The Cottage, Great Linford
The Cottage, Great Linford
The house known today as The Cottage is located on the east side of the High Street, adjacent to Church Farm Crescent. The book A Guide to the Historic Buildings of Milton Keynes (1986, Paul Woodfield, Milton Keynes Development Corporation) contains the following description of the house.
The core of the building is a two-bay two-storey timber framed cottage of the 17th century, to which has been added extensive wings, one bay to the south in the 18th century and later, one bay to the north end. Both have received rear outbuildings and a forward wing in the mid-late 19th century. Late 19th century porch. Tiled roofs with six gabled dormers with diamond lattice glazing in cross windows. Refurbished in 1977.
Though the above description does not identify The Cottage as a farmhouse, we have solid proof that it was, thanks to the tithe map of the parish compiled in 1840 (Buckinghamshire Archives Tithe/255.) This tells us that the house had 161 acres and 23 perches (an old measurement term) of land with a taxable value of £37 and 14 shillings, the entirety of which was in the ownership of the then Lord of the Manor, Henry Andrewes Uthwatt. The extract of the map below shows the farmstead labelled as #85 in the top right corner (coloured in red), along with three of the farm's fields, Turkey Lands (#43), the rather aptly named Triangle Close (#41) and Long Close (#40.)
1840 tithe map of Great Linford (Tithe/255) showing The Cottage farmstead and several fields. From the collections of Buckinghamshire Archives and reproduced with permission.
Included within the farmstead of The Cottage were a number of outbuildings coloured on the tithe map in grey, including a large barn now known as The Red Barn, which has been converted into a house. A Guide to the Historic Buildings of Milton Keynes has the following description. As will be observed, it makes reference to the barn as part of Crescent Farm. This farmstead adjacent to The Cottage was previously known as Great Linford House, and it does seem that in later years, the barn was reassigned to this property.
A substantial brick barn of the late 18th century-early 19th century, formally with Crescent Farm and now discreetly converted to a house. It is of five bays with central opposed cart doors and slit vents to the west side and owl hole in the gable. The walls are of 450mm brickwork suggesting it was intended for storing threshed grain rather than corn on the ear. Double purlin roof with collar and raking struts.
An owl hole is exactly what it sounds like, a hole intended to allow owls and other predatory birds to enter the barn as a way of controlling vermin.
The Red Barn.
The Hawleys
The tithe map shows that the farm was in the tenancy of a James Hawley, though it seems he was burdened with a rather curiously haphazard allocation of land, that must have been a challenge to farm both efficiently and profitably. One orphaned field even abutted Linford Wood, while one named Westward Little Marsh was located to the rear of the Manor House, and another called Rick Shepherds broadly covered much of the area now occupied by the village cricket pitch.
Any perceived problems aside, James was a tenant of long standing, as we can plausibly push his occupancy back to at least 1808, thanks to the existence of a deed (Buckinghamshire Archives D-U/1/27) drawn up that year by the Uthwatts of Great Linford Manor. This names James Hawley as the occupier of one hundred and thirty acres, three roods and 18 perches of land, as well as a messuage, an old word for a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. Though the house itself is not named, the fields are, and several of these match those assigned to James on the 1840 tithe map, fields such as Back Close, Long Close, Neathill and the rather evocative sounding Turkey Lands. Further evidence for the tenancy of James is offered by a Grant of annuity by the Pelican Life Insurance Company with release of annuity, 1815, 1812-1815) held by Buckinghamshire Archives (D-U/1/27.) This includes the information that James Hawley was in the occupation of lands exactly matching the acreage described in the 1808 deed.
When first we encounter James and his wife Elizabeth on a census record in 1841, both are recorded as aged 80, an impressive achievement, but we have to be somewhat circumspect about this. They might not quite have achieved the grand distinction of becoming octogenarians, as the 1841 census enumerators were instructed to round up or down ages to the nearest five years. Luckily, we have several other pieces of evidence that corroborates this milestone, including a particularly solid one in the form of their time worn but still partly legible gravestone in Saint Andrew's churchyard. The dates are particularly weathered, but we can tease out that James was 89 when he passed away in 1847 and Elizabeth was 81 when she died in 1841; illustrating just how haphazard records can be from this period, the parish burial records record James as aged 90 on his death, and Elizabeth aged 82.
