William was Tom and Eliza's first child, and the 1881 Census
finds him living quietly with his parents in Hurst Wood, Buxted. The family
moved around, although never over great distances, and in 1891 they were at
Beddingham.
13 miles
William was at school, as were his sisters Blanche and Bessie -
even young Alice
But then Williiam disappears from the record for a time. I
can't find him in the 1901 Census. Nor can I track down a record of his
marriage, which probably took place in 1910 - the 1911 Census states he and
Emily had been married for under a year. And the only thing I can find out
about Emily is that she was in Somerset - in
Wallow, close to Bath .
Nevertheless, we can piece together something of William's early career from
the Gardeners' Chronicle article.
William began his career at Worthing
where he spent three years working for a surgeon called Dr. Golding Bird Collett
and his delightfully named wife Minnie Minniet (neé Harris).
21 miles
If
'began his career' means this was his first job rather than his first job with
any responsibility my guess would be that William started about 1895. The Bird
Collets were living at different addresses in 1891 and 1901 so it's impossible
to know where William was working.
47.4 miles
He was under the direction of Thomas H. Bolton, a renowned exhibitor of fruits. He obviously
taught William a lot, as we shall see. But the Gardeners' Chronicle statement that William was working for the
'late Earl of Tankerville' raises an intriguing question: the sixth Earl had
died in 1899, 31 years earlier, while the seventh remained above ground until
July 1931, seven months after the profile of William had been published. So was
the Chronicle a little slow in
getting out the news of the sixth Earl's death or did it, through the exercise
of occult powers, anticipate the fate of the seventh? We may never know, but I
for one hope (and believe) that William's employer was the seventh Earl,
described by Wikipedia as 'a British peer, cowpuncher, circus clown and revival
meeting singer'. Although not strictly relevant to our family history, I can't
help but point out that George Bennett ('the Singing Earl') met his future wife
when he almost landed in her lap after turning a somersault in a New York drawing room.
Anyway, William might not have had much to do with this great English eccentric
as his lordship seems to have spent a lot of time in America
and at another residence, Chillingham
Castle
320 miles
After 'two years of valuable experience', William himself
went up to Northumberland to work for Earl Grey at Howick Hall - less than
twenty miles from Chilligham.
His employer was
presumably Albert, the fourth Earl Grey (1851-1917). The tea is named after the
second Earl.
By Galbraith Photo Co. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38090087
However, although the dating of these early jobs is unclear,
it's possible he never had any contact with the Earl himself, who was off
governing Canada
between 1904 and 1911.
330 miles
The gardens are now listed grade 2 on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in
William spent another two years as foreman at Bishops Hall, Romford the residence of the late Lord Lambourne - presumably Amelius Richard Mark Lockwood, Baron Lambourne, who had died in December 1928.
126 miles
Caricature of Lockwood, By Leslie Ward - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13803219
Williams' criss-crossing of the country continued: his next post was as 'general foreman' at
29 miles
He was eventually to become head gardener here, and finally
the official records catch up with him, as the 1911 Census finds him living in Brickendonbury.
He was a gardener in private employment, married - for less than a year -
to Emily E., from Wellow in Somerset .
I cannot at the moment find Emily's maiden name or what the middle 'E' stands
for and I have not been able to locate a
record of their wedding. According to the 1939 Register, she was born on July
17, 1883. Wellow is close to Ammerdown House...
5 miles
...so barring a huge coincidence,
troth must have been plighted when William was working there and the ceremony
performed at the end of his stint in Romford or the start of his one in
Brickendonbury.
Their son, Leslie Arthur Stephenson, was born on May 5, 1911
and his birth registered in the Hertford district. On December 28 the couple
attended the marriage of William's sister Alice in Knightsbridge. To be honest
Emily doesn't look hugely pleased to be there (she's standing in the second row
next to William):
Now a question: did William fight in WW1? I can't find any
military records, and the article doesn't mention any service. But he should
have Conscription was introduced in
March 1916 and extended to married men under 41 in May. William was 34, he
played crocket while at Hyde Hall - turning in 'many fine performances' as both
batsman and bowler - so he probably wasn't medically exempt. I'm pretty sure
gardeners weren't classed as 'essential workers'. At the moment, this is a
mystery.
William's profile in the Gardeners'
Chronicle gives his current (1930) workplace as the gardens and pleasure
grounds of Hyde Hall., where he arrived in 1926. The owner of Brickendonbury, Geoffrey Pearson, died in
1925 and his widow moved out and rented the house to a private school, which
provides an obvious reason for William moving 13 miles down the road.
Today Hyde Hall is the name of some well-known British
Horticultural Society (BHS) gardens near Chelmsford ,
but these didn't exist until after 1955. I think the place where William worked
was in fact Hyde Hall in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, which had 40 acres of
'maintained ground' when it was sold in 1983.
Hyde Hall in 1818 By John Preston Neale, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32676896
According to the article, once at Hyde Hall, William maintained
high standards, introduced improvements, and won some fame as an exhibitor of
hardy fruits. In 1926 he took up his present appointment - which shows his
all-round excellence. Won the R.H. S. Silver-gilt Medal for 18 dishes of apples and many other R. H.
S. awards. He won phenomenal success as exhibitor of chrysanthemums at
exhibitions promoted by Hertford and Ware Horticultural Societies winning over
100 prizes.
In 1930 Lesley was a member of the Amalgamated Society of
Woodworkers (section 3), as a carpenters and joiner, Bishops Stortford and
Sawbridgeworth Branch. he'd been in the trade 4 years - so presumably started
when his father moved to work at Hyde Hall in 1926 - and was admitted to the
union on May 19, 1930.
At some point in the 1930s William changed jobs again.
137 miles
The
1939 National Register records him and Emily living in The Porch Lodge, Westhide,
a village close to Hereford , If this is the property that bears that name today, the Porch Lodge was semi-detached. William was still a gardener and Emily E. was a housewife.
Lesley was living with them, still unmarried and still a
joiner.
I've not been able to find anything more about William or
Emily.
Lesley died in the summer of 1989 in the Swindon District.
.
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