Lord Mount Stephens.
After the death of Henry Frederick Cowper in 1887 the Hall whilst in the ownership of the 7th Earl Cowper was rented out and between 1893 and 1921 the house was rented to Lord Mount Stephens. Click here to view Brocket Hall website
Lord Mount Stephens was born in Dufftown
Lord Mount Stephens was born in Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland, the son of William Stephen, a carpenter, and Elspet, daughter of John Smith. He was educated at the parish school, after which he worked as a farm worker. At the age of 21 he emigrated to Canada where for the next 15 years he laboured in a relative's textile business. Driven by a desire to succeed and his strong work ethic, Stephen also demonstrated a strong business acumen. By 1866 he was running his own successful wool-importing company then began investing in other enterprises.
In the 1860s he entered the railroad business by purchasing a major share position in the Montreal Rolling Stock Company. He was appointed a director of the Bank of Montreal in 1873 then named as the bank's president three years later, a position he held until 1881 when he resigned to devote his full attention to running the company that built the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Stephens retired to England. He was created a Baronet, of Montreal in the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada, in 1886, and raised to the peerage as Baron Mount Stephen, of Mount Stephen in the Province of British Columbia and Dominion of Canada, and of Dufftown in the County of Banff, in 1891 becoming the first Canadian to be made a peer, the name deriving from a mountain in the Kicking Horse River Valley of Yoho National Park in British Columbia previously named in his honour.
On the death of Lord Mount Stephen in 1921 the house was put up for sale and bought in 1923 by Sir Charles Nall –Cain of the Node Codicote. Sir Charles bought the title Lord Brocket from Lloyd-George ‘ in 1933 and on his death in the following year the estate passed onto his only son Arthur Ronald Nall- Cain (1904 – 1966) Lord Brocket. Read HJ Browns article on the great man
. On the death of Earl Cowper in 1905 his niece inherited the property until her death in 1906 when her husband Admiral of the fleet Lord Walter Talbot Kerr inherited the building.Read More
The Families of Lemsford
A leading Member of our History group Shirley Knapp has researched her family the Cochranes. She has provide images , articles and many wonderful memories
The Tully family are a special interest to one of our leading member Doreen Wright. The find out her interest, read her article on William Henry Gardiner.
Bob Eagles a regular member of the group has produced many memories of the Eagle family. He has produce images and family trees that we have open to the public via our website.
Dr Julie Moore from Hertfordshire University who enjoys our meetings and has helped the group to understand the input the university in the local community with her website, Herts Memories. She has connections with the Bunnages via her husband.
The Wren's - The Wren’s of Lemsford go back to 1851 according our records. The family always flock to our display at the fete and have provided us with images and memories. During our research for WW1 we uncovered the contribution to the war effort.:
A good friend of the group Jack Brown sent us his memories of his grandfather ‘ The Victorian Gamekeeper’ A member of the group who designs websites built a site to record all of his article about his uncle Ernie Brown landlord of the Chequers (The Crooked Chimney) and life in Cromer Hyde. The site is called H.J.Browm Memories of Cromer Hyde
The first Flitney recorded in our Archives is Daniel aged 35 in the 1840 Census. He had a wife, Sarah (30) and sons George & Joseph. One of the established families who made the Parish of Lemsford so special.