Alfred Robins (1840 – 1907), George Robins (1844 – 1925) - Escape from Rural Dorset and the Expansion of Farnham

The Blackmore Vale and the Robins Family

The surname “Robins”, spelled with a single “b”, is a nickname for Robert.  In the 1881 Census “Robins” was distributed mostly over the southern half of England and was the 679^th most frequent British surname.  It had particularly high concentrations in Gloucestershire and Cornwall.  In the County of Dorset, Robins had an average concentration between 31 and 50 per 100,000.  However, at a local level, the District of Sturminster had a concentration lying between 201 and 300 per 100,000, or about 0.25%, much higher than the surrounding districts. 

Sturminster district roughly corresponds with the geographical area known as the Blackmore Vale.  This is a broad valley crossed by the River Stour and its tributaries and it is bounded by chalk hills to the south and east.  Though apparently uniform, it is geologically diverse with a mix of limestone and clay soils.  It was and is a cattle farming area with many small villages and a lattice of narrow roads interconnecting them.  Even today it is isolated and under-developed and was more so in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  Land was mostly in the ownership of a few wealthy families and employment was predominantly agricultural and in the crafts and trades which supported agriculture.

The Robins family to which Alfred and George Robins belonged hailed from the Blackmore Vale.  By plotting the villages of birth of the 18^th and early 19^th century Robins family members and their spouses on a map of Dorset it can be seen that they were essentially confined to the southern half of the Vale and did not stray outside its boundaries until about 1850.  Life prospects for new members of the Robins family in those days were both limited to and defined by the nature of the local economy.

Anne Robins

The starting point for this examination of the Robins family was Anne Robins who, in 1803 and again in 1808 had a child described in the parish records for the village of Ibberton as being “base-born”, ie illegitimate. The identity of Ann Robins’ lover or lovers is not known, though it is perhaps significant that she appears not to have married before, or immediately after, either birth. Illegitimacy was not uncommon in Ibberton at the time.  In the period 1800 – 1812, 9/45 (17%) of baptisms at Ibberton were of “base-born” children. Anne’s two children were both boys, James born in 1803 and John born in 1808. Nothing is known of the early upbringing of these boys, or of the life of their mother Anne subsequent to the births.

James Robins (1803)

In spite of the apparent lack of a two parent family, the boys gained craft skills.  James Robins (1803) became a thatcher and lived in the Blackmore Vale all his life, most of that time in the village of Shillingstone, barely four miles from Ibberton, the place of his birth.  He married twice, firstly to Tansey about 1825, with whom he is known to have had five children and subsequently to Anna, when a further three children were born.  Tom, the last of this second batch, was born in 1864 when James Robins was 61.

John Robins (1808)

John Robins (1808) also became a rural craftsman, a blacksmith and a step up the social ladder from agricultural labouring.  At the time of his marriage in November 1829 to Susan Thorne in the village of Stoke Wake, which lies about two miles SW of Ibberton, John Robins was a resident of Cerne Abbas (of Giant fame), a further seven miles to the SW.  Susan was pregnant.  Both bride and groom were illiterate, a not unusual attribute for the working classes in the Blackmore vale at the time. In 1861 he was described as a “Journeyman Blacksmith” and it is likely that he was an employee.  John Robins and his wife Susan had a known family of eleven children between 1830 and 1851.  It appears that he moved to Stourton Caundle immediately after his marriage and lived there until about 1844 when he moved back to Ibberton.  John Robins died at the early age of 49 and was buried in the local churchyard.

George Robins (1844) moves to Dorking – and on to Farnham 

James and John Robins illustrate well the limited nature of life opportunities available in rural Dorset in the first half of the 19^th century, where employment type was restricted by lack of educational qualifications and mobility was compromised by the distance one could travel by foot or with a horse and cart.  This situation was to change fundamentally with the coming of the railways.  From 1847 Dorchester (about 14 miles from Ibberton) was served by the London and South Western Railway to Southampton and London and, from 1857, Salisbury, about 30 miles distant, was similarly served.  It appears that the first member of the Robins family to seek employment at a significant distance from the Blackmore Vale was George Robins (1844), son of John Robins.  In 1861 the 17 year old George was an apprentice carpenter living in the family home at Gould Hill, Ibberton but at the next census in 1871 he was located about 120 miles away in Dorking a growing commuting town 30 miles south of Central London.  He was married to Mary Anne Harriet White and the birth of his first child in Dorking suggested that his move to the town could not have been later than 1865 but could have been as early as 1861.

Dorking had its origins as a market town on the road from London to Brighton but the coming of the first railway link in 1849 brought about much development, as Dorking became a desirable place to live for those travelling daily to work in the capital.  This expansion of the town, in turn, generated an increased demand for services of various kinds, including those of the building trades.  The circumstances of George Robin’s removal to Dorking are presently obscure but it is likely that he heard, by some route, that work was plentiful there and that, as a young and single man, he decided to take a chance by moving to the town to seek an outlet for his carpentry skills.

Although little is known about George’s employment in Dorking, it is clear that by 1871, when he was described as a carpenter journeyman, he and his family were leading a comfortable existence.  George’s wife, Mary Anne had some work as a dressmaker and the family could afford to engage the services of a domestic servant.  They were living next door to Mary Anne’s parents in West Street, Dorking and George White, his father in law, was a tailor journeyman.  Between 1872 and 1874, George Robins and his family moved from Dorking to the neighbouring town of Farnham, about 20 miles to the west, presumably to benefit from the opportunities in the building trade there.  Farnham was on the road from London to Winchester and resembled Dorking in being a wealthy market town.  It grew rapidly during the 19^th century and especially after the coming of the railway in 1848.  In 1850 Farnham’s population stood at 9,000 but it had increased to 14,000 by the end of the century.  Farnham became a favoured location for the homes of wealthy London commuters and the town’s economy also benefitted from the presence of the Army in nearby Aldershot. George clearly began to think of additional ways to make money using his skills with wood.  In 1878 he was listed in the Post Office Directory as being a picture frame manufacturer located at 112 East Street and Borough, the latter probably being his shop/manufacturing premises, which lay in the commercial centre of the town.  In 1891 George was again listed as a picture frame manufacturer and, in addition, as an artist’s colourman (a person who prepared paints for artists by grinding pigment and mixing with oil).  His daughter Elizabeth was described as “artist’s colourman’s assistant”.  These activities were probably stimulated by the establishment of the Farnham School of Art in 1871.

Alfred Robins (1840)

George’s brother, Alfred, was four years older than him and also a carpenter. In 1860, at the age of 20 he had a liaison with a local girl, Christian Emma Rose, from the village of Okeford Fitzpaine, 2 miles north of Ibberton, which resulted in Christian Emma becoming pregnant.  Her parents were socially a cut above the Robins family of rural artisans and labourers.  James Rose, Christian Emma’s father was described in 1851 as a farmer and in 1861 as a proprietor of lands, while Fanny, her mother was a schoolmistress.  The child, a boy, was born in late April 1861 at Wilton, near Salisbury, more than 25 miles from Okeford Fitzpaine and the couple married some time during the second quarter (April to June) of that year.  Does this indicate that Christian Emma’s parents would not initially sanction a formal union, or that they were waiting to see it the child was viable before agreeing to the marriage?  It can be imagined that they would have preferred a spouse from a more socially elevated background for their daughter and to have enjoyed more conventional circumstances for the nuptials.  Alfred and Christian Emma probably lived in Wilton, where it is presumed that Alfred had an outlet for his carpentry skills, until about 1865.  They relocated to Alfred’s home village by 1868.  The couple lived in Ibberton for the next decade or more.  Ibberton was convenient for Christian Emma’s parents to visit her rapidly-growing family, with a new addition about every two years. Many of the children in Alfred and Christian Emma’s family were given the name “Rose” and the oldest, John James Rose, was also given the first name of Christian Emma’s father, perhaps to curry favour, which could have been important in the circumstances of their marriage.