The 1841 census confirms that James was a farmer and also that he was born outside the county of Buckinghamshire, though this document was not designed to elaborate where. This is not particularly helpful as an examination of surviving parish baptism records turns up several contenders born circa 1760. The one that seems the best match is a James Hawley baptised March 8th, 1758, at Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire. If this is indeed our James, we can count ourselves lucky that his parents William and Ann were nonconformists, a religious denomination who often wrote quite detailed baptismal records. From this we discover that the family lived in the hamlet of Pury End.
The origins of Elizabeth Harley can be determined with far more certainty. She and James married at Great Linford on May 2nd, 1780, from which record we learn that Elizabeth's maiden name was Johnson. An Elizabeth Johnson, the daughter of a John and Ann, was baptised in Great Linford on November 13th, 1759. Using a combination of baptism and census records we can confirm that all nine of the couple’s known children were born in Great Linford, between 1782 and 1803. The records however lack the detail to identify the house they then called home, though it seems very likely to have been The Cottage.
Most of their children survived well into old age and married, but their first son William must have had an adventurous spirit, which would ultimately prove his undoing. Several newspapers including the Morning Herald of London (Oct 12th, 1802) provide the intriguing notice that he had died at Sierra Leone on June 4th. He was just 20 years of age. Unfortunately, we do not know for certain what had taken him to the southwest coast of Africa, but at around this time a large number of freed slaves were in the process of being settled in Sierra Leone, an ill-advised project that caused a great many deaths due to disease and local hostility. It is not impossible that William had joined the Navy and was involved in this benighted endeavour, reports in the press speaking of several attacks on the beleaguered colony, including one in April of 1802. Violence or disease seems them to have been the likely cause of William’s demise.
In 1839, a series of malicious fires were reported in the county of Buckinghamshire that appeared to be targeting farmers' stack yards. A stack yard is defined as a yard or field containing straw or grain in stacks, so one might say there was a cereal arsonist on the loose. But joking aside, it was a serious matter and great concern was expressed in newspapers, with reports carried as far afield as Dublin. Under the alarming headline, "Dreadful state of the North of Bucks", the Weekly Chronicle of London reported that James was targeted on the night of December 2nd "by the same diabolical means" as precious attacks. Though a reward of £200 was offered to anyone who could assist in apprehending the perpetrator, there seems to be no record of an arrest. James was luckier than the previous victims as the fire was discovered and extinguished before great damage could be done.
After the passing of James and Elizabeth, it was the couple's third son John, born 1787, who took over the farm. We find him on the 1851 census, described as a farmer of 160 acres employing six labourers. His address is a given as "near the green", which clearly along with the virtually identical acreage of his farm to the figure given on the tithe map, points strongly to the continued tenancy of The Cottage by the Hawleys.
Also present in John's household on the 1851 census was his brother Charles, plying a trade as a butcher and two servants, local man George Conquest and Ann Clifton, from Lavendon. Finally, we have the Hawley brothers' widowed sister, Sophia Hutchinson, described as a housekeeper. Sophie had married Samuel Hutchinson on August 4th, 1823, at Great Linford, but he had passed away in 1827, leaving her to raise their only child Harriet, born 1824 at Hanslope.
The 1853 Musson and Craven's trade directory entry for the village reveals that the Hawleys were developing into a family with considerable clout as businessmen in the village. John and Charles are listed together as "Farmers and Butchers", while another sibling, Thomas (who was living on the High Street) was a "Beer retailer, butcher and shopkeeper." The Kelly's directory of 1854 lists John and Charles individually, both as farmers, and with Thomas as a butcher only, though it is probably prudent not to read too much into the fluctuating job titles, as the compiling of directories was a rather haphazard process.
