Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

63 the Premises, to disquieting of the present Possession, and to the great Damage and Loss of the now Bishop of Lincolne (a Member of this House): Whereupon it is Ordered, by this House, That the said Lord Bishop of Lincolne, and all claiming from and under him, shall quietly and peaceably hold and enjoy the possession of the said inclosed Grounds, lying near to the Park aforesaid, as it hath been possessed and enjoyed for the Space of Seven Years last past, until the Houses of Parliament, or some other of His Majesty's Courts of Justice, shall give Order or determine the contrary; and that Three of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace next adjoining, videlicet , Mr Ravenscrofte, Mr Paine, and Mr Barnard, or any Two or One of them, shall, by virtue thereof, view the Place, and certify unto this House the Value of the Loss and Damages so done by the said riotous and tumultuous People as aforesaid; and that the said Riot and Tumult shall be considered of, and proceeded against, according to Law, by His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Huntingdone, at the next Quarter Sessions to be held for the said County; before which Justices of Peace, the Persons offending are to be produced, and proceeded against, in Manner as aforesaid; the Principal of which Actors are to be sent for as Delinquents unto this House, and proceeded against here, as this House shall think fit: And lastly, it is Ordered, That, until the Parliament, or some other of His Majesty's Courts of Justice, shall order the quiet Possession from the said Lord Bishop of Lincolne, that none shall disturb the quiet Possession of the said inclosed Grounds, either by throwing down of the Mounds, pulling up the Quicksets, or throwing open the Gates, or wilful turning in their Cattle upon the Premises; but that the said Lord Bishop, and all claiming from and under him, shall and may peaceably and quietly enjoy the said Grounds, according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Order.’ A day or two later the order was modified: ‘Ordered, That the Men which committed the Riot upon the Lord Bishop of Lincolne's Grounds at Buckden shall be sent for as Delinquents; but the Women are to be spared.’ Robinson, Peter Dennis (1923-44) was the son of Arthur and Dorothy Robinson; his father was the proprietor of Robinson’s Garages (see following entry). A lieutenant in No. 41 Royal Marines Commando, Peter died during the fighting following the D-Day invasion. He is buried in the Ranville War Cemetery, and is commemorated in Buckden on the St Mary’s war memorial. Robinson’s Garages were established by Arthur Thomas Robinson (1881-1938). He grew up in Kimbolton and Brampton, the third son of gardener William Robinson. Although he too started his working life as a gardener, he changed career in 1903, moving to Buckden to start making and repairing cycles in a disused part of the George. In 1905, he took over the High Street premises where Sarah Bowling (q.v.) had kept a ladies' school. By 1907, he was doing well enough to marry Dorothy Annie Seymour, whom he may have known (and been courting) since 1901, when he was working in her home town of Watford. Although the 1914 Kelly’s Directory still lists him only as a cycle maker, he had begun repairing motor cars at least three years earlier. He was clearly enthusiastically embracing this new world; so much so that by November 1915 he was proudly advertising ‘immediate delivery’ of the 1916 model Studebaker car for £250 plus £45 tax. It comes as something of a surprise to realise that fifteen months into the First World War valuable transatlantic shipping space was still being set aside for the import of private motors. The cars were also available for hire ‘with experienced drivers’. In the 1920s, he rapidly expanded and diversified his business: from having been able to garage five cars at a time in 1913, by 1935 he could accommodate 100 cars and ten motorcycles. His premises had moved to just south of where the Great North Road entered the village, almost opposite its junction with Perry Road. The end of the war had left an enormous number of surplus road lorries. In a contemporary photograph of the High Street it is just possible to make out two lorries of the type without cabs; this gives credence to the story that Robinson made much money from the paving and improvement of the Great North Road through hiring out trucks. But he was after a much wider customer base than that: his advertisements in the Hunts Post were addressed to farmers, market gardeners, coal merchants, builders and brewers among others. He also claimed the first bulk petrol storage in the county (two pumps). His phone number was Buckden 2. By the 1930s the business was employing a dozen men and boys. The business name was changed in 1957 from Robinson’s Garages (Buckden) Ltd. to simply the Buckden Garage. Managing to survive the coming of the roundabout in 1962, the garage continued as a repair workshop and petrol station until the 1980s, when the site was bought and flattened to make way for a Shell service station. Since then the house and once attractive garden that went with the site have been sadly neglected. Mr Robinson was active in village affairs, serving as chairman of the parish council and on the committee of the Horticultural Society. In 1916, he was a member of the jury at the inquest into the death of Buckden philanthropist Henry Cranfield. He was also called as a witness, having driven the dying man home from the scene of his accident. Roxby family: HenryMeux Roxby (1832-1900) was the vicar of Buckden for twenty-five years (he died in post) and a founder- member of the village Reading Rooms (q.v.). He was the son of a clergyman - and the brother of two more. His children included: Lt-Col Francis Maude-Roxby OBE DFC Legion of Hon- our , who had an unusual career that spanned sea, land and air. He was only forty-five when he died of pneumonia in 1922, but in that time he had spent fifteen years as an Robinson’s garage c.1935 Sam Malt