Who lived at Warley Abbey?

This article has been researched by Linda and Chris Reason who are part of the Community Trust's History Research Group.  It details the main residents of the Abbey during its time as a private home, some of the servants and their roles who lived at the house and ancillary buildngs such as the Lodges.  It also shares fascinating information on two guests who were staying at the Abbey at census time and some of the residents of the Abbey while it was the centrepiece of the public park we have today.  New information will be added as research continues!

A private residence

Samuel Galton’s son Hubert commissioned the house, which was completed in 1820 and became known as Warley Abbey (and sometimes Warley Hall). In addition to the Abbey there were a number of Lodges which unhelpfully go by different names at different times for example, the Gardener’s Lodge, Warley Hall Lodge, Warley Lane Lodge, the South Lodge, Warley Hall Gardener’s Cottage. Two of them would have stood at the main entrances. All were designed by Robert Lugar.

 

The Galtons lived in the Abbey for around 20 years. Hubert Galton and his wife Mary (from the Barclay family) had four children in total, but sadly two died in infancy and Diana, their second-born also died, in 1840 aged 22. About the same time Hubert and Mary left the Abbey, after which it was rented out to a series of families for the rest of the 19th century. It seems that when a different family took up the tenancy, all the previous servants left and a new set was brought in or recruited. The censuses give us information on some of these people (only those present in the household on census day) – usually at ten years’ intervals, so the picture is incomplete.

 

There are inevitably mistakes in censuses: misspellings, mis-hearings and inaccurate recording. Some of the writing is very difficult to decipher. (In the tables that follow a question mark indicates a ‘best guess’). The information provided in particular censuses differs. The 1841 Census rounds up or down the ages of individuals: the age of persons over 15 was supposed to be rounded down to the nearest multiple of five. For example, a person aged 19 would be listed as 15, someone aged 22 would be listed as age 20, and a person aged 59 as 55. In practice, many census officials either did not round down at all or did so only for higher ages, such as over 20, or (less frequently) ages below 15. In general, the age of a person under 15 is probably accurate to within a year or two. For persons over 15, any age that is not a multiple of five is likely also to be accurate – for example, if someone is listed as 27, he or she probably really is 27, rather than 25. The individual Censuses after 1921 are not yet available for the public to examine (though aggregated data is accessible).  The Abbey was demolished in 1956.  You can read more about that here.

 

The Tenants of Warley Abbey/Hall

John Edward Piercey (shown as Piercy in the 1841 Census)

John Edward Piercey first appears in the 1841 Census, and was still resident at Warley Abbey in 1851. Mr. Piercey is also listed as the tenant of Warley Abbey in the electoral registers of 1843-44 and 1849-1852. The freehold owner of the ‘buildings and farm at Warley Abbey’ was Hubert Galton (then resident in Portman Square, London), and he was in receipt of an annual rental ‘exceeding £50 per annum’.

 

The 1851 Census describes Mr. Piercey as a gentleman, a Justice of the Peace, and ‘a proprietor of coal mines’ (probably in the Bedworth area of Warwickshire).  He was also a committee member and subscriber to the General Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Children in Edgbaston, had served as an Overseer of the Poor, and was a member of the Birmingham Society of Arts. In 1841 he had become High Sheriff of Staffordshire, and in 1846 he had contributed towards the construction of Quinton parish church. A significant landowner in his own right, before leasing Warley Abbey he had inherited the Oak House estate in West Bromwich.

 

Born in Bedworth in 1781, he married Esther Lythall in 1807, but by 1851 his wife is listed as Sarah Elizabeth Piercey who was from Middlesex, and 12 years his junior. No children are listed as resident at the Hall in 1851, but the household numbered no fewer than eight servants of various kinds. John Piercey died suddenly on August 27th 1853 and was buried on September 2nd that year at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Edgbaston. In his will he made financial provision for his wife, and his daughter Grace Mary and her husband, plus numerous bequests including £50 to his butler Henry Gregory, and the lady’s maid Elizabeth Bird.

 
Sampson Hanbury

Sampson was born in Middlesex in 1828 and was described in the 1861 Census, when he was the tenant of Warley Hall, as a manufacturer of iron tubes and someone who was farming 250 acres. In 1861 he and his wife Anna, a second cousin of Mary Galton whom he married in 1852, had two children but two other daughters would be born during the 1860s. In 1865 he was a member of the committee involved in the reconstruction of Lloyds Banking Corporation as a public company. By the time of the 1871 Census, he had relocated to the Newton Abbot area of Devon, where he was a local Justice of the Peace, and for many years a Churchwarden at All Saints Church, Babbacombe. His first wife died in 1877, and in April 1879 he married Mary Isabel Mansfield, a woman some 24 years his junior, who bore him two sons and a daughter. A wealthy and apparently somewhat pompous man, he was a shareholder in the Great Western Railway, and upon his death in March 1894 at the age of 66 left an estate valued at £98,072 (£16,289,883 today).

