Person:John Haines (36)

Laverton

John Thomas Haines was born on 23rd August 1841 at Laverton in the parish of Buckland, Gloucestershire. He was the son of a glove maker named Susannah Haines, formerly Worvell, and her husband John Haines, a cattle doctor and farrier. John was the second of their six children and he was their eldest son.

Young John appears in the 1851 census living with his parents and siblings somewhere in the parish of Buckland. No more specific address is given for them on that occasion, although it seems reasonably likely they were at Laverton. Laverton is a small hamlet on the edge of the Cotswold Hills, mostly comprising cottages built of the local Cotswold limestone.

In January 1857 John’s father died, aged 41. Despite only being fifteen years old at the time, John appears to have taken on his father’s old trade, which presumably helped support his mother and siblings.

On 17th November 1859, aged eighteen, John married Amelia Ann Spire at Buckland. She was also from Laverton, and was nearly seven years his senior, being 25 when they married. At the time of their marriage John was described as a farrier, whilst Amelia was working as a domestic servant. Amelia’s father was the minister for a Baptist congregation which was based at his home in Laverton. John and Amelia’s marriage was the second marriage between their two families; less than a year earlier John’s older sister Ellen had married Amelia’s younger brother Jephunneh. John and Amelia’s children and Ellen and Jephunneh’s children were therefore ‘double cousins’, sharing all four grandparents.

John and Amelia had seven children (six sons and one daughter) between 1860 and 1879, although one of the boys died as a baby in 1871. The first six children were all born at Laverton, where the family also appears in the census in 1861, when John was described as a cowleech. John’s mother and siblings were listed in the census two households before John and Amelia’s household, whilst Amelia’s father and siblings were listed in the household immediately after John and Amelia.

John’s mother remarried in 1862, to a blacksmith called Walter Reece, and so John gained a stepfather as an adult. John’s mother and stepfather left Laverton after their marriage and moved about ten miles south-east to the village of Maugersbury, near Stow on the Wold.

For a time John served as parish constable for Buckland, quite likely alongside his other work. A man was fined £1 for assaulting John in 1870 whilst he was the constable.

The 1871 census finds John and Amelia and their children still living at Laverton next door to Amelia’s father. By this time John had taken his trade to a more formal status, describing himself as a veterinary surgeon. He later described himself as a registered veterinary surgeon but not a member of the Royal College.

Broadway

Amelia’s father died in 1872. Sometime between 1875 and 1879, John and Amelia left Laverton and moved a couple of miles north-east to the larger village of Broadway, just over the border into Worcestershire. Their youngest son was born there in 1879, and the 1881 census finds John, Amelia and their children living on the High Street in Broadway.

That census does not specify exactly which house the family was living at, although it is possible to tell that it was on the south side of High Street and approaching the eastern end of the village. Comparison with the neighbours in this and later censuses suggests that they were living at or near Wychwood House at 143 High Street. John’s name was later explicitly linked with that address, and so it is considered highly likely that they lived there from the time they moved to Broadway or shortly afterwards.

John was an opponent of compulsory vaccination. In 1879 he petitioned parliament to repeal the Vaccination Acts, and in 1881 he was fined at least twice for not having his children vaccinated, with the report noting that he “…had often appeared in court as an opponent of compulsory vaccination”.

In 1882 John was appointed as one of the two overseers of the poor for the parish of Broadway, responsible for administering poor relief both in Broadway itself and at the workhouse in nearby Evesham. John was clearly inclined towards civic duties. In 1883 he was appointed treasurer of a committee which was established to run a reading room (small library) for Broadway.

Linked to the various roles he performed in the life of the village, John was also involved in local politics, becoming an active member of the Conservative party. In 1885 he was appointed as one of Broadway’s representatives to the Worcestershire Conservative Association.

John’s eldest son married in 1885 and John’s first grandchild was born the following year.

In 1886 John took on another public duty, becoming one of the parish’s surveyors of the highways. As a veterinary surgeon he must have spent much of his time travelling around the farms in the area, which probably meant that he had cause to use the lanes and footpaths more than most.

As part of his work as a veterinary surgeon, John was also called on occasion to give expert opinion in court in cases of possible animal cruelty. John’s professional interest in the well-being of animals did not inhibit him from being an enthusiastic participant in hare coursing, acting as secretary of the Childswickham Invitation Coursing Meeting. At a dinner after one of their hunts in 1888 John was thanked by one of the other participants, who said that John “…had tired two horses that day, and how many more he would have wanted if they had gone on he was sure he did not know. Very much of the success of their meeting depended upon Mr. Haines and Mr. Crump; they fairly smothered all the other members of the committee by doing the work themselves…”.

John was also musical, playing the violoncello. He occasionally performed at local concerts as part of a trio with a Mr Vincent and Mr Smith, who played violin and flageolet (an old woodwind instrument similar to a recorder). In 1889 they played a piece called “General Grant’s Grand March” at a smoking concert organised for the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. Later that year they also performed a concert at the schoolroom back in Laverton, with a review noting that “…Messrs. Haines, Smith, and Vincent, who are old favourites in the neighbourhood, showed that they had lost none of their attractions, and they received perhaps the most hearty encores awarded during the evening…”.

