The Welton News and Views back catalogue contains a collection of ‘spotlight’ articles on people with a historic connection to Welton. Lord Chesham was one of these figures.
If you have walked back up into Welton from the canal via Crockwell Farm and crossroads, you may have noticed the headstone set just behind the hedge and across a cattle grid at the entrance to Welton Grange Farm, just on the bend of the gated road.
The headstone commemorates the death of Lord Chesham after a fall from his horse, however there is more to this than meets the eye.
The inscription reads:
This cross marks the place where C. Compton W, 3rd Baron Chesham
met his death while hunting with the Pytchley Hounds
9th November 1907, aged 56
Erected by his friends …
Except of course that this was NOT the place where Chesham fell!
In fact, Lord Chesham fell from his horse near Daventry Reservoir, in a field which was at that time part of Monksmoor Farm. An eyewitness account of the accident reported:
‘It was a fine Saturday afternoon with a field of anything from 700 to 800 [?] with about 200 second horsemen. Lord Chesham was taking a fence near Daventry Reservoir when the horse put his foot in a blind ditch. Lord Chesham was thrown bodily, landing on the back of his neck which was dislocated, and he died instantly. His body was taken to Holdenby House.’
With the passing of time, hedges were grubbed up, Daventry expanded, and the headstone was moved to a corner of the farmyard.
Who was Lord Chesham?
Born in 1850 in Piccadilly, Lord Chesham was Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rdBaron Chesham and a prominent British Army officer, courter and Conservative politician. He had fought in the Boer War in South Africa.
He belonged to one of England’s most powerful aristocratic dynasties – the Cavendish family, led by the Dukes of Devonshire. He was directly related to Sir Wiliam Cavendish and his wife, Bess of Hardwick, famed for Bolsover Castle and Hardwick Hall.
Lord Chesham was succeeded by his second son, John who was just 13 years old at the time, his eldest son having pre-deceased him, killed in the Boer War aged 21.
During his lifetime, he served in the Coldsteam Guards and, after his retirement from the regular army, became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry. He was reportedly a charismatic man, liked by his peers and those who worked for or served alongside him. It was in this role within the Yeomanry that he raised a regiment to fight in the Boer War (1880-81 and 1899-1902).
Following a string of humiliating defeats in the second (and bloodier) Boer War during December 1899, Cavendish, alongside the Earl of Lonsdale, offered to raise a volunteer regiment of mobile, mounted infantry to counter the fast-riding Afrikaaner Boer commandos. Led by Cavendish, the battalion sailed in January 1900 – indicating that the regiment was swiftly raised and mobilised.
The 10th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, to give them their full title, were engaged at the Relief of Kimberley, Battle of Lindley and in a range of operations to dislodge Boer forces from the rocky hills or ‘koppies’ across central South Africa. Cavendish was mentioned twice in dispatches for bravery.
During his tour of duty, Lord Chesham’s wife, Lady Beatrice, and his daughter, Lilah, travelled to South Africa and were instrumental in funding and organising the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital to care for the thousands of sick and wounded volunteer soldiers. Lady Beatrice was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her efforts.
So how did the headstone come to be placed on Welton Grange Farm?
Amongst the many volunteers from his friends from the farming and hunting communities were members of two local families: the father of Gilbert Tebbitt and a Mr John Nichols, uncle to a Welton resident of the 1980s, John Nichols, of Crockwell farm.
For his part in the Boer War, Mr G. Tebbitt was awarded the Queen’s Medal. He also received a beautifully carved pipe bearing the insignia of the Imperial Yeomanry and the years 1900-1901 as well as 37th Company. At the base of the bowl were his initials: G.W.T. It is thought that this pipe was given by local people as a memento of his service to his country.
It is thought that Mr Tebbitt was out hunting with Lord Chesham on the day of his death. Given their close association, it seems probable that it was Mr Tebbitt who arranged for the headstone to be moved to Welton Grange farm from its rather neglected position in the yard of Monksmoor Farm. Since Welton Grange Farm was home of the Tebbitt family from 1907, we can surmise that the headstone was moved some time after 1907.
Lord Chesham is buried in Latimer in Buckinghamshire, and there is another memorial to him, a stone column and trough, in Brixworth – erected by friends and fellow members of the Pytchley Hunt.
The Welton News and Views back catalogue contains a fascinating collection of ‘spotlight’ articles of members of the community, one of whom was Fred Day – aka The Bee-Man of Welton.
In 1986 Welton News and Views ran a feature on Fred Day – otherwise known as Fred: the Bee- Man of Welton.
A resident of The Paddock, Fred developed a fascination with bees almost by accident in 1942 when, as a caretaker for a college of Further Education, a Science teacher introduced him to his bees, asking Fred to help him collect a swarm which had settled behind the college.
This was the first time Fred had even seen a swarm, never mind collected one!
It was established (though at the time of writing, it is not clear how that was done) that the swarm did not belong to the college, so Fred was ‘persuaded’ to purchase a second-hand hive and, with the help of the teacher, ‘hived’ the swarm, which now seemed to be his – as far as a swarm of bees can be! The story continued that, during the following summer the science teacher went on holiday, took up another post and never returned. His bees were neglected and died
This is particularly shocking to a 21st century reader, knowing the ongoing concern about the dwindling bee population and the effect that has on the fertilisation of plants and crops.
Fred’s swarm however survived, and so, drawing on the support of a friend who also kept bees, a self-help book “Beekeeping for Beginners’ and joining the Rugby Bee Keepers Association, Fred got stuck in (metaphorically, of course!).
Fred took both the theory (winter) course – when bees are inactive, and the active course (summer) when the bees were buzzing! He took examinations in both and passed at the end of that year – though it was not a painless process. As Fred put it, he ‘got well and truly stung’ despite wearing the full beekeeper suit and hood! However, over time he gradually built up an immunity to the stings so that he hardly had any swelling at all after being ‘got’… fortunately for him!
Bee keeping in the 1950s. Not Fred. At least we don’t think so, hard to say
The passing of the first set of exams was only the beginning. By 1945 Fred had 4 hives and provided guidance and support to other bee-keepers. He later acquired 3 further hives. He also kept one ‘spare’ hive in case of a swarm and in this way was highly successful – never having to buy a bee! (Q: How do you buy a bee? A: Carefully!)
The amount of honey from a hive varies according to the conditions of the season: in 1984 Fred produced over 400lbs of honey from hawthorn, lime and rapeseed; whereas in 1985 the harvest was down to 22lbs.
Fred became a member of the Warwickshire Bee-Keepers Association, which gave him life membership after almost 50 years of his involvement with the group.
Some Welton residents continue in 2026 to manage beehives in their garden. Given the ongoing national concern regarding bee populations, it is worth saying a big thank you to those members of our community… and for the rest of us, a reminder to plant wherever possible plants in your gardens that are bee / insect friendly, maintaining ponds and creating bee friendly shelters.
For more information see the Friends of the Earth who have a guide for bee-friendly gardening: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/nature/gardening-bees
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This is a tale of strange memorabilia and a journey of discovery!
A current resident of Lion House (part of the wider Red Lion property) shared with the History Group an intriguing discovery: a strange collection of memorabilia in a dusty box left by a previous owner and found at the back of the loft. There were no previously known names associated with the objects, all of which were deeply personal and covered a time span across over twenty years.
It was a mystery: who owned them? Who had left them there?
And would we ever be able to work out how they related to the Old Red Lion?
Initial scrutiny of the objects suggested occupation at some time post 1948 of a family who had travelled in or from India and may have had a French or Belgian connection as some artwork by a child, included in the list below, clearly had a surname suggestive of these countries.
A selection of items discovered in the Red Lion loft included:
Photograph of a man c.1930s, taken abroad
Photograph of a woman – c.1900 perhaps
Photograph of a man wearing glasses, and the same man with a woman
Photograph of a girl – possibly Marguerite or her daughter
Child’s drawing labelled “slightly wounded” by Felix Augier + writing by F. Augier dated 9‑11‑16 *
Signature by Marguerite Muriel Augier
Drawing of The Man in the Moon by Clare Augier *
Cartoon – “Why wasn’t I born a man?” signed Gladys M. Saint‑Yves *
Drawing of a basket of flowers signed by Stella Delanougerede, 21 October 1910 *
Menu for Landfall Dinner in Tourist B (1948?)
Timings for sailing between Howrah (27 July 1948) and Bombay (29 July 1948) on S.S. Ormonde
* Denotes items found in the autograph book
*Denotes found in autograph book
Our investigation began with online searches and what a story we uncovered!
📘 SS Ormonde – Background Note - click to read
Note: Built on Clydebank in 1914, the SS Ormonde was constructed as an Orient Liner for the Britain–Australia route. In October 1917 she was requisitioned as a troop transport, then refurbished in 1919 back at Clydebank as a passenger liner. During the 1930s she was converted to One Class, carrying 770 Tourist Class passengers, and later transported post‑war migrants. She was again requisitioned during WWII, with berths for over 1,560 troops.
In 1947 she was chartered by the British Ministry of Transport for the government‑supported emigrant scheme to Australia, with capacity for 1,052 passengers, departing Tilbury on 10 October 1947 after a £270,000 refit. She was scrapped in December 1950.
How items linked to her sailings to Australia via India came to be in the Red Lion remains a mystery. Could some WWI‑era objects relate to Belgian refugees who stayed in Welton and attended school? Might the family have returned post‑war? Or could the items belong to someone who sailed back to England, possibly from Australia via Bombay?
How items associated with her sailings to Australia via India came to be in the Red Lion was a mystery:
Could some of the WW1 period items link to Belgian refugees who stayed in Welton and attended school here?
Could the family have returned to visit post war?
Could items link to a family who sailed back to England possibly from Australia via Bombay?
Our investigations moved on to a search around the names on some of the items focusing on the Augier family name, in particular Felix, Claire and Marguerite Muriel.
Unpicking the puzzle
We began by discovering a Find My Past record for Marguerite Augier born on 28th October 1905. She died in Daventry in 1996. This was the name written on one of the documents listed above and found in the Red Lion attic.
We also found a marriage record for a Stella Marie de Delanougere in 1928 lodged with the British India Offices (Marriage) in Calcutta. She married Claude Stanislaus Augier – Marguerite’s father. Stella was the sister of Maud Adeliade Augier, who was Marguerite’s mother!
Further to the items linked to Felix Augier, we found a May 1949 newspaper clipping describing a quite horrid end to one Felix Augier on Saturday February 26th, 1949. The report began with hidden stores of bomb‑making equipment found in British‑run engineering works in Calcutta, which at that time was being intimidated by anonymous figures.
Letters were being sent to executives, technicians and foremen, building on ongoing attacks on British subjects working in India, believed to be the work of the outlawed Revolutionary Communism Party, then around 30,000 strong. The article linked this discovery with an earlier attack at Jessops Ironworks at Dum Dum the previous February.
Three Britons had reportedly been battered to death and their bodies thrown into furnaces. Two further massacres had been foiled. “Remember Jessops” had been scrawled onto factory walls as part of this intimidation.
The Dum Dum massacre received much publicity and was raised in Parliament. The attack began around 11am on Saturday 26th February 1949. Workers were quietly warned to “make themselves scarce” and men were seen picking up crowbars, shovels and spanners. A labourer tossed a bomb through the office door before the foreman was “levelled with a crowbar.”
More home‑made bombs were thrown. As British employees ran for safety, Indian workers set up machine guns on the roof. Outside, three foremen scrambled for their lives. One, Felix Augier, was repeatedly battered as he fought his way toward an office. He sustained severe head injuries and gashes to his arms. The newspaper reported that “he fell, gasping his last words ‘They have finished me’ before he died.”
