Robert Thomas Spindler, born Yoxford 1890
I was born and I went to school in Yoxford. There was a new school built there in 1897. But I had been to school before. I went when I was five to the old school at Yoxford. A friend of mine – I think he’s dead now – and me were the first pupils who ever went to the new school in 1897. The Headmaster took us: We were good scholars in his estimation (which must have been true) and he took us to show us the new school we were going to. My father had a little basket made for me when I was seven. It held about twenty-four bloaters, and I sold them in the morning before I went to school.
I remember when we went to Sunday school we had a treat once a year – which was to go to Dunwich. The farmer used to lend a wagon and a pair of horses to pull and we used to sing our way to Dunwich. There was a church on the edge of the cliff there. I can remember that church well, but it’s gone now completely – into the sea.
I left school. The schoolmaster said to my father: “Take Bob away: I can’t learn him any more” So I left when I was ten and a half and when I was eleven I was driving a pony and cart to the near villages round where we lived.
In 1891 the family were living in Mill Cottages, Brook Street. Jacob was a general dealer. By 1901 they were in the High Street and Jacob was a fishmonger employer. At the age of 20, at the time of the 1911 census, Robert was living in the High Street and employed as a fish merchant retailer, employer. By 1939 he had moved to the St Pancras district of London and was a shopkeeper, married to Jensine. Daughter Stella, born 1922 was a student. Robert lived until 1977 and died in the Waveney district of Suffolk.
Robert’s parents Jacob & Elizabeth
Memoir and photos taken from the book:-
Evans, George Ewart. The Days That We Have Seen
1975. Faber & Faber.