WILSON Edward
Edward Wilson (State Library of Victoria) WILSON, Edward 1814 -10 January 1878Australian Newspaper Proprietor and Philanthropist Edward Wilson emigrated to Australia in 1842 and in 1847 bought the Melbourne Argus. When his eyesight started to fade he returned to England and leased Hayes Place and about 300 acres of land. He was always keen to try out new ideas and in 1870 bought two steam engines for use on his farm for ploughing. The 1871 Census reported that he employed 33 men, 6 boys and a woman and also had 11 resident servants. Edward was in frequent contact with Charles Darwin and was one of the founders of the Colonial Institute. In 1868 he received many visitors at Hayes Place. He played an important part in the community of Hayes. Edward was one of the first Common Conservators after a scheme for the Management of Hayes Common was approved in 1868. He was generous with donations. In 1872, at Christmas for example, he provided warm scarlet waterproof coats and a new shilling to every girl at the Village School. In 1873, he chaired a Parochial Committee set up to consider the sanitary arrangements in Hayes. It showed that the wells, cesspools and privy arrangements in the village were far from satisfactory. The Local Government Board, however, thought their proposals were inadequate and nothing was done. Edward died in Hayes but his body was later interred in Melbourne. Edward Wilson
TRAILL, Williamina and family
TRAILL, Williamina22 July 1785 – 9 August 1862Proprietor & botanist Williamina Traill came to Hayes Place with the Dehany family in 1798 and died there in 1862. On Miss Mary Dehany’s death in 1832 Williamina was left all her property. She chose to waive her rights to the West Indian estates but to accept Hayes Place and all its land. She was 47 years old when she became one of the most important landowners in Hayes. Not only did she own Hayes Place with its 165 acres and 15 cottages she also rented a further 76 acres from Robert Howard, owner of Pickhurst. For thirty years she managed her estate, employed over 30 labourers and had eight resident servants. She became a regular contributor to the annual Tradesmen’s Feast and provided the funds for the village celebrations for the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838. With keen cricketers in her family, it is not surprising that she is credited with reviving the Hayes Cricket team. In 1835 she presided at the Hayes v Bromley game at home and was described as ‘The Patroness of the Hayes Cricketers’. She was particularly interested in the natural world and the strange plants and animals that existed overseas. She received from the West Indies, for instance, the gift of a noisy parrot from Lady Cameron and some unusual wasps which were offered to Revd Berkeley. In 1805 she became the first Lady Proprietor of the Royal Institution, a society for the advancement of scientific knowledge. When Revd Till died in 1827 he left her his thirty-six volumes of English Botany. The glasshouses, set up at Hayes Place, allowed her to follow her scientific interests and she became well known for her cultivation of exotic specimens. A passionflower was raised from seeds brought from Buenos Aires and she introduced into England Brugmansia Sanguinea, more commonly known as Red Angel’s Trumpet, from seeds that had been collected in Ecuador. She sent a drawing of it to appear in the British Flower Garden by Robert Sweet. Her gardener William Hunt, in May 1838 was awarded a silver medal at the London Horticultural Society Exhibition for a Clematis Sieboldii. Thomas Williams became head gardener after his death and exhibited successfully at the Royal Botanic Society’s Exhibitions, Regent’s Park, from 1849. In 1857 he gained a gold medal for 8 Cape Heaths and a silver medal for 6 stove & greenhouse plants. Williamina also lent space in her glasshouse for Mrs Anna Hussey, a noted mycologist, to experiment with some of her fungi. A talented artist, several sketches survive from the early 19th century of drawings Miss Traill made of the village. In 1856 she contributed to and laid the foundation stone for the north aisle of Hayes Church, designed by George Gilbert Scott. The memorial plaque for her and the members of the family interred nearby is on the wall of the north aisle. She also helped the local school to which she gave £5 a year and paid the school fees for some of her labourers’ children which in 1851 amounted to more than £11. After her death in 1862, her brothers decided to build an additional and separate schoolroom at a cost of £400 as a tribute to her. Memorial to the Traill family in Hayes Church TRAILL, George1787 – 29 Sept 1871MP for Caithness 1841 – 1869 George Traill inherited Hayes Place from his sister Williamina and rented out the property. On his death, he bequeathed it to his younger brother James. TRAILL, James6 May 1794 – !6 Oct 1873,Metropolitan police magistrate, James Traill inherited Hayes Place after the death of his elder brother George. He spent some time at Hayes Place when it was owned by his sister Williamina. James’ mother-in-law Elizabeth, Lady Henry Spencer Churchill, was buried in Hayes Church in 1868. TRAILL, James Christie,30 September 1826 – 6 Feb 1899Barrister and English Cricketer James Christie Traill became the owner of the Hayes Place estate on his father’s death. As a young man he was a keen cricketer and on occasions played for the Hayes XI. Two of his sons, James William and John Murray, and a grandson Sinclair Traill died in the First World War and are commemorated in Hayes Church. After the death of the tenant Edward Wilson, who had leased Hayes Place in 1868, he sold the property to Everard Hambro in 1880.
