Photograph (Many thanks to Major [Retd] Janet Brodie-Murphy) showing the hunt preparing for a day of fox hunting c. 1910. All the drinks have been laid out on the table in readiness and many of the huntsmen are having a tipple before the hunt begins. A nice photo showing Knightwick Manor on a sunny day.

Most likely the men in this photograph would possibly have been, Thomas Lawson Walker and his sons. See the 1911 Census below.

The Point-to-Points:-

Horsham was the original point to point venue when I was a boy, today it has returned to Knightwick and is run on ham meadows opposite the old quarry, with Osebury Rock rising high above the river Teme on the south side.

Point to points are a lower level of horse racing, with all participants – both equine and human – registered with or members of a hunt. The name came about when huntsmen would race their horses from church to church, using the steeples as a guide to direction. One branch became known as steeplechasing, while the other saw the name point to point born.

The races are run over chase fences, ridden by amateurs and generally contain horses at different ends of their career. The majority of races are three-mile contests, with makeshift racecourses popping up in fields all over the U.K and Ireland.

1911 Census: Manor, Knightwick, Worcestershire.

 

1911 Census: The Manor, Knightwick, Worcestershire.

Thomas Lawson Walker - Head [age 53] Married - Farmer [Employer] - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.
Hannah Mary Walker - [nee Guest] Wife [age 50] - b. Broadwas, Worcestershire.
John Walker - Son [age 25] Single - Farmers son, working on farm [worker] - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.
William Walker - Son [age 24] Single - Farmers son, working on farm [worker] - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.
Lawson Walker - Son [age 20] Single - Farmers son, working on farm [worker] - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.
Mary Walker - Daughter [age 18] Single - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.

Gerald Noel Ostler - Boarder [age 23] Single - Farm Pupil - b. Chapletown, Leeds.
Frederick William Morris - Boarder [age 20] - Farm Pupil - b. Holmes, Hereford.

Esther Smith - Servant [age 44] Widow - Domestic Servant [Cook] [worker] - b. Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire.
Ethel Wilcox - Servant [age 17] Single - Domestic Servant [House Maid] [worker] - b. Martley, Worcestershire.
May Lucy - Servant [age 15] Single - Domestic Servant [Between Maid] [worker] - b. Worcester.
John Tompkins - Servant [age 16] Single - Farm Boy with Horses [worker] - b. Knightwick, Worcestershire.
William Baker - Servant [age 60] Married - Cowman on Farm [worker] - b. Ladywood, Birmingham.
Sarah Baker - Servant [age 59] Married - Working Woman [worker] - b. Leominster, Herefordshire.

 

Two of Thomas Lawson Walker's sons.
Their photos were in the Berrows Journal 17th July, 1915.

 

The Walker Family

A herd of pedigree Hereford cattle at Tedney belonged to Edward Walker and had an ancestry that can be traced back about 200 years. The Walker family took the tenancy of Tedney Farm in 1910 and were already established breeders of Hereford cattle. Family records go back to John Walker of Eye, Herefordshire, who in 1715 bought Uphampton near Leominster. His son, John Walker the Younger of Uphampton, married Elizabeth Burnam of Westington in Grendon Bishop.
William Walker, a son of John and Elizabeth, took Burton Court in Lower Sapey, Worcestershire, in 1780 and began seriously breeding Hereford cattle.
After William Walker's death there was a sale at Burton Court on 12 February 1818. The sale catalogue said of the late William Walker who has without exception for the last 40 years been considered the first breeder of Herefordshire cattle in the kingdom. His son, another William, took over Burton Court according to his father's will: Without interruption to the comfort and convenience of my said wife . . . together with the lease thereof, that he may take to and manage the same on his own account and for his own benefit and advantage.

Another son, John, continued to farm at Westington, but later moved to Lulsley Court in Worcestershire which had a few years earlier belonged to Richard Chambers of Whitbourne Court. Both John and William continued to breed Hereford cattle based on their father's blood lines. John Walker of Lulsley married Mary Smith of the Brook House, Avenbury near Bromyard. In 1844, their son John Smith Walker went to farm at Knightwick, taking descendants of the original cattle with him. This John Walker died in 1881 and two of his sons had connections with Whitbourne. His second son, William, farmed and died at Poplands, and his youngest son, Thomas Lawson Walker, took the tenancy of Tedney Farm, which was eventually purchased from the Griffiths family about 1935. Thomas Lawson Walker's eldest son, John, married Valence Mary the daughter of the Reverend Joseph Wilson, rector of Knightwick. Valence Mary was related to Edward Bickerton Evans of Whitbourne Hall.

