Donkey Lane Community Orchard - The 1901 Census

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By the 1901 census there were only two cottages registered as being occupied. This we think must have been the semi-detached thatched cottage that was positioned across the middle of the plot, with the well near to the front door. It is not certain whether the cottage parallel to the lane was still standing but we think it was still there for some while after it was occupied by permanent families. 

We have photographs of the cottages from around this time which show that there were two pairs still standing around the turn of the century. Another photograph showing only the one by the well was a little later but proves that the cottage in the middle of the plot was the last one standing. By the time of this census only two families remained. Whether there was a family in each cottage or both in one pair of cottages was not clear. It is possible that they moved from one to the other as the dilapidation progressed.

The families remaining were James Rogers and his wife Charlotte, and Alfred and Mary Howlett, the latter living with Mary’s parents Joseph and Sarah Rogers. James, Charlotte, Alfred and Mary were also mentioned on the 1891 census. Alfred and Mary already had one child, listed as 'Alsie,' who was three years old at the time. This becomes a puzzle later as there are a variety of spellings for her name in later census as ‘Elsie’ which we think is correct as the Parish records have her baptism as Elsie May, born 13th February 1888 and baptised 28th March. The next child Ellis Kate born 20th April 1891. The similarity of these children’s names born close together posed administrative problems for the census recorder who recorded a variety of spellings. Presumably from trying to decipher what they were told by the parents who were highly likely to have had a strong local accent. However, we do know that Ellis Howlett went on to live in the village to a ripe old age and is remembered by Val Wells who still lives in Keens Lane.

In 1901, James and Charlotte Rogers, now in their late fifties still had had five of their children living with them, four of them, well into adulthood. Jesse 28, who was an agricultural labourer, Arthur 20, who was a carter on the farm; Ann 24 with no stated occupation, Charles 16, also an agricultural labourer and Ada who was 11 and still at school. James was described as a ‘worker on the road’, a relatively new job as more attention was being paid to a better road surface. Charlotte was no longer described as a lacemaker. Her only status was wife of head of household!

Alfred and Mary Howlett, now in their late thirties were also recorded as having five children living with them. Elsie 13, Alice 9, Alfred 6, Blanche 4, and Aubrey aged 2. Alfred is described as a ‘labourer, woodsman’. Once again Mary who had previously been described as lacemaker was now simply ‘wife’.

No longer are we regularly seeing ‘lacemaker’ on the census as the occupation for most women and girls over the age of 5. The younger children aged 5-12 were now able to be in school since the 1870 Education Act, and lacemaking as a cottage industry had declined with the coming of machines, which could produce it quicker and cheaper. There was still a market for specialist handmade lace, which required great skill and often expensive materials like silk thread which was out of the reach of poorer lacemakers. Accomplished lacemakers still made specialist lace for occasional orders and for friends and family but there was less chance to make a living from this now. The age of the machine was changing the world of work and likely having an impact on the family income.

It appears that the remaining tenants here, had allotments as well as their gardens to help feed their large families. These entries in the allotment rent book, described as 'Chinnor Poor's Allotments', indicate that both families were included. The Tenant's List begins in 1898. From1898 -1901 Alfred Howlett in Guntrips Lane also James Rogers, were on the list. In 1902 they stopped putting addresses in. The only addresses that appear are when there are two people of the same name or family, for example: In 1902, 'James Rogers, Guntrips Lane' - William Rogers (no address given). From this we know for sure that James Rogers was still in Guntrips Lane then. What we now know as Donkey Lane was still called Guntrips Lane by many local people until much later. The Guntrips must have been quite influential for the name to continue 30 or more years after their deaths.

The photographs we have are from postcards that have postage dates on them which is quite helpful for our timeline. In one of the photographs a family is standing in front of the middle cottage wearing their Sunday best. The lady is holding a baby who is roughly a year old, there is a cheeky looking, blond boy leaning on the fence possibly Aubrey now 7 or Alfred junior who would be about 11.

We can see three girls of mixed ages, could these be the Howletts? Could the girl beside the mother be Elsie who would now be a teenager? A smaller girl next to the boy could be Ellis who would be 13ish and what looks like another girl leaning on the fence beside her maybe Blanche. The ages of the children in the photograph look correct, especially baby Althea born around 1904 making the photograph roughly 1905/6. If this is the case, then it is likely these are the Howletts. The lady in the doorway in the cottage behind is then most likely to be Charlotte Rogers or one of her daughters. This would suggest that the last two families on the census lived in the cottage in the middle not the one parallel to the lane even though it was still there.

We can see from the second photograph that there was someone standing by the doorway. The cottage could still be occupied or even perhaps have been used as a workshop. There was hearsay that that one of the cottages was used for itinerant people passing through the village or as a quarantine house but we have not seen any official documentary evidence for this. However, this photograph is suggesting it was still being used for something. If this was taken in a non-census year it could have still been occupied sporadically.

The same blond boy is in the foreground of the second photograph and looks a similar age, he is with another boy who is equally blond. They are very alike and could be brothers as they look very comfortable with each other. They are highly likely to be Alfred and Aubrey Howlett who at this time would have been around 7 and 11. All the Howlett children would have been born in these cottages and some of them continued to live there until approximately the outbreak of WW1. More detail of their continuing story can be followed in other articles within this collection of ‘Stories from a Chinnor Orchard’.

In the foreground we can see a donkey. This is the time that the Lane became known as Donkey Lane. An earlier history of Chinnor written by the WI said that there were donkeys kept here to carry wood for making chair legs from the woods to the chairmakers in the village. It was also suggested that the donkeys were shod in this area. This is an idea supported by some of the finds from our recent digs when a donkey shoe and some globules of metal were found on the site. An article from a local paper in 1877 reported that Alfred Howlett had been fined for cruelty to a donkey, so he had the use of one. He was fined four shillings. 

One of the postcards declares the cottages to be ‘Bodgers Cottages’. None of the information we have so far suggests that this was the main occupation of anyone living there at the time of any census although they may have done this as a hobby or as an extra source of income. There is a large shed on the photographs which could have provided a venue for turning chair legs or shoeing donkeys.

This seems the time when the Orchard had begun to decline as a more vibrant community and become more of an isolated dwelling over the railway lines. It must still have been a busy thoroughfare with wood and chair legs being carried up and down the lane and some of the main footpaths entering the village from outlying villages. It was also one of the main ways into the village from the long-distance Upper Icknield Way.

Carol Stewart June 2025

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