 
James Watson

Born in about 1818, in the 1871 Census James is described as a merchant, miller and shipowner, living at Warley Hall with his wife Jane and eight-year-old daughter Florence. Although his wife was born in Lancaster, James was a native of Birmingham, where his father had founded a wholesale grocery business, specialising in goods imported from America. They employed seven live-in servants, including a nurse, whilst a coachman, Henry Cook, lived in one of the lodges (which one is not specified) with his wife and two young daughters.

 

His name also appears in relation to a list, published in the Worcestershire Chronicle in February 1874, titled ‘persons the Birmingham and Midland Bank Company or Partnership consists of’. He is described as a merchant, resident at Warley Hall, but his business interests were many and varied including a directorship of the Metropolitan Railway Carriage Company and the London and Midland Banking Company. Prior to moving into Warley Hall, he lived in a house on Hagley Road in Edgbaston. In 1875, he bought the Berwick Estate near Shrewsbury at auction for either £171,000, or £192,000 depending on which of two newspaper reports was accurate! After leaving Warley Hall, he was twice elected as Conservative MP for Shrewsbury.

 
Thomas Hall

Thomas Hall and family were the residents of Warley Hall in 1881. Thomas was a tea merchant, then aged 38, and the household included his wife Frances and six children (four sons and two daughters), aged between two and nine. Unsurprisingly given the number and ages of the children, among those listed in the Census are Mary Dyer, a nurse, and Mary Sanders, a companion.

 

Thomas Hall appears to have been a keen horticulturalist, exhibiting at a number of local shows, some of which were held in Warley Park itself. In July 1880, Mr Hall was awarded the Siver Cup at the Halesowen and Hagley Flower Show for his collection of plants, fruits and flowers. He had been elected a member of the Royal Agricultural Society in July 1881.

 
Sir Hugh Gilzean Reid

Although he himself was elsewhere at the time of the 1891 Census (visiting William Milton in Dundee, Scotland with his wife Anne and one of his sons, Joseph – an 18-year-old ‘student in arts’), it was the family of Hugh Gilzean Reid (1836 -1911) who occupied Warley Hall on that date. These included his eldest son, Philip John (a journalist), younger son Hugh, and daughters Louisa, Ethel, Millicent, and Sybil. Margaret Craig, the 72-year-old widowed mother of his wife, was also in residence, along with five servants. 

 

A native of Aberdeenshire, Hugh Gilzean Reid was himself a journalist. He owned a number of newspapers outright and was part of the syndicate that published 25 others in Lancashire, the Midlands and London. In the 1860s he had founded the Middlesbrough Gazette, the first halfpenny evening newspaper in the UK, and he was a key figure in the history of the Institute of Journalists, some of whose events were held at Warley Hall. He had also represented Aston Manor in the House of Commons as a Liberal MP between 1885 and 1886. He was also President of the Society of Newspaper Proprietors and Managers. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1893 for services to journalism.

 

He was the author of a book called ‘Old Oscar, the Faithful Dog’ which sold 500,000 copies and is still obtainable today on a few websites! One of the illustrators was Landseer, the famous animal portraitist who made the lion sculptures in Trafalgar Square.

 

Whilst at Warley Hall, which he had purchased from Mary Galton around 1894 along with that part of the estate landscaped by Humphry Repton, he was elected a member of the Warley School Board. He regularly held garden parties on his estate for members of Warley Baptist Church and there were also frequent house parties at the Hall, where on at least one occasion guests included the Prime Minister of the day William Gladstone. Reid died in November 1911 aged 75.

 

Harold Lincoln Tangye

Harold Lincoln Tangye was born in 1866, and was the eldest son of Richard Tangye, founder of the Birmingham engineering firm that bore his name. He joined the family firm in 1884 and after six years apprenticeship in the shops and drawing office, became assistant to the managing director, and shortly afterwards manager and deputy chairman.

 

In 1901 he was resident at Warley Abbey with his wife, the former Annie Gilzean Reid, daughter of the Abbey’s previous tenant, whom he had married on September 24th 1889 at Christ Church, Quinton. Although Harold travelled widely, particularly in Sudan and South Africa in pursuit of his hunting interests, he and his wife were also active locally, in particular through their support of the Smethwick Poor Children’s Fresh Air Fund. Annie Tangye was especially well known for her political and social work, and was at one time President of the Women’s National Liberal Federation. The Tangyes left Warley Hall in 1902 for Maxstoke Castle in Warwickshire.