Politics

In 1889 elected County Councils were established, taking over responsibility for a wide variety of functions which had previously been administered by local magistrates. The local political parties sought to ensure that candidates sympathetic to their causes won seats on the new County Councils. At the first election to Worcestershire County Council in January 1889 a long-serving magistrate from Broadway called Isaac Averill stood for election to the new body, but was challenged by a “champion of the working men” called Thomas Byrd. John supported Averill’s campaign, including helping transport Averill’s voters to the polling station on election day. The election was closely fought, but Byrd won with 53% of the vote.

At a parish level, local administration at this time was still carried out under the auspices of the church; John’s roles as overseer of the poor and then surveyor of the highways were both appointments made by the parish vestry meeting. When John and Amelia had lived in Laverton they appear to have been members of Amelia’s father’s Baptist congregation, but in Broadway John became an active member of the Church of England, holding many roles over the years at Broadway’s Anglican church of St Michael’s.

Whilst the parish overseers were responsible for the poor of the parish through the workhouse system, there were many voluntary groups across the country which sought to provide a more generous safety net for those who fell on hard times. One such club was the Broadway Mutual Aid Club, which operated a subscription system, with people contributing from their wages. In the event of a sickness which prevented them working or a death in the family the club would pay for medical care and provide financial assistance without the need for the affected family to go into the local workhouse in Evesham.

John joined the Broadway Mutual Aid Club shortly after it was established, and he acted as its treasurer from around 1885 onwards. Every year the club held a fete, known as Club Day, in the village on the Wednesday after Whit Sunday. The members of the club would meet at the Coach and Horses public house at 119 High Street, towards the eastern end of the village, then parade through the village accompanied by brass band and banners to St Michael’s church at the other end of the village, where the vicar would deliver a sermon. Afterwards everyone would parade back through the village again to the Coach and Horses where a large dinner was laid on in a marquee. Each year after the dinner John gave a short speech on the club’s activities and current financial position, after which he went round the room with his hat to raise money for the club’s reserve fund. In the afternoon there were travelling shows, ‘catch-pennies’ and roundabouts on the green and along the main street. Club Day in Broadway was clearly something of a highlight in the village’s calendar for many years.

John was also involved in the Primrose League. This was a body established to promote Conservative values among the population, and it was seen by the Conservatives as a necessary counterbalance to the emerging trade union movement. The Primrose League also held occasional fetes in Broadway. At one such fete in 1889 “tea was served from a waggon” by John, alongside (amongst others) Viscount Lifford, a local nobleman, and Alderman Isaac Averill, the magistrate whose election campaign John had supported earlier that year.

John appears to have been reasonably successful in his work, being able to acquire land. By 1890 he had an orchard, mentioned in passing in a trivial article in the Evesham Standard: FINE FRUIT. – Mr. J.T. Haines picked a very fine apple on Tuesday from a tree in his orchard. It weighed exactly a pound and measured 14 inches in circumference. It was grown on a tree which was grafted three years ago.

This was likely the orchard behind Wychwood House, where John was later described as owning the freehold of the house as well as an orchard and field totalling over six acres.

The 1891 census finds John, Amelia, and two of their sons still living on the High Street in Broadway. Again, a more precise address is not given, but the sequence of neighbours again suggests that they were at Wychwood House.

By 1892 John had also acquired a farm to the north-west of Broadway village called Masty Farm, although he appears to have continued to live in the village itself rather than at the farm. A Childswickham Invitation Coursing Meeting in 1892 started “…on Mr. J.T. Haines’ Masty Farm…”.

In 1892 John presided at a concert arranged by the Mutual Aid Club to raise funds for a member who had suffered a broken leg and then had a stroke whilst recovering, leaving him unable to work for a protracted period. At the concert John joined the performers, playing pieces with a Mr Carless and John’s youngest son, 12-year old Harold Frank (who appears to have been known by his middle name), on the piano. Frank was clearly musically inclined as he went on to be a professional musician as an adult. The fact that Frank was able to play the piano at this age does also suggest that the family probably had a piano at home.

Later in 1892 John became involved in the general election campaign, acting as agent for Sir Edmund Lechmere, the Conservative candidate in the Evesham and South Worcestershire constituency. Lechmere won the seat with 54% of the vote. At a national level the Conservatives won most seats but not a majority, and a coalition of the Liberals and Irish Nationalists was able to form a government, with William Gladstone becoming prime minister for a fourth time.

In the speeches at the Broadway Mutual Aid Club annual club day in 1894, John was thanked for his work by one of the other attendees, who “congratulated Mr. Haines upon being able to be present after his serious illness, and thanked him not only for the work he had done in the past, but for his general kindness and the help he gave to all good objects, qualities which made him so popular in Broadway. (Applause.)”.

