Stocken Farm with William Saunders
From Lacey Green History
Click Farms for other local farms also Business
click William Saunders & Bethia Janes for more about William and Bethia
The story of Stocken Farm continues here from Stocken Farm with John Forrest. Stocken Farm continues after William Saunders with Stocken Farm with landlord Ernest Smith and tenants Dick & Hilda West
William Saunders owned Stocken Farm from 1911 until his death in 1934.
1877 circa, William Saunders (who was then farming Smalldean Farm and also Pound Farm at Saunderton Lee)purchased two plots of land from Josephine Irving, mortgagee of the land of John Cheshire. Land which had once been part of Princes Risborough Common.
One was at the bottom on the north-west side of a track, made to access this plot (later known as 'Hillcrest Field'). The other was straight ahead at the end of the track, a large field later known as ‘Hillocks’. The track years later became ‘Goodacres Lane’.
Note. At that time the only house on the Goodacres Lane track, right at the entrance to it, was The Bakehouse, built by Henry Janes. Interestingly, about the time he purchased the above fields William married Henry's daughter Bethia.
1911 Purchase of Stocken Farm. He was still also farming Smalldean Farm and Pound Farm when he bought Stocken Farm in Lacey Green for £3,400.
It had 167 acres, 1 rood ,24 poles of land including the farmhouse and two cottages called Graham Cottages built on the main road by the previous owner John Forrest of Grymsdyke in 1885. (click John & Evelyn Forrest for more about their lives.)
In 1911 census William, Bethia and children were at Smalldean, but moved to Stocken Farm later that year.
Researcher's Note. It was a sign of the difficult farming times that John Forrest had paid £8,250 for it in 1877, added two houses and then sold losing £4850, 33 years later. There had been terrible weather starting in 1870 right through the first world war.
Land Added. William Saunders already owned the two fields in Lacey Green, which he had bought about 1877, from Josephine Irving. William had had a barn built in Hillcrest Field. From 1911 these fields became part of Stocken Farm. In 1934 the smaller one was sold off to George Hawes. of Woodbyne Farm.
William and Bethia had 7 children as follows :-
Mary Bethia Saunders (Bessie) born 1879 at the Rose and Crown. Married Sidney Ing. click Sidney & Bessie Ing for their life story.
Emma Caroline Saunders born 1880 married 1905 Fred Floyd. click Fred Floyd for Fred and Carries story
Ethel Saunders born 1883 married 1912 Ralph Dell, carpenter, g.g.grandson of Thomas and Ann Dell. See Thomas Dell snr & Ann Dell. William gave Graham Cottages to his daughter Ethel.
Louisa Saunders born 1885 married 1918 William George Wilkins, soldier
Alice Saunders born 1887married Philip Sidney Pitcher, farmer. Click Philip & Alice Pitcher. When their farm failed they moved into Hillcrest.1893
Harry Saunders, born 1889 the only son married Pamela Saunders (no relation) from Bradenham click Harry & Pamela Saunders for their life story
Researcher's note. Harry worked for his father. William was very strong willed and no doubt difficult and certainly unlikely to retire, although he had built Hillcrest House, Goodacres Lane supposedly for his retirement. Life was not easy for Harry. However he made a very happy marriage with Pamela (Pammie) Saunders from Bradenham. They had four daughters, themselves happily married, when Harry was devastated by the death of his wife in a car crash, tragically driven by his son-in-law.
Annie Daisy Saunders born 1893 married Ernest Smith in 1919. click Ernest & Daisy Smith for their story. Also click 1919 Wedding of Daisy Saunders & Ernest Smith.
Mabel Janes of Sunnybank in Highwood Bottom knew of him and and she related to Joan West
Trading in London. William produced hay and straw for which there was a ready market in London for both cows and horses. There were numerous small dairy farms in London. They would have up to six cows each, and were always kept inside. He brought back manure to put on his fields. There were also thousands of horses. Not only horses and ponies kept for working but also for riding. His own horses he bought from John Baillie of Theobalds Road, London.
1916 Horses taken by the Army. It was a long, slow journey taking loads of hay and straw, by horse and cart to London Dangerous at the best of times.
William Saunders did this regularly. During WW1, with a full load pulled by his best horses, he was particularly distressed when he was stopped at the top of the hill at Holtspur, between Wycombe and Beaconsfield, and his horses taken by army. And to make matters worse he was left up the A40 with a loaded wagon and nothing to pull it with.
Mabel said that he was remembered for swotting flies which particularly annoyed him. He had a very loud voice she could hear him from her home, Sunnybank, in Highwood Bottom and so had the donkey which would bray loudly if he left it.
William also continued to farm Pound Farm down at Saunderton Lee. When he needed extra workers he would shout instructions down to them from near Lacey Green Windmill.
William was very much the boss of his family. He did not work on Sundays.
Bethia was remembered as a short, stout, gentle woman, a good wife and mother. She brought up Harry Floyd, their grandson from the age of 2, starting when they lived at Smalldean Farm.
Report by Alan Luxford, Great grandson of William and Bethia, grandson of Sidney & Bessie Ing talked of him :-
Market Days. He always went to Thame market on Tuesdays and Wycombe market on Fridays. He did a lot of dealing, often buying and selling-on without taking the stock home. William couldn`t read or write and Bethia went with him to do the writing.
He traded in horses, usually keeping them in the field behind Hillcrest House in Goodacres Lane where he had built a barn,
The result was that in the autumn field mushrooms grew there in abundance. Many people would go there and fill their baskets with these wonderful treats.
William waited until baskets were getting full then would appear, driving his donkey cart, accuse the pickers of trespassing, and confiscate the mushrooms. Easy pickings!!!
He owned the field below Goodacres Lane, called “Hillocks" and gated it across so that he could drive the horses across the lane into their field. This would block the way into "Glebe Field", the other field down there, causing considerable inconvenience and a lot of mud. Many bad words were exchanged.
It is said that on another lane he met another trap and being unable to pass the two sat there best part of the day.
He would never change his clocks for summertime, calling it “Fools Time”. Sometimes the families would be asked for Sunday lunch; they often arrived an hour early or late having forgotten this.
Mrs Wyatt, daughter of George & Annie Floyd said "William couldn't read or write and Bethia went to market with him to do the writing. He always went to Thame market on Tuesdays and Wycombe on Fridays. He did a lot of dealing often buying and selling on without taking the stock home. He would never change the clocks to summertime. I remember him swotting flies which particularly annoyed him He bought his horses from John Baillie, Theobalds Road, London. He had a pony and trap and a horse and trap".
William could not read or write, but Bethia could. She would go to market with him to do any writing or reading required. He dealt in horses, cattle and sheep, often buying and selling them on, without bringing them back to the farm.
Bethia died in 1932, aged 78, and William died in 1934. Aged 83. Even then he managed to be controversial as his name was mentioned when the uproar about the poisonous water in the villages hit the headlines. See 1934 Lacey Green Water in the News
For the further history of Stocken Farm click Stocken Farm with landlord Ernest Smith and tenants Dick & Hilda West