Oaklands Park, nr Soudley/Newnham: Gardeners and other staff (General)

by stephaniejr , Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK, Saturday, October 21, 2017, 12:48 (2583 days ago) @ Jefff

Hi Jeff

In answer to your question, yes, I have seen all the related threads on the forum, and have been in contact with Judith in particular.

I have researched the owners of Oaklands extensively using Google, British History Online, Ancestry (censuses, Land Tax Records, electoral rolls); 1939 Register and newspapers (Find My Past); deeds and a biography of Sir James Jelf (written by his great-grandson) deposited at Gloucestershire Archives. Research at Gloucestershire Archives is ongoing.

I have researched the gardeners listed in my original post quite extensively using censuses, electoral rolls and newspapers, as above.

I think what I was hoping for from this post is names of gardeners not on the list (as Mike has provided), and (a shot in the dark, I know) information from any descendants of anyone who worked on the estate - anything in addition to a rather dry list of dates that will give the story a bit of 'colour'.

For example, I have discovered that Sir Evan Gwynne-Evans (owner 1927-1959) represented Great Britain at Wimbledon from 1904 to 1914, and that his younger son was a professional singer (stage name Francis Loring) - I found his obituary online. I have found that the The Tatler (via Find My Past) has a few photos of the Gwynne-Evans family.

I believe the Dean Heritage Museum in Soudley holds some photos of Oaklands and am planning to go there at some point.

So, I don't have a question as such - just a hope that the subject of Oaklands will trigger some memories of family stories/photos.

Fingers crossed ...

Stephanie