Later in 1894 elected parish councils were introduced, taking over the civil responsibilities for each parish which had previously been the responsibility of the Church of England parishes. Many people who had previously held roles appointed by the church stood for election to the new Broadway Parish Council. John stood at the first election to the new council in December 1894 and was one of the thirteen successful candidates. The first meeting of the Broadway Parish Council was held on 30th December 1894 with John in attendance, discussing how much the village paid for gas lighting. The new council chose Viscount Lifford to be their chairman and the vicar of Broadway to be the vice-chair. The new body may have been elected, but it looked remarkably similar to the old church council.

John and Amelia’s second youngest son, Conway Robert Haines, joined the army, serving in the 13th Hussars. In October 1895 Conway was back home visiting Broadway, when he sold his army coat, which was not his to sell, and then deserted. The purchaser of the coat was prosecuted, but Conway seems to disappear from the records at the point he deserted. Perhaps he assumed a different name or emigrated. Whether John and Amelia knew where he had gone is unknown.

Arrival of the railway

Broadway had historically been a stop on the stagecoach road between Worcester, Evesham, Oxford and London (later the A44). However, when the first railways were built in the area in the 1850s the main line from Worcester and Evesham to London passed a few miles north of Broadway, so as to avoid Fish Hill immediately south of Broadway, which climbs abruptly from the Vale of Evesham up into the Cotswold Hills. Broadway’s residents therefore had to travel six or seven miles to the stations at Honeybourne or Evesham in order to catch trains. The old stagecoaches which used to run stopped almost as soon as the railways opened, leaving Broadway relatively inaccessible.

In the late 1890s the Great Western Railway proposed building a new branch line from Birmingham to Cheltenham via Stratford upon Avon, which would finally bring a railway connection to Broadway. John spoke at meetings of the Parish Council in 1897 broadly in favour of the proposals. John may have had an ulterior motive in supporting the railway; the proposed route skirted the north-western side of the village, crossing the land of Masty Farm which John owned.

Around 1900, John was voted off the parish council, with his long-held views opposing compulsory vaccination said to be the main reason he lost.

In March 1901 John was a member of a band which performed at a concert at the Coach and Horses in aid of the widows and orphans of the soldiers and sailors then serving in the Boer War. The following night was census night, and John and Amelia were living at Pye Corner, on the road leading southwards out of the village. Their former home at Wychwood House on High Street was let to a dairy farmer called Arthur Sims, although later records show that John still owned the freehold of Wychwood House. By May 1901 John had regained his seat on Broadway Parish Council.

In early 1902 the Great Western Railway began the process of buying the land to build the railway through Broadway, serving notices on all the landowners, including John for his land at Masty Farm.

John and Amelia’s youngest son, Frank, emigrated to Canada in 1904.

Back in Broadway, the railway opened in 1905 and in April that year John attended a dinner laid on for the staff at the newly opened Broadway railway station.

Shortly after the railway opened, John put several properties up for auction in June 1905, including the remainder of Masty Farm which had not been used for the railway route. John had clearly assembled quite a property portfolio in Broadway, with the auction listing it in four lots:

- Lot 1 – Just over 8 acres of pasture and orchard, known as The Claydons – this was in the area between Broadway and the new railway, with a modern house in that area on Station Road being called Claydon House.

- Lot 2 – A house with other buildings, gardens, orchard and field totalling over 6 acres, let to A.D. Sims for £40 per annum – whilst this house is unnamed in the auction details, it matches the description of Wychwood House.

- Lot 3 – Another house and two pasture fields totalling 2 acres adjoining it known as Betty’s Piece and Middle Masty, which were described as having “a long building frontage to the Evesham and Broadway Road” – this road is now called Station Road.

- Lot 4 – Masty Farm, comprising 38 acres, again described as having a desirable frontage to the Evesham and Broadway Road.

The outcome of the auction is not known, but John’s name was still associated with Wychwood House some years later, suggesting that lot 2 did not sell. His will also mentioned his pasture called The Claydons, suggesting that lot 1 did not sell either. However, lots 3 and 4 were both in the area between the previous edge of Broadway village and the new railway station. This area had been mostly farmland before the railway was built, but was gradually developed with large detached and semi-detached houses facing Station Road after the railway opened. It therefore seems highly likely that lots 3 and 4 both sold and John probably made good returns on selling the land. He certainly had plenty of cash available after this point, which would later prove to be a problem for him.

In 1906, John’s mother died. After her second husband’s death in 1883 she had briefly come to live in Broadway, living a few doors down from John and Amelia in the 1891 census. By 1901 she had left Broadway and gone to live in London with John’s sister Ellen and her family. John’s mother died in the Wandsworth area of London in 1906.

End of political career

Politics on Broadway Parish Council was sometimes hotly contested between the ‘Progressives’ (who aligned with the Liberal party) and the Conservatives, including John. Some years no formal election was held necessary for the parish council – a show of hands at the annual parish meeting would suffice. However, at the annual parish meeting on 4th March 1907 the previous Conservative administration was almost entirely voted out on the show of hands, with the Progressives taking ten of the thirteen seats on the council. The Conservative group refused to accept the result of the show of hands, and demanded a formal election, which was held three weeks later.

