Threads in a
Tapestry
Text of part 1 of 'Threads in a Tapestry' compiled by Margaret Major pub. 1996
Isbn 0473-04231-2   November 1996

Chapter 1
The Downer Family of Marshalls Farm, Kirdford, Sussex

My  paternal grandmother, Jane, the wife of Henry Marshall JOYES, was born a DOWNER and one
cannot think of her family without reference to the West Sussex village of Kirdford.  It was here, at
‘Marshalls’, a tenant farm of the Petworth Estate, that she was born and spent her youth, as had
several generations of her forebears.

Kirdford is a Weald settlement of ancient origin (Kinredeford in 1229, Kenredeford in 1241, meaning
Cynethryh’s or Cynered’s Ford)  With its deposits of sand and dense forestation, it once was an
important site of glass and iron manufacture, though its present picturesque appearance conceals all
traces of an industrial past. In the 17th century, following London’s devastation by plague, Kirdford’s
community was also affected by the terrible disease from 1636 to 1643 and there is said to have been
a plague pit dug behind the Kirdford church, to accommodate a great number of bodies that were sent
from Horsham.
The village has a central area bordered by cottages, a pub, called the Half Moon and the parish
church.  A row of horse chestnut trees ends at the churchyard, beyond which the grassy land slopes
away.  At the other end of the square, roads leading into the village form a junction, where a sign
showing Kirdford’s history has been erected with the following information.        

STORY OF KIRDFORD  (Cynered’s Ford)

Culture                Date                Occupations                        Evidence
Bronze Age                BC 1700-500        Nomadic hunting                Flint instruments cores & flakes
Iron Age                BC 500-AD50        Hunting iron smelting        Pipers copse earthwork
Roman-British        AD50-400        Hunting                        Pottery
Saxon                800-1050        Forest swine herds        Saxon Charter 898
                                                              Pre Norman work in Church
Medieval                1050-1300        Forelearing for farms        Subsity rolls citing farms
                                                              Church nave &chancel
                      1300-1600        Farming: French glass        Records; glass furnace sites
Modern                1550-1650        Farming: iron industry        Furnace & forge millponds
                      1600-1700        Farming: local prosperity        Most existing farmhouses
                      1700-1880        Corn growing                Tithe map 1842        1937
                                                              Arable       43%        10%
                                                              Woodland  30%        30%
                                                              Meadow     15%        50%
                                                              Common     10%        10%
                      1880-1900        Decline in corn                Price fall&increased imports                 
                      1900                Dairy farming begins
                      1914-1918        Great War 24 Kirdford        Names recorded in Church
                                      men killed
                      1937                Fruit& dairy farming        
                                              


A short distance away, set into the front garden wall of a former vicarage, is a plaque, put there by the
zealous incumbent of a former time, during a drive for temperance in the early 19th century.  Whether
the dire warnings that he gave had any affect on the ale drinking Kirdford farm workers of the time is
doubtful.  Nowadays it is hard to believe that a charming cottage, with its cultivated garden next to the
church, was once the Kirdford workhouse.




The parish church of St John the Baptist (formerly St Mary) is where so many of the Downer family
were baptised, married and buried.  One of its six church bells is inscribed ‘ Thomas Mears founder,
London 1840. Rev J F Cole Vicar, John Downer, John Eede, Churchwardens.’
The Downer name appears numerous times on a plan of the graveyard, displayed inside the church.
The list was made when the graveyard was surveyed by S.A. Sanders, the son of a churchwarden, in
1978; but there may be many earlier family members buried in unmarked plots. The branch of the
Downers we are mainly concerned with in this book is the one connected with Marshalls Farm.

Mr G. Hugh Kenyon, a fruit farmer who settled in Kirdford prior to 1930, had an abiding interest in and
curiosity about Kirdfords’s history.  We are fortunate that he spent so much of his time in researching
Kirdford’s parish records, Petworth House Archives and material held at the County Record Office.  He
was especially interested in the history of glass making in Kirdford and neighbouring  Wisborough
Green and as it happens, land adjoining Marshalls was connected with this industry.

After consulting manorial records, he came to the reasonable conclusion that the name of the property
known as Marshalls had its origin in the name of Will le Mareschal on the assize roll of 1271.  A Thom
le Mareschal is recorded in 1296.  As time went on the spelling of the family name changed with
variations to Marshall.
In 1405, the Pallingham Rent Roll, lists:   Ric.Marshall     p.twelfpenylond
12d,                                                                                        Ricu. Marshall  p.1 cott  2/- and ter. gryg. 6d.
By late 16th Century, there was a glass furnace operating on a site not far from the present  Marshalls
homestead, but on the opposite side of the road.  Early in the 17th century, this piece of land  went by
the name of Glasshouse Field.  Marshalls, along with many Kirdford properties came into the
possession of the Strudwick family, who gained great wealth in this period by the manufacture of iron
and glass.  William Strudwick made a gift of Marshalls and three other properties, to his son Henry, at
the time of his marriage to Mary Yaldon in 1662.

















      
      Map of part of the Kirdford parish, which the position of Marshalls and some other farms occupied
by the Downer and                         Tobitt family members.




With passing of time, there was a gradual change in old boundaries of the surrounding country, as
wealthy newcomers purchased parcels of land for investment or to build imposing country houses for
their families, while leasing surplus land to farmers.  The size and shape of farms
changed from time to time as pieces were sold off or additions made.  The old common land, formerly
available to peasant farmers for cropping and grazing, became enclosed by hedgerows and tilled by
only the few who could afford to purchase or lease farms, for the production of wheat, to meet
demands of a growing urban population. Windmills and water mills sprang up like mushrooms on the
rural Sussex landscape and those men who could not buy farms became the landless agricultural
labourers, dependent on wages, if they were lucky enough to find work.

Some of the old field names making up Marshalls were: Rainbow Field, Juniper Field, The Chronicles,
Oxstall Field, Watering Field, Stoney Field and Denshire Field, (Denshiring was a way of improving
land by burning off the turf and spreading the ash)

In 1663 the two farms of Frithfold and Marshalls, 162 acres, were in the tenure of one Richard Brockett,
but it can be noted that by 1877 the land of Marshalls amounted to 359 acres (110 arable), with John
Downer (4th John Downer on our family tree) as tenant.  It was in this year that the property was sold to
Lord Leconfield, by Lord Lovatt & others, for the sum of £9600.  Just when the present Marshalls Farm
house itself was built and by whom, is not known; but it can be said be well into its third century.  A
large portion of the building was actually demolished some time after the 2nd world war, possibly at
the time when the huge oak growing in the front garden was removed.  

The exact date of the first Downer occupation of Marshalls is not known either.  The Land tax
assessment for 1780 lists Thomas Downer leasing ‘Marchills and others’ besides Highfold and
Churchland, from the then owner, the Earl of Newburg.  Thomas Downer was also the owner of a
property known as Glasshouse for which he was taxed 6/-.  This record would have referred to the
second Thomas on the Downer family tree, as  although Thomas senior was still alive at this time, he
had handed over all responsibility of Marshalls to his eldest son several years earlier.

Situated in a part of Sussex known as the Weald, a forested strip running between the North and
South Downs, with heavy, tenacious clay and part sand, the land was not easy to cultivate, nor did it
provide good grazing.  Someone once wrote of the area, “Nothing grows well in the Weald but the
oaks.”
An early criticism of Sussex farms came from the pen of a William Marshall in 1798 in The Rural
Economy of the Southern Counties.  After travelling through the Sussex Weald he claimed that it was
“an ill managed district” with few cattle and noted, with some contempt, that nobody appeared to have
the skills of cheese making.  Much the same opinion was held by James Caird half a century later,
after his brief inspection.  He had been commissioned to write a series of articles for the Times on the
state of English Agriculture.

The husbandry of the Weald district is very similar to that of Surrey, the farms being small, the land ill-
drained, half cultivated, and inadequately stocked; while the face of the country is too much occupied
by wood, and cut up by overgrown hedgerows.  The farmers as a class are unskilful and prejudiced in
their methods of cultivation, and usually hold their farms by yearly tenure.

Possibly an exception, Marshalls farm must have given a reasonably comfortable living, because
unlike many families in the district, the Downer family was one of the few who remained generation
after generation, as respected inhabitants of Kirdford, on the same property, until the slump of 1930s,
when Arthur Downer was forced to give up farming for financial reasons.
The first name on a large chart belonging to present day family members is that of ‘John Downer of
Marshalls, Kirdford’, born 1654, died 1733.  Where these dates were found is not recorded, nor the
time of assembling the chart, nor by whom.
So far, the baptism of a John Downer matching this birth date has not been found by the writer in the
Kirdford parish register, nor that of neighbouring Wisborough Green, although there were certainly
households of Downers in the district and ‘John Downer’ was a name shared by others.   As this was
the period of the Commonwealth (1649-1660) there may have been some reason for his baptism not
being recorded at the Kirdford Church, if in fact he was born in the parish.  Although we know nothing
of his early life, our John must have come from a farming background and one sufficiently affluent for
him to acquire the long term lease on Marshalls, which became one of the most desirable farms of
Kirdford.

