ARCHIVE OF THE LORD FAMILY OF NORTHIAM, EAST SUSSEX, AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Introduction

This archive is principally that of the Lord family from Goteley Manor and Church House, Northiam, in the later 19th and 20th centuries, of their descendants in South Africa from the end of the 19th century, and of members of the Wall family of England, Australia and South Africa, who were related to the Lords by the marriage of Eleanor (Nell) Wall to Arthur Lord in 1904.

The papers are those preserved by Arthur Frederic Lord of Johannesburg, South Africa (1869-1942) and his wife Eleanor (Nell) Wall (c1875-c1953), and then by their son Eric Lord (1908-1985) and his wife Claudine. Because they include many letters from England, they are at least as informative about the English family dimension as they are about life in South Africa. The first transfer of papers from South Africa to the East Sussex Record Office was made in 1986, but Eric Lord had visited England before his death, and had made arrangements for his material to have a safe home in his home county. A convenient outline pedigree of the Lord family will be found at AMS 6184/1/2, and in the appendix to this introduction.

The Lords had been active in East Sussex since at least the end of the 16th century, though generally as yeoman farmers or as the incumbents of parishes rather than as major landowners. Not only did they produce a prodigious number of clerics, but they often married clergy daughters as well. The earliest ancestor to be noted is Thomas Lord, rector of Ore from 1594 to ?1602, vicar of Salehurst 1596-1640, and rector of Warbleton 1605-1640 (the date of his death). He purchased the advowson of Salehurst in 1621, and his son sold it in 1677 (VCH Sussex 9 224).

Thomas's son John Lord (1614-1681) was also the vicar of Salehurst, from 1640 until his death, and rector of Brightling 1663-1681. His tithe account books for both parishes survive (Salehurst 1649-1660, PAR 477 6/1/1 and Brightling 1663-1666, PAR 254 6/7), and the former in particular includes many memoranda of general interest. The Salehurst book features largely in L J Hodson's History of the Parish of Salehurst (1914), where Lord's fondness for litigation to recover his tithes is noted. His 5th child, Thomas Lord (1665-1728), was rector of Ore 1691-1718, and vicar of Ticehurst 1718-1728.

This Thomas's 7th child, William Lord (1708-1779), was the first of five successive Lords who were rectors of Northiam from 1749 until 1913. William became rector in 1749 in succession to Thankful Frewen, acquiring the advowson; he was also rector of Salehurst 1772-79. In 1750 he married Frewen's great-niece Mary, daughter of Thomas Frewen of the Church House (Northiam) branch of that family. Thomas died in 1767, when his lands in Northiam and elsewhere descended to his three daughters Mary Lord, Elizabeth Jenkin and Anne Frewen/Buckner. A map of Stent Farm in Northiam and Beckley, 1803 (AMS 5878) records the continuing joint ownership of the estates by their representatives, which was resolved by division only after dispute in 1827/28. Eventually, after some complicated dealings, Goteley and Church House passed to the Lord family (LRD 1/2).

The Revd William Lord had twelve children, of whom the eldest, William Lord (1752-1813), was vicar of Salehurst 1772-1779, and then succeeded his father as rector of Northiam (1779-1813). He was unmarried.

Some personal accounts, 1786-1801, are preserved in the Frewen archive (FRE 535, 536). Another son was Henry Lord (1760-1836), who was a master at Merchant Taylors School (1783-1796), then rector of Barfreston in Kent (1801-1836), and succeeded his elder brother as rector of Northiam (1813-1836). Henry's son, William Edward Lord (1808-1856) succeeded to the rectory of Northiam (1836-1856), as in turn did the latter's younger brother John Octavus Lord ('Uncle Octy', 1823-1913) (1856-1913). These continuing Northiam connections ensured that this particular branch kept close contact with the Goteley/Church House branch of the Lords described below, and indeed they figure to some extent in the correspondence listed here. In particular, some of the Revd Henry Lord's great-grandchildren lived in South Africa and maintained links with their cousins there (see pedigree notes for details).

The eighth son of the Revd William Lord (1708-1779) was George Lord (1762-1843) of Yew Tree, Northiam. A descendant of his eldest son George, a miller of Sellinge, Kent, was Derek Lord of Sandwich (born 1927), whose personal papers are independently deposited at Lewes (AMS 6184), and who is referred to in the papers here as having made contact with the Church House branch in later years (he visited the South African Lords in 1957/58).

