Yesterdays disposables are todays collectables...

My interest began with when I came across a Woburn Sands mineral water bottle at an antiques fair. After I discovered the links between farmers’ chemicals, veterinary medicines, pubs, and local buildings, I realised it made a fascinating story of one local family’s business interests.

Mrs Emma Down is recorded in a local directory of 1861. “Down & Co.” as a company was already in existence, but as Henry Jnr. was only 16 at the time, Emma and her father, William Crofts, were running it until such time as he came of age to control it. In 1864 they were still trading from Woburn, but by 1866 the family had moved to Woburn Sands. Emma Down was living at Haydon House at 29 Station Road. (the railway had arrived in 1846) No detail is given for the brothers, but the Company was listed as being at Woburn and Woburn Sands. Their factory premises were approximately opposite Fulbrook School in Weathercock Lane. Haydon House was a large mansion building that was let to Emma Down by her father, William. He made provision for it to pass equally to the four Down children on her death. Elizabeth Hannah married Henry Freeman this year and Emma Ann married William Edward Clark the next.

Henry Down Snr. and his business in Woburn. (Beds & Luton Archives & Record Service)

The 1871 Census listed Emma Down as proprietor of the Company, and Henry and Frederick as manufacturers for it. Also living at Haydon House was Mary Haydon Price, a niece aged 24 from Camden Town. Joseph Almond Down had married in 1808, Hannah Haydon from a well to do family. This name was carried down the Down family and crops up here and there. Mary Haydon Price was the daughter of Mary Haydon Down, one of Joseph’s elder children, who had married William Cater Price. In addition, there were two servants at the house, Jane Small (23), a cook originally from Long Crendon, and Anne Hawtill (19), a housemaid from Kingsthorpe, Northants.

1871 was also the year of publication of Mercer and Crocker’s Directory. This carried a small advert for Down & Co.’s Farmers’ Friend and the Company soon began expanding. They bought a large plot on the corner of Station Road and Russell Street (which had been laid out in 1870) and built their ‘Eagle Malting’ here in 1875. I am unsure as to whether the malting referred to was part of the chemical manufacturing process or as a service for local farmers. No advertisements ever specify beer brewing and Company was only referred to as Maltsters and Corn Merchants. The land had been acquired from William Clarke (another local corn merchant) who had not developed the site. Downs’ shop front today has been built out from and is a branch of the Wine Rack off-licence chain and the malting premises behind it has been shortened and developed into terraced town houses.

In 1874, the Downs began to exhibit their product at the Royal Agricultural Shows. This year it was local, at Bedford, although in subsequent years it was further afield. Out of the next sixteen years they only missed four shows but still attended as far away as Bristol (1878), Carlisle (1880), and York (1883), so they could promote their Farmer’s Friend throughout the country.

In 1876 they bought much of the Swan Field estate. This comprised the Swan Inn, surrounding land, and also much of the land on the opposite side of the road, from Aspley Hill down to where the petrol station now stands. Henry also got married this year, to Grace Hayward of Willesden. (born at Dalston) Later, in 1878, they purchased the remaining portion of the Swan Buildings, which consisted of the old school rooms and a couple of attached cottages on the Hardwick Road corner.

In the 1876 Harrods Directory they had a large advertisement occupying half a page, headed by three Royal Warrants for Queen Victoria, the late Prince Consort, and the Prince of Wales. The Royal Warrants Office hold only patchy records for before 1900 and no records relating to the Downs can be found. The advertisement specifies that the manufacturing was done in Woburn, which was probably used as a better-known market town name than that of Woburn Sands, and they still had large connections there. Packets of Farmers Friend were sold at 9d but there is no indication of size or weight.

Veterinary cures advertised in 1885	Harrods ad from 1876.

In 1877, Henry had moved out of the family home at Haydon House and was living at “Woodfield”, a large house in Weathercock Lane (which was then called Aspley Lane) and had had his first child called Florence followed by a son, Henry Jr the next year, while Frederick was still living with his mother - although soon after he also bought his own house, “Avenue Lodge” at the corner of Station Road and Theydon Avenue, almost facing Haydon House. In 1878 the Downs treated all their employees to “a substantial supper and dancing” to celebrate Christmas. The Downs were one of the largest employers in Woburn Sands. In September 1879, Henry chaired a committee on the homecoming of a national hero, and local resident of Aspley Guise, Colonel Drury Lowe, who was back from the Zulu war.

Henry Down had four “Triumphal Arches” erected along the High Street by Goodall & Sons and the Fenny Stratford Brass Band was informed that they would be needed at the drop of a hat when word was received that the Colonel was due on the train. Members of the Woburn Rifle Volunteers and the Bucks Yeomanry formed the Guard of Honour and an honorary supper was held at the Swan Inn. Col. Drury Lowe lived at “The Drive” on The Mount.

