OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
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WHO WAS WHO IN OLD PLYMOUTH

JOHN YEO (1841-1918)

John Yeo was born in 1841 at Bradford, north Devon. His father, Mr William Yeo, farmed 300acres at Henscott, Bradford, Holsworthy, Devon, and employed 74 labourers.  He and his wife Mary had  a very large family, which in the 1851 census numbered six sons and four daughters.  Another Yeo was a House Servant and there were four male Farm Servants.

After attending Tuke's School in Chulmleigh, and the Bible Christians' Shebbear College, John went to Bideford to learn the drapery business.  His four year apprenticeship with Messrs Spencer, Turner and Boldero was followed by a further twelve years living in London and a couple more years in Paris, where he became quite proficient in the French language.

At the time of the census on April 2nd 1871 he was a draper living at number 249 Caledonian Road, Islington, London.  It would appear that he married in Islington, too, in 1873, his bride being Miss Julia Longley from Canterbury, in Kent.  As soon as he had married he brought his new wife to Plymouth, where he became a partner in the drapery owned by Alderman Joseph Pillman (1825-1905), at 38 Bedford Street.  The business then became known as Messrs. Pillman and Yeo.  When Mr Pillman retired in 1878 the business became simply John Yeo's.  Mr Yeo was employing 14 assistants, 12 apprentices, 1 dressmaker and 2 milliners in 1881.  Interestingly, he traded on a "cash only" basis.

John and Julia had three daughters.  Edith Margaret Yeo was born in Plymouth in 1877; Lilian Julia Yeo was born in Plymouth in 1878; and Kathline Mary Yeo (sic) was born in Plymouth in 1880.  The business was clearly doing well as in the census of April 3rd 1881 they were living in Hartley, Compton Gifford, which was then outside of the Borough of Plymouth, with a general domestic servant and a nurse maid.  Just after the census was taken Julia gave birth to their only son, Frank Russell Yeo.

Miss Kathline (or Kathleen) Mary Yeo died on April 11th 1886 and was buried at the Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Cemetery.

In 1893 John Yeo invited his nephew, Mr John Henry Beckly, to join him as partner in the business.  When the premises next door were vacated by Messrs Underwood and Company and the former Freemasons' Hall, they acquired it and extended the shop so that it had frontages on Cornwall Street, Bank Street, and East Street.

Mr Yeo, Liberal, was elected in 1895 to represent Drake's Ward on the Plymouth Borough Council.  Presumably this was after his tour of South Africa, which he made in that year.  Following the extension of the Borough and the re-arrangement of Wards he transferred to the Saint Andrew's Ward, where he remained for three years.  He retired from the Council in 1899 but was recalled in 1905 when he was chosen to be Mayor of Plymouth.  During thatterm of office the main drainage scheme for the Town was completed, along with the construction of Cattedown Wharf, and the extension of the Borough's Blackadon Asylum at Bittaford.  In his role he was ably supported by Mrs Yeo.  As Mayor Alderman Yeo, now a Justice of the Peace, also welcomed to the Town the Eighty-sixth Conference of the Bible Christian denomination and General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army.

In 1909 he was chosen to follow Mr A Edmund Spender as Mayor of Plymouth for the second time.  He hosted the Annual Conference of the Surveyors and Municipal Engineers of the Local Government Officers' Association; welcomed, influent French, a party of French journalists; hosted the Annual Conference of the Western Temperance League; and dealt with the local affairs of the Baptist Union, of which  he was a member and President on two occasions.  He was also President of the Town Mission on two  occasions.

One of the most important events in Mr Yeo's diary was the official opening of the Plymouth Public Free Library and Art Gallery in Tavistock Road.  Unfortunately, just as the building was completed and the opening day approaching Mr Yeo fell ill.  He went to Newquay to recuperate but while there, playing golf, a golf ball hit him on the knee causing inflammation and eventually a blood clot.  The official opening, originally scheduled for October 4th, had to be postponed for several weeks.  Mr Yeo retired from the Council in 1912 when his Aldermanic term of six years expired.

It should also be recorded that Mr Yeo held a Sunday School class every Sunday at Mutley Baptist Chapel, which had a weekly attendance of over one hundred.        

Mr John Yeo died on the evening of Tuesday May 7th 1918 at his residence, "Standerton", in Seymour Avenue, Plymouth.  The funeral service was held at George Street Baptist Chapel on Saturday May 10th 1918, led by the Reverend Banwell Bird.  The bearers were members of the George Street Baptist Ambulance Corps, under Mr W Wingate Miller.  The Mayor of Plymouth, Mr J P Brown, and the Town Clerk, Mr R J Fittall, were present.  The mourners were led by Mrs Price and Mr Frank Stearne Price, daughter and son-in-law; Mrs Cadman and the Reverend William Henry Cadman, daughter and son-in-law; Mr and Mrs J H Beckly; Mr Alfred Yeo, nephew; Mrs Russell Yeo, daughter-in-law; and Mr Henry Serpell, the biscuit manufacturer, who came down from Reading, Berkshire.  The deceased's only surviving brother, Mr Matthew Yeo, from Holsworthy, was unable to attend due to illness.  Mr Yeo's son, Mr Frank Russell Yeo, was not mentioned in the list of mourners as he was serving in the Great War. 

Control of the business, which was now employing 200 full-time staff, transferred to his son, Mr Frank Russell Yeo (1881-1936), and his nephew, Mr John Henry Beckly (1863-1932).