Introduction
Anyone walking through the churchyard or going into St Laurence Church will have seen all the graves and memorials to various members of the Bousfield family so when presented with some information about the family and their property I looked into them in more depth.
The Bousfield family is well documented in books and websites and our Warborough Bousfield’s can be traced back to Robert Bousfield who died in 1692 in Nottinghamshire.
Despite spending a lot of time in London, the Bousfield family have a long association with Warborough in general but particularly The Green North, and descendants still own property and land in Warborough & Shillingford to this day. This article details what we know about the family members with Warborough connections.
The connections with Warborough
The male line of the Bousfield family were either professionals in London or went into the Ministry. Their careers took them around both Britain and further afield to South Africa and New Zealand.
The first Bousfield came to Warborough following the marriage of Rebekah Richings to William Cheek Bousfield.
Rebekah Richings born in Warborough on 27th November 1790, the daughter of Thomas and Mary, née Haynes. Thomas was an eminent breeches and glove maker resident in Warborough where Rebekah was born but trading in Oxford. Rebekah was baptised at All Saints Oxford on 25th December 1790. She was one of twelve children.
Rebekah was a poet and her book Elijah was published in 1818 and was dedicated to her brother Benjamin, Vicar of Mancetter in Warwickshire
Another volume published in 1823 entitled ‘ Poems on Scriptural Subjects’ is listed in Stainforth and WorldCat*, but no copy has been found.
*Stainforth held an extensive collection of books particularly by lady writers and WorldCat is one of the world’s largest library listings.
William Cheek Bousfield, born in London on 18th March 1799, the son of George & Sarah Louisa, née Knight, married Rebekah Richings in Warborough on 27th December 1819. William Cheek was at the time resident in the Precinct of Whitefriars in London having signed Articles of Clerkship to his father George on 22nd March 1819
In 1822 when Rebekah’s mother died, the report in the paper states that she died at Warborough Cottage, Warborough the home of her son-in-law so the connection with what is now Blenheim House began very soon after Rebekah & William’s marriage.
William was a successful barrister and was involved in debt and bankruptcy: and in December 1822 William was appointed Solicitor and Secretary of the newly formed “Metropolitan Society for the opposition and prosecution of Fraudulent Insolvent Debtors” which he had helped to found.
On 30th December 1824, William was granted Freedom of the City of London.
In 1831 he played a key role in the establishment of the new Bankruptcy Court, of which he was appointed a Registrar.
All of which was to prove tragically ironic only a few years later in 1838 – by which time there were nine Bousfield children to support, he was arrested under the Insolvent Debtors’ Act, with debts of £16,000 and after a trial at the Insolvent Debtors’ Court committed to the notorious Fleet prison. He was released in June 1839. He died only two years later at the age of 42
- The Morning Herald incorrectly states William’s age as 44.
He was buried at Bridewell Chapel, London on 18th October 1841
There is a memorial plaque to him in St Laurence Church, Warborough.
William & Rebekah had ten children and appear to have two sons named Henry. William Cheek b 1820, Mary Catherine Eliza b 1821, Clara Sophia Thetford b 1823, George Benjamin Richings b 1824, Sophia Louisa b 1825, Henry Robinson b 1827, Emily Jane b 1829, Octavius Lawes Woodthorpe b 1830, Henry Brougham b 1832 and Edward Holroyd b 1833.
Rebekah, Emily, Octavius & Edward Holroyd were living in Warborough at the time of the 1841 census.
The 1851 census shows Rebekah is living in South Hackney, London but by 1861 she has returned to her home village of Warborough where she died on 6th March 1869 and was buried on 10th March 1869.
There is a Memorial Plaque in St Laurence Church, Warborough.
The Children
William Cheek (1820-1873), who became a Solicitor, moved first to Lancashire where he married and then to Newcastle upon Tyne. There is a memorial plaque in St Laurence Church.
Mary Catherine Eliza (1821-1895). Mary never married and lived with her mother, Rebekah and continued to live in Warborough after her mother’s death, died and was buried in Warborough in February 1895.
Clara Sophia Thetford (1823-1824). Clara died in infancy and was buried at Bridewell Chapel, London.