But change was afoot, and it seems apparent that Sophia next assumed the tenancy, having outlived Charles who died in 1858 and John, who passed away the followed year. She is to be found on the 1861 census, described as a farmer of 165 acres, employing six labourers and four boys. Again, the acreage ascribed to her is as close as makes no difference to the earlier figures, and that her address is given as The Green makes it all but certain that she was occupying the farmstead now known as The Cottage.
Sophia is to be found in the Post Office Kelly's directory of 1864, described as a farmer, though as is typical for these directories, no place of business or residence is named. Sophie is afforded the same description in the edition of 1869, but this would be her last appearance, as she had passed away on January 2nd, 1869, at Great Linford, presumably making this entry a posthumous one.
Any perceived problems aside, James was a tenant of long standing, as we can plausibly push his occupancy back to at least 1808, thanks to the existence of a deed (Buckinghamshire Archives D-U/1/27) drawn up that year by the Uthwatts of Great Linford Manor. This names James Hawley as the occupier of one hundred and thirty acres, three roods and 18 perches of land, as well as a messuage, an old word for a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. Though the house itself is not named, the fields are, and several of these match those assigned to James on the 1840 tithe map, fields such as Back Close, Long Close, Neathill and the rather evocative sounding Turkey Lands. Further evidence for the tenancy of James is offered by a Grant of annuity by the Pelican Life Insurance Company with release of annuity, 1815, 1812-1815) held by Buckinghamshire Archives (D-U/1/27.) This includes the information that James Hawley was in the occupation of lands exactly matching the acreage described in the 1808 deed.
When first we encounter James and his wife Elizabeth on a census record in 1841, both are recorded as aged 80, an impressive achievement, but we have to be somewhat circumspect about this. They might not quite have achieved the grand distinction of becoming octogenarians, as the 1841 census enumerators were instructed to round up or down ages to the nearest five years. Luckily, we have several other pieces of evidence that corroborates this milestone, including a particularly solid one in the form of their time worn but still partly legible gravestone in Saint Andrew's churchyard. The dates are particularly weathered, but we can tease out that James was 89 when he passed away in 1847 and Elizabeth was 81 when she died in 1841; illustrating just how haphazard records can be from this period, the parish burial records record James as aged 90 on his death, and Elizabeth aged 82.
The 1841 census confirms that James was a farmer and also that he was born outside the county of Buckinghamshire, though this document was not designed to elaborate where. This is not particularly helpful as an examination of surviving parish baptism records turns up several contenders born circa 1760. The one that seems the best match is a James Hawley baptised March 8th, 1758, at Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire. If this is indeed our James, we can count ourselves lucky that his parents William and Ann were nonconformists, a religious denomination who often wrote quite detailed baptismal records. From this we discover that the family lived in the hamlet of Pury End.
The origins of Elizabeth Harley can be determined with far more certainty. She and James married at Great Linford on May 2nd, 1780, from which record we learn that Elizabeth's maiden name was Johnson. An Elizabeth Johnson, the daughter of a John and Ann, was baptised in Great Linford on November 13th, 1759. Using a combination of baptism and census records we can confirm that all nine of the couple’s known children were born in Great Linford, between 1782 and 1803. The records however lack the detail to identify the house they then called home, though it seems very likely to have been The Cottage.
Most of their children survived well into old age and married, but their first son William must have had an adventurous spirit, which would ultimately prove his undoing. Several newspapers including the Morning Herald of London (Oct 12th, 1802) provide the intriguing notice that he had died at Sierra Leone on June 4th. He was just 20 years of age. Unfortunately, we do not know for certain what had taken him to the southwest coast of Africa, but at around this time a large number of freed slaves were in the process of being settled in Sierra Leone, an ill-advised project that caused a great many deaths due to disease and local hostility. It is not impossible that William had joined the Navy and was involved in this benighted endeavour, reports in the press speaking of several attacks on the beleaguered colony, including one in April of 1802. Violence or disease seems them to have been the likely cause of William’s demise.
