William Saunders & Bethia Janes

Research by Joan West, taken from the census, deeds of Stocken Farm, interviews with all alive post 1950s and added to by Miles Marshall

William Saunders was born in 1851, at the Rose and Crown public house, the son of William & Louisa Saunders, see William Saunders, born 1815 & Louisa, nee Lacey.

Bethia Janes was born in 1854, the eldest daughter of Henry Janes & Mary Ginger

1871 Census. William Jnr. was working for his father who was renting Speen Farm

1877 circa, William Saunders purchased two plots of land from Josephine Irving, mortgagee of the land of John Cheshire.   One was at the bottom on the north-west side of a track, made to access this field and also the other which was straight ahead at the end of the track.  The second was a large field later known as ‘Hillocks’.   The track years later became ‘Goodacres Lane’.

Note. The only house on the Goodacres Lane track, right at the entrance to it, was a bakehouse, built by Henry Janes. Interestingly, about the time he purchased the above fields William married Henry's daughter Bethia.

Marriage

In 1877 William married Bethia Janes, daughter of, Henry Janes the baker, whose premises were on the Main Road at the top of the track mentioned above.

William and Bethia started their married life at the Rose and Crown, Saunderton Lee. He rented the nearby Pound Farm.

Census 1911 at Smalldean Farm

Set on by Footpads

William and Bethia started their married life at the “Rose and Crown” but  he too was also a farmer.   For many years Pound Farm nearby at Saunderton Lee was in the family (rented?) so that may have been where his land was.

He supplied hay and  straw to London and went on the train from Princes Risborough to collect his money.  One night he was set upon as he was walking home from Risborough. After that, Bethia would go to the bottom of the garden to the railway line which ran behind the house and he would throw the money out to her.

Next Move in 1893 to Smalldean Farm, in Smalldean Lane.

Stocken Farm

He was still also farming Pound Farm at Saunderton Lee when he bought  Stocken Farm in Lacey Green in 1911, for £3,400 , 167 acres, 1 rood ,24 poles, including the farmhouse and two cottages, Graham Cottages built on the main road by the previous owner Mr.Forrest of Grymsdyke in 1885.

Researcher's Note. It was a sign of the difficult farming times that Mr Forrest had paid £8,250 for it in 1877, added two houses and sold losing£4850, 33 years later. There had been terrible weather starting in 1870  right through the first world war. (See “weather conditions”).

Land Added

William Saunders already owned the two fields in Lacey Green, which he had bought about 1877, from Josephine Irving, mortgagee of George Cheshire land, part of the old Common of Princes Risborough. They were at the bottom of Goodacres Lane on the north west side, later known as Hillcrest Field, and straight ahead to a field called ‘Hillocks’.   From 1911 these fields became part of Stocken Farm.   In 1934 the smaller one was sold off to George Hawes. of Woodbyne Farm

WW1 Horses Taken

William  produced hay and straw for which there was a ready market in London.  (There were many small dairy herds of a few cows for fresh milk consumption and a great many horses.) A team of his best horses was taken from his wagon at Holtspur on the A40 during the first world war for the army, leaving him stranded with a loaded wagon at the top of White Hill.

Alan Luxford, g.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 bought  young horses from John Baillie, Theobalds Road, London, usually keeping them in the field behind Hillcrest House where he had built a barn, sadly no longer there.   The field grew a lot of mushrooms. He kept a little donkey and trap and would rush across and take the mushrooms, once they had been picked by people helping themselves.

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.

Mabel Janes of White House Farm or Sunnybank as it was then knew of him and his exploits. She related :-

That he was remembered for swotting flies which particularly annoyed him.  As well as Stocken, William continued to farm Pound Farm and would shout instructions down to them from near Lacey Green windmill.   He had a very loud voice and so had the donkey in the trap which would bray loudly if he left it.

William was very much the boss of his family.   He did not work on Sundays.

Bethia was remembered as a quiet, gentle woman, a good wife and mother.

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 “When Fleet Street Sentenced Lacey Green to Death”

William and Bethia had 7 children as follows :-

1879 Mary Bethia Saunders (Bessie) born at the Rose and Crown. Married Sidney Ing. See Sidney & Bessie Ing

1880 Emma Caroline Saunders married 1905 Frederick William Floyd, son of Peter and Ann Floyd. They had one son, Harry, who was born at Pound Farm.  Caroline died when he was two, so his grandparents, William and Bethia, brought him up with their own children.   See Harry Floyd

1883  Ethel Saunders 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.

1885 Louisa Saunders married 1918 William George Wilkins, soldier

1887 Alice Saunders married Philip Sidney Pitcher, farmer. When their farm failed they moved into Hillcrest.

1889 Harry Saunders, the only son married  Pamela Saunders (no relation) from Bradenham

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.

