Charlie, as he was familiarly known to his customers, according to his obituary, delivered mail in the small village of Middleton but much of his round was the outlying farms. He started his day at the Post Office in Yoxford, where he sorted the mail before leaving for Middleton at 7.30. He returned to Yoxford at 10 am and then repeated this in the afternoon and evening, for 36 years in total. Leaving on his bicycle, his first call was Rookery Park. He would then continue over the Moor to Rackford Bungalow, visiting all the farms en route. In his last years he suffered very poor health but ‘continued his work cheerfully’ (obituary).
A house-to-house collection was made in Middleton, raising £8 which was spent on flowers for his funeral after he died 17th December 1930, the remainder given to his widow. The card on the wreath read:
‘36 years’ work well done, from all his friends on the round’.
Probate of £479 was awarded to Alice in January 1931.
Charlie was Morton Charles Cordle, born in Kelsale in 1875. He married Alice Rose in 1899. By 1901 they were living in Butler’s Row in Yoxford, (near Hog Hill, since re-named Strickland Manor Hill) with their first child, baby Charles Edward, aged seven months. Morton’s occupation was given as rural postman. By 1911 they were living in the High Street, behind the Post Office.
Morton was the son of Charles and Georgianna Cordle and was one of ten siblings. At the age of five in 1881 he was with his grandparents George and Mary Chilvers in Kelsale. Ten years later he was living with his parents and siblings at 3 Chantry Road in Saxmundham, where his father was employed as a brewer’s labourer. Morton was working as an errand boy at the Post Office. On 15th January 1895 he was appointed Postman on the Yoxford to Middleton route (British Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969).