It is clear that Alfred, like his brother George, was a competent businessman.  By 1876 he was entered on the electoral register (“House and land, Church Street”) qualifying under the £12 occupation franchise.  He was part of a small minority or rural constituents to gain the vote on the basis of owning or occupying land above a threshold value, the change having come about as a result of the 1832 Great Reform Act.  Even so, only one million out of an adult male population of seven million had been enfranchised in this way.  It is also recorded by family oral history that Alfred had a building and wheelwrighting business in Ibberton and that his wife, Christian Emma, ran the village shop.

This photograph of Alfred Robins hung in the Board Room of A Robins and Sons Co Ltd for many years after his death

Alfred Robins (1840) moves to Farnham

The Robins family was, like many rural families, close-knit and the members stayed in touch, as will be seen, even when circumstances took them away from Dorset.  In 1880 George Robins had been living and working in Surrey for 15 years and had presumably been communicating information on local conditions to relatives back in Dorset.  Brother Alfred must have been tempted by the prospect of well-remunerated work in booming Surrey and in that year he set out with his wife, family, some apprentices and employees and probably also household items, personal possessions and tools and equipment of the building trade to make the 90 mile journey by horse-drawn transport from Ibberton to Farnham.  The details of the preparations and passage have been lost but it is clear that Alfred would not have undertaken such a journey without careful thought and detailed planning of the route, where they would all live and the business that would be undertaken after arrival.  By 1880 Alfred had been working for about 20 years and would have accumulated some capital to finance such a venture.  The census of 1881 gives some clues to the composition of the party and the business plan of the brothers.  Speculation on the route is informed by the description by Roy Robins (1914) of the route taken by his father, Reginald James Robins (1889), grandson of Alfred, on a motorbike journey from Farnham to visit Dorset relatives in the 1920s.

The route started at Ibberton, then probably passed through Belchalwell, Okeford Fitzpaine, Shillingstone and Durweston on the way to Blandford Forum.  From there it probably continued in a south easterly direction through Blandford St Mary, Spetisbury and Sturminster Marshall before arriving at Wimborne Minster.  Then it is likely it went on to Ringwood and across the New Forest to Cadnam, Romsey and Winchester.  From Winchester the route would likely have followed the A31 to Alresford, Ropley, Four Marks, Chawton, Alton, Holybourne, Bentley and Farnham, a total distance of some 90 miles.  A horse and cart can travel about 20 miles per day on flat terrain but perhaps only 15 miles if heavily laden, as Alfred Robins’ horse-drawn entourage would have been.  It is likely therefore that the journey from Ibberton to Farnham would have taken about a week and probably would have been undertaken in the summer months to avoid getting bogged down by muddy roads.  It was recorded in the Aldershot Military Gazette, which carried extensive coverage of both Aldershot and Farnham affairs, of 21^st August 1880, that “A Robins” had donated half a guinea to Major Trout’s testimonial fund.  If this “A Robins” was Alfred, then the report would indicate that the Dorset emigrants had arrived in Farnham by mid-August of that year.

The Origin of the Temperance Hotel in Farnham

1881 was a census year, the collection date being the night of 3-4 April, probably less than a year after the arrival in Farnham of Alfred Robins and his group.  Information recorded for the Robins migrants gives clues to the make-up of the travelling party, the relationship with brother George, the accommodation of the extended family group and the business plan.  The census returns record the following interesting facts.  George Robins, “Master Builder employing three men and four boys” and his family were living at “Fairfield (Pri Hot and shop)” – Private Hotel and Shop.  Also present in his family group was Fitzroy Robins, born Shillingstone, Dorset in 1862.  Shillingstone lies about three miles north west of Ibberton. Fitzroy was described as a “nephew” who was an apprentice builder.  He was indeed a nephew of George Robins but he was also a product of Robins consanguinity, his parents being first cousins and the children of brothers John Robins (1808) and James Robins (1803).    George Robins also employed a servant. 

Alfred Robins and his family were living at the same address as George but as a separate household.  Living with Alfred, in addition to his wife and children, was Samuel Rose Turk, a carpenter and joiner born in 1862 at Sturminster Newton, which lies about four miles north of Ibberton.  The second given name of “Rose” suggests that he may have been related to Alfred’s wife, Christian Emma Rose, but no such link has been established.  Rose was a frequent surname in the Blackmore Vale.

Part of the route followed by the census enumerator in Farnham District 7 in 1881 was to travel in a westerly direction down Darvill’s Lane and then turn south east to the area by then known as “The Fairfield”.  The house recorded immediately before the address of George and Alfred was a cottage in Darvill’s Lane occupied by Thomas Upshall, a 25 year old bricklayer born in “Hasebury Briant” (actually Hazelbury Bryan), which lies four miles west of Ibberton.  A search of the census returns for Farnham in 1881 does not reveal any other individual with building skills hailing from the Blackmore Vale.

These data suggest that, in addition to Alfred Robins (1840) and his wife Christian Emma, the party making the trek from Dorset to Farnham consisted of Alfred’s children (John James, already a carpenter and joiner, Bessie, Alfred junior, Lilly Kate, Hubert, Ernest and Cecil), nephew Fitzroy Robins (an apprentice builder), Samuel Rose Turk (a carpenter and joiner) Thomas Upshall (a bricklayer), his wife and two children – 17 individuals in all.

At the time of the 1881 Census both George and Alfred Robins and their families were living in the private hotel and shop at Fairfield.  A search of the local newspapers has produced no reference to a hotel of any name or description on the Fairfield site before 1881, suggesting that the hotel may only have been completed shortly before occupation by the Robins families.  The appearance of the Hotel suggests that it was built as two separate but conjoined properties.  Could it be that the original plan was to build separate accommodation for George and Alfred and their families?    It is possible that the hotel was wholly taken up by the two Robins families, plus Fitzroy Robins and Samuel Turk, in 1881, since there were no obvious, unconnected guests and Thomas Upshall and family, almost certainly Dorset co-emigrants with Alfred Robins, were accommodated outwith the hotel, though nearby.

Farnham Railway Station, South Street and Station Hill

The railway (the Farnham and Alton branch of the London and South West Railway) arrived in Farnham in 1849.  It cut off the northernmost parts of the land comprising the Waverley and Fir Grove Estates, the northerly part of the Waverley Estate then being let off as Broomleaf Farm.  At that time Farnham lay predominantly to the north of the River Wey, the area around the railway station south of the river being relatively undeveloped. Initially there was no direct route from the town centre to the railway station but in 1868 the Local Board, which had been established in 1866, decided to create such a direct link.  This required a bridge across the river, the demolition of some houses in East Street and the acquisition of some land.  The road was finished in 1870 and called South Street.  It allowed the town to develop southwards onto the meadows adjacent to the River Wey and then across the river on its south side.

South Street ran close to the railway station, traversing the track by a level crossing and the last part became known as Station Hill.  Over the years this level crossing has remained a bone of contention for Farnhamians, due to the traffic hold-ups that it caused.  In 1896 an attempt was made to find agreement with the railway company to bridge the line with a structure to the east of the Fairfield Building Estate (see below).  However, this would have entailed a road access through that estate.  At a public meeting in February 1897 a resolution was passed opposing the idea and it was then dropped.  The level crossing continues to irritate the locals to this day.

The Fairfield

The Fairfield, where the Private Hotel accommodating George and Alfred Robins in 1881 was located, was clearly delimited as an approximately rectangular plot of about 4 acres in the Ordnance Survey 6˝ map of 1894.  By that date it had been developed for housing, albeit without any overall planning guidance from the Local Board.  However, “Fairfield” was not named on the OS 6” map of 1871, so how did it arise?

Soon after the laying of the railway in Farnham in 1849 a public house, the Railway Arms, was built on the north east side of the station and was in operation by 1853.  The fields around the station were used for growing hops, a major industry in the Farnham area in the mid-19^th century.  In 1860 it was decided to institute an annual Hop Fair in early October to promote the sale of the season’s crop to both local buyers and those from further abroad.  The fair was held in a field opposite the Railway Arms.  It was repeated at least in 1861 and 1862 but does not seem to have become a permanent yearly feature and, at some stage, the field was sold for development, by which time it had acquired the name “The Fairfield”, ie the field where the Hop Fair was held.

