The
Trower Family of Redhill

1) The Trower family of Redhill had its origins in Sussex.  John Trower (1747-1817) is believed to have lived at Barkfold Manor in Kirdford near Wisborough Green in Sussex  He married Hannah Bourne (1753-1815) and they had one son James Trower (1777-1848) who was brought up at Barkfold. 

2) James married Mary Main (1778-1853) and was a Sussex farmer.  By 1841 he was farming Bowfold Farm near Billingshurst where he gave employment as an agricultural labourer to one Daniel Gumbrell who, according to his obituary published in 1912 went to work at Bowfold when he was only 8 years old. Daniel Gumbrell continued to work for the Trowers for the rest of his life, over 80 years, firstly with James’ son Richard and then with Richard’s sons Henry and Arthur at Wiggie House in Redhill.

3) James and Mary Trower had eight children: Elizabeth, James, Mary Ann, Ann, John, Richard, Thomas and Henry all of whom were born in Sussex.

4) Elizabeth Trower was born in 1802 and eventually married a Baptist minister, John Omer Squier and moved out of the area.

5) James Trower was born in 1804, married Elizabeth Elliott in 1844 and died in 1857.  They lived in Marylebone in London and had four children.

6) Mary Ann Trower was born in 1806 and married William Underwood in 1830.  They lived at Merstham in Surrey where their eight children were born.

7) Ann Trower was born in 1806 and married John Symonds in 1836.  John was a farmer in Reigate Foreign (became Redhill) where they had 8 children.  She died in 1858.

8) John Trower was born in 1810 and married Jane Ford in 1840. In 1841 they were living at Wiggey (sic) where John and his brother Richard were farmers.  They had six children, all bar one born in Reigate,  but sadly three of their daughters died in infancy.   Later he farmed near Guildford. He died in Reigate in 1887. Two of their daughters were Ellen Elizabeth (1852-1929) and Emily (1864-1912) who for 26 years ran a successful school in Woodlands Road, Redhill.  Their other surviving daughter Jane was born in 1844 and died in 1883 – she lived in Station Road, Redhill with her sisters as housekeeper.

9) Richard Trower ^{note 1b} was born in 1811 and married Ann Luck in 1846.  By 1841 he was already living with his brother John at Wiggy Farm where he lived for the rest of his life, dying there in 1880. Richard and Ann had 8 children all born at Wiggy: Mary Ann (1848-1913), Henry (1849-1924), James Main (1851-19270, Fanny Elizabeth (1852-1921), Arthur (1853-1937), Kate (1856-1938), Richard (1858-1937) and Edward (1860-1915).  Henry and Arthur lived at Wiggy all their lives and were in business together as successful corn merchants in Redhill.  It was Arthur who made Wiggy famous by creating and amazing garden and writing about it in his book “Our Homestead and its Old World Garden” published in 1910.  James Main also lived at Wiggy for a while as did Richard.  Richard married Hannah Tredgett and they had five children.  They later moved to Holmethorpe, another farm nearby, and later to Battlebridge Farm in Merstham.

10) Thomas Trower was born in 1815 and married Mary Ann Streater in 1844.  They had four children.  He farmed at Bowfold, the family farm near Billingshurst.  He died in 1862.

11) Henry Trower was born in 1817 and married Clara Golds in 1847.  He farmed in Sussex until he died in 1872.  They had eight children one of whom was Frank Harry Trower (1857-1925) who married Mary Elizabeth Woolnough (1863-1930).  Frank Harry and Mary Elizabeth were Steve Bacon's great grandparents.