DEHANY, Philip
DEHANY, Philipabout 1734 – 27 Oct 1809Member of the Committee who revised the Laws of Cricket 1774 Philip Dehany bought Hayes Place in !798 and shared his time between Hayes and his house in London, 63 Upper Seymour Street, which he continued to visit. He moved to Hayes Place with his wife Margaret, daughter Mary aged 39, and Williamina Trail aged 14 . They had 16 servants. Ten years earlier his only child Mary had suffered a devastating event when her fiancé John Sinclair, Earl of Caithness, shot himself, reportedly because her father had refused permission for him to marry her on account of his debts. John Sinclair’s niece, Williamina Traill, joined the Dehany family and eventually after Mary’s death in 1832 inherited Hayes Place. The Dehany family continued to buy up property in Hayes and extend their grounds but took little part in the affairs of Hayes.
LEGGE, George, Lord Lewisham
Lord Lewisham (Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) LEGGE George, Lord (Viscount) Lewisham3 October 1755 – 10 Nov 18103rd Earl of Dartmouth 1801, Fellow of the Royal Society 1781, Lord Lewisham moved to Hayes with his wife Frances and five children under 5 years old. In May 1789 He took out loans to purchase Hayes Place for £10,500. At the time he had an income of £3000 a year, including £1000 a year from his appointment as Warden of the Stannaries. Four more daughters were born and baptised in Hayes by 1798. Although his daughter Katherine born in 1793 only lived 6 weeks. Their household included 21 servants in the house and 2 gardeners living in a dwelling in the gardens. He developed an excellent relationship with the Rector, Revd John Till, and through him was influenced to provide the land and house for the start of the village school in 1791. He supported the school’s activities and also made several donations to the poor in the village. George lost his position as Warden of the Stannaries and needed to raise money by selling Hayes Place which he did in 1798. He maintained his links with Hayes, particularly with the Revd John Till, who agreed in 1802 that he would tutor his eldest son William who stayed at the Rectory for three months before he went to Christ Church, Oxford. William continued to maintain contact with Revd Till, whose letters reveal a great deal about events in Hayes. Frances, Countess Dowager of Dartmouth, paid for John Till’s impressive tomb in Hayes in 1827 ‘in token of their affection and gratitude to a dear lamented friend.’ Further information: Legge Family papers Staffordshire Archives
HARRISON, John
HARRISON John,died 1713citizen and felt maker John Harrison bought Hayes Place and its estate from Sir Stephen Scott in 1695. He died in 1713 and left the property to his wife Sarah and on her death to his son Joseph. Another son John, a soap maker, with his mother Sarah, took out a mortgage on the property in 1720. The following year she was involved with a dispute about her lawful right to a pew in the church. After her death in about 1730, the property was leased to Lynthwaite Farrant and then a number of tenants including the Rt Honourable Edward Montagu in 1751. John and his wife had taken out a further mortgage on the property in 1742. He and his brother Joseph later sold William Pitt both the house and their other property and land in Hayes.
BOND, James
BOND, James11 June 1744 – 2 June 1820!st Baronet Bond of Coolamber, County Longford 1794 James Bond purchased Hayes Place and its estate in 1785. It had previously been owned by William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham and included in addition to the large mansion, the house and bakery that later became the Walnut Tree, 3 other houses, barns and stables, orchards and over 250 acres of land. According to Hasted James Bond had lately arrived from the East Indies and became a high sheriff of Kent in 1788. When he arrived in 1785 with his wife Anne and his five children the rector of Hayes, Revd John Till, recorded that his household included 6 men and 8 maid servants. Another son, William, was born on 9 September 1787 and baptised in Hayes Church on 17 October. In 1789 he sold Hayes Place and some of its land in 1789 to Lord Lewisham and moved to Ireland, his birthplace, where he became a Member of Parliament for Naas. He was made a baronet in 1794. He retained some of his Hayes property, including Hayes Street Farm, which was managed by his bailiff William Landreath. George Norman purchased the farm in 1798 and other parts of Bond’s estate. When he died in 1820 his son Thomas inherited his baronetcy of Coolamber.
