Ronald Wootton Sheppard
(1909-1992)
&
Mona Hallam
(1915-1974)

Ronald is my Grandfather and was born on the 12th December 1909 in Wymeswold, Son of Harry & Sarah Ann Sheppard (nee Wootton). The year 1909 saw the first scout rally, the first Woolworths opened and the first game at Twickenham. Old Age pensioners were first paid in this year and Selfridges opens. Famous people born in this year include Fred Perry, James Mason and Matt Busby. King Edward VII is currently on the throne, he would die the year after.

Ronald was brought up at Church farm on Far Street (Originally noted as East Road). This is one of the oldest properties in Wymeswold, thought to date from 1510 to 1590. carbon tests on the wooden beams in the house date from the 1500's and some have found to be even older, these may originally have been ship's timbers sourced from Hall Farm on Brook Street Wymeswold. Ronald's Father Harry purchased Church Farm in 1926 after being a tenant for some years.

Ronald appears on the 1911 Census, aged just 1. Living at the farm at Wymeswold with his Father Harry & Mother Sarah Ann, both aged 38 and a young farm labourer Edward Brown, aged 16. Ronald would have attended  the local primary school which was right next door to the farm, there are a couple of newspaper articles from his primary school days that can be viewed below, one in 1921 and another in 1923.  He also would have been kept busy helping his parents out on the farm from a very young age and would have had to have taken on a lot of responsibility for the farm in his early twenties when his Father Harry died in 1933.

He married Mona Hallam on the 2nd August 1937 at St Mary's Church, Wymeswold, the church opposite the family farm. They married in the presence of  John Wootton and Mona's Father John Thomas Hallam. Unfortunately as noted above Ronald's Father Harry had  already passed away.

Mona was born in Elston on the 25th March 1915 to John Thomas Hallam & Elizabeth (nee Moody).  Mona first appears in the Census records of 1921, she is  age 6 and living in Elston with her parents, siblings and  a farm servant, ten people in total lived at the farm. Mona's Father John Thomas Hallam later moved to the Turn Post farm at Wymeswold, they moved there in the Spring of 1932. Mona initially stayed at Elston to be housekeeper for her Brother, Thomas. She was only seventeen but she was quite glad to get away from her parents. John Thomas or Tom, her father was known to have a terrible temper. Mona returned to Turn Post after her brother Thomas's untimely and sudden death in 1933, he was electrocuted in an unfortunate accident after climbing up an electric pole and touching the live cable.

It was not long before Mona met and married a local farmer, Ronald and moved in to the farm in the village on Far Street.  Mona appears on the 1939 Census noted as looking after domestic duties, one of these was washing all the families clothes in the wash house, she would light the copper fire at 5am every Monday for the weekly wash.  

Ronald and Mona had their first child in 1938, a son called Roland Harry John Sheppard. He would work on the farm when he was older before leaving to pursue a career with the hunt.  A second Son Alec was born in 1939 but unfortunately dies as a baby. Another Son Brian Stanley Sheppard was born in 1941, he would also work on the farm alongside his Father. A forth Son David Roy Sheppard was born in 1942. Their last child was a Daughter named Janet Mary Sheppard , she was born in 1945, my Mother.

There is no doubt Ronald would have been working on the farm from a young age and getting away with driving the tractor to and from the fields.  But by the 1940's the rules had become more strict,  on one occasion his farmhand was caught by the local police for driving his tractor on the highway between the farm and the fields whilst under age. Ronald was summoned by the local police for aiding the young farmhand Bryan Holmes for driving the farm tractor on the highway whilst under age. The local Nottingham Post reported the incident and can be seen below.

Ronald worked the farm in Wymeswold all of his life, mostly producing milk from his dairy herd. During the 1930s Europe became more unstable, this led the British Government decision to move away from imports from overseas. For Britain to become more self-sufficient the government introduced the 1933 creation of the Milk Marketing Board (MMB),  designed to encourage, control and maximise milk production in order to feed the nation.  The milk would be stored in the milk churns and then regularly collected from the farm.

