It seems probable that the Muddles rented rather than purchased their new home on Meads Road. The house was almost new in 1904, having been built on a portion of the Canons Park Estate. Newspaper advertisements suggest that local businessmen had bought estate land, built houses and then rented them out. It is significant, that despite their families having property at Edgwarebury, Broadfields, Stoneyfields and Little Stanmore farms, Henry George and his wife had to rent a a modest property in Edgware.

After leaving the butchers shop, Henry George went back to work for his father, who in 1904 was still farming at Stoneyfields and Edgwarebury.* In 1900, the jobs of labourer and hay carter at Edgwarebury Farm were advertised as paying twenty shillings a week. Although Henry Muddle Sr may have paid his son a little more than that, it is unlikely that Mary Jane ever received all of her husband's wages. According to the evidence, Henry George was still having problems; drinking too much and doing more damage to his already tarnished reputation. In 1905 he made another appearance in court, this time for abusive behaviour, which was probably related to his frame of mind, his drinking, or both.

Having lived at Meads Road for three years, in late 1907 the Muddles moved again ~ in the Electoral Register for 1908, Henry George is listed as living in the house where he had been born, Broadfields. Irwin Cox had purchased the house and farm at Broadfields, probably c.1886 when it was advertised for sale by the Bright-Smith family. As its land bordered both Stoneyfields and Bury Farms, it is likely that James Bray or Henry Muddle Sr continued to lease Broadfields.* There are two possible reasons for Henry George's move back to Hale Lane:

• • It is known that his younger son, Charles, contracted Scarlet Fever ~ a disease which affects most children between the ages of four and eight. If the disease was widespread in Edgware, it is possible that the family moved out of the town to Broadfields in order to protect their elder son from infection.**

  • Henry George and Mary Jane could have been experiencing marital problems, so he may have gone to Broadfields ~ alone. Mary Jane was still not on the electoral Register, so her whereabouts cannot be established.

In 1909 Henry George is no longer listed on the Electoral Register, so we do not know where he and his family were living in 1908. It is unlikely that they were still at Broadfields, or Henry George's name would have still been on the register. Mary Jane's father died in January of 1909, so it is possible that in order for her to care for him, they had gone to live at Little Stanmore Farm. Alternatively, they had gone to live with Henry George's father at Edgwarebury. In 1910, a George Cliff is listed as living at Broadfields, so Henry Muddle Sr may have finally given up either the house, the farm, or both.***

Isaac Taylor, Mary Jane's brother, is listed as living at 6, Meads Road from 1908 which increases the possibility that the house had been purchased in 1904, either by Mary Jane or her father.

Some time in 1909, they moved to their fourth home - and the fifth place they had lived in just eight years of marriage.