An illuminated scroll presented to Col. Lowe still exists at the University of Nottingham Library archives. A copy can be found elsewhere on this website.

Also, by 1879, Down & Co were regularly advertising in local papers, usually during the autumn and winter months. The adverts rarely altered in size or detail for the next twenty years. The No. 8 Company of the Woburn Rifles were using the Downs’ field at the Swan estate for drilling practice under Captain Webster in June 1880. Henry had also moved into horse dealing by this time, and ran an advert in the personal adverts of The Times from 1879 to 1887, and seemed to specialise in horses for hunting.

According to the 1881 Census, Frederick is listed as still living with his mother at Haydon House and was renting out his own Avenue House. Emma Down was now 59, and had a young lady, Emily Stannard, living with her as a companion. Emily was born in Cannonbury, Middlesex, and was 25 years old. There were now two different servants - Elizabeth Mason (28), a cook from Warwickshire, and Isabelle Gostie (26), a housemaid from Northants. Frederick was still unmarried.

Henry is listed with his wife and two children and a cook/servant Elizabeth Crute, 21 born in Aspley Guise. The next year, he bought Odell’s Close and the land it led to which he had already been renting. The land is where the Social Club and property now stand, and the lane leading up to the High Street.

1883 saw a Down brother in conflict with the law; Frederick was summonsed for sending two pigs to market in Newport Pagnell in disregard of Privy Council orders. This was perhaps a local order restricting animal movement due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease or similar - diseases which were common at the time. He claimed not to have known about the order but was found guilty and fined 10 shillings with 9s 6d costs.

More in keeping with their beneficial image, August saw the Downs lending land to the Newport Pagnell Wesleyan Circuit for a concert and picnic. In 1884 they lent land to stage the Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands Garden Society annual show.

By 1885, there had been a major addition to their Wheat Carboliser business when they moved into veterinary preparations. A large ad in the Kelly’s Directory of this year gives seven remedies produced under the trade name ‘Melvilles’ with Henry Down & Co. as the sole proprietors and manufacturers. The seven were; Ossaline, Navictine, Curaline, Vesicant, Suppurine, Cough Powders, and Constitution Powders. These formulations (allegedly) cured everything in horses from lameness to bone spavin, sore throats to rheumatism! A trademark for Henry Down & Co. was displayed on the packaging and the label states that the product was made in Woburn. These preparations were also shown alongside Farmer’s Friend at the Royal Agricultural shows they took stands at.

In 1885, the Down brothers bought eight cottages in Aspley Hill, those surrounding Harefield Cottage. These all came with incumbent tenants, and were probably seen as a long-term investment. (All were eventually put up for auction in 1907) Some of these cottages are now numbers 21 to 27, although two later collapsed during building work and had to be rebuilt in replica. The Down interest in Aspley Hill began in 1876, buying half of some land with cottages and carried on until 1889 when Frederick bought the other half.

The Downs provided land and assistance in hosting the 1886 Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands Flower Show in August of that year. With all their agricultural connections, this must have been very good publicity for them.

In January 1888, Henry organised collections for the unemployed whilst Frederick was entertaining at concert evenings with a selection of comic songs. In October 1888 there is a report of complaints being made regarding the award of a contract to clean and maintain the street lamps. No tenders were invited and Frederick Down had given the job straight to Mr William Needham - who happened to be on the same council committee that Frederick chaired regarding the street lighting! This was possibly the first deal they made together, but it would certainly not be the last.

Since 1885, Frederick had been an agent for Phipps, brewers of Northampton. This fact is recorded in a report when Frederick fell off his horse on the Woburn Road in 1889.

Also in 1889, the June 25th edition of the ‘Beds Standard’ reported: “The Royal Show, Windsor - Messrs Henry Down and Co. of Woburn exhibit at stand 425 their old established wheat dressing Downs Farmers Friend, the efficiency of which is testified to by many of the largest wheat growers and we notice that it is regularly used upon the Royal farms at Windsor and Sandringham. They also show some valuable veterinary remedies including Ossoline which is strongly recommended as a good substitute for ‘firing’ in cases of bone spavin, curb etc in horses. Numerous commendary letters regarding its action are in possession of the proprietor including one from the celebrity trainer Mr Matthew Dawson, Sir Henry Selwin Ibbetson and the honourable T. W. Fitzwilliam. Col. Anstuther Thomson and other good judges of horses also recommend Ossoline.”

By this time it appears that the Downs had already moved into the Public House trade. There is a report dated November 1889 that an employee of theirs, James Mabley had been recalled from an inn in they ran Ledlington, Cambridgeshire, to work back at the malting in Woburn Sands. It made the paper because his son, George, had arrived back gravely ill and soon after died of scarlet fever.

