The occupiers of Vine Cottage
A Census has been taken in England every decade since the 6th June 1941. However, the name ‘Vine Cottage’ at Church End first appears in the Census for 1891(5 April 1891). Prior to that I have been unable to determine which, if any, of the various farm cottage at Church End mentioned in the earlier Censuses is the cottage which is the subject of this year’s HADAS excavation.
In the 1891 Census, Vine Cottage is listed as being between Frederick Hinge’s Model Farm and Hinge’s Yard. It may have been owned by Frederick Hinge or by Frederick Jordan who in the Electoral Roll for 1886 is tenant in 1891 was 38 year old William Sutton. He was a tailor and he was living in the cottage along with his 32 year old wife who was a dressmaker. The couple had two children, Elsie Nellie Elizabeth Sutton (born 1894) and Henry Charles Sutton (born 1886).
William Sutton was born in 1853 in Purton Wilshire. His father was a boot and shoe maker. He came to London in the 1860s and in July 1880 he married Sarah Jane Acton at Holy Trinity Church Hampstead. The couple must have moved to Vine Cottage after February 1886 as at the date (21 February) of Henry Charles Sutton’s baptism at St Mary Hendon, the family were living at 9 The Terrace.
For how long the Sutton family remained at Vine Cottage is unknown. By the date of the 1901 Census (31 March 1901) the family had moved to 6 Church Walk Hendon.
At some time before the Census of 1901 Vine Cottage was altered to create three cottages which from 1901 onwards were known as 1,2 and 3 Vine Cottages.
1 Vine Cottage
The 1901 Census lists the occupants as the Pratchett family. They were still living at 13 Bellone Road when daughter Edith Mabel Pratchett was baptised at St Mary Hendon in June 1899. In 1901, the Pratchett family consisted of Frederick Pratchett aged 29, his wife Kate Amelia Pratchett and one year old Edith Mabel Ptatchett. In the 1901 Census Frederick Pratchett gave his occupation as a ‘yard man on farm.’ This was something of a change of occupation. In 1899 he had been working as a gas fitter.
The Pratchett family were not long term occupants of Vine Cottage. They were still resident when their third child (Benjamin Charles) was baptised at St Mary Hendon on 3 November 1903 but by the birth of the couple’s fourth child in 1907 the family had moved to Brentford.
Exactly when the next family moved into 1 Vine Cottage is unknown. By the date of the 1911 Census (2 April 1911) the cottage was home to the Wells family. Benjamin Wells was 30 and was working as a carman for a local builder. His father had been a coachman. His wife Mary Ann Wells was 32. Both had been born in Hendon. The couple had a 6 year old daughter Elizabeth Violet Wells.
Benjamin Wells liked a drink and had a bit of a temper. The Hendon and Finchley Times (15 September 1911) reported that he had been charged with disorderly conduct and using obscene language. Son Charles Henry Wells also liked a fight and the Hendon and Finchley Times (13 June 1930) reported that he and others had been charged with malicious wounding a man named in the newspaper as Charles Bourne.
By the date of the 1921 Census (19 Jun2 1921) Benjamin Wells was working as a dustman.
The Wells family remained in the cottage until it was condemned and pulled down in 1935.
2 Vine Cottage
The 1901 Census lists the occupants as the Saunders family. George Saunders was 32 and was working as a farm labourer. His wife Annie (full name Sarah Ann Willing Saunders) was 24. By 1901, the couple had four children. The Baptismal Register entries for the two eldest (George Henry Joseph in 1894 and Charles in 1895) give the family home as 2 Farm Cottages. Whether this was another cottage or 2 Vine Cottage was also known as 2 Farm Cottage is unknown. When son Frederick was baptised in 1900, the Baptismal Register records the family home as 2 Vine Cottage.
By 1911 the family had expanded to include a fifth child Richard John Saunders who was just 10 months old at the date of the Census. 42 year old George and his 17 year old son George Henry Saunders were both working as farm labourers – presumably at the Model Farm. 15 year old Charles was working as a laundry boy.
George Henry Saunders enlisted in the army in 1915. However in, December 1917 he was back in Hendon and on Christmas eve he married Kate May Mason at St Mary Church Hendon. He survived the war and when he was discharged in 1919 he and his wife moved to Navestock near Romford in Essex where he worked as a cowman. His parents had by then left 2 Vine Cottage. According to the Electoral Roll of 1918 the family were living at Model Dairy Farm Cottage.
