The White House Soulbury

[Geordie daughter]

Good morning Alan. If you have access to earlier Valuation Rolls or directories, and it's not too much trouble, would you mind very much looking to see when T.H.H's name first appears in connection with Soulbury? I don't know whether Henry was employed by him right from the start in 1911, or whether he initially worked for someone else in Soulbury or surrounds. Annie was a staunch Wesleyan so would have been a committed member of the congregation in Soulbury yet I've only found one mention of her in the newspaper, when she took part in a church fund-raiser for the Belgian refugees in 1914.

[AlanBoyd]

I must have missed something — what places HH in Soulbury in 1911?

The Lloyd George Valuation was a one-off process (apologies if I have somewhere confused it with the Scottish Valuation Rolls). Although this process is nominally dated 1910 many valuations took place later than that.

The only reference to THH in the Soulbury valuations that I have seen is his mention in connection with The Cottage, and that is dated 25th February 1914. That fits nicely with his listing in Kelly's 1915 (reply #3). I've assumed that this means he was subletting from Fabian Trollope.

Thurston Holland Hibbert also has his own listing dated 21/1/14 as owner of some Kennels on Bermuda Road, Cambridge, occupied by Trinity Foot Beagles. Here his address is given as Munder?, Watford. [From census records I see this is actually Munden House.]

As far as directories are concerned THH is mentioned in Soulbury in 1915 Kelly's but not in 1911 Kelly's (when Fabian Trollope is listed at The Cottage). I don't have access to any directories between 1911 and 1915 for Buckinghamshire. In 1911 THH is in his family home, a law student.

[Geordie daughter]

Thank you for going to all that trouble, Alan. (I don't have access to Valuation Rolls at all, so I'm afraid I don't know much about them.) No you haven't missed something - it's just that that's when Henry first pops up in the area. He's in Wing Road, Linslade for the 1911 census, so given what you've found, he may well have been working for someone else initially. Henry's son was born in Soulbury in late 1912, so I know they're there by then though there doesn't seem to be any other mention of the family until 1914/15.

[Darnity]

Have you seen this: https://soulburyparish.co.uk/history/ - there might be something useful there.

Also try Leighton Buzzard Local History Society https://www.lbdahs.org.uk/ as they may have some local knowledge to help you.

[Geordie daughter]

Darnity, thank you so much for those links. I've spent the last half hour or so going through the 1921 sale catalogue and map on the Soulbury site, and it's been massively helpful. The Leighton Buzzard one might be able to help me to locate where exactly on Wing Road my lot were in 1911, as their house only has a name, not a number, in that year's census. I suspect that the house numbers along that road may have changed over the years, too, as they don't seem to follow a logical sequence on Google Street View. 

[Darnity]

You're welcome - I often find that looking for a local history society or parish website finds sources of information that turns out to be very useful.

[Geordie daughter]

Yes, they do, and so do those documents that town planners like to draw up for conservation purposes! They sometimes yield some very interesting information in amongst the jargon.