On the family tree John is said to have married Margaret (surname unknown, born 1669 and died in
1734) These dates may have come from a document no longer in the family’s possession, or been on
a monumental stone, from which all inscription has long since worn away. It is worth noting that there
was a marriage recorded at Fittleworth in 1699 of a John Downer to a Margarett Wakeford and another,
at Kirdford in 1712, a John Downer to a Margt (no surname given)  Whether either was the  marriage of
our John cannot be established at present.  Baptisms for three children of John Downer on the family
tree are also in the church register: Thomas in 1708, Sarah 02 May 1710 and John 26 Mar 1712 - died
1717.

One of John Downer’s duties in serving his parish was to act as assessor of the goods and chattles
of villagers for the registrar.  Two inventories that were signed by him survive and serve to describe the
furnishings of Kirdford homes of the early 18th century.
The first is that of John Duke. This document, in a stylish hand and with a sprinkling of Latin appears
to have been written up by a hired clerk.

Imprimis: his purse and wearing apparel.  A little House and garden.  Two brand irons and one
shovel, one pair of tongs.  Two spitts, one dripping pan, one fire.  One table and forme and one
cupboard.  Eleven small pewter dishes, two porringers.  Two iron pots, one kittle, one brass kittle.    
Four barrels, three tubs, two kivers. (knives)  Three bedds and all belonging to them.  Four pair of
sheets, two table cloths and six napkins.  Twelve trenchers, six dishes and six spoons.  Five chairs
and two stools.  One warming pan and two brass skillets.  Two stone figgs.  
Suma Tot. eevij=eje=00                                John Downer Appraisor                12 Jan 1711

The next inventory has some interesting spelling, which reflects the way words were spoken.  It is the
goods and chattels of one Richard Overington by Robart M. Dorton and John Downer.

In the Kitchen:  A pear andirons, fiorpan & tongs  2 pot hangers  3 brass ketels  a iron dripping pan
and other         lumber
In the Hall:  one cupboard  a table & forme  2 Iorne Hooks  6 pewter dishes with other lumber.
In the Buttery:  Six drinke bottels  one tub  one kiver and a stand.
In the Milkhouse: Six treays  a churn  a chese press  hoops and ballons and other lumber.
In the Outer Chamber;  A flock bed and bedstedell  a pear of sheets  2 old chestes  sum old iorn  with
other
lumber.
In the Midell Chamber: A feather bed and bedstedell and all there unto belonging one chear  one other
lumber
In the Inner Chamber;  Two chestes  one trunck  and all lumber belonging.
Without:  One colt  one calfe  one cowe  one horse  6 hoggs.
In the Barn:  2 prongs  one fagge and all the lumber
             The totall is                                 £17 03 06
      Morning cloth and money in purse                     10 00
                                                        17 13 06                                 20 May 1713










When  John Downer died the farm was taken over by his son Thomas.



















An interior view of St John The Baptist showing north arcade and Sussex marble font, where many
Downer children were christened.  The photograph is from the Church
Guide                                                        





Chapter 2
The Second and Third Generation of the Downer Family at Marshalls Farm

THOMAS  DOWNER  and  ELIZABETH  HER(R)INGTON
THOMAS DOWNER junior and ELIZABETH COOPER

The Herrington family were farmers of the property Belchambers, Kirdford, for a long period.
Shortly before his father’s death Thomas Downer married Elizabeth Herrington at Kirdford,
20 Dec 1733 and took over Marshalls from his parents.  The young couple had two daughters,
Elizabeth who had been baptised 26 Oct 1733 and Mary  28 Sep 1736 and a son Thomas 05 Dec
1743.   Many years later, Thomas and Elizabeth, in turn, handed all responsibility for the farm on to
their only son Thomas but continued to live with him and his wife as an extended family household.  
Elizabeth, the mother, was buried in the Kirdford graveyard 09 Oct 1783 and Thomas senior died in
1792.

Their daughter  Mary had married John Box all  in Fittleworth on 17 Jan 1754 and Elizabeth married
William Diddlesfold on 01 Jun 1760 in Kirdford.
Thomas junior and Elizabeth Cooper were joined in matrimony at the Kirdford parish church, when
Thomas was 28 years of age.  Their marriage by licence was on 18 Jun. 1771 with Edward Cooper
and George Herington the witnesses.  This was five years before Thomas took over the running of
Marshalls from his parents.  The children from this union, baptised at the parish church were: Thomas
born 1772 died 1782, Elizabeth born 1773 died 1813, John born 1776 died 1852 and Joseph born
1777 died 1835.  (As the eldest son and namesake Thomas did not survive past childhood, the next
son, John, became the heir to the farm tenancy.)

At the period in which Mary, Elizabeth and Thomas grew up and married, Kirdford was a self-sufficient
village.  Almost everything needed for personal or household use was either home made or could be
supplied by local craft or tradesmen.  William Boxall, Kirdford’s mercer, died a few months after his
son John married Mary Downer.  The 1754 inventory of his goods and chattles (which he left to his wife
Sarah)  survived in the Kirdford Parish Chest.  His shop/house contained the usual furnishings and
utensils of the time; but besides brewhouse equipment for making beer and cider, there were two tea
kettles, a coffee mill and a chocolate pot, indicating that these beverages were now being consumed
by middle class country folk.  All dishes and drinking vessells listed were of pewter.

His stock- in-trade itemised shows the stuff that garments were made of at the time.  Parcels of
fabric were measured either by yards (39 cm)  or ells (approx. 115cm)  He sold handkerchiefs, hose,
caps, besides thread, buttons and other sewing requirements.  There seems to have been a wide
variety of materials held at the shop.  Besides the serviceable, well known ‘holland’, used for work
skirts and clothes for children and servants, there was, glazed linen, muslin, dimiti, worcings, canvas,
Irish cloth, Scotch cloth and Rusha Drab.   ‘Fustian & Thickset’ too was on the list.  This was a hard
wearing fabric of cotton mixed with flax or wool with a slight nap, popular for men’s jackets. A tailor
would have made garments for Thomas and his son.  If there was not a good man in Kirdford, they
may have called on the skills of the ‘Taylor’ of nearby Wisborough Green,  named Henry Joyes.

Elizabeth and her daughters no doubt spent much pleasurable time deliberating over choice of
materials at the village drapery and  Elizabeth would have called in a village seamstress to make up
new garments.  We can imagine that the girls  would have been well dressed for special occasions,
though if typical of country people, not in the height of fashion as seen in London.
Forty years on, when Thomas senior died in 1792 an inventory was taken: Of all and singular the
Goods and Chattels and Credits Of Thomas Downer late of the parish of Kirdford (within the
Archdeaconry and Diocese of Chichester) Yeoman deceased Taken and Valued and appraised by
Richard Goodier and John Cooper on the seventh day o October in the year of Our Lord One Thousand
and Seven Hundred and Ninety Three And Exhibited by Thomas Downer and John Boxall    









The above Thomas Downer junior and his brother in law John Boxall  (husband of Mary) were named
administrators of the will.

The wearing apparel and money in purse of Thomas Downer senior at his death was assessed at the
token sum of £2.14s.0d.; but it appears that he had given a considerable amount of money in loans to
numerous people, most of whom repaid fully at the time of his death.

To the estate:  James Butler owed  £186. 11s. 9d., John Peacock and others £105., John Boxall,
himself, £341. 11s. 10d. William Barnes (the village shoemaker) £100 (interest only paid up) and John
Downer £100, with interest the total amounting to £112.

There is no indication as to the relationship to the family of this last mentioned John Downer, who, at
this stage, was a miller in nearby Cranley, in the county of Surrey.  It is very likely that he was the John
Downer, included in the tax assessments of Wisborough Green, who leased a house from 1780 to
1785.
   
The Inventory goes on with a statement by Thomas Downer junior claiming that in 1776 his father had
resolved to pass over the possession of the farming business with all implements of husbandry and
effects, stock of corn and cattle to him with the agreement that the two couples should live together as
one family at the Marshalls homestead.  Careful consideration had been made in the document for the
event of the older couple deciding at some stage to live elsewhere.

It is evident that the Downers were a well to do farming family.  No numbers of animals are given; but
horses, oxen, cows, hoggs (sic) and sheep are mentioned  and carts, wain wagons, plows (sic)
harrows and harness are amongst the ‘husbandry tackle’.  Besides the main homestead and
workers’ dwellings on Marshalls, the document refers to occupation of ‘several Farms Lands and
premises’.  Land and Tax assessments for 1798 show “Marchalls” as it was then written being leased
by Thomas Downer from the Earl of Newbridge.  By the 1803 Tax assessment the name of the
property was written as Marshalls.  A property known as ‘Glasshouse by Marshalls’,which is thought to
have been the site of an early glass furnace, was owned by Thomas Downer and later sold by his
grandson John.