There is no Ledlington in Cambridgeshire and the report would appear to refer to Litlington, near Ashwell. It is a pity the name of the inn was not given in the report, as there were several pubs in Litlington although only one remains now.

Frederick had become increasingly involved in helping at St Michaels Church in Woburn Sands, and in 1889 his eligibility for the post of Church Warden was questioned by a Mr Clarke. After a vote, (which Frederick won by 17 votes to 8) Mr Clarke complained to the Bishop that Down was not a fit and proper person to hold this office but the appeal was overruled and Frederick claimed the post. It is thought that Down’s entrepreneurial flair had angered some of the more conservative members of the church and perhaps the fact that he dealt in liquor was also held against him. Frederick resigned the post in 1895 after Mr Woodhams - who had also previously objected to him - was voted in as Co-Warden.

The brothers’ mother, Emma Down, died in 1890 at the age of 69. Her funeral was a lavish affair with a handsome funeral carriage covered in floral wreaths and crosses. The casket was of elm and oak and most of the village closed for the duration. She was buried in St Michaels Church in Woburn Sands by Rev. Moss and Canon Bartlett. She was the last surviving daughter of William Crofts. Her husband had been buried at Woburn, but she was laid in a large vault capable of holding six people in St Michaels Churchyard. Frederick stayed on at Haydon House. In the same edition of the ‘North Bucks Post’, as the funeral report, there is the description of a supper organised by Frederick. He invited all the people in the village who were over 60 to attend and enjoy an evening of entertainment. As well as tables ‘groaning with food’, Phipps’ ales were served and tobacco and snuff was laid out on the tables for the 150 guests. It took place at the Institute Hall on February 6th. The paper quoted “The Down family are perhaps the richest in Woburn Sands and not slow to be liberal”. Frederick’s employees had helped with the preparations and Mr and Mrs Needham had lent a hand as well as many other ladies from the village. Also in this year the Downs had lent land to Woburn Sands Football Club. Advertisements ran in the North Bucks Post and the new Kelly’s Directory. One half-page advert was for their product named ‘Ossaline’ (one of the Melvilles veterinary preparations) which received glowing testimonials from masters of foxhounds and horse trainers who recommended the compound. In March, the Woburn Sands, Wavendon, Aspley Guise and Woburn Constitutional Club opened in the Old School Rooms at the Swan. The Downs had donated the premises and paid to fit it out. Frederick became honorary treasurer and W. Bazley, who worked as their clerk, became the secretary. This year again, they lent land for the local flower show.

1891 did not get off to a good start for the Downs when Henrys’ wife Grace fell off her horse when it was frightened by a pheasant on the Bow Brickhill Road. She was confined to bed for a week. Frederick was having a better time singing at Constitutional concerts. His usual rendition was ‘Where did you get that hat?’. During January, the Downs had given away sixty gallons of soup to the needy of the villages. But more tragic events overtook the Downs, when Henry passed away on March 6th, leaving behind his wife, Grace, and five children. His death is recorded in a large report in the Bedfordshire Times. It states that the sad event took place at his residence, Woodfield, after a short illness, probably due to complications from a chill he had caught in London a week before, developing into pneumonia.

He passed away just as his uncle, Dr Langdon Down, arrived from London having been telegraphed. Doctor Langdon Down was a specialist in child disability and was one of the first to promote handicapped children as being able to be taught with other children. He had founded a Hospital at Hampton Wick in London in 1868 called Normansfield. He also became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and consultant physician to several London hospitals. In the 1960’s, when the World Health Organisation wanted to replace the term ‘mongol’, which Dr Langdon Down had designated, for a term more suitable, they chose Down’s Syndrome to honour the good doctor and his work. Henry had been a director of the Woburn Sands Building Society, a member of the Gas Lighting Committee, and a member of the Cottage Garden Society Committee. He was only 46 years old.

His widow Grace and two of his children, Miss Flossie and Master Henry, (the others being Dorothy, Charlotte, and Robert) attended the funeral as well as Frederick, their friends, employees, and servants. The coffin was described as polished oak with massive brass fittings and a brass plate recording his details. Hymns included were ‘On resurrection morning’, and ‘Now the labourer’s task is over’.

All the principal shops were closed during the funeral and blinds were pulled down in the private houses along the route. A smoking concert due to take place at the Constitutional Club was cancelled as a mark of respect.

Henry’s body was taken up the High Street to St. Michaels for burial where he was laid to rest beside his mother. The Downs had been conducting business in the area for at least 50 years by then, and also taken a great interest in building and bettering the town. He was obviously greatly missed. The firm of Cumberland and Hopkins were employed to sell up his effects.

