John Cruse curate and schoolmaster of South Molton

I have always been intrigued to find out more about the Reverend John Cruse who has an intriguing memorial plaque inside the parish church of St Mary Magdalene in South Molton:

NEAR THIS
PLACE LYETH THE
BODY OF MR JOHN CRUSE CURATE
OF THIS CHURCH AND FIRST
MASTER OF THE NEW SCHOOL
FOUNDED & ENDOWED BY HUGH SQUIRE Esq
OF THE CITY OF LONDON WHO DIED
THE 24 OF MARCH 1691 AND WAS BURIED YE
29 DAY OF THE SAME MONTH 1692

QUI
EXIMIA VITAE PIETATE
ET LABORE PASTORALI INDEFESSE(?)
ANHELABAT
& TANDEM
PER VARIOS MORBOS IMMEDICABILES
ASPIRIBAT
AETERNITATUM

As can be seen from the photograph below the dates have not been mistranscribed because of course at this time the Julian Calendar was still in use and the New Year did not start until 25th March on the Feast of Assumption. John was therefore buried five days after his death not one year later!I was delighted to receive from Vanessa Goodwin an abstract of John Cruse's will. Sadly, as with so many of our Devon wills, the original was lost when the Exeter Probate Registry was bombed in World War II. Fortunately, however, Olive Moget and Oswyn Murray compiled abstracts of a small number of Devon wills and this particular will is included in their collection which is now preserved at the West Country Studies Library in Exeter. The abstract has enabled me to piece together a few fragments about John's life. Nothing of John's birth or parentage is known, though he is almost certainly descended from the Cruwys family of Cruwys Morchard. John married Sarah Shobrook, the daughter of Humphrey Shobrook. It would appear that Sarah was a widow when they married as the IGI has a record of the marriage of John Cruse and Mrs Sarah Musgrave on 15th December 1683 in South Molton. The IGI has a record of one son, John Cruse, who was baptised on 16th October 1684 and buried the next day on 17th October. Hugh Squier's new school was built and endowed in 1686 so John would only have enjoyed a short tenure as a schoolmaster, and he probably worked at the school until shortly before his death. Hugh Squier's school as it was known was founded as a grammar school. It was amalgamated in 1877 with the Blue Coat Schools and the National Schools to form the South Molton United Schools. We know from the above inscription that John died on 24th March 1691/2 and was buried on 29th March 1692. His widow appears to have married with somewhat indecent haste just six months later as the IGI shows that a Mrs Sarah Cruse married Thomas Easton on 5th October 1692 at South Molton. A transcript of John Cruse's will is given below. It would be interesting to know if the silver flagon is still in use today.

Cruse, John of South Molton, clerk

Date of Will, 18 March 1691

Proved 17 May 1692 by Sarah Cruse

To the ch[urch] of South Molton £15 to be bestowed in a silver flagon for the Communion table, & as for the management & Procurement of the s[ai]d flagon, I leave it to William Arundell, Rector of Filleigh & Lewis Southcombe, Rector of Roseash.

To my uncle John Williams of Lifton or his wife £5.

To John son of William Painter my godson of Lifton £3.

To the eldest son of Robert Williams of Milton Damarel £3.

To Mary sister of Robert Williams (now called as I suppose Makepowder) & to Deborah another sister (now called I suppose Deborah Hill) of the City of Exeter, each 40/-.

To poor of Tawstock 40/- & of South Molton £4.

To some poor families of South Molton £3 to be bestowed by 20/- a year in books called "The whole duty of man", the s[ai]d books to be given to such families as shall be thought fit by Mr Richard Musgrave, my father-in-law Mr Humphry Shobrook & the s[ai]d Mr Lewis Southcombe.

To Elizabeth wife of John Easton of South Molton 30/-.

Residue to my wife Sarah C, whom I make my ex[exutri]x.

Overseers, Mr Richard Musgrave, Mr John Hacche, Mr George Dean & Mr Humphry Shobrook.

(S[igne]d) John Cruse. Seal:-

(W[itnesses]) Nicho[las] Mallarre: John Odam.

Mark of Margaret Mildon.

Inventory 16 May 1692 by Mr Richard Musgrave, Mr Humphry Shobrooke & John Lewes, £732: 13: 5: (Appparel £6, Study of books £20. Furniture &c. Estate in house in South Molton £40, & in another house £50, & in one field £10, & in moiety of two fields £7 & in two fields called Common Moor in South Molton £12.)