Unfortunately for us, as Thomas senior had already passed on all the house chattels and farming
implements to his son, there is no list of items in the house and outbuildings in the inventory, which
would   give a picture of the household.  However the inventory of one of his close acquaintences, John
Barnes, a shoemaker of Kirdford, who had died a few months previously, gives a good idea of the
furnishings of the time.  
It is known that there was a large brick bakers oven at Marshalls and one would expect to find the
following items in a well to do farmer’s home. The kitchen would have had at least one large table,
chairs, probably a dresser and cupboards, a roasting jack for an open fire, a spit, fire dogs, tongs, iron
pots and pothooks, an iron kettle and several skillets, some of brass.  In the dresser there would have
been ceramic, rather than pewter dishes, some teacups, pots for making tea, coffee and chocolate,
cutlery, perhaps some spoons and other special items being of silver and often referred to as ‘plate’.  
It is likely that there was a warming pan and a flat iron too.  A fowling piece and a shotbolt and powder
flash may have been kept in the hall or kitchen.

In the various out houses one would expect to find a churn and pans for setting the cream for butter,
equipment for brewing and cidermaking and tubs for washing clothing.

Each bedroom would have been furnished with a bedstead complete with feather filled ‘bed’, bolsters,
sheets, blankets or quilt and pillows and curtains at the windows.  There may have been a chest of
drawers, a clothes press, or carved wood box to contain clothing and possibly a looking glass and one
or two chairs and a sewing or writing table.  

Note:    There is a belief among family members that Marshalls was at some stage actually owned by
the Downers; but as it became a part of the Petworth Estate it is doubtful if this ever occurred and there
does not appear to be any evidence of a sale taking place to the Downers.  In 1901 Lord Leconfield
gave written permission for a friend to shoot on Marshalls, which indicates that the farm was legally in
his possession.


























Copied from the cover of the guide to Kirdford Church


Chapter 3
Vestry Duties

For several generations the Downer men took an interest in the wellfare of their fellow parishioners by
serving on the Kirdford vestry.   Following the breakdown of the manorial system the parish church had
taken on the responsibility for the order and wellbeing of the village inhabitants.  From the late 1700s
and especially the first half of the 1800s, there was a steady rise in unemployment of farm workers,
which lead to an ever increasing amount of distress amongst poor families.  To be eligible for help
one was required to be  an accepted member of the parish, either through birthright or deemed legally
‘settled’ there.

Thomas served on the church vestry as overseer and later, churchwarden. A certificate of settlement
for a young family moving from Wisborough Green to Kirdford, signed in 1772 by Thomas was found to
be amongst the items, which survived in the Wisborough Green Parish Chest.

We, Henry Mitchell and John Ede and Thomas Downer and Henry Cooper, Church Wardens and
Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Kirdford in the County of Sussex, aforesaid, do hereby own and
acknowledge John Reed and Elizabeth his wife and their infant child to be Inhabitants, legally settled
in the Parish of Kirdford aforesaid.  In witness whereof we have hereunto set our Hands and Seals
this 23rd day of March in the twelth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the third by the
Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, in the Year of our Lord
1772.

To make quite sure that the agreement was watertight, the document was signed by four members of
the vestry.  There followed a further certification by two other men that they had witnessed the signing
and that they ‘did see the Churchwardens and Overseers, whose names and seals are to the said
Certificate subscribe and set, severally sign and seal the said Certificate’

Vestry duties must have taken up considerable time and energy of our Downer forebears,  especially
those to do with attending to the poor, the sick and the wayward inhabitants of the village.  Illegitimacy,
while certainly not uncommon, was severely frowned upon, if not by the local inhabitants then certainly
by the vestry, for the good reason that the cost of maintaining and educating children of single women
was the responsibility of the Parish.  Therefore much was made of the ‘examination’ of the mother,
who had to appear before a Justice of the Peace, for questioning.   If she could name the father, there
followed a summons, signed by the churchwardens and overseers and delivered by the overseer to
the  accused, for a fine and regular maintenance to be paid to the Parish.  A document signed by John
Downer and others, written on an elaborately designed form, cites the case of young James Cooper
who fathered a child, the daughter of Selah Hill, singlewoman.  As he was evidently under 21 years his
own father was also deemed to be responsible for paying for the costs involved of another Kirdford
mouth to be fed.

It begins:
Know all Men by their presents that we Henry Cooper of the parish of Kirdford, in the county of Sussex
Farmer and James Cooper of the parish of Kirdford aforesaid, Husbandman are jointly and severally
held and bound  to....(names of the churchwardens and overseers)....the sum of one hundred pounds
of Good and Lawful Money of Great Britain.

(This was the year 1801, still in the reign of George the third, who by then no longer included the
‘Sovereign of France’, in his title; but by then was known as the ‘Sovereign of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland’, on the printed forms used by parish vestry.)  


















James acknowledged that he was indeed the father of Selah Hill’s daughter (who though named
Elizabeth, was referred to throughout the document as the ‘Bastard Child’)  He and his father paid £40
for the ‘lying in month’ of the mother and were to pay 2/- a week for the little girl’s upkeep as long as
she remained chargeable to the parish.  No doubt, if the couple did not later marry, Elizabeth would
have been ‘put out to service’ as soon as possible, perhaps when she was ten years old or younger,
as a domestic servant.

Occasionally, men less honest than James, escaped from villages before the law caught up with
them, and sometimes during hard times, a married man would abscond, abandoning his unfortunate
spouse and children.  In these cases funds for medical care, rent, food and clothing had to come from
the Parish purse for as long as needed. Similar examinations were made of anyone who was known
to have ‘strayed’ from a different parish.  All was well for these folk until they became ill or unemployed,
so requiring ‘relief’ from vestry funds.  At this point they were escorted to their home parish by the
overseer, to be delivered to his counter part, after a flurry of discussion and documentation.  
Occasionally this lead to much wrangling if the other parish would not accept responsibility.  One
Charlotte Rugman was the cause of such a dispute some years later, when John Downer was
elevated to the position of churchwarden.  A letter of warning was sent to the Wisborough Green Vestry.

To the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of Wisborough Green in the county of Sussex.  We
the undersigned churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish of Kirdford in the county of
Sussex do hereby give you notice that we do intend at the next general quarter sessions of the peace
to be holden at
Petworth in and for the western division of the said county on the fifteenth day of January now next
coming to prosecute and try an appeal entered and respited at the last general quarter sessions of the
peace holden at Chichester in and for the said county against an order made on the eighth day of
September last past by George Daysh and Charles Mitford Esquires two of His Majesty’s justices of
the peace for the said county for the removal of Charlotte Rugman from your said parish of
Wisborough Green to our said parish of Kirdford -  dated this twentieth day of Decemberb 1827.
signed by John Downer and Wm. King, Churchwardens and John Herrington and the mark of Henry
Foster, overseers

Another duty was in finding employment for children of the local poor and sometimes paying for an
apprenticeship.   The vestry had power to fine a tradesman for refusing to take on an apprentice
without good reason.  Indentures for apprenticeships, paid for by parents, were written on an elaborate
form; but here is an apprenticeship, arranged by John Downer, as overseer, to help a needy family
give their son a start in life at the vestry’s expense. He was to be trained to make boots and shoes.

This agreement made the sixth day of June - in the year of our Lord 1825.  Witnesseth that John Eede
and William King Churwardens of the parish of Kirdford in the county of Sussex, and John Downer
Overseer of the poor of the said parish of Kirdford have put and placed by this Agreement William
Pledge to John Childs of the parish of Kirdford, aforesaid Cordwainer with him to dwell and serve for
the term of Three Years from the date of this agreement During all which Term the said William
Pledge do hereby agree to serve his said Master faithfully in all lawful Business according to his
power, wit and ability and honestly, orderly and obediently in all things demean and behave himself
towards his said Master and all his during the said Term.

In consideration for the payment of £25, from  vestry funds, John Childs was to ‘train and instruct
William Pledge or cause him to be taught and instructed in the best way and manner’ during the three
year term and to provide the boy with sufficient Meat, Drink, Lodging and Shoes.  The Churchwardens
and Overseers promised to cover any necessary medical attendance during his apprenticeship and
his father and another man, John Payne, agreed to pay for the lad’s clothing, washing and mending
during the three years apprenticeship.  William Pledge, himself, had to give a promise not to get into
any trouble or be the cause of further expense to the parish.  John Childs, on his part was to have half
of the parish work to do during   the three years.  He would receive half the  £25 upon signing the
agreement, the rest being payable after eighteen months.























Another duty undertaken by the vestry was the assessment and collection of land tax each year,
records of which, dating from 1780 until 1832, were kept in the parish chest. The task was carried out
by two of the vestrymen and the results were audited by two justices of the peace.  In 1803 John
Downer, son of Thomas, was the assistant tax assessor for the parish and with William Cooper
collected £436. 1s. 6d. in taxes from the district.  (This was the time of great fear of invasion from
France to the Sussex Coast, two years before Napoleon's fleet was destroyed at the Battle of Trafalgar
by the British under the command of Horatio Nelson.)

John’s younger brother Joseph  also served on the vestry.  Letters written by both and documents
with their signatures survive in the parish records.


