The Lees-Milne family lived at Wickhamford Manor during the early twentieth century. James Lees-Milne (1908 - 1997) was a writer with a special interest in historic houses. From 1936 to 1950 he worked for the National Trust and played a key role in the first large-scale transfer of country houses from private ownership to the National Trust.

This collection of pictures was kindly lent to us by Simon Lees-Milne and by June and Jeremy Ryan-Bell.

In 1913, only nine days apart, two sisters by the name of Moulbery were married in Wickhamford Church. An older sister had been married in the Evesham area in 1906, and all three were to live in the village for some time. Researching the background of this family has been difficult due to numerous alternative spellings of the surname over the period 1825 to 1915. In this article, for simplicity, the spelling MOULBERY will be used throughout, but with the version used at the time in parentheses.

Early Life

George Percy Watson Osler was born in Brockenhurst, Hampshire in mid-1883, the son of Frank Watson Osler and his wife, Bessie. According to the 1891 census, Frank Osler was living on his own means and ten years later his son was a pupil at a boarding school at Steep, near Petersfield. In the 1901 census he was recorded at the school as ‘Percy Osler’.

For a short time between the 1871 and 1881 censuses Wickhamford Manor was rented to farmer John Phillipps and his family. The surname spelling, with two final ‘p’s is unusual, but helpful in tracing the family.

In the late 19^th century, Wickhamford Manor was owned by the Trustees of the late John Pickup Lord and rented out to tenant farmers. The property was operated as a farm with a range of buildings at the back of the Manor around a large yard. Between the Manor and the Churchyard was a large stone barn. The outbuildings around the Manor were demolished at the end of the 19^th century, but would have been in situ when the Pope families were in residence at the Manor.

The following material was kindly supplied by June Lambourn, the grand-daughter of George Robbins.

In the early 1930’s fruit and vegetable merchant, Bert Daws, asked Cliff Warwick of Birchfield Road, Birmingham, who owned a transport business, if he would operate a transport service in the Evesham area to collect produce from the local growers and deliver to his Birmingham business.

The job to operate the Evesham end of the business was given to Edward John Roberts always known as Ted. Ted Roberts had been market gardening, but due to rheumatic fever had been forced to give up his land at Bowers Hill.

Sandys Family origins

The Sandys family can trace its origins back to beyond 1300. The surname is pronounced ‘Sands’ and spelled ‘Sandes’ in early documents. They were resident in Cumberland when Richard del Sandys was one of the two Knights representing the county in Parliament in 1377, the first year of the reign of Richard II. Another branch of the family were established in Hampshire at ‘Vyne’, Sherborne St John. It was not until 1594 that one of the Sandys family acquired property in Wickhamford, the Manor House and its estates.

At the time of the 1871 census, Wickhamford Manor was occupied by Fred S. Smith and his family. He was a 34-year-old ‘Factor & Agent in Cloth Trade’, who had been born in Aston Manor, Warwickshire. His wife was Edith J. R. (28) and there were four small children present – Frederick H. N. (5), Edith L. M. (4), Ethel (2) and Arthur H. B. (1). The eldest had been born in Aston Manor and the others in Birmingham.