Baston Manor
Early history A manor house possibly existed when John de Bastane was recorded in a 1301 tax roll as owner of the most movable goods in Hayes. In 1499 the property was owned by wealthy Henry Heydon and a new hall was built probably lined with painted wood panels. These showed portraits of Anglo-Saxon kings and are some of the earliest paintings in oil on wood that survive in the UK. They were found lining a cupboard when the house was modernized in 1813 for James Randell of Queenhithe, who bought it in 1795. By this time the Tudor house had been dramatically altered by the addition of a new house for Mrs Elizabeth Lloyd in the late 17th century. She had inherited the house through her mother-in-law Elizabeth, whose father Cuthbert Burbage, better known for his association with William Shakespeare, had bought it in 1629 with 180 acres of land from Robert Wade of Grays Inn. Her house was described as a ‘part brick and part plaister and tiled house’. Her husband continued to live there after her death but it then became owned by members of Richard Wood’s family until sold in 1762 to John Luxford. From 1773 until his death in 1795 the property was leased by Gabriel Clarmont who lived there, according to the records made by Revd John Till, with Mrs Taylor, a young lady, a gardener, maid and a boy. When the estate was put up for sale it was described as a ‘neat and desirable freehold villa situate on a delightful eminence on Hayes Common’. It included both the old and new house, coach-house, stable, gardens, orchard etc. James Randell purchased it for £2000 and spent a great deal of money combining the two houses into one property . In 1798 he lived there with two male and two female servants.. He married Ann Lucy and their seven children were baptised in Hayes Church between 1806 and 1819. At the time the house was known as Baston Court. In 1823 he sold the house and lands to Samuel Nevil Ward who enlisted the services of the architect Decimus Burton, one of the fashionable architects of the late Georgian period, who under the supervision of Nash had designed Cornwall and Clarence Terraces in Regent’s Park. Baston Manor owned by Samuel Nevil Ward ( Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) The new and fashionable house containing 10 bedrooms, a large drawing room and dining room, was sold in 1851 to James Fry, Registrar of the Court of Chancery, who moved to Barston, as it was then called, with his wife and eight children aged between four and sixteen. More bedrooms were added and a schoolroom for his growing family. By 1871 he had retired and described himself as a gentleman farmer of 97 acres, employing four labourers and a boy. The house and gardens provided an ideal setting for parties where his six daughters might meet suitable husbands. In 1863 Charles Darwin wrote to W.E.Darwin that ‘we went to the Frys and had a gorgeous party with about eighty people chiefly from London and dancing on the lawn and dinner in a grand tent, band, ices etc.’ By that time James Fry had already agreed to the marriage of two of his daughters, Mary in 1857 and Henrietta, who the following year married Julius Caesar, an import merchant from Camberwell. When he died in 1872 the house was bought by John Lennard and leased by Captain Alfred Torrens who remained there until his death in 1903. He built greenhouses to pursue his botanical interests and was particularly renowned for chrysanthemums brought back from his travels to Japan. In 1896 a burglar was caught at Baston Manor by his son Matt Torrens who was commended by the judge for his bravery in apprehending Charles Taylor, the last of a notorious gang. Alfred’s widow Ann remained at the Manor with her son Attwood and eight servants until she moved to Hayes Grove in 1916, shortly before Attwood was struck by a shell and killed in France. By this time the house was described as ‘a large detached old fashioned house’. Ground floor plan Baston Manor 1913 After the First World War Henry Legge moved to Baston Manor from The Nest, once again alterations were made to the property and a squash court was added. His sons, Philip and Geoffrey, played for Hayes Cricket Club and Geoffrey captained Kent Cricket Club from 1928-30. He toured South Africa with MCC in 1927-8 and New Zealand in 1929-30. A photographic album survives showing both the interior of the property and the gardens at the time. Baston Manor Hall 1929 (Legge Family Photos) Drawing Room, Baston Manor 1929 (Legge Family Photos) The Dutch Garden, Baston Manor 1929 (Legge Family Photos) View from the terrace, Baston Manor (Legge Family Photos) In 1934 Arthur Collins took up residence. In the First World War, he was a captain in the Royal Engineers and gained the MC. He was a keen tennis player, and his son was a junior England tennis champion. Many fetes for the whole community were held at Baston Manor in the 1930s and groups of women from Miss Knowles’ mission in the East End of London were entertained. During the Second World War, a 1,000kg bomb fell on the grounds of Baston Manor but failed to explode and two other bombs caused minor damage in 1940/41. A Canadian detachment of Artillery requisitioned part of Baston Manor for transport repairs. In 1944 a V1 flying bomb completely destroyed the Lodge but the Manor house survived. After the death of Arthur Collins the building was converted into flats between 1951 and 1953 by builder Messrs Barnard (Bromley) Ltd, whose architect was H G Payne. By 1955 the six flats were occupied and the house remains divided into flats today.