In 1871 the area of land which would subsequently be called The Fairfield appeared to be in agricultural use and part was covered with trees.  Only 2 dwellings were present, Ashgrove Cottage in the northerly corner and Station Villa near to the southerly corner, close to the station.  Also in 1871, the Census return for District 7 of Farnham does not show any dwelling which can be associated with The Fairfield by name, or the Fairfield site by location.  By 1894 a road, now called “The Fairfield” was driven into the site opposite the station and looped around to re-join itself.  This allowed the servicing of a succession of building plots on both sides of this access route.  The site had effectively been fully developed before 1894 since, between that year and 1913, comparison of the OS 6˝ maps shows virtually no change in building number or individual footprint.  When did development of The Fairfield occur?

Thomas Wonnacott was a Farnham architect who had originally fetched up in the town as a schoolmaster.  In 1862 he resigned his position in education to work as an architect and in 1866 he passed the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Voluntary Architectural Examination.  Wonnacott was an early advocate of concrete as a building material and his most famous building, constructed using shuttered concrete and now listed, was a house in Greys, Essex for the famous naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace.  (Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin were the originators of the theory of evolution by natural selection.)  Thomas Wonnacott was also responsible for designing the Congregational Church in Farnham.  Wonnacott was elected a Fellow of RIBA in 1876 and in 1880 he was a member of the committee which managed Farnham School of Art.  By 1864 Wonnacott was located at 111 West Street, Farnham but in 1871 his office had been moved to Kenmure House, Abbey Street and in 1875 he moved again to Fairfield probably to one of the earliest houses to be developed there.  He may have hoped to gain architectural commissions from those wishing to build on this new estate near the railway station.  This is the first indication that development was underway at Fairfields.

In 1877 the ratepayers of the Fairfield Estate petitioned the Local Board to erect one or two street lamps.  This request was granted.  Interestingly, four members of the Local Board lived in The Fairfield.  The concept of conflict of interest clearly did not constrain local politicians in those days.  This report also illustrates how important The Fairfields had become in meeting the aspirations of wealthy Farnhamians to live in spacious surroundings away from the middle of town, or indeed above their business premises.  Over the following two decades there would be much further development of this kind south of the river.

George Robins had arrived in Farnham between 1872 and 1874, probably attracted by the level of development activity in the town.  In 1878 he was living at 113 East Street.  The first known, direct connection between George Robins and Fairfield derives from the death of his eleven-year old son, Alfred in the same year.  Alfred was playing with a friend in a sandpit on the Fairfield site when the walls of the pit collapsed and completely buried him.  He was dead when he was dug out though the other boy survived. This tragic accident suggests that George Robins had a presence on Fairfield at the time and likely was already building there.  The area was known to have a good layer of building sand underlying it and the Robins brothers would later use this fact in the promotion of the nearby Waverley Estate building site.

The Electoral Registers also shed light on occupation and ownership of property in the Fairfields Estate.  In 1882 there was the first Farnham entry for Alfred Robins, showing that he qualified for inclusion though “Occupation of tenement, Fairfield”, presumably the hotel.  George Robins does not have an entry, either for the hotel or any other site in Farnham in that year.  The first edition of the Electoral Register for 1883 also only had an entry for Alfred but now on a different basis, “Freehold houses and land, Fairfield”.  The second edition of the 1883 Electoral Register had identical entries for both Alfred and George, repeating Alfred’s entry for the first edition.

One further contemporary event sheds light on the identity of the builders of the Fairfield Estate.  At the Farnham Petty Sessions in the summer of 1882, one William Simmons was charged with stealing floor boards from William Foot and George Robins, who had builders’ yards adjacent to each other, presumably on the Fairfield site.  There had been a family connection between William Foot and George Robins since at least 1870 (see below).  Alfred Robins was not mentioned in the report of the outcome of the case (Simmons was found guilty).

What was the Business Plan of Alfred and George Robins?

Putting the above facts together concerning the Fairfield Estate, a plausible hypothesis can be constructed to account for the emergence of the idea that Alfred should move his business, lock stock and barrel, from Dorset to Farnham and the construction of a business plan for cooperation between George and Alfred after the move had been completed. 

When George Robins arrived in Farnham about 1873 he would quickly have realised that there was potential demand for quality housing from citizens commuting daily, using Farnham Station to make the 80 minute journey to work in London and that a site within walking distance of the station would be necessary.  He may also have realised that the wealthier residents of Farnham wanted to escape the smelly, dusty, noisy centre of the town.  Also, that the type of house needed would be of a “villa” style with substantial surrounding ground, suitable for up-market buyers.  It is likely that the initial cooperation was between George Robins and William Foot, due to the family connection since 1870 and William Foot’s presence in Farnham from at least 1876. Also, they later had separate, but adjacent, builders’ yards at Fairfield. George must have discussed these opportunities with his brother Alfred back in Dorset and perhaps urged him to move to Farnham because there was more work than he and William Foot could manage together.  It seems likely that a plan was then hatched to move Alfred’s business to Farnham to join with George’s and William Foot’s resources in exploiting the opportunities at Fairfield.  Both brothers had by this time probably accumulated the capital that would be necessary to invest in the new venture.  At an early stage some combination of the Robins brothers and William Foot, bought the freehold of the Fairfield site.  The development plan for the site involved a mixture of selling off building plots to third parties and building houses speculatively using their own finances and the building resources of George Robins and William Foot.  It may also have involved, at a later stage, the letting of houses in their ownership.  The final six freehold plots were offered for sale in 1884.

A major problem associated with moving Alfred’s business to Farnham would have concerned where to accommodate his large family, his employees and apprentices.  It seems possible that they came up with a clever plan to build a hotel at the front of the Fairfield site, opposite the station, where it would be visible to potential customers, but to use it initially to accommodate both Alfred’s and George’s families until such time as they could build separate houses for their own occupation.  Once the hotel was complete in 1880 Alfred could move his entourage from Dorset to Surrey.  The idea for a hotel, which operated as a temperance hotel and had an associated sweet shop, may have been influenced by Alfred’s wife Christian Emma.  She ran the village shop in Ibberton and may have been keen to continue with this activity.  Also, the Robins family was reputed to be staunchly Methodist, hence the desire to exclude the sale of alcohol from the hotel operation.  The hotel was subsequently owned and operated by Alfred’s family and so it is likely that Alfred either financed its construction or bought out brother George’s share.

The Robins and Foot Families join together

Martha Ann was the sister of Alfred and George Robins.  She was born in Ibberton in 1848 but in 1870 she married William Foot, a bricklayer who had been born in Tichfield, Hampshire in 1849.  It is not known why Martha left the fastness of rural Dorset, but brother George’s presence in Dorking from about 1865 suggests that he may have had an influential role in the move.  The Foots seem to have lived in Tichfield initially, since their first child, Alfred William, was born there in 1872.  However, their next two children were born in Farnham, Ernest in 1876 and Henry in 1878.  It seems likely that Martha was the conduit by which William Foot met George Robins and led to them instigating a business partnership about 1875, the approximate year in which development of The Fairfield Estate started.

Sometime before 1887 William Foot moved away from Farnham to Netley, near Southampton, severing his partnership with the Robins brothers.  There he continued his housing development activities.  William was also proprietor of the Railway Temperance Hotel at Hound, Netley, which suggests that the Foot family may also have been Methodists.  Unfortunately, in 1892 William suffered a setback when he was declared to be bankrupt but he recovered from this reversal and by 1901 he was again involved in house building activities.

