Claims to Fame?
H E Bates - author of The Darling Buds of May
The Bates lived in Little Chart and their daughters came to Hothfield school
Alfred Austin - the worst Poet Laureate
He lived at Swinford Manor in Hothfield Parish
Hothfield's hydrobrake - once the biggest in the world
Thanks to Rick Kemp
Some possible links between Hothfield and the famous
By Chris Rogers
H E Bates wrote The Darling Buds of May while living at Little Chart – his daughters came to Hothfield School.
Alfred Austin lived at Swinford Manor (near Godinton House) and he was the official poet to the Government of the time, known as a Poet Laureate. Alfred also wrote many books which sold well and some of which are beautifully illustrated, but he also had a reputation for being the worst Poet Laureate despite the public popularity of some his work.
Sir Reginald Rootes bought Hothfield Park around 1947 and was part of the family that owned the major British “Rootes Group” motor company. The Rootes brothers bought several smaller British motor car manufacturers and were themselves eventually bought out by Chrysler, and their legacy is now part of Peugeot and Renault.
It is believed that a piece of music called ‘The Lost Chord’ was composed on the organ which is now at St.Margaret’s Church Hothfield by Sir Arthur Sullivan (one half of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership) when he was visiting Lord and Lady Hothfield. It is believed that at that time the organ was in the Manor House where a public performance was also given by Sir Arthur in 1877. (The organ was moved to the church in the late 1890s.)
After the First World War a pre-eminent surgeon, Harold Gillies, was working at Sidcup Hospital rebuilding the faces of soldiers who were seriously disfigured. He became one of the leading plastic surgeons. In a book about his life, “The Great Silence”, it says that he took a break after three years of intensively draining work and stayed in a cottage in Hothfield. Apparently he spent the time writing a medical book, fishing and bird watching. If your house was here in the 1920s then he might have stayed there. (My thanks to Kay Pender for this interesting piece of research)
... and don't forget that when the Hydrobrake was installed at Hothfield it was the largest in the world! (but now there are bigger ones)
Do you know of anyone else who is well known and connected with Hothfield? Please e-mail: hothfieldmemories@hotmail.com