Arthur Fred Brown

Census Address: The Maltings, Burghley Park
Place of Birth:
Date of Birth: 1900
Enlistment Address: -
Regiment: -
Service Numbers: -
Place of Death: Rutland
Date Died: June 1984
The Maltings (for Arthur Brown)

Arthur Fred Brown

Arthur Brown 1917 in hunting dress

Arthur Brown 1917 in hunting dress

Arthur Fred Brown was born in 1900 and lived with his parents Fred (born South Luffenham) and Maria (born Walpole St Peter) and three sisters in The Maltings in Burghley Park where the four children were all born.
His father worked on the estate as a shepherd and later, a butcher.Arthur was still at school in 1911 and in 1916 he and his family were still living and working on the Burghley estate.
No war record exists for Arthur. In the winter of 1933 he married Beatrice A. Robinson in Stamford and his death is recorded as somewhere in Rutland in June 1984.

Arthur Brown 1921

Arthur Brown 1921

Arthur Brown and Betty Wedding

Arthur Brown and Betty’s Wedding

Arthur Brown 1947

Arthur Brown 1947

Amendments and Addenda

Arthur was born and grew up at "The Maltings". He had 4 (not 3) sisters - see below. His father, Fred, started off as a shepherd, but became the butcher for the Burghley Estate. His mother, Maria, was a cook before she married, and later ran the chicken farm at the Maltings (for the estate).
Arthur married Beatrice (Betty) Alice Robinson, who had been in service at Burghley House.  They had no children. He was a gardener for most of his life. In 1939 he was gardener for Waltham House living at Waltham Lodge Bungalow.  At one point he worked for the author Beverly Nicholls, but spent most of his life at Burley-on-the-Hill, near Oakham.  He was also a "terrier man" for one of the local hunts. (Betty was terrified of horses.  One day he was out with the hunt, and was dumped in a stream.  He was sent home to change, but she would not hold the horse for him.  She brought him his clothes, and he changed in the back garden, while holding on to the horse.)
When we visited in 1959 Arthur and Betty had no electricity and no running water.  There was a flushing toilet at the end of the garden and a hand pump in the kitchen sink. But that was it. (This was in a block of 4 houses belonging to Burley-on-the-Hill.) 
When we visited in 1964 they had electricity and running water in the house, and electric fires in the fireplaces.  Arthur had a Seth Thomas wall clock that had been handed down through the family that my mother admired.  She dropped a hint that she would be happy if they left it to her in their will.  They said, "Don't wait until we die! Take it now. We are so happy to have an electric clock that we do not have to wind."

Arthur’s sisters
Wilda born 1891 was cook at several "stately homes" (including Hever Castle) until she married Alfred Pilcher in 1923. (In 1911 she was in service in London) They had 2 daughters one of whom emigrated to Canada in 1956, then to the US in 1959, returning to visit the family about every 5 years.
Gladys never married (someone she loved was lost in WWI, and she was not interested in anyone else).  She lived with her parents, helping with the chickens, and freelance dressmaking.  After her parents died (in the early 40s), she became a lady's maid to Lady Granard (an American heiress who married an Irish peer).
Alfrida (Freda) was in service until she married Alfred Page.  They moved to Lewisham.  They had 2 sons.
Alice (born 1903) married William Cooper, lived locally and had 3 children, Francis, Brian and Dorothy.