George Benjamin Richings (1824-1897), A man of very strong views on many subjects his letters would indicate that he had little time for men who ‘marry women who do not or cannot work as they do abroad but are a constant expense to their families’. One nephew however was expected to do well because he ‘married a rich wife like a wise man.’ George, a Methodist minister preached ‘Christianity and Apostleship’ in the Catholic Apostolic Church, Chelsea on 14th July 1872. Curiously a printed version is still available to buy or read online
Sophia Louisa (1825-1886) Before her marriage Sophia had two children with Rev. Henry Anderson but went on to marry James Drury and had four more. After her husband’s death Sophia is recorded as Widow and keeping a School in Paddington on the 1871 census and in 1881 was recorded as a school mistress.
Henry Robinson (1827-1857) Henry Robinson received his First Mate in the Merchant Navy in 1854. He married Sophia Jane Wellesley in 1854 but she died in 1855. Henry married Matilda Maples in April 1857 but this was to be another short marriage because Henry died in August 1857.
Emily Jane (1829-1905). Emily worked for a period as a Governess in Wiltshire before returning to live with her brother, Edward Holroyd. Emily, according to letters of her brother George, helped Edward and his family over a period of several years as his wife Mary Helen suffered ill health. She travelled to the south of France with the family but ‘all the pleasure was marred by Mrs Edwards’ [Mary Helen] terrible illnesses; such invalids ought not to travel but they think the change will do them good’ In 1890 George implies that it did not help Emily and she became ill herself as a result, suffering with her nerves. This continued until in 1892 he was able ‘to be truly thankful to tell that she is quite well’ The 1901 census shows Emily, who had never married, a boarder in a house on South Street, Braunton, Devon.
She died on the 22nd November 1905 whilst staying at Brookfield, Braunton, Devon, the home of the Harris family to whom she was related through Edward and his second wife Edith nee Harris.
She was buried in Warborough on 25th November 1905
Octavius Lawes Woodthorpe (1830-1882) Octavius emigrated to New Zealand where he had a celebrated career as a surveyor. He was enlisted as a surveyor in the New Zealand Wars. Octavius died on 19 May 1882 from a brain injury after his horse reared up throwing him to the ground. He never regained consciousness.
Henry Brougham (1832-1902) Born 27 Mar 1832 in London, Henry attended Merchant Taylors’ school before going to Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge where he gained his BA in 1855. Ordained in 1856 he was a curate at All Saints, Braishfield before becoming the vicar of St Maurice, Winchester, then rural dean of Andover from 1870 to 1878. He married Charlotte Higginson in 1861, she died in 1886 and he remarried in 1888 to Ellen Lamb. He had 8 children. In 1878 he became the inaugural Bishop of Pretoria and held the post until his sudden death on 10th February 1902. Henry Brougham’s life is well documented on various websites.
Memorial Plaque in St Laurence Church
and finally, Edward Holroyd (1833-1918) who was the most prosperous of the family and certainly had an impact on the face of The Green North.
Edward Holroyd Bousfield, simply referred to as Holroyd within the family and by current generations as EHB, transformed The Green North.
Edward Holroyd, probably born in Warborough on 30th April 1833 but baptised in Bridewell Chapel, London on 10th November 1833 whilst residing in Chatham Place, the family’s London home. There is a little query because his Freedom of the City says he was born Chatham Place but this may because in order to be granted Freedom of the City he would have had to be born there.
As we know his father went to prison and whilst there the family moved out of London and were living in Warborough. In 1851 they are back in London, and Edward is an Auctioneer’s Clerk.
He married Mary Helen Davenport, the daughter of Uriah and Elizabeth Davenport of Liverpool on 13th September 1855 in St John of Jerusalem Church in London, and they went on to have five children.
Mary Helen (1856-1919), Mary married Thomas Eccles, a cotton trader, in 1880, there were no children and Mary died in 1919.
Emily Elizabeth (1859-1915), Emily married William Oliphant Morrison, a JP in 1886 and moved to Scotland. She died and is buried in Edinburgh.
Edward Henry (1860-1901) Henry studied at New College & Balliol College, Oxford and was vicar at Melton Abbas, Dorset when he married Helen Thomasine Mitchell in 1862. They had two daughters Edith & Hilda. Helen died in Switzerland in 1897 and Edward Henry just four years later in 1901.
William Gladstone Richings (1863-1955), was an architect and surveyor who married Mary Cawston in 1890 and they had three daughters, Mary, Dorothy and Muriel. Mary. the daughter, died 1919 in Rouen, France, after becoming sick whilst serving as a Nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment. William died in 1955 and has a memorial plaque in St Laurence Church.
