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Christmas Day 2008
©Harveywetdog |
On Christmas Day 2008, back in my geographing days, I took a photograph of my dog sitting on a stone bench monument in Bulley Woods, which served to remember Morgan Philips Price “…..who loved these woods”. At the time I investigated exactly who Morgan Philips was, uploaded my Geograph with the information and proceeded to forget all about him without realising the debt of gratitude I owed him and his left wing politics.
Morgan Philips Price was born in 1885, the oldest son of William Edwin Price and the grandson of William Philip Price. William Edwin Price, the only son of William Philip Price of Tibberton Court, died at the age of 45 and when Morgan Philips Price was one and his brother, William Roberts Price was yet to be born. Wikipedia tells us that Morgan Philips Price inherited an Estate of 2000 acres.
His father and grandfather had both been Liberal Members of Parliament, yet, despite this pedigree, Morgan Philips Price chose to be a Labour member of Parliament. I don’t know it would be fair to describe MPP as a communist (he never joined the Communist Party in Great Britain) by today’s standards, but certainly he was happy to write for the Communist News following his Gloucester election defeat in 1921, describing the election process then in words that sound vaguely familiar today and which wouldn’t be lost on Reform.
The Gloucestershire Archive tells us that MPP travelled widely on behalf of the Price Timber Company to identify new sources of raw material. And while, to me, that sounds like a made up job to keep him happy while the rest got on running the company, it did give him the chance to experience life in Eastern Europe and Russia at this turbulent and yet to some exciting time and no doubt shaped his thinking for his future parliamentary career.
Of course, as well as the Company, there was the Tibberton Court Estate to manage. We are told that MPP preferred The Grove in Tibberton to Tibberton Court. But what of the many acres of farmland that fell within the Estate’s jurisdiction run by tenant farmers, subservient to the lord of the manor and doffing their caps should he deign to ride by? And how would the role of lord of the manor sit with the 36 year old MPP, fired up by Bolshevism and eager that “the workers should control the means of production”? Was he himself guilty of “robbing the soil”?
Perhaps I should consult his Biography, to see if it sheds any light on his motivation for breaking up the Tibberton Court Estate in the early 1920s. It could be that he was concentrating his resources round The Grove Estate in Tibberton and this meant running down his interests further afield, such as Bulley near Churcham. I know for a fact that the local farms at Bulley Farm and at Lake Farm were sold off at this time. However his interests in Bulley Woods and Rudford Woods were retained.
Whatever his motivation, MPP’s action meant that 75 years later I was able to purchase my own little bit of England which has served me wonderfully for the past 30 years.
For whatever reasons I happen to hold one of the original copies of the Conveyance describing Morgan Philips Price' sale of Lake Farm to Gilbert Selywyn on the 21st day of November 1921. (See how I went in to solicitor speak there!)
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1921 Conveyance of Lake Farm Purchase
©Harveywetdog |
To me this is a fascinating document. for a start it is signed by three of the key protagonists in the break up of the Tibberton Court Estate, Charles Lee Lee-Williams, who as well as being Morgan Philips Price's uncle was one of 10 trustee's of William Philip Price's will, Theodore Hannam-Clarke, another trustee and the Tibberton Court Estate solicitor and of course Morgan Philips Price himself. Then we have the details of the codicil on William Philip Price's will, describing the history of the property and finally I love the detail of the Inland Revenue stamps (real stamp duty?), the wax seals against each name and the fact that William Philip Price had signed oversees hence the need for the Acting British Consul General to witness his signature and charge 9 shillings and 5 pence for the privilege!
Signatures, Seals and Consular Service Stamps
©Harveywetdog
The end result was that Gilbert Selwyn took possession of Lake Farm, and put in train a series of events which saw me take possession of what had been a farm worker’s cottage (or message) attached to Lake Farm 74 years later in 1995.
At the same time as WPP was selling Lake Farm to Gilbert Selwyn he was also selling the neighbouring Bulley Farm to Percy Wheeler. Some of the Bulley Farm land was close to Bulley Woods (which the Tibberton Court Estate retained and where the memorial is situated) hence the sale involved retaining rights of way to the Estate properties in the woods so that tenants could get to church. It’s important to remember that’s how so many of today’s public footpaths started out; a means for ordinary people to go about their daily lives, and not so that Gore-Tex clad know it alls could stride across the countryside making a nuisance of themselves.
But I digress.
Initially I wondered if the breaking up and selling off of so much of the Tibberton Court Estate in 1921 was an act prompted by Morgan Philips Price’s socialist principles, but other sources have led me to believe he was concentrating his resources around The Grove at Tibberton at the expense of the Estate.
Whatever his motivation, I have ultimately benefited from his actions, and I’m happy to remember Morgan Philips Price who owned and loved these woods.
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Price Family of Tibberton Court and later The Grove
©Harveywetdog |
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Harveywetdog/Author - David Robinson CEng FIET
David spent approaching 50 years in Her Majesty's Electricity Supply Industry before retiring
He was part of the highly successful design team on the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station Project before spending 25 years producing safety cases to keep our aging AGR fleet generating for the good of the nation
He is responsible for the Harveywetdog YouTube Channel which he maintains as an outlet for his creative talents
David is now in remission from blood cancer but refuses to be a victim
All views are of course his own but might be influenced by the medication he's had to take
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