The Electoral Roll for 1918 lists the occupiers of 2 Vine Cottage as Thomas Henry Johnson and his wife Marian Frances Johnson. When they first moved into 2 Vine Cottage is unknown. Thomas Henry Johnson was a hay-binder and thatcher. Despite being an agricultural worker he was called up to serve in the army but National Archive Records (MH 47/112/48 Case V 1808) show that he avoided army service on the ground that it was expedient in the national interests that he remain in his current occupation.
By the date of the 1921 Census the Johnson family at 2 Vine Cottage consisted of Mr and Mrs Johnson and three sons. The eldest, William Henry Johnson was 21 and like his father and grandfather before him was working as a farm labourer. Second son James, aged 17, was working as an engineer and youngest son Ernest Arthur Johnson was still at school.
The Johnson family quit 2 Vine Cottage in 1926/7. Mr and Mrs Johnson are listed on the Electoral Roll at 2 Vine Cottage in 1926 but by the Electoral Roll of 1928 they had moved to Pinner.
The last occupants of 2 Vine Cottage were Jonathan (known as John) Dopson and his wife Hannah Mary Ann Dopson. They must have moved into the cottage in 1927 as they are listed on the Electoral Roll for 1928. The couple had no children and came from Berkshire where, in 1911 John Dopson had been foreman at the brickworks in Wickham.
The couple are listed as living at 2 Vine Cottage on the Electoral Roll for 1934 but presumably moved out either around the time when the cottage was condemned or just before it was pulled down in 1935. They remained in Hendon and they are listed on the Electoral Roll for 1936 as living at 13 Florence Street.
3 Vine Cottage
From 1901 until it was pulled down in 1935 3 Vine Cottage was occupied by the Ball family.
Charles Ball senior was born in 1862 in Longbridge Deverill Wiltshire where his father worked as an agricultural labourer. On 31 August 1884 he married Hannah Martha (known as Martha) Dickens at St Mary Finchley Barnet Lane. By the date of the 1891 Census, Charles and Martha Ball and two children (Charles John and William Henry) and Charles’s brother and Edward were living in a cottage in Hinge’s Yard. Surprisingly, the name of the Ball’s eldest child (Emily Elizabeth born in 1885) is not listed on the Census. Since she does not appear elsewhere on the 1891 Census this may have been an oversight on the part of the enumerator. Both Charles and Edward were farm labourers. It is unlikely that this cottage was adapted to become 3 Vine Cottage as it is listed as the third cottage in the yard.
By 1901 the family are listed as living at 3 Vine Cottage. It must have been somewhat cramped as the couple were living with their own 5 children as well as an adopted daughter. Charles Ball gave his occupation as a carter on a farm. His son Charles John Ball who was 13 and was employed as an errand boy.
By 1911 only Charles and Martha Ball and two of their daughters were living at 3 Vine Cottage. Mabel May Ball was 18 and was working as a laundry packer and sorter and her sister Beatrice Sarah Ball was still at school. Charles Ball was working as a waggoner on a farm.
Youngest daughter Beatrice Sarah Ball married Harry Victor Percy Cutts in 1818 at St Mary Finchley Barnet Lane. By the date of the 1921 Census they and their three children were living with Charles and Martha Ball. Harry Cutts was working as a postman and Charles Ball described himself on the Census form as a farm labourer.
Charles Ball died in September 1927. His death was reported in the Hendon and Finchley Times on 23 September 1927 and a week later on the 30 September the newspaper reported on his funeral. According to the paper he had been employed at the Model Farm for 42 years.
Charles Ball’s death did not mark the end of the Ball family’s association with 3 Vine Cottage. The cottage is not listed as occupied on the 1928 Electoral Roll. However, by the publication of the 1932 Electoral Roll it again housed members of the Ball family. The cottage was home to Arnold and Kathleen Ball. Arnold was the nephew of Charles Ball and son of the Edward Ball who had lived with Charles in the cottage in Hinge’s Yard in 1891. Arnold Ball had married Kathleen Jane Wiles at St Mary Finchley Barnet Lane in 1915. At that time Arnold gave his occupation (on the marriage certificate) as a labourer. The couple went on to have five children. Arnold was still listed on the Electoral Roll for 1934 as living at 3 Vine Cottage. His wife’s name is missing. As she died in October 1838 she may have been unwell and was being cared for elsewhere.
The Hendon and Finchley Times of 2 March 1934 reported that all three cottages were condemned as unfit for occupation. However on 26 April 1935 the paper reported that one cottage was still in occupation. According to the paper, this was drawn to the owner’s attention and the paper reported that ‘this week the cottages were raised to the ground.’
Susan Trackman
26 July 2025
