Biography of Ernie GURR, 1885-1962

Ernest Noakes GURR was born in Lamberhurst on the Sussex/Kent border in October 1885, the first child of William GURR and his second wife Anne Eliza (née NOAKES). His father William had run a butcher's shop (the family trade for many generations) in Lamberhurst since at least 1857.

By the age of 16, Ernie was listed in the 1901 census as "Butcher's Assistant". His father died two years later in 1903, but it seems that it wasn't until his mother's death around 1930 that he inherited the business.

Ernie is best remembered by those who knew him:

"The Gurrs ran a butchers shop down in the village (on The Broadway, opposite the Chequers Inn); it is now a fruit and veg shop. The Gurrs moved to another shop half-way up Town Hill (now Walsinghams, a private house); this closed down in the 1970s. Old Mr Gurr delivered in a horse and trap and maintained his own small slaughterhouse behind the shop. He would sit up all night on his horse and trap outside any local 'big house' in order to beat the rival village butchers to the custom of the new 'posh' people who had just moved in."

...

"Ernie I remember for his high-stepping ponies pulling a lightweight trap (a light two-wheeled vehicle) on his rounds delivering meat. He certainly gained by using them during the war, as petrol for non-military use was very short. He had a lovely little trap, and his ponies were always well looked after. On many occasions he would be seen driving by with his nephew, who suffered from Down's Syndrome, as passenger. I do not think that Ernie had any children of his own, and doted on the boy. I think that the lad lived with Ernie and his wife, but cannnot remember any details. His shop was just above the sharp left-hand bend half way down Town Hill in Lamberhurst. The other butcher in the village was a little further down. (Our two bakers were also very close to one another at the bottom of the hill.)

"As small children we used to cheer as he passed in his trap, calling out 'What yer, Ernie', and he used to respond with a smile and a wave to us.

"I think that Ernie never learnt to read or write, but he had a marvellous memory, and never forgot things like 'Mrs Jones owed 1 shilling and 4 pence halfpenny from last week!!'

"Lamberhurst in those days was very rural, and many of the population had lived there all their lives, as in so many of the villages in England. We seemed to have a lot of rather eccentric characters, and Ernie was one of them in his own quiet way."

...

"The information you've been given about Ernest Gurr is a bit garbled. He could read & write - he did not choose to write down meat orders etc. - his books were kept in order by his mother until her death. He read the newspapers - Farmers Weekly Countryman and such magazines.

"I knew him well and although my father was not a butcher he used to help out at weekends and busy times - hop-picking, Christmas etc. - and my mother and I would stay in the house. After his mother's death he had a housekeeper Miss Holmes and a maid Alice Sexton.

"When his brother [Frank] Septimus died his wife Lilian and children came to Hillside to live and Aunt Lilian was housekeeper. Six weeks before Septimus died they had a son Douglas, the Downs Syndrome boy you referred to. Uncle Ern was devoted to him and would have loved him to have been able to manage the business etc.

Picture of Ernie with his horse and trap