In 1839, a series of malicious fires were reported in the county of Buckinghamshire that appeared to be targeting farmers' stack yards. A stack yard is defined as a yard or field containing straw or grain in stacks, so one might say there was a cereal arsonist on the loose. But joking aside, it was a serious matter and great concern was expressed in newspapers, with reports carried as far afield as Dublin. Under the alarming headline, "Dreadful state of the North of Bucks", the Weekly Chronicle of London reported that James was targeted on the night of December 2nd "by the same diabolical means" as precious attacks. Though a reward of £200 was offered to anyone who could assist in apprehending the perpetrator, there seems to be no record of an arrest. James was luckier than the previous victims as the fire was discovered and extinguished before great damage could be done.
After the passing of James and Elizabeth, it was the couple's third son John, born 1787, who took over the farm. We find him on the 1851 census, described as a farmer of 160 acres employing six labourers. His address is a given as "near the green", which clearly along with the virtually identical acreage of his farm to the figure given on the tithe map, points strongly to the continued tenancy of The Cottage by the Hawleys.
Also present in John's household on the 1851 census was his brother Charles, plying a trade as a butcher and two servants, local man George Conquest and Ann Clifton, from Lavendon. Finally, we have the Hawley brothers' widowed sister, Sophia Hutchinson, described as a housekeeper. Sophie had married Samuel Hutchinson on August 4th, 1823, at Great Linford, but he had passed away in 1827, leaving her to raise their only child Harriet, born 1824 at Hanslope.
The 1853 Musson and Craven's trade directory entry for the village reveals that the Hawleys were developing into a family with considerable clout as businessmen in the village. John and Charles are listed together as "Farmers and Butchers", while another sibling, Thomas (who was living on the High Street) was a "Beer retailer, butcher and shopkeeper." The Kelly's directory of 1854 lists John and Charles individually, both as farmers, and with Thomas as a butcher only, though it is probably prudent not to read too much into the fluctuating job titles, as the compiling of directories was a rather haphazard process.
But change was afoot, and it seems apparent that Sophia next assumed the tenancy, having outlived Charles who died in 1858 and John, who passed away the followed year. She is to be found on the 1861 census, described as a farmer of 165 acres, employing six labourers and four boys. Again, the acreage ascribed to her is as close as makes no difference to the earlier figures, and that her address is given as The Green makes it all but certain that she was occupying the farmstead now known as The Cottage.
Sophia is to be found in the Post Office Kelly's directory of 1864, described as a farmer, though as is typical for these directories, no place of business or residence is named. Sophie is afforded the same description in the edition of 1869, but this would be her last appearance, as she had passed away on January 2nd, 1869, at Great Linford, presumably making this entry a posthumous one.
Joseph Brimley
Sophia Hutchinson’s probate record was proven by a Samuel Brimley, a farmer of Bedford. It makes very good sense that Samuel should have been her executor, as he had married her daughter Harriot in 1847. Samuel's first wife Marianne Saunderson had passed in 1844, with Harriot becoming stepmother to two girls, Mary and Hannah, both of whom we find at Great Linford on the 1871 census.
We have another very close match in the particulars of the farm, at 162 acres employing six men and five boys, but there are also several oddities to be observed. First, Joseph Brimley is recorded at Great Linford, which would not be untoward if he was not also recorded at his farm at Willington, Bedfordshire. Clearly, he could not be in two places at once, but there may be clue in the Great Linford entry, as it omits his place of birth. It seems highly unlikely he would have been unable to provide this information to the enumerator had he been present, so might it be that his daughters had inadvertently provided the enumerator with false information that their father was on the premises at Great Linford, but lacked the crucial detail of his place of birth?
Another question mark raised by the census is the inclusion in the household of 79-year-old agricultural labourer Joseph Elliot, who in the column for "relation to head of family" offers that he is a father-in-law. This would seem to imply a third as yet unidentified marriage for Joseph Brimley. Unfortunately, while there is evidence that Joseph Elliot had a daughter, we cannot connect her by marriage to the Brimleys.
