The White House Soulbury

[AlanBoyd]

The 1915 Electoral Rolls. The house is in the High Road, Soulbury (near the former Post Office, apparently) - I found recent sales particulars for it online, complete with photos.

I was assuming that that White House was the one you are ruling out since it seems to have 6 bedrooms. I’m referring to this one:

https://tinyurl.com/3wan2x69

[Geordie daughter]

Yup, that's the right house.

Thurston Holland Hibbert does have a connection to one of Henry's employers, but not the one I thought it was! T.H.H. married Viola Clutterbuck whose pa, a wealthy brewer, was at Putteridge Park (aka Putteridge Bury) near Luton from 1911, and that's where Henry and Annie popped up around 1917

[AlanBoyd]

I'm unclear if you are still interested in the White House itself, but in the 1910 Valuation it is listed as follows (my summary and transcript where quoted):

White House & White House Closes
Cottage, land and buildings, 10 acres; 0 roods; 15 perches
owner: E. W. Robinson, freehold [so I think that this confirms that it was part of the estate]
occupier F. G. Trollope: with a renewable yearly tenancy from September 1907, £50
The particulars are dated 29/1/14:

A Brick, Stuccoed and Slated House [of?] 4 Bedrooms: 2 Living Rms: Kitchen & Scullery: B&S Stable and Loft: [? E.C.] (not in very nice order, could be made a nice little place):

[Geordie daughter]

Every little scrap of information helps, Alan, and that's really useful stuff. It also may explain why Henry and Annie lived in Wing Road initially, if the place was run down and needed repairs before anyone could move in, and also why they only appear on the electoral roll there in 1915.

What intrigues me is that Thurston Holland Hibbert was called up in August 1914, as he was part of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, so he was out of the country for a large chunk of the time Henry was in his employ. The Herts Memories website has transcriptions of his diaries and Henry doesn't seem to have gone with him, even though he was still young enough to do military service, so was he considered to be more useful at home managing the stables? An awful lot of the other stud farms in the area had men removed by the dozens.

[AlanBoyd]

Perhaps he had a disability of some sort, enough to disqualify him from military service?

[Geordie daughter]

It's a possibility. I've trawled through the local papers to see if he was mentioned in any of the War Tribunals, but nothing so far. Mr Robinson on the Liscombe Estate nearby had to appeal on behalf his chauffeur, coachman and private secretary (no names given)who were all deemed unsuitable in some way or other, though the first two were only given 6 months exemption, and the secretary conditional exemption. I did wonder if the coachman was Henry because he is described as being "the only man employed in the stables apart from a boy of 15 or 16."

[AlanBoyd]

For background:

Digging deeper into the Valuation Rolls, I have found that “The Cottage” was a large property across the road from the Boot Inn, just at the junction with Church Lane. Looking at street view, I think it is no longer there. It, along with most of the properties on that side of the street were owned by EW Robinson.

The occupier of the White House mentioned previously, F G Trollope (Fabian George) is also recorded as the occupier of The Cottage, but his name is followed by “T Holland Hibbert” in brackets. He is also the occupier of one other Robinson-owned property, a cottage ‘near the Church” , which unfortunately is not actually marked on the map.

Fabian George Trollope was also the occupier of The Cottage in 1911 (Kelly’s Directory). He seems to have been a company director of two building firms, Trollope & Sons and also Trollope & Colls.

[AlanBoyd]

Trollope and Colls on Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollope_&_Colls?wprov=sfti1

[Geordie daughter]

Thanks for that extra info, Alan, it's really useful. I would kill to know how Thurston Holland Hibbert came to have property in Soulbury and especially how Henry came to be his groom. Thurston was the grandson of Lord Knutsford (and later became 4th Viscount Knutsford himself) and his parents had their country house in Hertfordshire. As I mentioned before, he married Viola Clutterbuck in 1912 and by 1921 was farming at Milebush near Linslade. Maybe I should look into Fabian Trollope.