As the election approached, both sides campaigned in the village. The poll was held at the school, and the Conservatives set up their headquarters in a house opposite. The Progressives had their headquarters in a house a couple of doors down from the school, which was the home of John’s son Dennis and his family. Clearly there was a marked difference of political opinion between father and son. Outside Dennis’s house a blackboard proclaimed: “Don’t believe the lies of the old Party. Vote for Russell and Williams, who will stand and win. Vote for the Progressive ten; vote for no other.” A youth spent polling day standing outside the school with a board reading “A solid vote for Russell and Williams.”

Both sides sought to get their voters to the poll, with Viscount Lifford putting his carriage to the use of the Conservatives for the day, whilst the Progressives managed to secure the use of two motor cars to mobilise their voters.

The vote was exceedingly tight, and three recounts were demanded before a result could be declared. The Progressives and their independent allies took seven of the thirteen seats on the council, and the Conservatives took six seats. The Progressives therefore did not do as well in the election as they had at the show of hands at the parish meeting, but still managed to take control of the council. John was one of the Conservatives who lost his seat. He never sat on the parish council again.

A few days after his election defeat John became involved in a bitter war of words with John Jacques, one of the Progressives who had won a seat on the parish council. Whilst he had been on the council, John had been responsible for administering various charities in the village. John Jacques ran a draper’s shop in Broadway, and John’s daughter Eunice went in there the week after the election. She reported that “…he accused my father of unjustly distributing the charities he had to deal with. He offered to prove it, and when he found he could not do so he did not withdraw his words or apologise in any way…”.

John considered this a great slight against him, and he instructed solicitors who wrote to John Jacques demanding an apology or else further action would be taken. A string of correspondence between John Jacques and John’s solicitors followed, coupled with some anonymous letters written to the local newspaper, the Evesham Standard. Those anonymous letters suggested that the root of the problem was that the charity was perceived as only being distributed to those who were active in the church, when the money was intended for all the poor in the village. There was reference to people singing in the choir in order to improve their chances of being paid money from the charity.

John Jacques did apologise and his apology was published in the Evesham Standard, so John took no further action. However, the episode gives a sense of the dissatisfaction and rivalries that were present in the village.

In February 1908 John stood down as treasurer of the Broadway Mutual Aid Society after 23 years. A presentation and concert were held to thank John. Viscount Lifford made a presentation, reflecting on all the works John had done over the thirty years that he had known him. John was presented with a clock, inscribed: “Presented by the members of the Broadway Mutual Aid Club to Mr. J.T. Haines, on his retirement from the treasurership which he had faithfully filled for the past 23 years. February 1908”.

Although no longer on the civil parish council, John continued to be active in the church, being elected as a sidesman in April 1908, whilst in April 1909 he was appointed as one of the church’s delegates to the Rural Diocesan Conference.

The Broadway Millionaire

In 1910, a man called William Weyland Champion moved into Broadway. He was about 36 years old at the time, and he quickly made an impression on the people of Broadway. He took possession of a substantial house in the village, employed several servants, drove motor cars, dressed in fine clothes and had expensive jewellery. He had clearly spent some time living abroad in South Africa. Broadway had long been an attractive place for people to retire to due to its peaceful and attractive setting on the edge of the Cotswolds. The rumour started to spread in Broadway that Champion was rather more fabulously wealthy than most, being a millionaire.

In November 1910 Champion befriended John. He told John that he had managed to acquire large estates in South Africa, and that he employed a large staff of clerks and secretaries in London managing his estates. He told John he had acquired Pye Corner Farm in Broadway and was intending to settle there and establish a herd of pure-bred shorthorn cattle, for which he intended to engage John’s services as a veterinary surgeon. However, he did need some assistance covering his immediate financial needs until some more money came through from the South African estates. John lent him £10 initially, but was quickly persuaded to lend many more sums as the months went on.

Champion’s claims became more and more fanciful, but John was clearly heavily invested in the stories he was being told. Champion produced telegrams, purportedly from one of his clerks in London, saying that £180,000 was imminently due to be deposited in his bank account, on the strength of which John lent another £70.

In December 1910, Champion told John that he was selling his South African estates for £6,250,000 – an incomprehensibly large sum for the time, being equivalent to several billion pounds at modern prices. Champion claimed that once the transaction concluded he would be the richest man of his age in London. John lent more money, in return for which John was given a series of IOU notes that said John would be repaid several times what he had lent.

In January 1911, Champion told John that he was now in the process of buying the lordship of the manor of Broadway from Sir Francis Winnington, which would make Champion the Lord of the Manor and Squire of Broadway. Champion just needed a little help to pay the deposit whilst waiting for his money to arrive from South Africa. John lent £1,000 to Champion for the purpose of paying the deposit.

By April 1911, John had lent a total of £2,078 to Champion – worth around £2,000,000 at 2020 values. In return he had given John IOU notes which totalled over £12,000 in claimed value. By this time, John had lent most of his money to Champion. When Champion continued to press John for further loans John reportedly told him “No, I cannot, you have made me a poor man as it is.”

