In the 1939 Register for Badsey (a census taken shortly after the outbreak of war of all civilians living in Great Britain and Northern Ireland), a 53-year-old single man by the name of George Lloyd was listed as resident on A Jones & Son’s Land, Sands Lane. He was living in a hovel (demolished many years ago) on his employer’s land.
Why was he living there? What were the circumstances that led him to a hovel in Badsey? Read on to find out his story.
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Why people lived in hovels in the Vale of Evesham
For most people, the word “hovel” is thought of in derogatory terms – they think of it as a squalid dwelling inhabited by poor people. But, as can be seen in the article, Hovels in the Vale of Evesham, many hovels dotted the landscape, used by market gardeners for storing equipment, produce and providing shelter. They were significant social hubs, as well as practical buildings – and sometimes used as homes.
After and between the two world wars, there were many single men who did not have anywhere to live, so living in a hovel on the land where they worked was a practical solution. We know from George Lloyd’s obituary in The Evesham Standard of November 1955 that he had been employed by Messrs A E Jones & Son, market gardeners, of Badsey for 24 years. He was living on the Jones’ land in 1939, so he may well have moved into the hovel eight years earlier when he first began to work for Arthur Edward Jones and his son, Llewellyn.
But the question remains, who was George Lloyd? Lloyd is not a local name, so where was he from?
George Lloyd’s Early Life
We must turn to the 1955 obituary for clues as to his background. This tells us that he was a native of Watford but had been resident in Badsey for nearly 40 years. The 1939 register gave his date of birth as 7th January 1886.
Searches on Ancestry reveal that George was the fourth of four children of Henry Arthur Lloyd, a general labourer, and his wife, Elizabeth. He had an older brother, Harry Linford (1871-1911), and an older sister, Emily Amelia (1873-1953), who were both in their teens when he was born. He also had a sister, Florence Mary, born in 1876, who may have died before George’s birth.
George was registered with the name George Vinden Lloyd, but he appears to have dropped his middle name in adulthood. His obituary said that he was a native of Watford, but in fact he did not move to Watford until early adulthood. He was born at Camberwell according to the 1891 census or at Bermondsey according to the 1901 census.
By 1891, the family had moved to Bushey, Hertfordshire. When George was 13, his father died in 1899. In 1901, still in Bushey, George lived with his brother, Harry, by now married and with a young son, and his widowed mother, Elizabeth. Elizabeth died at the end of 1901 so George, by now 15, had lost both his parents.
George’s whereabouts at the time of the 1911 census are unknown. He was not living with his brother, who resided with his wife, mother-in-law and by now three children at 13 Carey Place, Watford.
At the end of 1911, George was also to suffer the loss of his brother, Harry.
It may have been shortly after this that George moved to the Vale of Evesham to try and find work. A notice in The Evesham Standard of 15th June 1912 reported a case of stealing mushrooms:
STEALING MUSHROOMS – On Wednesday morning, before Mr W Pearce, at the Police Court, George Lloyd and Walter Mason, both no fixed abode, were charged with stealing 7 lbs of mushrooms from Mr J G Tandy of Cropthorne. Prisoners pleaded guilty. PC Scriven stated the facts. Sentence, 14 days’ hard labour.
War-time Service
George’s obituary stated that “he served in HM Forces throughout the 1914-19 war, seeing much service overseas“. George’s World War I Pension record gives pertinent details.
He enlisted at Birmingham with the Royal Garrison Artillery on 3rd December 1914, signing as George Lloyd, rather than George Vinden Lloyd. He gave his address as 32 Cowl Street, Evesham and his occupation as market gardener. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and had a scar on his upper lip. He gave the name and address of his next of kin as Henry Lloyd, Carey Place, Watford, though in fact his brother had died three years previously. He was sent the next day to Fort Rowner, Gosport, but was discharged shortly afterwards as “not being likely to become an efficient soldier”. Whilst the medical officer in Birmingham had detected a slight defect which he felt was not sufficient to cause rejection, the medical officer at Gosport disagreed. The reason for rejection was because of defective vision. Whilst there was nothing wrong with his right eye, he had nil vision in his left eye.
Although the Royal Garrison Artillery felt that he would not be an efficient soldier, George was accepted soon afterwards by the 2nd Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (No 20129) as a Private. His service records no longer exist, but we know this because he appeared on the Absent Voters’ List for Watford in 1919, at an address in Carey Place, and details of his military service were given. Carey Place was where his brother, Harry, had been living. George probably kept this as his permanent address as before the war it seems that he had been living an itinerant lifestyle.
George’s medal card confirms that he went to France on 6th May 1915, so qualified for the 15 Star medal, in addition to the British and Victory medals. The 2nd Battalion saw service on the Western Front 1914-1915 and on the Macedonian Front 1915-1918.
The Move to Badsey
According to George’s obituary he had been resident in Badsey for nearly 40 years, which would place him in the village from immediately after the First World War. However, no record has so far been found of him in the 1921 census or in electoral registers for the 1920s.
The obituary also stated that he had been a member of the Badsey branch, British Legion, since its foundation. The Badsey, Aldington and Wickhamford Branch of the British Legion was formed on 10th May 1928, so he was obviously in the village by that point.
It was presumably in 1931 when he entered the employ of Messrs A E Jones & Son that George moved to the Sands Lane hovel. He remained there for the rest of his life, probably able to make it into a comfortable living space. He had only himself to think about. His parents had died when he was a teenager. His older brother, who had acted in loco parentis, had died in 1911. His only sister worked as a servant for most of her life in Surrey before marrying in her late fifties and pre-deceasing him by two years. His only nephew had died in 1926, aged 25.
However, George was not short of people to care about him. His obituary said that he had a wide circle of friends. As well as being a loyal member of the British Legion, he was a regular at The Wheatsheaf.
George LLoyd died at Avonside Hospital, Evesham, on 3rd November 1955, aged 69, and was buried four days later at Badsey. The coffin was draped with the Union Jack. Floral tributes were sent by Mr & Mrs Ll Jones (employers), his workmates, Badsey branch of the British Legion, and Friends at The Wheatsheaf.
Maureen Spinks, September 2025