Edwin Vaughan Davenport (1864-1932) Edwin joined his father at Edwin Fox & Bousfield. He married Florence Custance and they had three sons, Hambleton Edwin Neville, Stanley Philip Angus and Merrick Thomas Seymour. He died in Sussex in 1932.
Edward Holroyd entered into partnership with Edwin Fox in an Auctioneering business in 1856. The company was very successful and later listed as Auctioneers, Surveyors & Land Agents.
At the time of the 1861 Census, Edward, Mary and the three eldest children were living in Brixton with three servants, all named Beisley and born in Warborough.
In 1864 Edward was granted Freedom of the City of London
The family continued to live in London but spent about half the year in Warborough.
Edward was a founder member of the City of London Conservative Association and also a Freemason.
Obviously a very successful businessman he supported several members of his family and many of them lived in his Warborough properties and in his letters his brother, George Benjamin Richings writes that ‘poor Edward has so many to help keep now, that he needs be a great deal richer than he is’
Edward owned The Cottage (now Blenheim House) and George writes to another sibling that ‘the dear little place is beginning to grow very rotten: or rather to show its long-grown rottenness’.
Sometime during the 1880’s Edward made extensive repairs and changes to the Cottage adding a new façade. Later in 1910 he added a hexagonal tower with a further wing added to the other side in 1912.
The above article was published in several newspapers around the south of the country in January 1890. The New River Co which is mentioned in relation to Edward selling his shares is an ancestor of Thames Water.
Also mentioned is the fact that the younger son, Edwin Vaughan Davenport Bousfield is working with him at Edwin Fox & Bousfield.
At the time of the 1891 Census, Edward and Mary are living at 78 Queensgate, Kensington with their daughter Mary, who is now married and Mary Eccles, and their youngest son Edwin.
Mary Helen died in Brighton on 10th April 1893 and was buried in Norwood Cemetery, London on 13th April 1893. Edward’s grave in St Laurence Churchyard bears a memorial to her and there is also a memorial plaque in the Church.
Edward who was an active Tory, member of the Conservative Club and St Stephens, became Chairman of the Board at London Orphan Asylum in 1896 and several newspapers had articles about this position.
On 30th March 1899, Edward married Edith Annie Elizabeth Harris (1866-1946) who was 33 years his junior.
At the time of the 1901 Census the couple were living at ‘The Cottage’ in Warborough. Edward is still working and listed as a land surveyor.
It is unknown when Edward extended his property portfolio in Warborough but in the early 1900’s Edward bought land by the river near the Wharf and built the boathouse; these photos show it was much used by the family and remains in the family today.
In August 1903, Edward purchased The Stores from Jabez Smallbone and the business was run by several proprietors until in 1925, Edith, now Edward’s widow, sold the property to William Burns.
Edward retired in 1910 and Edward and Edith were in Warborough at the time of the 1911 census which states ‘retired and living on his private means‘, the family continued to have a London property at 201 Cromwell Road and it is here that Edward dies on 18th May 1918. He was buried in St Laurence Churchyard, Warborough on 22nd May 1918.
Edward’s Gt. Gt Grandson, Andrew writes:
Edward Holroyd Bousfield was a successful professional and businessman; he was also generous and philanthropic. EHB supported several members of his extended family and many of them lived in Warborough properties. The properties were bought by him to house his family members and servants, and (as recorded by his brother George) this was a considerable drain on his resources.
At that time the Green in Warborough was not a particularly nice or popular place to live. The land was damp, surrounded by thatched cottages, many of which were in poor repair, and fields. Villagers kept their animals, including sheep, on the green into the 20th century. Now it is a popular place to live, but then it was very ordinary indeed.
During his working life in London, EHB supported the Dolphin Court school and a refuge for homeless young women in the East End. This was not unusual in the late Victorian era – many successful professionals were similarly philanthropic.
When he retired to Warborough he enlarged The Cottage (Blenheim House) and to increase the garden (in part to grow produce), he acquired 15 and 17 Green North and changed the boundaries. He also acquired the Nag’s Head, as he wanted to plant trees in front of it, and then sold it. He owned Cobb’s cottage to house his gardener, Little Blenheim to house his cook and Coachman’s cottage to house the coachman. EHB enjoyed a lifestyle of a successful man but he also gave employment and accommodation to his employees. These cottages were sold when no longer used by family members or those who helped them.
EHB and his second wife (Edith née Harris) continued to live in The Cottage. Edith had 4 sisters: 3 spinsters, and one widow (the first world war had tragically reduced the number of eligible men). He generously supported all these women, buying or building them homes near him on the Green North, who continued to live there after EHB’s death in 1918.