Development of the Fairfield and the Sewage Problem

“Messrs Robins and Foot” had applied to build a batch of houses at The Fairfield in 1881, though this was clearly not their first such application. Alfred Robins can also be connected to the development of the Fairfield site for two years before he led the trek from Dorset to Farnham, ie in 1878 and 1879.  The then local authority for Farnham was the Local Board, chaired by George Trimmer, a prominent Farnham hop grower and Thomas Wonnacott, the architect, was an elected member.  In a report of a meeting of the Board, held in April 1882, the Aldershot Military Gazette recorded that “The Clerk read a letter from the Local Government Board enclosing a copy of a letter received from Messrs AG and A Robins (probably a mis-recording of “G and A Robins”) and W Foot of Farnham adverting to the correspondence which took place in 1878 and 1879 on the subject of drainage and the Local Government Board asked for the observation of the Farnham Board upon the question”.  Messers Robins and Foot’s letter was to the following effect, “We beg respectfully to ask that something can be done to help the inhabitants of Farnham in the matter of drainage.  We are builders and have recently put up some houses in the town, but have no outlet for sewage, the consequence being that every now and then the cess-pools overflow to the manifest danger of polluting the wells in the neighbourhood of them, beside the unpleasantness of their being emptied once or twice a month.  On the Fairfield Estate which comprises four acres, there are 26 houses with cesspools.  The town is much polluted with sewage, and the local authorities have definitely shelved the question of drainage.  We beg to ask that an inspector of the Local Government Board be sent down to inspect the matter as we are persuaded something then would be done”.   Sewage was, at the time, a general problem in Farnham because it relied on cess-pits for the disposal of foul water.  The result was that these frequently overflowed, causing a public nuisance with the resultant smell but also, much worse, contaminating wells and leading to occasional outbreaks of typhoid, diphtheria, enteric fever and other diseases.  The immediate response of the Local Board was less than satisfactory.  In the meeting a member, Mr Nash, gave the smart-arsed and utterly useless response that, “The cesspools are not large enough, that is the answer”, which generated laughter.  Eventually Farnham did get a sewerage system, the first connections to a partial system being made in 1888, but not before some builders and householders, including “Mr Robins”, had resorted to connecting their foul water outlets to storm water drains, resulting in contamination of the nearby River Wey.  In 1897 Farnham still had the worst record for typhoid in the County of Surrey.

The Fairfield Footpath    

In 1880 the Farnham Local Board advertised for tenders for the construction of a tarmac footpath with kerbstones from the end of South Street to the Fairfield Estate and the level crossing traversing the railway.  There was some delay in getting the work underway because of prevarication by the Board’s surveyor who thought that a drainage scheme should also be incorporated to deal with storm water.  At a meeting of the Local Board, Thomas Wonnacott, who lived at Fairfield, objected that, in his opinion, the work should not have been delayed and blamed the recent flooding at the end of South Street on William Foot, due to his diversion of a footpath.  The Board agreed that the work should proceed immediately.  However, some local ratepayers then objected to the footpath on the grounds that it narrowed the road dangerously, but that objection was over-ruled and the work went ahead.  The footpath passed in front of the hotel and Alfred Robins installed posts on the west side of his premises on the boundary of his land and also paid to have the tarmac footpath surface extended behind the posts to the front of the hotel.  The Local Board then wrote to Alfred Robins asking him to remove the posts, in the mistaken belief that they owned the land right up to the front of the hotel.  Alfred disabused them of this notion but offered to remove the posts anyway, while retaining his boundary in its then present place.  Mr Wonnacott confirmed to the Board that Alfred’s assertion was correct, at which point the Board backed off and accepted Alfred’s offer.  The footpath from the Fairfield Estate to Station Hill was rather steep and became affectionately known to residents as the “peashooter”!

Waverley Freehold Building Estate

By 1881 George and Alfred Robins had already acquired their next building site, the “Waverley” Freehold Building Estate”, located a short walk to the south of the railway station.  They had bought the freehold of the site in conjunction with brother-in-law William Foot, who lived in East Street at the time.  From the joint action of the Robins brothers and William Foot in writing to the Local Board about the drainage problems associated with the Fairfield Estate, it seems likely, but not proven, that these three builders were also the joint owners of the freehold of the Fairfield site. A further, small building site was bought in 1886 by “Messrs Robins and Mitchell” at Upper Hale, about 1.5 miles north of the centre of Farnham, for £40.  By 1897 the Hale Road area was being rapidly developed.  However, the Robins and Mitchell site only extended to about 0.1 acres.  Potentially, this “Mr Robins” could have been either Alfred or George but, bearing in mind Alfred’s known relationship with Thomas Mitchell in a gravel extraction business (see later), it is likely that they were the purchasers.  By the summer of 1883 the development of the Waverley (building) Estate was well advanced.  In that year George Robins applied for permission to build a house and shop in South Street.  Permission was granted subject to the Local Board’s surveyor being satisfied with the stability of the buildings.  These worries were clearly groundless as the building still survives as no. 29.

The land later designated as the Waverley Estate on the OS 6˝ map of 1894 was in 1871 completely undeveloped, consisting of part of Firgrove Farm.  The tract was rectangular and contained about 40 acres of land.  The Waverley Estate stretched between Firgrove Hill in the west and Tilford Road in the east.  Two farm tracks forming the northern and southern boundaries in 1871 became roads linking Tilford Road and Firgrove Hill.  They eventually became Alfred Road and Morley Road respectively.  In or before 1881 one or both of the Robins brothers, together with William Foot bought part of the Waverley Estate as defined above. This site bordered Tilford Road and contained of about eight acres.  Waverley Estate was surveyed by Thomas Wonnacott, who may also have devised the plot and building lay-out. The owners offered their site for sale in 76 plots.  In comparison with the Fairfield Estate, the proposed housing density was thus rather higher and was aimed to appeal to a slightly different, less wealthy social stratum than had been the case with Fairfield.  By 1894 the Robins and Foot site had been fully developed though nothing had been built on the rest of the Waverley Estate, with the exception of a reservoir installed by the Farnham Water Company.

In those days, the naming of un-adopted roads seems to have been at the whim of the developer.  Within the Waverley Estate, as initially developed, there was a single road, St George’s Road.  It was joined at its north-west end to Albert Road (possibly named after Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort) and at its south-east end to William Road.  Albert Road was quickly renamed Alfred Road.  Thus, the developers, Alfred and George Robins and William Foot chose road names which alluded to themselves by commemorating the historical figures, King Alfred, St George and, possibly, William the Conquerer.  In 1892 the residents of the Waverley Estate petitioned the Local Board for the estate roads to be taken over and their maintenance financed from the rates.  The loan to finance the making up of Alfred Road and St George’s Road was obtained in 1893.  It was decided not to adopt William Road as no house fronted on to it.   The name “William Road” did not survive for long and may have been changed to “Trimmers Road”, after George Trimmer the wealthy Farnham hop grower.  In 1906 the new Boys’ Grammar School was built to the west of the Waverley Estate on a new road which continued from William Road/Trimmer Road.  The whole road was then named Morley Road, after Bishop Morley of Winchester, the 17^th century founder of the Grammar School.  Interestingly the following year, perhaps prompted by the actions of the Waverley residents, a motion was proposed at the Local Board that the roads in the Fairfield be made up and adopted.  The proposers were Mr Kingham and Mr Hayes and the seconder was Mr Ransom.  All three lived in….the Fairfield! 

A strong feature of construction on St George’s Road was the semi-detached villa, almost all the properties being of this type.  Each villa was given a name and then no1 and no 2 to identify the semi-detached halves.  There were also some villas of this type on Alfred Road.  This uniformity is consistent with there having been only one developer of both roads and possibly only one or a few builders.  The names chosen for the villas often have clear links to Alfred and George Robins, such as Alfred Villas, St George’s Terrace, Sarum Villas, Dorset Villas, St George’s Villas, Fair View and Gravel Villa, so it is likely that the Robins brothers selected these names.  However, the other villa names do not have an obvious connection to the Robins family and their geographical origins.

The Fir Grove Hill Development

According to Ewbank Smith, who has written extensively about Victorian and Edwardian Farnham, “Farnham Lane was developed during the 90s by George Robins and others and later renamed Firgrove Hill.  It ran through the middle of the former Firgrove Estate, now the property of the son of the late Rev EJ Ward, John Martyr Ward, who was cashing in on his inheritance.  The whole area rising from the valley on the south side of the town was about equally divided by the road to Tilford between the two great estates of Firgrove and Waverley.  The former was the first to fall to the builders and in the next 20 years or so doubled the size of the town.  Waverley followed in the 1930s and brought the population up to the 20,000 mark.”  (This reference to the “Waverley Estate” relates to the whole landed property of Waverley, not to the limited area already developed by the Robins brothers and William Foot.)  By 1901 further development of domestic properties up Tilford Road and Firgrove Hill had resulted in a demand for an extension of the Council’s boundary southwards so that the new houses might be taken into the drainage area of Farnham.

