Category: Member Contributions

Visit to Milton-under-Wychwood by a Groves family descendant – 22nd April 2026

The story of emigration from the Wychwoods in the later 19th Century was recently brought to life with a visitor from New Zealand. We were contacted via the website by Shiree Sahayam from Tauranga, New Zealand, who is a descendant of the Groves family of the Wychwoods.

Shiree told us she was planning a visit to the UK and hoped to visit Milton-under-Wychwood to see the birthplace of her ancestors. I was pleased to host Shiree and her husband, Mike, in Milton and arranged to meet – very fittingly – at Groves Yard.

L-R  John Bennett, Mike and Shiree Sahayam at Groves Yard, Milton- under-Wychwood

A Family Connection Across 150 Years

Shiree is the great-great-granddaughter of Alfred Groves who had emigrated to New Zealand with his wife, Leah Cox and five of their children on the SS Ballochmyle in 1874. This is a different Alfred Groves to the one who gives his name to the Groves’ business in Milton.

I was able to show Shiree some historic Groves related photographs in the WLHS archives and other Groves related material, including a copy of the marriage certificate of Alfred Groves and Leah Cox, who married in 1852. We puzzled over the connection between her line of the family and that of the Alfred Groves who gives his name to the Groves business. I think we established that they were cousins, but more research is needed to confirm this!

Meeting Today’s Groves Descendants

We met with Puk Parsons the current managing director of Groves, who is married to Sam Parsons, another Groves descendant. Puk gave a warm welcome to her distant relative — a particularly rewarding moment for us all. 

L-R Puk Parsons, John Bennett, Shiree Sahayam

Walking Through the Village of Her Ancestor

We then did a tour through the village up to the far most cottage on the High Street which was once the home of her ancestor, taking in the Baptist chapel and graveyard and some other Groves related sights on the way.

I pointed out features of the village that would have been familiar to her great‑great‑grandfather in the mid‑nineteenth century. This was a time when Milton was still very much a working agricultural community of farms, barns, workers’ cottages and trades such as blacksmiths.

High Street Milton under Wychwood – outside Mr Puffen’s Forge

Shiree was moved to see her ancestor’s cottage, noting especially its small size. It was once occupied by two families, William and Ann Groves with their six children and William and Catherine Groves and their seven children. William , married to Ann, being the father of the Alfred Groves who emigrated to New Zealand

Last cottage out of Milton in the High Street – circa 1900
The same cottage in 2022

A Memorable Visit

From Milton Shiree and her husband were travelling on to Liverpool to attend the Liverpool v Crystal Palace match on Saturday 25th April (a 60th birthday celebration for Mike), also intending to “do” the Beatles experience they said!

It was a genuine pleasure to meet a charming Groves descendant; I think she will be taking home some positive memories of her ancestor’s homeland to share with her relatives.

John Bennett

New Zealand Emigration – Elsewhere On Our Website

Emigration to New Zealand: From Journal No 28
Cospatrick Resources
Letter from New Zealand to the People of the Wychwoods

Journal Articles on the Groves Family

Digital Archive: Journal No 7
Digital Archive: Journal No 8

Related Audio Recordings

Audio Recordings: The Groves Family – Talks by Norman Frost

Milton High Street over Time

Milton-under-Wychwood High Street: Introduction

A Wychwoods Wedding: Reply to a recent inquiry from the WLHS website

Wedding of Raymond Burden and Ivy Slatter June 1943

A lady called Jo Lewis wrote recently to the Wychwoods History Society to say that her mother-in-law, who died last December aged 100, had in her possession a wedding photograph of a friend she had made while living in the Wychwoods during the Second World War.

She wished to know whether any of the relatives of the bride or groom might be still living in the area and might like a copy of the photograph.

The mother-in-law’s maiden name was Joan Nesta Mills. She worked with a Shipton girl called Ivy Slatter in Cowley Oxford where they were both engaged in welding to repair spitfires and other damaged aircraft probably at the Metal and Produce Recovery Centre established there (or possibly at Witney where similar work was undertaken).

From the WLHS archives, it appears that Ivy had worked in the drapers, Hathaway’s, before the War and lived in one of the cottages behind the Red Horse Inn. There is also a Private G J Slatter shown on a photograph of the members of the Shipton Home Guard, who may have been a brother of Ivy’s.

Joan returned to Bristol where her mother was ill and became a fire watcher. Ivy married Raymond Burden in June 1943 and sent her friend a photograph of the wedding. Raymond died in 1972 aged 54.

Rod Blackman, who lives in Milton and who is a member of the WLHS, relates that his mother, whose maiden name was Higbee, also worked at the recovery centre during the war and may have known these two ladies. She is fortunately still with us at 98.

If anybody knows of any relatives of either Raymond or Ivy still living in the Wychwoods perhaps they could get in touch and we would be pleased to send them a copy of the photograph.

AWV February 2022