GREENHILL
Trunch House, Trunch
The GREENHILL family lived in Trunch House in Chapel Road during the 19th. Century. The house was demolished in the 1970s and only an old flint wall remains. John Russell GREENHILL (1829-1906) was born in Ashford in Kent to Richard and Sarah (nee Russell). His father was a farmer and he had 4 brothers and 3 sisters. After being an assistant chemist in Yorkshire in 1851 he moved to Trunch shortly after he married Sophia PRIMROSE in 1856.
Grave of Eleanor Greenhill
John worked as a brewer and spirit and wine merchant and was in a partnership with William Primrose, Sophia's father, until 1861. He and Sophia had 10 children before she died in 1871 aged 40. John remained a widower for the rest of his life. Their first daughter Elizabeth Sophia was born in 1857 and she ran a preparatory school from Trunch House and let out rooms. She remained single all her life and is buried in the churchyard. Eleanor who was also single worked as a governess. She died in 1940 is buried in the Trunch cemetery
Daughters Sophia and Alice got married on the same day in 1892; Sophia to a brewer Graham MacKensie Bruce and Alice to Owen Henry Cooke a gentleman. Two other daughters - Ann Louise Harriet who was born in 1864 probably died soon after, while Adelaide Harriet died aged one.
Greenhill family at time of WW1
Some members of the Greenhill family in 1917 with soldiers who were billeted in Trunch. The young boy might be Arthur's son, Dudley, and it may be Arthur to his right.
Of the boys, John Russell (1861-1945) never seemed to have married and worked as a clerk in the post office, a stocktakers assistant and a gardener. He lived in London and Kent but was back in Trunch House in 1911 with his sister and brother. Herbert (1863-1942) also seems to have remained single. He stayed in Trunch and carried on his father's trade as a wine and spirit merchant. In 1939 they were both living at Trunch House with Eleanor, all saying that they were "incapacitated".
Ernest (1868 - 1942) moved away from Trunch and in 1891 he was working as a carpenter and lodging with his brothers in Lambeth. He married Ada from Happisburgh and moved on to be a house joiner and a builder, living in Wolverhampton, Dovercourt and finally Liverpool where he died. He had a daughter Freda and a son John Siely who served in WW1.
Arthur (1871- 1945) lived in London, while at the same time owning freehold land in Trunch and Swafield and he worked as a clerk for a glue manufacturer and an estate agent before returning to Trunch to farm at what became Dudley Farm and then Gorrell Hill Farm, opposite to Trunch House in Chapel Road.
He married Mabel Jones in Wandsworth in 1904 and they had a a son Dudley Arthur John Primrose in 1907. After 1911 Arthur left the family home in London and in 1915 his wife petitioned for him to return but it does not seem that he did. Mabel died in Hove in Sussex in 1976.
Arthur came into property worth £11,000 in 1907 and a further £9000 upon the death of a tenant in common (possibly Augustus Fort) and this money was used to buy Dudley House Farm. In 1917 Arthur was taken to court for not paying all of the tax due from the legacy. In 1930 the farm machinery was sold and in 1936 the farm. By 1939 Arthur was living in Trunch House with his siblings giving his status as married but not with his wife who was in Brighton in Sussex.
He married Mabel Jones in Wandsworth in 1904 and they had a a son Dudley Arthur John Primrose in 1907. After 1911 Arthur left the family home in London and in 1915 his wife petitioned for him to return but it does not seem that he did. Mabel died in Hove in Sussex in 1976.
Arthur came into property worth £11,000 in 1907 and a further £9000 upon the death of a tenant in common (possibly Augustus Fort) and this money was used to buy Dudley House Farm. In 1917 Arthur was taken to court for not paying all of the tax due from the legacy. In 1930 the farm machinery was sold and in 1936 the farm. By 1939 Arthur was living in Trunch House with his siblings giving his status as married but not with his wife who was in Brighton in Sussex.
Dudley House Farm
|
Greenhill farm sign thanks to Graham King
|
 Post card referring to Greenhill
|
Dudley House farm was named after Arthur's son Dudley Arthur John Primrose GREENHILL(1907-1983) and it seems likely that he lived with his father in Trunch. He married Ivy Moule in 1935 in Hendon, Middlesex and they were living there until at least 1936. At the time of the 1939 register they were living in Epsom in Surrey and Dudley was stated to be a Chief Inspector of something (lost in the fold of the page).
Dudley Greenhill
|
 Dudley & Ivy Greenhill
|