Henry died intestate and Grace administered the will with the aid of the solicitor Henry Petite of Leighton Buzzard for the legal work. He left an estate of £5,438 13s 4d (worth now over £200,000) and was described simply as a merchant in probate records. Frederick bought up his late brother’s share of the business and so became the senior and sole owner of Down & Co.

The Needham family had become close friends of the Downs, perhaps because of the close proximity of their respective businesses, with Williams’s ironmongery business across Russell Street from the Eagle Malting. They had sent a wreath to Henry’s funeral, as they had done to his mother’s the previous year.

1887 sees the first reference I can find to William Needham. He ran a front-page advertisement for his ironmongery business in the ‘Liberal News and North Bucks Flying Post’. He and his family had moved to the area from Brentford and he was soon to become an important part of the story. He rapidly built up his business and in 1890 was advertising in the St Michaels Parish Magazine. The advertisement read:

“W Needham, General Furnishing and Wholesale Ironmonger, Implement Agent & Co., Woburn Sands. Chaff Cutters, Bean Mills, Turnip Cutters, Ploughs and Plough Fittings of Leading Makers, Kitchen Ranges, Cooking Stoves, Fenders and Fire Irons, Agent for Stranges A1 and other Oils, Sheet, Hoop, and Bar Iron Merchant, Taylors Noted Eye Witness Cutlery, Wringers, Mangles and Washing Machines, Sorby's Noted Carpenters and Other Tools. Beds, Bedsteads, Mattresses, Palliasses, &c in stock or made to order. Hip, Sponge, Sitz, and other baths, a good selection of Electro Plate. Brooms, Brushes, Mats and every description of ironmongery for household and building purposes kept in stock. Experienced workmen for every description of repairs, Range, Water-Work and Co. “

The North Bucks Times ad from 1887. (Bucks County Library)

It would appear that it did not take Frederick long to get over his brother’s death, as by September he was expanding his public house trade significantly. He bought the ‘Wolsley Arm’s’ in Bedford, and in October the ‘George & Dragon’ in King Street, Potton.

Frederick must have looked around for someone to become the new junior partner so that he could delegate some of the responsibility for the rapidly expanding business. William Needham had been helping at St Michaels as Aidsman to Frederick being Churchwarden.

It is useful that a Census took place in 1891. It recorded that Needham was 31 and his wife Amelia was 29. Their one child, Elsie Mollie, was 6. They also employed Kate Finnessy (22) as a servant in the house, so William’s trade must have been reasonably good.

Frederick, who had moved back to Haydon House, is described as single and a maltster and corn dealer by trade. He had two servants, Julie Ellen Ketford (27) from Bedford, and Emily Maud Rogers (20) from Northants.

Frederick moved into partnership with William Needham in 1892 although the Down & Co name was kept on to manage the Farmer’s Friend and Melvilles trade, the name Down & Needham began to appear on bottles and flagons connected with the liquor trade. There is also a piece in the local ‘North Bucks Times and County Observer’ of December 24 which discusses the local shops and their Christmas wares.

“Messrs Down and Needham have some fine old mild and pale ales and stout from the celebrated Burton, Northampton, and Luton Breweries, and those who wish to present a barrel of good old nut brown ale to friends could not do better than give Messrs Down and Needham an order. This firm have also a choice selection of best brands of spirits and liqueurs in stock on which purchasers can thoroughly rely.”

The new partnership... (Beds & Luton Archives & Record Service)

Then, in the New Year, there is a report, also in the ‘North Bucks Times and County Observer’, of their newly designed store-front. (February 4)
“The Eagle Brewery - Messrs Down and Needhams’ effective advertisement at their brewery, is certain to draw attention to the excellence of the beers of which they are purveyors. The ‘ad’ is very striking and cannot fail to catch the eye of all passing the well known stores.”

According to the Bedfordshire Mercury, all the employees of Down & Co and Down & Needham enjoyed a treat of a day trip to Great Yarmouth in August. About 40 went, which probably included wives etc. Frederick’s connection with the brewers, Phipps of Northampton ended in acrimony this year when he sued them at the New Law Courts, London to recover commission and expenses owed to him and for wrongful dismissal. Phipps admitted that they owed him over £570 but denied the other charges. However, during the second day of cross examination, the two counsels had a private meeting with the Judge, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge and it was settled that Phipps would pay a total of £2001 15s 2d (worth now £82,000) and also costs. Later local advertisements for Phipps made it abundantly plain that they had no connection with Frederick Down any more. Frederick had also become president of Woburn Sands Albion F.C. and also hosted the flower show again. In 1893 Frederick was voted in as Churchwarden of St Michaels again using the slogan of “Peoples Friend” in his campaign. By 1894 Needham was able to move out of the flat above his shop and into a house on Station Road called ‘Claremont’ which is no. 22. He must have been finding his new partnership very profitable.

