We are very grateful for the help of the Collections Officer at Tyntesfield and the kind permission of National Trust Tyntesfield which allowed us to use wonderful images of Albinia Rose Gibbs and her husband Richard Alexander Bennett.
The Rate Book for 1910 shows that Captain Bennett was leasing Thornbury Park in Thornbury from the Hon Robert Rodney.
The Census of 1911 gives his name as Richard Alexander Bennett and says that he was then aged 38 and a Director of a Brewery. He had been married for eleven years to Albinia Rose aged 35 by whom he had three children. The couple had five live-in servants.
Richard Alexander Bennett was born 12th December 1872 in Hampshire. He was the son of the Rev Alexander Sykes Bennett and his wife Jessie. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church Oxford. The 1891 Census shows him living with his widowed father, the vicar of St Stephen’s in Holdenhurst, and his sisters Annie aged 23 and Jessie aged 20.
Richard studied at Eton, where according to the Magdelene College website, he overlapped with the three older brothers of Albinia Rose Gibbs, which was how he got to know his future wife. He then studied at Christ Church, Oxford. From 1896 to 1899 he played cricket for Hampshire as a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper; he captained a team that toured the West Indies in 1901–02; and he also played for the MCC.
On December 2nd 1899 he married Albinia Rose Gibbs, the daughter of Anthony Oakes Gibbs and his wife Janet Louisa in Wraxall. Albinia’s home was Tyntesfield in Wraxall.
The family appears to have lived in London at first. The 1901 Census shows that Richard was a wine merchant and at that time the couple lived in Paddington with their baby son Alexander aged seven months. Alexander was born in Wraxall and was baptised there on 13th October 1900.
The births of two of their children Anstice Jessie Bennet (August 1905) and Peter Richard Bennett (about 1908) were registered in Wickwar. Anstice was baptised in Wickwar on 30th September 1905.
It is thought that after leasing Thornbury Park from about 1909/10, Richard purchased it in 1914.
In 1911, soon after he leased Thornbury Park, Richard Bennett became a Justice of the Peace in Gloucestershire.
Sadly his son, Peter Richard Bennett, died in Weymouth in 1912.
During World War One Richard was an officer in the 2/1st Gloucestershire Yeomanry (Territorial Force), a unit that served in England for most of the war until, in April 1918, it was sent to Dublin for the remainder. Richard Alexander was demobilized as a Captain in March 1919.
The 1921 Census shows Richard and Albinia Rose in residence at Thornbury Park. The house had 17 rooms and 12 occupants, only one of whom (Richard ) was male. They had three children; Anstice aged 15, Mary aged 7 and Evelyn aged 4. They had a governess and six servants living in the household. Richard was a J.P.
The Gazette in 1931 reported that Captain R. A. Bennett JP of Thornbury Park had been returned unopposed to the Thornbury Division. Apparently he was not new to the County Council having served from 1922 to 1925. The article also said that Richard was the chairman of Thornbury Justice, chairman of Thornbury Conservative Association and a churchwarden.
The 1939 Special Register shows that Richard Bennett was still a JP and that he had joined the ARP in preparation for the coming war. His wife Albinia was described as “incapacitated.” His daughter Anstice was living at home and was a commandant in the VAD. The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel. The family had Margaret Freeman staying with them and she was a health visitor in Birmingham.
A local resident Don Trayhurn remembered Capt. Bennett as a JP; ‘when I was at the Grammar School, Captain Bennett was chairman of the magistrates. We were sent up at odd times to listen to – they had to be suitable ones – cases at the Magistrates’ Court. I can remember being up there one day and someone had been caught riding a bicycle without a light and I can hear the old man now and he asked if he had anything to say before he sentenced him. “No, sir.” “Ah, well, this is a very, very serious case. Do you know I can send you to prison for three months or I can fine you the sum of three hundred pounds? ……..I fine you a shilling.”’
On October 3rd 1941 Albinia Rose died and was buried in Thornbury Cemetery.