1893 Annie Daisy married Ernest Smith from Walters Ash Farm. See 1919 Wedding of Daisy Saunders & Ernest Smith.

The following report is by Miles Marshall

"William Saunders My Father" as told by Daisy Smith, his daughter to Miles Marshall in 1983

William Saunders, Mrs Smith's father, was the son of another William, of Speen Farm, now the Home of Rest for Horses, whilst he was still working there for his father, young William demonstrated his initiative by driving a team of horses to London with a wagonload of hay which he quickly sold to the occupant of one of the large private houses which then stood in Piccadilly.   It was good quality hay at a fair price so that he soon developed a lucrative trade with the London gentry.

Set on by Footpads

When he was first married he took over the Rose and Crown public house at Saunderton for a short while before moving to Small Dean Farm in 1894, on his own account.   Meanwhile he continued to develop his London hay trade and would make regular monthly trips by train to collect his accounts which were mostly settled in golden sovereigns in those days.   This was before Saunderton Station was built so that he had a lonely walk back to the Rose and Crown from Risborough station and on one such evening he was set upon by two footpads and robbed.

Problem Solved

After this experience, as his train approached the back garden of the Rose and Crown, which extended down to the track, he would open the carriage window and hurl his bag of gold into the garden.   As his wife heard the train approaching she quickly ran down the garden to secure the money.   He was not robbed again.

William and his Farm Hands

It was not unknown, however, despite the amity which existed between the Saunders family and the families of the farm hands, for George Maunder, the hasty tempered carter, to have a tiff with his boss who could at times be equally short.   On more than one occasion George was off to the Michaelmas Fair, with the traditional twist of whipcord in his buttonhole, denoting his trade, and fixed himself up with a new master.   But when all the family’s chattels had been loaded onto a wagon for departure to the new home, master and man would make up their differences and it all had to be unloaded again.   On one notable occasion though, they did leave and worked a whole year at Wardrobes Farm (Row Farm). But Mrs Saunders, the peacemaker, went over there at the end of his contract and brought them back again to Small Dean where they stayed for many years.

A Hansom Cab in the Hedge

And can anyone remember the old London hansom cab which William Saunders parked up in ‘Double Hedge’ so that in wet weather he could sit up there and shoot rabbits?

WILLIAM SAUNDERS TAKES AN OPPORTUNITY click 1911 Visit of an airman

WILLIAM SAUNDERS IN  COURT 1914.   Report in the South Bucks Free Press March 25th 1914. click William Pleads Guilty

WILLIAM SAUNDERS 1924 click 1924 William's easy pickings

HILLCREST HOUSE

William built a large house known as ‘Hillcrest House’ in the field down the track to Hillocks field.   It was said to be for his daughter Caroline.  She married Fred Floyd in 1905, had a child Harry, in 1906.   She died in 1908 at Pound Farm, Saunderton Lee, which her father William farmed. Harry lived with his grandparents William and Bethia from then on, while they were at Smalldean Farm to begin with.

Other rumour said that he built Hillcrest House to retire to, but he died at Stocken Farm, aged 83.

A BARN

William had a barn built in the field behind Hillcrest House.   When he died, this field with the barn was purchased by George Hawes of Woodbyne Farm.

Report by Joan West of a Conversation with Mabel Janes.

William Saunders was very much the boss of his family, with a very loud voice.   She could hear him sometimes from Sunnybank, her home in Highwood Bottom.

SHOUTED TO SAUNDERTON LEE

William also farmed Pound Farm at Saunderton Lee.   When he needed extra workers he would shout from the end of Lacey Green where they could hear him at Pound Farm.

EASY PICKINGS

He had built a barn in the back corner of Hillcrest Field and kept young horses there.   It grew a lot of mushrooms, and he kept a little trap for a pony or his donkey and would rush across in it to stop the people taking the mushrooms and take what mushrooms they had got.

THE FAMILY

Berthia his wife, was ladylike, a short, stout, gentle woman, a good wife and mother.   They had 7 children and also brought up Harry Floyd their grandchild, after his mother died.

ILLITERATE

William couldn’t read or write, but Bethia Janes, his wife 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.

TRADING IN LONDON

His own horses he bought from John Baillie of Theobalds Road, London.   He sold hay and straw in London.  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.

WILLIAM STRANDED with HORSES TAKEN. Click on 1916 Horses taken by the Army

HATES

William couldn’t stand flies, and Mabel Janes said that she could ‘see’ him swotting them, when she thought of him.

"FOOLS TIME"

Relatives reported being invited to Sunday lunch and frequently finding they had arrived at the wrong time.   The reason being that they had forgotten that he did not believe in changing the clocks for ‘Summer Time’.   He called it “Fools Time” and would not allow it

DEATH

Both William and Bethia died in 1934.