The census of April 1911 finds John and Amelia living with one of their sons at Church Street in Broadway. The census asked whether any household members had infirmities, against which John wrote “poor & needy”, although this was later crossed out – the census was asking about physical infirmities rather than financial ones. The census also asked how many children each marriage had produced and how many of those children were still living. John and Amelia reported that they had had seven children, six of whom were still living. This suggests they believed their son Conway to still be alive at this point, even if trace of him has yet to be found in the records after his desertion from the army in 1895.

John continued to play a part in the life of the village. In May 1911 he was invited onto a committee set up to arrange celebrations for the coronation of George V. In June 1911 John attended the Broadway Mutual Aid Club Day, now described as its “honorary treasurer”, and gave his customary speech after the dinner. In it he mentioned that Mr Champion had given £1 towards the Mutual Aid Club’s funds – quite likely from money that John himself had loaned Champion.

This was also a turbulent time for mutual aid clubs – the Liberal government was bringing in the National Insurance Act requiring workers to pay into an approved insurance scheme to cover the costs of their healthcare and pensions. Such clubs as the Broadway Mutual Aid Club were not being prohibited, but their uses and the need for people to join them were being substantially reduced. John used part of his speech at the 1911 Club Day to criticise the National Insurance Act.

As 1911 went on, Champion continued to pressure John in the hope that he would somehow find more money to lend him. He said he would increase the amount of the IOU notes to £15,000 if John would lend him another £50, but John did not have that much money left to give.

At the same time as obtaining money from John, Champion was similarly persuading others to lend him money and supply him with goods and services on credit. He persuaded a lady in Reading to loan him money apparently as an investment. He talked another old man in Broadway, Henry Preece, into handing over his life savings. He used some of the money he received to make seemingly legitimate purchases of jewellery from a shop in Cheltenham, hire of cars from a garage in Broadway and groceries, wine and spirits from companies in Evesham and Broadway. After those initial purchases were made, he ran up enormous bills with those companies on credit, all on the promise that they would be paid later. The jeweller in Cheltenham was eventually owed over £4,000.

Eventually, John started to demand his money back from Champion. In June, John managed to secure £10 back from Champion, but that was all he managed to retrieve. That money was paid to John a couple of days after Champion had persuaded Henry Preece to lend him some money. Champion continued to reassure John that the money was coming and would be paid in full. He showed John a telegram reporting that £150,000 was being paid into his account in June, then in July another telegram showing that £6,500,000 was imminently due in his account. None of this money ever appeared.

In September 1911 John served a writ on Champion, demanding payment of a total of £12,215 – not the amount that John had lent him, but the total of the larger amounts that Champion’s IOUs claimed that John would be paid in return. At this point, John still seems to have believed that the money would eventually come through. Champion did not contest the writ, and judgment was given against him on 20th September 1911.

A few days later, on 4th October 1911, John received a telegram from Champion, asking him to come to London, saying “Can you come up to receive payment, as everything is proved.” John travelled to London, meeting Champion at the Windsor Hotel in Victoria Street. Champion paid him one sovereign (£1) and sent him away, saying the money would be with him by the following Friday. It was not, and at that point John finally began bankruptcy proceedings against Champion.

At this point, the authorities and all the various people who had lent money to Champion finally realised how Champion’s apparent wealth was an illusion. His many creditors appear not to have been aware of each other previously. It also emerged that Champion had been made bankrupt once before in 1900, and as such had committed numerous offences under the bankruptcy laws as well as the many frauds on John and others. In November 1911 Champion was arrested at Evesham and placed in custody whilst the charges were assembled.

Champion continued to protest even after he was arrested that he did have valuable estates including gold mines in South Africa and that the money would be coming from his bank, Mackey & Co, in Cape Town. The authorities sent a telegram to South Africa to check these claims. A short telegram was sent in reply: “Referring to telegram name not known. Mackey Ltd. unknown Cape Town.” There was no valuable property in South Africa, and the bank Champion had claimed these funds would be sent from did not exist. It seems Champion had spent some time in South Africa before moving to Broadway, but working on an ostrich farm. He had no land there.

Champion was charged with many offences under the bankruptcy and fraud laws. Through November and December 1911 he was brought before the magistrates several times for additional charges to be added to the list, and each time he was remanded for a further period in custody with bail refused.

The charges against Champion relating to John were presented before the magistrates at Evesham on 7th December 1911, with John giving lengthy evidence as to how he had been defrauded. One of the magistrates was Thomas Byrd, who co-incidentally had been the victorious candidate on Worcestershire County Council in 1889 when John was campaigning for Byrd’s rival. John’s evidence concluded with this exchange between Byrd and him:

Mr. Byrd: “It’s past my comprehension that you should have lent this man all this money.”

John: “It was very foolish, and very wrong of me.”

Champion’s case finally came to court at the Worcester Assizes on 20th January 1912. With so many charges having been brought against him, the public prosecutor decided to focus only on a selection of cases rather than pursue every charge. The charges relating to John being defrauded were amongst those which were not proceeded with.

Champion was found guilty in relation to the charges connected to the Cheltenham jeweller and Henry Preece in Broadway. In sentencing, the judge told Champion “A more cruel, wicked, deceitful theft than you committed on that poor man Preece it is impossible to conceive. The jeweller, no doubt, was anxious to make a profit, as all tradesmen are, and he might have been credulous. It is only because people are credulous that wicked, deceitful, scheming scoundrels like you get money out of them.”