In January 1911, Harold left his wife, and after he had refused her appeals that he return, she petitioned for financial support and custody of their children. In November 1913, she was granted ‘restitution of conjugal rights’ and a sum of £760 per annum for life. This was contested by her husband, and in 1914 judgement was given that the payment should apply to their joint lifetimes. Harold subsequently re-married in 1923, and his new wife Florence Phoebe Thompson was granted probate of his estate following his death on February 24th 1935. This was valued at £876, which would equate to £79,615 today.

 
William Henry Jones

William was a local businessman who bought Warley Abbey and its grounds from the Tangyes in 1902. As well as being a farmer, he owned Hailstones Quarry in Rowley, together with tube and chain making factories in the Black Country. He was also involved in house building and public works contracts such as road construction. It has been suggested that he bought the Warley estate in order to develop it for house building, although it seems that in the short time that he lived there he also spent money on refurbishing the Abbey itself. He was the last person to live there before the creation of the public park in 1906.

  

The Servants of Warley Abbey/Hall

Most of those employed in domestic service in Victorian times were women, outnumbering men at over 20 to one by 1880. Indoor male servants became rarer as the century progressed, as they were increasingly expensive (there was a tax on indoor male servants and their wages were higher), and only the wealthy could afford to employ them. Throughout the 19th century, the servants at Warley Hall were drawn from many different parts of the country, and might find employment in a variety of different ways. Lower-grade servants for ‘rough work’ are likely to have lived locally and therefore not to have been included in the census at their place of work.

 

Butler - Henry Gregory (1851), William Pembery (1861), William Beale (1891), Henry Lippitt (1901)

The butler was the most highly-ranked servant, earning £40-£60 per year. There was often only one male servant working with a team of women. In smaller houses the butler would be expected to combine a number of different jobs, including footman, valet and page boy.

 

His main duties would be: 

  • Supervising service at dinner
  • Waiting on the table at mealtimes
  • Looking after the silver in the house
  • Locking up the house at night
  • Caring for the wine cellar
  • Answering to visitors who called
  • Looking after his master’s clothes
  • Taking letters from/to his master and mistress
  • Winding the clocks

 

Of those employed at Warley Hall, one who re-appears in records elsewhere is William Pembery, who had a surname which appeared to perplex those required to spell it. He seems to have been born in Bicester, Oxfordshire, in October 1825, and at his baptism was recorded as William Pembole. By the time he is at Warley Hall, that has become Pembery or Pemberly, and in the1871 Census, he appears as William Pembroke (or possibly Pembole?), butler to the Earl of Courtown, an Irish nobleman from Wexford, then living in Brook Street, London.

 

Henry Allen Lippitt was born in Birmingham in August 1877, and his first employment at the age of 13 was as a telegraph boy. At that time he lived with his family in Bearwood Road, Smethwick, having previously lived in Albion Street, Ladywood. While working at Warley Hall, he married Elizabeth Withers, who was almost certainly the sister of Ann and Lucy Withers, who are listed as servants at the Hall in the 1901 Census, and was herself employed there at the time of her marriage. This took place at Christ Church Quinton on August 23rd 1902. By 1911, Henry was no longer in domestic service. He and his wife and two daughters were sharing a house at 124 Cheshire Road, Smethwick, and Henry was an engineer’s labourer. In 1919, according to the register of electors, Henry and Elizabeth were at Oaklands Lodge, Baker’s Road, Knowle, which appears to be another large house, suggesting that they were once again in service. However, by the time of the 1921 Census both he and his wife were at 95 Wentworth Road, Harborne, where Henry performed various domestic duties and tended the garden, and Elizabeth was a cook.

 

By 1929, the family had moved to 494 City Road, Edgbaston where they were sharing a house with the family of their son-in-law (the Rudds), but by the time the 1939 Register was compiled, Henry was living at ‘The Chalet’ in Bell Heath, sharing with his unmarried daughter Frances, and the same members of the Rudd family. (His wife, meanwhile, was with her married daughter Emily Rudd at 31 Stanfield Road, Quinton). He was described as a ‘jobbing gardener’. Henry Lippitt died on March 8th 1945 at Birmingham General Hospital, aged 77, and was buried in Quinton Cemetery. Surprisingly his estate at Probate was valued at £191 (£10,500 today).

 

Coachman – John Walker (1851), Edward Lloyd (1861), Thomas Griffiths (1881), Thomas Large (1891), Joseph Bank (1901)

Up until the early years of the 20th Century, the only way to travel for an upper middle class or upper-class family was by horse and carriage. The demands for a good, experienced coachman were high. The coachman was the man in charge of the stables - grooms and stable boys came under his authority. He would oversee the care of the horses and the upkeep of the carriages but would delegate most of the work to the groom and/or the stable boy. The coachman would also drive the family in the carriage. 

