Frederick Henry Warder was born at Penhow Post Office in 1887, the son of Simeon Warder and Matilda Eugenie Watkins. His father was well known in Penhow, serving as the village Sub-Postmaster, and also worked as a Grocer and Baker concurrently for at least some of the time. Simeon appears to have spent his entire life in the parish, and Frederick grew up in a family that was closely associated with the village Post Office.
Frederick’s mother, Matilda Eugenie Watkins, had been born at Pye Corner, Nash, near Newport, in 1858. Frederick lost his father in 1899 whilst still a boy. His mother survived until 1911, dying at The Moorlands, Undy, later in the same year that Frederick was recorded at Cwm Soar Farm, Glascoed.
On 23 November 1909 Frederick married Hilda May Harris at Undy Parish Church. Hilda was the daughter of Rosanna Hammal Harris and later became part of the George Henry Hickman household following her mother’s marriage. Shortly after their marriage, Frederick and Hilda moved to Cwm Soar Farm, Jerusalem Lane, Glascoed.
The Warders’ stay at Cwm Soar appears to have been relatively brief, but it was there that they began their married life together. Their eldest son, Simeon Henry Harris Warder, was born at the farm in 1910. The 1911 census records Frederick as a farmer and grazier working on his own account, suggesting that he was attempting to establish himself in agriculture during the early years of his marriage.
After leaving Glascoed, Frederick and Hilda returned to the Undy area. Their second child, Robert William Warder, was born at Mill Common Farm on 29 August 1913. Sadly, Robert died in infancy on 23 February 1914. By 1916 the family had moved to The Moorlands, Undy, where their daughter Matilda Eugenie Warder was born. A fourth child, Myra Rosalind Warder, was born in 1928.
At some point in this period, Frederick left farming and became a coal miner. His working life therefore reflected the changing economic circumstances experienced by many Monmouthshire families during the early twentieth century, when opportunities in agriculture often gave way to employment in the coal industry.
The Moorlands remained the family home for many years and became closely associated with both Frederick and Hilda. Frederick died there on 30 March 1946. Hilda survived him by more than three decades, living until 1980 and reaching the age of ninety.
Many thanks to a grandson of Hilda Warder for generously sharing much of the family information used in this biography.
