Mr. Andrew Burdett, who was a signalman, was one of several Gloucestershire railwaymen who lived in Matlock Bath^[1]. His wife, Mary, taught the piano^[2]. The family started out at 2 Devonshire Terrace on Brunswood Road when they first moved to the village^[3]. They later moved to Ivydene (5 Clarence Villas on Brunswood Road) and let out "Apartments"^[4], as their business card attached to the photograph shows.

There was to be tragedy for the family. The second son, Thomas Cecil Burdett, was killed in action in Mesopotamia during the First World War. He left behind a widow and small baby daughter^[5]. It is unclear if the photograph is of Thomas and his wife with Andrew and Mary, or of one of the couple's other sons, but the younger man is more likely to be Ralph Burdett.
Please email the web mistress if you know the answer.

Andrew Burdett died in 1936 and Mary Ellen passed away in 1946, aged 86. Mr. and Mrs. Mosedale then lived at Ivydene and the Clay family were their next door neighbours at No.4. The ivy and other climbing plants on the walls had been removed in the intervening years but the very pretty Victorian barge-boards remain to this day^[6].

The Clarence Villas properties had been built shortly after 1881 (no exact date at present) and consisted of one terrace of three houses and the two semi detached houses shown here^[7]. However, in 1883 a Mr. or Mrs. Wills was advertising apartments at No. 1^[8] and Daniel Bryan penned a letter to a local newspaper from No. 5 in 1886^[9].

In 1894 all the Clarence Villas houses were sold as part of the estate of the Rev. Richard Nicholson who also owned both Bridge House in Matlock and the Clarence Hydro on Holme Road^[10]. All five Clarence Villas houses and a building plot (formerly a garden) in Brunswood Road "containing 730 yards" were on offer. They were grouped together; bidding started at £800 and eventually fell to Mr. W. Jaffrey for £1,300^[11]. Mr H. Wyvill, the grocer and provision dealer, subsequently bought at least one of the houses^[12]. Dick King of Brunswood House was the owner when my parents moved into No4 before the Second World War and my late father bought the house from him in the early 1950s^[1].

The web mistress was hoping to include a photograph taken during the winter of 1947, but at present it remains elusive! The image (below) is of 4 Clarence Villas taken in May 1949 but not shown is the fuchsia hedge we had which grew up over the summer.

References (coloured links are to transcripts or more information elsewhere on this web site):

^[1] Reminiscences of the late Mr. Frank Clay, from his private papers and notes owned by the web mistress.

^[2] From conversations with Ken Smith.

^[3] In the 1901 census the family, who were living at the house on Devonshire Terrace, were wrongly recorded as Burnett.

^[4] The Burdett family were listed at Ivydene in Kelly's 1916 Directory, Kelly's 1922 Directory, Kelly's 1925 Directory. They were not found earlier or later. Mr Henstock was listed as living at No 5 Clarence Villas in Kelly's Directory of 1895 and Kelly's Directory of 1899. Mrs. West was there in 1901, although the house number was not given. They advertised apartments there in 1909 (Hull Daily Mail, 8 July 1909).

^[5] Also see Names on Matlock Bath's War Memorial

^[6] Family and other photos owned by the web mistress or given to have been checked - she was born next door, at number 4.

^[7] None of the houses were drawn on the 1880 Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map nor the 1884 1:10,560 map.

^[8] Manchester Evening News, 17 October 1883. "Comfortable Apartments for the winter: near station: south aspect".

^[9] Derbyshire Times, 27 November 1886. Daniel Bryan wrote a letter to the Editor from No.5.

^[10] Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 8 June 1894. TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION. Mr. JOSEPH HODGKINSON, In the Matlock Bath Assembly Room, on WEDNESDAY, the 27th June, 1894, at Six o'clock in the evening ...

^[11] Derby Daily Telegraph, 29 June 1894. "On Wednesday night J. Hodgkinson offered for sale number of valuable properties situate in the Matlock district (Lot 3, 4 and 5).

^[12] Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 12 May 1899 and Derbyshire Times, 13 May 1899. He sued one of the residents for non payment of rent, but no house number was provided. This was later identified as Ivydene (Derbyshire Times, 5 September 1903). Mrs. West was living at 5 Clarence Villas in the 1901 census.