George and Alfred Robins acquire new, upmarket houses

Alfred and George Robins and their families were still living at the Temperance Hotel in 1891, when Christian Emma, Alfred’s wife, was designated as the hotel keeper.  Alfred and family were still at the same location in 1901 but George had moved to a new house, which he called “Riviera”, on Farnham Lane, by 1896.  About 1904, Alfred Robins had a new house built for himself on Great Austins, off Tilford Road.  He called the house “Foxwood”.  The Great Austins area, which today has conservation status and a vigilant group of residents, then contained the biggest and grandest houses in the new Farnham south of the River Wey. 

Death of Alfred Robins

Sadly, Alfred did not have long to enjoy his new status and accommodation.  In June 1907 he was a passenger in a car driven by his business partner, Tom Mitchell when it ran into the bridge at Waverley.  At the time no one seemed to have been seriously injured but Alfred died of “shock” at “Foxwood” later the same day.

The Electoral Registers and Property Ownership

The electoral registers are helpful in establishing property ownership in the period until adult male suffrage was granted in 1918.  However, there may have been a period of time between a person first owning or occupying qualifying property and subsequently appearing on the register.  Alfred Robins first appeared in the document as an owner of property in 1883, when his entry was recorded as “Freehold houses and land, Fairfield”. This description was maintained continuously to 1898 but in 1899 the description of Alfred’s qualification changed to “Freehold house and land, Fairfield” and was then maintained until his death in 1907.  Brother George also had an identical qualification to Alfred in the electoral register, “Freehold houses and land, Fairfield” between 1883 and 1899, then “Freehold house and land, Fairfield” from 1900 to 1912.  Although these, or this, property was not described as being in joint ownership between Alfred and George, it seems possible that there was at least temporary joint ownership.

George Robins owned freehold house(s) and land on the Fairfield Estate between 1883 and 1912.  He also appears to have occupied a freehold house at Fairfield between 1889 and 1895.  In 1896 and 1897 he owned a dwelling house on Farnham Lane and in 1898 he owned land on Farnham Lane, on which he then appears to have built himself a substantial house, called “Riviera”, where he lived between 1899 and 1925, when he died.  After 1918 the address of “Riviera” (but not its location!) changed from Farnham Lane to Fir Grove Hill. 

George Robins also jointly owned land at Ridgway lane (area and other owner(s) unknown) between 1890 and 1892.  Ridgway Lane appears to lie off Ridgway Road, which meets both Fir Grove Hill and Farnham Lane.  Another area of land which was in the part-ownership of George Robins between 1908 and 1912 was 7 ¼ acres at Avery Road, Pyrford, about 15 miles north east of Farnham.  At least part of this land was probably owned by George’s son Albert Alfred who jointly owned the freehold of “Pinehurst”, Avery Road, Pyrford in 1909.

The Sons of George Robins

After their collaboration in the development of the Fairfield and Waverley building estates, the careers of brothers George and Alfred Robins diverged, with George concentrating on house building and Alfred following a much more diverse range of business activities.

George Robins had a family of twelve children, eight boys and four girls.  The first four children were born in Dorking and the rest in Farnham.  As already noted, one boy, Alfred died aged eleven in a sand pit accident but the others survived to adulthood.  The prospects for George Robins’ children might have been expected to resemble those of Alfred’s offspring, but examination of the fundamentals of their lives shows that there was a marked divergence between the strategies followed by the two families.

Edward Robins, b 1867, like his father was involved in the building industry.  In 1891 he was described as a house decorator and in 1911 as a joiner, on both occasions with employee status.  During the 1890s he appears to have been involved with his father’s side line of manufacturing picture frames.  Nothing is presently known about his life following the last published census.

Frederick Robins, b 1871, was described as a decorator in 1891, when he was living away from the parental home, in Hampton, Middlesex.  He was not found in the 1901 Census but by 1904 he was again living in Farnham in a house called Vaal Krantz on Ridgeway Lane.  At this time, new houses were being built along Ridgeway Lane, some of them by Frederick’s father, George.  “Vaal Krantz” was the name of the battle in the Second Boer War which constituted the third attempt to relieve the siege on the town of Ladysmith.  Frederick appears to have served in the army during that war and it is presumed that he was present at the battle of Vaal Krantz.  Records have been found for two soldiers called Frederick Robins who were born in Farnham about the right time and who served on the Boer War, the first having been born about1868 and who served from 1886 in the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers. The second was born about 1871 and served with the “Queen's (RWS) Reg”.  The second of the two seems the more likely candidate since in 1891 Frederick Robins the son of George appeared to be a civilian. In 1905 Frederick was still living on Ridgeway Road, Farnham, but in a house called Hazeldene.  In both years, he was an occupier but not a freeholder.  Perhaps Vaal Krantz had been renamed?  Nothing else is known about Frederick’s life after 1905.

George White Robins, b 1876, appears to have been economically the most successful son in the family of George Robins senior.  In 1891 he was described as an apprentice builder, in 1901 as a joiner and carpenter and in 1911 as a builder, by which time he was also an employer.  Another indicator of his success was that by 1900 he was the owner of two freehold properties, Highbury and Lyenne, located on Fir Grove Hill.  From time to time he owned land in other locations, presumably development sites, mostly in Surrey.  From 1923 he owned “Braeside” on Firgrove Hill, Farnham. 

In early 1900, at the age of 24, George White Robins experienced a very sad personal tragedy.  He was engaged to a lady called Elsie Fanny Sparks who worked away from home as a ladies’ help in Devon.  While at work she became so ill with headaches that she felt she had to return home and wrote to George asking him to meet her from the train in Basingstoke.  He did so and took her to her home in Marlow where she went to bed and fell deeply asleep.  The doctor was called but decided not to wake her.  However, when he returned the same night, the girl was dead.  She had apparently been suffering from an encapsulated cyst on the cerebellum, which had burst.  (There is no doubt that the correct identification of George White Robins has been made.  At the inquest into the death of Elsie Fanny, “George W Robins” gave evidence, “I am a builder and I live in Farnham…”)  It then appears that, on the rebound from this awful tragedy, George began a liaison with a widow, Louisa Matthews who had been married to a soldier, Percival Edward Matthews, whose demise has not so far been uncovered.  Louisa had a four-year-old daughter, Dorothy Mabel Louisa.  Her mother must have immediately become pregnant, because her son, George, was born in the fourth quarter of the same year.  The couple married in the third quarter of 1900 in Portsmouth, well away from the attentions of curious neighbours.   George and Louisa went on to have two further sons.  George White Robins lived a remarkably long life, dying in 1968 at the age of 92. 

Albert Alfred Robins, b 1880, was described as a joiner in 1901, living in his father’s house, Riviera on Fir Grove Hill, Farnham.  By 1908 he was the owner of a house, “Pinehurst” in Avery Road, Pyrford, where this branch of the Robins family appeared to be building houses.  In 1911 Albert Alfred was described as a builder and decorator trading on his own account.  Albert Alfred had married Ada Ridgway Lockett, a Board School teacher whose father was a grocer in Sutton, Surrey in 1805.  Ada had an illegitimate daughter, Gladys Nora, born in 1896.  Albert Alfred subsequently adopted the girl.  The family then emigrated to Australia, although the details of the journey and of their lives in the antipodes are sketchy.  In 1925 they were living in Perth, Western Australia.

In 1951 Albert Alfred, who by this year had retired, was subject to a vicious attack by an aboriginal, who robbed him of money when he kindly returned a coat that the man had left on a bus.  Albert Alfred was beaten about the head with a length of wood and sustained severe multiple injuries which threatened his life.  He was discharged from hospital after eleven days.  The following year he journeyed back to Britain and stayed in Hove with his sister Louisa and her husband Jesse Phoenix.  Albert Alfred died in Perth in 1967.

