Rushden Research Group: Rushden Hall

Rushden Hall - Staff Notes


The Church & the Park Gates Sketches by Clive Wood

Sometimes snippets of information are found in other documents or obituaries giving us a brief note of members of staff at the Hall. We will add these as and when they come to our notice.

We will be pleased to receive others.

Extract from "The Baker Brothers":
Mr. Baker also spoke of his grandfather, Benjamin Baker, who, he said, used to be shepherd at the Hall at the time the Fletchers were living there. Benjamin used to kill one sheep a week for the people at the Hall.

Rushden Echo, 29th June 1900, transcribed by Kay Collins

An Unpleasant Accident befell Mr F Roads, steward to Mr H Sartoris, in the Rushden Hall grounds on Saturday. While giving directions as to the removal of some fallen timber in the avenue he struck at a branch with an axe to show where it was to be sawn through, but the blade of the axe glanced off and inflicted an ugly wound on Mr Roads’s leg. Fortunately the wound did not extend to the bone.

Rushden Echo, 13th July 1900, transcribed by Kay Collins

A Recent Accident—A few weeks ago we recorded an accident to Mr Roads, steward of the Sartoris estate. During the great storm several trees fell down in Mrs Sartoris’s grounds, and Mr Roads and others were sawing the wood so as to remove it out of the carriage way, when the saw slipped and went into Mr Roads’s leg, grazing the shin bone. Mortification, we regret to say, has now set in, and the patient is lying in a serious condition, though happily a slight improvement is now noticeable.

Extract from Memories of Cliff Iliffe
When my Dad, Joe Iliffe, first came to Rushden he was employed at the Rushden Hall eventually working up to be the Butler .........

Extract from his Obituary 1913
Rushden has lost a much respected and honoured old townsman in the person of Mr. James Bailey, late of High-street South. The deceased, who was 67 years of age, had lived in Rushden practically all his life and had been a gardener at Rushden Hall for about 46 years.

Extracted from the Obituary of Mrs Sartoris 1913
The bricked grave was lined with moss, and at each end was a cross composed of chrysanthemums and asparagus sprengeri. Upon the sides were wreaths of chrysanthemums, and the bottom was covered with ivy, this work having been carried out by Mr. H. Pettit, gardener at the Hall.

The Rushden Echo and Argus, 4th June 1954
These usually quiet grounds, extending to about thirty acres, will be well worth a visit at Whitsuntide. Bands play there on Sunday afternoons and evenings, and seats are plentiful.
New foliage on the fir trees, blossom and gaiety of flowerbeds have brought the scene at Rushden Hall to its full beauty. Greenhouses at Rushden Hall hold pleasant things in store for the summer – among them some hanging floral baskets soon to be seen about the town. Mr Harry Pettit, veteran gardener, who served the Sartoris family before the town acquired the grounds, is seen preparing one of the baskets.

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