Chapter 4
Civil Defence

Ever mindful of the threat of French invasion or other catastrophe, civil defence plans and regular
checks of available manpower and weapons were made in the county.  Extraordinary lengths were
taken in collecting  data to give an overall view of the strengths and weaknesses of each village so that
manpower and materials could be called upon in times of crisis.

In 1798 a meeting was held at the Half Moon Petworth for arrangements to be made for the whole of
the Arundel Rape, which included Kirdford. In the event of the country being invaded from the coast, the
inhabitants of villages were to be evacuated and all livestock and food supplies removed.  (Today, this
would be called a scorched earth policy)  For Kirdford, John Eede was elected for the evacuation of
women and children, with the power to commandeer carriages, horses, bedding and provisions as
deemed necessary.  Gregory Haines was appointed for the care and removal of livestock and Henry
Ford for the inspection and disposal of dead stock.

Judging by the livestock return of 1798,  Marshalls appears to have been be one of the best stocked
farms in Kirdford, superceded only by those of one or two wealthy landowners.  Thomas Downer was
then 68 years of age and his two sons, John and Joseph were not yet married.


Mr Thos. Downer.

Fat Oxen                  0        Working Oxen                12        Cows                12
Bull                  1        Young Cattle & Colts        42        Sheep & goats        84
Lambs                54        Pigs & Hoggs                34        Riding Horses           1
Draft Horses          6        Broodmares                  2        Waggons           3
Carts                  3        Quarters of  Wheat        40        Barley                   0           
Oats                30        Peas & Beans                  0        Hay,loads of         19
Straw                12        Potatoes,sacks of          1        Malt,Quarts.of           0
Carters                 4        Drivers of Stock          1

                              Signed    4th May     Thos. Downer







Transport for the family womenfolk, when it was required, would have been by a cart or waggon drawn
by stout draft horses, or even oxen, plodding on the rutted clay roads.  Note that only one riding horse
was kept on the farm at this time.
One of the schedules prepared in 1803 showed  that the son  John Downer (who had married Rhoda
Butt the previous year) was farming on his own account, on a small holding in Kirdford.  He was listed
as having 3 cows, 2 draft horses, 1 cart, and a bread oven in which 3 buchels of bread could be baked
in 24 hours.  The last item tabled may seem strange until it is realised that the majority of people in the
village, living in cottages, did all their cooking in pots and pans on open fires.  A bricked oven was to
be found only in some of the larger farm houses.  Three bushells would have been more than a cubic
metre of bread in the form of baked in loaves, a very convenient way to get food to refugees in time of
disaster.  In the same schedule John’s younger brother Joseph was shown to be the village
shopkeeper, aged 26years.
      
Offers were sought for tools and/or services, if required in an emergency and a schedule showing the
results was prepared.  For instance, John Boxall agreed to offer 1 hamer (sic) and 1 chisel and act as
a pioneer.  John Reeves said that he could bring an axe and do labouring work.  William Boxall would
do likewise with his saw.  Richard Barnes was prepared to act as a carter and would provide a
shovel.  John Downer offered his services as a drover.
Joseph Downer did not make any offers, but probably knew that in an event of real disaster his grocery
stock would be confiscated anyway!

For many years the threat of invasion continued and a copy of the Defence Act passed by Parliament in
1808 has survived in the Kirdford Parish Chest.  Its 65 clauses give exhaustive coverage of all aspects
of muster of the male population for the defence of Britain.  Very clear instructions are given for the
organisation at parish level for the compiling of lists of all fit men between the ages of 17 and 55 with
few exemptions.  From these, a certain number from each parish were drawn by ballot, to receive
training and regular exercise, although it was quite legal for a substitute to be appointed upon the
payment of £10 fee, an option often taken up by the well to do.  For the muster men there were heavy
fines for not complying with orders, or failing to attend practice without good reason.  Regular
exercises were to be held after church on Sundays, or at some suitable time, which would not interfere
with normal farm work.  In the case of invasion by the enemy, men were to assemble at a designated
place, alerted ‘by the firing of guns, by flags, beacons, rockets or otherwise.’

Clause 25: His Majesty may from time to time direct Parishes to be provided with necessary arms and
accoutrements, in order to instruction of the men, to be kept in the church or chancel of every parish or
other convenient place to be appointed by the Lieutenant or Deputy Lieutenant under the charge of the
church wardens, constables, schoolmasters or other parochial officers, who are to obey all orders of
the deputy Lieutenant under a penalty not exceeding  £50 for every offence.

These responsibilities must have placed an extra burden on those who served on the vestry.  Not only
would the same men be the ones collating enrolments, collecting fines, taking responsibility for the
care and upkeep of arms, but also the reimbursement of petty costs connected with military training
was to come from parish funds already tightly stretched.


                                                      
                                                      An example of the type of dress of a Sussex  farm worker
                                                      of the 19th century
Chapter 5
Into the 19th Century

JOHN DOWNER and RHODA BUTT of  Marshalls Farm and JOSEPH DOWNER, businessman.

In 1808, Arthur Young, writing General View of the Agriculture of the County of Sussex for the board of
Agriculture, commented that a system of mixed farming with wheat as its main crop had been
practised in the Weald for two hundred years or more and although he had doubts about such use of
the land, his costing  showed that a modest living could be made.

Thomas Downer (2) died in May 1811.  As his name does not appear on the 1811 census it must have
been taken after his death, or else by then he had already passed Marshalls on to his son John, in the
same manner as his father had done, continuing to live as one of the household.  Only the head of
each house is named in this census.  John Downer is said to be a farmer with 2 other males and 4
females in his household.  Joseph is listed as a tradesman with 3 other males and 2 females living in
his house in the village centre.

In 1802 John had married Rhoda Butt of West Tytherly.  Rhoda, born in 1779, was ninth in a family of
22 children.  On the Butt family tree are the names of the first fifteen of these children born between
1765 and 1791, then “and 7 others”.  Her grandfather Timothy Butt had been ‘a man of Grittenham’.   
Her father, also a Timothy, had made his home in Littlehampton, the place where he was later buried.  
The Downers and Butts were to be joined again in the next generation when Rhoda Downer, named
after her mother, married a cousin John Eede Butt of Littlehampton.

The children of John and Rhoda, all baptised at the Kirdford church, are given here from the Downer
family tree.   Baptism dates, in most cases the year following birth, and year of death, where known,
are shown below.  John had to wait until his 8th child before he had a son to pass the farm on to.  The
children were named: Elizabeth, Rhoda, Mary, Louisa, Anne, Sarah, Harriot (as Harriet on Downer
tree) John, George.  
Elizabeth  13Aug1803-, married Charles White 03 Dec 1822. The family tree lists their children as
Henry, Thomas, John, Parker, Percy, Elizabeth, Louisa (who married Sam le Cran and had six sons)

Rhoda 24Sep1807-1887 married a cousin, John Eede Butt, on 09 Mar 1829.
They had a large family: Rhoda Downer, 1829, Jane, 1838, John, 1840, Sarah Harriet,1842, Mary
Caroline, 1844,  William Arthur, 1847, George Walter, 1850.

Mary 28Sep1809-1900, married Thomas Downer (her cousin) who took over his father’s grocery
business in the village square.  They did not have any children. By 1881 she was a widow living alone
as an annuitant in Brighton.

Louisa 26Sep1811-1887, married John Boniface in March 1840. Their first child and only son,  John
born 1841, joined the Royal Navy (his death occurred in 1860).  Their three daughters were Louisa,
Mary and Amy.  Nothing is known of Louisa’s life; but Mary married the Rev. Kenneth Linton Jones,
Rector of St. Brides, Manchester, having a family of five children; Kenneth Hurlstone, Mary Winifred,
Amy Lilian, Harry Bertram and Frederick Robert.  
Amy married Peter Horace Martyr.  There was a daughter Louisa born in 1879  followed by sons John
and Horace.

Anne 05Feb1813-1890, did not marry, but by 1881 was living with her widowed sister Rhoda Butt in
Littlhampton.

Sarah 28Mar1816-1901,married John D. Howson Capt of Merchant  Service. No issue

Harriot (or Harriet)21Jan1818-1861, married Rev Frederick Armadeus Malleson 01 Jul 1852.  They
had two daughters, Rhoda Victoria, born in 1853 and Mary Louisa in 1855.  Rhoda Victoria’s later life
is not known; but Mary Louisa married her cousin George W. Butt, (see children of Rhoda Downer and
John Eede Butt above) Their children were: Charles Arthur 1879, who married Helen Whiting,  George
Malleson 1830, who married V.M. Stillwell,  Harriet Rhoda 1882 and John Eede 1884, who married E.
M. Ellsmore

John 11Feb1820-1863, married Martha Luff.   They became the next occupiers of Marshalls Farm,  see
chapter JOHN DOWNER 3 AND MARTHA LUFF.

George 21Feb1822-1896, married Ellen Herington.  He became a farmer of 250 acres at North
Mundham, near Chichester.  The following children were born to them: Georgina Rhoda,1854, Joseph,
1855 (died 1892) George Richard,1857, Edward Herington, 1861 (died 1871)Ellen Elizabeth, 1859,
Arthur Allen, 1866.  (These dates taken from Downer family tree)
The 1881 census shows Georgina their eldest daughter aged 26, son George 23, and daughter Ellen
21, all living with their parents at the farm. Ellen later married Walter Brook. The youngest son Arthur, at
14, was a pupil at a boarding school in Littlehampton.  Joseph’s name is not listed in Sussex entries.