.... This map shows the built up area of Redhill in 1861 with Red Hill railway station lower centre and the London to Brighton railway line running just east of north towards London. Gatton and the parish of Nutfield form northern and eastern boundaries. The name of Wiggie does not appear, the whole being in the Foreign of Reigate and the petty borough of Linkfield.
....The fields outlined in orange are those rented and farmed by Richard Trower. Most are to the east of the line but he also has other isolated ones to the west of it. The railway was built through the area in the late 1830s and opened in 1841 so it probably split his farm in two.
....The land was rented from Lord Monson, William Curruthers, Henry Hunt, Felix Ladbrooke, Mordaunt Momro, Mr Pope and Earl Somers.
....But a small puzzle rises here as in Richard Trower's son Arthur's book, 'Our Homestead' written in 1910, there is mention of a cup awarded in 1858 by the Merstham Agricultural Association to his father for the best kept cultivated farm in the district. Arthur goes on to say' 'At that time in addition to his own land he rented some fields from the then Lord Monson', but throughout the terrier associated with the map there is no note of ownership of agricultural land by Richard Trower at all.
...This is not to say that he did not own anything as the items marked in blue were owned by Richard Trower and were a house and garden in Ladbroke Road. The house is marked as unoccupied. Could it be that this is where he first lived before setting up the farm?

(The map used here is part of the Plan of the Parish of Reigate, Surrey 1860-61 by William Eve. Information comes from the terrier associated with the map)

Ann Trower.......

The buildings at Wiggy at the time of the 1871 census with the orchards and gardens. Presumably the building shown in pink close to the map centre was the main house. The other pink shaded building was probably a labourer's cottage referred to in Arthur Trower's book 'Our Homestead', and which was derelict at the time of writing in 1910.

(Photo courtesy Derek Flanagan)

This lovely old photo of London Road dates from around 1902 and shows us a view north, so this time Trower's shop can be seen on the left.

Redhill FC was formed in 1894. Henry Trower liked his sport and as a result Redhill FC played at Wiggie for a number of years.  One notable game on this ground was against the West London club of Queens Park Rangers in the 1895/6 season, which Redhill won 2-0 in the rain in front of a not unusual crowd of 200.  Players were Batten, half back (scored);  C.P.Murray, back; Rowlinson, another defender; Peskett in goal; Purkis, left half; W.P.Brown, right half; Power, outside right; Donaldson, outside left; Gilford, midfield, (scored); plus Stafford and Evans, forwards.
      The Wiggie ground was not ideal so on 23rd June, 1896, the Redhill Sports Ground and Athletics Co. Ltd was formed with Henry Trower chairman.  Its main asset was nine acres fronting London Road, with tenants’ and grazing rights either expired or bought up, although the company did not own the land outright.  Its object was to promote the ideals of football and other sporting activities.
     The nine acres comprised rough ground described as little more than a swamp.  Two streams through it had to be culverted, with trees cut and grubbed and the timber sold.  A hedge on the London Road boundary was replaced by a park pale oak fence.  The north boundary to land of Mrs Green was agreed, an entrance from Ladbroke Road was granted by Mr Trower, and a pavilion was to be erected.  Cost of all works came to £3,500 raised in shares of £1. The work was completed within a year, only the proposed pavilion containing a cricket score box, a pavilion room, two dressing rooms and a store had still to be built. While this work was in progress Redhill FC continued to play at Wiggie but with the possibility of transferring to the new ground.
     There was an official opening of the Sports Ground in 1897 as part of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations in the town, when the public was admitted to a sports meeting.  The public was also admitted to subsequent football matches played there but the ground remained officially private. 
      After WW1 there were moves made to create lasting memorial to the memory of the fallen. Among those was the creation of a memorial sports ground in the Borough of Reigate. It was to take a few years but in the early 1920s the nine acres fronting London Road, Redhill, were chosen and negotiations were in hand with the freeholder of the land, Lord Monson, and the leaseholder, Mr Henry Trower. The conveyance of the site from these two gentlemen was completed in 1923 with twenty years still to run on the lease and turned the ground from a private one into a public one, but with the provision that Redhill Football Club be allowed to continue to play there on Saturdays and Wednesdays and collect gate money. The money paid to Lord Monson was £1,200, money raised by the War Memorial Committee.
     The deeds were handed over and it became the Memorial Sports Ground, left in trust for the people of the town and for the senior football club.  Matches drew large Saturday afternoon crowds sometimes numbered in the thousands.  It was not uncommon for the entrance queue to stretch back to the centre of the town, and when the game ended the crowd would spill out onto the main street, sometimes stopping the traffic between the ground and the Market Hall.  Henry Trower did not live to see see that largest recorded attendance of 7,000 for the 1955 FA cup game against Hastings.
      Eventually Redhill FC had to leave the ground under controversial circumstances. Perhaps If Henry Trower had been around then Redhill FC would still be playing at the Memorial Sports Ground in the centre of the town.

