Ernest John Shaxted was my grandfather and I remember him well. He had a younger brother Arthur who emigrated to America. Ernest went to St John's school in Margate and later continued at night school for several years.
He initially lived at 13 (now 29) Setterfield Road in Margate. This house was built by his father (Arthur Shaxted) and was eventually inherited by me. Later he moved to 16 Clarendon Road, Cliftonville, Margate; a house also owned by his father. How his father, a general labourer, found the money to build these and other houses is a mystery.
Ernest worked as a gardener at Chapel Hill and then went to work as a gardener for Sir Hugo de Bathe from 1906 - 1908. During this time he lived at Bosham, near Chichester in Sussex. Later he returned to work as a gardener at North Down House, Margate from 1908 - 1910.
As the result of an advertisment he placed in the Gardener's Chronicle he worked as a gardener at Weardale Manor, Sussex from 1910 - 1912 and then got a job as gardener in "The Pleasure Gardens" at Mr Brandt's house "Cape Nor" near Betchingly, Surrey.
During the first world war he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1914 - 1918. This service as a medical orderly in the trenches coloured his view of medicine and hospitals for the rest of his life.
After marrying Ruth Coster in October 1918 the couple moved to Little Lyndsays, Ingatestone, Essex. Here he was principle gardener to Mr R Pelly. He laid out the gardens of Mr Pelly's estate at Lyndsays, Fryerning, Nr Ingatestone, Essex between 1925 - 1940. The garden won many prizes, some of which I have today.
In 1941 he moved to 105 Dulwich Road, Holland on Sea, Clacton, Essex working as an air raid warden during the second world war. This house was purchased from him in 1949 by his son, my father, (John Victor Shaxted) and was my home as a child. He then moved to 10 Old Road, Frinton, Essex. After the death of his wife, Ruth, in 1963 he moved to 53 Halstead Road, Kirby Cross, Essex where he lived with Mrs Nora Green. During the later years of his life he retained a strong interest in gardening, founding the Kirby Cross Horticultural Society.