Champion was sentenced to three years’ penal servitude, and sent to Portland Prison in Dorset. He was released in 1914, but he was clearly not a reformed character. He carried on a series of similar frauds on different people each time he was released from jail, as well as contracting bigamous marriages. He would spend a couple of years living a lavish lifestyle under one of many aliases before being caught again. At his last trial in 1931 he was described as having a “very red nose, addicted to drink, very plausible, and fond of the company of young women...”. He died in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight in 1936, aged 61, under the alias of William Parsons, being the last name he had been tried under – the authorities had lost track of which his real name was.

Back in Broadway in 1912, it seems unlikely that John would have recovered much money from Champion’s estate in bankruptcy – Champion had spent it.

Less than seven weeks after Champion’s trial, John’s wife Amelia died. She died on 7th March 1912 at their home in Church Street in Broadway from heart disease. She was 77 years old. At the Broadway Mutual Aid Club Day the following June, the vicar made a speech in which he started by saying that “He wished first of all to sympathise with Mr. Haines in the sad loss of his dear wife…”.

Later life

In 1913 Viscount Lifford, who had been the chairman of the Parish Council when John was on it, died. The village decided to erect a memorial to him, and decided it would be fitting if it were to be something useful to the village. As an old associate of Viscount Lifford, John was voted onto the committee set up to deliver the memorial, which it was decided should be a new village hall. The committee raised funds and arranged the construction of the new building. Lifford Memorial Hall was subsequently opened in 1916 and remains in use today as Broadway’s village hall.

At the Broadway Mutual Aid Club Day in June 1914 John made a somewhat downbeat speech, lamenting the small turnout and decline in their membership. It would be the last Club Day for several years, as the First World War broke out two months later.

Over in Canada, John’s youngest son, Frank, enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1915 and was posted to France. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant, but was injured in an automobile accident in late 1916. He was invalided to recuperate at military hospitals in England, before being returned back to Canada in 1917 and discharged.

On 4th January 1917 an auction was held at Wychwood House of John’s household possessions. The fact it was held at Wychwood House suggests he still owned it. The auction notice said that John was “giving up housekeeping” – presumably indicating that he was moving in with one of his children. The list of items which were to be auctioned was given as: A Capital Antique 3ft. wide Bureau Bookcase with Brass Handles, Wheelback Arm Chair, Mahogany Side Tables, Copper Warming Pan, A FINE OLD JACOBEAN PANELLED OAK CHEST, 5ft. 3in. x 2ft., Oak and Mahogany Chests of Drawers, Violin and Violoncello, GEORGIAN AND VICTORIAN SILVER, Brass and Iron Bedsteads, Down and Feather Beds, Birch Chair Commode, Antique Black and Gold Empire Glass, and other Effects.

After the First World War ended, there was a major effort made to improve the housing stock for the returning forces and also for the wider population. New council houses were built all over the country, and Broadway saw an area of council housing built to the north of the village. Initially the new estate was simply called “Council Cottages”, but was later renamed Lime Tree Avenue. John’s son Dennis and his family moved into 14 Council Cottages, and it seems that John lived there with them.

After an absence of seven years, an attempt was made to revive the Broadway Mutual Aid Club Day in 1921. John did not attend, but his apologies were noted, with the chairman reporting that “Mr. J.T. Haines, a very old member, sent 5s. towards the Reserve Fund…”.

In July 1921 John wrote his will. He made specific bequests to three of his children: Hubert, Dennis and Frank. No mention was made of his daughter Eunice, although he did make a bequest to her eldest son, Ernest Keen, who was to act as one of the executors. None of Eunice’s other three children were mentioned, nor was any mention made of John’s son Oscar Lewis John (who appears to have been known as Jack) or his son Conway. Jack was still alive; he later also lived with Dennis’s family at 14 Lime Tree Avenue.

John also left bequests for Dennis’s two surviving children from his first marriage: Mildred Mitchell, who was to receive £25, and Frank Haines, who was to receive £50.

John died at 14 Council Cottages in Broadway on 13th March 1922 from prostate cancer. He was eighty years old and had survived Amelia by just over ten years. He had lived to see at least eighteen grandchildren born in his lifetime, although one of those died young, and he was also a great grandfather.

An obituary was published in the Evesham Standard a few days after his death, which reported that he “…was very well-known around the locality, particularly amongst the farmers, many of whom he served in the capacity of veterinary surgeon. He will be well remembered by most of the older villagers as a man who took a keen interest in the welfare of the parish, and in his younger days did a great deal in the cause of sport…”.

The obituary notes that John had five surviving children, although only two are recorded as having attended the funeral: Dennis and Eunice. This suggests that Conway had predeceased his father. Frank lived in Canada, but it is perhaps curious that neither Hubert nor Jack, both of whom lived in the Broadway area, attended their father’s funeral.

