This is going to take a very different form to my usual slap-em-up posts, this location I have sat on for two and a half years near enough, and a recent revisit showed the house to be completely gutted and stripped so it's about time this pretty incredible tale of an incredible family saw the light of day.
I first spotted this property whilst on my way to my regular Sunday haunt at Standlake Arena where I film banger racing, I would go past it every other Sunday and saw the property and driveway was getting more and more overgrown from the brief glimpse I'd get of it out the window. I pinned it on my map and thought to myself one day I will have a look, although that one day I would have to wait a fair while for! Eventually I got my arse in gear and, with one of my friends/long time exploring partners in tow, went to have a look. Much to my surprise I found the property wide open, so without a second thought ventured inside. What I found inside, and the information I managed to glean from one very helpful website, is what forms the basis of this somewhat unusual post I'm currently writing.
As a footnote added before the end, when we made to leave on that day in May 2019, it would seem that the people in next door's garden at the time - who had a view straight into the property and the access point through the tree line that separated them - saw us leave, as the house was very, very quickly sealed up and remained so on all further checks I made until it was sold earlier this year (more on that later).
Edward Tancred Agius, born 1849, married Maria Concetta in Malta in 1873. Soon after marriage, they moved to England, specifically the Hampstead area of London. Edward was a ship owner and coal trader for the family company ED. T. Agius Ltd, which had offices in various cities across the UK. He travelled extensively around Europe including Russia and the Mediterranean, and somehow found time to father no fewer than 15 children, although sadly two died very soon after birth. It's the youngest five children who are the main subjects of this post, with a direct link to Thickets. Five boys - Alfred, Edgar, Tancred, Arthur and Richard who all fought in the First World War, one of whom tragically died in combat, with the surviving brothers returning home after the war and going their separate ways.
The Agius sons in 1898, photographed at Edward and Maria's silver wedding anniversary. L-R Tancred, Joseph ( an older son, not a subject in this story), Arthur, Richard (on his father Edward's lap), Alfred, Edgar.
Alfred Victor Louis Benedict Agius - (9/3/1887 - 28/11/1969)
Alfred on the left, photographed in 1910.
Alfred was the oldest of the five brothers, born in the family home at Belsize Park Gardens, Hampstead in March 1887. In 1900, aged 13, he moved to Downside School in Somerset with brothers Edgar and Tancred. After leaving Downside, he went to university at Exeter College in Oxford in 1905. On July 7th 1908 he joined the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) – Territorial Force, and whilst in the military worked for the family business between 1909 and the start of the Great War. After being called to war, he sailed to Malta in September 1914 with his battalion, where they stayed until January 1915, reaching Etaples in France a week after setting off from Malta. He fought battles at Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert with his brother Arthur, and on April 2nd 1917 was wounded at Agny whilst digging a trench in no man's land. After recuperating at home, he returned to the front on January 26th 1918 at Villers Brettoneux joining the 2/3rd Londons (173 Brigade 58th Division).
Following the end of the war, he returned home and worked at his family's business, before moving back to Malta and becoming the Maltese Trade Commissioner in 1934. He married Ena Hueffer on October 4th 1934, and had one son, Marcus, who was born on July 22nd 1946.
Marcus has an interesting story all of his own. He was a career banker his entire working life, and joined Lazard Investment Bank in 1972, staying with the company until 2006. Between 2006 and 2012 he was a non-executive director, and later Chairman, at Barclay's Bank, he resigned after the Libor scandal in 2012. He was the Chairman of the British Bankers Association at the same time, between 2010 and 2012, and also a senior non-executive director of the BBC Executive Board between 2006 and 2012. He is an avid gardener and botanist, and between 2009 and 2019 was chairman of trustees at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When he retired in 2019 he donated £500,000 to create the Agius Evolution Garden at Kew. Following that, he was made a CBE in the New Years Honours List for services to conservation and botany. He married Katherine de Rothschild (yes, Rothschild of that Rothschild family) and is closely involved with work at the Rothschild's Exbury Gardens estate, and has two children.
Tancred Albert Anthony Benedict Agius - (Spring 1890 - 3/3/1978)
Tancred Agius, known as Father Ambrose, photographed in 1934.
