Garden Cottages in 1921: a talk given by Susanne MacGregor

GARDEN COTTAGES IN 1921
Susanne MacGregor
 

Introduction

During the pandemic, the results of the 1921 census were published. So to help pass the time, I decided to look at who were living in the houses at Garden Cottages in 1921. [1]

Today, Garden Cottages is categorised as a ‘non-designated heritage asset’ [2] which means that there should be no developments or activities that

‘cause significant harm to the character and appearance of the area nor harm to the significance of the non-designated heritage asset’.

In general conversation, there are a couple of assumptions made about the history of Garden Cottages which I set out to test by looking at the data in the 1921 census. These are:

• that the cottages were built primarily for the ‘rural poor of Leigh and its environs’
• and that the residents were originally mainly agricultural workers.

The evidence seems to be that this was not the case either in intention or in outcome.

Context

Try to imagine what it must have been like to be alive in 1921. We may now 100 years later, have a better understanding than people did a few years ago, as we have also just been through a period of turbulence, with the financial crisis followed by Brexit and the Covid pandemic. In 1921, people had had to endure the Great War, then this was followed by the so-called Spanish flu epidemic, profoundly disturbing events.

This was also a time when the British Empire was at its height:  thereafter it began to decline, beginning with the partition of Ireland. These years also saw an increase in the power of trade unions and the Labour Party and the beginning of the decline of the Liberal party. Particularly due to experiences in the First World War, there were big changes in the role of women. Churches continued to be important institutions.

In the summer of 1921, there was a severe drought. In addition, 1921 was a time of high unemployment. The unemployment rate was 11.3%. The British economy was experiencing depression, deflation, and a steady decline in the UK’s former economic pre-eminence. Big changes were occurring with a shift from the old industries of cotton, steel, coal and iron and the slow rise of new industries like chemicals, rayon and motor cars.

Kent was noted as a county with more diverse industries and occupations than other counties surrounding London. The main employer was agriculture, with the most significant line of work for men in Kent being agricultural labour.

The population of Leigh in 1921 was 1,793 and that of Tonbridge 46,938.

The residents of Garden Cottages in 1921

Garden Cottages at this time appears to have been a close-knit community with many cross-cutting ties of kinship, marriage and friendship. Some families lived for years on this estate with their children and grandchildren also occupying houses there, thus forming a stable core – while other families would come and go.

Overall, the residents were ‘respectable working people’. The adults were not primarily agricultural workers – a more complex economy was developing.

Not all were originally born in Leigh but many did become loyal villagers.

In contrast to today, men and women had distinct gender roles: in particular, the male breadwinner was the head of the household. However, women were active in informal paid work, along with their vital domestic and caring duties.

Below are the surnames of the people living in Garden Cottages at this time – some may be familiar to the people of Leigh today. Those in capital letters are heads of households with the others (in lower case) sharing the accommodation as lodgers or relatives and others being children in foster care.

ATKINSON    HOUNSOM     Gorham      PANKHURST     UPTON       FAUTLY      HOBBS      Appleford       FORD        Card   SALTER       POCOCK        Harmer         GARDNER          Wheeler   NORMAN       FORD         Rivett       MILLS          OWEN      Boby   FLETCHER        YOUNG     Dyson   DENTON   MAY   MERBY     MYERS   AUSTIN    WOOD    Halliday FIELDER     Neale

The houses at Garden Cottages were not given house numbers in the 1921 census. However, I can say with some confidence that the Austin family lived at number 4, the Fautly family at number 5, the Pankhurst family at number 7 (and later at number 3), the Pocock family at number 9, the Ford family at number 12, the Upton family at number 13, the Owen family along with George Boby at number 14, and the Denton family at number 17.

 

The UPTONS at number 13

The 1921 census record shows three people, Stephen and Annie Upton (head of household and wife, age 58 and 57) and their 14 year old son James. In 1921, the family would still be grieving:

 Leigh man killed in action

Private Howard Upton, 20 years of age, eldest son of Mr and Mrs S Upton of Garden Cottages. He was previously employed on the estate of Lord Hollenden and was only twenty years of age. He was the first to leave the village at the outbreak of war. He was killed April 18 1915 on Hill 60. He was in the First Battalion Queens Own (Royal West Kent Regiment).  Kent and Sussex Courier 23 July 1915.

Howard Upton is remembered on the Leigh War Memorial.

Stephen Henry Upton died aged 75 and was described as an ‘old Army man, one of the few survivors who took part in the relief of Khartoum’.  28 May 1937 Kent and Sussex Courier.