Inheritance of a tenem[en]t called Blackpools £150. Debts due by bills, bonds &c £370)

Edwin 'boss' Cruwys of South Molton

There are only two births registered in the name Edwin Cruwys in the GRO indexes and it is quite a coincidence that just a few days after writing about Edwin Cruwys the Boer War veteran I have received an interesting newspaper article from Shirley Bray about the wife of the other Edwin Cruwys, who was the uncle of our Coldstream Guard. I thought it would be appropriate to write a short piece about Edwin's life as he seems to have been quite an interesting character. I am indebted to the late David Ryall, the former OPC (online parish clerk) for Chittlehampton and Filleigh, who assisted with the research.

Edwin Cruwys was born in 1854 in Mariansleigh, Devon, the twelfth and youngest child of William Cruwys, a mason, and Mary Meecham. Edwin married Sally Cawsey Webber in 1882. Sally was born in 1858 in Landkey. Edwin was by all accounts quite a character in South Molton. He was known as 'boss' Cruwys and was often seen around town with his 'oss 'n 'earse (horse and hearse). As can be seen from the invoice reproduced below Edwin seems to have had his finger in a number of pies and is described variously as a grocer, tea dealer, pork dealer, undertaker, and post horse proprietor. Edwin and Sally lived at 12 East Street (later renumbered as 9 East Street), where they presumably lived above the shop. Edwin also had a livery stables at South Street where he kept his horses, which is possibly the location of the Unicorn Yard mentioned in the invoice. The picture below is a view of East Street from the early 1900s when Edwin and Sally were living there.Edwin and Sally had just one child, a son called Archibald Edwin Cruwys, born in 1884. Sadly Archibald passed away on 7th March 1897 when he was just 12 years old. Sally died on 22nd February 1925. Her death was reported in the South Molton and West Somerset News on 28th February.

MRS. CRUWYS
We regret to record the death of Mrs. Cruwys, the wife of Mr. Edwin Cruwys, dealer, of Southmolton, which took place on Sunday, at the age of 67. She had been in poor health for some years, and on Saturday, when she appeared to be as usual, she was seized with sudden illness. Medical aid was summoned, but she succumbed early on the following day. Much sympathy is felt with Mr. Cruwys in his unexpected bereavement. Mrs. Cruwys was long associated with the Wesleyan Methodist church, and was highly respected.

Edwin died just three years later on 15th February 1928 at the North Devon Infirmary in Barnstaple. He was buried alongside his wife and son in the South Molton Cemetery. Edwin's estate was valued at just over £3,000 gross and £2,000 net which was then quite a substantial sum for a shopkeeper and undertaker. He left small bequests to the South Molton and Landkey Wesleyan Chapels, but the principal beneficiary was Eva Couch, his faithful domestic servant. Eva was born in 1870 in South Molton, the daughter of William and Emily Couch. Her father was a labourer, and in the 1871 census the family were living at Crispin's Court in South Molton. Eva went to work for Edwin and Sally as a young girl. She was living with them at 12 East Street in both the 1891 and 1901 censuses where she was described as a domestic/general servant. At the time of Edwin's death Eva's address was given as 9 East Street. By this time of course the houses had been re-numbered, so it is clear that Eva continued to live with Edwin until his death. It is not known what became of Eva after Edwin's death but it seems likely that she continued to live in her employer's house and probably stayed there for the rest of her life.

Interestingly the house where Edwin, Sally and Eva lived became known as Crucou House. It is not known whether the house was given this name during Edwin's lifetime or if it was so named after his death. Perhaps Eva named the house in memory of her former employer. CruCou House can be clearly seen in the photograph below which was taken some time in the early 1960s.
CruCou House was demolished in the late 1960s, along with the adjacent property at no. 10 known as Marley House, to make way for a new health centre. The new South Molton Health Centre opened in the autumn of 1968.

Acknowledgements
The colour postcard of East Street is from Shirley Bray's private collection. The black and white photograph is the copyright of Gordon Bray. Both pictures are published by kind permission of Shirley and Gordon Bray. The invoice is in a collection at the South Molton Museum and was kindly supplied by Shirley Bray.