William Edward Hawkins 1845-1931

William Edward Hawkins married Mary, daughter of George Scutt of the Brewery House, Martinstown, who bore him two sons and three daughters; but it seems that he impeded any plans on the part of his children to marry. The eldest, Charles William Francis Hawkins (1876 - 1964), preferred like his father to live in Stevens Farm House, though, by 1940, he had built a bungalow called Manor Lodge in a pleasant tree-covered paddock to the west of the Manor House (it was burnt down in about 1980 and was on the site of the present Manor Grove), where he lived with his sisters Florence and Eva. As autocratic as his father, Charlie and his sisters occupied the squires pew in church - the forward pew on the south side, with cushions on the seats - and it was he who donated the church clock in 1956, in memory of Florence (who had recently died), and of their parents. The energetic Charlie Hawkins was in his eighties when he finally gave up Manor Farm and after his death it was bought by his tenant, John Weedon Marsh. Charlie's brother Arthur survived him by a couple of years and was the last of the Hawkins to reside at Martinstown. He died unmarried in a nursing home at Broadstone in 1966, ending an association with the village that had lasted nearly 200 years. The many buildings that they built or improved, their stewardship of the farms, and the monuments in the parish church, are the family's enduring legacy.