George Lees-Milne bought Wickhamford Manor from the Trustees of the Estate of John Pickup Lord in 1906.  His father, James Henry Lees-Milne (1847-1908) had an inheritance from the Will of a relative, Henry Milne, in 1890, on condition he changed his surname from ‘Lees’ to ‘Lees-Milne’.

George Frederick Banham was the only child of Cambridge Veterinary Surgeon, George Amos Banham and his wife, Elizabeth.  His family lived at 15 Downing Street, Cambridge were his father had a surgery and also a shoeing forge on the premises in 1891.  George junior had been born on 23rd August 1888 and followed his father into veterinary work.  He became a M.R.C.V.S. and for the 1911 census was in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, working for Veterinary Surgeon Frederick William Watchorn.

Samuel Taylor had been born in Oakthorpe, Derbyshire. He had been baptised in Measham, Derbyshire on 5th January 1798 and was the son of Thomas (1759 - 1841) and Mary Taylor (ca 1759 - 1823) and his paternal grandmother was Sarah Taylor (ca 1735 - 1821). His parents and grandmother are buried in Wickhamford Churchyard, so must have migrated to Worcestershire at some point before 1821.

The following information is accredited by the Evesham historian, E.A.B. Barnard, to Sir Thomas Phillipps of Middle Hill, Broadway. Barnard says Phillipps was always very exact, but that the documents “are no longer available” (writing in 1935).  The Manor of Wickhamford was leased to Field Whorwood by Samuel Sandys, his wife Mary and mother Penelope, on 15th February 1637, for 40 years.

From India to Wickhamford

On 17th July 1947 George Lees-Milne completed the sale of Wickhamford Manor plus six and a half acres of land for £10,400.   The purchasers were three siblings: married sisters, Cynthia Muriel Batty (1909-2006) and Joyce Dorothy Sandys-Lumsdaine (1910-2000) and their younger brother, Patrick George Leeson (1915-1997).  The trio were children of George William Leeson (1875-1951), who had been an engineer in India and his wife, Bertha (1882-1964).