sunningdale bint family.htm

THE SUNNINGDALE & ASCOT FAMILY

In 1860 the then Incumbent, the Reverend W C Raffles Flint, added the Chancel and a small Chapel. This Chapel was later to become the Vestry, and is now the Lady Chapel. These where built to commemorate the Reverend's uncle, Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore and The London Zoo.

By 1880 the population of Sunningdale had almost outgrown the church, so in 1887 it was decided to rebuild the Nave, to provide extra capacity, and also commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. This time the architect was Mr. J. Oldrid Scott. The work was completed largely through the generous assistance of Sir William Farmer of Coworth Park. The foundation stone was laid at the West end of the church, immediately above the original stone, on the 13th June 1887, by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward the VII. The Spire was not completed until 1890.

Sunningdale 1887

Near the station the only houses were the Station Hotel and Oak Lodge, the residence of the curate, the Rev. J. Wreford, and the old thatched cottage at the corner, now pulled down, which had formerly served as a residence for he turnpike gate keeper. On the other side of Broomhall Lane were the Chequers Inn (now the Broomhall Hutt), another old thatched cottage, and also a cottage near to Dagwell House.

Passing up Chobham Road we came to Dagwell House, occupied by Mr. Joseph Norris, and his builder's yard and workshops adjoining, then three or four cottages and the brickfields, with a brick kiln and a few more cottages connected with the brick works and then the open common, with Titlark's Farm cut out of it. One could go for miles over the heath without meeting a soul, unless the common had troops encamped upon it or carrying out manoeuvres, as frequently happened in the summer months.

Coworth Estate

Although very nearly the the whole of Coworth was in Old Windsor Parish, and only one small corner of it in Sunninghill, Old Windsor was so far away that the owners more or less considered themselves as parishioners of Sunninghill and were benefactors to the church there, but when there was a church at Sunningdale, conditions were altered, and from the time he came to Coworth until his death in 1873, Mr. Arbuthnot took great interest in Sunningdale's church and schools. In addition to being a liberal subscriber to both these institutions, he gave the first organ to the church, which was used until the installation of the present instrument, when it was sold to the Congregational Church, where it did duty for some years, and then was sold to a church in the north of England. It is thought that he also gave the bell which has recently been replaced by a larger one given by Mrs. Sanday. Mr Arbuthnot was succeeded by his son, Mr. William Arbuthnot, who, in 1884, disposed of the estate to Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Farmer, who was also very much interested in Sunningdale church, and it was largely through his influence that while he was church warden, the nave was rebuilt, a costly and substantial work, for which he found more than half the funds. He also replaced the organ.

Egham Royal Agricultural Show (Coworth worker John Bint (1846) took First Prize for ploughing in 1875)

In 1859 prizes were offered for the neatest farm labourer's cottage and £1 was awarded to the labourer bringing up the largest family without parochial relief. Agricultural wages at this time were about 12s. per week and by 1872 they had risen to 14s.

Speaking at the annual dinner that year Mr.A.J.Arbuthnot, the guest of honour and son of Major Arbuthnot of Coworth Park, Sunningdale, made comments that would be considered patronising today. He said that he always gave his workers a good Christmas dinner and that this year he would give them two - he added that as he had cut more hay, reaped more corn and grown more roots than he had done in any year since he began farming he intended to install an oven in each of his cottages. It would cost him "but little" and he thought that these two gestures would give his workers as much satisfaction as an increase in their wages. He was loudly cheered!

When receiving the envelopes containing the money the winners would sometimes be treated to homilies on the virtues of thrift, frugality and regular church attendance, especially when the Revd. Mr Beattie, as Chairman of the Association, was presenting the awards. There were, by this time, competitions for rick building, for thatching and for vegetables grown by labourers.

