4 minute read
Harvest in Deeping
That magnificent man and his threshing machine!
John Hibbet was born in 1885 in Eastgate to Edward and Hannah, née Sewell. He moved to Willow Lodge, Frognall, when his mother died in childbirth, and this was where he was brought up by his Uncle Frank and Aunt Annie.
John married Ethel Whitno in a service at St Peter’s in Wisbech in 1910, and they made their home in a red brick house at 26 Eastgate. The house had two rooms either side of the front door and a back kitchen, with three bedrooms above. There was a yard to the side and a good-sized garden leading down to the riverbank. Jack built a large zinc roofed lean-to shed at the side of the house for the storage of his threshing machine, a device that took the grain out of the ears of corn. So dusty was the process that men would down a pint of beer or ale at lunchtime with a bacon sandwich, brought by their wives. During the harvest, children had time off school to enable them to help, and they would work long days until it was dark.
When the Government requisitioned all agricultural land in 1914 and told farmers what to grow, Jack had been told to supply hay to keep horses fed. Always busy from June to October, Jack would take his threshing machine and tackle from farm to farm around an area of about 30 miles at harvest time. Hay was transported by horse and cart and it was his job to make sure that the hay got to the various railway stations in the area.
John had been a member of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry Territorial’s for some years, possibly before his marriage to Ethel. Nicknamed the Saturday Night Soldiers, the Territorials, mostly made up of farmers and farm workers, had regular training which was stepped up after the start of the war when the age limit was raised to 41. They were sent to Norfolk and Suffolk on Home Defence Training in case of German invasion and they also learnt how to deal with Zeppelins and how to recognise enemy aircraft. A large number of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry answered Lord Kitchener’s call to action in the war but John was unable to as he was busy supplying hay for the war effort. In 1915 he was given a medal to wear to let people know that he was on Army service. All men in reserved occupations wore these so that they would not be presented with a white feather, as was the custom if people thought they were cowards for not being in uniform.
As the war raged and tanks were brought into service, the need for hay was not so urgent. After the war ended Jack carried on as a thresher, moving to 8 Bridge Street, where he owned 18 sets of tackle.
Jack died on 22nd February 1947 at Bridge Street, Deeping St James, leaving a widow and two sons. His obituary recorded that he was a skilled machinist, a first-class shot and in demand for shooting parties. See vintage farm machinery working. Little Casterton Working Weekend 19-20 Sept http://www.knight-ltd.co.uk/
Research; Joy Baxter, Nick Hibbett, Nancy Titman, Graham Caldwell. Photographs: Nick Hibbett, Dorothea Price, Ian Baxter.
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