It is apparent that the large Kirdford families of Downer, Herington, Eede, Butt, Mann and Tobitt,
intermarried a number of times over three centuries.  It was not uncommon for cousins to marry or to
have more than one pairing off between families; but gradually emigration to America and the colonies
and the drift of young people to larger cities broke up the old family structures in the village.

1815 was the birth year of Sarah Downer, 6th daughter of John and Rhoda.  It was also the year of         
the famous Battle of Waterloo, in Brussels, when British and Prussian troops under the command of
the Duke of Wellington finally routed Napoleon’s forces. There was a special thanksgiving service
preached in the Kirdford church to mark the great victory over the French; but the congregation were
also asked to pause in remembrance of those who had given their lives for their country.  It was said
that after the battle of Waterloo 40,000 bodies of dead and wounded from the two opposing sides lay
strewn over an area of 3 square miles.  

At this stage John Downer was in his prime and farmer of one of the most productive properties in his
parish.  Later he became a churchwarden of St John the Baptist and his name was inscribed on one
of the bells founded in 1840.  The 1841 June census of England was taken shortly after his wife
Rhoda’s death.  On census night, 65-year-old John was at home with three of his daughters, Ann,
Sarah and Hariot and his 22-year-old son John (who was destined to take over Marshalls.)

In a cottage next to the farm, there lived another daughter Louisa with her husband, John Boniface and
their 4-month-old son John (he was destined to die young in service with the Royal Navy).   Mary, at 32,
a year older than Louisa, was in  the home of her cousin Thomas, at the village grocery shop.  By now
Thomas had taken over the business from his father Joseph Downer.


JOSEPH DOWNER 1777-1835

While John, being the elder surviving son, had inherited the tenancy of Marshalls after his father,
Joseph, a year younger, became the village shopkeeper and owner of several Kirdford properties.  His
first marriage to Elizabeth Barnes on 04 Jun 1801 resulted in the birth of four children.  Their baptisms
are recorded: Thomas 01 Nov 1801, John 17 Jul 1803, Elizabeth 28 Jun 1805, and William 02 Apr
1808.  

After Elizabeth’s death he remarried on 13 Apr 1814, this time to Elizabeth Haines.  Their daughter
Frances, known as Fanny was baptised 25 Apr 1816.

In 1813 and 1814 Joseph was the assessor and collector of Land Tax for the parish.  The Land Tax
and assessments of 1818 and 1819 show that he not only leased a property named Accolls from Mrs
Barnes, but also owned Copyhold and two houses.  By 1825 he managed four properties besides the
ones he owned.  It is thought that he retired to another district, as his name does not appear on the
Downer list of gravestones at Kirdford.

By the 1841 census Joseph’s eldest son Thomas was a maltster and had taken over the grocery
business in the village.  He was then aged 40 years and had with him at the shop his 32 year old
cousin Mary, the daughter of John Downer, of Marshalls, who probably managed the household where
there were 2 female servants, a male servant and two assistant grocers living in.  Mary was said to
have independent means.  Later, Thomas and Mary married; but had no children.  Thomas died in
1855 and was buried in Kirdford.  His widow retired to Brighton, living until 1900.

John, No record of his life has yet been found.

Elizabeth married Edward Herington who became a brewer in Kensington.  They had a daughter
named Josephine according to the Downer family tree.

William became a solicitor in Petworth.  He married and had a family of children, three of whom are
named on the family tree as Ethyl, Thomas and Dolly.  The Downer family tree shows that Ethyl
married Dr. Turnow and had children; but they are not named.

Frances, daughter of Joseph’s second marriage married George Masters in Kirdford 08 Jun1839 - no
issue.
Chapter 6
JOHN DOWNER (3) and MARTHA LUFF

This young John Downer would have taken on the responsibilities of Marshalls farm gradually, before
John senior died in 1852. The rambling Marshalls farmhouse was large enough to accommodate an
extended family in those days.   The seven children of John and Martha were all baptised in the
Kirdford parish church and recorded thus:
John, 22 Sep 1842, Thomas, 24 May 1844, Rhoda, 28 Sep 1845, William, 16 Jan 1848,        
Joseph Swan, 31 Dec 1850, Harriet, 21 Jun 1852, Mary, 32 May 1855.

The eldest, John, became the next master of Marshalls (see next chapter)

Thomas emigrated to the United States of America.  According to the Downer family tree he married
Elizabeth Prichard.  Their 3 children were named Roger, Malcolm and Phyllis.

Rhoda married Charles Broardbridge, having a daughter, Daisy and a son, Walter Thomas.

William’s wife Annie came from Norfolk.  Her maiden name is not known; but the Downer tree gives
their children as Charles Archibald, b 1876, Ethyl Gertrude, b 1881, Frederick, b 1884, Amble, b 1886.   
In the census of April 1881 William was a farm bailiff in Dunsfield, Surrey.  Charles was three; Ethyl,
Fred and Mabel not yet born.

Joseph Swan (buried in the Kirdford churchyard in 1886) had married Elizabeth Delwood, at Kingston
Upon Thames, 06 Oct 1872.  The family tree shows a son, Ernest and a daughter, Bessie.  

Harriet married John Mitchener. They had a family of 9 children named as follows: Elizabeth M.
(Bessie) 1875, James, 1877, John, 1878, Ethel, 1879, Arthur, 1881, John, 1882, Hubert, 1883, Frank,
1885 and Jehu, date unknown.  The 1881 census shows that John Mitchener, then 33, was a brewer
and timber merchant, living in Kirdford.  Harriet was 28 years old. At that stage Arthur was the youngest
of the family at 10 months.  Harriet’s mother Martha Downer (nee Luff) widow of John, late of Marshalls
farm, was also in the household.

Mary became the second wife of Albert Tobitt, creating another link with that family in 1875.  Their
children are listed on the family chart as:
Mary, b 1877(married the Vicar of Drop more) Harold Sidney, b1879, (emigrated to USA) Ethel, b 1880,
d 1968, Stanley, b 1881, Eve line, b1883, d1978, (married her cousin, George Downer, son of John
Downer and Jane Tobitt (no issue) Leslie, b1885 (emigrated to Tennessee, USA), May, b1887.  Mary
Tobitt died after the birth of this last child.  At 32 years of age, mother of seven, she was buried in the
Kirdford churchyard.

John Downer, farmer of Marshalls, died in 1863 and was buried in the Downer family section of the
Kirdford parish graveyard.  His wife Martha outlived him by many years.  She became the respected
‘Mrs Downer senior’ to the villagers and the beloved grandmother and great granny to her
descendants.  There is a family photograph of her taken during her mature years and she also
appears in her old age in a Downer group photograph taken in 1888.
The Kirford parish register records the burial of Martha Downer from Dunsfold (a village just north of
Kirdford) 14th Feb. 1895.  A gravestone in the Kirdford Churchyard  next to her husband’s reads:
In memory of Martha wife of the late John Downer who died Feb 11th 1895  aged 75 years


















              Martha’s grave, Kirdford                                Martha Downer
                                                      

MARTHA LUFF’S FAMILY

When the 1841 census was taken, John Downer had been a young man of 21 years, living with his
father and sisters at Marshalls and few miles away in the village of Lurgashall; Martha Luff was in the
home of her parents James and Martha, with three younger brothers and two young
sisters.                          

There were a numerous branches of the Luff family around the district.  Most of the Luff menfolk in
Lurgashall were employed in agricultural work or bricklaying like Martha’s father.  He is thought to have
been born in Wisborough Green in 1789, the son of John and Elizabeth Luff.