Arthur Trower (Photo courtesy Redhill Bowling Club)

      In the 1990s Kathleen Bean related her memories of 1930s Redhill. She lived in Cecil Road, Redhill and left school aged 14 in 1929. Her mother wanted her to work in Jones but Kathleen saw an advertisement for a junior at Shepherds, the newsagents and toy shop across the other side of the High Street from Jones, applied for the job and was taken on.  Her starting pay was four shillings for a six-day week. She got a rise to 7/6d when she was sixteen. Each day started at 6 a.m. and worked until 7 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. She worked until 1 p.m. on Wednesday half-day, 8 p.m. on Friday, and to 9 p.m. on Saturday, making a standard working week of 74 hours.
     Other than sweeping the floors and cleaning the windows Kathleen’s jobs included looking after the paper and magazine department with three other employees. She had to get up six newspaper rounds per day, four day rounds and two evening rounds that were done by boys. If one of the boys did not turn up for his round Kathleen would do it.
     As well as filling in for absent paper round boys Kathleen also had one or two special deliveries to make. She took an evening paper to Mr. Pringle in Upper Bridge Road, where she had to knock because he did not like his paper folded and put through the letter box, and a newspaper to Joe Chandler at his High Street shop. Joe could not read and she would get an apple for reading the headlines to him. His wife read the news items to him later. Most relevant to this page was another special delivery she made, taking the Morning Post to Mr. Arthur Trower at Wiggie where she remembered that there would always be a cup of hot chocolate awaiting her.

    Arthur Trower died aged 82 in September 1937 only three weeks after his 79 year-old brother, Richard.

    In the 1899 Kelly's Street Directory Arthur Trower is shown at Battlebridge House, Battle Bridge, as well as at Wiggie.

The picture shows Mayor Lemon (standing in the long coat) present at the opening of the Redhill Bowling Club in Gloucester Road, Redhill, in 1912 The lady bowler is probably Lady Leconsfield who was present at the opening.
(Photo courtesy Redhill Bowling Club)

This photo of bowlers is an Illustration.from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', written by Arthur Trower in 1910, so pre-dates the Redhill Bowling Club days when it was situated at Gloucester Road, Redhill. From a local historian's point of view it would be wonderful to know who each of these gentlemen were. Is one Arthur Trower himself? The man second from right in the back row looks like Mr Sanders, the saddler, of Station Road Redhill.

Rear l-r: Alderman H.H.Pierce (president of R.B.C.) - W.M.Grice (skip) W.R. - R.Elmsley (skip) R.B.C. - A.Donaldson W.R. - G.Linter W.R. - J.H.Marsh W.R. - W.Wells R.B.C. - E.J.Funnell R.B.C.
Middlel-r: A.A.Rose (skip) W.R. - J.H.Matthews R.B.C. - H.Potter W.R. - A.Trower W.R. - G.F.MacKriell (skip) R.B.C. - G.J.Wallis R.B.C. - E.Dawson R.B.C.
Seated in front l-r: W.J.Chard W.R. - C.Welsh R.B.C..

(Photo courtesy Redhill Bowling Club)

This 1930 map of the new Redhill Bowls Club at Wiggie was not quite as finally laid out. The nine hole putting greens were provided but later became a less than full sized green for the use of lady members but eventually fell into disuse. When the club lost the use of car parking facilities on the old St Anne's site it found a new use as a car park. (Map courtesy Redhill Bowling Club)

Right - One of the carts with a nest between the bottom two spokes of the wheel. The insert top right corner shows a close-up of the nest with five eggs in it.

Richard aged 25 is shown in the 1881 census as being at Wiggie. In the 1888 Street directory he is listed as living at 1, Glen Rook, Holmethorpe (at this time Holmethorpe was generally the turning off Frenches Road under the railway arch before it became known as Trower's Way). The brick works there is also listed with the name Trower R. against it.