Frank Robins was born in 1883 and in 1901 he was described as an apprentice plasterer.  By 1907 he was the owner of freehold land in Ridgway Road, Farnham and by the following year he was the joint owner of 7 ¼ acres of land in Pyrford.  At the 1911 Census Frank was described as a builder and employer.  He married Margaret Lillian Mouland, the daughter of a builder and employer from Nether Wallop, Hampshire in 1908.  The couple and their family emigrated to California in 1923 and became naturalised American citizens in 1939.  Frank Robins died in 1948. 

Percy Robins, b 1885, became a joiner.  By 1908 he was a joint owner, with his brother Albert Alfred of a 7 ¼ acre site at Pyrford, Surrey.  By 1912 this description was modified to “freehold houses and land”, so it was clearly a building site.  The same year the couple emigrated to Australia and in 1914 they were living in the state of Victoria.  In 1921 Percy returned to the UK and spent most of that year there before returning to Australia.  Little is known of his life after he emigrated, though he was reported in 1954 to be a joiner, so he is presumed to have continued in the building trade.

Charles Robins was born in 1887 and in 1901 he was an apprentice painter.  Nothing is currently known of his subsequent life.

Thus the seven sons of George Robins who survived to adulthood all took up buildings crafts and 4 of them seem to have been successful, in that they owned houses and/or land.  Two of the four (George White and Frank) are known to have become employers and three of the four emigrated (Albert Alfred, Frank and Percy).  How successful the emigrants were economically is unclear but two of them had sufficient resources to return to the UK for visits.  Thus, all the sons of George Robins found themselves, to some extent, competing with each other within the building trade in the Farnham area.  Also, as far as is known, none of the sons, or their father, George, established their businesses within the structure of a limited liability company, which would have simplified the raising of capital, the introduction of new owners and managers, fractional ownership and inheritance.  These two factors (competition and lack of defined assets to inherit) may have been significant in causing three of the sons to emigrate.  In total contrast, the sons of Alfred Robins were all set up in non-competing businesses and some within the structure of limited liability companies, which proved to have significant longevity.  None of the sons emigrated or indeed moved far from Farnham.

The daughters of George Robins   

Elizabeth, b 1872, married John Brown, a baker and grocer.  Mary, b 1874 married William Pledger, who owned a grocer and provisions business.  Louisa, b 1878, Married Jesse Phoenix who was a builder, surveyor and architect by turns.  The youngest girl, Helena Susie married Lewis Murrell.  Lewis worked as a bank clerk before serving in WW1. After the war, it is unclear what career path he followed but he must have been reasonably successful because he left personal estate valued at over £30,000 when he died in 1977.

Social Status and the New Farnham

An analysis of the heads of households for the Waverley Estate in 1901 shows that 28 of them were employees compared with three employers and six trading on their own account.  In eight households, the head was retired and in seven, the head was living on his or her own means.  However, only one head gave his status as a labourer.  This situation contrasts with the Fairfield Estate in the 1901 census, where seven out of 18 heads of household were employers.

The Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Company (see below) at some stage bought land between Farnham and Bourne which now constitutes the Great Austins Conservation Area.  This land may have been acquired for mineral extraction, since it was very sandy and agriculturally unproductive.  However, it was eventually sold off in plots for development.  Alfred Robins had a house, “Foxwood”, built on Little Austins.  Construction was carried out by his eldest son, John James Rose Robins.  It was completed in, or before, 1904 and it was one of the earliest houses to be built at Great Austins and may have been the first, though Strangers Corner, designed for WH Allen by Harold Falkner and built on Tilford Road had been completed by November 1903.  Ewbank Smith, the Farnham historian, described the Greast Austins and Cobbetts Park estates on the ridge between the Tilford Road and Frensham Road as being the ultimate in the local domestic scene. The biggest houses were always at the top of the hill.

The Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Co Ltd

Both Alfred and George Robins began working life as carpenters.  In 1881 George was described as a “master builder employing three men and four boys” and Alfred was described as a “carpenter and joiner”.  However, in 1886, 1891 and 1901, although still involved in the building industry, Alfred described himself as a “gravel merchant”.  This activity was undertaken with a number of local partners, Messrs Cox, Knight and Mitchell.  In 1881 William Cox was the landlord of the Bricklayers Arms in Abbey Street, Farnham but by 1891 he was described as a gravel dealer and he was living at “36 Waverley Estate”. John Knight, another business partner, was also a publican by origin.  In 1881 he was the landlord of the Bat and Ball Inn and also a small scale farmer at Short Heath, a village about 1.5 miles south west of the centre of Farnham.  In 1891 he was still living at the Bat and Ball but now described himself as a stone and gravel merchant.  By 1901 he had moved home to “Surrey View” on Ridgeway Lane, Farnham and was described as a gravel contractor.  Thomas Mitchell was a brick-maker who, in 1881, had a business employing six men and a boy.  He lived in Abbey Street, Farnham.  By 1891 Thomas Mitchell described himself as a brick and gravel merchant.  Interestingly, he too had moved his residence to “Waverley Estate No 1” and by 1901 he had moved again to “The Lindens”, Tilford Road, a substantial house with 12 main rooms.  “The Lindens” was then next door to “Strangers Corner” the residence of artist William Herbert Allen, who was Master of Farnham School of Art.  This brief history of the partners in the gravel business paints a picture of commercial success with the members diverting from their previous occupations to concentrate on the booming trade in common minerals.  A good indicator of their new-found wealth was their spending on upmarket housing.

The gravel business was incorporated as a limited liability company in or before 1901, under the name of the Farnham Flint, Gravel and Sand Company and, in 1904, plans were proposed for new offices for the company on Station Hill, close to the level crossing.  The office was later incorporated with the premises of A Robins and Sons Ltd next door.  Farnham red gravel was particularly favoured for carriage drives and garden walks and had been employed for this purpose by Queen Victoria in Windsor Park and Gardens.  Broken flint was used as a road surfacing material which John Knight claimed was “nearly equal to granite”.  It was used extensively to surface the roads of Farnham but in dry conditions it gave off clouds of dust which had to be suppressed by regular watering of the streets.  By 1897 special accommodation had been created at the railway station to handle the transport of gravel from the district by rail.  Such traffic reached the station yard by a dedicated road from Fir Grove Hill. Even so there were almost perpetual gripes against the gravel merchants due to the damage their vehicles caused to roads in the town.  Gravel and sand extraction had grown to be a major local industry.  Tom Mitchell later became chairman of Farnham Urban District Council, which must have helped him to put his case for tolerance of this nuisance.

After the death of Alfred Robins in 1907 the connection between the Robins family and Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Company was maintained by his son Hubert Rose Robins, who was chairman of the company during WW1.  Roy Robins, great grandson of Alfred Robins was a board member of the company in its later years.  Indeed a member of the Robins family was either chairman or a board member throughout most of the life of the company.  There seems to have been some diversification of the company’s activities during WW1.  In 1916 the company was described as “farmers and hop growers”, in addition to their role as sand, gravel and flint merchants and they owned Snailslynch Farm.  Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Company had an office at Station Hill, Farnham at least from 1918 to 1953 and possibly in the earliest days a sand and gravel pit also.  Between the 1920s and 1968 the company had a pit at Coxbridge and between 1948 and 1958 they had another pit at Rosemary Lane, Blackwater.  The Knight and Mitchell families also maintained their connections with the company.  Percival Mitchell, the son of Thomas Mitchell was a director of the company and Mr GJE Knight was still a member of the board in 1968.  Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Co Ltd went into voluntary liquidation in 1970.

