Z1205/138

Male. Farmer and collector of old machinery. b.19.07.33 SIDE A (00 mins)Born at Hill Farm, family home since 1890. Great-grandfather came from Thickthorne Farm, but family had farmed at Kings Farm, Maulden, from 1800s. Family were tenant farmers. Great-grandfather retired from Hill Farm in 1900, and had house (Conquest House in Silsoe Road) built in Maulden. Grandfather had 6 children (3 boys, 3 girls), including twins, one of whom was informant's father, who took over farm in 1932, when grandfather retired. He was called Mr James locally and bought the farm in 1914 when Lord Sing (in financial trouble) sold the estate (half of Houghton Conquest, Haynes and part of Wilstead. (05 mins)Farm, which bordered Duke of Bedford's and Whitbread estates, was 211 acres and cost about £3,000 in 1914. Informant's father bought the farm for over £3300 in about 1940. Speaker has given his son the farm to reduce Inheritance Tax. Grandfather was very kind, helpful and jovial, as well as good with money. He used to act as an agent for Liverpool, London and Globe Insurance Company and family still act so today. (10 mins)Houghton Conquest in the 30's and 40's had a quarter of the number of houses today, and half the present population. Many large families. Adults worked on farms, at brickworks or Vauxhall; some even biked to Bedford for work. There were numerous shops and four pubs, including The Camel, where a pint of beer, a packet of cigarettes and matches could all be bought for less than a shilling.Story about 'bucket boys' who on Sundays carried household sewage buckets on bikes to an allotment field in Chapel End. Attended a Mission in Bedford Road ; preacher was Sister Ruth. Another Methodist or Baptist chapel was at How End. (15 mins)'Church' and 'Chapel' people didn't mix. Farm had 30 cows ; milk made into butter at home or dispatched to various local dairies. Most farmers had cows - full-time employment and regular income. Grandfather had only 7 or 8 cows, a few sheep, poultry and pigs. Father had trouble with the Milk Marketing Board requiring milking-shed improvements; when cowman wanted to retire in about 1962, father sold up milk cows and concentrated on beef production and sheep. (20 mins)No 7-day a week working then; workers dwindled to 5, then 3. Many retirements, including informant's father. Informant continued with farm until his son returned from college. The 200 sheep produced lambs for market, though lambing was hard work - made easier when lambing done indoors and when new sheds built. Lambs readied for the traditional Easter trade. Father retired to a bungalow. Informant remembers wartime news on the radio and special childhood sweets. Grandmother resembled Queen Victoria in severity, unlike humorous grandfather. (25 mins)Cucumber sandwiches and little cakes for tea. Farm work even on Sunday nights - foot rotting and clagging. Grandfather and grandmother were upper-middle-class and could employ domestic servants and labourers, but father, in the 1930's, had to do much more labouring himself. Church activities and the unforgettable and enthusiastic clergyman, Rev. Goud, who loved children and who loved him. Informant's mother's parents ran the Castle Road post office in Bedford, but sold up in 1921 to buy Grange Farm in Houghton Conquest - a mixed farm - though money was "a bit tight". (30 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00mins)His eldest sister moved away. Both grandfathers and his father were Church Wardens in Houghton Conquest. In 1922, one grandfather was chairman of the Parish Council and parishioners raised money for new church clocks in memory of the men who died in the First World War. In 1921 there were a very dry summer and autumn; father's first job on leaving school was to use a horse and cart and to collect water for the livestock. The house used well water until the main was installed in 1939. Electricity only came in 1946: prior to that, lighting was achieved with paraffin lamps, and heating with coal and wood fires. (05 mins)During the Reformation and during Cromwell's time, Haynes Church pews and panelling were much remodelled, and some panelling is now in Hill Farm. Informant went to Rushmoor School in Bedford. He had a rough time at school because of much illness and left school at 15 with no qualifications. He had always wanted to be a farmer, ever since he rode on a tractor as a child. Early tractors came from Biggleswade, but the family had its first of many in 1919, mainly Fordsons. (10 mins)Horses and tractors were used together on the farm. Father encouraged informant to develop his own enterprise and he began with some pigs, building up his stock to ten sows and a boar. He owned his first motorbike at 16, and he rode it till he was 21. He was very active with Bedford Young Farmers' Club. Old and new village halls housed Old Time Dancing. Almshouses used to share a plot with the old Houghton College. Tennis was played at How End. Work tended to be 7 days a week, with one half-day off for farm workers. (15 mins)Workers' accommodation described. Brickworkers used to help with harvesting. Wartime brought farmers extra food coupons to feed harvesters. Aged 11, informant watched from Bedford Hospital German bombing of Clophill Woods, terrified because his parents' house was so near; his relief on seeing them again. Two memories of his time in the Hospital. (20 mins)End of Side B End of Interview Original Interview 50 mins.

29 May 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Marston Valley Brickworks,
Vauxhall

farmer, agricultural machinery, Houghton Conquest Hill Farm, Maulden Kings Farm, Methodist Church, Baptist chapel, cattle, dairy, Milk Marketing Board, farming practice, sheep, cattle disease, domestic servant, Houghton Conquest Grange Farm, monumental inscriptions, water supply, electricity, horses, pigs, tractors, air raids over UK, brick worker, harvesting, Bedford Hospital, MAULDEN, Bedford Castle Road