Could this be Felix who drew and wrote the documents found in The Red Lion? We decided to dig deeper…
A record for the birth of Felix Reginald Augier in India, on November 27th, 1906, at Cossipore, Bengal in India to Clarence Stanislaus Augier and Maud Adelaide Augier answered our question - we now knew that the Felix who had written his name on our discovered documents was a brother to Marguerite Muriel Augier.
The Unfolding Story of the extended Augier family
Things start to get complex so you can refer to this colour coded family timeline at any time.
1930s–1940s – Marguerite later marries cousin Emile Eugene Augier, previously married to Isabelle Marie Augier.
1947–1950s – Independence and partition prompt many European families, including the Augiers, to leave India.
1948 (16 Aug) – Ormonde passenger list:
Mrs A. Augier (65), Mr E. E. Augier (31), Mrs M. Augier (42), Miss M. Augier (Mary Ann) (3).
England declared permanent residence.
1949 (26 Feb) – Felix Reginald Augier killed in the Dum Dum massacre.
1949 (5 Aug) – Widow Ernestine Renée Augier sails to England with children:
Noreen,
Brian Felix,
Clarence B.,
Adrian,
Gordon Reginald,
Rosemary Blossom.
They settle at 44 Somerset Waye, Heston.
1952 (10 Jun) – Clarence S. Augier, Stella M. Augier, Charlotte A. Augier arrive in England.
1964 – Marguerite's daughter Mary Ann Augier marries Kenneth Silverlock.
1973 – Mary Ann Augier and Kenneth living in Northamptonshire, son Jamie born
1970s–1980s – Marguerite, Emile visit or even live at The Red Lion, Welton.
1988 – Ernestine Renée Augier dies in St Albans.
1990s – Mary Ann and Kenneth Silverlock living in Daventry and then Lion House, Welton.
1996 – Marguerite Muriel Augier and Emile Eugene Augier die in Daventry.
2000s – Mary Ann and Kenneth emigrate with Jamie to Spain.
Clarence and Maud Adelaide married in 1905 in Calcutta.
Maud Adeliade (nee DeLaNougerede) died in 1927. They had 8 children: Marguerite Muriel, Felix Reginald, Claire Maud, Charlotte Ann, Isabelle Marie, Estelle, Joan Bernadette and Andre Leo. The last, Andre, was born in 1927, the year his mother died. Her death certificate tells us that she died from post-partum haemorrhage.
On October 9th, 1928, Clarence – a widower – remarried. His bride was ‘our’ Stella Marie De La Nougerede: the artist behind our picture of red flowers. He was 47 and she was 40. The marriage took place in Calcutta, Bengal. Stella was the sister of Maud Adelaide, and so Marguerite’s aunt became her stepmother!
The Augier and De La Nougerede families had a long history in India as well as an established pattern of intermarriage between cousins. Their family tree shows that Clarence and Maud, as well as Stella, shared common grandparents, great grandparents…
Why did members of the family find their way to England?
At this stage in our research, we were not sure why England was chosen as a place to make a home; however, history gives us a very clear reason as to why. In 1947 India secured its independence from Britain, however times were turbulent due to the partition which divided India into a Hindu majority land (India) and Muslim majority (Pakistan), which led to horrific racial conflict, mass migrations and the brutal deaths of up to 2 million people.
The tensions remain a factor in the sub-continent to this day. This and strong anti-British feeling also led to many ex-pat families or long resident British and European families in India to return to Europe.
On 16th August 1948, the passenger manifest for the SS Ormonde (see above) confirmed the arrival in Tilbury of: Mrs A Augier (aged 65), Mr E. E. Augier (aged 31), Mrs M. Augier (42) – this is Marguerite, and Miss M. Augier (aged 3) – their daughter (Mary Ann Geneivieve Augier). The document confirmed that England would be their permanent residence. Mrs A Augier’s address was given as 4 Sunnyside House, Cricklewood Lane, NW2 and the others 27 Meadow Road, Southall. All were listed as British passengers.
We discovered a second ship’s manifest dated 10th June 1952, which recorded the arrival of Clarence S Augier (aged 71), Stella M. Augier (aged 64) and Charlotte A. Augier (aged 39). All had the given address as 44 Somerset Waye, Heston, Hounslow. Later electoral roll registers confirm that the family continued to live in the West London area right through to the 1970s and beyond.
We also found a record that confirmed that on 5th August 1949 after Felix’s death, his widow – Ernestine Renee Augier – sailed to England on the MV Caledonia. She travelled with Miss Noreen Augier (a teacher), Brian Felix Augier, Clarence B Augier, Adrian and Gordon Reginald (all school boys and her sons) as well as Rosemary Blossom Augier – a schoolgirl, possibly her daughter. The family settled at 44 Somerset Waye, Heston ….. with Clarence and Stella! Ernestine died in May 1988 living in St Albans. She too shared the same surname as her husband before they were married, suggesting that Felix and Ernestine were related, as cousins, possibly through their grandparents: Francis Augier (1836-1894) and his wife Mary Emma Grant (1976-1917).
Finally, we discovered that on November 1st 1934 Marguerite Muriel Augier had married Reginald Cecil Ignatius De La Nougerede in Calcutta. He was 27, she was 28 and they were cousins. However, it seems that he died and she later married another cousin, Emile Eugene Augier.
So how does all this relate to Welton? Marguerite Augier died in Daventry in November 1996. Emile also died in Daventry, in 1996. It seemed to us, from the records, that for both parties it was a second marriage. We believed Emile was previously married to Marguerite’s younger sister, Isabelle Marie Augier.
It seemed likely that at some point after 1950 and before the 1990s, Marguerite Augier and possibly her husband and daughter lived in or visited The Red Lion in Welton, leaving their memories behind in a box in the attic.
Connecting with descendants of the family!
For a couple of months this was all we knew about the family. We had developed an online Family Tree to help us find the various documents needed to confirm our thinking. But this did not help us with the more immediate history relating to Welton that we were looking for.
One day, wholly out of the blue, a message was received from another history buff who was working on the same Augier / De La Nougerede family tree on behalf of a living relative. We got in touch and were then able to add names to our pictures and get a sense of the wider family connections.
Shortly after this our Welton History Group article popped up on someone’s else’s feed and we had contact with another relative of the family living in Australia, Charlie, leading to a meeting with his mother in, appropriately, The White Horse, of course, to discuss our findings and to reunite the family with their long-lost memorabilia!
Resolving the story of the Augier family and the link to Welton
Our meeting with Sam, the Augier descendant, confirmed that our findings relating to the family history were correct and she explained to us a lot more about the history of the Augier (pronounced oh-zhay) family.
The Augier family originated in France. Pierre Augier, known as Peter the Cutler, emigrated to India in 1787. Pierre was born in Savoie in France, close to the Swiss border.
His nickname was a nod to his profession as a worker with metals although he was also an armourer. An advert in the 1790 Calcutta Gazette referred to him buying an Armourer’s business.
His name also appeared on the November 1804 List of Europeans in Calcutta (as a Cutler, resident at Cossitollah Street), although in his Will Pierre described himself as a gunmaker.
Peter the Cutler died in 1833. It was through him that the family evolved. He had thirteen children, the eldest being Matthieu (Matthew) and was married twice. From Matthew the family tree continued to encompass at least 7 further generations.
Sam told us that earlier family members may have been involved in the development of railways in India and that several relatives had close working connections with the Calcutta Mint, starting with Pierre the Cutler’s son, Matthew. The family grew prosperous and from the arrival of Peter the Cutler there were several marriages within the Augier and De La Nougerede family.
Through painstaking research and confirmation from a number of family members therefore we can confirm that the collection of objects found in the loft of The Lion House were collected and owned by Marguerite Muriel Augier.
Having left India with Emile (her now husband and previous brother-in-law), they settled in London. Travelling on board ship and with probably only limited luggage, these were some of the keepsakes she ensured she brought with her across the world to London, making them very special indeed!
It is likely that Marguerite and Emile continued to live in the West London area, as the artefacts box found also included an airmail letter sent to Emile from a relative back in India (Maurice H. De La Nougerede), which was addressed to 27 Meadow Road, Southall – the same address given on the manifest for the 1948 manifest of the S Ormerod. Their daughter, Mary Ann, left, was just 3 years old when they returned from India.
She went on to marry Kenneth Silverlock in 1964. Kenneth was born in London and the couple married in Ealing. At some point the family moved north – and we know they were living in Northamptonshire by 1973 as the birth of their son, James, was registered as this point.
They may have initially lived in Warwick Street in Daventry, but at some point came to live in The Lion House, part of the Old Red Lion. We believe that as Mary Ann’s parents, Marguerite and Emile got older, they moved up to Welton / Daventry to be with their daughter and her family. This would explain why both their deaths in 1990 are recorded in Daventry.
Welton residents recall that Ken Silverlock owned and ran a tackle shop, close to where MacDonald’s in Daventry now stands. This later moved to his fisheries at Nether Heyford. He also had a greengrocer shop on the High Street in Daventry. Ken was a keen angler and very well known in Daventry. He and Mary Ann moved to Spain in the 2000s to set up a fishery and bed and breakfast.
So, our mystery box of amazing items was, in all likelihood, left behind by Mary Ann and Kenneth when they moved from Welton to live in Spain.
Felix Augier, the victim of the factory attack, was Marguerite’s brother; their mother was Maud Adelaide and their father Clarence Stanislaus. The box contained photographs of both. Claire Augier, who produced some of the drawings in the autograph book, was the sister of Marguerite and Felix. Claire Augier went on to marry Gerald Fleury and Sam, who came to see us in Welton, is her granddaughter!
From one small box of dusty old photographs, an autograph book, letter, postcard, wedding invitation and other humble items we have unearthed a complex family history, added a new line in the history of owners of houses in Welton, opened up a story with a link to key events in world history – and managed to reunite a family with treasures from its past!
Lucy Brashaw was born in Well Lane on 3 January 1875. Her grandfather was John Fathers, listed in the 1885 Kelly’s Directory as a coal dealer. His daughter married into the Brashaw family.
John’s granddaughter Lucy,left, grew up in the heart of Welton.
It was in Well Lane, looking over the wall of farmer Clarke’s orchard, that Lucy first met Matthew Nicholls, a young man from Buckinghamshire who had come to work locally. They married at St Martin’s Church in 1901, when Lucy was 26. Matthew lived to the age of 92, dying in 1969, while Lucy reached the remarkable age of 101.
The couple raised six children: their son William, and daughters Lucy, Daisy, Nellie, Rose and Annie. The family lived in a cottage on Ashby Road, and Lucy (the daughter) and her sister Annie are pictured outside it below – we have wondered for a while the identities of the people in this photo so it’s great to put a name to them!
The cottage was demolished in the 1930s when farmer Adams owned it, and the Nicholls family moved into one of the newly built council houses further along Ashby Road. The new house had bare brick kitchen walls and an outside toilet.
Rose still lived there in 1999, now as the owner, while Annie Britten, her younger sister, lived only a few doors away. At this time Daisy was living at Great Brington, aged 92, and Nellie in Chelmsford, aged 86.
The Nicholls family also had ties to Welton Cricket Club. In the team photograph below, Matthew, Lucy’s husband, appears third from the right in the back row. Beside him, second from the right, stands Jack Goode of Well Cottage — Lucy’s nephew. Rose believed that the man fourth from the right was farmer Clarke rather than Sam Goode, as labelled. She should know: Jack was her uncle.
