Prominent family owned much of the surrounding farmland
THE Stilwells, a well-known family in Yateley in the 1800s, owned most of the town including the second largest house, Hilfield.
John Pakenham Stilwell was head of the large country house just off Cricket Hill Lane.
Being a major supporter of St Peter’s Church in Yateley he wanted to be able to walk to church over his own land so he bought all of the fields in between, as well as several nearby farms including Hill Farm in Cobbetts Lane.
When John was 27 he married Georgina Elizabeth Stevens, 18, at St Peter’s on February 21 1860.
Their first child to be baptised at the church was Beatrice Ellen, on bonfire night in 1876.
Georgina Stilwell had inherited Hilfield when her father William Stevens died in 1871. He had purchased the Hilfield estate from Henry Browne Mason in 1849. William Stevens had previously lived in Binfield.
John’s wealth derived originally from owning the family’s ‘Stilwell Bank’ which was more than 200 years old and originally The Royal Navy’s bank.
He always had at least two large houses, one being in London. The Stilwells probably lived at Hilfield between 1871 and 1876 when not in London, as they did for the rest of their lives.
His son Geoffrey Holt Stilwell inherited Hilfield but John, his wife and Geoffrey all died within five years, Geoffrey in 1927 from a bicycle accident. The enormous death duties meant that Hilfield had to be sold.
Beatrice Stilwell was quartermaster of Hants 94 Auxiliary Military Hospital until it was closed at the end of the First World War.
When Beatrice died at the age of 52 in 1928, a 42-page book was published containing ‘appreciations’ written by her friends and family and heads of the various voluntary organisations for which she had worked.
The very first appreciation in the book was written by C Margaret Marx who, during the First World War, had been lady superintendent of the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment Hants 94, which was formed to cover both Yateley and Eversley.
In 1929 Geoffrey’s widow, with eight children, had ‘Thriftswood’ built nearby in 1929 on Stevens Hill, named after John Pakenham Stilwell’s wife Georgina Stevens. Elizabeth moved there with two of her children, the others having already left home.
The next owner of Hilfield changed its name to Yateley Place. It eventually burned down in 1973. The main legacy remaining is a road named Stilwell Close.
Yateley Society is preparing an exhibition to showcase Yateley during the First World War, which will be taken to schools in the town.
John Pakenham Stilwell’s sons and daughters will feature prominently in at least three of the six world war display panels.
Peter Tipton, from the society, said: “They really were a fantastic family.
“The society has decided to run its exhibition until 2019 because there is an awful amount of history we did not realise existed.”