Tancred Agius was born in spring 1890, at the family home of Belsize Park Gardens. Alongside Alfred and Edgar he went to Downside School in 1900, but instead of going to university afterwards, in 1908 he joined Downside Abbey as a novice, changing his name to Dom Ambrose Agius - Ambrose being the name of his uncle who was Apostolic Delegate Archbishop of the Philippines between 1904 and 1911. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1915, and became Chaplain to the Forces (4th Class) in 1917. During the First World War he was wounded during the battle of Polygon Wood on September 26th 1917, and sent home to recuperate, he never went back to the front as the war was over by the time he recovered sufficiently. In 1918 he became parish priest at Radstock, a position he served until 1932 when he moved to become parish priest of Whitehaven until 1934, then at St. Mary's in Liverpool between 1934-35 and 1939-1945. During the Second World War his church was destroyed during the Liverpool Blitz. After the war ended, he was sent back to Ealing where he worked as Prior for two years, founded the parish magazine, and then transferred to Fort Augustus in Scotland. He was then transferred to the USA for a number of years, returning home in 1968 after being made Cathedral Prior of Gloucester. In later life, as a gifted writer and poet, he wrote an autobiography in which he went into great detail about his teaching and pastoral work, but never wrote a word about his experiences of war. On February 17th 1978 he collapsed in his room, and he died in hospital on March 3rd 1978.
Arthur Joseph John Paul Agius - (April 1893 - 1979)
Arthur Agius in uniform, date unknown.
Arthur Agius was born in April 1893 in Belsize Park Gardens, and attended Downside School from 1903-1910. After leaving school he immediately followed his brother Alfred into the military, joining the same regiment as him, the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) – Territorial Force. In 1911 he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, and then in 1912, Lieutenant of the Battalion. In August 1914 the Battalion was mobilised to guard a section of railway line at Winchester station, with Arthur also getting engaged to his childhood sweetheart Dollie Noel in the same month. In September 1914 the Battalion sailed to Malta, with Dollie sailing out on the SS Persia in November 1914 to join him - by this time a number of Edward Agius' older daughters had moved to Malta and settled on the island, marrying Maltese men. The battalion then sailed from Malta to France at the beginning of January, and Dollie made her own way back to England - a route which at the time was pretty safe. Out of all the brothers he appears to have been the one involved in the most notable action of the First World War, being involved in the following battles:
Neuve Chapelle 10-13/3/15
Aubers Ridge 9/5/15
Festubert 15-25/5/15
Loos (Pietre) 25/9/15
Gommecourt 1/7/16
Guillemont 3-6/9/16
Ginchy 9/9/16
Fleurs Courcelette 15-22/9/16
Morval Transloy Ridge 1-18/10/16
He was granted home leave after the Morval Transloy Ridge battle, and married Dollie on October 21st 1916. All the other brothers, with the exception of Alfred, were also granted leave to attend the wedding. He returned to France after a short honeymoon, and was awarded the Military Cross in January 1917. Shortly afterwards, he returned home from the front sick, serving as Garrison adjutant No.2 District Aldershot Command until the war ended. Following the end of the war, not much is really known about Arthur, he faded into civilian life and died in 1979.
Richard Victor Joseph Roy Agius - (19/9/1896 - 26/10/1917)
Richard Agius in uniform, 1916.
Richard Agius was the youngest of the Agius children, born on September 19th 1896 at Belsize Grove, Hampstead. Like all his other brothers, he attended Downside School, this time between 1907 and 1914. Upon leaving he was too young to commission into the military, but as soon as he turned 18 he was commissioned into The 2/3rd (City of London) Battalion, sailing to Malta in January 1915 with the Battalion. The Battalion left Malta for Egypt in April 1915, eventually landing at Gallipoli in September 1915. Him and his Battalion made their way into France in April 1916, in June 1916 the 2/3 Londons were disbanded at Rouen. The 3/3 Londons became the 2/3 Londons (in 173rd Brigade in 58th Division). Richard was posted back to England where he was with the 4/3 London Reserve Battalion for a few months with brothers Alfred and Edgar. He was granted leave in July 1916, but sickness meant he wasn't passed fit enough to return to the front until Spring 1917. From May until October 1917, he served at the front without a break, and in autumn of that year the Pascchendaele offensive began. During a battle at Poelcapelle near Ypres on October 26th 1917, he was shot through the head and killed instantly, and despite his brother Arthur's best efforts after the war ended, his remains were never discovered. It's likely they are in an unmarked grave in nearby Poelcapelle cemetery.
