The Dower House is a Grade II Listed building described as a former farmhouse, then dower house and now detached house of the C17, C19 and C20.
Previous occupants of the Dower House:
1927 – 1936 Col Percy James Bailey DSO, OBE
Col Percy James Bailey DSO, OBE & Mrs Dorothy Bailey rented the Dower House from the Lord of the Manor from 1927 to 1936. Previous to that, they had lived at Fosseway House, Stow-on-the-Wold with their sons Richard, Anthony, Christopher and Timothy. Col Bailey served with the 12th Lancers, wounded in 1916 during 1914 -18 War and retired from active service about 1920.
1936 – 1938 William Graham Dickinson
Mr & Mrs William Graham Dickinson & family resided at The Dower House, initially sub-let to them by Col Bailey from 1936 -1938 then from the Lords of the Manor 1938 - 1940.
1940 – 1967 Lt Col Edward Lyon
Lt Col Edward Lyon and his wife Daisy lived at the Dower House between 1940 and 1967. During World War I he fought with the Royal Hussars, later became an Equitation Instructor at the Cavalry School and went on to write several books on horses and riding. For several years he was asked to edit The Horseman’s Year (an annual for the world of horse sport).
The Dower House by Edward Lyon
1967 – 1972 Maurice Waldron
Maurice Cheyne Waldron was born on 14 May 1909 in Brackley. He married Phyllis Alley in Westminster in April 1936; they had one daughter, Ursula, who was born in 1944. Maurice and Phyllis purchased The Dower House with a separate allotment garden and a three-acre paddock in 1967. In 1968 two bungalows were built on the allotment garden, one to be known as Bella Vista [now known as Eglantine] and the other as White Gates [Parsley House]. This was followed by a four-bedroomed house in the paddock in 1970, and was named The Warrah (a now-extinct wolf-like animal found on the Falkland Islands). In 1972, the Waldrons sold The Dower House and moved into their new property, The Warrah. They later extended White Gates and moved there, renaming that property The Warrah, while the house in the paddock became Sarsden House – which must have been fairly confusing for the postmen.
What, one might ask, was the connection to the Falklands? Maurice’s grandfather, Walter Waldron and a Mr Wood, a relative by marriage, first visited the Falklands Islands in about 1883, renting various ranches consisting of about 10,000 hectares. They then proceeded to set up the Patagonian Sheep Farming Company which was registered in London in 1896. Maurice’s father ran the legal side of the business and acted as sheep agent, primarily arranging the transport of wool to Europe, but when refrigeration became available sheep carcasses were exported. The company flourished but its life was fairy short-lived and the business was wound up in 1909. Maurice died in April 1982 and Phyllis in May 1983.
(Research by Janet Bartlett)
1999 – 2007 Lord Colin Marshall of Knightsbridge (16.11.1933 – 5.7.2012)
During the 1980’s Colin Marshall was Chief Executive and later became Chairman of British Airways. Lord Marshall was made a life peer in 1998 and assumed a plethora of directorships. He was variously chairman of Inchcape, Invensys, Pirelli UK and Nomura International, and deputy chairman of BT. He also served as president of the CBI and chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the British Tourist Board, VisitBritain and London First. In 2009 he became a senior adviser to the FSA in the wake of the financial crash.