Hugh Charles Fairfax-Cholmeley (24 February 1864 - 14 April 1940)
Hugh Fairfax-Cholmeley was Squire of Brandsby and Stearsby for 51 years, from 1889 to his death aged 76 in 1940. The Brandsby and Stearsby Estate had been held by the Cholmeley's since the 16th century. Francis Cholmeley (1706 -1780), Squire from 1742, was an able agriculturalist; he started enclosing the waste and common lands and putting them into cultivation. He started laying out the farms. He also built the current Brandsby Hall and the Church, which replace a former church which stood where the Hall lawn now is. His son Francis (1730-1809) continued with agricultural improvements, built the farm houses and cottages in Brandsby village and Stearsby. After two shortlived Squires and a minor, the estate passed to Captain Thomas Cholmeley, R.N., father of Hugh, in 1876 and in 1885, Thomas Cholmeley also inherited the Fairfax Estate in Gilling and Coulton and added the name of Fairfax to Cholmeley. When Hugh Fairfax-Cholmeley inherited the estate it consisted of 3 048 acres.[1]
He was educated at Oscott and Christchurch College, Oxford. On finishing at Oxford in 1888, he signed up as a resident at the University Settlement, Toynbee Hall in December 1888. At Toynbee Hall he came into contact with many ideas for social reform and met many social thinkers of the time, both of which informed the work he did in Brandsby during his tenure as Squire.
Hugh Fairfax-Cholmeley followed the tradition of his agriculturalist forebears, in developing the estate. He was known as a Social Reformer, he built the village hall and the bath house. He wasa member of the Central Landowners association, a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the North Riding. But he is best known for having established the Brandsby Agricutural Trading Association (BATA).[2] His last project for Brandsby and district was the Brandsby light railway, which was to run from Haxby to Brandsby via Stillington. This project, however, was not completed.[3] (Plans for Haxby to Brandsby light railway, Northallerton Records Office.).
Fairfax-Cholmeley was a member of the Agricultural Organisation Society (AOS) and many of his reforms implemented at Brandsby found their way into the annual reports of the AOS, for dissemination around the country.[4]
During his lifetime, Fairfax-Cholmeley was obliged to sell Brandsby Hall, Mill Hill House and about 1000 acres of land. He continued to manage the remainder of the estate until his death on 14th April 1940. After his death the estate was sold by his executors.Yorkshire Post, 16 April 1940, Death Notice.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ Bulmer's History and Directory of North Yorkshire, 1890(quoted on http://brandsbycumstearsby.co.uk/html/about_brandsby.html); Burke's Landed Gentry, 1932.
- ↑ Pratt, E.A., The Transition in Agriculture, London, 1906, Chapter 2, "Brandsby Leads the Way".
- ↑ Brandsby Light Railway Plans, Northallerton Records Office
- ↑ Annual Reports 1901-1923, Agricultural Organisation Society, Museum of Rural Life, Reading.
- ↑ Yorkshire Post, 16 April 1940, Death Notice.
Brandsby Agricultural Trading Association (BATA) 100 years Anniversary booklet 1994.
resubmission with edited references[edit]
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