Antiques expert on the fascinating stories behind family heirlooms

Having mentioned Lavenham a few times in my column, I received a fascinating email from Emma Brennan, a journalist, designer and sewing pattern publisher whose ancestor Bertram Deacon was a wheelwright, funeral director and fire officer in this historic Suffolk village. As a joiner he very likely made furniture too as also mentioned in my column a few weeks ago. To me it’s amazing to put a name to one of these extraordinary characters who multi tasked with such ease.
 
Emma started her career in radio as a researcher and radio newsreader before turning to print, spending 10 years reporting for and editing newspapers in Perth, Western Australia, and then another 10 years back in the UK, in her native county of Suffolk, as a chief reporter and West Suffolk editor at the East Anglian Daily Times and editor of various weekly titles. 

I asked Emma, if, like me, she was interested in social history?
“I have always been drawn to the past and sometimes feel I was born in the wrong era. Whether that is because of the rich history of this part of Suffolk, or the stories my grandparents told me as a child, I have always had a hankering for the simplicity of times gone by.”
I was intrigued as to how she first heard about her ancestor Bertram?
“My mother Anne Gant (nee Deacon) told me stories about my great-grandfather, Bertrum Deacon, who lived and worked in the historic village of Lavenham close to where I was brought up. I’ve heard many a tale through mum’s cousin, David Deacon, who still lives in the village. In fact, the Deacon family roots can be traced back in Lavenham to 1632.”

I found this extraordinary as it dovetails with witch trials, the run up to the Civil War and one of the most important centuries in British history. In many ways, an era that moulded Britain and Northern Ireland into the Kingdom it is today.

“The village is one of Britain’s finest examples of a medieval settlement, with much of the timber-framed architecture remaining intact centuries on. But to me it’s just where my great-aunties and uncles lived. But, the place always held a fascination for me, particularly at Christmas time, when it was like a scene from a Dickens novel (we had snow in the 1970s!).

I grew up with family stories too and I wondered whether these tales influenced Emma’s career?

“My career choices were definitely influenced by stories of the past and inspired me to become a local news journalist. I have also written three craft books and I publish sewing patterns (under the name of Charlie’s Aunt) that are influenced by vintage styles. Lavenham is known as one of the medieval ‘wool’ villages because of its long-standing association with the weaving industry, which made it into one of the richest villages in England during Tudor times. I use British wool to make the samples for my bag and hat patterns, which are shown at the US Quilt Market annually, so I feel I am sending a little bit of British – and family – history across the pond. As part of my business, I write a blog called Harking Back with Charlie’s Aunt where I write about the influences of my designs, which include memories of local history and the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

I felt I could write a contribution all about Emma, but today it’s Bertram she’s telling me all about.

“Bertram William George Deacon was born in 1873 in Lavenham, Suffolk and he was married to Alice Jane Faiers in May 1896 in the village church.
Such as was the case in those times, most people worked in the village where they lived. However, in the case of Bertram, he had more than one job. He was a carpenter by trade and was the village wheelwright – a skilled craftsman who made and repaired wooden wheels for carts. Bertram was also the local undertaker, creating coffins and running a funeral business from the same premises (home and workshop) in Lavenham high street.”

I couldn’t help but wonder today how our high streets might look if tyre fitter’s and undertakers were one and the same?

Remarkably, the ancient timber-framed building that Bertram lived and worked in is still there today.
Emma tells me that “the workshop has been renovated and incorporated into the house. The Deacon family have worked in the funeral business, in Lavenham, as far back as the 16th century.”

Emma paints a picture of her ancestor.

“The other role Bertram played was of chief fire officer for the village. At the time, fire engines were quite basic, and were really just glorified carts with a pump, hose, ladders and fire buckets.”

“Towards the end of the working day he’d take the coffins into the house to polish in front of the fire,” which Emma tells me “was the only source of light. The kids would be sat there having their tea with this going on in the background!”

“My great-grandfather Bertram’s father, Alfred, and possibly his father before (George), were landlords at the White Horse pub in Lavenham’s Water Street (no longer a pub). Mr Deacon kept a parrot behind the bar, which was notorious for its loud chatter. Folklore has it that a regular customer of the White Horse hadn’t paid off his slate and the parrot reminded him, and everyone else, of the fact. The next day, the parrot was found dead after allegedly being fed poisoned bacon rinds. Such was the way in Victorian times, the parrot was stuffed post mortem and remains intact today.”

David Deacon, who inherited the antique, said: “I’ve hung onto it because Joan (David’s late wife) thought it would be bad luck to throw it away!”  The stuffed parrot with the accompanying tale has been on show in a Guildhall exhibition in Lavenham.

It sounds reminiscent of the Monty Python dead parrot sketch. I can only presume the man who had run up a large skate at the White Horse paid his tab!

Andrew Blackall is an English antique dealer with more than 30 years of experience selling period furniture and quirky collector's items to clients across the globe. He has written and produced award-winning film and television productions. He was born in St John’s Wood, London and he grew up in and around London. He currently lives in Avebury, Wiltshire. His love of antiques stems from an early fascination with history and from visiting country homes throughout old England and the British Isles. Many of Andrew’s clients are well known on both sides of the pond, patronising his ability to source antiquities with provenance and appeal. His stock has appeared in a number of films and TV shows. Andrew has two styles of business: one selling high-end decorative antiques at The Blanchard Collective, the other selling affordable collectables at The Malthouse Collective.