During the First World War, Lucy worked both at home and on the land. Her wartime agricultural certificate recognises the vital contribution women made, comparing their service to that of men fighting in the trenches, at sea and in the air – as we found out at a recent WHG speaker evening about the Women’s Land Army in WW1.
Daughter Rose
Lucy’s daughter, Rose, was remembered as a cheerful and lively character. She attended Welton School in the 1920s under the watchful eye of Miss Nora Burrows. However, she disliked school and was glad to leave, taking a job with Dr William Clements in Daventry.
Rose was maid of honour in one of the inter war May Day celebrations, sharing the role with Mary Pimlett, who lived in Well Lane at the time. Many May Day photographs survive because Mr Long, a photographer from Rugby, visited each year to take group and individual portraits.
In 1939, Rose joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She served in several parts of England and later in Mons, Belgium, and Bonn, Germany. She never married. After the war she was welcomed back to the village by the Welton Soldiers’ Comforts Fund – although they clearly only had certificates designed for men!
Rose remained in Welton for the rest of her life. She worked for Sir Halford and Lady Reddish at Welton House, while she and Annie shared the care of their mother Lucy. This continued until one winter when Rose slipped on ice, broke her ankle, and ended up in a ditch. After recovering, Rose resumed caring for her mother and later for herself.
Despite back and hip problems, Rose stayed active, with the photo opposite taken of her gardening.
The story of Lucy, Rose and their wider family paints a picture of a Welton family from the 1870s, through two world wars and into living memory. They lived their lives in Welton’s houses, workplaces, cricket club, May Day traditions and long‑standing family connections — a reminder of how deeply rooted village life could be, and how one family’s story reflects the wider history of the community.
We are grateful to Barbara Franklin – Rose’s niece and Annie’s daughter – for sharing her information and photographs – Barbara herself grew up in the dining room of the White Horse – which used to be a cottage adjoining the pub!
Located on the left-hand side as you travel northwards up Churchill Road towards the church, The Firs dates from at least 1695 and extensive original documents exist for the house.
During its history it has been called The Firs and Welton Cottage. Its exterior has elements of Georgian design appropriate to construction at this time, although it may have been built around a smaller older property.
The Firs 1950s/early 1960s
The house was also a small holding with extensive land to the side and rear including paddocks – hence the name of the 20th century road of bungalows: The Paddock.
The property was extensively refurbished by Carl Ponder in the early 2020s and during the work a 1797 George III “Cartwheel” penny was found under a backdoor sill. This iconic large copper coin, measuring 36-37mm and weighing 28.3g was designed by Conrad Heinrich Küchler and struck at the Soho Mint, featuring a distinctive broad raised rim with lettering to prevent stop counterfeiting.
The obverse shows the king facing right wearing a crown of laurels whilst the reverse depicts Britannia seated. Over 8 million of these coins were minted and its equivalent value today would be about £1.63, so it was not a costly item to bury. But nonetheless, it would have been for a reason now long forgotten: perhaps to mark the date of renovation work or possibly as a good luck token to assure wealth in the household.
18th Century
In the late 1700s a George Ringrose lived in this house. He is listed on the Welton Militia List for 1777. At one time he was a prosperous weaver, using the upper floor of the property which let in plenty of light as his workshop.
However, he was declared bankrupt in 1802, at which point he absconded. It seems that he later recovered his wealth as by 1819 he had applied to “inclose a seat at Welton Church”.
Note:
To “inclose a seat” in a church meant:
Building wooden panelling or partitions around a pew — forming a box-like enclosure.
Creating a private or semi‑private family pew, often for a particular household or landowner.
Reserving the seat for that family’s use, sometimes with hereditary or customary rights attached.
This practice reflected both social status and local tradition, marking out prominent families within the parish interior.
19th Century – The Hill Family – influence across the globe
The Hill family lived at The Firs in 1851, where the census recorded Sarah Ann Hill, born in the Bahamas, with her children Louisa, Annie, Emily and newborn Edmund, plus her brother‑in‑law George Allinton and three servants. Sarah Ann was the wife of Stephen John Hill, a British Army officer and later colonial governor. Born in St Lucia in 1809, Hill joined the army in 1825 and rose through the ranks, serving in the West Indies Regiment and leading anti‑piracy expeditions in the Gambia. He became Governor of the Gold Coast in 1851, Sierra Leone in 1854 and 1860, the Leeward Islands in 1863, and Newfoundland from 1869 to 1876.
Sarah Ann was the daughter of Chief Justice William Munnings of the Bahamas. She married Hill in Nassau in 1830, though they did not live together until 1836, when their first child William was born. Her parents were killed by pirates shortly afterwards. The Hills lived in Jamaica and London before Sarah Ann moved to Welton in the late 1840s, likely for health, family connections to Rev Daniel Darnell, and schooling for her son William. A later son, Edmund Hill was born and baptised in Welton.
Sarah Ann died in 1869. Stephen Hill later remarried, fathered another child in Newfoundland, retired to London in 1876 and died in 1891. His estate was £184 11S 6d (equivalent: £27- 30K today).
Please click
here
to read a detailed history of the Hill family of the Firs including the story of the Governor of Newfoundland.
20th century – The Knibb and Porter family – connecting Welton to New Zealand
The Firs is central to the Knibb–Porter story, revealing how extended family networks shaped who lived there and why. The house first appears in records in 1910, when retired Welton farmer Martin Smith sold its freehold and the paddock lease for £500. Although this looked like a simple transaction, the archive shows it was actually a transfer within an interconnected family group: Smith was a relative of Harriet Knibb, and the purchase linked the Knibbs, Porters and Smiths in a shared chain of support. The Knibb family themselves had lived in Welton since the 1890s, and their daughter Annie later became one of the long‑term occupants of The Firs.
The house became home for Annie Porter (née Knibb). After her marriage to Ernest Porter, the couple moved into The Firs, supported by wealthier relatives who wanted to ensure better living conditions for the young family. In 1910, Samuel Knibb’s nephew, Francis Knibb—a schoolmaster—purchased the property, likely to help Annie and Ernest settle into a more substantial home. Census records from 1911 and 1921 show the Porters living at The Firs for decades, raising their daughter Cicely there and sharing the house at times with other residents, including Ernest’s brother Clement.
Ownership of The Firs continued to move through the extended family, reflecting both family support and practical inheritance planning. In 1925, Francis Knibb sold the property to Sarah Elizabeth Mills (née Knibb), Annie’s elder sister, who held it in trust with her daughters, Cicely and Eileen Mills. Later, Annie Porter and her daughter Cicely Knibb became trustees. The house remained the centre of family life until 1958, when Frank Knibb—Sarah’s illegitimate son—finally sold it to the Ellisons (see below), marking the end of nearly half a century of Knibb–Porter occupation.
The Firs also acted as a symbolic anchor for a family member who had travelled far beyond Welton, Sarah Elizabeth, who emigrated to New Zealand after her marriage. Despite her life abroad, she retained ownership of The Firs and passed it to her son in her will. The house’s long history of intergenerational stewardship reflects the family ties between the Knibb, Porter, Smith and Mills families.
Please click
here
to read a detailed history of the Knibb and Porter families of the Firs including why there is a Welton House in New Zealand.
20th century– The Ellisons
Thanks to Chris Smith for the abridged copy of an article on Mill Ellison from Welton News and Views,
who was a long‑established Weltonian living at The Firs for many years.
Mill, as she preferred to be known, was born Millicent in 1930 in London. Her dad was a policeman there. She first came to Welton when she was evacuated, aged 9. She didn’t stay long the first time though as she was soon sent to join her sister Joan, who had been evacuated to Grantham. However, in about 1954 Mill returned to Welton. During her growing up she didn’t particularly enjoy school and always wanted to work on the land and to be with animals.
She met her first husband, Gordon Whitbread and lived in Great Houghton. Sadly, Gordon was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was on his way to work. At the time their son, Stephen was only two weeks old, having been born prematurely. Life was very hard, but Mill was always a hard worker.
She met her second husband, Jack Ellison in Weedon. He was a plasterer and together they wanted to buy a house and some land of their own. Then one day they learned of The Firs, a smallholding in Churchill Road, Welton being for sale and with the generosity of an acquaintance who loaned them the money to purchase the house and land, they moved in; needless to say they both worked hard and managed quickly to repay the loan.
The house was in quite a state with a dangerous electricity supply and no running water, but they set about improving the house and cultivating the land. They had pigs, sheep and hens. Jack was always busy working on the house. Their land stretched across to where The Paddock housing is now. Although there was a well in the garden most of their water came courtesy of a spring across the road on the land of Mrs Phillips in The Old House. Mrs Phillips supplied water to several others, and had a pond across from Mill’s, where she grew watercress. Most weeks Mrs Phillips would pack up a picnic basket, and she and Mill would spend the day following the hounds.
Mill and Jack had a daughter, Penny. Penny was born just before Christmas, in the midst of Mill getting the chickens and turkeys plucked ready for villagers! Penny was ‘horse and animal mad’ and Mill and Jack built stables for her horses. Stephen, Mill’s first child became a professional photographer for Fleet Street and for many weddings as well as being a car salesman. Sadly, he died in 2018.
Mill has four grandchildren: Garry a local tree surgeon, Phillip who lives in Canada with his family and has a business there too, and Jack and Daisy who both live in Barnard Castle, and who visited their Grandma often. She also has three great grandchildren, Amber, Stella and Jack.
Mill lived at The Firs until 2020. When unable to manage on her own she moved to live with Penny, enjoying Penny’s garden full of flowers, and waving to folks as they passed by. Once she needed more nursing care she moved into Astley Hall on Middlemore, Daventry.
Memories and thoughts of Mill from Weltonians past and present
Mill is remembered fondly by many in Welton. Click below to read memories of her:
Read more
During all those years, Mill was well known to most Weltonians, young and old. Several of the youngsters were ‘paper boys and girls’ for her. Many remember her entrance hall stacked with books and goods she collected for the Kalli Animal Sanctuary in Guilsborough, a charity very dear to her heart.
Others recall chatting to Mill as she delivered papers around the village, the newspapers stacked into the pram she pushed to help with the weight of the deliveries. She used a succession of prams as villagers’ children grew out of them — doubtless Silver Cross never imagined their prams would enjoy such a second life! And of course, Mill often had one or two of her beloved dogs trotting alongside.
Mill always stopped for a friendly word; she had time for everyone. She also looked after several villagers’ greenhouses and gardens while they were away — always a very safe pair of hands. When children passed on their riding lessons she would come out with biscuits for them and polos for the ponies, earning her the fond nickname ‘Biccy Mill’.
Each morning we’d walk by The Firs and Mill would be setting out her stall of jam for the day…
an Honesty Box for the money… all proceeds to charity of course! There was often surplus fruit
from her lovely garden too.’
‘How great it was to be able to pick up all sorts of papers and magazines from Mill’s;
no trips to Daventry required! In those days it was papers from Mill, milk from Mrs Grainger,
sweets and stamps from Val Hamblin’s shop and post office.’
‘I remember that Mill was always mentioned in the pantomime; it was Mill and the papers and
Bill and the post! Two of Welton’s most cherished characters.’
‘Mill always had a warm welcome and a glass of sherry ready when Welton’s British Legion members
were out collecting for Poppy Day.’
After Mill moved out, the property was bought by the Ponders, who renovated it extensively and lived in it for a while, before selling to the current owner.
The Hills were a family that lived in The Firs. Theirs is a story that takes us far from Welton, across continents, to positions of colonial power and encounters with pirates.
