Records of Fred Dix, the Gamekeeper of Parham

Records of Fred Dix, the Gamekeeper of Parham Wood

This page uses a bundle of household & rent receipts (plus empty envelopes) to reconstruct a bit more of Parham's history and the life of Fred Dix, gamekeeper of Parham Wood.
A table detailing all the items in this bundle is given at the end.

This page is complemented by two records of ledgers that Fred kept (given here without comment or analysis - that's to be done later, or for others to volunteer):

The bundle was lent to me by Geoff Rogers, Fred's Great Grandson and my neighbour.

Background

Parham Wood is ancient woodland, which means it existed before 1600 AD, and was therefore probably never not woodland throughout human history. Comparatively little of existing woodland is ancient, as can be seen from the blue patches on the map of ancient woodland in East Suffolk below, with Parham Wood highlighted (click the image to visit the source of the map).

Ancient Woodland in East Suffolk, incl. Parham Wood [source: Natural England Open Data]

Until 1921, Parham Wood was part of the Corrance Estate, which owned a good fraction of the land in Parham. In 1921, the estate was sold at auction in lots, and Parham Wood was sold with Parham House and surrounding farmland to Arthur Larter, whose descendants still farm the land and manage the wood, including holding regular shoots.

Rent Receipts

The greatest part of the bundle is a series of annual (occasionally biannual) rent receipts from 1888 - 1939 with only a few missing (1896, 1898, 1928) until 1934 when it becomes scant.

None say which cottage the rent was for, but Geoff Rogers knows that his Gt Grandfather lived in Durrant's Cottage, which is today known as the Wooden House on Brick Lane. The first written record of his address is on a 1909 envelope: 'Mr Fred^k Dix, Durrants Cottage; near the Station, Parham, Wickham Market'. The explanation of where it was implies this name might not have been known to everyone at that time. We can only presume that the earlier receipts were all for the same cottage. And that all the receipts are for the same place, given the annual rent is either the same or slightly increasing throughout the series (£3/12 rising to £5 by the end).

The entry for the Wooden House in the chapter 'A History of the Houses' (by Corinna Davie) of the Parham Millennium Parish Scan is quoted below in full (other than the footnotes):

What is now called the Wooden House,in Brick Lane, began its existence as a small tarred schoolhouse on the ‘pightle’ next to the Old Parsonage. The entry for Parham in White’s of 1844 records that “Mr Corrance built and supports a school here for the education of about 40 poor children” which must refer to this school, though in a memory that spans 150 years, the grandchild of one of those children remembers she said she had to pay a penny a day to attend it. The 1851 Census Returns show that the schoolmistress was married to the blacksmith' and the little black school building was probably moved to its present location when the new school was built 30 years later. Though the Wooden House has been enlarged it still contains the original school structure.

The new school was built in 1871, so the wooden schoolhouse would have probably been moved to Brick Lane well before the first rent receipt in the series (1888). This location was near the middle of Parham but also convenient for keeping an eye on Parham Wood.

The photo below shows the "Keeper's Cottage" beside Parham Wood (now demolished). Geoff says Fred used to stay there sometimes, but it's not clear how it relates to his home at Durrant's Cottage.

Keeper's Cottage, beside Parham Wood (undated photo)

Over the series of receipts a large number of landlords die or change hands: G Grey, H Grey, FS Corrance; George Keeble, J Durrant, RG Parker, Fred Durrant, William Durrant, George Foreman, Lucy Foreman, William Foreman.

Parham Wood was owned by Frederick Snowden Corrance (the lord of the manor) until 1921 (when Fred Dix would have been about 56). So I assume Fred, as Gamekeeper, was an employee of the Corrance Estate. It is possible that he had the use of the Keeper's Cottage as Gamekeeper, but rented his own cottage as well. For three years (1891 - 1893), the rent was due to F S Corrance, so it seems the Corrance Estate bought Durrants Cottage, but sold it again 3 years later.

