Charles Tribe (Secondus) and His Family Born 1838 - Died 1895

Charles Tribe (2), the third son of William Tribe (2), was born at Tenterden, in Kent, on the fifth day of November 1838. He kept a grocery store at Best Beech Hill, near Wadhurst, and combining with it a carrier's business, carried on a good trade in and around Tunbridge Wells. He visited houses with butter and eggs, and carried parcels and other goods between Best Beech Hill and Tunbridge Wells. Among other places, he visited Romanoff School (now Vale Towers School) in London Road, Tunbridge Wells, a small private school for young gentlemen. Here he met Lydia Moore who was acting as serving maid there, and a friendship sprang up between them, which ripened into love, and resulted in marriage between the serving maid and 'the butterman' as he was called.

The marriage took place on April 21st 1867, at Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells. Previous to his marriage his sister Harriet had lived with Charles and kept his house, but after this she returned home.

After several years at Best Beech Hill, at the shop, during which the five eldest children were born, they removed to Tunbridge Wells and lived in Crescent Road.

In 1879 or 1880 they removed to Common View, Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells during which time Charles was a partner (with his father, his brother William, and his sister, Elizabeth) in the firm of Tribe and Company, dairymen, at Cold Bath Farm, his father, brother and sister living in the farmhouse, whilst he morning and night journeyed to and from the farm. Later he removed to Prospect House, High Street, Rusthall, and again to Lampard Place, also at Rusthall, at which two latter places his wife sold milk, eggs, butter, etc., to people and customers calling at the house, whilst a hired man worked a milk-walk in the village. This little business was carried on independently of Tribe &Co., Charles buying his milk from the firm as wholesale customer.

At the height of their prosperity, before the death of William (2) the firm of Tribe and Company possessed forty milch cows, besides calves, heifers and stock beasts, but a serious disease broke out amongst the cattle, and thirty-six cows and many calves, etc., were obliged to be slaughtered, only a few escaping which were quite isolated from the others at the time of the outbreak. The compensation granted by government was considerable, but not sufficient to counterbalance the great loss sustained. The disease was pleuro-pneumonia.

When the death of his father, and later that of his sister, and the withdrawal of his brother William from the business, placed Charles in the position of sole proprietor of the business, he removed from Rusthall with his wife and family and took up his residence in the farmhouse at Cold Bath Farm. During their many years at Rusthall the younger children hardly knew their father, and indeed scarcely saw him, though the elder members of the family had each done their share of work, either about the farm or on the milk-walk, girls and boys alike being busily employed as they became old enough to be of use, carrying milk around Rusthall. The Rusthall business was now, of course, thrown into the parent business, and shortly after this a small dairy was opened in the High Street, Rusthall, and Charles Jun., the eldest son, was, on his marriage, installed there as manager of the shop and milk-walk.