Clophill House

After Bosanquet the next tenant was the curate, T. Gardner, for a few years. He was followed by Alfred Whittaker, described as 'Captain'. He had a little girl called Edie and was said to be a leading light at one of the two Methodist Chapels in the village and to have employed some of the village men doing building work in the garden during a particularly hard winter, possibly adding the bridge over the ha-ha and a tennis court on what is now the top lawn, extending the garden to its current form.

In 1885 the house was let again, this time to Mrs Allen and her sister and brother in law Mr and Mrs William Evan. All were immensely fat; one was said to weigh 24 stone and had to have a special carriage. They also kept monkeys in the dining room. The house was again offered up to let in 1895, now with hot and cold water and two lavatories.

The new tenant, Henry Beasley Croscomb, was described as a traveller 'in soap' and added some of the urns to the walls. He was also a 'Free Churchman of note and a Liberal' and was Chair of the Wesleyan Anniversary. A later owner from the 1930's, Mary Phillips, talks of speaking with an elderly Mr Taylor who had been groom to the Croscombs aged 16 between 1895 and 1896. Croscombe died in 1903 and we have the text of a newspaper account of his funeral, which was held in the gardens of Clophill House and jointly led by the Rev Horace Meyer (the Rector), the Rev A.B.Middlewich Finchley (Nonconformist) who gave the sermon and the Rev C.V.Pike (Baptist, from Ampthill) who said the prayers. Croscomb was a much respected and kindly man.

The funeral report also informs us that the grave was lined with ferns, sweatpeas, petunias, lilies and roses, the handiwork of Mr Durston, Head Gardener at Clophill House and the grooms Bert Hills and James Page, in a rare mention of the servants at the house who also laid a wreath 'in memory of a good master and kind friend'. Mr Croscomb had particularly delighted in his garden at Clophill.

Mrs Croscomb, who was much younger than her husband, remained at Clophill House for some years with their young son Jackie. She was followed as tenant by a nonconformist minister named Bailey, known locally as Bill Bailey but possibly this was a nickname based on a populare music hall song. Mary Phillips reports stories that he did a 'moonlit flit' owing money all round.