It is interesting how the cottage came to be known as Durrants Cottage. At that time, most cottages had no name or number, and would have been referred to by the person living there, not their owner. For instance, the only envelopes addressed to Mr Fred Dix that name the cottage (as Durrants Cottage) are those from FG Ling, the solicitors. All the others just presume the postman will know where to deliver to "Mr Dix, Parham, Wickham Market", or sometimes "Mr Dix, Gamekeeper, Parham, ..." and occasionally "Mr Dix, Brick Lane, Parham, ...". The Durrants seem to have owned the cottage from 1897 to about 1912, but never seem to have lived there. Nonetheless, it seems to have become known as "Durrants Cottage" by 1909 (at least).

It is possible that RG Parker only collected the rent on behalf of the Durrants - it looks like the previous year's landlord, J Durrant, had died, so Parker might have been collecting on behalf of the son, Fred Durrant, perhaps as executor. In this case, he might have used his shop's receipt paper for the rent receipt, even though the cash was not for the shop. Nonetheless, the receipt gives a nice record of the range of goods and services he sold, and tells us how Dial House was being used as a general store at that time - for drapery, groceries, coal, coke, oil, boots & shoes, and an agent for Mutual Insurance (Dial House was behind the Wooden House, but since 1859 the railway had been running between the two).

According to Geoff, Fred Dix was born in 1865, so he would have been about 23 at the date of the first rent receipt (1888).

He died age 79 according to this newspaper announcement with a nice photo of him (posted on facebook without identifying the date of the newspaper, but probably about 1944):

Death Notice of Fred Dix, aged 79, late of Parham

Household Receipts

It is not known why Fred had an 1888 valuation of the late Mrs Warne's furniture in his records.

It is also not known who the funeral in 1919 was held for (see the funeral invoice in the table below).
It was not Fred's wife, who died in 1937, according to this newspaper report from Jan 1937 (posted on facebook):

Two receipts point to items of particular worth Fred must have bought during his lifetime: a second-hand Triumph Cycle with Lucas Ebony Aceta Lamp, bought in 1914 from Potters a 36" Range [stove and oven], bought in 1931 from Garrards
Finally, these receipts allow me to compile a snippet of the Directory of one-digit Framlingham phone numbers over these years.
1912	FG Ling, Solicitor	Framlingham 9
1914	AG Potter, Cycle and Motor Engineer, with Cars for Hire	No phone
1931	Garrards, Ironmonger	Framlingham 7

Records of each Receipt

Source data [.xlsx]

