The Beeston Land Society was formed by a group of prominent local citizens, on 9th August 1877, to acquire land in Beeston that had been granted to The Vicar at the Enclosure in 1809, in lieu of Tithes, to lay in out for residential building, make the building plots available for sale and to manage the resulting estate, centred on Devonshire Avenue, Beeston. known as St Johns Grove. Under the terms of its constitution, three Trustees were assisted by an elected Committee. By October 1878, all the plots had been purchased by its initial investors. A brief description of each of those involved is given here:

Three were appointed - James Butler, Joseph Orchard and William Roberts, each of whom was also an investor. Their details are shown under that heading.

In addition to the Trustees, five others were appointed initially - William Flewitt, Benjamin Collington, Francis Wilkinson and Robert Lowe, each of whom was also an investor. Their details are shown under that heading.
James Butler was appointed Treasurer and Robert Hogg as Secretary.

James Butler – was born in 1819 in Halifax, Nova Scotia the son of James Butler, a Major in the Army, and spent his childhood in Dublin before studying medicine in London. After qualification as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, he came to Beeston to become assistant to Dr Orton, later becoming a partner and continuing the practice alone after the death of Dr Orton. He was to serve Beeston as a doctor for the whole of his working life – about 50 years in total, including 30 years as Medical Officer of Health for the district as well as having medical care to a large range of local organisations. He had met and married Elizabeth Buckmaster in 1843 while still in London and they immediately moved to Beeston so that James could join Dr Orton’s practice. At first, they lived on Chapel Street but later moved to the Manor House where Dr Orton lived and practiced. They were to have no children and Elizabeth died in 1877 aged only 54. In 1888, he married Charlotte Waite (née Gent) the widow of Francis Usher Waite, the son of a London surgeon. Francis, who had worked as a brewer, had been living at The Willows in Beeston with his family, just prior to his death in Brighton in 1881, aged just 34, leaving two daughters. James and Charlotte lived at Manor Lodge on Middle Street, opposite the Manor House, up to James’s death in February 1893, aged 73. He was buried in Beeston Cemetery where his memorial survives. He left personal effects valued at £980. His widow lived out her life in Beeston,joined by her widowed mother, latterly resident at 2 Glebe Street, Beeston, that had been built on Plot 27 of the St Johns Grove development, one of two purchased by James at its formation. Charlotte died in March 1912 and is buried with James in Beeston Cemetery.

Benjamin Collington – was born in Loughborough, Leicestershire in about 1829, the son of James and Ann Collington. By 1851, he and his younger brother had moved to Nottingham and were living with their widowed niece, Ann Adams (née Hose), and her son and Benjamin had found work as a lace maker. In March 1852 he married Ann at St Leodigarius Church, Basford, Notts and they went on to live in Beeston where he traded as a grocer on Albion Street and later on what is now Wollaton Road. By 1876, he had begun an interest in public service and stood for election for the Beeston Local Board and was one of three elected and topped the poll. He and his wife had two children who survived infancy - a son, James Benjamin (1853-1932) and a daughter Annie (1858-1932). James became a schoolteacher and taught at the National School in Beeston. Annie married John Fletcher Oldham (1857-1938) who was also a schoolteacher. Benjamin died in February 1909 leaving effects amounting to £3,834.

William Flewitt – was born in Nottingham in about 1825. He was the son of William and Mary (née Ball) who had each arrived in Nottingham, from Lincolnshire by the time of their marriage at St Marys Church in April 1852 and went on to develop a successful bakery, eventually based on Barker Gate, Nottingham. William junior, their son, was to follow a different trade, that of plumber and glazier. By his early 20s he was already employing two men, and this was eventually to grow to ten or more over time. In April 1852 at St Marys Church, Nottingham, he married Catherine Dean, the daughter of John & Amy (née Day) Dean. John had acquired the White Lion Inn in Beeston in 1843 and, after his death in 1847, Amy continued to keep the inn until her own death in 1864 and it was then acquired by William Flewitt who, in conjunction with his wife and despite the continuing responsibility of his plumbing business and a large – and still growing – family, was able to run the inn right up to his death in December 1882, aged only 57. Administration of his estate, valued at £2,387 was granted to his widow, Catherine who then moved to live on Queens Road, Beeston with her then unmarried son Edward and two daughters. She died in August 1903 and was buried with her husband in Beeston churchyard where their memorial stone survives. Her mother’s memorial stone also survives there. Edward Flewitt continued his father’s plumbing business. In 1898, he married Mary Edith Lilian Newell and died in 1920.