Veterinary cures had obviously proved profitable. An ad from 1894

Down continued dealing in buildings and land with Needham. They purchased 47 Station Road from George Spreckley in 1895 but sold the Swan Inn to Phipps of Northampton on December 31 and next year, sold 118 Station Road to Thomas Yirral, a well known local builder, and transferred the ownership of the Malting from Frederick and Henry’s widow Grace to Frederick and William. In 1897, Frederick bought 49 Station Road, the last building before the corner of Weathercock Lane. He also bought up some of the shop fronts around the corner of Russell Street and built no. 3 and possibly no. 1 as well. By 1898 Frederick had become involved with the Board of Woburn workhouse before it closed down at the end of the century.

The size and prominence of the various advertisements on the shop front give an indication of what was important to the firm at this time. The demand for beers and spirits from the surrounding villages must have been quite large. The local historian Arthur Parker had a chance to talk to one of the ‘boys’ in the picture who by then was about 90! Tom Barker remembered going out on deliveries over a wide area to sell the ‘phizz’. William Needham is leant on the railings, and William Bazley, their clerk, is stood next to him. Two of the other boys are Abraham Dolton and one of the Tomkins family. The picture of their factory and shop front is from before 1898, as the Malting was sold to the Watford brewers, Benskins. Also sold to Benskins at the same time was the ‘George & Dragon’ in Potton, the ‘Wolsley Arms’ in Bedford, the ‘Clifton Arms’ in Dunstable (purchase date unknown), a quantity of land in Kempston, around the corner of Spring Road and College Street, and the leasehold of ’The Plough’ in Simpson - the closest of their far flung properties. The ‘George and Dragon’, Potton is still open, it passed from Benskins through amalgamation to Ind Coope to Greene King. The ‘Wolsley Arms’ is now shut. It stood on the corner of Wellington Street and Albert Street, and was run by Robert Thompson. Frederick had owned it since 1891.

At the top of Russell Street, still a drinks shop today. (Woburn Sands & District Society)

The ‘Clifton Arms’, Dunstable stood near the Square on High Street South – no. 157. (The house numbers were changed in the 1920’s). It was being run by George Leech. The Kempston land had been bought in 1897 and consisted of two pieces of land on New Spring Road, in front of Brigadier Depot Barracks. ‘The Plough’ at Simpson, Milton Keynes is now in the hands of Charles Wells, Bedford. When Down and Needham sold it’s lease it was being run by Oliver Davies. In the sale agreement, signed by both Down and Needham, was an undertaking that neither of them would operate or be involved in brewing, beer vending or maltstering in Bucks., Beds., Northants., Hunts., Cambs., or Herts.! For the estate and the agreement they got £9900. There was provision in the contract for written permission to be granted to them if they wished to carry on in the trade, which may explain how they came to buy two pubs in Biggleswade the following year. The ‘Hole in the Wall’ and the ‘Golden Eagle’. The former was a small beer house at 76 Shortmead Street, entered by a narrow alleyway between two houses. It closed in 1912. The latter was beside the bridge at 87 High Street. It was run by James Cobb during this time. It was eventually closed by Charles Wells in 1920. These two properties were not in their possession for long, however, as the ‘Hole in the Wall’ was sold to Jarvis of Bedford for £340, and the ‘Golden Eagle’ to Charles Wells of Bedford for £500, both on June 22nd 1900.

In January 1899, George Jeffery, who had recently been sacked from the Benskins Depot, Woburn Sands, and was working as a stable hand at the Fir Tree Inn, murdered his landlord’s wife and then killed himself. There was speculation of an illicit affair but no proof. The crime took place in the cottages just up Woburn Road from the Fir Tree. The murderer’s brother, Charles, was called as a witness at the inquest. He was a drayman for Down and Needham, who were now described as mineral water manufacturers at Bedford.

Due to the Temperance and Abstainee movements, which were very popular at the time, Down & Needham also had considerable success with soft drinks. Ginger beer and mineral water bottles can still be found bearing the Down & Needham name. Mineral waters then meant a range of flavoured soft drinks such as raspberryade, lemonade, and other fruit drinks as well as soda water.

Perhaps it was the revenue from Down & Needhams various property sales which enabled them to set up their Mineral Water Works in Bedford. This was located on the corner of St Mary’s Street beside the river and was called the Aerated Water Manufactory. They had for some time been producing their drinks in bottles embossed ‘Woburn Sands Mineral Water Works’, and now they changed this to include ‘Bedford and...’ at the beginning. They also had bottles marked ‘Bedford Bridge Works’. Most of these bottles were ‘Codd’ bottles, an early soft drink bottle with a marble closure device in the neck. The Old School Rooms in the chapel building at the Swan Inn were being used as storage for the mineral water works.

