#Actor #BluePlaque #CarryOn #Deal #Death #England #Film #Homosexuality #Kent
Whilst researching one of my 3x Great Grandparents, Hannah DAWSON, had an interesting and unexpected find. I knew that in later life she was living with one of her daughter’s and when went to find the address spotted it had a blue plaque1 affixed. It is one of the older streets in the centre of Deal, Kent.
Only recently I became aware of the familial link to the street however have been there many times in my life for fish and chips at the restaurant a few doors down. There is a small chance that the properties in the road were renumbered but have not found any evidence for this action.
Therefore, it would appear that the house she had lived in later on became the home of the actor Charles HAWTREY2. He was of course in numerous films and some TV appearances but for most I believe would be best known for acting in 24 of the Carry On films and 2 Christmas specials.
Hannah DAWSON was born c1815. By the 1841 census3, she is married with two children shown. Location given under Eythorne, Kent but knowing the street names believe this is actually the adjoining village of Tilmanstone.
Twenty years on, the 1861 Census4, puts her in the same street and perhaps same property. However, she has been a widow for three years5 with her spouse dying aged 52. She is taking in laundry to make ends meet and has five of her offspring under the roof at this point in time.
Having reviewed a number of sources (unlisted) I know they had ten children together (four boys) in total. Their first daughter had not survived infancy and eldest son at eighteen was in India it seems. Their last child was not even six months old when his father died.
In the latter quarter of 1863 she married a local widower6 but they were only together about six years7 before he passed away. So the 1871 Census8 now lists her as a charwoman at the age of 56 and she just has the youngest child who at just 13 is working as an agricultural labourer.
Even aged 87 in the 1901 Census9 we find her still living in the same road. By this point the address confirmed as Tilmanstone, Kent. She is described as living by her own means. She outlived another child although they were 60 when they died in the area of Chelsea, London.
Sadly at some point in the next few years her health deteriorated and this is when she moved from a more rural location to her daughter’s in the centre of town. In the local papers10,11 she was described as having been bedridden for the last eight years of her life and believe she succumbed to bronchitis in October 1914.
If the newspapers are correct then she was 102 when she died but possibly only 99 if the baptism found was the right one and she had been born within a few weeks of that date.
Her grave is found in Tilmanstone Churchyard, Tilmanstone, Kent albeit with the writing on it being fairly illegible now. Some of her offspring are also listed on it.
The daughter she had moved in with had significant tragedy within a short space of time. In May 1914 one of her children was killed in the Empress of Ireland12 tragedy whilst serving in the Salvation Army. Then later that year her mother Hannah DAWSON with her husband then dying in November 191513.
She lived another 11 years14 and was still at 117 Middle Street, Deal, Kent till her death on 06 March 1926. Although she was a mother to fourteen believe she outlived half of them. Without further research not sure who lived in the house from then until the arrival of Charles HAWTREY in 1968.
He is rumoured to have stocked it full of brass bedsteads and wonder if any of these had been left in the house from when my family were there. A number of articles have been written about his life15,16,17 with many using the same sources and overall it seems the latter years were not very happy ones for him.
For a long time he cared for his mother who was suffering from dementia and she died in 1965 so at this point he must have felt freer to move further away. Apparently, he moved to Kent in order to enjoy the company of sailors from the local naval base.
The Wikipedia article, referencing the book Charles Hawtrey, 1914-1988: The Man who was Private Widdleby Roger LEWIS that was published by Faber & Faber in 2001 states the following.
“Hawtrey cut an eccentric figure in the small town, becoming well known for promenading along the seafront in extravagant attire, waving cheerfully to the fisherman and for frequenting establishments patronised by students of the Royal Marines School of Music”.
Not much is known about his early life as he was understandably cautious about any relationships that he was in that may have landed him in prison. The Sexual Offences Act 196718 was brought in that then permitted homosexual acts between two consenting adults over the age of twenty-one.
Having moved to the coast it appears that Charles HAWTREY did not make himself very popular and upset people who asked for his autograph by telling them where to go and ripping up their paper. He also ended up being barred from some public houses18 .
The overall consensus is that his alcoholism and erratic behaviour contributed to his departure from acting work. Although Carry On films continued until the end of the 1970s his last appearance was in 1972 in Carry On Abroad. He did act in a silent comedy short in 1979 and his final screen role for Super Gran broadcast in 1987 and was also in a few pantomimes as well.
Before this though he was rescued from a house fire in 1984 believed to have been caused by a cigarette and there are images of him being led out by a fireman. Just over four years later, on 24 October 1988, he collapsed in the doorway to the Royal Hotel in the town and taken to hospital with a shattered femur.
He is then diagnosed with a disease and told that to save his life his legs would have to be amputated but he refused. Presumably he never returned home and died just three days later in a nursing home aged 73. Only nine people are reported to have attended his funeral at Mortlake Crematorium, Chiswick, London.
Callum, the author of the website Retroboy, visited the house in 2017 and spoke to the owners at that date who advised that this old smuggler’s cottage now bears little resemblance to Charles HAWTREY’s time there due to renovations over the years. This is not unexpected especially with a fire but sadly means would be difficult to picture it or see any evidence of how it looked during Hannah DAWSON’s era.
Footnotes
1 – Flickr, Blue Plaque photo – www.flickr.com/photos/shirokazan/2793071313
2 – Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914) – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hawtrey_(actor,_born_1914)
3 – 1841 England Census – www.ancestry.co.uk
4 – 1861 England Census – www.ancestry.co.uk
5 – England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991 – www.ancestry.co.uk
6 – FreeBMD, Marriages – freebmd.org.uk
7 – England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 – www.ancestry.co.uk
8 – 1871 England Census – www.ancestry.co.uk
9 – 1901 England Census – www.ancestry.co.uk
10 – FindMyPast – Kent Messenger, October 31, 1914, page 7 – www.findmypast.co.uk
11 – FindMyPast – The Whitstable Times and Tankerton Press, Saturday, October 31, 1914, page 4 – www.findmypast.co.uk
12 – Wikipedia, RMS Empress of Ireland – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Ireland
13 – Find A Grave – www.findagrave.com/memorial/182809163/benjamin_sylvester_eastes
14 – Ancestry, England&Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration), 1858-1995 – www.ancestry.co.uk
15 – Daily Express, Charles Hawtrey: The Carry On clown who hated everyone – www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/169058/Charles-Hawtrey-The-Carry-On-clown-who-hated-everyone
16 – LGBT Archive, Charles Hawtrey – lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/Charles_Hawtrey
17 – The Goon Show Depository, Charles_Hawtrey_(actor,_born_1914) – thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Charles_Hawtrey_(actor,_born_1914)
18 – Retroboy, Carry On Uncensored, Charles Hawtrey, www.retroboy.co.uk/charles-hawtrey-1914-to-1988