His obituary, published in the Berks & Bucks Advertiser on 31st May 1918 reads:
We regret to record the death of Edward Holroyd Bousfield which took place at his town residence on 25th inst.
Although the deceased had reached quite a patriarchal age, having just celebrated his 85th birthday, he was until within a few days of his death in normal health and making arrangements for the usual sojourn at his country house at Warborough, when he was suddenly seized with an attack of acute bronchitis.
By the death of Mr Bousfield, the village loses its “Grand Old Man” in every sense of the word. The family of Bousfield have been honourably connected with Warborough for nearly a century.
The father of the deceased, Mr. W.C. Bousfield, a barrister at law of unusual ability was an intimate friend of the great Lord Chancellor, Brougham, who stood sponsor to the Rt. Rev. Henry Brougham Bousfield, Bishop of Pretoria, and elder brother of the deceased.
Mr E H Bousfield was an undergraduate at college when circumstances over which he had no control brought about a sudden alteration in the career marked out for him, and he found himself in London with a definite future, but Micawber-like “waiting for something to turn up.” Here a chance meeting on the top of a London ‘bus determined his destiny. A casual conversation with an elderly gentleman who was none other than Whitaker Ellis and the doyen of London Auctioneers in those far off days, led to an engagement with that eminent firm and the foundation was laid for a career at the rostrum which it is no hyperbole to describe as brilliant in the fullest sense of the word, for the firm of Fox & Bousfield became a household word far and wide but especially in the heart of the great city.
Of distinguished, commanding presence, an easy, persuasive, suave eloquence, Mr Bousfield was the beau ideal of an auctioneer, but these physical accessories, valuable as they are in themselves are insufficient to spell success unless accompanied by an absolute unquestionable knowledge of the details of the business in hand. Now what Mr Bousfield didn’t know about City freeholds, leaseholds, ground rents, and other like values was not worth knowing, so it came about that his firm particularly specialised in this class of property. Had civic politics had any attraction for him, there is no doubt he would have attained to the highest office the city corporation could bestow, and like his junior partner, Sir John Baddeley, occupied the Lord Mayoral chair at the Mansion House, but public life held no attraction for him. Except for a great and abiding interest in the Watford Orphanage of which he was chairman and treasurer for many years, his whole time and talents were devoted to business. When full of years and honours he retired from active business he spent his summers at his well-beloved Warborough and while the late Mr Greet devoted his energies to the improvement of the village street, Mr Bousfield took under his especial care the Green and its surroundings. His shrubberies, buildings and restorations, always in excellent taste and in harmony with their environment will remain a lasting and appropriate monument to his memory.
Mr Edward Holroyd Bousfield, surveyor and auctioneer, has died in London at the age of 85. He was in partnership with the late Mr Edwin Fox, and subsequently with is son under the style of “Edwin Fox, and Bousfield,” for over half a century, and retired in 1909. Mr Bousfield’s firm was concerned in some of the largest transaction in properties in the City of London in the latter half of the last century, as also with the realization of the freehold shares in the New River Company. He was keenly interested in social questions, and as a young man was a teacher at the Dolphin Court (Spitalfields) Ragged School, to which he later added a refuge for young girls. For 45 years he was a member of the board of managers of the London Orphan Asylum, and some time chairman and treasurer.
The funeral was at Warborough on Wednesday week, and the Rev. A.H. Caldicott came back from the Front where he is acting as Chaplin to the Forces to conduct it.
The Bousfield Graves in St Laurence Churchyard
In his will, Edward left Edith his widow all his land and properties in Warborough for her lifetime or until she remarried. He also made provision for Edith ‘Dee’ & Hilda ‘Shea’ his granddaughters by his son Edward Henry.
Edith Anne Elizabeth Bousfield née Harris was born in 1866 in Kustendje, Romania where her father, Edward, was a Foreign Office Manager. She had 6 siblings, Mary Dunning, Euphemia Lucy, Edward, Florence Beatrice, John Dunning & Eleanor Constance. Edith remained in Warborough after Edward’s death. Like Edward helped her siblings and several of them lived in properties along the Green North.
In 1928 she and her sister Florence embarked on a cruise to Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.
Dora Bridget Thompson, Edith’s great niece writes in her memoirs ‘Edith Bousfield was a rich widow who lived at Warborough on the Thames. They were a most attractive family all of them except old Effie who few people really liked. Aunt Edith was sweet but funny over her boats. She had a boathouse full of every kind of river boat but if you stayed there, you were never allowed to take any of them on the river. We used to swim from the boat house’.