A less staged veiw of their shop-front in Woburn Sands (Mr H. G. Clements)

1900 saw the purchase of 11 Station Road, ‘Sandymount’, along with land running right back to Weathercock Lane. Frederick divided the land in half and built a property called ‘Northolt’. He also bought a warehouse in Sheep Lane, Potsgrove from the Trustees of the Protestant Dissenting Chapel.

Frederick Down was back in court in 1900. In March he was sued for £6 15s by Alfred John White, a carrier from Cranfield. Mr White was claiming the money for a horse he had bought from Frederick, which Frederick had supposedly guaranteed as a gentle and hard working horse. He bought the horse for £20 but before he came to collect it he heard it was a ‘kicker’, and would not suit his cart. Mr White asked Frederick’s clerk, Bazley to write on the receipt ‘Warranted quiet in single and double harness’. Bazley refused, saying that Mr Down had said no such thing. Mr White took the horse, after complaining to Frederick, and later sold it by auction in Bedford, saying it had kicked violently when in harness. He was suing for the difference to what he had paid for it. Mr A Gilchrist-Langley prosecuted for Mr White, and Mr Henry Petitt, of Leighton Buzzard then replied. He said no warranty had been given and Mr White had had every opportunity to try the horse first. Mr Bazley and Frederick’s groom, Josiah Barker, were called and both swore no warranty had been verbally given. Finally, the farmer from Eversholt, Mr Humphries, who had bought the horse from Mr White, stated that he had not seen or heard of it kicking once. Mr Down was exonerated and awarded costs. The trial was at Newport Pagnell before Sir Alfred Marten QC.

Going back to his good deeds, Frederick rented his half-timbered building in Russell Street to the Woburn Sands Men’s Club as their new club house for the sum of £25 per annum.

In 1901, Frederick became chairman of Aspley Heath School Board although there were some objections to the accuracy of the ballot results - apparently some seventy people had been left off the register. Frederick, however, gained popularity with the pupils by giving them a penny each to encourage good attendance.

Down & Needham were running a beerhouse in Kempston, it had a caretaker listed as Harry Briden, not a licensee, so perhaps it was only an off-licence. It was located approximately where they had previously sold land to Benskins, in Spring Road.

In 1902, Frederick Down started to build six Almshouses in Station Road for his elderly employees and local townsfolk. However, he was never to see them completed, as he died on June 6th, aged 53, at Avenue Lodge, which had been transferred to Needham. He had not been well for several weeks, and friends had feared that he would not live long. He was remembered as being most helpful to everyone, and beneficial to all. In the local press, his death is described as closing an interesting and successful career and that he would be sadly missed. No mention is made of his business activities regarding drinks - hard or soft, but Farmer’s Friend and Melville’s Ossaline are remembered.

He had held many public offices including; District Councillor, Parish Councillor, Life Governor of Bedford County Hospital, Life Member of the Royal Agricultural Society, Honorary Member of Aspley Guise Working Mens Beneficial Club, Honorary Member of the Aspley Guise and Wavendon Oddfellows Club, and Honorary Member Forresters Club and many other institutions. He had never married and was buried at Woburn Old Church with his father where Rev Dickinson officiated. The choir from Aspley Heath School attended. He left an estate of £26,906 4s 3d (worth now just under £1,000,000) which all went to William Needham as Frederick had no immediate family, which was to prove a contentious point.

Needham and his wife completed the Almshouses which Frederick had begun, and a description can be found in ‘Gregory’s Guide to Woburn Sands’ published around 1904:

“The most noteworthy charity is the six almshouses ... well built with a sitting room, bedroom and scullery all on the ground floor ... with a good garden. The tenant gets rent-free accommodation with a 5/- allowance for maintenance. These have been finished by Mr and Mrs Needham in a thorough and noteworthy manner.”

The Almshouses still stand today as numbers 68 - 80 Station Road.

In 1903 William is listed just as a private resident but it appears that he kept the name of Down & Needham going for his business ventures. William was now 43 and after inheriting such a large amount, seems to have slowed down the dealings, although Farmer’s Friend was still being produced under the Down name.

William Bazley had been chief clerk for Down & Needham and he and Henry Petitt, who had both appeared in court as witness and solicitor respectively in the case regarding the allegedly kicking horse, now appeared in court again. This time, however, they were on different sides.