	William Bint from Shinfield, Berkshire, who married Hannah Clark in 1800, fathered the nearby Arborfield, Berkshire family from whom I, Tom Bint, born in 1936 am descended. William was the son of John Bint and Mary Critcher who were married at nearby Shinfield, Berkshire in 1752. One of William's sons, William Bint (1812-1897) moved to Coworth Park, near Sunningdale, when he married Ann Harter (1814-1886) at Sunninghill Church in 1838. She was the daughter of Joseph Harter and Sarah Wise an Old Windsor family then living at Sunninghill. William & Ann had eight children - William (1840), Thomas (1841), Ann Maria (1843), John (1846), Mary (1849), Charles (1850), Jane (1853), and Emma (1856).

			As a result of the arrival of the railway with it's fast connection to London in the 1840's, the population rapidly expanded, and Sunningdale, a part of Sunninghill and Windsor, became a parish. Today it's more known for an international golf course, expensive mansions, and proximity to Ascot, Windsor Castle, and Wentworth Golf Club. William Bint was from a family of agricultural labourers who around 1838 went to work at Coworth Park, a large local estate, as a farm labourer. In later years he became the farm bailiff and remained there until his retirement. A daughter and daughter-in-law were employed in the laundry at Coworth and his sons Thomas (1841), John Bint (1846), and Charles (1850) were farm-workers there. His eldest son William Bint (1840) married Chelsea born Catherine Large (1843) at St James, Middlesex in 1867. Catherine was working as a laundry maid at Coworth Farm when William met her. He went on to work as a gardener. They were at nearby Holly Grove in 1871 and Compton, near Guildford, Surrey in 1891. In 1901 they were living at Stoke, also in the Guildford area. The couple had no children.
	Coworth before its 2010 makeover
	In 1863 another of William's sons, Thomas Bint (1841), had also married a laundry maid from Coworth Park. She was Eleanor Druce (1840), daughter of coachman James Druce, who was born at West Drayton in Middlesex. They had two children, William (1865) and Eleanor (1867). On the 1871 census they are recorded living at Shrubs Hill, Sunningdale with Thomas employed as a farm labourer. In 1881 they are still at Shrubs Hill and Eleanor was now listed as a laundress. She was possibly back to being employed at Coworth Park where her father-in-law was bailiff. By 1891 the couple were living in the Brick Kilns area of Sunningdale and at some point over the next few years he became employed by Sunningdale's Norris the builders as a carter. It is believed that Woodbine Cottage, the new family home which was next to the railway line in Chobham Road and at that time owned by Norris's, came with the job. Later it was purchased and remained in the family until the early 1960s. When the widowed Eleanor Bint died there in 1917 ownership passed to her son William Bint (1865 - 1921). William married Pangbourne girl Margaret Elizabeth Briginshaw (1855). They had met when she was employed as a servant at one of the large houses in Sunningdale. The couple moved to Spring Grove, Sunningdale where William was employed as a gardener. Their only surviving child was my grandfather Thomas James Bint (1889).
			The Estate with Coworth House in right hand corner and farm area top left

Another sister Emma Bint (1856), married London born carpenter Walter Shurey (1861) at Sunningdale in 1885. They had three children. Bertie Walter Shurey was born at Bagshot in 1889, Winifred Shurey 1890, and Stanley Shurey in 1896.

Charles Bint born 1850. In 1881 he was a general labourer living at Coworth Farm. In 1891 his occupation was recorded as a carman living with his father at Shrubshill. He was unmarried and died at Lower Nursery Sunningdale 1922.

Mary Bint 1849. Married George Corker at Sunningdale in 1870. Their daughter Phoebe Corker was born in 1876 at Pimlico, London. He was employed in the Chelsea area as a commissionaire in 1881.

Jane Bint (1853) was employed as a servant until her marriage to Birmingham born Alfred Chalmers (1857) at Birmingham in 1882. He was employed as a bedstead maker. The couple lived their married lives in Birmingham and had no children.

