Mark Berryman
Mark
was born in Towednack, Cornwall in 1796. In 1816, he married Mary Broad in
Redruth, and shortly thereafter moved to Brecon in South Wales. They had a son,
William Humphrey Broad Berryman, but Mary apparently died shortly afterwards. In
1831, Mark married a widow, Margaret Charles, and had seven children: Henry,
Matthew, Margaret, Sampson, Elizabeth, John and Robert. They lived in "The
Struet" in Brecon, and Mark's occupation is listed in the 1835/1837 Pigot's
Directory under Shopkeepers & Dealers in Groceries and Sundries, and in the 1851
Census of Brecon, he is described as a "carrier".
This photograph has been dated between 1884-1891, and was taken by a Brecon
photographer, Henry Hobbis. It is believed to be of Mark and Margaret. The
photograph was discovered by Alan Berryman in the effects of Mark's
great-granddaughter, Gladwys Goldsworthy ("Auntie Daisy"). I have not yet found
Mark in the 1861 census; but if the photo opposite is indeed of him, we can
assume that he made it to at least 1884 (88 yrs old).
The Struet, about 1900
What was a "carrier"?
Throughout most of the nineteenth century,
overland transport comprised trains and horse-drawn vehicles. Of the latter,
carriers vans provided regular passenger and delivery services essential to the
rural population. Nearly every village had either its own carrier, or one who
passed through regularly. The carriers vans connected villages with the
railways, and with each other, and were in particular demand on market days and
Saturdays. They were similar to farmers' wagons, but less robust and with
narrower wheels, and were fitted with a canvas awning or "tilt" supported by
wooden hoops. They travelled at about three or four miles an hour, little more
than a good walking speed, and covered comparatively short distances. As well as
passengers, carriers conveyed goods into the towns to be sold and brought
purchases back. Sometimes, a selection of goods was delivered to a village "on
approval". Thomas Hardy, in "A Few Crusted Characters", described carriers' vans
as "a respectable, if somewhat lumbering class of convenience, much
resorted to by decent travellers not overstocked with money". During the 1920s,
they were superseded by motorised coaches or lorries.