The Building Activities of John James Rose Robins (1861)

Alfred Robins was the father of twelve children, seven boys and five girls.  One boy, Ernest Rose and one girl, Rose E, died young.  In 1900, when Alfred was wealthy and established, the boys and their ages were as follows.  John James Rose – 39, Alfred Rose – 36, Hubert Rose – 26, Cecil Harry – 21, Albert Edward – 18 and Ernest Harry – 17.  Alfred senior was a prolific entrepreneur and set up all his sons with non-competing business opportunities.  John James Rose Robins followed his father into the building industry.  In 1881 he was described as a carpenter and joiner, in 1886 a builder, in 1891 a builder, in 1901 a carpenter and in 1911 a carpenter.  Like his father he was a skilled craftsman but his career degenerated as a result of his addiction to alcohol.  However, he was responsible for the construction of a number of significant buildings in Farnham.  Until 1890 there was no Catholic place of worship in the town but, in that year, a church was established, by Father Guerin, on the upper floor of a disused police station on Bear Lane, along with a Catholic school on the ground floor.  The congregation quickly outgrew this accommodation and a new school, St Polycarp’s, was constructed next to the church, releasing the whole of the former police station for religious use.  John James Rose Robins was the builder contracted for this work.  About 1903 - 1904 he built “Foxwood” for his father at Great Austins.  John James was also responsible for houses in High Park Road and in Castle View, a shop in South Street and, according to his grandson, Roy, “many other houses in the district”. By 1899 John James’ addiction to drink was having a serious effect on his home life and subsequently his business deteriorated badly, until it was rescued by his eldest son, Reginald James from about 1910 onwards.

A Robins and Sons Company Ltd

During his lifetime, Alfred Robins senior was involved in many business activities and a sub-set of them was acquired by his sons, Alfred junior, Cecil and Alfred and his daughter, Fanny, in 1907, using the newly-incorporated company, A Robins and Sons Ltd.  These activities were described in the following terms in the agreement by which the purchase was made.  “Whereas Alfred Robins deceased late of Station Road Farnham in the County of Surrey carried on for many years prior to his death and was carrying on at the date of his death at Farnham aforesaid the business of Farmer, Cab and Carriage Proprietor, and Job Master Railway Carrier and Agent and Carman and General Contractor”.  A little later, the description of the company’s activities in the 1913 edition of Kelly’s Directory for Surrey was “Jobmasters; furniture removers and storers and haulage contractors”.  A full account of the origins and history of A Robins and Sons Company Limited can be found under the title “A Robins and Sons Ltd, its Origins, History and Activities” on this blogsite.

Alfred Rose Robins was working for his father in 1891 as a fly driver and groom and in 1901 he was described as a furniture remover and contractor, but with employee status.  Late in the same year he described himself as a fly proprietor, possibly after the incorporation of A Robins and Sons Co Ltd, since he became the first chairman of that company.  A fly, in this context, was a horse-drawn public coach or delivery wagon.  Also, in the Farnham Almanack for 1901 Alfred was described as an agent for “Sutton & Co”, presumably the well-known seedsmen founded in Reading in 1806.  After his marriage in 1896 Alfred Rose and his wife Elizabeth lived at 18 Castle View, Farnham, where they remained until 1905, then moving to father Alfred’s new home, “Foxwood”.  However, after Alfred senior’s death in 1907, Alfred junior moved to Park Farm, Badshot Lea and he remained there as a farmer for the rest of his working life. Alfred seems to have been quite litigious.  In 1915 Sergeant H Slaughter was fined 2/6 for damaging growing grass on the farm, while in the same year an itinerant, Emma Trydell was fined 1/- for damaging a fence and a hay rick.  By 1932, when he would have been 68, Alfred Robins junior had retired from farming.  He died at “Hartfield”, Crondall Lane, Farnham in 1946.

Cecil Henry, the 5^th son of Alfred and Christian Emma Robins was described by Roy Robins as   “a notable local character with horses”.  He was a director of A Robins and Sons Co Ltd and appeared to be in charge of horse operations within the company.  Cecil also managed the riding school at Station Hill.  Robins horses were occasionally used by Farnham Fire Brigade to pull their engine in the early years of the 20^th century.  The St John Ambulance unit in Farnham had had a horse-drawn ambulance since 1894.  The horse and driver, usually Cecil Robins, were provided by A Robins and Sons and became a familiar sight in Farnham.   In 1901 Cecil was described as a cab driver and groom though whether or not he was an employee is unclear.  By the 1911 census his description was contractor and cab proprietor.  He died while visiting the Railway Hotel (formerly the Railway Arms), opposite the Robins Commercial Hotel on Station Hill in 1948.

Hubert Rose Robins and the Temperance Hotel

The construction of the Temperance hotel in about 1880 played a crucial role in the accommodation of the families of George and Alfred Robins in the early days of the construction of the Fairfield Estate. Associated with the hotel there was a sweet shop and, from 1903, a post office.  In the early years and certainly to 1891 the hotel and shop were managed by Christian Emma, Alfred’s wife.  At some stage the responsibility for this commercial venture was handed on to her son Hubert Rose Robins.  In 1891 Hubert was apprenticed to a grocer and living in Clapham, London but by 1901 he was described as a hotel proprietor trading on his own account, so the transfer of responsibility from his mother must have occurred between the two dates.  Hubert would have been 27 in 1901.

Alfred and Christian Emma moved out of the hotel about 1904 when their new house in Great Austins was available.  Sometime after 1910, when she would have been 70, she left “Foxwood” to live with her son Albert Edward at his home “Stratton” on Fir Grove Hill, dying there in 1926.  Although “Temperance” continued to be applied to the hotel until at least 1913, the term was increasingly replaced by “Commercial” and after the death of Christian Emma it seems to have been known as “Robins Commercial Hotel”, though the faded original title can still be seen today on the exterior of building.  Hubert left the hotel and moved to Bridgefield, a road close to the Fairfield Estate, in about 1936, dying in 1943, at which date the hotel was still trading as Robins Commercial Hotel.  In addition to running the hotel and, for a period, chairing the board of Farnham Flint Gravel and Sand Co Ltd, Hubert founded Farnham Cadets and was also an active, qualified football referee.  At some stage he was Secretary and Treasurer of Farnham Football Club.  He provided a dressing room for the team in the Hotel and they played on a pitch at Broomleaf.

The Farnham Dairy Ltd

The Farnham Dairy was another business initiated by Alfred Robins.  According to Roy Robins, Albert Edward Robins, who was known by the nick-name “Chum” and his brother Ernest started a milk round from the base at Station Hill.  This appears to have been operating as early as 1894 when a survey of residents by the Local Board uncovered the following unregistered “cowkeepers, dairymen and purveyors of milk”, A Robins, Station Road and T Mitchell, Waverley Estate.  However, Albert appears not to have been continuously involved with the milk business since, in 1901, he was far from home working as an engine maker and general mechanic in West Bromwich and in 1911 Albert described himself as a furniture remover and an employer.  Clearly by this date he had joined the board of A Robins and Sons Co Ltd and furniture removals was the main business of the company.  He may still have been involved with the milk business.  Albert Edward Robins married Delilah Hart in 1908 and in 1911 they were living at “St Madryns”, Alfred Road, Farnham but by 1913 they had moved to more up-market accommodation, “Stratton” on Fir Grove Hill, where Albert died in 1948.  

Alfred’s brother, Ernest, on the other hand, seems to have had a deeper involvement with the milk business.  In 1901 he was described as the driver of a milk cart.  The dairy moved to premises at 16 East Street in 1902 and it may have been incorporated at this time.  It thrived and in 1909 moved again to 12 West Street, when Ernst acquired premises from WR Bunday.  Ernest was described as a dairyman in 1911 and he was living at 12 West Street, the location of the Farnham Dairy.  According to Roy Robins the dairy was sold “after” the death of Alfred and Ernest then managed dairies in St Albans and in Chatham before returning to Farnham in 1916.  However, in 1918 Ernest was living at 12 West Street, still the location of Farnham Dairy!

The Farnham Dairy Ltd had a long life and was based solely at 12 West Street until 1953.  New sites were then acquired at Weydon Lane and Ridgway Road, 12 West Street being retained for transport operations. The Farnham Dairy Ltd was still active under that name until June 2000.