After Frederick’s death, and it was discovered he had left everything he owned to Mr and Mrs Needham, Henry Down’s widow Grace and her children contested the will. William Bazley and Henry Petitt had been witnesses for the will, and Bazley had also received nothing in it, although in previous drafts, he had been provided for, and even left some land. He had first worked for the Downs’ mother at the age of fifteen, transferring employment to Henry Down, and then Frederick upon Henry’s death, and was now manager of the Wheat Dressing Works while the will was sorted out. Mr Petitt was in Woburn Sands on business and mentioned to Mr Miller, the local printer and County Councillor, that Frederick had cut Bazley out of his will because he no longer trusted him due to mistakes found in his bookwork and he had lost confidence in him. This gossip got back to Bazley and after a written demand for an apology was refused, he sued for slander.

The case was held before Mr Justice Ridley at Bedford on June 20, 1903. Several of Down and Needhams’ servants were called as witnesses who confirmed that Frederick had been unhappy with Bazley’s book keeping and records, although nothing was said to Mr Bazley directly. After legal arguments as to what had been said and whether it was Frederick’s view or Petitt’s view, the jury retired and soon came back in and found for the plaintiff, William Bazley. He was awarded £150 damages. However, during the case, a letter from Frederick to William Needham was read out, it had been written just before his death and asked for the Needhams to set up provision for each of his late brother’s children, who were to receive £20 per annum until death, Bazley 10s per week till death ‘providing he behaves well’, Barker the groom 10s per week, Randall, the carpenter 7s 6d per week, and Tompkins, the warehouseman, 5s per week. There were also instructions for an endowment to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, Charles Street, St James, London for £26. It would be held in the name of ‘Fred W Down of Woburn Sands Memorial Fund’ for two applicants each year. He goes on to express the hope that his recently started Almshouses are finished and endowed with 5s per week and 3lbs of prime beef, ¼lb of tea, and 1lb of plums in the week before Christmas.

Frederick’s will was finally sorted out in July of 1903 when the solicitors representing all of the parties met before the Rt. Hon Sir F. H. Jenne. Agreement had been reached where all of the requests in Frederick’s letter to Mr and Mrs Needham would be fulfilled, plus an award of £250 to Dennis Clarke, one of Frederick’s nephews. The remaining Down family then withdrew their accusations that the will had been made under undue influence of the Needhams and arrangements were made for the inheritors who were not yet of legal age. The WW1 army service papers of Henry's son, Robert Haydon Down, can be found at the National Archives at Kew. Robert was born 4th August 1888. He gave his occupation as a bank clerk, before joining up on September 2nd, 1914. His record says he was 6'3” with blue eyes and light brown hair.

The Almhouses are just on the right of this postcard.

He was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on 14th February 1915, and promoted to Temporary Lieutenant on 18th July 1916. He was in 'A' company of the 1/4th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment. However, he died on 17th August 1916, at the No.3 Casualty Clearing Station, of wounds received the day before, in the attack on Pozieres Ridge. He was 27. He was buried at Puchewillers British Cemetery, Somme.

In 2001, I was given the original tin stencils for Downs Farmers Friend, which would have been applied to the packing cases before shipping to four destinations in South Africa. The stencils have the following text:

"DOWN’S FARMERS FRIEND FOR PREVENTING SMUT IN WHEAT MANUFACTORY - WOBURN SANDS, ENGLAND" (91x21cm, but broken into 3 pieces) "DOWN’S FARMERS FRIEND FOR PREVENTING SMUT IN WHEAT MANUFACTORY - WOBURN SANDS, ENGLAND" (19x28cm, two examples) "TO BE KEPT DRY" (32x7.5cm) "22”x13”x9”" (30x7.5cm) "ENGLAND" (30.5x7cm) "DELAGOA BAY" (35x6cm, broken into 2) "ALGOA BAY" (29x6cm) "NATAL" (20x6cm) "EAST LONDON" (30x6cm)

The Down name was certainly kept going when William had number 73 High Street fitted out as a fish shop in 1904 (as it remains today), and the Down name was also used when William had plans drawn up by Grovers of Dunstable for a road running over his land at the top end of the High Street. The road ran parallel to Aspley Hill for some distance and then turned sharply at the top to join it. William called the new road Downham Road after Down and Needham, but it was not built on until 1938.

In 1906, Needham, with his inheritance of Frederick’s buildings in Russell Street had inherited the incumbent Social Club, who now informed him that the £25 pa. rent was too high and they would have to vacate. He lowered it to £20 and returned a further £4 as a donation. The Club had rented the property from Frederick since 1900 and the connection continues past 1920 when the Social Club bought the property it sits on today and erected the buildings until recently still used. Sometime between 1897 and 1902, Frederick had erected a little thatched cottage on the corner of Weathercock Lane and Station Road, which was used as a clubhouse and rest stop for the local cyclists. One morning in the summer of 1906, a Foden steam wagon paused outside it to stoke up its engine and a spark burnt the building to the ground. Robert Cheetham, the local photographer was enterprising enough to fetch his camera as the fire took hold and some interesting postcards were made depicting scenes during and after the fire.