Date	What it was	From		To		Description	Amount
26 Mar 1888	Valuation	James Frost for G Warne		the late Mrs Warne	of Parham	Valuation of Furniture	£6/0/0
11 Oct 1888	Rent receipt	G Grey		Mr Deoks		Rent paid [assume for 6 months]	£1/16
Mick 1889	Rent receipt	Collected by Mr P Frost for H Grey		n/a		One year's rent received	£3/12
11 Oct 1890	Rent receipt	Collected by Mr P Frost for H Grey		Mr Frederick Dix		Rent received	£3/12
11 Nov 1891	Rent receipt	due to FS Corrance Esq HR Smith		F Dix		Rent of Cottage Parham "£2/12/6 ¾ years rent [Equivalent to £3/10 per year] < 13%(?) for <illegible> as fixed"	£3/7/6d
Michaelmas 1892	Rent receipt	due to FS Corrance Esq HR Smith		Frederick Dix		Rent of Cottage Parham	£3/10
20 Nov 1893	Rent receipt	due to FS Corrance Esq HR Smith(?)		F Dix		Rent of Cottage Parham	£3/-
Michaelmas 1894	Rent receipt	Geo Keeble	Hacheston	Mr F Deeks		the years rent of Cottage	£4/-
Oct 1895	Rent receipt	Geo Keeble	Hacheston	Mr D... (torn)		rent of Cottage	£4/-
(implied) 11 Oct 1897	Rent receipt	J Durrant		Mr Dix		Rent to Oct 11 1898	£4/10
11 Oct 1899	Rent receipt	RG Parker	Dial House Stores, Parham	Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1900	Rent receipt	R Warne for Mr Durrant		Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1901	Rent receipt	F Durrant		Mr Dix		year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1902	Rent receipt	Durrant		Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1903	Rent receipt	F Durrant	Jasmine House, Bampton, Oxon	Mr Dix		rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1904	Rent receipt	F Durrant	Collindale Lodge, The Hyde, NW	Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1905	Rent receipt	F Durrant		Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1906	Rent receipt	F Durrant		Mr Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
1 Nov 1907	Rent receipt	Fr Durrant		Mr Dix		rent received	£4/7/6
12 Oct 1908	Rent receipt	FG Ling to Wm Durrant		Mr Fredk Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10/0 less 1/- ak'd £4/9/0
11 Oct 1909	Rent receipt	FG Ling for Wm Durrant		Mr Fredk Dix		year's rent of Cottage received	£4/10
4 Oct 1909	Envelope			Mr Fredk Dix	Durrants Cottage, near the Station, Parham, WMkt
22 Jan 1910	Franked stamp		Framlingham S.O.				1d
11 Oct 1910	Rent receipt	FG Ling for Mr Durrant		Mr Fredk Dix		year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1911	Rent receipt	FG Ling		Mr F Dix		year's rent of Cottage received	£4/10
11 Oct 1912	Rent demand	FG Ling & son, solicitors	Fram	Mr F Dix	Durrants Cottages, Parham	Out when tried to collect rent
12 Oct 1912	Rent receipt	FG Ling & son, solicitors		Mr F Dix		Annotated on above demand	n/a
11 Oct 1913	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		year's rent received	£4/10
4 Jul 1914	Goods receipt	A G Potter	Station Rd, Fram	Mr Dix		2nd hand Triumph Cycle	£4/5 less £1 cash paid = £3/5, to be paid 6/- monthly
12 Oct 1914	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		year's rent of Cottage received	£4/10
11 Oct 1915	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1916	Rent receipt	George Foreman		F Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1917	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1918	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
28 Mar 1919	Invoice – receipted	NP Frost		Mr F Dix		Funeral fees and Coffin (deceased unidentified)	£4/15/-
11 Oct 1919	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£4/10
11 Oct 1920	Rent receipt	George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1921	Rent receipt	On behalf of George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1922	Rent receipt	On behalf of George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1923	Rent receipt	Lucy Foreman Excrs of the late George Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
14 Sep 1924	Envelope			Mr Dicks	Gamekeeper, Parham, WMkt
11 Oct 1924	Rent receipt	Mrs Lucy Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1925	Rent receipt	Mrs Lucy Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1926	Rent receipt	Mrs L Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
26 Jan 1927	Envelope			Mr Fredrk J Dix	Brick Lane,Parham, WMkt
11 Oct 1927	Rent receipt	Lucy Foreman		F Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1929	Rent receipt	Mrs L Foreman		Frederick Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
22 Dec 1930	Envelope			Mr Fredrk J Dix	Parham, Woodbridge
11 Oct 1930	Rent receipt	Excrs of the late GL Foreman		F Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1931	Rent receipt	W Foreman Excrs of the late GL Foreman		Mr F Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
17 Jan 1931	Invoice – receipted	Charles Garrard, Ironmonger and Engineer	Market Place, Fram	Mr Dix		36" S.A.C Range Paid 23 Jan 1931	£3/5/-
11 Oct 1932	Rent receipt	Wm Foreman Excrs of the late Mrs L Foreman		Mr F Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
11 Oct 1933	Rent receipt	Mr W Foreman		Mr F Dix		One year's rent received	£5/-/-
4 Apr 1936	Envelope			Mr F Dix	Brick Lane, Parham, W'bridge
25 Aug 1936	Envelope			Mr F Dix	Brick Lane, Parham, W'bridge
25 Aug 1936	Memo	Illegible				"By gum its stuck" & George V stamp	1½d
6 Apr 1936	Rent receipt	Wm Foreman		Mr Fred Dix		half years rent from Apr 6 till Oct 11 1936	£2/10/-
(implied) 11 Oct 1936	Rent receipt	W Foreman		Mr Fred Dix		rent from Oct 11 till Apr 6 (Ed VIII stamp implies 1936)	£2/10/-
6 Apr 1939	Rent receipt	Wm Foreman		Mr F Dix		half years rent from Apr 6 till Oct 11 1939	£2/10/-

Page compiled by Bob Briscoe

22 Jan 2024