THESE farmers had one thing in common – they were all tenants of Magdalen College, Oxford.
They posed for the cameraman at the college in 1932.
We know the names of only four of them.
In the front row, fourth from the left, is Albert Collett, who farmed at Alvescot, and eighth from the left, Walter George Honour, of College Farm, Denchworth.
The man fifth from the left in the second row is Douglas Eadie, of Church Farm, West Hanney.
In the third row, sixth from the left, is John William Honour, of College Farm House, Denchworth. Walter George Honour and John William Honour were father and son.
The picture belongs to Tony Honour, John’s son, who ran Home Farm, Denchworth, from the early 1960s to 1975.
Intriguingly, when his daughter, Karen Bedwell, took the picture out of its frame to send it to Memory Lane, they found another picture behind it. Mrs Bedwell, of Farmstead Close, Grove, tells me: “It is a picture drawn by M Haynes of Ash Church, dated 1832.
“My father does not recall where it is and cannot ever remember seeing it before. Do your readers have any idea where it might be?
“Haines is an old Denchworth family name, but I’m not sure about Haynes, although it’s a local name now.”
There are two places called Ash in Kent, one in Somerset and one in Surrey. The letters ‘EK‘ in the bottom left corner suggest it might be the one in East Kent.
Can anyone name more of the farmers or confirm the location of the church and cottage?
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