Exactly how Joseph Brimley was dividing his time between his two farms is also unclear, but it is telling that all but one of his eight children were born at a variety of locations in Bedfordshire. The exception was Clement Samuel Brimley, born December 18th, 1863, at Great Linford. The child was described as an unexpected "seven months" baby, the birth having occurred at the home of his maternal grandmother. This information comes from the inaugural March 1979 issue of The Journal of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, intriguingly called Brimleyana. There is, as will become clear, a very good reason for this.
We have another very close match in the particulars of the farm, at 162 acres employing six men and five boys, but there are also several oddities to be observed. First, Joseph Brimley is recorded at Great Linford, which would not be untoward if he was not also recorded at his farm at Willington, Bedfordshire. Clearly, he could not be in two places at once, but there may be clue in the Great Linford entry, as it omits his place of birth. It seems highly unlikely he would have been unable to provide this information to the enumerator had he been present, so might it be that his daughters had inadvertently provided the enumerator with false information that their father was on the premises at Great Linford, but lacked the crucial detail of his place of birth?
Another question mark raised by the census is the inclusion in the household of 79-year-old agricultural labourer Joseph Elliot, who in the column for "relation to head of family" offers that he is a father-in-law. This would seem to imply a third as yet unidentified marriage for Joseph Brimley. Unfortunately, while there is evidence that Joseph Elliot had a daughter, we cannot connect her by marriage to the Brimleys.
Exactly how Joseph Brimley was dividing his time between his two farms is also unclear, but it is telling that all but one of his eight children were born at a variety of locations in Bedfordshire. The exception was Clement Samuel Brimley, born December 18th, 1863, at Great Linford. The child was described as an unexpected "seven months" baby, the birth having occurred at the home of his maternal grandmother. This information comes from the inaugural March 1979 issue of The Journal of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, intriguingly called Brimleyana. There is, as will become clear, a very good reason for this.
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A directory issued by Harrod and Co in 1876 makes no mention of Joseph, but this seems to be a simple case of omission, as the Kelly's directory of 1877 does include an entry for Joseph. The Brimleys were not however to retain their connection to Great Linford for much longer, nor indeed to Bedford, or even the country, as on December 31st, 1880, the Brimleys arrived at New York having crossed the Atlantic by steamer. Farms had not been doing well in the 1870s, several bad seasons having depressed prices to an all time low, and Joseph and his wife Harriet took the momentous decision to emigrate to Northern Carolina in the United States. Clement Samuel Brimley, who was one of the children who accompanied his parents, made quite the reputation for himself in the state, a self-taught zoologist who worked at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and even had a species of frog named after him, Brimley's Chorus Frog. His brother Herbert Hutchinson Brimley was also a zoologist and a long-time director of the Museum of Natural Sciences.
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Clement Samuel Brimley (1863-1946)
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John Clode
Yet despite the great distance that separated the Brimleys from Great Linford, the name lingered on for a time, as is demonstrated by a newspaper advertisement carried in the Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette of September 25th, 1883. The advert was occasioned by the departure of a John Clode from "Brimley's Farm", necessitating a sale of livestock and crops, including "34 head of well-bred cow stock."
The Clodes were a significant family in the village, having arrived from Windsor in the 1830s and subsequently acquired the tenancy to Great Linford House, a grand property now lost to posterity, having once occupied the land now given over to Church Farm Crescent.
John Clode had been noted in the 1881 census as a farmer of 195 acres at an unarmed farm and given that Great Linford House had only a few dozen acres of land to its name, we might reasonably speculate that since Brimleys Farm was a directly neighbouring property, the two parcels of land were being treated as a single tenancy.
The advertisement of 1883 represents the first and only time the name "Brimleys Farm” has been discovered in use, and for a time thereafter it becomes problematic to be sure who was occupying the farmstead. The census of 1891 census does not carry on the practice of noting the acreage of farms, so we are denied that comparison, but John Clode, who is now a “retired gentleman”, is still present in the village with his family, including son Herbert, who is described as a grazier. Perhaps Herbert was working the land associated with The Cottage at this time, but no evidence has been found that can corroborate this theory.
