The Attfield Family
Article researched and compiled by John Meads 2006
The two farm houses lived in by the Attfield brothers c 1950.
Windmill Farm, where William & Beatrice May lived, is in the centre.
Frank & Dorothy lived in the house on the right.
William Walter Attfield came to Burton Latimer from Ashby Magna in the late 1880s as farm manager/bailiff for Rector Newman (See below) and was responsible for the 450 acres of Glebe, then on the Wold. He married Mary Ellen Gross in 1892. Mary was the daughter of William John Gross, a farmer who lived at Home Farm,
William Walter and Mary had four children:
The Attfield children: Frank, Mary, Ellen and William c1907
1893 Frank – served in the Army Veterinary Corps in WW1, he married Dorothy Lansom in 1927 and farmed in Burton Latimer all his life. He died in 1972.
1895 Mary – did not marry, died in 1984
1897 William – known as ‘Bibs’ – farmed in Burton Latimer all his life until his death in 1971. He married Beatrice May Pinnock from
1900 Ellen – married Leonard Baden Pentelow in 1928. They were postmaster and postmistress at Finedon Post Office for many years until retiring to Burton Latimer to live in a bungalow they had built on the corner of
Frank Attfield and his sisters Mary (left) and Ellen (right). William (‘Bibs’) is featured below.
The Attfields were staunch supporters of the
A young ‘Bibs’ Attfield is in charge of the first farm wagon being used in this Church procession.
This photograph, taken c1904, shows another of the Attfield wagons. On the left is William Walter Attfield’s farm looking towards
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According to an elderly resident, Attfield’s annual harvest supper was an event enjoyed by all those men and women who had helped the regular farm workers at a very busy time. In the 1890s and early 1900s, it was held in one of the barns and attended by upwards of 60 people, some of them pit workers who had taken time off to help, and who were seated at long trestle tables. Mr Attfield would preside over a feast that would include baked potatoes and crust with Yorkshire pudding and plenty of meat, all of which was cooked at Talbutt’s bakehouse. After the meal the revellers would take part in sing-songs and entertainment, and would be provided with jugs of beer, which sometimes resulted in a certain amount of drunkenness. An interesting ‘snapshot’ of the Attfield’s farm was provided when a farm survey of all farms in |