The 1851 census records the following people living at The Firs:
Sarah Ann Hill (nee Munnings) aged 35, born in the Bahamas
Louisa Arabella Hill aged 11 – her daughter, also born in the Bahamas
Annie Hill aged 6
Emily Celestine Hill aged 4 – born in Nassau in the Bahamas
Edmund Stephen Hill aged 1 month and born in Welton; his baptism is recorded in the Welton baptism records on April 13th, 1851
George Allinton aged 45, born in Ireland and her brother-in-law, a surgeon in the British Army.
Also 3 servants
This was the family of Major Stephen John Hill of the British army – very much a career soldier. Stephen John Hill, KCMG, CB was born on 10th June 1809 and was, during his lifetime was governor of, in turn, four British colonial possessions.
He was born in St Lucia and began his colonial service in Africa becoming Governor of TheGold Coast (now Ghana) in 1851. In 1854 he moved to become Governor ofSierra Leone, a post he was reappointed to in 1860. In 1863 he took on the Governorship of the Leeward Islands and Antigua and in 1869 he became Governor ofNewfoundland, a post he held until 1876.
Left: Stephen Hill’s name on the board at the offices of the Governor of Newfoundland
Stephen Hill was of Irish ancestry but was taken into the Munnings household in the Bahamas following the death of his parents from fever in Honduras. It was through this this that he met and later married Sarah Ann Munnings.
He joined the army on November 10th, 1825, aged just 16. He was promoted to Lieutenant on February 13th, 1828, then Captain on April 15th, 1842. He commanded an expedition eighty miles up the Gambia in 1849 and was active in several attacks against pirates in the area, which was the primary objective of his mission.
Consequently, he was promoted to the brevet rank of Major on February 15th, 1850 – obtaining his majority in September 1851 when he was appointed “Governor and Commander in Chief in and over Her Majesty’s forces and settlements and their dependencies on the Gold Coast.”
Sarah Ann Munnings was the daughter of Chief Justice William Munnings, who came from an old Norfolk family. Her mother was a Bahamian, it was claimed, “of pirate blood” and who had a relative who sailed with the infamous pirate Blackbeard and was killed at sea.
Sarah Ann and Stephen were married in Nassau, by theRev Strachan in 1830 when he was 21 and she was 14. This was however on her father’s stipulation that they should not “live together” for six years.
They seem to have honoured this as their first child, William, was born in 1836 and christened at St Andrew’s, Surrey in Jamaica. We also know that Rev Strachan was a friend of Rev Daniel Darnell of Welton and his son, William Strachan, was registered as one of Darnell’s pupils at his school in what is now The Stone House, Welton.
Tragically, two months after William was born, Sarah Ann’s parents were drowned at sea by pirates whilst on their way to visit their new grandson. This may explain Stephen’s ruthless pursuit of pirates off the Gold Coast, West Africa later in his life.
At this point in his career Hill was a lieutenant in the West Indies Regiment. The family appear to have moved to London in the late 1830s, living at 57 Baker Street in 1839 and, in 1840s, living at 64 George Street, London.
We know that in addition to Louisa, Annie, Emily and Edmund the couple had at least 2 other children: William (born 1836, who came to Welton), and Mary (born 1841). In total the Hills had nine surviving children.
The Welton connection
It is believed that Sarah came to Welton for several reasons: to recuperate from colonial living and childbirth, as well as to recover from the bereavement following the deaths of at least two of her children. In the late 1840s Stephen Hill was pursuing pirates in West Africa. It is believed that her choice of Welton was in part due to personal association (Rev Strachan) and the proximity of shared acquaintances (Rev Daniel Darnell).
She wanted her son to be educated with other friends and associates from the West Indies and so moved into The Firs, Welton. Her son, William, lodged with Rev Darnell in The Cottage (now the Stone House). Here he is on the 1851 census for the Stone House.
Stephen Hill almost certainly visited her here, as their son Edmund Stephen Hill was born and baptised in Welton.
Hills’ career, his military and political successes, were widely reported in newspapers across the globe including the Worcester Journal, the Birmingham Gazette, the New York Times to name but three! On Oct 2nd 1869 The Morning Post (Canada) reported from the London Gazette of the day before:
“Downing Street, Sept 29 – The Queen has been pleased to appoint Colonel Stephen John Hill C.B.
to be Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the island of Newfoundland and its dependencies.”
Sarah Ann’s life however was far from the pomp and circumstance of her husband’s. She may have spent time with him in his posting to Sierra Leone (between 1854-1863) as evidence suggests they both lived at Government House there. However, she returned to England at some point where, tragically, in 1869 she went prematurely senile and died shortly afterwards.
Hill’s life after Sarah
In Newfoundland, Hill supported confederation with Canada and was disappointed when in 1869 the election gave the anti-confederacy the majority in the assembly. This aside he was a popular governor and re-married on 17th February 1873 to Louisa Gordon and went on to father yet another child: on March 19th, 1875, in St John’s Newfoundland, the birth was recorded of Florence Inez Hill, her father listed as Governor.
Colonel Sir Stephen Hill retired to London in 1876 where he lived at 72 Sutherland Avenue, Maida Vale. His death on October 20th, 1891, aged 82, was announced in The Times. Probate was granted to his widow, Dame Louisa Gordon Hill of the same address. His personal estate was £184 11S 6d (equivalent: £27- 30K today).
The Hills are just a small part of the story of the Firs. You can find out more here.
This history is complex – you can return to this colour coded timeline of key events to help you understand it at any time:
Knibb–Porter–Mills Timeline
1834 – Samuel Knibb born in Charwelton
1837 – Harriet Hadland born in Bicester
1861 – Harriet Hadland working in London for her cousin Sarah Beach
1865 – Samuel Knibb and Harriet Hadland marry in Charwelton
1868 – Harriet’s cousin Sarah Elizabeth Causby marries Martin Smith in Welton
1871 – Samuel and Harriet living in Kelmarsh
1873 – Infant Frederick Knibb, son of Samuel and Harriet, baptised at Charwelton; dies aged six months
1875 – Sarah Elizabeth Knibb born in Boultham, Lincolnshire
1879 – Annie Elizabeth Knibb born in Everdon
1881 – Samuel and Harriet living in Everdon with daughters
1891 – Knibb family at 3 Lower Church Street, Welton, two doors from Martin Smith; Sarah Elizabeth working away in London
1899 – Sarah Elizabeth working in Oakley; birth of Frank Knibb
1900 (March) – Samuel Knibb dies
1900 (May) – Harriet Knibb dies
1901 – Sarah Elizabeth back in Welton (without Frank) as head of late parents’ house; Annie a dressmaker
1901 – Frank Knibb living with John & Jane Brooks in Oakley
1903 – Annie Elizabeth Knibb marries Ernest Porter
1904 – Birth and death of Doris Porter, Annie’s baby
1905 – Cicely Ethel Porter born, daughter of Annie and Ernest
1906 – Sarah Elizabeth Knibb marries New Zealander Arthur John Mills on 8th September
1906 – Newly married couple sail to NZ on SS Athenic
1907 – Arthur Mills builds Welton House in Blenheim, NZ
1910 – Martin Smith sells The Firs to Francis Knibb, nephew of Samuel
1911 – Annie Porter and Ernest Porter living at The Firs, Ernest’s brother Clement living with them
1921 – Porter family at The Firs
1925 – Sarah Elizabeth Mills buys The Firs from Francis Knibb
1933 – Mills family travel to England – Arthur John Mills dies in England on 10th July
1936 – Sarah Elizabeth Mills living in NZ
1939 – Porter family still at The Firs
1941 – Frank Knibb marries Cicely Ethel Porter (first cousins)
1946 – Sarah Elizabeth Mills dies in NZ. The Firs left to Frank in her will
1958 – Frank Knibb sells The Firs to the Ellisons
1967 – Annie Elizabeth Porter dies in Welton
1974 – Ernest Porter dies in Welton
1984 – Eileen Mary Stace, Sarah and Arthur’s daughter, dies in NZ
1986 – Cicely Beatrice McHugh, Sarah and Arthur’s daughter, dies in NZ
The photograph, left above, was taken in Welton graveyard and records the lives of Harriet Knibb, wife of Samuel Knibb, who died on May 11th, 1900, aged 65, and her baby granddaughter, Doris Elizabeth Porter, who died 4 years later on 20th April 1904 aged just 10 months.
But what can we find out about who these people were and what their lives might have been like?
The right hand photo depicts the headstone in the cemetery recording Samuel Knibb himself – who ‘departed this life March 18th, 1900, aged 66 years.”
The headstone offers no more detail than that, but together they opened up an amazing family history that, in itself, captures the complex inter-familial relationships that influenced the settlement patterns in English villages and towns in centuries past.
It seems that Samuel and Harriet died just two months apart.
They were a humble agricultural family – so what was their story?
Our research into the house on Churchill Road called The Firs, first led us to the Porter family. Through accessing the extensive house archive, with deeds and records going back as far as 1696, we discovered that the Knibb family , followed by their younger daughter’s family, the Porters, had occupied the house for at least 48 years between 1910 and 1958.
The records also showed that in 1910 a retired Welton farmer, Martin Smith, sold the freehold of the house and the leasehold of the paddock of The Firs on Churchill Road for £500. This, we later discovered, was not just a sale of property – but the passing of land between extended family members!
We learned that Martin Smith was not simply a Welton farmer living two doors away from the Knibbs in the Lower Village of Welton but was also a relative – more on that below. There is more detail of the incredible chain of people who have lived in The Firs over time here.
This is a complex tale of interconnected families! In unpicking earlier records, we discovered that the Knibb family, whilst not native to Welton, had been living in the village since at least the 1890s, so what more could we find out?
The 1891 census – the starting point
Entry 47 on the 1891 census records the Knibb family at 3 Lower Church Street, living in a small 4 roomed property (2 up / 2 down cottage), which would probably be on the lower part of Churchill Road.
Samuel Knibb – head – an agricultural labourer aged 57 – born in Charwelton
Harriet Knibb – his wife – aged 54 and born in Bicester
Annie E – their daughter – aged 12 – a scholar and born in Everdon.
We know from other sources that the Knibbs had two daughters and that their first-born daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, was born in 1875 so would have been 16 at the time of the census. She was working as a servant in London at this time.
The census tells us that Samuel was born around 1834 and his wife around 1837. Samuel was born in Charwelton, on the Banbury Road out of Welton and the family had been established for some time in Charwelton as the 1891 census for Charwelton confirmed that Samuel’s sibling, Francis, (born 1828 and working as a gardener – not domestic) lived there with his wife and son, Francis junior (born in 1860) who was working as a teacher in the elementary school in Charwelton. Samuel’s wife Harriet (nee Hadland) was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire.
So, what else could we discover about Samuel Knibb?
Samuel was the son of Williamand Elizabeth Knibb. He was baptised in Charwelton on March 30th, 1834. His father was a labourer.
The 1841 census for Charwelton records William and Elizabeth with 6 children: Francis (13), Mary (11), George (9), Samuel (7), Eliza (5) and Ann (1).
By 1851 Samuel is still living in Charlwelton but has moved out of the family home and is recorded as a lodger in The Manor House, the home of Elme Browwick. Samuel is 17 and is employed as a groom. Ten years later, he is again lodging within Charwelton and still employed as a groom.
Samuel Knibb married Harriet Hadland on September 5th 1865 in Charwelton. The marriage was witnessed by Thomas Adams and Sarah Elizabeth Causby (more on the Causbys later).