Which leads us to Edgar, and the link to this house.
Edgar Emanuel Gordon Agius - (1/12/1888 - 29/1/1969)
Edgar Agius in uniform, date unknown.
Edgar Agius was born on December 1st 1888 at Belsize Park Gardens. He attended Downside School at the same time as his two brothers Alfred and Tancred, and after leaving Downside in 1906 worked for the family business in the Glasgow offices. On November 12th 1914 he joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, and on January 24th 1915 he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3/3rd London Battalion, the newly formed Battalion to replace the 2/3rds now in Malta. He fought in the battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert with his brothers Alfred and Arthur, however was wounded at Festubert on May 16th 1915 and sent home to recuperate. He was posted back to the front in the 2/3s in March 1917, followed in May by Richard, remaining on the Western Front until February 1918.
Following the war, he married Dorothy Adela Hatton-Hall on April 24th 1921, and remained in France working for Esso until the outbreak of the Second World War. He had one son, Peter, who was born on January 22nd 1922. He was unable to escape the German military's advance into France and was captured in June 1940, where he remained at St. Denis Internment Camp for the duration of the war. Internment camps are not to be confused with Concentration Camps, they were totally different. They were used to house people who were considered 'enemies' but not dangerous or likely to cause issues, or part of the Nazi crusade. Families would live together in the camps wearing their own civilian clothes, the buildings were generally well heated and they had proper beds. St. Denis had food rations augmented by Red Cross packages, an extensive library, plus sports and a theatre, so compared to other places it was a comparatively pleasant place to be housed for the duration of the war.
After the war ended and the camp was liberated, Edgar returned to England, he died on January 29th 1969, the first of the four surviving brothers to die.
His son, Peter, also carried on the family tradition and went to Downside School like his father and uncles. He married Pauline Smith in Clitheroe on April 24th 1952, and moved to Oxford after taking a job at one of the universities. The house, Thickets, was built in 1960 and he lived there until his death on May 20th 2009. During his marriage, he fathered three children - Clare, Carolyn and Martin. Clare moved to Malta and is currently one of Malta's most famous top TV presenters, Martin stayed in the UK and has owned a string of restaurants around the Oxford and Bristol areas. After his father died, the house was used by Martin to store records and documents in from his various restaurants and businesses, although these only went up as far as 2012-ish.
So that's the potted history of the family involved. If you've read this far, that's pretty good going, now it's finally time for some photos.
We entered into the living room from the access point, and immediately realised we'd found something interesting, that hadn't been modernised at any point. It looked as if a half-hearted clear out had started to be done but then stopped a long time ago.
We then ventured upstairs.....
Either Peter or Martin appeared to be a proficient photographer.
Both upstairs bathrooms were wonderfully dated.
Continued...
I first spotted this property whilst on my way to my regular Sunday haunt at Standlake Arena where I film banger racing, I would go past it every other Sunday and saw the property and driveway was getting more and more overgrown from the brief glimpse I'd get of it out the window. I pinned it on my map and thought to myself one day I will have a look, although that one day I would have to wait a fair while for! Eventually I got my arse in gear and, with one of my friends/long time exploring partners in tow, went to have a look. Much to my surprise I found the property wide open, so without a second thought ventured inside. What I found inside, and the information I managed to glean from one very helpful website, is what forms the basis of this somewhat unusual post I'm currently writing.
As a footnote added before the end, when we made to leave on that day in May 2019, it would seem that the people in next door's garden at the time - who had a view straight into the property and the access point through the tree line that separated them - saw us leave, as the house was very, very quickly sealed up and remained so on all further checks I made until it was sold earlier this year (more on that later).
Edward Tancred Agius, born 1849, married Maria Concetta in Malta in 1873. Soon after marriage, they moved to England, specifically the Hampstead area of London. Edward was a ship owner and coal trader for the family company ED. T. Agius Ltd, which had offices in various cities across the UK. He travelled extensively around Europe including Russia and the Mediterranean, and somehow found time to father no fewer than 15 children, although sadly two died very soon after birth. It's the youngest five children who are the main subjects of this post, with a direct link to Thickets. Five boys - Alfred, Edgar, Tancred, Arthur and Richard who all fought in the First World War, one of whom tragically died in combat, with the surviving brothers returning home after the war and going their separate ways.
