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LAND AGENTS.
JOHN ROLLESTON, who died in 1681 after a long life, has a handsome marble tablet in the tower of Warsop Church. He was "well born and well bred. Well knowne and therefore well beloved." He acted as a Secretary, and what he valued above all was the honour of having been highly trusted, and the comfort of having honestly discharged the trust. He was in the service of the Duke of Newcastle, and preserved the Welbeck estate while the Duke was in banishment during the Commonwealth. He "lived to the age of 84 years, a long, but to him a glorious tyme of tryal." The Rollestons of Watnall Hall are of the same family.
ROBERT LOWE, Esq., of Oxton, in 1813 compiled and issued a report, or as he styled it, a "General View of the Agriculture of the County of Nottingham, with observations on the means of improvement drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture, and internal improvement;" and this work, he says he undertook out of his zeal for the promotion of agriculture; and thereupon he visited many parts, and wrote and obtained information from many quarters, for he regretted there was "no Agricultural Society appropriated to this county." He found, he said, "a great spirit of improvement had arisen in this county, not only amongst gentlemen and considerable farmers, but also amongst the inferior ranks, who begin to have their eyes opened by example;" and yet circumstances, and implements, and methods, manures, stock, customs, roads, and markets, are so different now from the time when inclosures and plantations were being made, and roads were left to nature, and hops were extensively grown between Ollerton and Tuxford, and canals were being opened, and the price of beef and mutton had risen to be "enormously high, being sixpence, and even sixpence halfpenny per pound;" but had in 1797-8 got down to four pence and four pence halfpenny, (p. 133). Butter had been from ten pence to a shilling and fourteen pence, but day labour had been raised from one shilling to sixteen and eighteen pence per day, and for the three harvest months to two shillings, and in harvest they expected likewise some beer! (p. 133).
Mr. Lowe collected considerable useful information in regard to inclosures, manufactures, population, etc.
Would he be the grandfather of the Right Hon. Robert Lowe? See Lowe monumental tomb on South side of Southwell Cathedral.
JOHN HASSALL, (d. March 15th, 1859), of Shelford Manor, was a squire, farmer and land agent to the Earl of Chesterfield, the owner of estates in Shelford, Bingham, Gedling, and many other parishes. He, in 1844 was captain of the Holme Pierrepont troop of South Nottinghamshire Yeomanry. Shelford was before the Reformation the seat of an Austin Priory, and in the Civil War the Manor house, which was held for the King, was stormed and burnt by Colonel Hutchinson, and was partly rebuilt. Traces of the fire still remain. Mr. Hassall was a kindly-hearted and considerate agent for a good landlord, quiet and helpful. Some of his labourers had a field and a cow, and he would say "turn your cow into my field until you have mown your hay." He was a remarkably early riser. In spring or summer you must see him before 5.30 a.m., or he would be off. He was much respected, and in 1859 an elegant octagonal Butter Cross was erected in Bingham Market Place by subscription, at a cost of about £700, as a memorial to his worth and character. The cross stands on or near the site of an ancient market cross, a market having been granted there in 1818 to be held on Thursdays, and Statute and other fairs were for centuries held there, but of late years they have languished. It may be that there was a desire to revive the usages of the past, as well as to perpetuate a good man's memory. Curiously, there was put on the new cross in old English characters and gilt lettering the motto "To be beloved is better than all bargains." The dear old man! That must have been one of his sayings, oft' repeated, quaint but expressive, a grand truth lifting the soul into a purer air with a wider view, for love is of God, and a loving home is a little heaven. The old cross was low and enclosed, but this is open for everybody, and his friends and neighbours would be reminded that good-will and the love it begets were more profitable than gains from merchandise, and this was responded to, for old people say that for a long period after his death on a certain day of the spring garlands of primroses decorated the eight pillars, brought by persons who knew him, "and these were redolent of his memory."
In Shelford church yard a recumbent ledger memorial tombstone with an incised floriated cross, covers the grave of John Hassall and of his wife who predeceased him 15 years, but the ages are not given. (Mr. G. H. Wright has kindly tendered aid for this paper).