 

Edward Lloyd was born in Ansley, a village near Atherstone in Warwickshire. Prior to his employment at Warley Hall, he was a servant to John Smith (solicitor and attorney) at Carpenter House. Carpenter’s Road Edgbaston. By 1901, he was living in Kensington, London, with his wife Mary and (according to the Census) a ten-year- old daughter!  Even though he was by then about 71 years old, he was still working as a coachman/groom.

 
Groom – James Hosier (1851), John Hawkes (1861)

The groom, under the supervision of the Coachman, would feed, exercise and groom the horses. He was expected to know all about the care of horses, from grooming and training to basic veterinary medicine. He was also often required to teach the children of the family to ride, which they usually learnt to do from a very young age.

 

The groom’s day began early, usually at 6 am, when the stable doors were opened, the stables were cleaned, and the horses were given fresh food and water. The groom checked the horses’ hooves for stones and began the lengthy ritual of ‘dressing’ his charges.

 

Each horse was combed with a ‘curry-comb’ (to loosen the dirt and dust), ‘wisped’ with straw or a dead horse’s tail (to remove the dirt), brushed with a whalebone brush until his coat shone, ‘wisped’ again and then rubbed down with a clean cloth. The horse’s ears, eyes and nose were cleaned with a damp sponge, the tail and mane combed, and the hooves oiled until they shone.

 

The groom also had to store and maintain the saddles, bridles, stirrups and other bits of harness, and clean each piece after use. If a vehicle had been used, the groom cleaned that too. His day usually finished after 8 pm when the horses were fed again and the stables were re-cleaned. If the master or mistress ventured out for the evening, the groom’s day ended only when the horses had returned to the stables, which was sometimes late at night. For this reason, the head groom lived in a house attached to or near the stables, so that he was always at hand when needed.

 

John Hawkes was born in Harvington near Evesham in 1837, the son of Thomas Hawkes, an agricultural labourer. Prior to his employment at Warley Hall, in 1851 he was a plough boy on a farm at Littlewood Green near Studley. In 1879, John Hawkes (described in the records as a groom, aged 42) pleaded guilty to stealing a horse and harness and was sentenced to 9 months hard labour in Reading gaol.

 

Footman – Robert Pratt (1861), John Bailey (1871)

In families that could afford only one male servant, they usually hired a footman who was expected to perform multiple jobs in a timely manner. His chores consisted of cleaning furniture, trimming lamps, performing errands, preparing razor straps, and polishing silverware. He went out with the carriage, answered the door or the parlour bell, and politely and civilly announced guests. He waited on the family at mealtimes and could also act as valet to the master of the household, adult sons and male visitors. Footmen were usually chosen for their appearance – they needed to be neat, smart and tall. In the late 19th century, a footman of up to 5ft 6in could earn £30 a year, while one of 5ft 10in might earn £32-40 a year.

 

Housekeeper – Louisa Skinner (1861)

The housekeeper was the most senior female member of staff. She hired and fired all women servants except personal attendants such as the Lady's Maid and Cook, who were engaged by the mistress of the house. The housekeeper ruled with a rod of iron and often had her own apartments. She supervised work both above and below stairs and oversaw everything that happened in the daily running of the home. Her role involved keeping weekly accounts of daily expenditure in a ledger, paying all the bills, and filing receipts. Her accounts were inspected once a month by the mistress of the house.

 

Louisa Skinner was born in the village of Newport, near Saffron Walden in Essex in about 1815. Prior to her employment at Warley Hall, she was a parlour maid in the household of Rachel Barclay in Harrow, Middlesex. Rachel Barclay was Sampson Hanbury’s mother-in-law, which is no doubt the connection that brought Louisa to the Midlands.

 

Lady’s maid – Elizabeth Bird (1851), Emma Sturdy (1861), Kate Florence Harwood (1891)

The lady’s maid reported and answered directly to her mistress. She was referred to by her last name and was, at times, called by the honorary ‘Mrs.’, much like the housekeeper. She was even considered on the same rank as the housekeeper, despite the fact that her wages were approximately half that of the woman who ran the household.

 

The lady’s maid was at the mistress’ beck and call. She helped her mistress bathe and dress, styled her hair, mended and ensured the mistress’ gowns were clean and pressed. She had to be trusted not only to keep her employer’s confidences, but also to care for the mistress’ jewellery. The lady’s maid fetched and carried, particularly when shopping with her employer. She also kept the same hours as her employer since she was required to help the mistress undress and ready herself for bed. Lady’s maids could be in the service of one mistress for decades and often cared for their employers when ill, which often made them a friend and confidante.