There was also some hens producing eggs which were kept in the orchard in large huts. He also produced sugar beet, wheat and hay. Ronald would have to get up very early along with his farm hand to make sure the beet would be ready to take to Loughborough for the early train.  Like any farm they had working animals and pets, they originally had two cart horses on the farm, a large Clydesdale called Peggy and a Suffolk Punch called Punch.  There was also a beloved pet sheepdog called Bob who was a big favourite with the school children next door, he made the local paper when he passed on.  

During the war Ronald would have been busy on the farm producing food for the country, but he was also part of the Royal Observer Corps looking out for any German planes over head.  The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Britain.  There was  a brick built observer post in Willoughby Lane used to track aircraft. You can see a photo of Ronald in the local Observer Corp below.

During the war the farm had to put up RAF personnel in the spare rooms, a Mr & Mrs Moran were billeted out with the family.  Mr Moran was stationed at  Wymeswold aerodrome, which had been opened on the 16th May 1942 for the Second World War. It was home to various aircraft including the Vickers Wellington bombers, these were occasionally used for leaflet dropping operations over Germany. In the beginning of the Second World War, the Royal Air Force launched flights over Germany to drop leaflets over German cities in an attempt to urge the German population to abandon the war, the code name for these operations was “Nickel”.  The main role at Wymeswold was training bomber pilots until 1944, then Douglas Dakota pilots. It also operated Hampdens in a training role which were used to tow Horsa gliders prior to the D-Day landings and various other aircraft including Hurricanes in air gunnery training. The airfield also had various visits from other aircraft such as a large contingent of USAAF C47s on one occasion in 1944 prior to the D-Day landings.

The farm also had the British boys For British Farms - BBFBF helping out on the farm during the war.  There was also a air-raid shelter built near the farm, presumably to provide cover for the nearby school children.

One yearly event on the farm is the arrival of the threshing machine, a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that separates grain seed from the stalks and husks i.e. ears of corn. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, threshing was done by hand with flails, when carried out by traditional hand methods threshing was a slow and laborious, it would occupy farm labourers for months.  As the threshing machine worked through the corn stack  rats would appear everywhere, the farm hands would chase them with sticks and dogs, first making sure to tie their trouser bottoms to stop rats running up their legs. The old threshing process has now been replaced by the modern combine harvester.

Ronald did damage his finger quite badly while working on the farm. One day when moving the milk churns to the delivery stand by the gate Ronald chopped the end of his little finger off. He was rushed to hospital where he received a skin graft from his arm to repair the finger.

In March 1972 there was a large fire at the farm in one of the barns. Stan discovered the fire at around 3pm and alerted his parents. The fire brigade were called and were fighting the fire until 5 am the next morning.  Ronald & Mona led the cattle to safety and in the end there was just a bill for £1500 for the loss of hay and damage to the barn.  Occasionally the family would get away for a holiday at Skegness, Roland would usually be left at home to look after the farm. You can see some photos below of their time away to the coast.

I can remember myself (Mark) helping my Grandfather to bring the cows home to the farm from the fields, I always felt very important wielding my big stick about and fetching cows that were straying too far.  I also remember regularly visiting Melton Market with Ronald. Ronald was also quite a regular at the White Horse Pub on Far Street - now a residential premises.

Margaret Illiot who has researched the Hallam side of the family remembers Mona being always full of fun when one visited her. She enjoyed a good laugh, however she smoked too much and could not be persuaded to give up and so at fifty-nine, she died an early death of cancer.  Ronald unfortunately Suffered with Parkinson's disease in later life, he died in 1992 and is buried at the Rempstone Road Cemetery, Wymeswold alongside Mona.

Details

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Ronald Wootton Sheppard (1909-1992)

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Born   12th December 1909 Wymeswold, Leicestershire.

Census 1911. Ronald Sheppard Age 1.

