George Henry Gratton Mayor 1941-45 GEORGE Henry Gratton was born on June 11 1877 at Northlew, the second of 13 children of Andrew John Gratton and his wife Betsy Ann (née Brooking). After he left school at the age of eleven, he worked as a farm servant before becoming a stonemason like his father. In January 1902 he married Charity Voaden at the Bible Christian Chapel in Okehampton (in East Street where the end of Victoria Street is now). The newlyweds moved to Bude where their only daughter, Irene Grace, was born in 1904. He worked as a mason on the building of Flexbury Park United Methodist Free Church, Bude, while also buying building plots on the outskirts of Bude. Several of his brothers worked for him, and they built about 50 houses over the next ten years. In 1912 he bought Boasley Farm at Bratton Clovelly, and later the adjoining East Reed Farm, dividing the farms into smaller units with a house on each. In 1924 he joined with his eldest brother, William, to build houses in Croydon, Surrey. He continued to live at Boasley while building nearly 200 houses in Croydon. In 1927 the Oaklands Estate came up for sale back at Okehampton. He bought several plots of land for building, and in partnership with others thought to include the Okehampton builders Blatchford and Ash, Oaklands House. According to Kelly?s Directory of 1930, he and G K Blatchford were two of the chief landowners. His first houses in Okehampton were in Crediton Road, completed in late 1927. He began producing his own bricks at Knowle Quarry, and at the end of 1928 set up the Okehampton Brick and Stone Company Ltd to further develop the brickworks. The directory included two former mayors, George Kerslake Blatchford, builder, and William Brown Chamings, draper. The others were: himself (a director, life), his uncle John Brooking, builder of Northlew, and William Henry Hawking, farmer. Involved in all the legal work was John Jehu Newcombe, local solicitor and town Clerk. He bought Oaklands House outright in 1930 when the partnership put it up for sale again. He immediately started converting Oaklands into apartments, but work was interrupted after only six weeks when the house caught fire after being hit by lightning. He eventually moved into Oaklands in 1937. In 1938 he was persuaded to stand for the Okehampton Town Council. At that time he had already built over 70 houses, and also disposed of a further 70 plots allowing others to build their own homes. He was also farming a large area, some of which he intended to build on in the future. The properties he built included parts of Leaholes Avenue, Limehayes Road and Chichacott Road. By 1941, after only three years on the council, his hard work was recognised by his unanimous election as mayor, succeeding his cousin Harold Nicholas Brooking. Major-General Holley, his predecessor at Oaklands, had held the post of wartime mayor in the first world war. One of his pleasant early duties was greeting a local hero. Harry Reginald Horne, chief engineer of the Okehampton Fire Brigade, had been decorated by the King with the British Empire Medal for his brave conduct in the Plymouth Blitz. He was supported in all he did by his wife as mayoress. In February 1942 they fronted Okehampton Warship Week, which raised more than £152,000 to adopt a minesweeper, HMS Onyx. During the war, land in Oaklands Drive and the field always used for Okehampton Show were requisitioned for the war effort,with a motor transport depot and accommodation for troops, including Poles and Americans. Mayoral dinners were held at Oaklands, with guests, including army officers, the local MP George Lambert, and the Lord-Lieutenant, Earl Fortescue. He was a supporter of the Okehampton and District Agricultural Association, allowing use of the traditional Showfield before the war; selling it to the association after the war (and loaning them the money to buy it). He was president of the association in 1949. He was also president of Okehampton and District Fatstock Society and Okehampton and District Garden and Allotments Show, and served on the managing committee of the Okehampton and District Hospitals until the advent of the National Health Service in 1948. He was a lifelong Methodist, and served as steward or circuit steward at Bude, Northlew and Okehampton. Visiting preachers were often entertained to luncheon at Oaklands. In 1952, to celebrate their golden wedding, he and his wife presented a new vestry and cloakroom to Northlew Methodist Church, and in 1954 presented a hall to the Okehampton Methodist Church at Fairplace, which is still known as the Gratton Hall. He died at Oaklands on March 9 1958. The mayor (Harry Reginald Horne BEM) described him as ?probably Okehampton?s greatest speculative builder since 1918?, and said he could well be judged by the working tools of his trade ? the square, level and plumb rule. He was square in conduct, level in values, and upright in intentions.