Category: Trade: Shopkeeper

Samuel Burgess was born in 1864 at Crockerton, a village about one mile south of Warminster. He lived at Brook Street, Warminster Common, for 40 years, where he traded as a photographer and watch and clock repairer. He also assisted his wife with the management of a general store, selling groceries, sweets, cigarettes and paraffin. Their premises were at Nos. 3, 4, and 5 Brook Street.

Warminster Common, on the south side of the town of Warminster, was an area once known throughout England for its bad reputation. Sam Burgess, like many of the business people and residents at Warminster Common, is remembered as a hard-case.

Sam’s shop window faced on to the roadway that connects Fore Street with the Broadway area. His photography studio was based in a shed at the end of his garden.

Several photographs taken by Sam Burgess survive and many have been published in recent years by Warminster’s resident local historian Danny Howell. Life In An English Village, a study of Corsley (a village about four miles west of Warminster), by Maud F. Davies, which was published by T. Fisher Unwin in 1909, also features a photograph taken by Sam Burgess – a cottage in the village with a weaver’s window, inhabited by John Mines, the last weaver in Corsley.

Danny Howell, in his book Yesterday’s Warminster, relates a humorous tale about Sam Burgess. “Rumour once had it that following a row with his wife, Sam didn’t speak to her for a month. She resolved the situation when, one morning, she lit a candle and followed him about with it in broad daylight. He ignored her for a while and then asked her why she was doing it. She replied “It’s alright, I’ve found it now. I thought you had lost your tongue.’

Sam Burgess was exceptionally well-known throughout the Warminster district. He was a member of the local Court of Foresters and was also a member of the Warminster Pig Club. He was associated with the Cock Inn Sick Benefit Society and the Globe Inn Sick Benefit Club.

Sam Burgess died at Warminster Cottage Hospital on Friday 8th April 1932. He was 68 and had been ill for ten months, spending the last 11 weeks of his life in hospital.

Sam’s funeral was held at Christ Church, Warminster. He left a widow, one son and two daughters. Among the mourners at his funeral were his wife Clara; his son Mr R. Burgess; his daughter Mrs Mullen, from London; his brother Mr F. Burgess, from Holt, near Trowbridge; and his niece Mrs Taylor, from Warminster. Also present were his sister-in-law Mrs Clist, from Bath; and his brother-in-law Mr A. Holloway, who lived in Warminster.

Sam’s widow, Clara Burgess, died aged 71, at Bath, on 1st October 1944.