The 1841 census shows Martha’s parents; James aged 54 and Martha, her mother, 50 years of age.
Young Martha and a brother William were written as both being 20 years old.   There were two younger
brothers, Thomas, 15, and George, 10 and two sisters, Mary 10 and Emily 7.  These ages may not be
accurate, because in the 1841 census, the enumerator    was allowed to ‘round off’ ages to the
nearest 5 or 0

John Downer = Martha Luff


John                   Thomas                    Rhoda                       William                     Joseph Swan                        
Harriet              Mary
=J. Tobitt          =E. Pritchard          =C. Broardbridge     =    ?                       =E. Delwood                   =J.
Mitchener        =A.Tobitt                

Jane                Roger                        Daisy                Charles                Ernest                Elizabeth                Mary
John                      Malcolm           Walter                 Ethyl                Bessie                 James                Ethel
Thomas              Phyllis                                    Frederick                                  John                Harold
William                                         Mabel                                 Ethel                Stanley
Rhoda                                                                         Arthur                Eveline
Mary                                                                                 John                Leslie
Harriet                                                                         Hubert                May
Annie                                                                         Frank
George                                                                          Jehu
Arthur
Alfred
Millicent
Ralph
Oswald
Norman
Margaret









































                                                              Above: Early postcard photo of Marshalls



                                      
                                                              Left and below: Marshalls in 1994.  
An                                                                                 electric light pole replaces the oak
tree.                                                                .                  Roofline at rear has been altered.  
                                                              Middle section of house has been removed
                                                              and windows at right hand end of house altered

Chapter 7
The Sixth Generation at Marshalls,  John Downer (4) and Jane Tobitt

The Downers and Tobitts were linked once again,  when John Downer junior took Jane, the daughter
of Wesley and Ann Tobitt of Hills Green Farm,  as his bride.  They were married by banns in the
Kirdford Church, with Burridge Tobitt, Annie Jane Tobitt and Mary Tobitt as witnesses.  Jane Tobitt,
marrying at 22 years of age, was a  remarkable woman who bore sixteen healthy children and was to
carry on the responsibility of the family and farm for many years after her husband’s death.   Marshalls
must have resembled a village in miniature at times.  Apart from the huge brood of children, there
were servants, farm workers and a governess under the same roof, with other workers living in the
three cottages on the property and no doubt extra labour brought in at busy times.  Relations, too, were
always welcome and often came to enjoy a country holiday.   The house then was a large one, with
attic rooms for the single men working on the farm and the women servants.  My father mentioned
once that there was a place up on top floor under the roof, where apples were stored after harvest and
they kept very well.  He used to talk of his enjoyment in visiting Marshalls as a youngster.  He
described the kitchen with its deep brick baker’s oven from which the cook drew out hot, crusty loaves
of delicious smelling bread and the big copper of water, kept at the boil, to be ladled out as she
required it for washing up.  

Jane (Jennie)          25 Jun 1865                         George  1876
John           24 Jun 1866                                Arthur  1877
Thomas Wesley 17 Jan 1868                        Alfred  1880
William  Joseph  30 Mar 1869                Millicent  1881
Rhoda Kate  12 Sep 1870                            Ralph  1882
Mary        02 Feb 1871                                Oswald  1883
Harriet (Hartie)  27 Jun 1873                Norman  1886
Annie         1874                                        Margaret  1887

Note: Baptisms dates up to Harriet’s were copied from a parish record, on microfilm, which did not
include the others.  These later dates have been taken from the family tree.
The family tree shows two girls,Harriet and Nancy  as both being born in 1875; but  as only Harriet’s
1873 baptism was in the parish register it is not known if she was the survivor of twins or the  
inclusion of the name Nancy was a mistake.  In later years Annie was called Nancy.


At the time of the 1881 census,  the Downers had twelve children.  Jane was the eldest at 16 and
Millicent the youngest at 4 months.  There was also an Elizabeth Downer, 21,  from Cold Waltham,
working in the household as a servant; but whose relationship with the family is not known.  By this
time, the production of corn, as a farmer’s livelihood, had been replaced mainly by cattle and dairy
farming and later apple growing, in the district.  Long buildings, to house the stock over winter, were
built and these were to remain until the mid 20th century, when the farm, now out of Downer hands,
was remodelled into an efficient town milk supply unit.

The 1881 census also shows that the widowed Mrs Downer senior (Martha Luff) was with the family of
her daughter Harriet and husband John Mitchener in Kirdford.

The happy family group photograph taken in the garden in front of the farmhouse in 1888, includes
four generations.  John and Jane are seated in the centre, each holding one of their two youngest;
Norman on his father’s knee and Margaret on her mother’s lap.  Mrs Downer senior, (Martha Luff)
holds their first grandchild, Una, baby daughter of Jan (who is standing far right, back row.  By then,
Jane was married to Henry Marshall Joyes, storekeeper of Storrington)



John Downer died the year after this photograph was taken, leaving his wife Jane to cope with the
worries of running the farming business; of how their young adult children would make a livelihood
and of raising several quite young children.

In 1891, at census time, daughter Mary was staying with sister Jane Joyes at her new address of
Carlyon House, in Pulborough, to where Jane had moved recently and given birth to her third child, a
boy. The other sisters back at Marshalls Farm were listed as Rhoda 20, Annie 16, Millicent 10 and
Margaret 3. The sons at home were William 22, George 14, Arthur 13, Ralph 8, Oswald 7, Norman 5.

Bernard Joyes, Jane’s other son, only a year old, was staying at Marshalls too, being cared for by his
Granny and Aunts while his mother recuperated. Also visiting the Downer household was a niece, 16-
year-old Bessie Mitchener, the daughter of John Downer’s sister Harriet and her husband John
Mitchener.  The current governess, who also lived with the family, was Lavinia Downer, aged 21, from
Penge in Surrey, a daughter of Thomas Downer  and his wife Adelaide.
( It is not known  whether this Thomas Downer was a close relative; but his children were: Adelaide,
bap 21 Jun 1857,  William, bap 14 Apr 1861,  Amelia, bap 31Jan 1864,  Lavinia, bap 25 Jul 1869,  Ada,
bap 26 May 1872,  Albert, bap 26 Apr 1874.)

The Downers must have been a force to be reckoned with in the village as the family grew up.  A sight
to behold, during the late 1880s would have been the older girls in their Sunday best pedalling their
bicycles along the bumpy country road to church, where the eldest daughter, played the organ.

The numbers in the Downer household gradually diminished, with sons emigrating and daughters
marrying.  In her last years, Jane Downer became an invalid and appears to be seated in a Bath chair,
in the group wedding photograph that was taken at the time of her daughter Harriet’s wedding, in 1904.
The parish church register has a burial entry for ‘Jane Downer of Marshalls Farm, 24th Feb. 1905
aged 62 years’ and there is a gravestone in the Kirdford Churchyard, which reads:

In loving memory of John Downer who died on 2nd Jun 1889 aged 46 years.
O Lord when in the hour of death
I bow to thy decree
Jesus receive my parting breath
Good lord remember me

Also of Jane, widow of the above who died 20th Feb 1905
Also their son Ralph - his ashes rest here.


The lives of John and Jane Downer’s sixteen children.

At the age of 20 the eldest daughter, Jane married a widower with three school age children. Henry
Marshall Joyes, the son of a miller, had general store in the village of Storrington.  It was there that
Jane gave birth to a daughter, Una, on 26th April 1888.   Just before the birth of their second child,
Henry and Jane sold up, to move to a much more extensive business premises with a large dwelling
next door, called Carlyon House, in Lower Street, Pulborough. There, a son, Bernard John Carlyon
was born on 25th November 1889.  He was followed by Leonard Hugh, a little over a year later.  Jane
was with child again, when Henry suddenly died of pneumonia, on 13th January 1892.  He had made
no will and had also taken out mortgages on  

properties to purchase the new business, which proved to be a serious mistake, as his wife and
children were left virtually penniless.   The fourth child, a son, was named Henry Marshall after his
father; but survived only five weeks. After the legal matters were finally settled, the three older step
children went to their Joyes  relatives and the unhappy Jane took her own three children to live with a
man called Walter Thomas Park by whom she had another six children:  four daughters, Gladys, Kitty,
Nora and Dorothy and two boys who did not survive early infancy and whose names are unknown.
When Jane became very ill during 1903 she was admitted to the infirmary at Hove; but she died there
and was buried at the Hove Cemetery  03 Dec 1903, aged 37.
The latter part of Jane’s life, and that of her first three children, is told in greater detail in Tracing A Line,
a history of the Joyes family.

John, the next one in the family, went to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit an uncle, Sam Tobitt, soon after the
discovery of oil in California.  At this time, the governess at Marshalls was a young woman called Alice
Bizzel.  John came back to England to marry Alice and they returned to settle in America.  After some
hardships he found a position with the Standard oil Company, which he had until his death in 1941.  
John and Alice had three sons John, Charles and George.  There was also a daughter Mildred, who
kept in touch with her English cousins.  One of Mildred’s letters to a relative, written in the 1970s has
provided much information on the family members who immigrated to America.

Thomas also immigrated into the USA, where he was given work by the Tobitt uncle, who by then was
the owner of an oil well in Wyoming, Ohio.  Tom married an American girl, Rose Pendry, said to be   a
very beautiful young woman.  He became the general manager for  Gulf Oil, for the district of
Philadelphia.  They had two sons Thomas Westley and John.

William Joseph (Jo) and his wife Florence [?] had two daughters whose names are unknown by the
writer.

Rhoda Kate (always known as Aunt Kitty) married a London banker of Threadneedle Street, named
Robert Varty.  Her three children were Robert, Katherine and Winston.  
There is an amusing story told by Milded Downer in her letter.

      Aunt Kitty sent son Robert Varty out to his Uncle Tom for a slice of American life.  He said he was
good with cars (auto mobiles) repairs, service etc., so Uncle Tom got him a job with an auto mechanic
shop.  Come time to report for the first day’s work, Robert was ready at 10am, well groomed in striped
trousers and bowler.  Uncle Tom had a fit - told Robert he was in America now and one worked hard
and got hands dirty. Such was not Robert’s dish and after a brief stay he took off for Canada.

Where he settled eventually, is not known.  His mother Kitty married a second time.  When she
wrote to her relatives in New Zealand, her address was Bracken Lodge, Little Common, Thundersley,
in Essex.