The following extract was published in a herd book of 1862

The estate of Burton lying near Clifton-upon-Teme in Worcestershire, (then the property of Lord Foley,) Mr. Walker took in the year 1780, at 7s. an acre. The land being of inferior quality, was not calculated for feeding cattle, Mr. Walker, therefore, turned his attention to breeding Herefords; and he may fairly be said to have been one of those who began breeding on his own foundation. He had no one to look to for assistance in bulls to improve his breed, but was obliged to rely on his own judgement and perseverance. He did not allow any opportunity to slip whenever he saw an animal likely to do him good, and never left it on account of price; and in a few years had a very good herd of cattle.

The Burton breed were soon allowed to be the best in the county and in great demand. Mr. Walker reared several bulls every year and generally disposed of them as yearlings, at from £30 to £60, and sometimes £100 each. This plan he pursued until his death in 1817. He never had any public sale: his draft cows were sold as barrens.

The writer, Mr. Duckham, remarked that at the sale of February 1818, the stock brought very high prices and was dispersed extensively over the kingdom. Part of the stock of cattle was purchased by his son Mr. J. Walker, (now resident at Lulsley Court, near Worcester) who has, frequently aided by a cross of Mr. Price's blood, been successful in showing descendants from it at many agricultural societies' shows in different counties. He has also exhibited cattle at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Societies of England, at Oxford, Liverpool, Bristol, Derby and Southampton, and obtained premiums at them all.

Bulls bred by the Walker family at this time included such names as Atlas, Chancellor, Robin Hood 'sold for exportation to Australia', Daniel, Young General, Woodmanton, Young Burton and Crick Neck. Crick Neck, was so named from an injury received as a calf, by falling into a quarry, and was a valuable foundation bull. Apparently in 1810, Mr. Meek of Lichfield, a Long-horn breeder, challenged his own bull against that of any Hereford breeder. Crick Neck was put forward. 'It is said Mr. Meek became acquainted with the superiority of Mr. Walker's animal, and preferred forfeiting the money (100 guineas) to
defeat T.D.' The Black Bull was born in 1800 and was half brother to the celebrated Crick Neck.

At the Bath and West and Southern Counties Show in 1819, Mr. William Walker won £10 for the best three heifers for breeding and his brother, Mr. John Walker, £3 for a 'Hereford steer of great merit'. The present stock at Tedney are descended from the old bloodlines of such bulls as Crick Neck, who had a herdbook number of 175; and Comet with the herdbook number, 159. Another foundation bull, Sir Andrew, came from the Hemming blood at Sivington, Acton Beauchamp. In 1950, a start was made to breed polled Hereford Cattle by using a Galloway bull, a black polled beef type breed from Scotland. Today, the horned Herefords bred at Tedney have the prefix Docklow from the farm at Uphampton, near Leominster, still in Walker possession after eight generations. The polled Herefords have the prefix Hyde, from the Hyde Farm at Avenbury near Bromyard. For many years the prefix Tedney was in use but this lapsed after 1945. Recent successes include: the overall champion at Edinburgh in October 1974; senior champion at Edinburgh in spring 1975; champion at Madresfield near Malvern in 1976 and reserve champion at the Royal Welsh Show in 1976. Breeding stock from Tedney have been exported all over the world and in 1975, Hyde III Jupiter was sold in Edinburgh for £3,000 and two years later Hyde III Kangeroo was sold for £2,200.

John Smith Walker with his family at Knightwick Manor about 1872
I have guessed who some of the children are.
From Left to Right:-
William Burnham Walker; Sarah Walker; Harriet (Hemming) Walker; Margaret Walker; Emma Wanklin Walker; John Smith Walker;
John Flemming Walker; Elizabeth Walker; Thomas Lawson Walker; MaryWalker;

Walker Tree

Lawson Walker of Tedney with his mother (Hannah Mary[Guest] Walker), about 1924.