Hi Tom, I’ve just found your fascinating and clearly heavily researched web site and I wanted to say how much I appreciate it. Myself I am descended from Phoebe Bint, whom you mention, and her husband Richard Hart, so I’m hoping to be able to identify or clarify some of my family history from it. Richard and Phoebe lived at Hall Cottage, Sunningdale for many years and it stayed in the family for many years. I remember visiting when I was a child, and I think the cottage was occupied by daughter, Trissie. Another daughter, Leah, lived in a new bungalow built in the garden, with her husband Dick King, who ran an electrical shop close to the level crossing. Anyway, thankyou for all your hard work. Andrew Whittle October 2011 Dorothy Roy Leah Reg Harold Elsie Richard Cyril Phoebe Doris Trissie At Hall Cottage in 1908

	Cyril Alexander Hart (1899-1986) served in the Royal Navy during World War I. He married Rena Measures at Southampton in 1925. The couple had three children.	Royston Richard Hart 1893-1945 and wife Bessie. The 17 year old migrated to Canada on the "Lake Erie" in April 1911. He had previously worked at Sunningdale Golf Club which opened in 1900.
Both widower Richard Hart and his daughter Doris (born 1897) left the UK to visit Royston & Bessie in Canada during 1923. On their immigration arrival forms Richard is there for a holiday and Doris to stay. I believe Richard Hart had a sense of humour with some of his children's names: Leah was Leah Elizabeth Alice Hart (LEAH), Triss was Miss Triss (Mistress) and my mother says that Cyril was named after the Derby winner when he was born, but I haven't worked that one out. Cyril Alexander S is all I've found, but the name Cyprien was told to me. Cyprian is a name of an Oaks winner many years earlier, maybe the story got corrupted. I know Royston was an apprentice professional golfer at Sunningdale but was ticked off for arriving late one day after staying up all night to look after a sick younger sister so he resigned and emigrated to Canada. Royston apparently had a very hard time when he went out there working on a farm but eventually married the bosses daughter. Apparently Richard went to Canada with his daughter Doris who liked it so much over there she stayed. I've met her descendants in Vancouver. Another story is that Triss was walking her dog once alongside the golf course when she saw the Prince of Wales playing a casual game. She didn't disturb him, but when he moved on from the green he left a golf ball, which she always thought of as a gift from him for not making any fuss. *Andrew*


	Hall Cottage

	Hall Cottage - Leah Hart's marriage to electrical engineer Richard Lewis King in 1922


	Sunningdale National School - Standard 2 (Early 1900s?)
	If these children are around 8 or 9 years old, with at least one from the younger members of the Hart family, then it would probably date this class between 1908 and 1913. Tom

	The son of William Bint (1865-1921), Thomas James Bint, born in 1889, lived at Woodbine Cottage, Chobham Road, Sunningdale after leaving the army in 1919 and worked as a domestic gardener until his death in 1958. He had in 1914 married a Scottish girl, Isabella McNab Craig. She was born in 1890 at the Toll House in Killin, Perthshire, and had been employed to help out at Woodbine Cottage during the absence of Thomas James's mother Margaret. (On the 1911 census Margaret (Elizabeth) Bint was being treated for a drink problem at a Salvation Army treatment centre in Stamford Hill, London).

Our Grandmother Isabella was to have a hard life. Two of her four sons were killed in the Second World War, a third returned from the Far East with a tropical disease and died in 1960,she was widowed in 1958, and her much loved youngest grand-daughter, Fred's 17 year old daughter Corinne, was killed in a car accident in 1967. She died at her home near Melbourne, Australia in 1976.

Our Grandparents, William's great-grandson Thomas James Bint (born Sunningdale, Berkshire in 1889) and Isabelle McNab Craig (born 1890 at Killin, Perthshire in Scotland) were married at Sunningdale in 1914. He was employed as a gardener at one of the country houses in Sunningdale.

They had five children - Thomas William Bint (1915), William James (1917), Harry (1919), Peggy (1921), Frederick (1924).

Thomas James & Isabella Bint

	My father was Thomas William Bint (born 1915). After his marriage to Ivy May Savery from Pontypool in South Wales, they went to live at Englefield Green a few miles from my Sunningdale grandparents. Originally trained as a gas-fitter, he joined the RAF as an air gunner on Lancaster bombers in 1943. He died in 1944 when shot down over Germany. His grave is in the Reichswald Forest War cemetery. He left a wife and two children, Tom Bint (born 1936) and Pat (born 1938). My sister Pat married Ian Taylor and settled near Pontypool, South Wales. They have two children, Carole & Heidi. My mother Ivy married Ernest (Benny) Bending in 1946 and they had two sons, Peter Bending (1946) and Michael Bending (1950).

