My maternal Grandparents,  John & Laura Padfield                                             

      Little Tawney Hall Farm, Stapleford Tawney, Essex

                                        Laura Padfield, nee Phelps, of Meare in Somerset,                                                           Harry Phelps, Laura's Brother,

                                               a remarkably beautiful young woman.                                                                 West Somerset Yeomanry 1914-18*

* The Regiment started the war as Yeomanry Cavalry and fought dismounted at Gallipoli. Later as Infantry (12th Battalion The Somerset Light Infantry) it fought in Palestine in operations culminating in the capture of Jerusalem and later in France, where it  took part in the recapture of the Hindenburg Line.

Back: My Uncle, Fred Padfield, of Skinners Farm, Abridge, Essex; his Father, Great Uncle Edward Padfield of Blackbush Farm, Abridge, Essex

Front: Uncle Fred's Eldest Son, Bruce Padfield and My Great Grandfather, Hamilton Padfield, Edward's Father, of Hill Farm, Buckhurst Hill, Essex.*

* In 1894, Hamilton Padfield hired a train and moved his family, six children, livestock and implements, from Bridgewater, Somerset,  to Hill Farm, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, having learned that a dairy farmer could make a good living if he could deliver pints of milk to London doorsteps by 6 o'clock in the morning.

Hamilton & Fanny Padfield had six children:- Mary, Edward, Eva, Austin, John (my Grandfather) and Lena.

Mary died at the age of twenty-one. Edward married Bessie Giblett of Meare,Somerset; Eva married Hugh Abraham, a grocer of BuckHurst Hill, Essex; Austin married Maude Berham, an Essex farmer's daughter; John married Laura Phelps of Meare, Somerset - District Champion Cheese Maker; lena married William Watts, a farmer of Devises, Wiltshire.

Back: Austin Padfield, Dick(brother-in-law), John Padfield, Edward Padfield

Middle: Maud, Eva Padfield, Hamilton Padfield *, Fred Padfield, Fanny Padfield (Nee Bird), Lena Padfield, Bessie

Front: Jack, Mary, Ida, May, Alan

* Hamilton Padfield married Fanny Bird at Walton, Near Glastonbury, Somerset. 

After 15 years farming, and keeping the The Royal Oak Inn at Walton, they moved to Hill Farm, Buckhurst Hill in 1894. 

My Mother, Doris Padfield, at Stapleford Tawney , Essex

1941, Grandad on the binder and Mother driving the tractor.

Mother at Tawney, Autumn 1940

My Mother as a baby, with Violet Gould, who celebrated her 100th Birthday on 2nd April 2005