THE VINTEN FAMILY
AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS WITH BRIDGE AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Charles Henry Vinten, his wife, Caroline Jane, and their family
moved to Bridge in 1901 where they rented a small terraced
cottage at 6 Brewhouse Lane (now 11 Brewery Lane}.

Charles (born in Poplar, East London but brought up by his uncle
in Sittingbourne when the arrival of a new baby threatened his
parents with eviction from their rooms above a shipping office}
had been working at Chilham as Head Groomsman.

when his employer decided to abandon horse-drawn carriages in
favour of motorised vehicles, he was given the chance of learning
about motor cars and staying on as driver. He turned this down
because he "loved working with the horses and didn't want
anything to do with those new—fangled things”.

His wife, Caroline, came from Temple Ewell and her brother,
Richard Friend, lived at Brookside Lodge in School Lane (now
Patrixbourne Road} in Bridge. He had a coal depot at the back of
the Methodist Church and supplied the local gasworks as well as
domestic customers, delivering the coal by horse—drawn cart.
Charles Vinten took on the job of delivery man.

At the time of their arrival in Bridge, Charles and Caroline had
three children — Edie, Eva and Charles. In 1902, Alf was born
followed by Jessie in 1905 (the baby in the family photo} and
Florrie two years later. All the children attended the old Eridge
School until they reached the then school leaving age of la.

-At that time, as far as I can gather, the school consisted of two
rooms separated by a partition. There were as many as four
classes, known as "Standards" at that time in one room so it was
possible to "eavesdrop" on other lessons. Generally, most pupils
had learnt all they could by the time they were twelve so the
more able ones were asked to help with the lower forms for the
remainder of their time at school.

Jessie (my mother} always resented the decision of the head
not to enter her for the equivalent at that time of the 11
because he said "her parents could not afford to send her to a
Grammar School“. Jessie conceded in later life that he was
probably right because her parents were not well off but the fact
that she was denied even the satisfaction of sitting the exam and
finding out whether she would have been good enough to go to a
Grammar School remained a sore point for the rest of her life.

As recreation, the children played around the village, in the
fields and river, often coming home soaked and covered in duck
weed! They also used to be sent off with a picnic for the day to
Whitehill Woods, something which no parent would dare consider
these days. Hop—picking and haymaking were annual events with the


long school holidays fitting around this time and everyone
joining in. Jessie was allergic to hops so spent this time
helping on her uncle's farm at Alkham, near Dover.

For the children, Sunday was a dull day. Having been scrubbed
clean on Saturday evening in the tin bath, in front of the range
in winter, they were all dressed up in their "Sunday Best” to
attend church THREE TIMES, once for Morning Service, followed i
the afternoon by Sunday School and finally Evensong. in between
times they had to play quiet games or read.

D

Upon leaving school, three of the girls became domestic servants,
with positions at times locally at Bridge Place and Bourne Park

as well as further afield. At one time Edie, Eva and Florrie all
worked for Joseph Conrad, the author, at Oswalds, Bishopsbourne.

Charles (junior) enlisted for the Army at the outbreak of World
War 1, much to the disapproval of his mother, particularly as he
was under age and had lied about his date of birth to get
accepted. He served abroad and was one of the lucky ones to come
back unscathed.

Unlike his father, Charles Jnr. loved messing about with motor
cars and soon came to the attention of Count Zobrowski (of Chitty
Bang Bang fame} who was at that time living at Highams (now
Highland Court} at the top of Bridge Hill.

Count Zobrowski was so impressed with Charles‘ interest in cars
that he went to see his parents to ask permission to take Charles
on as his apprentice at a modest sum of half a crown (12.5 pence?
a week. They agreed and Charles learnt all he knew of motor
mechanics from the famous car builder and racing driver.

Later, he worked as Joseph Conrad's chauffeur at Oswalds where
his wife, Audrey, was nurse/companion to Mrs Conrad. At this time
Jessie was working at West's, the butchers {now Wakeham's) and as
part of her job had to deliver meat to various customer . one of
whom was the Conrads.

One day, as Jessie approached the house, Joseph Conrad happened
to be looking out of the drawing room window and remarked to his
wife, "What a lovely pair of legs that girl has!" when Audrey
explained that she was Charles‘ sister, he insisted that she pass

on his praise to her sister—in—law. It was a story which Jessie
relished telling all her life!

Alf was a voluageer fireman in Bridge at the time his cousin.
Jack Friend, waS5Elown~up—by,a/fire~roeket. He can be seen in the
photo of the funeral procession, on the right of the coffin,
second from front.

In the Twenties, there was very little organised entertainment
and the family made their own fun, going for walks and bike
rides, sometimes on a summer evening going all the way to


a

Sandwich Bay, playing football and cricket and joining various
societies. Local village dances and those held in the barracks
Canterbury were well supported.

in

Jessie was in the Bridge Netball team (see picture from about
1920), also the Girls’ Friendly Society which occasionally staged
amateur dramatics in the village hall, At one performance, having
clambered up on to the stage and opened her mouth ready to speak
her lines, Jessie's skirt promptly dropped down around her
ankles! Jessie was mortified but the audience, naturally, thought
it was hilarious; Jessie was able to see the funny side later.

During the Thirties, the children were busy with their own lives
and families. By then Jessie and Florrie had moved up to London,
Charles had settled in the Faversham area, Edie had moved back to
Bridge into one of the newly built Council houses in Bourne View
and Alf had moved into one in Mill Terrace. Eva, who never
married, lived at home with her parents and in 1937, they moved
to Filmer Road.

in the war years, Jessie moved away from London to Woborn Sands
in Bedfordshire where she was later joined by her sister Florrie
and her children. They returned to London at the end of the war.
The rest of the family remained in Kent. Eva had a lucky escape
during the war when the air raid on the City began just as she
arrived back in Bridge after shopping for some sewing materials
in Canterbury.

During the Fifties, Florrie moved back to Kent to live in her
husband's family home in Kingston and in 1975 Jessie, widowed
since 1961, moved back to Bridge upon her retirement. In their
later years, the whole family were great lovers of whist drives
and the small local village bingo sessions. Eva and Jessie were
founder members of the Fish Scheme and were full of praise for
the movement which helped them both to remain in their own homes
and maintain their independence despite their disabilities in
later life.

Charles Henry and Caroline Jane are buried in St. Peter's
Churchyard and their grave also contains the ashes of their
daughter, Eva. Their eldest daughter, Edie, is also buried with
her husband, Harold, in the Churchyard. Jessie is buried with her
husband in a London cemetery and Charles, lf and Florrie were
cremated at Barham.

Eva was the last person bearing the family name of Vinten to
in Bridge, although there are still descendents of the family
living in the village, in Canterbury and surrounding villages.

live

JESSIE MULLAN
September 1994