 

Emma Sturdy was born in Stockwell, on the Surrey side of the Thames near Lambeth in 1830, one of seven children. Her father George was a baker. By 1851 she was employed as a lady’s maid in Brighton, and after her time at Warley Hall she became lady’s maid to the Countess of Limerick at an address in Gloucester Place, London. On August 27th 1873 she married John Pressdee (who came from Suckley in Worcestershire) in Lambeth at the church in which she had been baptised. He was a fishmonger, and from this point until her death in 1915, Emma lived with her husband in Worcester, initially in the High Street, and then at 95 Comer Road. The couple had one son, Sidney, who upon his mother’s death inherited an estate valued at £1377 (£180,000 today).

 

Cook – Mary Yate (1851), Jane Bussey (1861), Rebecca Fanshaw (1871), Caroline Wills (1881), Emma Udale (1891), Alice Fahey (1901)

As with many other roles, the duties of the cook varied enormously depending on the size of the household and the number of assistants that she had to help her in her tasks. In very large and grand households, a chef would be employed to prepare the food, who would have many assistants to help. In a relatively small establishment like Warley Abbey, the cook would have many different jobs to do.

Not only did she have to prepare all the food but it was her duty to keep the kitchen in order, including scrubbing floors and pots and pans. She may also have had to help the housemaid in her duties, such as laying the fires and keeping the house clean and tidy, but would mainly be confined to the kitchen.

 

Emma Udale (1862-1925)

Emma appeared on the 1891 Census, living at Warley Hall in the role of cook. She was born Emma Bullock in Tamworth on 1st July 1862 to Thomas Bullock, a Groom, and Ann, a Dressmaker. In 1881 she was a kitchen maid at Mercote Hall, Berkswell, the home of Frederick James Walker, gentleman. In October 1886, at the age of 24 she married Bernal Udale who was a widower of 44. Bernal’s first wife Eliza had died in June 1886.

 

Emma and Bernal had three children, all born in Uttoxeter. Thomas was born in 1888, Blanche died in infancy in 1889 and Adelaide Blanche was born in 1889. It appears something went wrong with the marriage. In the 1891 Census only Emma was listed at Warley Hall - Bernal was living alone at Wade St, Lichfield. In 1901 Emma was a Laundress (‘working at home on own account’), living at 91 Lichfield St, Tamworth, with her children. Again, Bernal was not there. Instead, he was living with his daughter from his first marriage. (By 1911 Bernal was describing himself as a ‘widower’ in the Census, even though his second wife was still very much alive!)

 

In 1911 Emma was still a laundress, living with her widowed mother and son Thomas, who was a clerk in the Tamworth gas light and coke company. By1921 she was listed as ‘employed as Landlady’, and shared a five roomed house with her mother and four lodgers. She was described as widowed – although in fact Bernal did not die until 1925, at the age of 85.

 

The 1939 Register showed Emma still living in Lichfield St with Adelaide, her husband George Clarke (a Millwright and Estate Carpenter) and their daughter, Emma’s granddaughter Mary (born in 1924 and working as an ‘office girl’). Emma died aged 85 in 1925.

 

Domestic nurse – Eliza Audley (1861), Rosine Benby (1871), Mary Dyer (1881), Ann M Withers (1901)

In a Victorian household, a domestic nurse, often called a nursemaid or nanny, was primarily responsible for the care and supervision of children (of whom there were three at the Abbey in 1901). She would feed, dress, and bathe the children, as well as supervise their activities both indoors and outdoors. In some cases, she might also be responsible for teaching basic skills or acting as a tutor until the children were of school age.

 

Domestic housemaid – Elizabeth Wyke (1851), Elizabeth Evans (1861), Eliza Madley (Under-housemaid 1861), Annie Hardy and Sarah Lane (1871), Harriet Spiers and Emma Richards (1881), Lucy Withers, Helen Massei and Margaret E Macdonald (1901)

The housemaid was responsible for keeping the house clean and in order. She was meant to do much of this out of view of the family and so had to rise very early in the morning to complete her work. It was also necessary to keep to a very strict routine to ensure that all the work was done. Each hour of the day and each day of the week had clearly defined tasks. In smaller households where there was no lady’s maid, the housemaid was also responsible for helping to dress the mistress of the house and to care for her clothes.

 

The head housemaid, often called the parlourmaid, would be responsible for supervising their work, and would do the cleaning in the ‘best’ rooms of the house, particularly cleaning the most important pieces of furniture and ornaments. The under-housemaid was usually a young girl, who may have started in the job at 12 years or younger. Her work was supervised by the senior maid and she would often be given many of the dirtier jobs. Her duties might include:

  • Laying out the fires
  • Black-leading the grate
  • Sweeping the carpets
  • Emptying the slops
  • Making the beds
  • Doing the laundry

 

Kitchen maid – Emily Poule (1861), Ana Cotterill (1881)

The kitchen maid was typically the youngest and lowest paid domestic servant, earning about £6 per year.  She would have kept the kitchen fire alight, helped to prepare food, cleaned everything associated with cooking, serving and eating food and maintained the cooking range.

 

Nurserymaid – Anne Jayne (1861)

The nurserymaid was usually a young girl. She would look after the children, dress and wash them and sew their clothes.

 

Laundress – Emma Halford (1881)

A laundress (or laundry maid) was paid very little and was seen as one of the least important jobs in the house. The work of washing and drying clothes would all have been done by hand and even heating up the water to start washing would have been a tough job. The laundress would have had to fill large buckets of water from an outdoor pump or river and heat it over a fire. Clothes were washed using bars of carbolic soap.

 

All work – William Reed (1851)

In Victorian times, ‘man of all work’ generally referred to a male servant in a large household who handled a variety of tasks beyond just the duties of a butler or valet. These servants might take on roles that included being a footman, valeting, assisting with meals, and even overseeing other servants. 

 

Post Boy – William Harbone (1861)

Post boys employed in large houses would have been used to run errands or deliver messages, but would also help with other household tasks. In 1861, this unique position was filled by 17-year-old William Harbone. He had been born in 1844 near Grimley in Worcestershire, where his father Joseph farmed on 30 acres of land. By the time of the 1861 Census, the whole family was employed at Warley Hall, Joseph having become the farm bailiff at Warley Farm, and William’s older brother (also named Joseph) employed as a gardener. Their 12-year-old sister Mary was described as a house maid, and although living at the farm, may well have worked at the Hall. By 1871, William had moved on. He was married, with a two-year-old daughter, employed as a coachman, and living in Tindal Street, Balsall Heath.

 

Gardener – William Herne (1881) Frederick Bennett (1881)

William Herne was born in 1839 at Nettlecombe in Somerset, and by the time of the 1861 Census he was described as a ‘horticulturalist’. By 1871, he was married and had moved to Kintbury in Berkshire, where he was working as a domestic gardener. After his spell at Warley Hall, he was employed as gardener at Hanbury Hall, and lived in the Gardener’s Cottage on the estate with his wife Jane, two sons and a daughter. His elder son Frank also worked at Hanbury as an assistant gardener. William died in 1898 at the age of 59.

 

Frederick Bennett was from the Isle of Wight, the son of Barnabas Bennett, who was also a gardener. It isn’t known when he moved to the mainland, but he didn’t stay long because by 1891 he was back on the Isle of Wight, living with his widowed father. He married later the same year and continued to work as a gardener. In 1921 he was employed as such by East Cowes Cottage Hospital. He died in 1948 at the age of 92.

 

Public Park Period

Gardeners/Park Keepers at Warley while it was a public park
George Bretherick

Son of a mason, George was born in Armley, Leeds, on December 4th 1878. He met his wife Eliza (nee Phipps) in Yorkshire, where she was in service, and they married in 1898. Two years later they moved to Birmingham, and in 1901 were living in Birchfield Road, Handsworth.  George had a variety of garden-related jobs, including becoming superintendent of Cannon Hill Park. In 1905 he began work as Park Superintendent (Head Park Keeper) at Warley. He and his family moved into one of the Abbey’s Lodges (Warley Park Centre Lodge’) in 1906, with the responsibility for the running, planting and maintenance of the park, with a staff of 18 gardeners plus keepers, parks police and a carter and his shire horse.

 

The 1911 Census records that he and his wife lived there with four children, aged from 2 to 11, plus Eliza’s parents, John and Mary Phipps (86 and 76 respectively). An architect’s report to Birmingham Parks Committee (made when demolition of the Abbey was being considered) points out that ‘Although the Head Park Keeper’s house is a suitable size, it is not ideally planned, at any rate on the Ground Floor and would appear to enjoy practically no sunshine during any part of the day’.

 

By the 1921 Census, George had fathered four more children, and another would be born in 1922, when he was 52 and his wife 46.  Their 1921 address is given in the Census as Warley Abbey, and the household comprised George, Eliza and six of their children (the eldest of whom was now 19), plus their married daughter Mabel and her husband.

 

Among George’s notable achievements whilst at Warley was the design of the rose garden, laid out in 1911. By the 1930s the garden contained over 150 varieties of roses.

 

Warley Abbey was home to the Brethericks until 1935.  Between 1914 and 1916 the Abbey also housed around 50 Belgian refugees. George retired from his role as Park Superintendent in December 1935 after 30 years’ service, and was presented with an illuminated address which read:

‘The Parks Committee of the City Council on your retirement from the service of the Corporation desire to place on record your thirty years of service and to express their appreciation of the loyal and efficient manner in which you have performed the duties entrusted to you’.

The 1939 Register records George and Eliza living at 48 Farcroft Road, Handsworth. George Bretherick died on July 28th 1942 as a result of an air raid and was buried in Handsworth Cemetery

 

Ernest Lupton

George Bretherick was replaced by Ernest Lupton who had also worked at Cannon Hill Park and was an authority on tropical plants and chrysanthemums. He was born on November 28th 1891 in Portsmouth, and by 1901 was living in Leamington Spa, where his father worked as a domestic butler. By 1911 Ernest was working as a domestic gardener, still in Leamington, but sometime later he moved to Birmingham, where he was married in 1916. By 1921 he was employed by Birmingham Corporation Parks Department, and living in Abbotsford Road, Sparkbrook. Following his appointment to Warley Park, he lived at the Abbey where he was in charge of around 30 gardeners, greenkeepers, horticulturalists, labourers, parks policemen and ostlers. From 1945 Ernest found it difficult to maintain standards because of falling numbers of staff and levels of funding. He died in October 1949.

Golf professionals

Alfred Padgham (known as Alf or AJ) was the first golf professional of the municipal course and one of the founders of the club. He was appointed in 1921, moved into the Abbey and in 1925 was elected the first life member. He supplied handmade clubs, such as a brassie, niblick, mashie or jigger. It appears that he occupied a flat made up of some of the rooms in the house. The architect’s report to Birmingham Parks Committee mentioned earlier says  ‘The Golf Professional’s flat suffers from being unnecessarily large but is otherwise well appointed. The old kitchens and the rooms over have fallen into disrepair and with the rooms now used for storage by the WVS are redundant as far as the present requirements are concerned’.  

 

AJ’s wife, Annie Padgham, became known as The Mother of Municipal Golfers and was in charge of catering and entertainments from the time her husband became the professional. Alf retired in 1946 and died in 1948.

 

Bert Fereday succeeded A J Padgham as golf professional after the War in 1946, and remained as such until 1977, living in part of the Abbey until about 1958. He was born in West Bromwich in May 1912, the son of Jabez (a general labourer) and Cissie. He became an assistant at Sandwell Park golf club aged 14, and in 1932 he carried the clubs for the Prince of Wales, who played a round of golf with Lord Westmoreland there during a royal visit. In 1936 he became golf professional at Wednesbury Golf Club, and three years later moved to Burbage Common (Hinckley) Golf Club in Leicestershire,

 

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Artillery. Bert is remembered for issuing directives on how to behave on the golf course, and for ringing the bell at the end of the day’s play to summon the golfers from the course. He died on April 6th 1992 aged 79.

 

Focus on two visitors to Warley Hall

Mabel Ross Shorrock (1871-1943)

One of the individuals listed as being at Warley Hall on the night of the 1891 Census was Mabel Ross Shorrock, a 19-year-old student. As a visitor, her connection with the Hall was obviously brief, but she turns out to have had an interesting life which deserves recording.

 

Mabel is first listed in the 1881 Census at nine years of age (she was born on 29 December 1871). In 1881 she was living in Darwen, Lancashire – her birthplace – with her parents. Her father was a cotton spinner and manufacturer.

 

In 1889 a newspaper cutting from the Liverpool Echo is headed ‘Extraordinary skating by a young lady’.

‘One of the most extraordinary achievements in the history of figure skating has just been accomplished by a young lady of but sixteen years of age. Early in the winter this distinguished young lady skated the third-class figure test of the National Skating association. A short time afterwards considerable surprise was created when it was known that a young lady had won the two-star badge (the second class test)… The test was drawn up by the leading figure skaters ten years ago and was thought to be so difficult that only one or two gentlemen have succeeded up to the present qualifying for the same. Miss Shorrock …. can now rank as one of the most extraordinary and graceful skaters of the day.’

 

Mabel appeared in an article in The Queen, ‘the Lady’s Newspaper’, in August 1893.

‘The students of Somerville Hall have obtained some brilliant successes in the honour schools this year… Miss Mabel Ross Shorrock obtained a first class in Honours Natural Science, Chemistry. Miss Shorrock … was educated at home and at Miss Cheetham’s School, Westlands, Southport… She entered Somerville Hall in October 1889 at the early age of 17. In June 1891 she passed the preliminary Science exam in Mechanics and Physics, having also been awarded a prize for the best work of the term in the class of Mrs Frederic Smith of Trinity College – a class attended by both men and women. In December of the same year she took the preliminary Exam in Chemistry, and in June completed her very successful university course by a brilliant first class in a very good year.’

 

In 1901 Census, at 29 years, Mabel was again on a visit, this time with her mother Jane to the home of Elvina Oldrieve (who let houses) and her sister in Grange, Lancashire.

 

In 1911, Mabel was again away from home at Census time. She was a visitor at the home of her brother Joseph, a 36-year-old cotton manufacturer. Also in the house (156 High Breach, Chorlton upon Medlock) were their sister, brother and servants. Mabel was 38 and was described as a retired secretary.

 

By 1921 Mabel was Head of Household in an eight-roomed house in Waston Bank near Kirkham. She was 49, single and employed three people – a housekeeper, parlourmaid and between maid. Her father Christopher had died in 1897, and brother Joseph had taken over the cotton manufacturing business. Mr Shorrock senior left £10,399 (equivalent to £1,727,281 today) and Mabel was very comfortably off and able to retire very early.

 

In 1921 and 1922 passenger lists show Mabel travelling by sea to Italy. In 1927, at the age of 55, she married Thomas Chamley. The 1939 Register shows them living in Warcop House in Westmorland with four servants and nine evacuees from two families – two mothers and a total of seven children.

 

Mabel died aged 71 on 28 August 1943 in Westmorland. She left £12,504 14s 1d – worth £728,598 today.

 
Octable Turquet Gilzean Reid (1881-1969)

A name to conjure with is Octable Turquet Gilzean Reid, daughter of Sir Hugh Gilzean Reid, and sister-in-law of Harold Lincoln Tangye. Born in Middlesbrough in 1881, the 1891 Census shows her at Smethwick Hall in Londonderry Lane, Smethwick, visiting her married sister. This had been known as Smethwick House in the first part of the 19th century, but later became known as Smethwick Hall.

 

Being from a large, wealthy and well-connected family, Octable’s name appeared frequently in the local press during the 1890s and into the new century as an attendee and sometime bridesmaid at a number of weddings. One such took place in January 1900 when her sister Ethel married Mr. Maurice Slater at the Church of the Redeemer on Hagley Road, with the reception held afterwards at Warley Abbey, the bride’s former home.

 

Octable herself was married in May 1910 to Major Dudley Leigh Aman in Hendon Parish Church, North London. Only a few relatives and close friends were present and there was no reception, and the honeymoon was spent at Marton Moor End, Cleveland, a property lent to them by the bride’s brother Philip. By then the Reid family was living at Tenterden Hall, Hendon, but after her marriage she and her husband settled in the south east of England. In 1911 they were living in Portsmouth, close to the Royal Marine Barracks at Eastney, and from 1918 they spent ten years in the village of Rowlands Castle near Havant, Hampshire, before moving to Marley Edge near Haslemere.

 

The couple had one son, Godfrey, born in 1913, and when he was four his mother enrolled him in a private preparatory boarding school attached to Bedales in Hampshire so that she could join the British Committee of the French Red Cross, and subsequently serve as a nurse based at Paris-Plage in France during 1917. As a result, she was entitled to the award of both the British War Medal and Victory Medal when the war ended.

 

Octable and her husband were both active politically. There is evidence that Octable was a keen supporter of female suffrage, even attending a protest demonstration in France in 1925 organised by the French Union for Female Suffrage. She died on September 1st 1969 at Flat 11, 50 South Audley Street, London, aged 88. The value of her estate at Probate was £24,983 (or £525,000 in 2025).

 

Her husband Dudley Leigh Aman (1884-1952) had a distinguished military career between 1902 and 1920. Having originally joined the Royal Marines, during the First World War he served with the Royal Marine Artillery Anti-Aircraft Brigade, was at both Ypres and the Somme, and was awarded the DSC in 1916. Having joined the Fabian Society in 1917, he left the Services in 1920 to devote himself to the Labour Party, and between 1919 and 1929 he stood for election to Parliament in Petersfield, the Isle of Thanet, and Faversham, but without success. However, in 1924 he was appointed a JP for Hampshire, was awarded a peerage in the 1930 New Year Honours List, (becoming the first Lord Marley), and became a ‘Lord in Waiting in Ordinary’ to King George V. Then, also in 1930, and despite never having been elected, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the War Office in Ramsay MacDonald’s government.

 

Dudley travelled widely during the 1930s, including a visit to the Soviet Union, of which he was a noted supporter. As a consequence, he was sometimes branded a Communist by both political opponents and more moderate members of his own party. In the latter part of the decade he served as Labour Chief Whip in the House of Lords, and during the Second World War worked at the Ministry of Aircraft Production (1941-1945). He died on February 29th 1952 aged 67.

Linda and Chris Reason August 2025

 

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