Robert Hogg – was born in Nottingham in 1829 in relatively humble circumstances, the son of Robert Hogg (1793-1865) and his wife Sarah (née Edson (1993-1855). Robert senior was a framework-knitter, working at a time when the trade was particularly difficult although, by 1851, he had begun to specialise in making silk gloves, from the family home on Weekday Cross in Nottingham which may well have given him a slight advantage. Happily, Robert junior clearly showed early promise and, as a young man, managed to be accepted, initially as a writing clerk, by the legal firm of Watson and Wadsworth which was also based on Weekday Cross. He was to work for the firm during the whole of his working life, through several partner changes and corresponding changes of name – by 1881 it was ‘Watson, Wadsworth & Ward’ - for the majority of the time, as the firm’s Managing Clerk. In January 1852, he married Ellen Miller. the daughter of Marmaduke and Mary (née Hodkinson) Miller. born in Basford in 1833. Early in their marriage, the couple made their home in the Sneinton area of Nottingham but later moved to live on Sherwood Street, Nottingham. They had five children, the youngest of which, Marmaduke Miller Hogg, tragically died accidently in September 1866, aged 21 months. In June 1869, Ellen died, apparently from a heart condition, aged only 35. Robert then moved to Sherwood Street, Nottingham where he cared for his four remaining children with live-in domestic help. In September 1877, he married Louisa Ward, a widow (née Deakin). Coincidently, this was around the time of the formation of the Beeston Land Society when Robert was appointed its Secretary and he was able to subscribe for Plot 6 on Cavendish Place and went on to build one of the first houses on the St Johns Grove Estate and to move in with his bride. Two children were born to the couple in the few years they were together. Sadly, Louisa died in April 1889, aged only 42, after a long and painful illness. For a while, Robert continued to live at the Beeston property with two adult, unmarried children and two others who were still at school. His photograph (Right) is probably from that era. By 1901, however, he had moved to live at 25 Church Street, Lenton, Nottingham, still with four adult unmarried children. He died in February 1902, aged 73 leaving effects valued at £1,859.

Edward Turner Jones – was born in about 1828 in Middlewich, Cheshire, the son of Edward & Mary (née Turner) Jones. Although his mother was widowed at a young age, happily she was able to live a comfortable life with her well-provided widowed mother and other family members and Edward was able to gain a position as a clerk with an assurance company in London. In 1854, he married Frances Ellen Holder Christie, the daughter of Robert & Matilda Hart (née Holder) Christie. Robert, born in Scotland in about 1787, was a surgeon who spent much of his career with the Honorable East India Company Service in the Far East. By 1856, Edward and Frances and their then two children moved to Nottingham where Edward had taken the position of clerk for a silk merchant and set up home on Forest Road. By 1861, their family of four was complete and they were living comfortable with the assistance of two servants. Sadly, however, Frances died in May 1867, aged only 34 and, in June 1870, Edward married Mary Ann Keirby, the eldest daughter of William and Mary Keirby, in Brixton, Surrey. By 1871, they had established a new home on Broadgate, Beeston and Edward had taken the position of clerk at the silk mill and, within ten years, had been promoted to take over as manager of the Beeston factory and moved to the adjacent manager’s house on Brown Lane (now Station Road). Edward died in October 1890, aged 62 and was buried in Beeston Cemetery where his memorial and that of his wife, who died in 1916, survives. His estate effects were valued at £6,902.

William Kirkland - as the youngest son of Henry Kirkland, the pioneer Beeston lace manufacturer and Wesleyan Methodist, the life of William has been discussed on this site in the context of these endeavors - more here. As we saw, he was born in Beeston in 1823 to Henry & Ann (née Slack) Kirkland. As a boy he was apprenticed as a throwster at the silk mill rather than a more obvious career in his father’s lace business, but this changed after his older surviving brothers emigrated or entered the Wesleyan Ministry and he became directly involved in the family lace business. In October 1850, he married Eliza James (b. c1830, Nottingham) and, for the time being, the couple lived at the Manor House in Beeston, where William had been brought up, and went on to have two children. After his father’s death in 1853, William took over control of the lace making business which appears to have prospered initially but began to decline over the years up to its closure in the 1880s. In 1872, he had acquired The Grange, the Georgian property on Chilwell Road, almost opposite Devonshire Avenue (which was, in recent years, used as the Police Area Headquarters) where he and his wife were to live in some style until 1885 when he sold the property to Edward Smith for £3,500 - close to £300,000 in today’s values. Although he had purchased two plots of land in the St Johns Grove scheme, for some reason he chose not to build a house for himself there, settling instead at 3 Humber Road, Beeston. Perhaps he and his wife considered it was a more appropriate, late-in-life option. He died in May 1894 leaving effects recorded as only £144 in the Probate Calendar. However, as this was prior to a change that took effect in 1898, this would not have included any real estate that he owned and we know from an auction sale of the Beeston property that he owned a shop, houses and cottages on Church Street, the lace factory and cottages on Moorgate and two cottages on William Street as well as plots 4 and 15 in St Johns Grove. His widow continued to live at the Humber Road address for some years but had moved to live with her daughter’s family in Belfast up to her death in November 1913, aged 83. She left an estate with effects in England valued at £2,411.