The obituary goes on to report that John was buried at the “Old Church”, meaning Broadway’s medieval church of St Eadburgha a mile or so south of the village. St Eadburgha’s had been largely superseded by its Victorian successor of St Michael’s in the village itself, where John had served for so many years, but St Michael’s does not have a graveyard. Members of the Broadway Parish Council attended the funeral to pay their respects to a man who had served his village in so many capacities.

1. ↑ Birth certificate, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   REGISTRATION DISTRICT WINCHCOMB
   1841 BIRTH in the Sub-district of Cleeve in the Counties of Gloucester and Worcester
   No.	When and where born	Name, if any	Sex	Name and surname of father	Name, surname and maiden name of mother	Occupation of father	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
   469	Twenty Third of August 1841 in the Parish of Buckland		Boy	John Haines	Susannah Haines formerly Worvell	Cattle Doctor	X The Mark of Susannah Haines Mother Buckland	First of September 1841	Benj[amin] Slack Registrar

   
2. ↑ Baptisms register, in Church of England. Buckland Parish Registers, 1539-2000. (Gloucester: Gloucestershire Archives).

   BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Buckland in the County of Gloucester in the Year 1841
   No.	When Baptized	Child's Christian Name	Parent's Name		Abode	Quality, Trade, or Profession	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   			Christian	Surname
   335	Nov[ember] 28th	John Thomas	John & Susanna	Haines	Laverton	Cow Leech	W. Phillipps, Curate

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1971; Folio 14; Page 224, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Buckland, Gloucestershire
   John Haines, head, married, male, 35 [1815/6], Horse and Cattle Doctor, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Susana Haines, wife, married, female, 36 [1814/5], b. Stanway, Gloucestershire
   John Haines, son, male, 9 [1841/2], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Ellen Haines, daughter, female, 11 [1839/40], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Jane Haines, niece, female, 12 [1838/9], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Ann Haines, daughter, female, 7 [1843/4], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   William Haines, son, male, 3 [1847/8], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire

4. ↑ England. 1861 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG9; Piece 1793; Folio 104; Page 11, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Laverton, Buckland, Gloucestershire
   John Thomas Haines, head, married, male, 20 [1840/1], Cowleech, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Amelia Ann Haines, wife, married, female, 26 [1834/5], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Hubert John Spire, son, male, 7m [1860], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   ~ next household ~
   William Spire, head, widower, male, 50 [1810/11], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Julia Clark Spire, daughter, unmarried, female, 20 [1840/1], Housekeeper, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Jabez William Spire, son, unmarried, male, 19 [1841/2], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Marston Sica, Gloucestershire
   James Albert Spire, son, unmarried, male, 15 [1845/6], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], b. Dursley, Gloucestershire

5. ↑ England. England and Wales. 1871 Census Schedules. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG10; Piece 2658; Folio 43; Page 7, 2 Apr 1871.

   Address: Laverton, Buckland, Gloucestershire
   John Haines, head, married, male, 30 [1840/1], Veterinary Surgeon, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Amelia Haines, wife, married, female, 36 [1834/5], Veterinary Surgeon Wife, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Hubert Haines, son, male, 10 [1860/1], Veterinary Surgeon Son, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Eunicl [sic] Haines, daughter, female, 8 [1862/3], Veterinary Surgeon Daughter, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Alexander Haines, son, male, 1 [1869/70], b. Buckland, Gloucestershire

6. ↑ England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG11; Piece 2927; Folio 5; Page 1, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: Main Street, Broadway, Worcestershire
   John T. Haines, head, married, male, 39 [1841/2], Veterinary Surgeon, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Amelia Ann Haines, wife, married, female, 43 [1837/8], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Hubert J. Haines, son, unmarried, male, 20 [1860/1], Assistant Veterinary Surgeon, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Eunice J. Haines, daughter, unmarried, female, 18 [1862/3], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Dennis W. Haines, son, male, 8 [1872/3], Scholar, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Lewis J. Haines, son, male, 7 [1873/4], Scholar, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Conway R. Haines, son, male, 5 [1875/6], Scholar, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Frank Haines, son, male, 1 [1879/80], b. Broadway, Worcestershire

7. ↑ England. 1891 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG12; Piece 2337; Folio 86; Page 9, 5 Apr 1891.

   Address: High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire
   5 or more rooms occupied
   John T. Haines, head, married, male, 49 [1841/2], Veterinary Surgeon Registered, neither employer nor employed, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Amelia A. Haines, wife, married, female, 52 [1838/9], b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Lewis J. Haines, son, single, male, 17 [1873/4], Veterinary Surgeon Assistant, employed, b. Laverton, Gloucestershire
   Harold F. Haines, son, single, male, 11 [1879/80], b. Broadway, Worcestershire

8. ↑ England. England. 1901 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG13; Piece 2790; Folio 122; Page 26, 31 Mar 1901.

   Address: Pye Corner, Broadway, Worcestershire
   5 or more rooms occupied
   John T. Haines, head, married, male, 60 [1840/1], Veterinary Surgeon, b. Buckland, Gloucestershire
   Amelia A. Haines, wife, married, female, 63 [1837/8], b. Buckland, Gloucestershire

9. ↑ England. 1911 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom: The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.))
   Class RG14; Piece 17705; Schedule 20, 2 Apr 1911.