The later history of Holmethorpe does not form a part of the Trower history but a few images of the site are included below.

 

The photo (right) shows a tree being planted close to the eastern boundary of the Wiggie estate. St Anne's can be seen in the background. (Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

    Three Redhill men were on the board of governors at Streatham. They were Robert Field of Oxford Road, Redhill, who would be Mayor of the Borough of Reigate 1881-4, Walter B. Waterlow of High Trees, on the borders of Redhill and Reigate, who had been Mayor 1870-72, and Francis Wright Costar, of Woodlands, off London Road, Redhill. They obtained land north of Red Hill Junction railway station from Mr Webb of Redstone Manor and Messrs Trower at a cost of £3,500, and a tender was accepted in the sum of £335,743 for a school for about 400 children to be built complete with chapel on that land.. Mr Field performed a ceremonial turning of the first sod on the site in 1881. The Prince and Princess of Wales laid the foundation stone of the chapel in July 1884.

The 1896 map above shows the proximity of St Anne's to Wiggie. It also shows that the alterations to the house had been made by this time.

A photo of the Redhill Memorial Sports Ground showing how St Anne's, built on ground once a part of Wiggie Farm, was such a feature of the town.

The Redhill Club was a balconied building that had been a Conservative club that stood at the end of a short track from the bottom of Redstone Hill. It became an annex to the Redhill Technical College and School that had been built next to it. Millers Yard was possibly their warehouse at Earlswood. Why the Redhill shop was not mentioned is unknown, perhaps it had been held on leasehold only, or maybe sold earlier.

............... Wiggie House (photo courtesy Derek Flanagan)

..... The contents of the house were sold room by room and in the catalogue were listed as such, so we can get a little information on the style and layout of the house.

Upper floor(s)
Small bedroom
..... Everything appears to have been sold, even the linoleum from the floor. There was a 3ft bedstead, a feather bed, a marble top washstand, an electric fire, a four-tier rosewood whatnot, a barometer, a picnic basket, two leather hat boxes and an occasional chair. The whole lot realised £1.15s.
Small bedroom (near billiard room)
..... Similar items realised another £3.19s.
Bedroom No.3
..... A much larger room as it had a 14ft square carpet and five rugs on the floor. and much more furniture that fetched over £20.
Bedroom No.4 and Bedroom No.5
.... These were at left front and right front respectively. Contents of both realised over £10 each
Billiard Room
.... A full size billiard table and associated furniture and effects sold for over £25. Included were other sporting items - bowls, croquet mallets and balls - and a stuffed puma (was this the 'enormous stuffed tiger' referred to in Stella Barnes letter above?)
Landing and stairs
...The usual carpets and linoleum were sold along with several pieces of furniture and paintings. Some of the paintings are of particular interest. One was of Wiggie and signed G.Willis-Price 1891. Two more were water colour drawings by E.Bass Smith in gilt frames. (These must be the ones in the possession of Stella Barnes in 1984 -see letter above). There were also two oil paintings referred to as 'garden' and 'Lodge' - could they also have been of Wiggie? It would be nice to be able to see all of these. There were a number of other various paintings, none seeming to be local.

