Chapter 7

There was work to do first. I needed to make money before I could spend it, and I recognised that restoring the Dower House was going to take a big hit on my finances. There was no email or snail mail from Mr. Anders; that was no cause for concern as looking at it realistically it was too early for their acceptance. However I did have enough on my desk to keep me occupied until the early evening. I went upstairs to my flat and put together a meal, so it was getting close to eight o' clock in the evening when I came down and started looking. Of course the censuses are public records yet the authorities will not allow the taxpayer to view without taking some money off you. I bought sufficient credits for the records I thought to see. I checked the 1911 census first even though I was fairly certain that I knew what it would reveal. This actually helped as I learned how to navigate around the system. There were no surprises there.

The census is a spotlight on just one day. The data records who was residing at the address on the day in question. If you have the actual address it makes it easy, I wondered how much a researcher would have to pay if you don't know the actual address as your credits get eaten up with each click on a name. Those recorded may be family, servants or visitors staying. In 1911 Sir Danbury Chandler and seven staff were recorded. One was recorded as Footman, one as Cook and the other five, all female were recorded as housemaids. There were no surprises there. The census required a brief notation of the employment of each person listed. Sir Danbury had written 'Land-owner'. It wouldn't mean much nowadays but then land-owners were considered wealthy and owning land even with an Estate Manager would take up much of the land-owners time. I moved on to the 1901 census. The head of the house was Sir Dashwood Chandler, Danbury was recorded and described as Lieutenant, Essex Regiment. It was there that the family listing stopped the remainder being Butler, Footmen, Housemaids, Cook and Kitchen maid. There were in all sixteen servants to look after two men! This suggested that Danbury's mother had quit the house before 1901.

The 1891 census was interesting. Sir Dashwood (Land-owner) was listed first followed by Lady Adelaide Chandler (wife). Next to be listed was Danbury Chandler (son) and then Rose Chandler (daughter), both being described as students. The servants were listed next, all eighteen of them and right after the kitchen maid came Robert Chandler, infant. Evidently Lady Chandler's illegitimate son was ranked less than the kitchen maid. However, what I had found seemed to fit in with Mr. Prescott's discovery. I returned to the 1901 census and typed in Adelaide Chandler with the address simply Braintree. There were two. I wasted five credits by picking the wrong Adelaide Chandler. I doubted that Lady Adelaide would be working as a milk maid. It was the second entry where I found her. Adelaide was evidently living with her widowed father together with Robert. Obviously he loved his daughter. Not many fathers at that time would take in their married daughter, an adulterous daughter with an illegitimate son. Perhaps the stories of Dashwood Chandler's debauchery had shocked him sufficiently for him to disregard the tenets of Edwardian propriety. After all the new King Edward seemed to be on the path of making adultery fashionable. The address was given as Upton Lodge, Pod's Brook Road. I looked on the street map of Braintree without success. Pod's Brook Road was there but truncated when the A120 relief road was built. It was a fair bet that Upton Lodge had vanished under concrete when that work was undertaken.

I was pleased with the result. I leaned back in my chair stretching my back muscles. Looking at my watch I was surprised to see the time was eleven-thirty. I printed off the documents then closed down the printer and the computer. It was time for bed.

I had mail on that Saturday morning. One was snail mail from Mr. Anders, a confirmation that the price had been accepted and their intent to buy. The other was from Mr. Prescott. His research mirrored mine, although he used Church records as well, confirming that Lady Adelaide had indeed moved to Upton Lodge in 1896. He had found Rose too. She was married in 1895. She moved with her husband to North Wales. Mr. Prescott had also found another daughter, Alice. Born in 1888 she lived for just six months. A scurrilous report in The Colchester Gazette said local rumour had it that she died shortly after Sir Dashwood had shaken her to stop her crying. If that was true it explained quite easily the hatred for Sir Dashwood. The Colchester Gazette had covered itself by saying that 'this journal could not contemplate of Sir Dashwood having acted as rumour suggested'. I emailed Mr. Prescott and thanked him for his work. I also advised him of Tina's research, telling him that it did appear that I was the great grandson of Robert Chandler.

My interest now turned to Arabella Swinson. Tina had said once that you can find people just by doing a search with their name. I typed Arabella Swinson and hit the key. I didn't get Arabella, but I did get a lot about a guy called George Swinson. Wilkepedia had a small article on him and mentioned a daughter, Arabella. Right time, right area, I was motoring! It mentioned that he was a pioneering Grocer. There were other hits on him. First his obituary from 1919 then an article published in 'The Grocer' a trade periodical. The article was from September issue of 1952. It appeared that George Swinson was indeed an pioneer. He opened a shop in 1878 in Ipswich. His policy was best prices for money on the counter. One story about him had given gossips food for months. One of the local Gentry had sent down a footman with a long list of needs. George fulfilled the list, packed them neatly in a number of large bags and then presented his reckoning. The Footman told him to send in his account. George immediately took all the packages and set them down behind the counter. The Footman cried indignantly that they were his Mistress's goods. George replied they would be when she paid for them in full. It appeared that the particular Lady had a reputation of ordering goods from the local businesses yet delayed paying their accounts for weeks if not months. This incident brought George some celebrity and quite a lot of business from those who applauded his little victory over this high-born, but arrogant Lady. His policy enabled him to prosper. In 1884 he had five shops, and in 1898 he had seventeen.