THOMAS SMITH WOOLLEY, (born 1819), was a Land Agent and Valuer at Collingham, as was his father before him, but he so extended the business by his energy, skill, and integrity, that in process of time he could say that he had been paid to go into every county in England except Cornwall, for his was the day of special opportunities, being the era of Tithe Commutation, and the beginning of the railway-making period, so that "he soon found himself immersed in business of every description connected with the valuation, sale, purchase, and management of property, in Tithe matters and enclosures, in Drainage and Reclaimation schemes, and as a professional witness before Parliamentary and other Committees. He was for thirty years one of the Inspectors under the Land (Inclosure) Commissioners." This is a quotation from one of the papers of the Surveyors Institution, of which he was President in 1883 and 1884. Mr. John Wigram was his partner, and in 1877, Mr. Cecil Woolley (which see) joined the firm. The latter, in 1881 contemplated turning to the ministry and priesthood of the Church of England, of which he had for some years been a Lay Reader, and here is the view the father expressed. "I think that an influential layman, as you would soon become with God's blessing, can do quite as much, or more, for His Church as if he were a cleric, unless he were possessed of apostolic gifts." The father's view prevailed. (Memoir of Cecil Woolley, p. 41). He commanded for twenty years a Company of Rifle Volunteers, and was Chairman of the School Board.
Mrs. Woolley—née Maria Lamb—was a veritable "mother in Israel," for she bore her husband fourteen children and was a devoted mother, and "no happier relations can be imagined than those that existed "in the family." It was a household where religion was not so much talked about as acted upon." (page 3). She died in 1904.
TENANTS.
PAUL MELLORS, (1790-1861), was a small farmer at Hucknall, on the Duke of Portland's estate. He was known as "Happy Paul," the singing farmer. He was not an accomplished singer, except in his independence of instruments and metre; and notes were prolonged or fihortened by him to his heart's content. He sang hymns only, and interjections to his favourite old horse "Sharper," to "Go on!" were interspersed in the hymns at pleasure.
He loved the dramatic portions of the Bible, and would repeat to himself with fervour the account of Elijah's sacrifice, or the book of Esther with the hanging of Haman, and other Bible stories, which were to him the living word of God.
A man of active habits, tireless industry, great strength, he passed through and triumphed over great difficulties, for he had a large family. A strong free trader, for he lived among the manufacturing poor, to whom his sympathies went out when they could earn only half the necessary loaf.
He was for many years the treasurer of a large Sick Club, and the box, with three locks, containing the monthly contributions—for there were then no banking facilities available—was carried to and from the place of meeting to his bed side for safe custody.
Behind his armchair in the corner was suspended on a nail by a leathern loop, his constable's staff, painted, (except the handle) blue, and bearing a crown in gilt, kept as a symbol of the authority he held, but it was never used.
He was of broad sympathies, seeing always the likenesses rather than the differences of persons of various denominations, whose preachers often met at his table. His children were baptised by the Vicar, and he attended the parish church on Sunday afternoons, but the Methodists—who had brought new life into the village—claimed his service as a class leader at other seasons.
His fondness for giving a ride to children in going to or from his land, or to poor women in his market cart, and his kindness in lending a conveyance to the poor stockingers, were commemorated and long remembered in a local song. (K.A.P.).
LAND VALUERS.
JOSEPH WALKER, (d. 1917 in his eighty-eighth year), of the Park, Nottingham, founder of a well known firm of Auctioneers and Tenant Eights Valuers, was a pupil of Mr. William Inett of Ashfordby, near Melton Mowbray, one of the most noted Tenant Rights Valuers of his day, and President of the Midland Counties Valuers Association in 1871, in which year Mr. Walker was elected a member of the Association. He farmed largely at Burton Lazars, and had two farms at Plumtree up to about 1882, producing and supplying milk. His knowledge of cattle, and his willingness to oblige other persons, and to give advice and help, led to his taking out an Auctioneer's license. He had a sound judgment, and was fair and just in his dealings. He was a Churchwarden at St. James', Standard Hill.
WILLIAM H. BRADWELL, (1867-1922), Nottingham, was an auctioneer with a large business in the sale of agricultural produce, stock and estates. Born at Southwell, he was educated at the Nottingham High School, and later at Shrewsbury. He became President of the Auctioneer's and Estate Agents' Institute (1915). For thirty years he was Secretary of the Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society. For thirty-six years he was in the South Notts. Yeomanry, of which for some years he was quarter-master; in this position he rendered distinguished service to the regiment by effecting a great improvment in the quality of the meat purchased, and by causing it to be well, instead of badly, cooked. And this improvement was secured at less than the ordinary cost, for he understood his business, and gave it thorough personal attention. In this connection he invented and patented an improved portable cooking stove.
During the great war he rendered conspicuous service by voluntary auction sales for all kinds of charitable services. At these Sales he was frequently joined on the rostrum by the Lord Lieutenant—His Grace the Duke of Portland—the occasions being marked by the display of much good humour. He also acted as a member of Lord Rhondda's Central Advisory Committee for cattle, for which services he received the honour of being made an officer of the Order of the British Empire.