   Address: Church Street, Broadway, Worcestershire
   5 rooms occupied
   John Thomas Haines, head, male, 69 [1841/2], married 51 years, 7 children born, 6 still living, Vet[erinar]y surgeon, b. Laverton in the County of Gloucester
   Amelia Ann Haines, wife, female, 74 [1836/7], married, b. Same Place
   Lewis John Haines, son, male, 38 [1872/3], single, Farm Labourer, b. Buckland County of Gloucester

10. ↑ Deaths register, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

    Registration District EVESHAM
    1922 DEATHS in the Sub-District of BROADWAY in the Counties of WORCESTER, &c.
    No.	When and where died	Name and surname	Sex	Age	Occupation	Cause of death	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
    263	Thirteenth March 1922 14 Council Cottages, Broadway Evesham R.D.	John Thomas Haines	Male	80 years [1841/2]	Veterinary Surgeon	(1) Carcinoma of Prostate gland Certified by W.G. Alexander M.B.	Dennis Haines Son Present at the death 14 Council Cottages Broadway	Fifteenth March 1922	Philip J. Bayliss Registrar

11. ↑ England. National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1858 onwards. (Ancestry.com).

    1922
    Haines, John Thomas of Broadway Worcestershire veterinary surgeon died 13 March 1922
    Probate Worcester 19 April to Frank Bowyer Prior schoolmaster and Ernest Richard Keen grocer's assistant Effects £2944.1s.9d.

12.   Registered copy of will (Principal Probate Registry, London).

    This is the last Will and Testament of me John Thomas Haines, Veterinary Surgeon of Broadway in the County of Worcestershire made this thirteenth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and twenty one. I hereby revoke all Wills made by me at any time heretofore I appoint Frank Bowyer Prior, Schoolmaster of School House Dumbleton, Gloucestershire and my grandson Ernest Richard Keen, Grocer's Assistant of Oakleigh Villa, Oakfield Street, Tivoli Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucestershire to be my Executors and direct that all my debts and funeral expenses shall be paid as soon as conveniently may be after my decease I give and bequeath unto my Son Hubert John Haines the sum of Two hundred pounds unto my Daughter in law Annie Haines Wife of the aforesaid Hubert John Haines the sum of One hundred pounds and direct that in the event of the said Hubert John Haines predeceasing me the legacy of Two hundred pounds shall be paid over to his Wife the aforesaid Annie Haines, unto my Son Harold Frank Haines the sum of Six hundred pounds unto my Son Dennis William Haines the income derived from the closes of Pasture known as Claydon situate in Broadway in the County of Worcestershire or if my executors deem it advisable they may sell the pasture and invest in trustee security and pay the said Dennis William Haines the interest derived from such investment On the decease of the aforesaid Dennis William Haines such property or stock is to be realized and the money equally divided between the issue of the aforesaid Dennis William Haines by his second Wife Alice Haines; unto my Daughter in law Alice Haines the sum of Fifty pounds unto my Grandson Frank Richard Haines Son of Dennis Haines the sum of Fifty pounds unto my Granddaughter Mildred Mitchell Daughter of Dennis Haines the sum of Twenty five pounds To each of my executors namely Frank Bowyer Prior and Ernest Richard Keen I bequeath the sum of Ten pounds and I direct that the residue of my estate shall be equally divided between my Son Dennis William Haines of Leamington Road Broadway and my Grandson Ernest Richard Keen of Oakfield Street, Tivoli, Cheltenham.
    John Thomas Haines
    
    Signed by the said Testator John Thomas Haines in the presence of us present at the same time who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other have subsribed our names as witnesses -
    Russell H. Hokins, Farmer, Dumbleton, Glos.
    John Philip Hopkins, Farmer, Dumbleton, Glos
    
    On the nineteenth day of April 1922 Probate of this Will was granted at Worcester to Frank Bowyer Prior and Ernest Richard Keen, the Executors.
    
    BE IT KNOWN that John Thomas Haines of Broadway, in the County of Worcester Veterinary Surgeon who at the time of his death had a fixed place of abode at Broadway aforesaid within the District of Worcester died on the 13th day of March 1922 at Broadway aforesaid AND BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that at the date hereunder written the last will and Testament of the said deceased was proved and registered in the District Probate Registry of His Majesty's High Court of Justice at Worcester and that administration of all the estate which by law devolves to and vests in the personal representative of the said deceased was granted by the aforesaid Court to Frank Bowyer Prior of School House, Dumbleton, in the County of Gloucester, Schoolmaster and Ernest Richard Keen of Oakleigh Villa, Oakfield Street, Tivoli, Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Grocer's Assistant, the Grandson of the said deceased, the Executors named in the said Will.
    
    Dated the 19th day of April 1922
    Gross value of Estate £2,944: 1: 9
    Net value of Personal Estate: £2,087: 14: 3
    Extracted by Smith & Roberts, Solicitors, Evesham

13.   United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive.

    Many articles were used in the writing of this biography, mostly from the Evesham Standard, which generally referred to John as "J.T. Haines" in its articles.