… from the Wychwoods Albums Archive
On Club Day members met for a church service followed by a parade and ‘feast’ held in the yard of the Quart Pot. They are seen here walking up the hill from the church after the service.
Three years after its commencement, the clinic assembled for a group picture with Dr Edwin Roe and Nurse Ford. The clinic was held twice a month in the Baptist schoolroom except during the war when it moved to the Red Triangle Hut to vacate the schoolroom for the use of evacuees. A party was held each Christmas with the babies receiving locally knitted garments, and a toy for good attendance at the clinic.
This visit to Shipton took place in the orchard opposite the Baptist Chapel. Founded in 1892 as part of the Children’s Special Services Mission which aimed to take ‘the gospel to isolated and neglected villages’, there were five caravans and one large tent travelling around rural areas by 1901. In the summer activities increased as Cambridge students helped the full-time evangelists.
The Independent Order of Rechabites, named after Rechab in the Old Testament, was founded in 1835. They were a charitable friendly society who abstained from alcohol and organised ‘wholesome’ entertainment.
On the right of the photograph are the Reverend George Davidson, Baptist Minister for 21 years until his death in 1906, and his wife Annie. In 1889 he wrote A Brief History of the Baptist Church, Milton to commemorate the jubilee of the Chapel and the building of the minister’s house, in Jubilee Lane. The ability that the villagers had acquired as lay-preachers was a great influence in the formation of the Milton Union in 1872, later amalgamated with Joseph Arch’s National Agricultural Labourers’ Union.
The Primrose League was an organisation founded in 1883 to spread Conservative principles. The Reverend Shildrick (centre), vicar of Milton, took a particular interest in the upkeep of the churchyard and was often to be seen tending the graves himself. Mrs Cecile Samuda, on ‘his left, lived with her husband Cecil at Bruern Abbey. Previously they lived at Shipton Court where, as the 1881 census records, they were looked after by twelve house servants.
The hall was built by members of the Primrose League to be used for ‘political meetings, concerts, balls, entertainments, social gatherings and any other like purpose’. It was named after Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, who had died in 1881. The memorial stone was laid on 24 August when ‘the proceedings were enlivened by the music of the ShiptonBrass Band under the leadership of Mr Thomas Alder’. The hall was in use by November.
Whilst working on renovations at Shipton Court two Yorkshiremen, Mark Attfield (back row second from right) and George Fawcett (middle row centre), formed the club. They used a ground in Dog Kennel Lane where this photograph was taken.
Holding the bat is Thomas Alfred Groves (also seen as a little boy here, and again here) who was captain of Milton cricket club for nearly fifty years. Matches were played on the green in a square chained off from the grazing animals. The Vestry meeting minutes regularly record that the ‘recreation ground to be closed every three weeks and no manure to be taken off.’
Mabel Miles (later Mrs Pearce) features in these May Day celebrations on the green, Milton. Mary Venvell of Venvell’s Stores is standing in the centre at the back. She taught the children to dance and provided them with clothes for the occasion.
Mabel Miles is sitting on the horse in the centre. The roundabout has fixed horses – rise and fall horses were not introduced until a little later. The portraits around the canopy would have featured royalty, politicians or other eminent personalities of the period. This fair is believed to have been run by Spurrett’s of Carterton. Another fair which still visits Milton is run by George Hatwell whose family for over a century have traditionally stopped here after the May Stow Fair.
Wychwoods Album Menu
This is one of series of snapshots taken from the Society’s publications “The Wychwoods Albums”. These publications from the mid to late 1980s feature a variety of images of the Wychwoods, all of which deserve a place in our expanding online archive.
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The Shaven Crown | Shipton Village Panorama | Shipton Post Office 1908/10 | Shipton Views Early 1900s | Aspects of Milton 1900s-1930s| Milton & Shipton Churches | Early 20th Century School Life | Shipton Court in 1895-1910 | Road and Rail | Matthews Mill, Shipton | Alfred Groves – a Historic Family Business | Vintage Transport and Deliveries | Agriculture and Manufacturing | Some Local Wychwoods Characters| Wychwoods Group Activities| Wychwoods Album Home