 

 The Fautly family at number 5

 The Fautly family were famous in the village. In 1921 the household consisted of Frederick, the head, aged 48, his wife Emily, aged 42, and four children – young Frederick aged 16 and three girls aged 13, 9 and 7, plus the elder parents James aged 71 and Elizabeth at 70.  So here there were three generations living in one house.

The elder grandfather, James, went on to live to age 100, long enough to vote Conservative in the general election of 1950. Young Fred who was a butcher’s assistant in 1921 went on to become the local Head Slaughterman (there are many details about the Fautly family in Chris Rowley’s excellent oral history book). [3]

 

The Pankhursts at number 7

This very important family lived at numbers 7 and 3 at different times. James Pankhurst was born in Leigh. In 1921, his wife, Lilian Charlotte, was aged 46; she had been born in Ash Kent. There were two sons at home in 1921: Douglas James, aged 25, born in Leigh and employed as a clerk at Watney Combes Reeds Co Ltd brewers; and Bernard William, aged 21, also born in Leigh and employed as a fitter on Lord Hollenden’s estate at Hall Place.

Mr James Pankhurst worked for Dr Fraser (one of the prime movers behind the development of Garden Cottages) as a gardener and also drove his hansom cab. It is clear he was trusted by the Fraser family: he acted as agent for Garden Cottages and collected the rents. His wife looked after the Frasers’ children.

 

George Boby (1854-1940) at number 14

George Boby seems to have been a proud man and he had a lot to be proud about. He was a very influential man in the village with a high reputation as Headmaster of the village school and also playing a key role in parish affairs.

In the 1891 census, then age 37, he is recorded as being a certificated school master, married to Catherine Boby, age 36, a certificated school mistress, who had been born in Rye Sussex. They have one daughter Eleanor, then aged 7, born in Orpington, and one son, George, age 6, born in Leigh. They were then living in part of the Boys and Girls School Leigh. In the 1901 census, he is described as a National school master living with his wife aged 48. Their daughter Eleanor, age 17, is an assistant schoolmistress and also living with them is George, age 18, plus another daughter age 9 born in Leigh, and all are now residing at the School House Leigh. By the time of the 1911 census, George is a widower aged 57, described as an Elementary School Master.

In the 1921 census, he is entered as a separate ‘head of household’ completing his own form – perhaps partly to do with status concerns (he would not want to be referred to as a boarder in someone else’s household but also perhaps to ensure he kept his entitlement to vote). For whatever reason, the enumerator seems to have allowed him to submit his own record as head of a household. He was then occupying two rooms in the household of the Owens. Similarly in the 1939 Register, he is recorded as a retired schoolmaster, living with William Owen a gardener and Mary Owen at 14 Garden Cottages.

 

The FORD/ CARD families at numbers 12 and 7

The Ford and the Card families were probably living at number 12 in 1921.

Sometime later, the Cards move into number 7 (perhaps when the Pankhursts moved to number 3). Young Robert Card, aged just one at the end of World War One, goes on to serve in the army in World Warr Two and is awarded the Military Medal – given for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire.

We know now what they did not know in 1921 – what lies ahead – including that:

William James Ford of Garden Cottages was fatally injured by a shunting train which ran into them just as they had started work in the Jubilee siding at Tonbridge Station – two platelayers lost their lives. Kent and Sussex Courier. 8 June 1934.

 

Household composition

The most common type of household in 1921 at Garden Cottages was a married couple with their children – the conventional nuclear family. But this is less than half of all the households listed in that census. What is striking is the variety of types of household. Notable features, especially when contrasted with the way we live today, are:

• Older people were often living with family, not living alone, though there were some single occupants and older couples
• Lodgers and boarders, and children being fostered, were also members of households
• Two families might be in one household though not related – for example a widow with lodgers
• Three generational families were more common than today
• Some households consisted of extended families, that is ‘in-laws’ and brothers and sisters as well as parents.

What also seemed fairly common was for families to move around over time between cottages on the estate as the size of the household expanded then reduced. A widow or widower might move to a smaller house when on their own or two families previously sharing a house would get their own house as they became more affluent and their family grew. The ability of these flexible tenancies to respond as needs change seems to have been a very useful situation and helped to maintain community ties.

In total, there were ninety people living in Garden Cottages in 1921, 60 adults and 30 children. The average age of adult men was 45 years (range 21 – 86) and the average age of adult females was 47 years (range 27-81).

The average age of male children was 9 years (range 1-16) and the average age of female children was 8 years (range 1-15).

There were nine persons aged 70+: three men and six women.

Household density (average number of persons per room) was about 1.3.

So in 1921 there were living in Garden Cottages almost twice the number of residents as today. Particularly striking is that there were many more children then.

