was in her 90s. She enjoyed having her photo taken.She was thrilled!
She died in her late 90s but no one told us she had died. She spent the last few days of her life in Warminster Hospital (we were not told she was in hospital) and a member of staff at the Hospital organised Eva’s funeral even though she knew nothing about her and was unable to trace anyone connected with Eva. The first I knew was when I saw a funeral notice for Eva in the Warminster Journal. So mother and I went to Eva’s funeral at St. John’s, Warminster. It was truly bizarre. Four or five people attended from Devon (where Eva was born) – they must have been distant relatives of hers, and there was my mother and me and a couple of staff from Warminster Hospital. As they knew nothing about her they were unable to say anything about her in a tribute – instead they read out some poems they had found in Eva’s bungalow. Afterwards, when I introduced mother and myself to the two Hospital staff in the churchyard, they were absolutely surprised that we were related in some way to Eva.
Anyway, not sure why I’ve just told you all this, but I guess it’s an insight into how people fall in love and how it can get complicated. I think I shall add this to my blog.
Rodney mentions Vera Shadbolt and Eddie Ball in his book – page 27.
I can also add this:
Another of Rodney’s aunts, Hilda Shadbolt – she married John (Jack) Fleming. This is mentioned in Rodney’s book.
Jack Fleming was born at Stockton, the village on the back road in the Wylye Valley. He was born in the Carriers Arms, where his father was the landlord. Jack worked on the railway all his working life. first at Wilton, then Codford, then at Warminster, then Weymouth, then back to Warminster, and then to Swindon and Ludgershall. He also did relief work at many other railway stations.
In December 1985 Jack contacted me, to tell me he had written his life story and he wanted me to have it. So in January 1986 I went to Ludgershall to see him and Hilda (the first of several visits). He gave me his life story and I also tape-recorded more. I published the first part of Jack’s story in my book Remember The Wylye Valley (1989), pages 45 to 50.
And back in the 1990s I published a small booklet of Jack’s railway memories.
Another of Rodney’s aunts was Edna Shadbolt. She married Ernie Warren who was the co-owner of Davis and Warren, a garage selling petrol and doing car repairs at Victoria Road. It was where Warren King later had his garage, since demolished and a Co-op built there. Edna and Ernie lived in a house on that site called Upton House. When the Grovelands estate was built or thereabouts, a cul-de-sac of houses was built on the site of Upton House and it surrounds. I was asked to name the cul-de-sac and my suggestion of Upton Close was agreed and that’s why it is called so now. I think I’m right in saying that piece of land was once owned, was used by, or was part of Upton Scudamore parish. Need to confirm that.Â
Ernest Warren and Edna Shadbolt were married in 1942. I do know they had a son called Christopher, born in 1944. Chris Warren now lives in Hampshire and despite the distance would regularly come to the monthly meetings of Warminster History Society at Warminster Library. On one occasion he was the guest speaker and his chosen subject was the Warminster Gas Works. The parents (Albert and Ellen Shadbolt) of Rodney’s aunts and his uncle, lived in a house at the Gas Works. Albert Shadbolt (senior) was the Manager of the Gas Works.
Sheelagh Wurr responds:
Thank you so much. This is fascinating and I passed it on to Helen Allinson at Upton Scudamore, a friend of Rodney’s and a local historian, too. She was equally fascinated. This is the relevant part of her reply:
This is fascinating. Such a heartwarming story. All these details you would not know. I have not met Danny but he transcribed records, churchwarden’s reports etc of St Mary’s which I read before I researched myself.Â
How people are linked up. I knew Rodney’s mother’s family, the Shadbolts, are at the Minster. Will re-read the book and look at the Doels in more detail.
Rodney comes weekly to the churchyard and places flowers. He told me he often sits on the bench there for an hour. He used to come with Joan to tend his parents’ grave when we were there doing ours. He is 86 now (Bob is 87!) – he told me he has not been able to sell his flat. His book was interesting – his wife Joan was an Adlam from Dilton and is related to Julie Shergold’s husband Mike whose sister Rosemary married an Adlam. (You might recall Julie comes and sits behind me but Mike, though home from hospital, is not too good and they are assessing his care needs.)
I was on the PCC in the 90s when Rodney’s mother Violet was buried here. When it was thought we might have an extension by the south door, he objected and there was a faculty wherein his mother was disinterred and moved away two rows from what would have been the east wall of this extension. Not enough money was raised and the extension was never built. Knowing this background, when I heard that his wife had died, I suggested to Revd Sue that there was a vacant plot adjacent to his parents – I did not want to interfere but glad I mentioned as I heard he was very touched. It must have been traumatic back then and expect he was concerned. The two plots look over to where they lived. They are linked to the Horningsham Doels.
