Exhibition: The History of Walton Hall

Underwood

Priscilla Underwood, née Baines, (1867-1926) was the eldest daughter of John and Jane Baines. She married George Thomas Underwood (1862-1927) in 1886. George, who hailed from Woughton-on-the-Green, was described as both a groom and a gardener (in domestic service) on the 1891 census. It is very possible therefore he worked for both Walton Hall and Walton Manor at this time.

 

By 1901, when the family were living in Milton Road, George was recorded as an ordinary agricultural labourer and in the early 1900s he was also listed as Parish Clerk of Walton in Kelly’s Trade Directories. The 1911 census reveals that the family had moved to the nearby village of Simpson. George was working as a timber merchant and their nine children, born between 1888 and 1907, were all living. Their seventh child, a son, was given the unusual name of Wingate, after the former Rector of Walton, George Wingate Pearse who had died in 1899.

 

George’s wife Priscilla died aged 60 in 1926, followed by George aged 65 the following year. The inscription on their gravestone reads “In ever loving memory of our dear Father & Mother, George & Priscilla Underwood”. The first photograph on this page shows the Underwoods' grave surrounded by daffodills with St Michael's Church behind. It was taken in about 1970 when The Open University first moved to the Walton Hall estate. You can view the grave as it looks today here. 

 

Eastman

Ernest Edward Eastman (1866-1930) was the son of Joseph and Amelia Eastman (also recorded as Eastment) who had married at Walton in 1860. Ernest was baptised at Walton on 15 April 1866. That same year his grandfather William Eastman (1806-1866) was employed as a groom at Walton Hall. On 14 November 1866 William was transporting a food hamper on horseback from Walton Hall to Bletchley Station. It appears he fell from his horse (perhaps overbalanced by the hamper) and was dragged 40 yards which resulted in his death due to head injuries. The inquest was reported in the ‘Bucks Advertiser’ on 1 December 1866.

 

Ernest’s mother Amelia died in October 1871 aged 33. Ernest’s father remarried Emma Saunders just 5 months later at Simpson Church. By 1881 the family had moved to Billesdon in Leicestershire where Joseph was working as an engine driver and 15 year old Ernest was recorded as a railway labourer. By 1891 Ernest had moved again and was boarding with a family in Millom in Cumberland. He was working as a locomotive engine driver.

 

Ernest married Agnes Hyde (1868-1962) in Leicester in 1893. By 1901 Ernest and Agnes were living in Woking in Surrey where Ernest continued to work as a railway engine driver. Ten years later in 1911, the couple, still childless, had moved to Hampton in Middlesex. Ernest was described as a steam crane driver. (A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine). 

 

Despite the fact that Ernest and Agnes didn’t settle in Walton, (electoral rolls confirm the couple remained in Hampton), Ernest was buried in St Michael’s churchyard following his death in 1930. The inscription on his headstone reads: “In ever loving memory of my dear husband Ernest Edward Eastman, who fell asleep 25 August 1930, aged 64 years. Never forgotten”. Agnes died aged 94 in 1962 and was buried alongside her husband.

 

There is an Eastman family connection to The Pine Tree Inn which used to stand close to Walton Manor on the Walton estate and has been referred to in previous sections. Joseph Eastman's sister Elizabeth married William Lightfoot in 1869 and the couple ran the inn from 1875 until it closed in 1909.