The Victoria Transport (Farnham) Company

By 1919 Ernest Robins and his wife, Ethel Barbara, had moved to Beavers Road, Farnham.  About the same time Ernest bought a steam wagon and started a haulage business with partners operating as The Victoria Transport (Farnham) Company, which was based at Merton House in Farnham.  The partnership was dissolved in 1923 and announced in the London Gazette, when the composition of the partnership was revealed. “Notice is hereby given that the partnership heretofore subsisting between Jesse Rogers of 37 The Borough, Farnham, Surrey, Baker and Confectioner, Ernest Harry Robins, of Victoria Road, South Street, Farnham aforesaid, Engineer, Percy Walter Freeland of Victoria Road South Street, Farnham aforesaid, Foreman and John Carter of Downing Street Farnham aforesaid Hotel Proprietor, carrying on business as Haulage Contractors and Furniture Removers at 37 The Borough Farnham aforesaid under the style or firm of The Victoria Transport (Farnham) Company has been dissolved by mutual consent as from the 31^st day of August 1923….”  The Victoria Transport Company continued under the leadership of Percy Freeland.  There is a wonderful picture at www.sihg.org.uk/books/SurreyIndPast2.pdf of a steam lorry, registration number PD1572 (issued in Surrey), working on gravel transport from a pit in Weydon Lane, Farnham, though the exact date of the photograph is not known.  The Victoria Transport Company was still operating from Crondall Lane, Farnham in 1969.  Ernest served as managing director of A Robins and Sons Co Ltd.  He died at Beavers Road, Farnham in 1958.

The Daughters of Alfred Robins

The daughters of Alfred Robins who survived to adulthood, Bessie, Fanny, Lily Kate and Amy Rose all married and some of their husbands were closely connected with Robins business activities. 

Alfred William Foot, born in 1872, the eldest son of William Foot, the business partner of Alfred and George Robins initially became a carpenter and builder but later found employment as a yacht painter.  The Solent had become a major centre for yacht construction to feed the demands of adherents of this new, popular leisure activity.  Although the Foots had moved away from Farnham, the link to the Robins family seems to have been maintained since in 1926 Alfred William married Bessie Robins, daughter of Alfred.  Both Alfred William and Bessie had had previous marriages.  Bessie was 64 at the time of her second marriage.

Harry Clist was born in Dorchester in 1865, the son of James Clist, an ostler.  In 1881 Harry was living in the parental home in Durngate, Dorchester and was described as an apprentice but of unknown calling.  He has not been found in the 1891 census but in 1901 he was a boarder at Hale Farm in Farnham Rural Parish, unmarried and employed as the manager of a steam laundry.  According to Roy Robins, one of the businesses started by Alfred Robins was a laundry and it seems likely that Harry Clist had been recruited to manage this activity.  Little else is known about the laundry, which suggests that it was not a success and probably did not survive for long.  But the laundry seems to have been good for Harry Clist’s life prospects.  Presumably through the laundry business he met and, in 1905, married Fanny Rose Robins.  In 1911 Harry was described as an accountant in the furniture removals business and an employer.  He is also known to have acted as company secretary of A Robins Sons and Co Ltd.

Harry was a very active Methodist and, even after his move to Farnham, frequently participated in Methodist activities in and around Dorchester.  He was a noted practitioner of the art of public recital, often in support of charitable causes.  In 1914 one such performance was described in the press as “another of those breezy recitals which have so often in the past given enjoyment to Dorset audiences”.  However, Harry seems not to have enjoyed robust mental health and in 1928 he died at the Brookwood Mental Hospital, Woking.

Ralph Smail Badcock, born in Farnham in 1872 married Lily Kate Robins.  Ralph pursued a career with the London and South Western Railway and about 1909 moved away from Farnham to Southampton.  The couple returned to Farnham in their retirement, living at “Cryno”, Broomleaf Road.

William James Simmonds was a son of the family which operated the Bourne and Willey Mills, though William appears to have followed a career as a clothier.  He married Amy Rose Robins in 1899.  Sadly William died at the early age of 44 in 1915, though his death does not appear to have been connected with WW1.  Subsequently Amy Rose married for a second time to Leonard Shrubb, in 1921.  Leonard had been born in Farnham in 1865 and was described as a mason in 1891 and as a building manager in both 1901 and 1911.  His father was a builder.  Leonard’s first marriage was to Lucy Bedford in 1891.  Lucy was 12 years older than Leonard and she died in 1912.  At the time of her death the Shrubbs were living at “Edensor”, Station Hill, Farnham, which suggests, but does not prove, that Leonard was working for the Robins family as a building manager.  That might explain why he subsequently married Alfred Robins’ daughter, Amy Rose, in 1921.  The couple lived a long life together but their end was mysterious and possibly tragic.  Both Leonard and Amy Rose were last seen alive at their home, Thorn Cottage, Boundstone, Farnham on 14th July 1955.  Two days later they were both found dead at the property.

The Legacy of George and Alfred Robins

George and Alfred Robins were two remarkable people.  They were born into rural isolation in Dorset with limited life prospects but through their own abilities and initiative escaped from the prospects typical of the rural working class in the mid-19^th century.  Both acquired craft skills which would be the passport to relative prosperity, once they made the break from unsophisticated and under-developed Dorset to the booming economy of the Surrey towns south of London.

George was the catalyst for this translocation.  His move to Dorking in the mid-1860s must have required initiative and some courage, travelling to a part of the country of which he knew very little.  But he was single at the time and able to take risks.  What he found in Surrey was a vigorous economy replete with opportunities to exploit his building skills and improve his economic status.  He took his opportunities, not just by working as a skilled craftsman but also by employing others and speculating on the demand for new housing by the middle classes.  He must also have been active in feeding back information to the family, still at home in Dorset, about life in Surrey, especially after his relocation from Dorking to Farnham about 1873.

The next member of the Robins family to make the move from Dorset to the Home Counties appears to have been Martha Ann, the sister of both George and Alfred.  It is not known what stimulated Martha Ann’s exodus but it is at least plausible that George’s communications about life in Surrey played a part.  Martha Ann married bricklayer William Foot and their subsequent move to Farnham and the development of the building partnership between George Robins and William Foot must surely have been catalysed by the family connection.  William Foot clearly shared George Robins’ ambition and they embarked together on the development of upmarket houses on the Fairfield estate.

For Alfred Robins, the calculation he had to make was quite different from that made by brother, George.  Alfred had been successful as a builder and carpenter in the environment into which he had been born.  He was married and already had a substantial and growing family and, in Dorset terms, he was achieving success with his business activities.  There was much more at risk in uprooting his family and his business and moving 90 miles east and the logistics of the move must have been quite daunting.  But, as he later proved repeatedly, Alfred was good at assessing risk and evaluating opportunity.  He made his plans, probably over a period of several years and undertook the move to Farnham in 1880.

After 1880, George Robins and his sons appeared to concentrate of house building, mainly in the developing, middle class enclaves south of the River Wey, including Fairfield, Waverley, Firgrove Hill and Great Austins.  These leafy suburbs remain desirable to contemporary Farnhamians and without doubt improved the living conditions of many citizens.

Although Alfred Robins was involved in house building in Farnham, he was quickly diverted by the multitude of business opportunities that he perceived in 1880s Farnham and the surrounding area.  Alfred and George both share the legacy of having been responsible for the building of much of the new Farnham but Alfred will probably be best remembered for the businesses he created, often linked to, but separate from, house building.  A Robins and Sons Company Limited was incorporated immediately after Alfred’s death in 1907 but was, the corporate embodiment of businesses started and developed by Alfred in his lifetime.  This company was involved in haulage, cab hire, farriery, horse riding instruction, furniture removals and storage and farming.  Other businesses started by Alfred, some of which were incorporated and survived for many years, were a laundry, a dairy, flint gravel and sand supply and a hotel, confectioner and post office.  Many citizens in Farnham, for a period of 100 years or more, derived a living from the economic activities of the two brothers, either by direct employment, or indirectly through the many business to business links that they nurtured. 

George and Alfred Robins left their mark on Farnham. 

         

Don Fox

20171008

donaldpfox@gmail.com