The fire at "The Cyclists Rest",1906.

Over the years, William proceeded to sell off much of his property. 47 Station Road went in 1907, and the property in Aspley Hill (numbers 21 -27) in 1908. He also transferred property that was solely owned by his wife Amelia into their joint name. Avenue Lodge was being rented out to Mrs Mary Green, widow, of Bedford at a rent of £70 pa. Mr T Redfern witnessed the contract. He was later to marry William’s daughter Elsie. By now William had his own telephone number: ‘15’ at Haydon House, and Tommy Redfern was no. ‘21’ at Sandymount.

Down’s Farmer’s Friend was still being sold in 1910, as advertisements for it appeared in the ‘Woburn and District Reporter’. These advertisements are somewhat confusing as they state that the firm was established in 1888, and that the proprietor and manufacturer was Frederick Down, who by now had been dead for some eight years!

In 1913, William helped finance the Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands Golf Club, and became one of the founding members of the original 9 hole golf course. By the next year he had moved into the Downs’ old family home at Haydon House. A directory of 1914 has Frederick Down as proprietor of a wheat dressing works. I can only presume that William was still using the Down name for that side of the business for reasons of ease and customer familiarity.

William gave Avenue House, rent and rates free, to be used by Belgian refugees (Bedfordshire Times, Oct 23rd, 1914) In 1915, William donated premises free of rent to house the local fire brigade in Russell Street, and also financed the erection of a shed to house their appliance.

Downs Farmers Friend adverts are still being used in 1916, in the Beds Times.

William had moved out of Haydon House by 1920 and moved into Avenue Lodge - another of the Down family’s old residences. This seems to have been just a temporary measure while he built on the Weathercock Lane frontage of Sandymount. Here he built Holly Lodge with bricks from Maypole Yard Cottages, which he had pulled down on Aspley Hill in 1921.

I believe he was still living here in 1922 when his wife died on 25th June. She was then 60 and is buried in St Botolph’s Church, Aspley Guise. All of her remaining share in the property passed to William - an estate totalling nearly £8000. William lived another eight years at Holly Lodge before he too died, on 13th November, 1930 aged 70. By this time he had re-married, however he was buried beside his first wife in Aspley Guise churchyard. His death notice in the local paper recorded that he had run a well-known ironmongery, but no reference was made to either the Farmer’s Friend or Melville’s, or the liquor and pubs businesses. It does state that he was a trustee for the Institute for a long period after his retirement. His second wife out-lived him, and his daughter Elsie, had married a Captain Howard J. Redfern, known as Tommy, who was a solicitor in Leighton Buzzard. They married around February 1907 and moved, firstly, to New Bushey.

In 1931, there was a grand auction of the remains of the Down & Needham empire. It took place on 23rd October at 5pm at the Swan Hotel, which had been part of the estate long ago. Thirty-eight separate lots were sold as follows:

Lot 1 - Holly Lodge, Weathercock Lane [Mrs Needham in occupation!] Lot 2 - Land adjoining Lot 1 Lot 3 - Avenue Lodge Lot 4 - Land adjoining Lot 3 on Clay Lane Lot 5 - Ostler Cottage, Clay Lane Lot 6 - 4 cottages in Clay Lane Lot 7 - Grassland on Clay Lane Lot 8 - 6 Almshouses, Station Road Lot 9 - Cottage, Weathercock Lane Lot 10 - As above Lot 11 - Fir Grove Villa, Wood Street (No 40, now known as The Old Presbytery) Lot 12 - Maypole Cottages, Aspley Hill Lots 13 - 27 - Building plots, south side of Downham Road Lots 28 - 38 - Building plots, north side of Downham Road

Auction Catalogue 23rd October, 1931 at The Swan Hotel. (Bucks Record Office)

It was only after this auction that Downham Road was built on and began to look as it does today. This is the end of the Down and Needham empire. William Bazley died in February 1947. William Needham’s daughter Elsie Redfern, now widowed, continued to live at Sandymount until she moved to Leighton Buzzard in 1950 and has proved impossible to trace.

I would like to thank all of the following institutions and individuals for their help and encouragement to produce this work.

Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
Bucks Record Office
Beds and Bucks Library Services
Woburn Sands and District Society
Ken Page - Bedfordshire Breweries Historian
Andrew Edmonds at Haydon House
Phillip Sheppy of the Royal Agricultural Society
Evelyn Wright - St Michael’s Church History
Northants Bottle Collecting Club
Professor Conor Ward - Biographist of Dr Langdon Down
Des Cole - Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands Golf Club
....and the many others who contributed details.

And finally, to the late Mr Arthur Parker whose historical notes and enthusiasm inspired me and formed the basis for my own research.