William Redmile Garner

1841-1928

The main interests in the life of William Redmile Garner were the Baptist churches at Dyke and West Street, Bourne, to which he devoted much of his life. But he was also busy in public affairs, becoming a member and then chairman of Bourne Urban District Council for the year 1911-12.

He was born in West Street, Bourne, on 21st April 1841 and after schooling locally, became a grocer at Dyke, marrying Sarah Elizabeth Story, aged 20, daughter of local cabinet maker Joseph Story and Sarah Bray, at Bourne Baptist Church on 17th June 1868. They had at least one son, William Robert Gardner, born on 31st May 1869, who later moved to Kent.

William's mother was Harriet Redmile, sister of Jane Redmile who raised him after her sister died at an early age and his father emigrated to Australia.

When William was 87, an article about his life appeared in the Baptist Magazine (Spalding Group) for May 1928 and was reproduced by the Spalding Free Press on 15th May 1928. This article is a comprehensive record of his public life and is reproduced here verbatim. He died one month after these articles were published, on 6th June 1928, aged 87. Sarah had predeceased him, having died on 15th December 1915, aged 69, and both are buried in the town cemetery at Bourne.

DYKE'S GRAND OLD MAN.

A wonderful record - features of an active life

by Rev Glyndwr Morgan BA
(Minister of the Baptist Church, Bourne, 1922-27)

On 21st April 1841, there was born in West Street, Bourne, a child who was destined to live to a ripe old age, and to become a gifted servant of God. The subject of this sketch was that child, and on 21st April 21st 1928, Mr William Redmile Garner J P, of Dyke, celebrated his 87th birthday. While the village of Dyke can claim to have had his presence for the most part of his long life, to Bourne is the honour due to having given to Dyke church and village such a worthy man.

William Redmile Garner began his pilgrimage in this world under a very serious and sad handicap, for when he was but a few weeks old his mother, whose maiden name was Harriet Redmile, a name deeply respected in the district, passed into the Great Beyond. To some boys to lose their mother at such a tender age would have been a calamity but he was blessed in having an aunt who took him to herself and reared him as her own son while his father and all the other members of the family sought a new home in the Commonwealth of Australia.

GARNER THE GROCER

Under the careful Christian and cultured training of Jane Redmile, William Redmile Garner grew into boyhood and manhood, and he became a deep thinker, a hard worker, a public servant and a conscientious Christian gentleman. No man is more respected and more highly esteemed in Dyke and the district generally than he. He is a man who has not restricted his abilities to any one thing, but he has devoted himself to numerous activities, and it is safe to say that he did nothing but what he did successfully. He entered into business as a grocer in Dyke, but while he was a good business man, he was too big to be kept chained to the counter of a shop. He put his hands to more things than the grocery business and he was highly successful in them all.

Like most men, William Redmile Garner has his hobbies, and the one that he loved most was poultry rearing and it is characteristic of the man that he did this in a thorough going fashion. For many years he was judge of poultry at Royal Shows and an authority to be reckoned with on the subject in the country. A visitor to his home will be able to see framed photographs of some of his prize poultry which indicate the kind of man he is.

He has devoted the whole of his life to the spiritual needs of the village and for a long period of years has been the mainstay of the little Baptist Church in Dyke, being a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and superintendent, and he is still today affectionately referred to as the Grand Old Man of Dyke. The boys whose privilege it has been to have been in his Sunday school class are scattered all over the world, and from time to time messages come to him from one or another assuring him of their love and esteem, and expressing their gratitude that they received their training at his hands.

“MAYOR” of BOURNE

The public weal soon claimed Mr. Garner’s services. For over twenty years he was a member of Bourne Urban District Council. In 1911-12, he was selected and appointed unanimously as the “Mayor” of the town [in fact, not the mayor but chairman of the council], and his term of office was an historic one. The coronation of King George the Fifth, with its accompanying local festivities, and the opening of the recreation ground and the tree planting ceremony, were crowded into that year. He sat upon the local bench by virtue of his appointment as Chairman of the Council, and just prior to the expiration of his term of office was permanently placed on the commission of the Peace for Kesteven, a fitting tribute to his public labours. He was always earnest in his duties, a man who had to be reckoned with in any debate, a man of judgment and business acumen.

For nearly forty years he has been an officer of the Bourne North Fen and Dyke Fen, having been nominated by the Urban District Council since its inception. Bourne Board of Guardians has never had, and never will have, a more conscientious and consistent member than William Redmile Garner. His record of membership on that Board covers more than a quarter of a century. At a meeting of the Board in 1913, when he was in a reminiscent vein, he referred to the ameliorative work of the Board, and said he remembered the time when there were no chairs in the dormitories, and the occupants had either to choose a seat on the bed of the floor. The electors of Bourne time after time returned him as their Guardian, for this was his favourite public work, the alleviation of the lot of the poor. He was most diligent in his duties, and has created a wonderful record in attendance, having to his credit several years, when he never missed a solitary meeting during the whole 12 months. He was a strong believer in the administration of the Poor Law by the existing authority, and always uncompromising in his opposition to the suggested abolition of Boards of Guardians.

EDUCATION HIS PASSION

No man in this district has evinced a greater zeal in the matter of education than William Redmile Garner. All his life it has been a matter that has interested him, and we should not be over-estimating it by saying that it has been one of the absorbing passions of his life. He was a member of the old Bourne School Board for over twenty years, was vice-chairman and eventually became a school manager. Under the present education regime he has been co-opted as a member of the Kesteven Education Committee since its formation, and for a great many years has interested himself conspicuously in the secondary education movement and worked assiduously in conjunction with the late Alderman W R Wherry and Mr. J T Swift - who is still with us - to endeavour to establish a secondary school for Bourne. He has lived to see that school in existence and the Bourne Grammar School owes its being to such men as he.

William Redmile Garner has earned the gratitude of the public for his many and conspicuous services to the public weal, but through it all the Christian church has occupied the first and chief place in his heart and affections. No one will be to estimate the influence such a life has exerted on the lives of the girls and boys of the village. All the children love him, for has he not given himself freely for their intellectual, moral and spiritual welfare. He is the oldest member of the West Street church, having been baptised over sixty-eight years ago, and is a life deacon. He is a trustee of Bourne, Morton and Dyke churches and schools as well as a trustee of all church property, and no religious body could have a more efficient and conscientious trustee than he.

NOTE: This article appeared in the Baptist Magazine (Spalding Group) for May 1928 and was
reproduced by the Spalding Free Press on 15th May 1928. William Garner died one month after
these articles were published, on 6th June 1928, aged 87.

See also Jane Redmile