In 1871 Samuel was recorded on the census for Kelmarsh, on the outskirts of Kettering. He is recorded as being 37 years old, married and working as a ‘stableman’ living in rooms over The Coach House. Incredibly he is working at Kelmarsh Hall, the huge country estate of landowner Richard Naylor. Interestingly he seems to be with a relative there, likely his nephew, as the next listing is for William Knibb, aged 24, unmarried, also employed a stableman and, like Samuel, also born in Charwelton.
The 1881 census shows us that Samuel and Harriet Knibb were living on Church Road in Everdon, with Sarah E aged 5 and Annie E aged 2. Samuel’s occupation is recorded as ‘groom’.
Of interest is the question of how the family of an agricultural labourer living in a small cottage could have afforded the fine gravestones we see today?
It is possible that, given that the gravestone for Harriet also commemorates a Knibb granddaughter who died four years after her death, Samuel and Harriet Knibb lay in less well marked graves for a few years until the stones were erected possibly by their daughter and son-in-law – the Porter family.
Harriet Knibb – extending the research: talking with descendants!
The Oxfordshire Connection
Around 1800 there lived a shepherd in Bicester, Oxfordshire by the name of William Causby. With his wife, Ann, he had several children and grandchildren, including: Hannah, John, Mary, Thomasand Susannah – who went on to marry a man called John Hadland. Susannah and her husband were the parents of Harriet, who married Samuel Knibb in 1865. If you are interested in the Hadland family you can read more below:
Read more
1841 census: New Buildings – Bicester Market End lists: William Causby (65), a shepherd, Ann (60), John (35) – son – a brewer, Thomas (30), Mary (30), Sarah (8), Jane (6), Sarah Blowfield (15).
John and Susannah Hadland: in the 1851 census Harriet’s parents are recorded as living in an area of Bicester called Crockwell, which was within the Market End area, close to the town centre and marketplace. This area would have been in the vicinity of Queen’s Avenue – the main N/S road through Bicester, roughly where the Community College now stands. There is now a Crockwell Close in the area which may commemorate this. Her father, John Hadland, was an agricultural labourer, born in Bicester, as was Harriet’s mother. Harriet was the eldest of six daughters at this point: Eliza, Sarah, Mary, Ann and Jane.
Hannah Hadland was baptised on December 11th, 1836, in Bicester. Her father, John Hadland, is listed as a “higgler” – a travelling merchant, peddler or street vendor.
Harriet Knibb’s aunt Hannah (Susannah’s sister) had married and had a daughter, Sarah. Sarah married a man called Phillip Beach, a bank clerk in Paddington, and would have been reasonably well off for the times. They were well off enough to employ Harriet as a servant before her marriage to Samuel Knibb. Harriet is listed on the 1861 census living at 16 Park Place Terrace, Paddington with:
Phillip Beach – 33 – Cashier in London and Westminster Bank – born Lymington, Hants
Sarah – 37 – wife – born Bicester
Phillip R. Beach – 2 – born Paddington
Hannah Bloomfield – 63 – mother-in-law- born in Launton, Bicester, auctioneer’s wife
Harriet Hadland – 24 – general servant – born Bicester
Meanwhile, another of Harriet’s aunts, Mary, had also married and given birth to a daughter called Sarah Elizabeth who went on to marry one Martin Smith – the Welton farmer mentioned earlier.
It was Sarah Elizabeth who was a witness to the marriage of Harriet and Samuel Knibb – which probably explains why the Knibbs moved into Welton, living just two doors away from Martin Smith, farmer and owner of The Firs. Harriet Knibb and Sarah Elizabeth Smith were cousins! We can presume it is this cousin that Harriet’s elder daughter is named after.
Meanwhile, Harriet’s uncle, Thomas Causby, had a daughter Jane, who married a farmer, John Brooks, of Oakley in Buckinghamshire. Jane Brooks* became a very important figure in the life of her niece, Harriet’s elder daughter Sarah Elizabeth Knibb (see * later in article). Additionally, John and Jane Brooks of Oakley had a daughter, Rhoda, who went on to marry the son of Martin and Sarah Smith in Welton. If you are following the genealogy you may spot that Rhoda and Martin’s son were cousins.
As mentioned in the introduction, Samuel and Harriet Knibb had two daughters, Sarah Elizabeth and Annie E, however we have found a baptism record for a son, Frederick, in Charwelton on May 11th 1873. Frederick died aged just 6 months and is buried at Charwelton.
The Knibb daughters; Sarah Elizabeth (1875-1946) and Annie E (1879-1967)
The 1901 census for Welton shows us that Sarah Knibb aged 25, is listed as the head of the family living in the lower village of Welton, and living with her is Annie Knibb (also listed as 25 years old, however we believe this to be an enumerator’s error and that Annie was actually 22 years old). By this point both Samuel and Harriet Knibb had passed away – both died in 1900, which would explain why Sarah is listed as the head of the household, in the same home as that of the 1891 census, two doors away from her Smith relatives.
This census also confirms that Sarah was born in Lincolnshire (she was baptised in Boultham) and Annie in Everdon. In 1901 Annie was working as a dressmaker, but there is no occupation for Sarah suggesting a recent move back to the village.
Annie E Knibb married Ernest Porter, a mechanic and engineer in 1903. The headstone for her mother at the top of this article tells us that their first child, daughter Doris died aged 10 months old in 1904. Ernest was born in Acton, Cheshire on 5th September 1880.
In 1910 The Firs was purchased by Francis Knibb, a school master from Radford in Warwickshire. The census below is from 1881 and shows him as a young man living with his parents in Coventry.
Francis was Samuel’s nephew. Samuel Knibb had many siblings one of whom, also Francis, had died in 1899 leaving a son also called Francis. This is our purchaser!
This helps to explain how Annie Porter (Knibb) – daughter of Samuel and Harriet, came to live in The Firs. It seems that that their more affluent relatives from both sides of the family – Martin Smith and Francis Knibb – came together to transfer ownership of the property of The Firs, so that Annie and her husband could move into a more substantial house to bring up their daughter, possibly to reduce the risk of early death linked to poor living conditions, which may have been what happened to baby Doris – an extraordinary act of generosity.
Francis never married and it seems took his responsibilities to his family seriously. In the 1911 census for example, he is recorded as being 51 years of age, living at 102 Radford, Coventry with his 85-year-old widower uncle, Thomas Knibb, his cousin Annie Gardner – 48 and single who worked as a housekeeper [his housekeeper, perhaps?] and a 20-year-old school master, Arthur Waterhouse who was a boarder.
The archives for The Firs also show that in 1925Francis Knibb, who was by then retired and living in Cheshire, sold the property to the eldest daughter of Samuel and Harriet Knibb, Sarah Elizabeth, however Ernest and Annie Porter continued to live at The Firs until 1958, which is confirmed by both the 1911 and 1921 census returns. In was in the 1911 census that we found the record for their daughter: Cicely Porter – aged 5 – born in Welton.
The Baptism record for St Martin’s Church, Welton confirms that Cicely Ethel, daughter of Ernest and Annie Porter was baptised on April 23rd, 1905, by F Hilton, Vicar of Welton.
Also living in the house at this time was Ernest’s younger brotherClement – see below – who was employed as a grocer’s assistant.
By the time of the 1921 Welton census Ernest Porter was aged 40, Annie was 42 and their daughter Cicely was 16. Ernest was now a smallholder, still living in The Firs. The census also shows us that another family was resident in The Firs at this time. We can find no family connection so maybe they were lodgers:
Alfred Stay – head of family – a plasterer from Rugby with a child under 1, no age given.
Nellie Stay – his wife, also no age given, born in Epsom, Surrey.
Local memory: Welton residents recalled that Ernest Porter could be seen every day driving his large herd of cows through the village to the field on the far side of the A361 and fetching them in again in the evening, whilst Cicely was a familiar figure in the early morning delivering milk around the village to those unable to collect it.
From the age of 15, Cicely was organist at St Martin’s Church, accompanied by a choir of some 20 or so parish folk. At this time, she would have been using the two-manual, hand blown organ, which stood where a later book cupboard was placed at the west end of the church.
By 1958 things were hard for the Ernest and Annie Porter. Ernest was now 77 and Annie around 79. Annie was struggling with the challenges of advancing years. She died in the 1967 and was buried in the new cemetery on Ashby Road. Ernest seems to have continued living in the village where he died on 14th August 1974 aged 93. He too was buried in Welton cemetery, at the top of the village.
What of Sarah, their elder daughter? More on her later. But first ………
The Porter Family Connection
We know from the records above that Ernest Porter was not Welton born, however the Porter family does appear on the 1891 census for Welton:
Entry 10 of the census tell us that at 11 Station Road lived:
Alfred Henry Porter – aged 39 -a stud groom employed and born in Whitchurch, Salop – now Shropshire c 1852
Elizabeth Porter (nee Hassall) – aged 38 – his wife, born in Acton, Cheshire c 1852
Albert H Porter – aged 15 – their son – also born in Acton, Cheshire in 1876
Clement Porter – aged 12 – born in Hill Cliff in Cheshire in 1878
Ernest Porter – aged 10 – born in Lymm – Cheshire in 1880
Percy Porter – aged 9 – born in Welton in 1883
So, we can see that the Porter family originated in Cheshire. They had obviously moved south any time between 1876 and 1881 and came to settle in Welton. As a stud groom it is likely that Alfred Porter was doing well and may have been employed by one of the large land-owning families in Welton or a nearby village. Their boys all feature on the school logs of Welton School, so evidently there was a commitment to their son’s education, rather than putting them out to work at a young age as was often the case.
There is no record of the older Porters in the 1901 census and our family with Ernest and Annie, with daughter Cicely and Ernest’s brother, Clement, are the only Porters living in the village on the 1911 census.
Sarah Elizabeth Knibb – the tale of a travelling woman
Unearthing the details of Sarah Knibb’s life has revealed a story of resilience in adversity and great determination
The detective work to uncover her story has been fascinating. We already knew that Samuel and Harriet Knibb had two daughters. The history for the younger, Annie, was easier to unpick through census and parish records as she had stayed in Welton. However, with Sarah it was a very different story and one that started with a gravestone and led us to New Zealand.
It was a chance comment by the current owner of The Firs, and the discovery online of the photograph of this headstone in Rapaura Anglican Cemetery in New Zealand commemorating Sarah’s death on 23rd February 1946 that enabled us to make direct contact with surviving members of the family and explore the fascinating history of Welton House, Marlborough, NZ, a restored Victorian villa just north of Marlborough.
We shall return to New Zealand in a moment – but we knew from Welton census records that Sarah was born in 1875 in Lincolnshire, and her wider family was primarily based in Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire.
From her descendants we have learned that as a teenager, aged 14 or 15, Sarah worked in domestic service. She was employed as a servant in London for an Elizabeth Major, which is why she does not appear on the 1891 census in Welton, but does appear on one in London. This may have come about through family connections again!
In around 1899 at 23 years old, Sarah was working as a servant in Oakley in Buckinghamshire where she gave birth to a boy named Frank Knibb. The birth certificate does not name a father.
As an unmarried mother, Sarah would have almost certainly have lost her job. This may well explain why the 1901 census for Welton shows us that she was now living back in the ‘Lower Village” (Churchill Road) in Welton with her sister. By this point Sarah would have been 25 years old and had no listed occupation. Her younger sister, Annie, would have been 22 and is a dressmaker. There is no record of baby Frank Knibb in Welton – the family told us that they believed he was in the care of a family in Oakley where Sarah had been working.
Further investigation led us to the 1901 census record below, showing that Frank Knibb, aged 1, was living in Oakley with John and Jane Brooks*, Jane being Sarah’s aunt mentioned earlier, and that he was described as their ‘nephew’. Such arrangements were not uncommon in the past to hide the stigma of illegitimacy.