The Clodes were a significant family in the village, having arrived from Windsor in the 1830s and subsequently acquired the tenancy to Great Linford House, a grand property now lost to posterity, having once occupied the land now given over to Church Farm Crescent.
John Clode had been noted in the 1881 census as a farmer of 195 acres at an unarmed farm and given that Great Linford House had only a few dozen acres of land to its name, we might reasonably speculate that since Brimleys Farm was a directly neighbouring property, the two parcels of land were being treated as a single tenancy.
The advertisement of 1883 represents the first and only time the name "Brimleys Farm” has been discovered in use, and for a time thereafter it becomes problematic to be sure who was occupying the farmstead. The census of 1891 census does not carry on the practice of noting the acreage of farms, so we are denied that comparison, but John Clode, who is now a “retired gentleman”, is still present in the village with his family, including son Herbert, who is described as a grazier. Perhaps Herbert was working the land associated with The Cottage at this time, but no evidence has been found that can corroborate this theory.
William John Samuel
The 1901 census is significant for several reasons. First, it lists the farmstead as "The Cottage", the first time it has been found afforded the name, and secondly, it seems that its occupant is not a farmer. His name was William John Samuel, a Land Agent, probably in the employ of the Uthwatts. Previously he had lived at Ivy House, on the page for which you will find more about his life story. He is listed at The Cottage in the 1903 and 1907 editions of the Kelly's trade directory, but by 1911 had moved to Bedford.
The Adlercons
In 1909, The Field Magazine of February 20th carried an intriguing advertisement, stating that a gentleman wished to highly recommend his groom, essentially then a public reference for a future employer. The unnamed groom was described as a good rider, and thoroughly trustworthy. Interested persons were instructed to contact G.R.A at The Cottage. But who was G.R.A?
A valuation office survey map for the parish produced in 1910 (Buckinghamshire Archives DVD/2/X/5) names the owner of The Cottage, numbered 8 and described as a "house + garden" as William Uthwatt of The Manor. The occupant is named as a Miss Adlercron, whom we can identify As Dorothea Salesbury Adlercron, born March 23rd, 1881 at Killiney in Ireland. Her father was George Rothe Ladeveze Adlercron, a member of the landed gentry who owned Killiney Castle. Dorothea's mother was Elisnare Aloyse Lilias of the De Blonay family of Switzerland.
This then seems to solve the mystery of who G.R.A was, though not why the family should have chosen to make their home at The Cottage. Though Dorothea (not her father) is named in the 1911 census summary book as a resident of The Cottage, she was not there on the actual evening of the census, though her cook. Winifred Harriet Buckridge was, as was a parlour maid, Ida Beatrice Bullimore.
A valuation office survey map for the parish produced in 1910 (Buckinghamshire Archives DVD/2/X/5) names the owner of The Cottage, numbered 8 and described as a "house + garden" as William Uthwatt of The Manor. The occupant is named as a Miss Adlercron, whom we can identify As Dorothea Salesbury Adlercron, born March 23rd, 1881 at Killiney in Ireland. Her father was George Rothe Ladeveze Adlercron, a member of the landed gentry who owned Killiney Castle. Dorothea's mother was Elisnare Aloyse Lilias of the De Blonay family of Switzerland.
This then seems to solve the mystery of who G.R.A was, though not why the family should have chosen to make their home at The Cottage. Though Dorothea (not her father) is named in the 1911 census summary book as a resident of The Cottage, she was not there on the actual evening of the census, though her cook. Winifred Harriet Buckridge was, as was a parlour maid, Ida Beatrice Bullimore.
Valuation Office Survey map 1910 (DVD/2/X/5) showing the cottage, labelled 8. From the collection of Buckinghamshire Archives and reproduced with permission.
