Embedded Files
James and Amy Plumpton married in Kensington, London in 1920
The page boy was their adopted son Philip Aldersley
James Plumpton married Amy Plumpton in 1920.
Amy Plumpton ran an orphanage in the early 1900's. James was an officer in the Merchant and Royal Navy. They had 2 children, Guiguette Theresa Marie Plumpton and her younger brother Peter O'Keffee Plumpton. Phillip Aldersley their older brother (in photo) was adopted.
Additional information provided from my Father:
Amy Plumpton:
As far as we know her father was in business in London. Amy's godfather was businessman and Mayor of London William Dunn. Amy stayed with him often when her parents were away on business, including during his time at the Mansion House when he served as Lord Mayor in 1916/17. Amy inherited a generous allowance for life from the estate of a friend. She obviously had a fondness for the city and married James there in 1920. They purchased a couple of properties there but leased the Walronds in Cullompton and made it their home, only using one of the city houses when they had business there. Amy was heavily involved in a charity for orphans, for which she devoted a lot of her time and her fortune. She travelled a lot in this work including time spent in Belgium collecting babies from their terrified mothers as the arrival of the invading German army was imminent.
James & Amy :
The couple had two children, Guigguette and Peter O'Keffee, her younger brother. Older still was their adopted brother Philip Aldersley, who was adopted by Amy before she married. Looking at the wedding photograph, he was about seven at the time. Philip, no doubt encouraged by his stepfather James, started a deck apprenticeship with P&O and ended up in New York, where I believe he lived for the rest of his life. His sister Guiguette met him in Liverpool during the WW2 while he was serving with the American Mercantile Marine on Atlantic convoys. Not much is known about Philip but my Father has recently got in touch with his granddaughter in America, so we hope to find out more information soon!
Peter O' Keffee Plumpton made a career with the RAF except for a brief spell as a teacher.
The Walronds - Fore St, Cullompton
Before and After restoration
James and Amy Plumpton lived at 'The Walronds' from around 1920 to 1933.
The Walronds built in 1605 is a grade 1 listed building and was restored by the Walronds Trust. It is available for private hire and public groups, meetings etc. I recommend taking a look at their website, especially the photo's of the incredible restoration work.
https://www.walronds.com/welcome-walronds
The Walronds 2010 - cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Christopher Hilton - geograph.org.uk/p/2108691
Later 2014 Walronds Photo by NHSavage, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walronds_Cullompton.JPG
Peter O' Keffee and Guiguette (Giggs) Plumpton - The Walronds Cullompton, ~1931
My Father told me that Amy Plumpton bought these costumes for her children Peter and Giggs to wear and the children presented themselves to their Father James who was reading the newspaper. James was supposed to have said "it looks like a carnival to me" , to which Amy replied "It's always carnival time in my heart, Jimmy"
Advert - August 7th 1920
After retiring from the Navy after the War, it is possible that James Plumpton found it hard to find land based work and judging by this advertisement in the local paper, it seems like he tried his hand at selling lorries.
He also faced having a reduced pension from the Royal navy in 1924.
We know that James and Amy suffered financially during the Stock Exchange crash in October 1929 until the following depression until March 1933
When James sailed away on the Treasure hunt in early 1932, he probably hoped that if they struck it lucky, it would solve their financial problems. Although it does sound like he was quite realistic about his slim chances of finding anything there..
Sadly, James' wife Amy Plumpton passed away in 1932 while he was still on Cocos Island. James received the news via telegram which he wrote about in his book 'Treasure Cruise':
"Something had prompted me to send a cable home to enquire whether all was well, and I received a reply before we sailed again saying that such was the case. This was reassuring because, for some unknown reason, I had the feeling that I ought to return home. There is, I think, a lot that at present we do not understand about such premonitions, and in any case, in the light of subsequent events, it would have been better had I followed my apparently unreasonable inclination, for my wife died on December 20th, and I never saw her again.
As we approached the pier I saw that Finnis was there awaiting us. On stepping ashore he broke to me the worst news I have ever had, at the same time handing me a cable. It told me that my wife had died on December 20th. It had been left to poor, old, big-hearted Finnis to bring me the message, and I know that he never in his life had a job which he disliked more. "
Tiverton County Court - Judgement Summons - 1933
It seems that it was a perfect storm of bad luck and money problems which led to this bad ruling in the Tiverton County Court. The court ruled that James had to go into bankruptcy due to debts caused by soured investments.
I have been informed that the Gentleman in this image Mr Char Galpin was employed as a footman by James and Amy Plumpton and was a family friend. He was living at 12 New Street in Cullompton.
My Father and his Mother (Guigguette 'Giggs' - Amy Plumpton's daughter), used to visit him from time to time.
Perhaps this was the 'Butler' mentioned in the humorous exchange in the court case.
Article date 1972
"Some of the interesting people Oliver Greendell met when he toured New Street, Cullompton, and discovered that this community used to have its own revel and "Mayor-choosing". Pictured (from left to right) are Mrs. V. Dunn, Mrs E James, Mr. C Galpin, Mrs. J Drewe and Mrs. N. Miller."
This is an advert for the auction of some of James' possessions from the Walronds on 10th Nov. 1933.
It is interesting that he once owned a 7ft 4in model of the steamship 'Ranza' 1892, and 50 feet of 'switch back' railway, whatever that is.
While researching about The Walronds in Cullompton, I also found this to be quite interesting. This is a newspaper cutting of an earlier 1890 sale of collectable contents from the property, 43 years before James Plumpton's sale of personal effects.
The owner was Rev. J. G. Sydenham, M.A.
The contents are quite astounding, including 1500 books, 60 cabinets of stuffed birds and animals, and a pair of pistols supposedly once belonging to Dick Turpin!
If you have any information to add or any comments, please drop me an email: jamesplumpton.history@gmail.com
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse