Brook Farm, Finedon Road, Wellingborough

[seahall]

I gave Melody some info last week on a Wellingborough Soldier. 

Went over took my memory stick and left the picture at home on drive.

Luckily I had printed a picture of the soldier so it wasn't a complete wasted journey.

I could see (unless Bryan can) if the Northampton Library have any pictures of Land Army
Girls you never know, if they are open when I try.

Sandy

[christineann]

Hi Sandy

Thanks for your offer, it's much appreciated.  You never know what might turn up!

Melody at the Museum told me about 'Wellingborough now and then' on Facebook and there is a photo of Wilbye Grange where my mum was billeted just outside Wellingborough.  It's on a postcard  dated 1904 and there's a link to another photo of the Grange taken from a different angle.  Going to show her the photo to see if it brings back any more memories.

Christine

[seahall]

Hi Christine you can do it from home. 

On Goo***.co.uk images under Land Army Workers Northamptonshire
quite a few images come up.

Maybe your Mum is on one.

Sandy

[sugarbakers]

Firstly, following Sandy's suggestion ...

Northampton Central Library - the librarian checked the list of photographs but there was no mention of Land Army.
NRO card index shows only Land Army photographs taken at Moulton Institute of Agriculture.

Now, the farm(s) get(s) more interesting ...

Christine, the surname you are looking for is DICKENS.
Arthur George Dickens & Doris Ellen Atterbury married JunQ 1923 Wellingborough. Their children were Derek Trevor (1923-2002) and Shirley E (1929-1932). Derek Trevor married JuneQ 1945 (his wife may still be alive).
Ancestry is down at the moment, but I think we will find that AGD and (?) parents Arthur & Mary (?) came from Brixworth ... which suggests that Frank D Austin of Brook Farm was brought from Brixworth by the Dickens family as shepherd.

The electoral registers for 1939 show that Arthur George Dickens and his wife Doris Ellen were living at Brook Farm, however in the ones for 1945 show there were 4 other folk living there (not sure of ages/deaths so will PM them to you). AGD also held land in Sidegate Lane in 1939.
Before I went to NRO I checked the local map for another farm that your Mum may have walked to as you said she walked along a lane rather than a street. South Hill Farm would have been along a lane.  It's in Finedon district for electoral registration, but no further to walk, so I checked that as well.
For 1939 there were a dozen occupants listed (names in PM) including 2x Dickens who may be AGD's parents. For 1945 there were 16 occupants listed, this time including AGD and his wife.
So it looks as though both farms were in the Dickens family, South Hill being the larger one, I think ... but which one is the one you are interested in. Did your Mum leave the station up the footpath, turn right across the railway and on to South Hill Farm, or did she go straight on up to Brook Farm, assuming there was a footpath parallel to the railway ?

Hope of use.
Bryan.

[christineann]

Hello Bryan

You have solved the mystery for me and I can't thank you enough! I will see if the name 'Dickens' rings a bell with mum.

I think that mum was probably at South Hill Farm and not Brook Farm thanks to your research.  She joined the Land Army 3 May 1943 and left 31 October 1945 and worked on the same farm whilst she was in Northamptonshire.  She was first billeted at Denton, then moved to Wilbye Grange, of which I've found a photo.  It's such a coincidence that the Dickens lived at both Brook Farm and South Hill Farm.  I'm wondering, though, where Derek Trevor Dickens was in 1939 and 1945, although he did marry in Jun Q 1945 and wonder what date the electoral rolls were taken.

I have looked at old photos and maps of Wellingborough Station and there is a footpath on the left hand side of the track which appears to lead up to Mill Road and then up further to Finedon Road where Brook Farm was.  This was the track which I initially thought my mum would have taken but it seems much more probable, especially in view of the 1945 electoral rolls that she was at South Hill Farm.  This seems to have had much more land around and I have some photos of mum in the fields on the farm if you would like to see them so you know who you've been researching for 

The reason I couldn't find a marriage for a Trevor, father George, is because you found he was actually christened Derek Trevor and his father was Arthur George.  I've think I've found Arthur George Dickens on he 1901 Census living with his parents Arthur and Mary at Weston Favell and on the 1911 they're at Grange Cottages, Overstone.  Not sure about the Brixworth connection as according to the census Arthur Dicken was born at Boughton and his wife Mary at Moulton.

I would never have got any further had it not been your visit to the NRO today.  I had looked at South Hill Farm as being a possibility but thought it was a little too far away. Taking another look at the Ordnance Survey Map 1948, I can now see the lane across from the railway station that leads up to South Hill Farm.  I had a look on Google Earth to see if the farm still stands and it appears that it does, although the track/lane where my mum would have walked up looks to have disappeared and it seems to be accessed from Irthlingborough Road.

Looking at the 1945 electoral roll, it seems my mum was correct when she said that George's parents also lived on the farm and she remembers two brothers living there who may well be the ones listed after the Dickens family.

You've given me so much to go on and my aim is to research more about the Dickens family and try to trace any descendants of Derek Trevor Dickens and his wife and maybe I'll take mum down to see the farm where she worked in the early 1940's.

Once again, thanks for all the work you've done for me, it's much appreciated.

Best Wishes
Christine 

[seahall]

Excellent research and outcome.

Saved me a trip also although I wasn't aware there were any librarians
left in Local Studies.  Service has dropped considerably, besides opening hours.

The images of the Northants Agricultural College are the ones I mentioned.

It is a shame we can not assist with living members on the forum
but rightly so.

Sandy

[seahall]

I have just found the marriage for you Christine.

Wellingborough St. Mary P.C.
Pg. 4, No. 7
02 April 1945

Derek Trevor Dickens, 21, bachelor, farmer, 40, Elsden road, father George, farmer to
Nora Suzanne Holloway, 22, spinster, electrical assistant, 131, Finedon Road, father Eli, electrician

Witnesses: ?   Monroe? and S Burgess

No children baptisms at Church.

Sandy

[sugarbakers]

Thank you ... pleased to be of help.

The Dickens family appear not to have wished to be listed in the directories in 1930s and 40s. The basic street directories of 1964 through to 1974 show South Hill Farm being run by J C Bazzard farmer, with Derek T Dickens living in the farm cottage. There were also 2 farm bungalows occupied by workers.

Derek T Dickens was probably too young to appear on the 1945 electoral register as I assume it was recorded mid-1944.

Two children coming up in a FreeBMD birth search Dickens/Holloway in 1952 and 1962 ... may be relevant.

I think this is 'George' ... Arthur George H Dickens birth reg SepQ 1897 Brixworth reg district (and Brixworth reg district covers a multitude of parishes) ... based upon the 'H' that's given on the 1945 elec reg list for South Hill Farm. So there may be a link to the Austin family, but I agree it may not be quite as likely as I first thought.

Bryan.

[christineann]

Hi Sandy

Thank you for the marriage details of Derek Trevor Dickens and Nora Suzanne Holloway in April 1945.  Another piece of valuable information.  Would St Mary's be the one on Knox Road in Wellingborough or is there another one?

Think I've found the births of their two children but not yet pinpointed their marriages.  It's a shame that 'Trevor' is no longer with us as mum remembers him and Nora well.

Christine