Hindolveston
WW1 Rememberance
Village circa 1914
In the period around 1914, Hindolveston was largely a self contatined village of about 630 people. Of these, there were about 80 boys and 110 girls of school age or younger. There were cricket teams and a silver band, and a range of shops, businesses and services.
The main employment was obviously in agriculture, but the number employed in the railway work at Melton Constable and on the railway was significant. There were some movemement of people into and out of the village from other areas of Norfolk and further away, often by skilled men working for the railway. However, many of the surnames of those who fought and others in the village on the 1911 census are stll common today.
The 1911 census records show the following occupations:-
Services for the village
Innkeepers (5)
Painters (6)
Miller (1)
Bricklayers (3)
Grocer and Draper (2)
Waggon makers (2)
Shop assistants (8)
Blacksmiths (2)
Baker and Post Office (1)
Launderers (4)
Fish Hawkers (4)
Gardeners (2)
Butchers (2)
Dressmakers (5)
Cycle business (1)
Hurdle makers (2)
Coal agent (1)
Farmers, ownership/management (16)
General agricultural labourers, poulterers, dairy work, horseman, waggoners, shepherds, woodsmen, gamekeepers (91)
Working on the land
Melton Railway Works: Machinists, gas fittters, boiler makers, carpenters, painters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths (13)
Train operators: Engine drivers, guards, platelayers, shunters, clerks, stationmaster and assistants (12)
The village had good transport links, with the railway providing six trains a day to Norwich and Melton Constable, and connections to Cromer, Kings Lynn and beyond to Peterborough. There was a cycle business, which evolved into a garage business, still in the same family ownership today. There was a school with 3 teachers and assistants, a police constable, 8 pensioners and 5 people who recorded 'private means' in the 1911 census.
Working for the Midland and Great Northern Railway