Frank was still at school in Oakley in 1911, but boarding with a Coleman family.
As an adult, Frank Knibb joined the Royal Navy, serving as a telegraphist on HMS Renown during the First World War and HMS Faulknor in World War II.
Although brought up in Buckinghamshire, Frank must have had some connection with his Welton family, as in 1941 he married his cousin, Cicely (daughter of his aunt Annie Porter – nee Knibb – and Ernest Porter of The Firs). Given the discretion of his early life circumstances, it is not clear whether either knew for a fact that they were first cousins, however it is hard to believe that their mothers Sarah Elizabeth and Annie did not know.
Frank and Cicely later settled on the Wirral, raising their son, Phil Knibb, who remembers visiting The Firs as a child! Frank died in 1977. Cicely died in 1988 in Birkenhead, on the Wirral.
But back to New Zealand ……..
ArthurMills – husband of Sarah Elizabeth Knibb
We know that Sarah Elizabeth Knibb married Arthur John Mills, who was born in New Zealand around 1867 but had travelled back to the UK for a period during which he married Sarah. The family believe that his parents bought land in the area with a view to Arthur and his brother “breaking in’ the land as adult farmers. His parents had emigrated to New Zealand possibly during the 1840s. Read more about his pioneering parents here:
Read more
Arthur’s parents were John Mills (1836–1910) and Ann Mills (1841–1896). Both are buried in Rapaura Anglican Cemetery, where Sarah Elizabeth also lies. Arthur was the eldest of seven children: Edith (1868–1909), Mary Ann (1871–1955), Eliza Sophia (1872–1878), Elizabeth (1876–1961) and Frederick Francis (1879–1947). Alice Maud also appears in other records.
Arthur’s father John Mills was a “pioneering settler”, working with his cousin Daniel Ford on a 150‑acre plot divided between them in Grovetown, NZ. Ford, who emigrated in 1842, came from Uley in Gloucestershire, and the road they built to access their land still carries their names today: Mills and Ford Road.
Arthur and Sarah married in Welton on September 8th 1906. He was 39, identified as a farmer resident in Welton at the time of the marriage, and she was 30.The witnesses to the marriage were Francis Knibb and Alice Maud Mills.
We have the ship’s manifest recording Arthur’s voyage to Britain from Wellington on the SS Corinthic, docking in London on 14th May 1906, presumably to prepare for his wedding. He was accompanied on this outward trip by his relative Alice Maud.
Soon after their wedding, Sarah emigrated to New Zealand, travelling back with Arthur and Alice on the SS Athenic.
Note: there was free movement between Commonwealth countries at this time, so it would have been very easy for Sarah to move to New Zealand.
Some puzzles still to answer…
We also have records to suggest an Arthur John Mills travelled back to New Zealand in 1901 on the SS Waiwera, accompanied by a Mrs Mills. If these voyages are for our couple, it does raise questions regarding how and when they met, and how exactly their relationship developed prior to the 1906 England wedding. This Arthur is described as a ‘car man’ so may not be our man at all.
These matter aside, we do know that, living on South Island, New Zealand, Arthur Mills had become a prominent Marlborough farmer and local official. He and Sarah would have been significant people within their community.
Welton House – down under!
If you were in any doubt about the Knibb connection to Marlborough, New Zealand, you need only look at the name of the cottage that Arthur Mills built for his English born wife – Welton House!
Records suggest that the development of the garden at Welton House became a labour of love for his Welton raised wife. Here she is in the grounds of the house.
‘In 1878 Arthur Mills began the arduous task of removing the indigenous bush to create a plot for his first simple cottage and the groundwork for what would become Welton House garden.
The current homestead, Welton House, was built in 1901 for Arthur’s new wife, Sarah, and named for the village where she was born in England… From the beginning the seven-acre garden has been a significant part of the local community and was renowned for its elegant garden parties and fierce tennis tournaments’.
Note: the current owner has confirmed the 1901 date in this quote is incorrect.
We know that Sarah and Arthur returned to England in the 1930s, with their two daughters, as the headstone tells us that Arthur died in England on July 7th, 1933. A newspaper obituary for Arthur reads as follows:
Blenheim: July 10th, 1933. A private cablegram reports the death in Derbyshire of Mr. Arthur John Mills, a well-known Grovetown farmer and member of many Marlborough local bodies. He was on a health [unclear] visit to England, accompanied by his wife and two daughters. Mr. Mills was one of the original members of the Marlborough County Council and prior to [year unclear] a member of the Spring Creek Road Board, the Spring Creek River Board and other bodies. He was also predominantly identified with the Automobile Association and various farmers’ organisations.
It was whilst in England that Sarah may have been reunited with her illegitimate son, Frank Knibb as, also in 1933, she made her will, which was witnessed by her uncle, Clement Porter – who by this time was living in Virginia Cottage, Welton which is at the top of the hill.
She had returned to New Zealand by 1936 as personal correspondence to her, found in Welton House, is dated that year.
On her death in New Zealand, in 1946, under the terms of her will, The Firs and its paddocks was left to her son Frank, although the will does not state their relationship.
Sarah and Arthur’s daughters
Our next point of investigation lay in the secondary stone, placed by Sarah Elizabeth’s grave, which is dedicated to J.L (Bill) McHugh and Cicely Beatrice McHugh.
‘In loving memory of J.L (Bill) McHugh died 12th July 1982 aged 69 years, loved husband of Cicely Beatrice – died 10th June 1986 aged 73 years.
Sarah Elizabeth and Arthur Mills had two daughters: Cicely Beatrice and Eileen Mary Mills. Remember that in 1925, their great uncle, Francis Knibb sold the leasehold and freehold of The Firs to his niece, Sarah Mills – their mother.
The property was sold ‘in trust’ which meant that the house (The Firs) could not be sold on without the agreement of the trustees. Unusually the trustees were Cicely and Eileen Mills, Sarah Elizabeth’s daughters. This was to provide inheritance safeguards and tax advantages.
Cicely and Eileen resigned as trustees in 1948, and new trustees were appointed: Annie Porter and Cicely Knibb (her daughter and wife of Frank Knibb.)
Finally in 1958, Frank Knibb sold The Firs and its land on to Jack and Mill Ellison, although by this point Annie Porter was suffering with probable dementia and Ernest held power of attorney in relation to the transaction. You can read more about Sarah and Arthur’s daughters here:
Read more
Cicely Beatrice McHugh was born Cicely Mills in 1907 or 1908, likely named for her cousin, Cicely Porter, born in Welton in 1905. She was buried in the Blenheim Anglican Cemetery in 1986. Although some of her online family‑tree details were posted by a Norwegian researcher, most verified information comes from direct New Zealand descendants.
The MyHeritage Norway entry confirms that Cicely Beatrice McHugh (née Mills) was born around 1908, died on 10 June 1986 aged 78, and was married to Joseph Linds (“Bill”) McHugh, who died in 1982. Her parents were Arthur John Mills (d. 1933) and Sarah Elizabeth Mills. Bill McHugh was a well‑known figure in New Zealand’s racing world.
Eileen Mary Mills, later Stace, Sarah and Arthur’s second daughter, became closely associated with the history of Eliza’s Garden Cottage and Welton House in Grovetown, Blenheim. Both properties are now recognised by the New Zealand Gardens Trust. Eliza’s Cottage, built in 1967, sits within a one‑acre woodland garden developed over fifteen years, reflecting the family’s deep horticultural interests.
Eileen was born on 19 June 1909 and married Henry Joseph Stace in 1943. Henry, born in 1878, died in 1958. They had at least one daughter, Elizabeth H. Stace (1945–2019), who in turn has two surviving children. The Stace family originated in England: Henry’s father, born in York in 1847, was a Colonel in the Royal Engineers and emigrated with his family to Marlborough, New Zealand, in 1861.
Eileen Stace died on 4 May 1984. Her home was on Staces Road, Grovetown—almost certainly named for her husband’s influential family. Her probate record shows an estate valued at £3132.
The Knibb and Porter families are just a small part of the story of the Firs. You can find out more here.
With thanks to Wendy Palmer of Welton House New Zealand for her help in finding Arthur’s history from information provided by Arthur’s grandson and for providing the photos of Welton House and the family
The Rosary centre right. Red Lion to its left, The White Lodge to its right. Circa lates 1950s
The Rosary is an early 20th century house that was built on the site of the thatched cottages to the right of the Old Red Lion. Whilst we don’t have a definite date of build, from photographs we estimate it to be around 1925 – 1935.
In 1939 the census tells us the occupants were William George Emery, a boot maker, his wife Mary and children Mary, William and Jean. They subsequently had a further child, Trevor, born in 1945. Trevor is living as at 2026 and lives in Barby. William George was the son of William and Nellie Emery, and the person after whom Emery Close was named. See the Emery family history.
There is evidence that Mary’s father James Gardiner lived with them for a while, his death at the house being recorded in 1951.
The Emery family lived there until the death of Mary junior in 1993.
The Rosary was bought by Catesby Homes and in October 1994 the company sought planning permission for the development of 3 dwellings.
The Rosary was subsequently renovated and extended, with Catesby also building an adjacent new house in a similar style (now Willow House no 39 Churchill Road) and a bungalow at the rear of the two properties (no 37a).
After renovation, The Rosary was initially lived in by Colin Maxwell’s son Martin with his partner Lorraine and her son. They sold to Jo and Paul Durkin in the early 2000s and since they left, the house has been sold another couple of times.
As a note, Catesby Homes was owned by Colin and Caroline Maxwell who lived on Halford Way during the late 1990s/early 2000s and when Colin passed away, Caroline, in one of those lovely little connections we keep finding, moved to Emery Close. She was an active villager, helping with the WI and village hall, until her move to a nursing home and death in 2025.
Photograph showing platforms either side of road bridge
Welton Station opened in 1838 on the pioneering London & Birmingham Railway, serving the rural communities of Welton and Watford at a time when steam travel was transforming village life.
Note: Robert Stephenson’s 1838 London & Birmingham Railway was Northamptonshire’s first railway and one of the great early achievements of Britain’s railway age. The 112-mile route connected London (Euston Station) to Birmingham (Curzon Street Station) and it was the first line to link the capital with a major industrial centre, demonstrating that long‑distance rail travel was not only possible but transformative, cutting multi day coach journeys down to just a few hours. It was built by roughly 20,000 workers using hand tools and gunpowder, and later formed the core of the West Coast Main Line.
Building the line was a testament to Victorian engineering. It demanded overcoming challenges never before attempted on such a scale: driving cuttings through hills, constructing viaducts across valleys (many of which are in use today), and building the line beside canals and coaching roads.
Under the direction of Robert Stephenson (son of George Stephenson of The Rocket fame), the route became a showcase of new engineering techniques. It included building the celebrated Kilsby Tunnel, which demanded unprecedented tunnelling methods and vast pumping operations. At the time of opening, this railway tunnel was the longest in the world at 2,420 yards – approximately 1.4 miles.
It seems odd that Northampton itself was by-passed by the line. But early locomotives could only cope with easy gradients. Stephenson maintained a gradient of less than 1 in 300 by following the course of the Grand Junction Canal. As a result, Roade, Blisworth, Weedon and Welton were the first places in the county to receive railway stations. Whilst the other three stations were rebuilt later in the 19th century, Welton remained untouched.
The station stood physically much closer to Watford, although it carried Welton’s name. This was to prevent confusion with Watford in Hertfordshire. Until 1991 villagers remember a sign to the station on the green at the bottom of Churchill Road.