We cannot identify where Dorothea was on the night of the census, but we do also know that she shared The Cottage with at least one of her sisters, Amelia Meliora Ladereze Adlercron, born 1883 in Switzerland. We know this as she was registered to vote at the address, along with her sister, in 1913, placing the pair amongst a very limited number of woman then entitled to do so. Dorothea passed away on May 19th, 1913, quite possibly at The Cottage, as the probate abstract for her will records it as her residence, and the death was registered in the Newport Pagnell district, which included Great Linford.
Amelia was still living at The Cottage a few months after the passing of her sister. A notice of her marriage to Cecil Courtenay Lucas of the Royal Horse Artillery was carried in the North Bucks Times and County Observer of August 9th and places her at The Cottage, further observing that due to mourning, presumably for Dorothea, the ceremony would, "take place very quietly at St. Matthew's Church, Westminster, on the 19th." We can presume that with her marriage, Amelia departed The Cottage to reside in London. She was still registered at the cottage in 1914, though the couple had a child in London in 1915.
Referring back to 1910 valuation office survey map, this confirms that The Cottage had now ceased to be a working farm, with no land associated with it and the converted barn on Woad Lane (labelled as 9 and now known as the Red Barn) then in the occupancy of Messrs Grimes and Fowler of Windmill Hill farm, located further along the High Street.
Amelia was still living at The Cottage a few months after the passing of her sister. A notice of her marriage to Cecil Courtenay Lucas of the Royal Horse Artillery was carried in the North Bucks Times and County Observer of August 9th and places her at The Cottage, further observing that due to mourning, presumably for Dorothea, the ceremony would, "take place very quietly at St. Matthew's Church, Westminster, on the 19th." We can presume that with her marriage, Amelia departed The Cottage to reside in London. She was still registered at the cottage in 1914, though the couple had a child in London in 1915.
Referring back to 1910 valuation office survey map, this confirms that The Cottage had now ceased to be a working farm, with no land associated with it and the converted barn on Woad Lane (labelled as 9 and now known as the Red Barn) then in the occupancy of Messrs Grimes and Fowler of Windmill Hill farm, located further along the High Street.
Charles Brett Purvis
The electoral roll for 1918 places a Charles Brett Purvis and his mother Mary Seton Purvis, nee Jackson, at The Cottage, but the family must have been occupying the cottage by at least 1917, as Charles's brother Ronald Montague Purvis was killed in action on March 14th that year, north of Bagdad, and his entry in De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour records Mary Seton Purvis at The Cottage.
Obituary of Ronald Montague Purvis from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour.
The 1911 census records Charles as a Second Lieutenant (serving in Malta) with the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and by 1939, when a mini census was conducted on the eve of World War 2, he was a retired Major. Charles had been born on January 15th, 1889 at Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Charles Hotham Purvis of the 17th lancers. In fact, this was a family with the military very much in its blood, though previous generations had gone to sea; going back a further generation we find Richard Purvis, who had achieved the rank of admiral, as had his father John Brett Purvis before him.
On November 20th, 1919, Mary Seton Purvis, then aged 64, passed away at The Cottage, with a notice to this effect placed in The Times newspaper of December 2nd. Her probate record confirms her address as The Cottage, and that Charles had at this point in his career achieved the rank of Captain. Mary was not buried at Great Linford, with the funeral taking place at ightham in Kent. It seems that Charles moved away from Great Linford shortly afterward, as we find him getting married in London on June 21st 1920, the record of the marriage recording his abode as Stirling Castle, presumably where he was then serving.
Henry Rogers Bentham
There is no one registered as a voter at The Cottage in 1920 and 1921, but this certainly should not be taken to imply it was unoccupied; the occupants may simply have neglected to register. Interestingly however, The Times newspaper of February 5th, 1921, carried a brief notice that the leasehold interest of The Cottage had been sold, the advertisement describing it as a "picturesque residence with good shooting."
We can be sure from the 1921 census that the occupants that year were Henry Rogers Bentham, a widowed insurance clerk and his two daughters, Violet Mary (aged 37) and Kathleen Frances (aged 29.) The 1921 census also tells us that though Violet was not working, her sister was a classical music teacher at a girls' school in Lincoln. We also learn that the Benthams had a servant, Elsie Lilian Welford.
