Yeovil people

John Coombs Hayne

Butcher of the Borough

 

John Coombs Hayne was born in Tintinhull in the autumn of 1848, the son of thatcher Joseph Hayne (1807-1886) and Harriett née Coombs (1811-1892). Joseph and Harriett were to have eight children, all born in Tintinhull; Robert (1832-1911), William (1835-1897), Thomas (1837-1916), Elizabeth (1840-1927), Richard (1844-1919), John Coombs, George (1851-1931) and Herbert (1855-1895).

John was listed with his family in Tintinhull in the 1841 census but by the time of the 1851 census he was living with his brother Robert and his family in Cardiff, Glamorgan. Robert was a baker and John too became a baker and was listed as such in the 1871 census when he was lodging at 15 Canal Parade, Cardiff, with widowed milliner Jane Chown and her daughter.

In the spring of 1874 John married Emily Jane Harris (b1853, Bridgwater) in Cardiff. They were to have four children; Blanche Emily (1880-1903), Florence Champion (1882-1960) and Sidney John (1887-1938). The fourth child died in infancy. In the 1881 census John, Emily and baby Blanche were sharing 11 Edward Place, Cardiff, with master mariner Isaac Service and his family. John gave his occupation as 'Baker, etc'. Their other three children were born in Cardiff.

 John's brother had been running a butcher's shop in the Borough for ten years, and in 1890 John moved his family to Yeovil and took over the business. They were listed in the 1901 census at 11 High Street (in what is known as the Borough) - see Gallery. John was listed as a butcher.

 

In the 1891 edition of 'Where to Buy' John Hayne's business was given the following description -

Mr J C Hayne
Butcher
High Street

There is no better centre of a rich agricultural stock producing district than Yeovil, and therefore the quality of meat supplied is of a very superior class. Among the premier establishments that of Mr JC Hayne, butcher, High Street, demands particular notice. No site could be better chosen for this leading shop, as it is close to the Market House, the Cattle Market, and the Stock Sale Yards, and in proximity to the principal hotels and business houses. It has been established for half a century, and although Mr Hayne only took it over about twelve months since, his brother, who preceded him, carried it on with the most gratifying success for the previous ten years.

Mr Hayne has a long experience. He is a most successful buyer, and none but the best home fed fat stock are purchased. He kills all his own meat, so that purchasers can have the utmost reliance on the sound, wholesome quality of everything supplied. The prices are in accordance with the lowest market rates, good weight being the invariable rule, and the utmost courtesy is extended to customers. Families are waited on daily, and joints sent to any part of the town. This together with Mr Haynes' well-known punctuality in executing orders, have gained for him a large permanent connection in the town and district.

 


Kelly's Directory of 1910 listed "John Coombs Hayne, butcher of 11 High Street" which was repeated in Kelly's Directory's 1914 and 1923 editions.

Emily died in Yeovil in 1921, aged 68, and John died in Yeovil on 17 June 1924, aged 76. His will was proved the following March and his effects were valued at £1,513 10s 9d (around £470,000 at today's value).

The butcher business was carried on by John and Emily's son Sidney. The business moved from the Borough to its present location at the northern end of Princes Street in 1939.


Gallery



From my collection

A receipt, dated September 1892, from John Coombs Hayne. Although the address says High Street, what we know as the Borough is technically part of High Street.

 


From my collection

... and a similar receipt dated January 1893.

 

A photograph of the Borough by Jarratt Beckett and published in his 1897 book  "Somerset viewed through a Camera".

 

This postcard is dated 1906 and shows the Wilts & Dorset Bank (now Lloyds TSB) at left, then grocer and tea dealer JH Dawe & Son who were in the Borough from the mid-1870s to 1907 (later Shirley & Somerville) and to the right the white building is John Hayne's butcher's shop.

 


From my collection

From a postcard of around 1909. At right is the butcher's shop of John C Hayne. After the death of his wife Adeline, John Somerville was to marry John Hayne's daughter Florence.

 


This photograph features in my book "Lost Yeovil"

This colourised photograph, taken around 1910, is of Hayne's butcher's shop in the Borough (literally) -  the shop was in the white building seen behind the handcart in the previous photograph. Hayne's moved to their current premises at the very northern end of Princes Street in 1939.

 

A photograph by Walter Rendell of Hayne's butcher's shop in Princes Street after Sidney moved from the Borough in 1939.

 

The interior of Hayne's butcher's shop photographed in 2016.