Robert Lowe – was a relatively young man when he became one of the original investors in the St Johns Grove development. He was born in 1844 in Beeston, one of at least nine children of John & Ann (née Shilcock) Lowe. John spent all his married life working in relatively poorly paid jobs – variously as a groom and a gardener – and moved to various Beeston addresses on Market Street, Villa Street and Chapel Street during that time. In his history of Beeston Parish Church (1927), George Deverill pointed out the unusual carved figure of a boy at the top of one of the arches and suggested that the masons who worked on its restoration in 1844, had lodged with the Lowes and carved a likeness of John - or more probably Edward, his elder brother - as a compliment to their hosts. It is clear that John & Ann encouraged their children to better things - their two eldest surviving daughters, Anne and Sarah, ran a drapers shop on Chapel Street; another daughter, Jane, married the well-established local plumber, William Heard while, for his part, Robert worked as a clearly well-respected clerk/accountant for the whole of his working life. By 1877, then aged 32, felt secure enough to marry Elizabeth Huggins who was born in Birmingham in about 1850 although how she met Robert is unclear. In 1878 Robert invested in plot 3 of the St Johns Grove development, now the site of Oban House, but appears to have sold it and later acquired Plot 26 – or, more probably, half of it - on Glebe Street where they built a house and lived out heir lives. He died in October 1928 followed, in October 1935, by his wife..

William Neville - was born in Radford, Nottingham in 1847, the son of William & Mary Ann (née Newbold) Neville. William senior was a lace agent and machine owner, and it is therefore not surprising that his sons William and Charles followed him into the trade. By 1871, William had moved to Beeston and had established himself as a lace manufacturer as a tenant in Pollard’s Bank Factory on Cross Street. He was soon joined there by his younger brother Charles and by 1881 they were employing 31 man and 18 women. It is perhaps significant that, even by 1878, he was confident enough to invest in a plot in the St Johns Grove development, although the family never lived there themselves. Together, the brothers went on develop and enlarge what had been Wilmot’s workshop on the High Road in Chilwell to become Neville’s Factory astride the boundary of Beeston and Chilwell which, in its heyday, was a major enterprise providing upwards of 60 standings for its tenants alongside their own business and an extra wing specifically built for one of its tenants. In November 1887, he married Florence Luntley, born in 1854 in Croydon to James, an artist, and his wife Elizabeth (née Letch) who had moved to Beeston by about 1860 and had made their home in Station Villas, Beeston. Dorothy, their daughter was born in 1892. Florence passed away on May 1910 followed, in December 1926, by William. His estate was valued at £2,786. In 1934, the factory began to be partly occupied by Myfords, founded by Cecil Moore, which went on to become a market leader in small lathe manufacture. By 1940s the last lace maker had left and Myfords occupied the whole building. They closed down in 2011 following which, the building, a local landmark for about 120 years, was demolished and the site redeveloped.

Joseph Orchard - was born in nearby Long Eaton in January 135, the youngest of at least five children of Joseph (cir1806-1862) and Ann (née Laughton, cir 1906-1889) Orchard. As a young man, he had joined the family lace making business which had been established in Long Eaton since 1829 and, by 1850, they had built Bank Street Mill there and this eventually became the centre of Joseph junior’s business interests which grew to take in two other lace trade factories in Nottingham. In 1874 he married Emma Ann Mary Burton (b. 1841, Hyson Green) and they briefly made their home on Station Road, Beeston, where the first of their two children was born. They later established their home at Fern House, Long Eaton. In the final years of his life, up to his death in June 1902, he was in a bad state of health at a time when his business affairs became complicated by the need to settle an amount of £34,000 lent to his company by the notorious Ernest Terah Hooley. A deal was eventually negotiated which involved selling his two Nottingham businesses. He died in June 1902, aged 68, leaving £52,315 including net personal effects of £7,190. He is buried in Long Eaton Cemetery