Henry and Violet appear on the electoral rolls from 1922 through to 1931, the last year for which records have been examined. They are joined in 1929 by an Ellen Maud Ridgeway, likely another servant, a person of this name having been born at Stantonbury in 1907. Ellen married in 1929, after which it was typically expected for a woman to leave domestic service. A new servant then joined the household, Ethel Lane.
Henry appears in the Kelly's trade directory of 1931 listed as a "private resident", placing him at the apex of village society, alongside the rector and the Uthwatts, from which we can infer that The Cottage was a very desirable property in the village.
For reasons unknown the Benthams departed The Cottage circa 1931, moving to Ravenstone, where Henry passed away in 1936. A brief note of his passing carried in the Wolverton Express of September 18th, observes that in his 15 years' residence of North Bucks he had been actively associated with Church work as a lay reader, meaning a person authorized to lead certain services of worship and carry out pastoral and teaching functions.
We can be sure from the 1921 census that the occupants that year were Henry Rogers Bentham, a widowed insurance clerk and his two daughters, Violet Mary (aged 37) and Kathleen Frances (aged 29.) The 1921 census also tells us that though Violet was not working, her sister was a classical music teacher at a girls' school in Lincoln. We also learn that the Benthams had a servant, Elsie Lilian Welford.
Henry and Violet appear on the electoral rolls from 1922 through to 1931, the last year for which records have been examined. They are joined in 1929 by an Ellen Maud Ridgeway, likely another servant, a person of this name having been born at Stantonbury in 1907. Ellen married in 1929, after which it was typically expected for a woman to leave domestic service. A new servant then joined the household, Ethel Lane.
Henry appears in the Kelly's trade directory of 1931 listed as a "private resident", placing him at the apex of village society, alongside the rector and the Uthwatts, from which we can infer that The Cottage was a very desirable property in the village.
For reasons unknown the Benthams departed The Cottage circa 1931, moving to Ravenstone, where Henry passed away in 1936. A brief note of his passing carried in the Wolverton Express of September 18th, observes that in his 15 years' residence of North Bucks he had been actively associated with Church work as a lay reader, meaning a person authorized to lead certain services of worship and carry out pastoral and teaching functions.
George Rose
There is something of a paucity of documents in the following years, and so it is necessary to jump forward to the mini census of 1939. Here we find a new occupant of The Cottage, though not a new occupant of the village. George Rose and his wife had arrived in the village circa 1891 when they literally set up shop, running the general store from the house on the High Street now known as The Old Post Office. George had been born at Western Underwood in Buckinghamshire on September 22nd, 1864. He was married to Elizabeth Perkins, also a native of Western Underwood, in 1891. The couple had four children together, all born at Great Linford.
Elizabeth passed away in 1927, with George following on January 5th, 1946, and though his probate record does not record his exact address, it seems highly likely it was The Cottage. Though they had made their home at Great Linford and raised a family there, George and Elizabeth elected to be buried together at the place of their birth, Western Underwood, where a joint gravestone can still be seen in St. Lawrence churchyard.
It is of passing interest that The Cottage was home to persons from such a wide cross section of society, most notably in these modern times of such hardship in the housing market, that an insurance clerk and a grocer had amassed the funds to afford to live there.
Here the available records come to an end, and for now the more recent history of The Cottage must wait for the discovery of further information.
Elizabeth passed away in 1927, with George following on January 5th, 1946, and though his probate record does not record his exact address, it seems highly likely it was The Cottage. Though they had made their home at Great Linford and raised a family there, George and Elizabeth elected to be buried together at the place of their birth, Western Underwood, where a joint gravestone can still be seen in St. Lawrence churchyard.
It is of passing interest that The Cottage was home to persons from such a wide cross section of society, most notably in these modern times of such hardship in the housing market, that an insurance clerk and a grocer had amassed the funds to afford to live there.
Here the available records come to an end, and for now the more recent history of The Cottage must wait for the discovery of further information.
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