Mary married Martin Noel Mitchener. Their daughter Babs married Frank Clarke. Her three children
Margaret, Ann and John all have families of their own.  The Mitcheners home was at Coombe Hill,
Meophan, Kent.  

Harriet (Hartie) married Kirdford farmer Charles John (Jack) Rowe, son of Charles James Nicholls
Rowe, on 14 Sep. 1904 at Kirdford.  The witnesses were Mary Mitchener, George Downer, G & N Rowe
and John Thompson.   Hartie’s father had died before the wedding; but Great grandfather Wesley
Tobitt was there and so were many young relatives, including Una, Bernard and Len Joyes.  Young
Cyril Tobitt was also a guest and years later recounted how  






      1        2        3                  4                  5        6   7        8        9        






















10        11        12        13        14        15        16                 17   18        19          20          21   22



Wedding group photograph taken at Marshalls Farm on the occasion of the marriage of Harriet
(Hartie) Downer to Jack Rowe.

Suggested identification of some of those in the group are: 1 Thomas Downer   2 Ralph Downer
3  Oswald  9 Martin Mitchener   12 Robert Varty(senior)    21 & 22 parents of the bridegroom?


Those who can be identified with certainty are:   4 Cyril Tobitt   5 Albert Tobitt   7 Laura Tobitt   8 Mary
(Downer ) Mitchener.
6 Margaret Downer  10 Kitty (Downer) Varty  
11 Katherine Varty   13 Bernard Joyes   14 Una Joyes  15 Leonard Joyes
16 Wesley Tobitt(senior) 17 Hartie (Downer) Rowe  18 Jack Rowe  19 Jane [Tobitt] Downer, mother of
the bride   20 Millicent Downer.



impressed he was, at the departure of the happy couple, in a smart carriage, driven by the
bridegroom.  Hartie and Jack lived with their two daughters Dorothy and Ferelyth at Langhurst Farm in
an interesting 16th century house, which even in the late 1990s, remains largely unaltered.  Aunt
Hartie kept in touch with the family in New Zealand and Australia, for many years. In later life, she and
her husband retired to Littlehampton, where they lived at Horsham Road in ‘The Bungalow’.  Dorothy
died unmarried.  Ferlyth married  H.W.G.R. (Toby) Marriot and had a son Charles.

Annie, known by the family as Nancy, did not marry and nothing is known of her adult life, though she
appears with sisters in several family ‘snaps’.

George married his cousin  Eveline Tobitt, daughter of Albert Tobitt and Mary (nee Downer)  He worked
as an engine driver on the Great Western Railway.  They did not have any children.

Arthur ,the tenth child of the family, became the last one of the Downers to farm Marshalls.  After Jane
Downer’s death, the eldest son Jack  relinquished his right to the farm when he emigrated
permanently to the USA in 1906.  Arthur and his wife Flora  had a  daughter called Margaret Jean.
(Peggy)        in 1915.   Flora was reputed to be a very demanding person.  Janet Austin in her book
Kirdford The Old Parish Discovered  p. 113, recounts the recollections of an elderly Kirdford resident
Mrs Nineham, who said, speaking of  Arthur:

He met his wife in 1913 when she resided in the nurse’s home in Wisborough Green.  They had one
daughter called Peggy.  Arthur was well liked for he had a sense of humour.  He liked his pint in the
Half  Moon*.  It was well known joke among the locals that his wife would ring the pub to see if Arthur
was there, but Arthur would already have forewarned Kate the  landlady that ‘if Mummy rings up, I am
not here.’  Arthur liked to mix with the villagers for there was no ‘side’ with him.
The Downers were among the first people in Kirdford to have a car.  It was an open two seater with a
dicky seat at the back.  The roads were not tarred then.  The dust in summertime used to rise above
the tree tops when Arthur came to the village.  The folks living at Bridgefoot Cottages, on seeing a
cloud of dust rising would call out that Arthur was coming and would hurry to shut their windows.
* In Kirdford village square.

In the 1930s slump Arthur was forced to give up the farm, which ended the family’s long association
with Marshalls, at Kirdford.  It must have been with a heavy heart, that he walked off the land that his
forebears had  worked for so long, knowing that he would earn the criticism  of some of his relations
for doing so.  Arthur and his wife moved to East Sussex.

Peggy had become an outstanding horsewoman, quite well known in equestrian events.  She married
the Hon. John Lawrence, who succeeded  his father to  become the 4th Baron Lawrence.(The 1st
Baron Lawrence was Viceroy of India 1864-69)  They had one son David John Downer who became
the 5th Baron Lawrence upon his father’s death in 1968.   Peggy remarried, this time to Neil Hartley
and had another son named  Robin.

Alfred also emigrated from England.  After the death of the father of the family, it must have been
increasingly difficult for Jane Downer to make ends meet.  The children, still living at home, were now
expected to find a way of making a livelihood, for the farm on a declining income  could not support all
of them.  When Alfred was in his mid teens, he was sent to America to his brother Jack.  He was not
afraid of hard work and was prepared take any employment that was available.  When the United
States entered into war with Spain in 1898, he joined up with the Army, to the dismay of his mother
back in England, when she heard of this.  Having been used to horses all his life, Alfred chose to enter
the cavalry. He boasted to his brother Jack that he                                 was ‘going to ride, let the infantry
man walk’.  In reality, he found that when his company made bivouac after a long day, the cavalryman
had many extra chores to do, in caring for his mount, then cleaning his rifle, by which time those in the
infantry were already sleeping.
He fought in the Philippines and in one battle, while rescuing his commanding officer; he was himself
wounded when a horse stepped on his jaw.  Some years later, for his act of bravery and wounds
sustained, he received the Purple Heart.  The Order of the Purple Heart is the oldest American
decoration for military merit, originally established by George Washington.  At that time it was awarded
to members of the US Army who had been killed or wounded in action against an enemy.  During this
period it was recognised as a very high award indeed.  
He received a pension on retirement from the army and at one stage worked as a conductor on the
Lake Erie electric train running from Cleveland to Lorain in Ohio.  He married; but the names of his
wife and two children are not known.  Mildred Downer wrote of him ‘Alfred had a penchant for working
like mad, saving all he could then chucking in his job to take a trip to England to see the family.  I knew
Alfred the best of my uncles because he was a frequent visitor until early 1940.  He was kind,
generous, thoughtful and we loved him very much.’















Photographs  above: Left, Alfred Downer.                                  Right, Jack’s daughter Mildred who wrote
the letter quoted from.

Millicent brings the Downer family into living memory, as she immigrated to New Zealand with Una,
Bernard and Len Joyes and was known to many of the relations presently living in New Zealand.
A postcard from her sister Harriet was sent to the ship Taino, at the dockside Plymouth in 1911. Its
cryptic message reads: ‘Dearest Mill, Do hope you found.... Norman said you put it in Kitty’s bag.  Did
you ever take it over there? Hope you will keep well on voyage. Much love sister Hattie.’ [Aunt Hartie –
Harriet]
Millicent’s initial reason for emigrating to New Zealand  was that she had become engaged to be
married to a young Kirdford man whose family, the Meltons, (brewers) were neighbours of the
Downers.  Her fiance had come on ahead to buy land for a farm and their future home.  However
The shipboard romance reshaped her future plans and before the voyage was over Millie and Herbert
Leman managed to consume entirely the wedding cake that had been gifted by the Downer family.  
When, on arrival at New Zealand, she faced up to her fiance with the truth he was found to be most
understanding and it was suspected that perhaps he had made a new friendship too!
Herbert Leman and Auntie Millie, as we all knew her, had one child, a daughter, Stella, in 1914.  She
married Raymond George Hurren in Wellington in 1934.  Their only son Barry Raymond was born in
Wellington in 1936.   He married Audrey Frances Beasley in 1957.
Very sadly, pretty Stella, known for her quiet, gentle manner was to have an early death, from kidney
disease, in 1942.  Then when Herbert Leman died in 1944,  Millie was left a very lonely


woman.  She always looked forward to letters from her Downer relatives in England and from her
younger sister Margaret in America. During one of Alfred’s visits to England, he took a series of
snapshots around Marshalls, copies of which he sent to Millie.   

One Christmas, she spent the day with my parents, bringing the latest mail from ‘Home’, which
triggered a lot of conversation about the old days at Marshalls.  She told me about how she and her
brothers and sisters used to have their lessons in ‘the schoolroom’ at home, taught by a governess.   
And (with some relish) about the time she was ill with inflamed tonsils.  Unlike my experience of
having tonsillitis, she did not go to a hospital for an operation; but to the doctor in Petworth where he
removed the offending organs over the surgery hand basin.  Obviously the Downers were a healthy
and very tough brood.

She continued to live in Lower Hutt - near Wellington, in a small state house, for many years.  In 1955,
while on holiday in Auckland, visiting her nephew Leonard Joyes, she suffered a severe coronary
attack and died in hospital there.