William Roberts – was born in 1825 in Beeston, the eldest son of William (1793-1867) and Elizabeth (née Foster) Roberts. As a young man, he established himself as a grocer in Beeston and, following his father’s death in 1871, he was able to move to property that his father owned on the south side of what became The Square and continued to develop his business which, in 1888, he sold to John Frederick Doar who had been his apprentice and assistants in turn. Two generations of the Doar family were to trade there. William had married Sarah Cullen but they were to have no children. William went on to involve himself in many aspects of public life including membership of the Local Board, and of the School Board (from 1880), Trusteeship of the Wesleyan School (from 1891) and, for 33 years, a member of the Basford Board of Guardians, including 17 years as Vice-Chairman. In 1881 he helped to negotiate the purchase of and helped to design the cemetery on Wollaton Road. The Cullens, a family of Congregationists, were able to trust William as executor to their respective estates which would amount to several million pounds in today’s value. In 1883 the family entrusted him with £5000 – close to £500,000 today – to build and endow the Miss Cullen Memorial Homes in Sherwood, Nottingham. After Sarah’s death in 1887, William married her cousin. Lucy Emily Cullen and, again there were no children of the marriage. After William had sold the business in the following year, the couple moved to live at Acacia House on Acacia Walk, Beeston where he remained up to his death in June 1917. He was buried in the cemetery in Beeston that he helped to design and where his memorial survives.. His estate was valued at £14,985. His wife Lucy, who died in July 1928, was buried with him in Beeston Cemetery and left £29,747.

Rufus Sisson – was born in Stanton-by-Dale, Derbyshire in 1841, the son of Samuel & Mary (née Barber) Sisson. His father died when he was ten and he went to live with his sister’s family for a while, finding work at the local iron works as an engine tenter. By the time he was 25, he had moved to Beeston, where he married Sarah Bleaney. They were to have no children, Sarah being much older that Rufus. By 1868, he had become a Licenced Victualler and was keeping the Prince of Wales on the High Road at the corner of what is now City Road. By the time that he had sold the Prince of Wales in 1874, he was also operating as a Cab Proprietor, owned several adjacent properties and had brought his nephew, Samuel Sisson, from Stanton-by-Dale to assist in the cab business which Samuel was later to take over. Rufus was very active in the sporting community in Beeston and in Long Eaton. He was connected with Beeston Cricket Club for 26 years and was its Secretary for 23 years. He was also a member of Nottingham Sacred Harmonic Society. He served twice on the Beeston Local Board. Having acquired Lot 2 of the St Johns Grove Estate, on the corner of Chilwell Road and Devonshire Avenue, he built the pair of semi-detached villas that now stand opposite the church and laid out the remainder, on the corner of Devonshire Avenue as a tennis court. Sadly, he died there in April 1894, at the relatively young age of 52. Although his effects were valued at only £111, this would not have included the property he owned which included eight properties on the High Road, the pair of villas on Chilwell Road and the piece of land on the corner of Devonshire Avenue. He and his wife, who died in 1900, are buried in Beeston Cemetery where a memorial survives.

William Thornhill – was born in Beeston in 1834, the son of William Mary Ann (née Lowe) Thornhill. Both father and son were well-known tailors with prominent premises on the High Road. As a boy, he had been sent to school at the King Edward Grammar School in Birmingham and then served an apprentice in London where he learned cutting from amongst the best in the tailoring world. In 1855, he married Eliza Wibberley, the youngest daughter if Isaac Wibberley, the head gamekeeper at nearby Wollaton Hall. They were to have eleven children before Eliza’s early death, in 1875, aged only 39. After his father died in 1876, William was in full control of the tailoring business, but he also took an interest and invested in the development of housing in Beeston, notably taking a lead in the development of Imperial Park Land Society and of Belle Vue Land Society, each of which were to abut St Johns Grove. In 1887 he married Rose (née Markham), the widow of Maurice Boot and landlady of the Commercial Inn on Wollaton Road, Beeston. Click Here to find more about this phase of his life. He died in 1910, aged 76 and was buried with his first wife in Beeston Churchyard where their memorial survives.

John Watson – was born in Nottingham in 1830, the son of John & Sarah (née Stretton) Watson. John senior, a banker with Wrights Bank had moved to Beeston after his wife died in 1837 to take over control of the Silk Mill, along with Francis Gill. He was to live out his life in The Villa, the substantial house that then stood near the end of Villa Street, now the site of Boots the Chemist. During that time, he invested substantially in property in Beeston. Following his death in 1876, the house and mill were taken over by his son – John junior’s brother, Samuel Watson. John Watson junior practiced as a solicitor in Nottingham after Articles as a solicitor's clerk in London. He served as the first Registrar of Southwell. He married Elizabeth Anne Braithwaite in 1855 and they made their home in Nottingham's Park Estate. There were no children of the marriage. At his death in 1889. he left nearly £40,000.

William Walker, the younger - apparently described as ‘a farmer, of Chilwell’ has not, currently, been identified.

Francis Wilkinson - was a very prominent businessman in Beeston whose life, achievements and ups-and-downs of his business life have been explored in some detail elsewhere in this site – see more here.

Elizabeth Brett Wilkinson - was born in Plumtree, Notts in 1840, one of at least 11 children of William & Ann (née Brett) Stephenson. In 1872, she married Francis Wilkinson - in Warwick for some unknown reason. They had five children. She died in 1908 in Beeston and is buried in Beeston Cemetery with her husband and two of their sons. Their imposing memorial can be seen here