Richard Alexander Bennett died July 16th 1951 and was buried with her. Probate was granted to Alexander George Bennett and Anstice Jessie Bennett. The estate was valued at £31,824
On his death an entry in Wisden said that Captain Richard Bennett ‘played in a number of games for Hampshire over the turn of the century, being contemporary with such players as E. M. Sprot, Capt. E. G. Wynyard and Major R. M. Poore. A cricketer of more than average ability, he was a steady bat and excellent wicket-keeper. He did not find a place in the eleven at Eton, but played much club cricket for Eton Ramblers and Hampshire Hogs. In 1897 he toured America with Capt. P. F. (now Sir Pelham) Warner’s team, which included G. L. Jessop, the mighty Gloucestershire hitter, and in 1902 led a team of amateurs which toured the West Indies. …… From 1910 he played for Thornbury Castle C.C. and continued after the amalgamation with Thornbury C.C. Chairman of Thornbury for many years, he was President from 1948 till his death, and was also a member of M.C.C. and Gloucestershire Gipsies.’
Dr Edgar Mervyn Grace wrote notes on the cricketers who played for Thornbury and he said that ‘Dick lived at Thornbury Park and was a great help to to cricket. Tall and slim, he always stood up to the wicket, even the fastest bowling and like Henry Martyn, the Somerset wicket-keeper, was very successful. His son, Alexander, also played for the Club before he joined the Army and left the district.
He also had an interest in other sports as we know he was one of the early members of the Thornbury Bowls Club.
Of their children;
Alexander George Bennett Alexander was baptised at Wraxall on 13th October 1900. He was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. In 1919 he joined King’s Royal Rifle Corps (60th Rifles) and retired as Lieutenant Col. in 1947. He worked for the Rifleman’s Aid Society for over 15 years and President of the Aldershot and North Hants. Conservative Association from 1970 to 1978. We understand that there was a service of Thanksgiving for him at All Saint’s, Fleet 12 October 1979.
Anstice Jessie Bennett (1905- 1994). In 1935 she travelled with Rosemary and Jane Bennett from Liverpool to Rangoon in Burma. In 1936 she sailed back to England via Bombay, Aden, Port Said, Marseilles and Gibraltar. In 1938 she sailed to Quebec. We know that she continued to live at Thornbury Park, despite her travels, as she gave her address as Thornbury Park on passenger lists and she appears in the 1938 Electoral Register and the 1939 Special Register up to at least 1951 when she is in the Electoral Roll at Thornbury Park. In 1957 to 1960 her name appears on the Electoral Register for Gloucester in Stroud Road. By 1964 she was living at Pittville Circus Road in Cheltenham. She died on 17th October 1994 at St Katharine’s House, Ormond Road, Wantage, Oxfordshire.
Peter Richard Bennett (1908-1912). He was buried in Thornbury Cemetery.
The Sheiling School bought the property in 1952 after the death of Richard Bennett.
The Sheiling School is part of the Camphill Community which was founded in Aberdeen in 1940 by a group of refugees led by Dr Karl Koenig an Austrian paediatrician.
The Sheiling School came into being in 1952 to add to and extend the pioneering and innovative provision for the care and education of children with learning disabilities already being developed at the Camphill School estate in Aberdeen, Scotland. Initially the organisation served the care and educational needs of children with cerebral palsy, who benefitted from the peaceful, nurturing location, the warmer climate (in comparison to Aberdeen) and the dedicated team of co-workers who were motivated to provide an alternative to institutional care.
Etta and Peter Bareson lived and worked there for 33 years. They had a farm and the children helped them grow their own vegetables and get fresh milk from their cows.
The Sheiling School built a series of distinctive buildings on the site to accommodate the children and staff as well as Thorn Hall which is the school house and cultural centre. Thorn Hall was designed by a Hungarian/ South African architect Gabor Tallo and opened in 1968
Click here to read about John Davies and the Churchill sisters who were tenants of this property
Click here to read about Hon. Robert Rodney and his wife Henrietta