	Family grave at Sunningdale Churchyard		The War Memorial outside Sunningdale Church

William James, "Jim" Bint (born 1917) who had married May Pennington in 1938, returned from his military service in the Far East a very sick man. He died, aged only 43, after a long illness in 1960. They had four children, daughters Doreen Floyd (1938) and Beryl Dixon (1940) and sons Clive Bint (1945) and Ian Bint (1946).

Harry Bint, known in the family as Peter (born 1919) joined the 1st Battalion Royal Berks Regiment in World War 2 and was killed in action during the retreat to Dunkirk in May 1940. He is buried at Zuidschote Churchyard in West Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Peggy Bint (born 1921) married Reg Shuttleworth and migrated to Melbourne, Australia in the late 1940's and was followed there by her youngest brother Fred.

Fred (born 1924), his wife Nelly, their daughter Corinne (born 1950) and my grandmother Isabelle, migrated to Australia a few years after our grandfather Thomas James died at Sunningdale in 1958.

Their father, Thomas James Bint (1889-1958), is buried at Sunningdale churchyard. His gravestone is shared with several of the earlier family. His two sons lost in World War 2 are named on the war memorial outside the parish church.


		The only photo I have that shows my Welsh maternal grandmother Margaret Savery nee Parry. She is immediately behind the bride and groom at this war-time Parry family wedding in Pontypool.


	My parents Ivy May (Savery) and Thomas William Bint (1915-1944)


		Tom Bint (1936) with brother Pete Bending (1946) at Woodbine Cottage, Sunningdale in 1950

	Descendants of the Berkshire Bints				THE SUNNINGDALE & ASCOT FAMILY
	HOME THOMAS WILLIAM BINT 1915-1944 ARBORFIELD-BARKHAM-SHINFIELD BINTS FROM SHINFIELD FICTION BARKHAM HISTORY SITE ARBORFIELD HISTORY SITE
					Sunningdale Church around 1900
					In 1839, the population of Sunningdale had reached almost 600, and the local villagers decided it was time to have a church of their own. Until Holy Trinity Parish Church was built, the nearest church had been in Sunninghill, or Old Windsor. The church stands on the site of an old gravel pit which existed on Sunningdale Common. The foundation stone was laid by H.R.H. Princess Augusta on the 27th September 1840 and work was completed on the 22nd October 1840. It was originally a very small plain building designed by architect Robert Ebbles. The cost of the construction work came to £1600 at the time.

Phoebe Hart (nee Bint) 1861-1912

Phoebe & Richard's grave at Sunningdale

With grateful acknowledgements to the Charles Sale Gravestone Photographic Resource

John Bint's sister Ann Maria Bint (1843) was also employed as a servant. She was unmarried and only 17 when she gave birth to Phoebe Bint in 1861. Ann married Henry Vickers (1842) at Birmingham in 1865 but had no more children. On the 1901 census she was listed as a widow and living next door to her sister Jane Chalmers in Birmingham.

Her daughter Phoebe Bint (1861-1912) was also in domestic service. There are reports of school prizes in 1869 when she attended Sunningdale parish school and a record of her confirmation at the Parish Church in 1875.The 1871 census shows the ten year old staying with her sister Mary Corker and her husband at Hanover Square in London who would later name their only daughter Phoebe.

According to the 1881 census she was employed as a housemaid at Titness Cottage, Sunninghill. In 1889 she married Sunningdale railway clerk Richard Hart (1856).

The couple had nine children and lived at Hall Cottage a few doors from Woodbine Cottage at Broomhall.

The children were : Leah Hart (1890), Reginald (1891), Dorothy (1892), Royston (1893),Harold (1896), Doris (1897), Cyril (1899), Elsie (1902) and Trissie (1904).