However, it was the descendants of George's fourth son Edward Lord (1797-1874), tenant of Goteley Manor, Northiam, who mainly figure here, and indeed a few of Edward's own letters survive (LRD 2/1 series). The 1851 census of Northiam records him as a farmer of 225 acres, employing 19 men, and sale particulars of 1858 show his tenure of Goteley and Goddens Farms (XSP 66). Edward married as his second wife Sarah Winser (1797-1874), and they had one child, James Winser Lord (1842-1938), of Church House, Northiam, a prominent local farmer, churchwarden and officeholder. By his first wife Elizabeth Winser (1843-1886) James had five children, all of whom figure to a greater or lesser extent in these papers. James himself, who farmed at Church House until his death at the age of 96, was the author of a number of these letters, as was his second wife Rosa Eliza Batt (1849-1935), a supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

A clear picture of the somewhat spartan life at Church House emerges from the letters, which remained the residence after James' death of his two redoubtable spinster daughters Annie (1866-1964), and Gladys (1885-1965). Annie in particular was herself a prolific correspondent, many of whose letters to her brother and nephew in South Africa survive from 1904 to 1961 (shortly before her death at the age of 98). They are particularly graphic concerning the billetting, etc, of troops in the 2nd World War (she commented in 1940 that "we are ... fit & very ferocious & feel quite ready to kill a Hun ourselves"). Unfortunately the return letters from South Africa to Northiam do not survive, since Annie destroyed them during the last war to prevent their falling into enemy or other undesirable hands. The Church House Lords kept close contact with their Frewen relatives of Brickwall.

Of the three sons of James Winser Lord, the eldest, Edward (1864-1946) married in 1891 (to the family's displeasure) a maidservant called Ada, and went to live and farm in Kansas, U.S.A. His relations thereafter with Northiam were strained (though not completely broken). However, he wrote a few very long letters (LRD 20 series) to his brother Arthur in South Africa, which are almost a caricature of American homespun folksiness, and convey a clear picture of the spread and activities of his family.

Another son was Moreton (1867-1958), who worked in partnership with his father for a time, living for some years at Goteley Manor, but he also contracted a marriage deemed unsuitable particularly by his step-mother and sisters, and relationships deteriorated. The partnership was effectively over by the late 1920's. No letters from Moreton survive here. Moreton's adopted son Robert was the last representative of the Lord family to live in Northiam (though relatives of the name abound elsewhere).

It was the third son, Arthur Frederic (1869-1942) who moved to South Africa. Educated at Clifton House School, Eastbourne (1879-1886), he was apprenticed for four years to George Fletcher & Co., an engineering firm in Derbyshire (1886-1890), before going out to South Africa in 1890. Here he worked as an engineer for mining companies, becoming based in Johannesburg in 1891 (and thus one of the earliest settlers there). In 1895 he served in 'Bettington's Horse', at the time of the Jameson Raid. It was disbanded the following year. Then he worked for a time in Johannesburg (mainly for Edelstein's), until in 1899 he joined the Rhodesia Regiment under Baden Powell and Plumer, and was wounded by being shot in the arm near the River Limpopo. Returning to England in 1900 to recuperate, he was shipwrecked two days out when the Mexican ran aground, and lost most of his possessions.

It is from this point that most of his letters and papers survive, and he returned to Johannesburg to resume his career as a mining engineer. In 1903 he met Nell Wall (see below), newly arrived to seek her errant brothers, and the two were married in 1904 Initially they lived at 'Northiam' (or 'Northiam Lodge'), 104 Regent Street, Belle Vue, Johannesburg (though Arthur was often away lodging in mine houses), and their first child Joan was born in 1905. Because this was a difficult birth Nell returned to England in 1908 for the birth of Eric; and they had a third child Peter in 1917.

The family moved in October 1912 to a new house at 'Northiam', 5th Avenue, Florida (Johannesburg), and in July 1916 to 30 Yeo Street, Yeoville, in the Linden area of Johannesburg. Later they moved to a small farm at Linden (the formal address was on Third Avenue), where the family lived for several years. This last expanded on Nell's early attempts to supplement their income by poultry rearing, etc, and they became involved in fruit production, especially of peaches.

Much of the material here was assembled by Arthur and Nell Lord, and represents their correspondence and papers as passed on to their son Eric (below). Although it throws quite a lot of light on their life (and that of relations) in South Africa, much of the correspondence is that sent to South Africa by family and friends in England. In particular (as noted above) there are many letters from their Lord relatives at Northiam, so one gets at least as good a commentary on life there between about 1904 and 1960 as one does about local affairs. The South African Lords also visited England on various occasions. The letters are listed in detail, and it is their cumulative effect, rather than any single dramatic item, which paints a fascinating picture of an emigrant family, of their relations with home, and of their unselfconscious attitudes to the politics and issues of the day. Not least, the letters illustrate the economic tightrope which such families (at both ends of the correspondence) had to walk in pre-social security days.

Arthur himself died suddenly in 1942; his widow lived on at Linden with Eric until her death in c1953. Of the other two children, Joan attended Roedean School at Park Town, Johannesburg. She trained in dancing in England (visiting her relations at Church House and elsewhere), but in 1932 married Kenneth Fernsby, and they settled in Southern Rhodesia to grow tobacco. They had two children, but ran into difficulties because Kenneth developed Parkinson's Disease. Her brother Peter developed mental problems and lived at home until in due course he had to be cared for professionally; he died in c1962.

Eric Lord (1908-1985) attended Park Town School, Mountain View, Johannesburg. Before the last War he seems to have lived at Linden assisting with the farm (since Arthur was often away at the mines). Latterly, however, he worked as an accountant with the United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd of Cape Town. Called up in 1940 for service in the South African Air Force, he continued studying for professional qualifications, and was still based in South Africa when his father died (so he was on hand to help his mother for a time). In 1943 he was posted to North Africa (mainly Tunisia), and later the same year was in Italy. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1944, shortly before returning to South Africa. Many letters from or to Eric survive from this period, and indeed form the biggest single group to throw light on him and his life, but one has to read between the lines to discover much about the war itself, because of censorship restrictions.