HALL, Robert
Before 1550 – 1618 Citizen and Grocer of London Robert Hall, a wealthy London grocer, had a significant influence on the development of Hayes in the late 16th century. Buying a number of properties and land. Apprenticed to a grocer in 1559, he was admitted to the livery of the Grocers’ Company in 1582 and by 1594 elected to the livery court. In 1596 he became one of its three Wardens and when Queen Elizabeth I demanded loans from the livery companies in 1598 to help finance her war expenditure, Robert Hall’s contribution was one of the largest by an individual member of the Company. In 1604 he was made Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. He originally lived in a house to the north of the church called Kilhogges, purchased Fowlers near Pickhurst Green in 1590 and then had a new house built opposite the church. This was referred to as a ‘double house’, the latest house style at the time. In 1608 he gave to the parish a small cottage and some land adjoining Baston Hethe bought from Robert Adams to provide a Poor House. The marriages of three of his four daughters and the birth of several grandchildren in his house are recorded in the Church registers between 1598 and 1619. His wife Margery died in 1614 and was buried in the chancel of Hayes Church. He died in 1618, leaving his house Kilhogges to daughter Sarah and the new double house to his daughter Margaret. His daughter Sarah, twice widowed, married the rector of Hayes Christopher Monkton, on 18 September 1641 and when she died in 1654 was buried in Hayes. Descendants of Robert Hall
HAMBRO, Everard Alexander
Everard Alexander Hambro 11 April 1842 – 26 February 1925Banker, Hambros Bank, Director of Bank of England, Philanthropist. KCVO Everard Hambro bought Hayes Place in 1880 and moved there with his wife and two sons Charles Eric and Harold. Three more children, Angus, Ronald and Violet were born in Hayes.He played a very important part in the life and development of the village. He owned much of the village and developed a prize winning herd of Guernsey cows at the farm. Not only did he improve his house and the grounds but built four lodges and a house for his butler in Hayes Bottom (now Bourne Way). He ensured that some of the run down cottages were adapted or replaced with more architecturally appealing ones. Three cottages nearest the George were replaced with four superior ‘Model Cottages’ ( 21-27 Hayes Street), designed by George Devey. Four small dwellings were converted into two cottages (17-19 Hayes Street), Bank Cottages were built (2 and 4 West Common Road), Poplar Row was replaced by St Mary Cottages (12-30 Baston Road), three cottages facing the Common were converted into one house for two of his sisters-in-law, Octavia and Clara Stuart, Grove House was extended and given to his son Harold in 1909, Glebe House was built originally for his son Eric who, however, preferred to live at Pickhurst Mead. Two Victorian beer houses, the Sun Inn and the Alma Arms close to the school were replaced by the New Inn which was built away from the village but close to the railway station which opened in 1882. A small home for crippled children with a matron was set up. Land was given to provide for an extension to the village school that was used for cookery lessons & also to provide allotments on 1½ acres near the railway station. With the setting up of the Hayes Parish Council in 1894 he became Chairman. He supported the Hayes Common Conservators and provided the services of his lawyers without charge in a dispute between the Parish Council and the Bromley Rural District Council regarding the right to take gravel from the Common. It was he and not the Rural Sanitary Authority who arranged and paid for the disposal of all the closets and village rubbish at no expense to the rates until at least the end of the century. He was president of the Hayes Village Industrial Association and vice- president of the village cricket and football clubs. Everard Hambro gave three new bells to the Parish Church and paid for the recasting of the existing bells. Other gifts to the church were the heating apparatus and two lighting installations, first gas and subsequently electricity. After the death of his wife Gertrude Mary in 1905 he paid for a large memorial screen to ‘All those who are lying at rest within this Sacred Ground’ to be erected at the eastern end of the existing churchyard. He also provided land to extend the churchyard. When he died in 1925 he was buried close to the memorial in the churchyard in a grave alongside that of his first wife. The rector at the time, Canon H P Thompson, commented ‘there are not a few, who remember with gratitude, thought-out and long continued acts of personal kindness. To me, there will ever remain, the remembrance of that fine handsome figure, the old world courtesy, the kindly smile, the humility of the man who just liked best to find relief from the pressure of affairs, among the scenes and people of Hayes.’ Further information: The Hambros 1779 to 1979 : Bo Bramsen and Kathleen Wain, London 1979 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography HAMBRO, Charles Eric 30 September 1872 -28 December 1947Banker, Hambros Bank, KBE Charles Eric Hambro was eight when his father, Everard Hambro, bought Hayes Place. He became MP for Wimbledon 1900-1907 but later moved back to Hayes, living at Pickhurst Mead from 1913 – 1925. It was in his grounds that the anti-aircraft gun was installed that was part of the outer defence of London. After the war he was made a KBE in recognition of his services for the Ministry of Information. In Hayes he is mainly remembered for his decision after his father’s death to move away from Hayes and sell Hayes Place and its properties to building developers. This resulted in the demolition of the house and the construction of a large number of properties which enabled many more people to enjoy the village and surrounding countryside. He was buried in Hayes churchyard on 1 January 1948. Further information: Who Was Who HAMBRO, Harold Everard 25 Jan 1876 – 5 August 1952Banker, Army Officer. Harold Hambro was 15 years old and lived at Hayes Place in the !891 Census with his father Everard, mother Gertrude, aunt Clara, three younger siblings and 15 servants. His father later gave him Hayes Grove but he chose not to live in Hayes. It is said that his wife, Katherine, did not want to live there. Consequently he rented out the property. He was a Lt. Colonel in the First World War and is mentioned as returning safely in the list in the front of the Great Church Bible. Hayes Grove remained his property until put up for sale in 1930. The house remained in private hands but eight acres of its land was bought by the builders Tyson & Harris. HAMBRO, Ronald Olaf 1st December 1885 – 25 April 1961Banker Ronald Olaf Hambro was baptised in Hayes Church on 17 January 1886. He joined the Coldstream Guards in 1915, was twice mentioned in despatches and is one of the men recorded as returning safely from the First World War in the front of the Great Bible in Hayes Church..
PITT, William the Younger
William Pitt the Younger ( Kadwell Portfolio, Bromley Historic Collections) 28 May 1759 – 23 Jan 1806Prime Minister 1783-1801, 1804 – 1806 William Pitt was born in ‘the best bedroom’ at Hayes Place, the fourth child of William Pitt (later Earl of Chatham) and Lady Hester Pitt. He was their second son and was baptised in Hayes on 3 July 1759. Plaque to William Pitt, Earl of Chatham and his son William Pitt the Younger in Hayes Parish Church, unveiled on 30 September 1929 by Lady Stanhope (L.Smith) Much of his childhood was spent at Hayes or at Burton Pynsent in Somerset. He was tutored by Revd Edward Wilson, showed early promise and was nearly 14 years old when he went to Cambridge University. His health during his childhood was often a cause for concern so fresh air and riding were recommended. It was said by John Mumford, an old retainer, that William used to stand on one of the mounting blocks and practise his debating skills. From an early age he had decided that he intended to be a William Pitt in the House of Commons. It is recorded that he said to his mother “I am so glad that I am the second son, for I shall be able to speak in the House of Commons like papa.” He was 19 when his father died and his mother moved to Burton Pynsent. His elder brother John inherited his father’s title but was serving in the army and therefore it was William who mainly supported his mother in the selling of Hayes Place which finally happened in 1785. When both his sister Hester and brother James died in 1780 he hurried to Somerset to comfort his mother and persuaded her to move to Hayes for the time being so that she might be more accessible from London. She was there when he successfully entered parliament in January 1781 at the age of 21. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer at the age of 23 and in December 1783 the youngest British Prime Minister. After Hayes Place was sold in 1785 he bought in nearby Keston the Holwood estate on which he lavished much time and attention, Right Hon. William Pitt at age of 23 (Bromley Historic Collections) Further Information The making of a great Prime Minister, William Pitt the younger, Bromleage June 2006 (bblhs.org.uk) The Journey from Blandford to Hayes, Anne Manning, Bromley Local Histories 5 See also Pitt William, 1st Earl of Chatham