Most of the residents could be described as local people, that is born in Leigh and neighbouring areas of Kent.  But they were not born specifically in Leigh – less than half of all adults had been born in Leigh itself.

Looking at males aged 14 or over (working age) (number = 33) 43% had been born in Leigh, and 36% in the rest of Kent. 15% were born in Southern England and 6% in the North of England. Of boys aged under 14 (number = 11) 46% were born in Leigh and 27% in the rest of Kent with 18% born in Southern England, and 9% in the North of England.

By contrast, of women aged over 14 (thus including some children of a family) (n=32) only 9% were born in Leigh itself with 66% born in the rest of Kent. This may indicate a patrilocal system where families on marriage went to live near the family of the man rather than the woman. 16% were born in Southern England, 3% in the rest of the United Kingdom and 6% overseas.

Of girls (n=14) 79% were born in Leigh with 7% in the rest of Kent and 14% in southern England.

While there were 26 houses on the Garden Cottages estate only 23 records exist for 1921. These 23 households can be categorised in the following way:

 

NUCLEAR FAMILY = 9

Couple with young children = 7
Couple with older children = 2

OLDER COUPLES No children at home = 3

SINGLE OLDER PERSONS – most often widowed = 3

Single lady living alone = 1
Single older man with daughter and son in law = 1
Single older lady with daughter and granddaughter = 1 *

EXTENDED FAMILIES = 2

Couple with children and older parents = 1*
Couple with children plus related couple with child = 1

[* thus multi -generational households = 2]

HOUSEHOLDS WITH BOARDERS = 6

Families fostering young children = 3
Single older lady with two adult children plus one other unrelated adult -= 1;
With older lodger = 1
With visitor = 1

 

Employment

‘cricket ball makers and workers at the Powder Mills – these were the elite.’
 (Rowley 2000: 96)
‘if you didn’t work you didn’t get paid and you couldn’t pay the rent.’
(Rowley 2000: 284)

The men were employed in a variety of occupations:

factory workers = 27%
agricultural worker = 17%
retail and distribution = 17%
skilled manual = 7%
white collar worker = 7%
semi/ unskilled labour = 13%
retired = 12%

The variety of work can be seen from the descriptions:

Cricket ball maker; gunpowder maker; fence maker; gardener; farm labourer; clerk; postman; engineer fitter; driver (coal); butcher’s assistant; baker; assurance agent;  agent; railway ganger; motor body builder; baker; painter/labourer; bricklayer/labourer

retired schoolmaster; retired tradesman; retired railway engineer

It is worth noting too a background of service in the army in quite a few cases.

In the 1921 census, women are most often referred to as having home duties (n = 20) or no occupation was entered. There was one domestic servant, one school cleaner, one clerk, one bookkeeper and one retired dressmaker.

 

Conclusion

Overall, the residents of Garden Cottages seem to conform to the ‘respectable’ working people image desired by the founders of the development who had aimed to attract

‘respectable tenants who pay their rents and rates regularly and conduct themselves courteously toward their neighbours’.

They were not primarily agricultural workers: by 1921 a more complex economy was developing. There were quite distinct gender roles with women carrying out vital domestic and caring duties along with some informal and seasonal labour and the men being the main ‘breadwinner’.

We can also conclude that in many ways the architects’ original design appears to have been successful in encouraging a good quality of life, with a lot of green space and room to cultivate gardens and allotments.

In the hundred years since 1921, there have been huge social changes, most importantly changes in class relations, with now less deference towards the landed and new gentry. Changes in gender relations have also been important, especially as women entered the formal labour market – and perhaps had less time for caring work and community involvement.

There are also lessons for today’s debates on affordable housing, sustainable development and healthy living, when we consider the quality of design, the good use of space with access to gardens and allotments, and also the form of housing tenure in the years before 1945, which appears to have been flexible, allowing families to continue to live in the same area over time and maintain a strong sense of community.

January 2024 (Susanne MacGregor)

 

References

Joyce Field History of Garden Cottages Garden Cottages – Leigh & District Historical Society (leighhistorical.org.uk) 2017
National Archives 1921 Census
Chris Rowley “We had everything . . “ –  Recollections of a Kent Village Leigh 1900-2000 (Chris Rowley 2000)

 

[1] for information on the general history of Garden Cottages see Joyce Field  Garden Cottages – Leigh & District Historical Society (leighhistorical.org.uk) 2017
[2] Quote from Appeal Decision of The Planning Inspectorate re site visit 25 April 2017 by Richard Aston.
[3] Chris Rowley “We had everything . . “ –  Recollections of a Kent Village Leigh 1900-2000 (Chris Rowley 2000)