Mary Harris, known as Molly, married Denham Kelsey and following his death in 1925 she lived in Lavender Cottage until the start of WWII when she returned to Devon.
An active member of the South Oxfordshire Conservative Party, Edith was Presiding Councillor of the Primrose League in 1932 and arranged fund raising Whist Drives in the Greet Hall.
Edith and her sisters were very much part of the village and she was President of the Women’s Institute for several years.
Berks & Bucks Advertiser – March 1933
Euphemia, Eleanor ‘Ellie’ & Florence were all living at Green End at the time of the 1939 register. Ellie & Flo stayed until they too moved back to Devon in the 1950’s
Edith, Edward’s widow and Edith ‘Dee’ became good companions and made several overseas trips.
The 1939 register shows them both living at The Cottage.
During the war they were in the Warborough First Aiders though we do not know which is which in this photo.
L-R – Wanstall – Harris – Bailey – King – Walker – Nudds – Belcher – Bousfield – Gray – Balk – Bousfield – Bond – Entwistle
Note second from left is Harris so likely to be one of Edith’s sisters.
Edith Anne Elizabeth died on 29th March 1946 and is buried in St Laurence Churchyard, Warborough.
In her will, Edith mentions ‘the dwelling house erected by me and known as Green End’. The two freehold cottages and gardens known as ‘Saunders Cottages’ (19 & 21 The Green North) and she also mentions other land and property not on The Green North that she had purchased jointly with Edith ‘Dee’ Bousfield – the plots of land that abut Priestmoor Lane and the property that is known as Clay’s Farm in Hammer Lane. Both were purchased from a Richard Eustace. Whilst making provision for her sisters she ensures that following their deaths all property passes to Edith ‘Dee’ absolutely. Annie Atkins, her faithful servant and Walter Cobb, her gardener were remembered in her will.
With the death of Edith, Edward Holroyd’s second wife and widow we now come to the final two ‘Bousfield’s’ to have any connection to Warborough.
They are Edith, born 1893 known as Dee and Hilda, born 1895 known as Shea, who are granddaughters of Edward & his first wife, Helen.
Dee was born in Durham in 1893, Shea was born in Dorset in 1895 the daughters of Edward Henry & Helen Thomasine, née Mitchell, Bousfield. Helen died in Switzerland when Dee was just 4 years old and their father died four years later.
They were raised by their maternal grandfather, Joseph Mitchell in Hetton near Durham. Both girls were VAD’s in WWI.
At the Boathouse, with Shea’s Children
Edith (Dee) Bousfield (1893 – 1976) Dee came to study English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford between 1913 and 1916. Henrietta Jex-Blake was Principal of LMH during the First World War and she encouraged the students to see their studies through rather than abandon them for war work. Her conviction that the country needed trained teachers and administrators, as well as female labour in factories and on the land, was one reason why the great majority of LMH students in the war period finished their courses before going on to work to help the war effort. It is understood that Dee, along with Shea were VAD’s during WWI, where Shea met her future wounded husband.
At the time women were not permitted to receive their degrees, the situation was corrected in late 1960’s and around 1970 finally Dee was invited to Lady Margaret Hall to collect her degree.
Dee was a teacher at Durham High School for several years until between 1932 and March 1939 when she regularly appears on passenger lists travelling to and from several different destinations including Shanghai, Singapore, Durban & Bombay as well as accompanying Edith Anne Bousfield to Marseille & Genoa.
She then settles in Warborough and is living at The Cottage in 1939. During the war she was a Land Army Girl and a Warborough First Aider.
Following the death of Edith, Edward Holroyd’s widow, a large proportion of the property was offered for auction on 22nd November 1946 by order of Miss Bousfield, Dee.
The properties included were
- Lot 1 – ‘The Cottage & two cottages and Garden, known now as Blenheim House, Coachman’s Cottage and Little Blenheim. (Sold at Auction)
- Lot 2 – 15 The Green North, which was later subdivided into 15 & 17. (Not sold at Auction)
- Lot 3 – Park like Land & Outbuildings (Not sold at Auction)
- Lot 4 – A pair of Charming Old Thatched Cottages now 19 & 21 The Green North (Sold at Auction)
- Lot 5 – A detached cottage overlooking The Green – now Glebe Cottage (Sold at Auction)
- Lot 6 – Semi-detached cottages opposite 15 The Green South now 8 & 10 The Green North (Sold at Auction)
- Lot 7 – Pound Cottage (Sold at Auction)
- Lot 8 – Jasmine Cottage now The Old Fire House (Sold at Auction)
There is an agreement for a tenancy of The Pound, between the Parish Council and a Miss Edith Bousfield dated 30th November 1946.