Address - Far Street, Wymeswold. 

Head Harry Sheppard(38).  Profession - Farmer.

Wife Sarah Ann Sheppard(38) 

Edward Brown(16) Profession - Farm Labourer.

Census 1921. R W Sheppard  Age  11 6 Months.

Son  Wymeswold School.

Address - Church Farm Wymeswold. 

Head Harry Sheppard(49).  Profession - Farmer.

Wife S A Sheppard(49)  at home.

Married 2nd August 1937 at St Marys Church, Wymeswold.

(By Banns)

Ronald Wootton Sheppard To Mona Hallam.  

Ronald Age 27 - Occupation Farmer. 

Resident at Church Farm, Wymeswold.

 Father - Harry Sheppard - Deceased.

Mona Age 22. Resident at Turn Post Farm, Wymeswold.

Father - John Thomas Hallam - Occupation Farmer.  

Presence of John Wootton, John Thomas Hallam.

Register 1939. Head Ronald W Sheppard - born 12 Dec 1909

Profession - Dairy Farmer.

Address - Church Farm, Far Street, Wymeswold. 

Wife Mona Sheppard - born 25 Mar 1916

Profession - Domestic duties unpaid

Other person records - closed.

Died    22nd January 1992, Nottingham

Burial  Rempstone Road Cemetery, Wymeswold.

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Mona Hallam (1915-1974)

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Born   25th March 1915   Elston, Nottinghamshire

Census 1921 - Mona Hallam Age 6 

School  - whole time

Address - Elston

Living with -

Father John Thomas Hallam  (50) - Farmer - Head

born  Egmanton, Nottinghamshire

Mother Elizabeth Hallam (44) - Home duties

Born Ansley, Nottinghamshire

Sisters -

Mary Hallam (19) - Home duties

 Violet Hallam (17) - Home duties

 Alma Eniff Hallam (1) 

 Brothers -

Thomas Vernon Hallam (10) -  School  - whole time

 Joseph  Dixon Hallam (8) -  School  - whole time

Alec John Hallam (4) -  School  - whole time

All children born Elston, Nottinghamshire

 Servant Mr Willows (51)  - Horseman

Married 2nd August 1937 at St Marys Church, Wymeswold.

(By Banns)

Ronald Wootton Sheppard To Mona Hallam.  

Ronald Age 27 - Occupation Farmer. 

Resident at Church Farm, Wymeswold.

Father - Harry Sheppard - Deceased.

Mona Age 22. Resident at Turn Post Farm, Wymeswold.

Father - John Thomas Hallam - Occupation Farmer.  

Presence of John Wootton, John Thomas Hallam.

Register 1939. Wife Mona Sheppard - born 25 Mar 1916  (*)

Profession - Domestic duties unpaid

 Address - Church Farm, Far Street, Wymeswold. 

 Head Ronald W Sheppard - born 12 Dec 1909

 Profession - Dairy Farmer.

Other person records - closed.

 (*)Note Birth year is one year out.

Died    10th  October 1974  Wymeswold, Leicestershire  

Burial  Rempstone Road Cemetery, Wymeswold.

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 Notes on Children :

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  Roland Harry John Sheppard (1938)

 --- --- ---

  Alec Sheppard (1939-1939)

  --- --- ---

  Brian Stanley Sheppard (1941)

  --- --- ---

  David Roy Sheppard (1942)

  --- --- ---

  Janet Mary Sheppard (1945-2022)

  --- --- ---

Photos

Above :  Photos of the renovated Church Farm. Now a Grade II Listed property. 
Within the bones of the structure lays  one of the oldest residences in the village (1510-1590). 

The bedroom pictured here was used to store apples, each one would be wrapped in newspaper to conserve them. I remember the floor having quite a large slant from one side to the other.

*Internal photos - rightmove.co.uk.

UP (Harry Sheppard 1872)   :   UP (John Thomas Hallam 1870)

Sources :  See Acknowledgments