After his father's death Eric maintained regular contact with Northiam (mainly Annie Lord), and the correspondence goes on to 1961, but the later period is less well documented than the early days. A year or so before his death he and his wife Claudine visited Lewes seeking a home for the family papers, a proposal which was warmly welcomed, and whose result is seen here.

There was more than one side to the correspondence, however, since it also concerns the family of Arthur Lord's wife Nell (Eleanor Maud), who was born in about 1875, the seventh child of Thomas Robert Whowall and his wife Sarah (Poole). The father was proprietor of a cab company in the Shepherds Bush/Hammersmith area of London. All the children (ten in all) figure in one way or another in the correspondence, and their world-wide contacts with each other (sometimes sketchy) add considerably to the interest of the archive. They all used the form Wall for their surname, as a modification of Whowall. Briefly, they were:

Ada (or 'Sir', c1858-1928); married Col. William Moir and lived at Sidmouth.

Thomas (Tom, born 1860); an actor in England.

James (Jim, born c1862); emigrated to Australia and became a bookmaker; he had a family.

William ('Tosh', born c1865); emigrated to Australia and became a bookmaker.

Emma ('Em', c1869-1949); married Fred Bunting and had a family who figure in the correspondence; she lived latterly in Kent.

Henry (Harry or 'Brown', c1872-1912); emigrated to Australia but died early of diabetes; he had a family

Eleanor (Nell); married Arthur Lord

Minnie (Min or 'Black', born c1875); a repertory actress in England.

Percy (1881, living 1950); became a mining engineer in South Africa, later a farmer, who (with his wife Beatrice or Bea) kept close contact with Arthur and Nell in the earlier years.

Frank (1884-1951); a mining employee in South Africa who appears to have returned to England after the First World War.

Nell's own early story is astonishing. In 1898, at the age of 23, worrying that the family had lost contact with the three Australian brothers, she went there to find them and restore communication before returning to London. By 1900 her immediately younger brother Percy had gone to South Africa and was serving in the Boer War, where he was joined in 1901 by the youngest brother Frank, who had hated school, and subsequently found that life at sea was not for him. Both brothers sought employment after the war in diamond mining in South Africa, though Percy was to serve for a time in the Natal Police. Both brothers were to try Australia as an alternative, but returned to South Africa and mining.

In 1903 Nell became worried about the two, and set off for South Africa to trace them. Here she met and married Arthur Lord, and her story becomes merged with that family. She kept a sisterly eye on Percy and Frank for some time, however, and extensive correspondence with them (and with Percy's wife Beatrice, an Australian, whom he married in 1909) exists down to the end of the First World War. Both Percy and Frank served in British regiments in the War, Percy being injured and subsequently returning to farm cattle in Natal. Correspondence with both brothers dropped considerably thereafter (or at least does not survive).

Nell kept up to some extent with her three sisters, though the longest connection seems to have been with the family of her sister Emma. This was both through correspondence and through visits to England, but Minnie visited her in South Africa in 1910.

The family's connection with the Frewens, both as relatives and neighbours, has resulted in a great many references to the Lords in the Frewen archive, ESRO FRE. It must be said that the Frewens were frequently antagonistic to the Lords, and in particular the Revd William Lord (1752-1813) and his son the Revd Henry Lord (1760-1836) aroused the ire of contemporary Frewens. For examples, see FRE 2265 (William Lord 'more mad than ever' after a tithe-dispute, c1810), FRE 2157 (Henry Lord 'a great scamp', 1790) and FRE 2176 (Charles Lord 'a beastly inhabitant and such a disagreeable neighbour', 1807). In 1851 Elizabeth Lord, wife of the Revd William Edward Lord (1808-1856), made transcripts of letters from members of the Frewen family to the Revd William Lord. The transcripts are now in the Frewen archive, FRE 847; the originals are no longer in the Lord archive.

Family Papers

LRD 1/1 Pedigree Papers

LRD 1/2 Legal Papers

LRD 1/3 Personal Papers

Family Correspondence

LRD 2/1-34 The Lord Family

LRD 2/35-42 The Wall Family

Photographs

LRD 3/1 Church House, Northiam, & the Lord Family in England

LRD 3/2 Arthur & Nell Lord and family (mainly South Africa)

LRD 3/3 South African Mining

LRD 3/4 Eric & Claudine Lord

LRD 3/5 The American Lords

LRD 3/6 The Wall Family

LRD 3/7 Negatives

LRD 3/8 Modern Prints from Negatives

LRD 3/9 South African Photographs and Views

LRD 3/10 English Views

<p>For additional material, see ACC 8394; for a photocopy pedigree of the Frewen family of Brickwall in Northiam, and the Lord family of Northiam, [1473] - Jan 1922, see ACC 8415</p>

Deposited in the East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, by Mrs Claudine Lord, 1986-1993

(Accessions 4611, 5862, 5874, 6070)