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’.
In Loving Memory
Of
Maurice Byrd
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.
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).
BRONZE AGE AXE
The prehistoric collections at the Cheltenham Museum have been enriched by the addition of a bronze socketed axe. This axe was found near Chipping Campden some little time ago, and passed into the possession of Mr A E Jones of Badsey, Evesham.
It belongs to the late Bronze Age, which began at about BC 1000 and went on until the Early Iron Age which started at BC 500.
Lodge Park Drive has a postal address of Evesham but is located in the parish of Aldington and the Badsey ward/electoral division. The road is so-called because it is named after Aldington Lodge which was built on the land in 1858 and demolished in December 2018.
George Mourilyan Sladden (1886-1948) was a member of a territorial unit, the 15th (Prince of Wales’ Own Civil Service Rifles) Battalion, The London Regiment. When war broke out in August 1914, they were serving as part of 4th London Brigade, 2nd London Division. The Division had just arrived for their annual summer camp on Salisbury Plain; they were at once recalled to their home base and mobilized for war service. George first went overseas in March 1915. He served in France until October 1918.