Ralph began his adult life as a farmer.  Then at one time he worked at the Churchill estate, when the
lake was being formed at Chartwell.  He and his first wife Beatrice had a daughter, in 1913, named
Patricia.   As Ralph and his wife separated early in their marriage, Patricia (Pat) did not get to know her
father until she went to live with him, when he was living and working at Starksy Castle, Rochester.  
Patricia married Thomas Capon and their son Mark was born in 1949. Pat now lives in Plymouth.  
Ralph died at 61 years and his ashes were interred at Kirdford in the grave of his parents.
Ralph also had a son Ralph Garnett born in 1921 (died 1983) Ralph junior and his wife Joan had a
son Colin in 1947.

Oswald retained a farming way of life.  He was listed in 1913 Kelly’s directory as a farmer at Balls
Cross, a part of Kirdford parish.  Later on  he had a small holding in the area of Dartford, Kent.  During
the time of the 2nd World War he worked at Vickers, the engineering firm and armament
manufacturers.  His wife’s name was Freda and their three daughters were called Patricia, Ann and
Gillian.

Norman married Ellen Parrot.  Their children were: Bessie, born  12 May 1916, Mollie, born 02 Oct
1918, John, born 1919.
Ellen died when the children were still young and Bessie (known as Betty) took over the role of mother
to her younger sister and brother.  It was not an easy life for them.
When they were older Betty married Alfred Playle and had a son Brian John  27 Feb 1944.
Mollie, now deceased, married Charles Stapley.  Their son Roger, born 14 Feb 1945, married Jane
Percy in 1979 and lives in Australia.
John married Elsie M Gilham.  Their daughter Ann Rosemary, born 1951 married Trevor Franklin in
1973.  They had a son Adrian Paul b. 14 Mar 1977 and a daughter Caroline Claire b. 30 Sep. 1980.
John and Elsie also had a son, John Greville, born in 1957, who married in 1995.

In 1996, Betty Playle, now a widow, Elsie Downer, (widow of John Downer) and Charles Stapley,
widowed husband of Mollie, are all living in Dartford, Kent.

Margaret the last of the family also immigrated to America.  Following his mother’s death in 1906, Jack
had made a trip back to Kirdford and Margaret accompanied him on his return to the USA.  She lived
with his family in Stanford, Kentucky where she met and later married John Murray Taylor, a Baptist
minister from Virginia.  She said of her husband, “He sat a horse well.” (high praise from a Downer)  
They had three children, John Murray, Margaret and Katherine.





































Above left: Margaret and her daughter Katherine returning to USA after visiting England just prior to
World War 2.

Above right: Margaret’s elder daughter Margaret centre, with cousins Betty, left and Molly right,
daughters of Norman.

Below left:  Margaret’s son John Murray Taylor 1995, Centre, Margaret Gallaway 1994,   Right,
Katherine Fisher 995



John Murray Taylor, who lives in New Orleans, had no children.
Margaret married Francis Gallaway, a Professor of English at the University of Kentucky in the city of
Lexington.  They did not have children either; but following  her husband’s death, Margaret returned to
Richmond Virginia, where she pursued a career in teaching English.
The youngest, Katherine married William. B. Elder, a Captain in the US Army who was later killed in
Normandy in 1944.  Their son, John Tobitt (Toby) Elder and his wife Ann had one son, Brian and a
daughter Katherine who live in Edgewood, Kentucky.
Katherine, their grandmother, now remarried to Warren Fisher, lives in Carlisle, Kentucky.

Chapter 8
Marshalls At Last Visited

In 1992 when I travelled to Britain with my husband, we included a brief visit to Kirdford, especially to
see Marshalls Farm. To find Marshalls, we had been given directions by the rector of Fittleworth.  ‘Did
he know the place?’  ‘ Oh yes,’ he said.  ‘Did a baptism there last month.’  Well that sounded
appropriate.   It was good to know that there were still children being born there.  

I had intended to just drive by the farm; but the Rector’s wife said,  ‘You can’t come all the way from
New Zealand and not go in, now you tell them that Mrs Doe sent you.’

A little later, in Kirdford, we drove back and forth along a country road, not sure if we had found the right
place.  The farmhouse we were looking at, were certainly of brick; but did not quite resemble the one in
the old photograph that I was carrying.  In the village I called at The ‘Foresters Arms’ to ask if anyone
could give me directions.  The chef waved a carving knife on an imaginary map in the air, which
showed me that we had been on the right track.  We returned to the property and on closer inspection
found “Marshalls Farm” written on a board, half hidden in the hedge.

The house itself was set well back from the road.  In the 19th century, there had been a white picket
fence around the front garden, separating it from the farmyards and barns.  A photograph of the family
taken in 1888 and a ‘snap’ of the late 1940s show that the house and garden had changed very little
between those dates.  However by the time my husband and I visited Marshalls in 1992, there had
been many alterations to the scene.

It was with some trepidation that I went to the door to knock; but  found to my relief that,  as unexpected
visitors, we were very kindly received by Mrs Lywood and permitted to take some photographs.  In
comparison with the early postcard, we could see that the house itself had been reduced in scale, a
large portion having been removed from the front.  Referring to another photograph, we could see
where the family had been seated for the group photos taken in 1888, a year before John Downer’s
death.  

At the end of the Second World War, cousin Jack Davies (son of Una, the young baby in the Downer
family group photograph) had called at Marshalls.  From a snap taken on that occasion, one can see
the huge oak tree overshadowing the house.  It was later cut down; but even now, a depressed circle
of wide circumference in the lawn, shows what a mighty tree it had once been.

The dairy opposite the kitchen, as described by my father, was still there; but instead of equipment to
make butter, it now housed garden tools and children’s tricycles. The fields surrounding the
homestead must have seen many changes over two centuries, being used for cropping, fruit growing
and now back to pasture.

The farm, we were told, greatly increased in acreage and stock, was doing well and running a very
large dairy herd for town milk supply.  
I came away with a feeling of satisfaction of having visited Marshalls, a mood, which soon gave way to
curiosity about Marshall’s past, and the Downers who lived there.  During the past few years I have
derived a great deal of pleasure in discovering  a little about the lives of our Downer forebears  and the
village they lived in.

















































The last of the Downer family to farm Marshalls, Arthur, with his daughter Peggy.



Supplementary Notes

List of Downer names on headstones in the Kirdford Graveyard.
Ref No                name                                        year of birth                        year of death

398                Arthur                                1706                                1783
“                Thomas                                1708                                1792
271                Elizabeth age 55                        1744                                1799
“                Thomas age 67                        1743                                1811
273                Elizabeth age 29                        1780                                1809
275                Elizabeth                        1845                                1906
“                   John                                1843                                1889
268                John                                1683                                1753
272                John                                1853                                1882
279        John                                1755                                1832
514                Joseph Swan                        1850                                1886
275                Elizabeth                        1789                                1833
278                Martha                                1820                                1895
282                Mary                                1809                                1900
283                Thomas                                1800                                1855
270                Thomas                                1783                                1783
280                Rhodi                                1820                                1863
344                Downer Herrington                1849                                1852


Burials from parish register, not on graveyard list.

              Margaret Downer                        19 Jun 1697
              John , son of John Downer                10 Oct 1717        (see 1st chapter)
              Mary wife of John Downer                23 Jun 1731    (or 1734)
              Anne wife of John Downer                11 Sep 1751
              Elizabeth Downer                        09 Oct 1783
              Thomas Downer                        18 Nov 1783
              John Downer                                06 Mar 1787




It is known that there were a number of people by the name of Downer living in adjacent parishes
when our first known John took over Marshalls Farm and it is quite a common name throughout West
Sussex and Hampshire, particularly near the coast. In the course of collecting material for this book
the following Downer names were noted. Whether any were related to our Downers cannot be proved
at the time of writing.

1.        John Downer, miller of Cranly who borrowed money from Thomas senior of Marshalls. (A
cousin?)
2.        Bap. of  Hannah daughter of John Downer and Sarah at Wisborough Green in 1642
3.        Bap. son of John Downer and Elizabeth 1665 at Wis. Gr.
4.        John Downer married Elizabeth Smart 1777 at Wis. Gr.
4.        Bap of John son of John Downer and Elizabeth 1787 at Wis. Gr.
5.        Bap of Avis Downer 1791Daughter of John Downer and Elizabeth at Wis Gr. ( Avis had
illegitimate son John         1816 by James Napper)
6.         In 1832 a John Downer, born at Wis. Gr. immigrated to Canada with his mother Avis Napper
(nee Downer                 who married James Napper in 1820)           
7.        This young John Downer married a Petworth  emigrant Lucy Rapley, in Canada where they
raised a large         family.  A gravestone reads, ‘In memory of John Downer, died Mar 28 1885 aged 69
years.  Blessed are the         dead who (die) in the Lord’ (Items 1-7 are believed to refer to the same
extended family)
***
8.        Items from Add.ms Catalogue, County Record Office, Chichester, Sussex, concerning a
well         to do Downer         family originating from Aldingbourne.  Property in Billingshurst, near
Kirdford,        referred to.
9.        John, b1748 and Thomas, b1750, sons of John Downer and Ann and baptised at Kirdford.7