Signpost to Welton Station in Watford date unknown but probably circa 1950
There is some evidence that the station was originally named Crick, only being re-named Welton in 1881. Certainly there are press cuttings to support this, such as this one from 1874.
‘Kilsby and Crick’ station did not open until 1884 so the reference above is not to that station. However, whilst probable, we can’t verify this for certain.
Welton was noted for its platforms that were staggered awkwardly to fit the narrow strip of land, one on each side of the road bridge—rather than facing each other. This was necessary due to the canal and the A5 hemming the station in.
Railway ownership
1846: Became part of the London & North Western Railway
1923: Absorbed into the London, Midland & Scottish Railway
1948: Passed to British Railways (London Midland Region) after nationalisation
Closure
1958: Closed to passengers
1964: Closed to freight
Taken around the time of closure to freight
Providing Welton employment
We can probably safely assume that some of the villagers in Welton were employed at the station. Census information gives us a clue to to type of jobs that were provided by the railway:
1891 – William Hancock of Welton Fields Farm – plate layer on the railway
1901 – William Houghton – former railway porter
1911 – Thomas Reuberson – retired railway plate layer
1939 – Frederick Green of the Red Lion – railway clerk
The station site now sits beside Watford Gap Services on the M1. The only surviving structure is a former goods shed beside the tracks, the white building in the distance on the top photograph.
The story of Rugby Plastics begins in 1946, when engineer Albert Hupfield founded his own precision‑machinery company. Initially focused on specialist engineering equipment, the business soon moved toward the rapidly developing field of injection‑moulding machines, thanks to the post‑war boom in plastics manufacturing.
As demand grew, Albert sought space to expand beyond his base on the Edgware Road in London. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he and his brother leased land in Welton, on the area now known as Elms Dyke, to establish a new plastics injection‑moulding works. This factory—designed to complement the London operation—became Rugby Plastics. The building work was done by Frank Emery senior
In 1953, the BBC sold Churchill House (now Welton Manor) to the Hupfield family. The conveyancing documents were signed by the BBC’s Director General, Sir Ian Jacob, transferring one of Welton’s most prominent properties. Albert and his wife Olive moved into Churchill House, and throughout the 1950s and 60s the family lived on the estate: the old stables and coach house were converted into a residence, later known as Churchill Court, and occupied by one of their sons. Son Tony purchased Pear Tree Cottage (the house in front of the factory) in the 1960s for £2150.
By the early 1960s, Rugby Plastics had become a thriving local employer run by Hupfield sons Brian and Tony. A press report from 1964 announced the firm’s ambitious plan to triple production, increasing output from four million to eleven million articles a week through new machinery and expanded product lines. The company manufactured a wide range of goods—sherry bottle caps, battery tops, thread protectors, and multi‑purpose plastic boxes. Many villagers worked at the factory, with regular advertisements appearing for new staff members.
L-R: Mary Shirley, Cyril Cockrill Tony Conopo, Marjorie Warne, Selina Emery, Eddie Hasell circa mid 1960s
On the death of Albert Hupfield in 1968, his widow Olive required a smaller home, and part of the former manor’s kitchen garden was walled off to create a new dwelling—today’s Churchill House—built again by Frank Emery Senior.
Meanwhile, Rugby Plastics continued to operate, increasingly shifting its focus toward Daventry’s growing industrial zones. Business listings show Rugby Plastics active at 11 Lanchester Way, Daventry from the 1950s onward, employing 11–50 staff with turnover in the £1–2.5 million range.
These records list R. (possibly Roy) Hupfield as a manager, confirming the family’s continued involvement.
By the 1980s, the transition from Welton to Daventry was well underway. Planning notices from 1987 show Rugby Plastics seeking permission to build a new factory and offices in Lanchester Way, along with applications for signage at the new premises.
That same year, Daventry District Council debated the impact of relocating operations on the workforce, postponing decisions until reassurances were provided about the jobs of the firm’s 18 employees. Councillor Jean Cox of The Stone House became involved in the discussions.
Back in Welton, the original factory site was entering its final chapter. In 1988, planning notices recorded proposals for demolition and the construction of new housing, including applications by Sunguard Homes Ltd to develop the former Rugby Plastics land.
The clearance of the works paved the way for the modern residential development of Elms Dyke, transforming an industrial corner of the village into a new neighbourhood.
As an interesting note: the developers of Elm’s Dyke planned to call the development Churchill Place, but this was rejected as thought to be confusing with other properties in the vicinity.
Elm’s Dyke was chosen by the Parish Council to mark the site of the dyke or stream that was the main watercourse of the village and flowed down through that area, which – prior to building – was abundant with elm trees.
Circa 1905 showing the elms. Note the oak tree is not yet present.
Today, nothing remains of Rugby Plastics’ physical presence in Welton, but it is well remembered by some in the village.
Aerial shot showing extent of factory mid 1960s. Pear Tree Cottage on left. Dairy Farm centre.
Sir Halford Walter Lupton Reddish (1898 – 1978) was one of the Midlands’ most forceful industrial figures—outspoken and fiercely committed to free enterprise. His career spanned insurance, engineering and above all, the cement industry, where he became one of its most recognisable national advocates.
Though only 5’3″, Sir Halford projected the presence of a much larger man—large spectacles, strong features, immaculate grooming, and a famously Churchillian rate of cigar-smoking. He was known for booking two seats on aircraft for comfort, and for his polished, professional appearance.
Friends described him as cultured, with a lively appreciation of art, and he was an accomplished chess player.
Early Life and Education
Though born in 1898 in Coventry, the son of a Rugby solicitor Henry Lupton Reddish and his wife Millicent EmmaLuckman, Sir Halford grew up in Rugby, living with his parents and sister at 27 Elsee Road on the 1911 census.
He was educated on a scholarship at Rugby School and served in the Army throughout the First World War in the Honourable Artillery Company. After demobilisation he trained as an accountant, quickly distinguishing himself; in 1920 he became gold medallist and institute prizeman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, later becoming a Fellow.
His entrepreneurial skills showed early on. In 1921 he was back in the family home with his parents at Elsee Road, but in 1929 he purchased ‘Bilton Rise’ in Rugby, turning it into 7 flats. In 1930 he bought The Parsonage House in Birdingbury, seemingly as an investment. By 1932 he was involved in a consortium to develop a ‘super-cinema’ in Rugby. This project resulted in much local controversy thanks to its plans to open on a Sunday.
His early professional work focused on insurance, leading him to the Scottish Union and National Insurance Company and eventually to its London board. He also served as an underwriting member of Lloyd’s of London.
Industrial career
Reddish’s interests broadened into engineering. He became chairman of the Trussed Concrete Steel Company and Charles Nelson & Co., and served as director of the Meldrum Investment Trust and Granada Theatres. He was active in international trade, becoming a member of the Dollar Exports Council and leading a mission to Canada in 1957. His work often took him to London, where he kept rooms at The Dorchester.
In 1958 he was knighted for his services to industry. The photo below is of Sir Halford and Lady Valerie at Buckingham Palace on the day he received his knighthood.
Rugby Portland Cement
From 1933 to 1976, Reddish served as chairman and chief executive of the Rugby Portland Cement Company, overseeing its subsidiary companies and becoming one of the most prominent voices for British industry. He vigorously opposed nationalisation, earning a reputation as a defender of private enterprise.
His long-standing position on the Council of the Institute of Directors prompted one commentator to remark that his uncompromising views made the Institute “look like the Left Book Club”(a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain from 1936 to 1948).
Personal life
Reddish married Valerie Grosart Lehman Smith in 1946, daughter of Dr Arthur Grosart Lehman Smith of Crick. She was his second wife, him having married Edith Whitbread in 1924. We are not sure what happened to Edith although she was still married to Sir Halford in early 1935. This is around the time he moved to Welton and there is no mention of Edith at Welton. Neither marriage resulted in any children.
Lady Valerie was a dog lover, and a patron and keen supporter of the Rugby Canine Society. She owned Great Danes and is pictured with one of her dogs on a jigsaw that the Reddishes produced as a Christmas gift in 1961 (a copy of which is held by Welton History Group).
She died in 1971, unexpectedly, whilst Sir Halford was in Australia. Her death came a year after Sir Halford donated £5 million to establish a medical research trust at King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, supporting research into heart and lung disease.
By all accounts she was remembered very fondly by the villagers, the Rev Niell saying at her funeral that ‘she gave ready help and encouragement to all with a cheery smile, quiet dignity and gentleness.’ She certainly appeared in numerous press reports on local activity, seeming an enthusiastic supporter of village life.
Connections to Welton
Sir Halford and Lady Reddish were among Welton’s most influential 20th‑century benefactors, and their presence left a lasting imprint on the village. Their gifts included the church organ, presented in 1953 to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the land on which the village hall now stands, with the build of the hall itself later funded by Lady Reddish.
These contributions certainly improved life for the parishioners. Their influence, however, extended beyond philanthropy. Sir Halford is remembered locally for removing headstones from the churchyard to make access to St Martin’s Church easier. He is also recalled as a man of firm habits, reputedly insisting that his Bentley, kept at Southgate, be ready outside his front door each morning.
The Reddishes lived at Welton House, a beautiful stone house built on the site of a medieval mansion once owned by the Catesby family of Ashby St Ledgers.
During their tenure, the house was often used for entertaining visiting dignitaries and VIPs, reflecting Sir Halford’s national standing in industry.
Following Sir Halford’s death, the estate began to fragment. The house and its immediate grounds changed hands several times, and the 63 acres of accompanying farmland were sold off separately. After a devastating fire in 1986, the site was redeveloped as Halford Way, preserving the Reddish name in the village.
Sir Halford’s later years
Sir Halford’s final decade was marked by declining health but unwavering commitment to his work. In 1973 he was hospitalised after breaking three ribs during a violent coughing fit, yet continued to telephone Rugby Portland Cement at least once daily.
By the mid‑1970s he had largely stepped back from active leadership, though he remained a respected elder statesman of British industry. He died in October 1978, aged 79, in hospital at Midhurst, Surrey, after a period of prolonged illness.
He requested no memorial and no funeral and left his body to medical research.
The building began life as the lodge to Churchill Manor, serving as the gatehouse and living quarters for staff responsible for security and managing access to the estate. Built in the 1700s in the William and Mary style, it was originally around a quarter of its present size and has been known locally as Ivy Cottage and also asGardener’s Cottage.
The 1901 census shows the residents of Ivy Cottage as Emma Stockley, widow, 65 and her daughter Fanny Clarke, 30.
By 1911, the young Dean family were there: James Edward Dean, 27, his wife Alice Mary Dean, 25 and their newborn son James Edward junior.
By 1919, John A Holland and his wife Clara had moved in – and found themselves embroiled in a tussle with the Emerys who lived just round the corner in Pear Tree Cottage!
In the 1960s, the lodge was quadrupled in size, though only at ground‑floor level.
Here’s the building in the 1960s after expansion, (please note this image has been enhanced with AI as the original was very blurred).
A 1977 advert advertising Churchill Lodge for sale shows an asking price of £35,000.
The house was presumably sold to Mr Albert Frake who was living there in 1978 when he suffered a burglary.
When the roof later collapsed onto the extension, a rebuild created a two‑storey structure, but because the foundations were only designed for a single storey, the upper floor had to be supported on stilts, which the owners tell us are visible in the loft space. Work on the house can be seen in progress in the photo below.
The original spiral staircase was replaced with a narrow traditional staircase built to accommodate a central chimney. Although the house features many chimneys, only one is functional; the rest are decorative additions designed to echo the style of the manor.