Ground Floor
Hall
.... This must have been a reasonable size as it contained a 4ft hall stand, a 3ft 6in. oak table, two oak chairs, another oak table and a grandfather clock. Two stuffed pheasants, a stuffed grouse and a stuffed eagle were in cases or stood on one of the tables and two deer's heads with antlers were on one wall.
Drawing Room
.... 4ft table, armchair and couch, settee, occasional chairs, piano, vases, jardinieres, three fire screens, clock and other items.
Dining Room
.... Three curtain poles made this another large room that contained a 4ft x 8ft table, chairs, sideboard, armchair, couch, writing desk, other tables, vases and another grandfather clock. There were also more paintings including another of Wiggie House by W.Caffin1893.
Museum
This room contained a great deal of furniture. An antique drop leaf mahogany table plus five other tables, a bureau, a coffer chest, a Queen Anne chest with two drawers, five chairs, a roll top desk, a wireless, another grandfather clock, three tea cadies and three writing cases were the main items. Other items included a brass bell, a blunderbuss, letter scales and weights and a fireproof safe. Perhaps the room could also have been called a library as there were 20 volumes of Shakespeare's works dated 1788, a @Gardener's Dictionary dated 1768, 55 volumes of 'Cooke's Novels', 6 bound volumes of the Spectator, 35 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and 'The Book of the Martyrs'. Additionally there were several lots of sundry other books.
... Finally there were 'stuffed birds and nest in glass case' and two more paintings of Wiggie, tthis time by S.Emma Cheyney.
Kitchen
... A 4ft drop leaf table, a 3ft deal table, a painted chest, coal box, windsor arm chair and three small chairs were among items that make the kitchen look fairly large. There was also the usual cook ware as well as 65 pieces of brown and white dinner ware. A parrot cage -no mention of an inhabitant - was among the items.
Scullery
... A mangle and a hand-wringer, a 3ft 6in table, a galvanised bath and wicker basket, an old iron grate, a deck quoits board and quoits.
Misc Items
... The linen was sold separately as was the glass, silver and plate items. Among the latter were nine presentation cups, although it was not stated whether they were engraved. A cigarette box, sugar tongs, fifty different spoons, five salts, sugar basin and sifters, all in silver, were listed. Plated items included an 18 carat watch described as a Benson repeater, plus a quantity of fish, fruit and table knives and forks.
Outside
... A large collection of items befitting a large garden were for sale. Four motor mowers, two rollers, several garden seats, numerous non-garden tools, ladders, work benches, a water barrow, tip cart, garden tools and frames. One odd item was an aeroplane propellor. Slightly surprisingly there were a large number of plants for sale, including 5 dozen Cinerarias, a dozen Aram Lilies, a dozen azaleas, 10 dozen polyanthus, 10 dozen forget-me-nots, a quantity of geranium cuttings and a quantity of dahlia tubers. This suggests that with two elderly gentlemen living in the large house life was going on as normal, at least as far as the garden was concerned, right up to the end.

Several paintings of Wiggie are mentioned in the sale. Perhaps this illustration from the book 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910, is one of them. It is entitled 'An old familiar scene' and must have been painted when the farm was still operational in the late 1800s. (Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

.. It was not just the house contents that were for sale in 1938, the whole 56 acre Wiggie estate went on the market. Reigate Corporation had resolved to buy it for £20,000 so a planned auction was cancelled. At the last minute the Corporation pulled out but the trustees of the late owner, Arthur Trower, received an alternative private offer for the estate plus premises in the town.
 .. Later in the year a proposal for a housing estate there was abandoned.  Whose the proposal was is uncertain but around the same time land was acquired at Colesmead for a housing estate.
.. In 1957 FoxboroYoxall bought 52 acres at Wiggie and built a 126,000 sq. ft. factory upon it for the production of industrial instruments. The new site was formally opened by the Mayor of Reigate & Redhill in 1958. The factory and office floor area was almost doubled in 1963. A new Research and Development and Flowmeter Calibration facility were added and, in 1967, the old Wiggie Manor, on the perimeter of the Foxboro-Yoxall site and with links back to the 16th century, was acquired and converted for use by the Training Centre. In 1969 work began on a new office wing and, when opened in 1970, the Training Centre moved to occupy half of its ground floor. The total building floor area ended up at 250,000 sq. ft. by 1971 with around 1,500 people employed.
. . The question that comes to mind is what was the estate and house used for from 1938 to 1957? Information is that the house was demolished in 1977.

* His obituary below records the number as 120, still a remarkable number.