The piece of land known as the Pound
Dee is found travelling again in 1947 returning from Marseille and bound for Scunthorpe, where her sister Shea is living following her marriage.
Dee maintained close relationships with family and friends from all branches of her extended family.
It is believed that she lived in Little Blenheim for a short period, but when Florence & Effie went back to Devon, she moved to Green End where she lived until her death in 1976. In her will, Dee left all her property in Warborough and Shillingford to her to her nephew, John Stuart Robinson, with small monetary bequests to other relatives and godchildren. Mrs Cissie Kirby, Cyril Reynolds and Fred Tyler were rewarded for their service.
Hilda ‘Shea’ Bousfield (1895 – 1963) Shea married Edwin Stuart Robinson in Warborough on 30th September 1920. Edwin, born in 1892 and always known as Stuart, was educated at Repton and awarded a BA at Christchurch College, Oxford served in the Suffolk Regiment as a captain during WWI and was severely wounded. Stuart read Greats (classics) at Oxford with the intention of going into the Church like his father. Following his experiences in WWI, Stuart changed his mind and joined Lysaghts steelworks in Scunthorpe, in a management role where he was working at the time of his marriage.
Shea & Stuart had three children, John Stuart (1921-1994), Jane Elizabeth (1923-2011) and Simon Edwin Stuart (1924-2005)
Stuart & Shea moved from Burton-on-Stather to Warborough in 1960 when Stuart retired and the Bousfield and Robinson families began to build on the land that had not been sold in the 1946 auction. Dee, Shea’s sister, owned the land and was living at Green End at the time. A bungalow was built by Stuart which was later demolished and replaced with Constantine House in 2004.
The bungalow built by Edwin Stuart Robinson
Shea died in 1963 and Edwin in 1983, both are buried in St Laurence Churchyard. Stuart had remarried the widow of his best friend in Warborough in 1977 when both of them were 85 years old.
John Stuart Robinson (1921-1994), educated at Repton and Jesus College Cambridge, joined the RAF in 1942, serving in India as an engineer. He married Charlotte Wilfrida Pearce (known as Frieda) in Hove in 1945. They had two children, Andrew Pirie Stuart and Rebekah Richings Stuart (named after her great-great-great-grandmother). After the war, John’s career was mainly at the Institute of Marine Engineers in London where he was Director.
John was the main beneficiary of Dee’s will and so the Bousfield properties passed to him. This comprised:
- 15 & 17 The Green North. This had historically been rented to tenants, notably Charles Flower, a local artist, and after his death to his son Edwin (known as Eddie, who worked for years behind the counter of Pettits in Wallingford). Later, Cherry Pearson, postmistress, lived at No. 17 with her mother and then alone. No. 17 was sold in 2024 on Cherry’s death.
- Lavender Cottage. This remains in the family and has been lived in by several members of the Bousfield / Robinson families over the years, including Molly (Edward Holroyd’s sister), Frieda (after John’s death) and Rebekah. At other times it has been tenanted.
- 24 & 26 The Green North are still owned by the family, lived in by members of the family and is now tenanted.
- Green End has been lived by various members of the family since it was built around 1900. After Dee’s death in 1976 it was occupied by John Mawby and his family (a cousin of Dee’s) and in 1988 John and Frieda Robinson moved there. Rebekah moved there until she left the village in 2023 and the property was then sold.
- The Boathouse remains in the family and is regularly used by Andrew and his wife Kathy.
- In 1966 John and Frieda Robinson built Northfields for their retirement on land given by Dee. This house has since been much modified and renamed Whistler House.
- Some land, opposite the allotments, was given by Dee to build a new vicarage in about 1960. The woodland behind the vicarage and Whistler House was planted by John.
The Bousfield and Robinson families have been associated with The Green North for 235 years. Rebekah Robinson was the last member of the family to live in the village.
Researched & written by Lynda Raynor with contributions from Andrew P.S. Robinson. Aug 2024 – Oct 2025
I would like to thank Gillian Häkli, the great granddaughter of George Benjamin Richings Bousfield for sharing letters relating to the time the Bousfield’s spent in Warborough during the 1880’s and 1890’s