St Martin’s Cottage was originally part of The Stone House estate and is thought to have begun life as a stone barn, later converted into two small cottages. A bricked‑up doorway can still be seen on the side facing The Stone House drive, and a Victorian frontage was added during the 19th century.
By 1914, many nearby cottages were described as being in poor condition, with shared outside toilets, and were recommended for demolition. Local lore suggests that the nurse caring for the scholars at The Stone House may once have lived in St Martin’s Cottage.
In 1958, Mr B. Smart, a keen promoter of village sport, lived there while helping to establish the Welton Table Tennis Club.
Two years later, in 1960, the cottage was occupied by a man named Collingwood.
In 1962, Mr Abbott of The Stone House—the only person known to have referred to the building as “Chetwynd Cottage”—advertised both the main house and St Martin’s Cottage for sale.
When the Cox family purchased The Stone House in 1963, Jean Cox’s mother and aunt lived in the cottage until they died.
Following the deaths of the Coxes, St Martin’s Cottage remained part of The Stone House estate when their children first attempted to sell the property.
When The Stone House was ultimately sold in 1996, the cottage was offered to its tenants and has since then functioned as a separately owned dwelling.
The White Horse is a historic two-storey, thatched-roof inn, believed to be at least 400 years old. Located at the heart of Welton on the High Street, it has served the local community for centuries and remains a quintessential village pub.
Circa 2020
The building is constructed in traditional Northamptonshire stone and features beams and log fires.
Over the years, the White Horse has played an important role in village life. It was frequently used for auctions, selling everything from timber to land, livestock to houses, and in fact was still being used for auctions in the 2000s! Numerous newspaper reports record outings and social gatherings beginning from the pub. ‘Smoking concerts’ are something we hadn’t come across before!
The pub was also used for legal matters and trials, for example, the inquest of poor Thomas Townsend.
The White Horse was offered for sale on 17 April 1817, when the pub with ‘brewhouse’ was occupied by Mr Rogers, and it was up for sale again in 1826. It was advertised once more on 9 January 1833, when the occupant was Mr Farr. Could this be Issac Farr, the wife of Jane Farr who brewed her own beer from her home opposite the pub?
It appears the sale was unsuccessful because here it is again in 1834, still occupied by Mr Farr, stating the sale is to pay off a mortgage. We can also see that there was a butcher’s shop adjoining it.
The White Horse and Northampton Brewery Company
By the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, the White Horse had become a tied house of the Northampton Brewery Company (NBC). NBC was established in 1856 and went on to become a major regional brewer and owner of tied public houses. Its distinctive branding was displayed on many of its houses, including the White Horse.
The photo on the left below dated approximately 1895–1905, shows a prominent NBC sign on the side of the building advertising its “Noted Stout”.
Left approx 1895 – 1905, right approx 1990
The photograph aligns with the period when Thomas Rixon was landlord, which was between at least 1898 and 1902. There is a sad report on how his young son died at the pub in 1902 after having had a fit.
Other landlord/ladies that we are aware of are listed below. If you have any more information please let us know:
Recorded landlords of The White Horse – click here
1808 – Mr Piddington
1817 – Mr Rogers
1833 – Mr Farr
At least 1847–1854 – Henry Harris
At least 1869–1871 – William Harris (son of Henry), his wife Elizabeth, son Thomas and daughters Jane and Elizabeth
1885 – Elizabeth Harris (daughter of William)
At least 1890 – 1892 – Thomas Harris (son of William)
1894 – George Dunkley
At least 1898–1902 – Thomas Rixon, his wife Edith, children George, Edith and Harry, and parents-in-law George and Elizabeth Osborne. Their son Horace died in 1902 as a baby.
1906 – Frederick Green
At least 1911–1920 – John Henry Dench, his wife Mary Ann Dench and daughter Mary Ethel
At least 1939 – 1940 – Percy B. Woodward and housekeeper Ida Lamb
1940 -1947 – Ida Beatrice Lamb (Mr Woodward’s housekeeper)
1947 -1951 – Harry Smith
1952 – Phyllis May Mawby and her husband Wal, a plumber
1953 – Alice Dora Garratt
1955 – Henry Clarke
1958 – Lilian May Smith
1959 – 1960 – Peggie Lizzy Corney
1960 – 1963 – Fred and Pam Cave
1963 – Gordon Ferdinand
1969 – 1981 – Maureen and Colin Brown with sons Stephen and Darren
mid 1980s – ??? Jacobs
1987 – Carol and David ???
1990 – 1994 – Dennis Ellerby
1994 -1997 – Colin and Valerie Whale
1997 – 2005 – Jason and Nicola Stacey
– ?? – 2011 John and Jackie Collier
2011 – 2022 – Margaret Elcock
2022 – present – Ellie Ponder
Interestingly, in 1892, while the White Horse was held by NBC, the pub was reportedly due for closure. This may have due to the death of Thomas Harris, as can be seen by the cutting on the left.
Fortunately for Welton, this did not happen, and the White Horse continued to serve the village.
In 1957, NBC merged with Phipps & Co. to form the Phipps Northampton Brewery Company.
When you could live in the dining room
The part of the pub that is used as the dining room used to be a separate cottage, as can be seen on the painting below. This was around the 1940s/50s, and local woman Barbara Franklin lived in the cottage as a child. This discovery explains the 2nd door that still remains today. Note in this picture the roof appears to be tin.
Disaster strikes for the locals
In 1963 villagers went for three months without beer thanks to a dispute between landlords Fred and Pam Cave and the Phipps Brewery. It seems they felt they were having to subsidise the pub out of their own money. After 3 months the pub got its beer back when a licence was granted to Gordon Ferdinand in May of that year.
“My dad grew dahlias in the day and would adorn the pub. I would walk down with them and the lovely Maureen {Brown} gave me Coca-Cola, crisps, chocolate, raisins, peanuts and all manner of confectionery.”
Resident’s memory from the early 1970s
At some point in its life the original thatched roof was covered with a tin one. The situation was rectified by Dennis Ellerby when he moved from being a tenant to a lessee in 1990. Here’s the pub getting a new thatch during an eight week process, using reeds imported from Hungary, at a cost of £20,000.
The thatch was replaced again after this in the 2010s and still looks beautiful!
The White Horse continues to quench the thirst of villagers today, and has been voted most dog friendly pub in Northamptonshire and in 2026, was recognised for the quality of its beer when it was awarded the regional CAMRA Country Pub of the Year award for 2026.
The original village hall was the “Old School” building, put to this use once the school moved onto its current site in 1915.
It was a substantial stone building, built by the Clarke family around 1820. For many years it served as an important centre for village life, providing a venue for education, meetings, entertainments, religious activities and community events.
Darker buildings next to pub: Old School building and master’s house circa 1955
The first headmaster to lead the school in the new building, Mr Bond, still lived in the master’s house adjoining the old school building, and was followed there by Miss Burrows. The old school could also be brought back into use on occasions when circumstances required it. During one such period, when burst pipes affected the present school, lessons were held in the old building.
The interior
The hall was relatively basic by modern standards. Lighting was provided by oil lamps suspended from the ceiling, while heating came from a central stove, usually fuelled with coke, together with an open fire at the end of the room. The arrangements reflected the limitations of a village building of the period and would certainly not meet modern standards of fire safety.
A small stage was provided for performances and concerts. Although considered inadequate, it was used regularly and provided the setting for many successful village productions. The stage was evidently in poor condition, with local memories recalling performers occasionally disappearing through gaps at the sides before being retrieved and the performance continuing.
Costumes for productions were made locally. Mrs Mary Pimlett’s mother and the caretaker, Mrs Clarke, are particularly remembered for making costumes to suit the different characters and performances.
Welton Players 1920s
Entertainment and social activities
The hall provided one of the principal venues for entertainment in the village. Concerts and theatrical productions were regularly staged, including performances by travelling theatrical companies. The Church Army also visited with its ‘Magic Lantern’ shows, which provided an important form of visual entertainment before modern cinema and television became widely available.
Note:
The Church Army used magic lanterns extensively from the late 19th through the early 20th centuries as a primary tool for evangelism, temperance education, and social outreach across the UK. Operating through dedicated mobile vans and urban mission halls, evangelists projected hand-tinted glass slides to draw crowds and illustrate gospel messages.
Dancing was another popular activity, with music provided by Mr Sam Cox and his players. The hall subsequently hosted old-time dancing lessons and other social gatherings.
The Mothers’ Union, Girls’ Club and, later, the Women’s Institute were all active users of the building. Mrs Garrard of Welton Place was a prominent figure in all of these organisations and in village activities more generally.
The library and Sunday School
A small room adjoining the main hall served several purposes. It housed the crockery and other equipment required for refreshments, but also contained books used by the Sunday School.
The Sunday School itself was held in the old school building. It was initially taught under the guidance of Miss May West who in later life became Sister May West – a nun – and lived in Plympton. And later by Mrs Joan Gulliver, who continued to teach generations of local children for approximately thirty years.
Religious and community events
The building was also used for religious purposes when St Martin’s Church was undergoing renovation, with services being held in the hall during the work.
May Day was an important village occasion. Following activities around the village and the outlying farms, children were welcomed back to the hall for tea. The day’s collection was divided as part of the traditional celebrations.
May Day celebrations 1920s
Photographs of village events were also taken at the hall. One recollection describes villagers proceeding down the stone steps into the yard to have their photographs taken by Mr Long, using an early camera.
The hall played a role in charitable activities as well. During the winter, food was distributed to those in need, while the annual Harvest Festival included a sale of donated produce and goods, orchestrated by Mr Gil Tebbit.
The hall during wartime
During the Second World War, the building continued to serve the community. Dances were held as part of fundraising activities for Salute the Soldier, a wartime savings campaign.
The hall also provided temporary accommodation on at least one occasion. During a miners’ strike, striking miners passing through the area were reportedly allowed to stay overnight in the building.
Later uses
In later years the hall continued to accommodate a wide range of village activities, including first-aid courses, dancing classes, fêtes and wedding receptions. Notices advertising forthcoming events were displayed in the hall windows, and at Christmas the building was decorated with a Christmas tree.
The annual fête was among the regular community occasions associated with the building, with local volunteers taking responsibility for organising and running events and sales.
A centre of village life
The old school and village hall therefore served a much wider purpose than its original educational role.
Its importance reflected the close-knit nature of village life at the time. Families knew one another, children attended activities together and many organisations relied on the same building.
The old building remained an important part of Welton’s community life until the provision of a new village hall.
The new village hall
During the 1960s it became apparent that the Old School was not really fit for purpose and a Village Hall Committee was established, led by the vicar Rev Pilkington, with the aim of fund raising to pay for a new one.
An initial time scale of 12 years was envisaged, but the village was extremely grateful to Lady Reddish (of Welton House), who donated the whole cost of building a new hall. Her generosity had brought down the waiting time to 12 months.
It was built during 1966, on land donated by Sir Halford Reddish and was opened in April 1967 by Mary Pilkington, wife of the vicar. It is clear from the press cutting below that the whole village was involved in getting the project completed.
Fortunately Welton had a resident builder, and the physical build was conducted through the ‘skilful hands of Mr Frank Emery and his son’. Frank is seen, left, working on the project.
The Emerys are a long established Welton family, still residing in Welton today. Frank also built Kiln House, which he then lived in, and the next door bungalow for his son John as well as many other buildings in the village.
Today’s hall remains at the centre of village life with a full diary accommodating exercise and sports, theatre, bridge, brownies and guides as well as hosting parties, celebrations and wakes over the last 60 years.