Herbert Bignall carrying the torch through Redhill

Photo right
Mrs Trower ready to go for a ride. Presumably the photo was taken outside Wiggie house. Whether or not that is Arthur Trower at the reigns is unknown but from the text we might assume that it is.
(Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

....Another very pertinent fact that comes to light is that on the death of both his parents the farm had to be sold. Why this was we are not told but it is revealed that in addition to land of his own Arthur's father rented land from Lord Monson. By this time all the children had left the family home. Arthur and his elder brother Henry had prospered in their business and were able to buy the house and 'some fifty acres of land'. We know from the 1861 census that there were originally 200 acres but do not know the division of owned and rented land.
...Ten years before the brothers acquired the property it been in great need of repair at their father's death and in order to make it more comfortable for their widowed mother it was decided to make alterations to the front. After their mother's death
and once in their hands Arthur and Henry went about further altering, developing and improving the property. They removed the more unsightly farm buildings but left undisturbed old walls and one old building that had been a farm labourer's cottage. They also turned the manure yard into a flower garden. Two photos of the house are provided in the book in a way that would seem to be 'before and after' photos. The difference between the two is so great, however, as to make it difficult to see exactly what was done.

(Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

........................................................... 'Old Tom', one of the farm labourers in question
...................................................... (Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

...It is difficult for us to fully understand how things were. If the servant accepted the situation unquestioningly then so did the master, probably with considerable satisfaction. The labourers in some cases would work a year, sometimes several, without any holidays. Daniel Gumbrell, as mentioned above, took but half a day off to get married. The family wages book reveals that in 1860 he was paid 12.6d per week and in 1910 was paid exactly the same; apparently being neither offered nor asking for more. One Michael Weller was a natural leader and regarded as such by master and other labourers and although he took on greater responsibilities as a result did so without extra pay. The tone of the chapter is that the master and his family regarded their servants and labourers with affection and were regarded in the same way by them. If this is how it really was we cannot know.

Arthur and a robin that would feed from his hand.
(Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910)

....Generally Arthur would say something to the effect that as he was one of the proprietors he could not accept, upon which people would apologise profusely for their error, but he confesses that on one instance he did accept a tip. This was when a rather pompous lady he had never seen before asked him lots of questions about the garden, which he tried his best to answer, and then proceeded to tell him lots of stories about her own garden. Following this she gave him a whole text book of instructions on how best to tend his garden plus a threepenny tip. To hide his ire he touched his cap and accepted with meekness and humility and further calmed himself by spending the money on cigarettes and enjoying a smoke.
.....That the garden should be so open to passers by and unnamed visitors does seem rather casual - no worries about any visitors of the unwelcome kind it seems. In fact Arthur mentions that on Sunday evenings he would sometimes mingle with the crowd (that's the word he uses) and remain unrecognised. He remarks how nice it is to go indoors when they are gone to have a cup of tea in the knowledge that he has given so much pleasure to so many.

.............................................Arthur and an unnamed person deep in conversation.
....................................... (Illus. from 'Our Homestead and its Old World Garden', Arthur Trower 1910),

.....There were a few visitors who fell into two sightly different categories, both minorities. There were those who rather than giving a gratuity were looking to extract a subscription for a charity. Recognising these became an art as they would usually start off with praise either for the garden or the gardener before coming to the point. When donations were given they were usually small - 'more sympathetic than metallic' Arthur writes.
......The second group were those to whom the concept of gardening for pleasure was an alien one. Athur is pleased to say in the book that these were a rapidly diminishing group.
......One visitor, an amateur achaeologist, afterwards wrote that the garden was undoubtedly made on ancient ground as he had found a Norman arch and a ruin that could have been a chapel. Whether Arthur ever corrected him in person is not revealed but he corrects him in the book by explaining that what he had seen where old Victorian walls that he himself had got a jobbing bricklayer to make doorways and windows infor convenience and had the roofless tops rounded to appear better on the eye.
.... Having already mentioned that children from St Anne's would visit the garden, crocodiling their way from their large Victorian institution to do so, it should also be mentioned that 1,500 children from London came annually.

Right - There is one visitor who we can identify, however. In the book he is referred to as 'My friend the Doctor'. He is The Rev. Dr Perry, St Anne's Boys' School Head 1896-1919. More can be read about him in the 'St Anne's' web page, also on this website.

This is a page on Alan Moore's website www.redhill-reigate-history.co.uk

Contact Alan