The Agius sons in 1898, photographed at Edward and Maria's silver wedding anniversary. L-R Tancred, Joseph ( an older son, not a subject in this story), Arthur, Richard (on his father Edward's lap), Alfred, Edgar.
Alfred Victor Louis Benedict Agius - (9/3/1887 - 28/11/1969)
Alfred on the left, photographed in 1910.
Alfred was the oldest of the five brothers, born in the family home at Belsize Park Gardens, Hampstead in March 1887. In 1900, aged 13, he moved to Downside School in Somerset with brothers Edgar and Tancred. After leaving Downside, he went to university at Exeter College in Oxford in 1905. On July 7th 1908 he joined the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) – Territorial Force, and whilst in the military worked for the family business between 1909 and the start of the Great War. After being called to war, he sailed to Malta in September 1914 with his battalion, where they stayed until January 1915, reaching Etaples in France a week after setting off from Malta. He fought battles at Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert with his brother Arthur, and on April 2nd 1917 was wounded at Agny whilst digging a trench in no man's land. After recuperating at home, he returned to the front on January 26th 1918 at Villers Brettoneux joining the 2/3rd Londons (173 Brigade 58th Division).
Following the end of the war, he returned home and worked at his family's business, before moving back to Malta and becoming the Maltese Trade Commissioner in 1934. He married Ena Hueffer on October 4th 1934, and had one son, Marcus, who was born on July 22nd 1946.
Marcus has an interesting story all of his own. He was a career banker his entire working life, and joined Lazard Investment Bank in 1972, staying with the company until 2006. Between 2006 and 2012 he was a non-executive director, and later Chairman, at Barclay's Bank, he resigned after the Libor scandal in 2012. He was the Chairman of the British Bankers Association at the same time, between 2010 and 2012, and also a senior non-executive director of the BBC Executive Board between 2006 and 2012. He is an avid gardener and botanist, and between 2009 and 2019 was chairman of trustees at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When he retired in 2019 he donated £500,000 to create the Agius Evolution Garden at Kew. Following that, he was made a CBE in the New Years Honours List for services to conservation and botany. He married Katherine de Rothschild (yes, Rothschild of that Rothschild family) and is closely involved with work at the Rothschild's Exbury Gardens estate, and has two children.
Tancred Albert Anthony Benedict Agius - (Spring 1890 - 3/3/1978)
Tancred Agius, known as Father Ambrose, photographed in 1934.
Tancred Agius was born in spring 1890, at the family home of Belsize Park Gardens. Alongside Alfred and Edgar he went to Downside School in 1900, but instead of going to university afterwards, in 1908 he joined Downside Abbey as a novice, changing his name to Dom Ambrose Agius - Ambrose being the name of his uncle who was Apostolic Delegate Archbishop of the Philippines between 1904 and 1911. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1915, and became Chaplain to the Forces (4th Class) in 1917. During the First World War he was wounded during the battle of Polygon Wood on September 26th 1917, and sent home to recuperate, he never went back to the front as the war was over by the time he recovered sufficiently. In 1918 he became parish priest at Radstock, a position he served until 1932 when he moved to become parish priest of Whitehaven until 1934, then at St. Mary's in Liverpool between 1934-35 and 1939-1945. During the Second World War his church was destroyed during the Liverpool Blitz. After the war ended, he was sent back to Ealing where he worked as Prior for two years, founded the parish magazine, and then transferred to Fort Augustus in Scotland. He was then transferred to the USA for a number of years, returning home in 1968 after being made Cathedral Prior of Gloucester. In later life, as a gifted writer and poet, he wrote an autobiography in which he went into great detail about his teaching and pastoral work, but never wrote a word about his experiences of war. On February 17th 1978 he collapsed in his room, and he died in hospital on March 3rd 1978.
Arthur Joseph John Paul Agius - (April 1893 - 1979)
Arthur Agius in uniform, date unknown.
Arthur Agius was born in April 1893 in Belsize Park Gardens, and attended Downside School from 1903-1910. After leaving school he immediately followed his brother Alfred into the military, joining the same regiment as him, the 3rd (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) – Territorial Force. In 1911 he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, and then in 1912, Lieutenant of the Battalion. In August 1914 the Battalion was mobilised to guard a section of railway line at Winchester station, with Arthur also getting engaged to his childhood sweetheart Dollie Noel in the same month. In September 1914 the Battalion sailed to Malta, with Dollie sailing out on the SS Persia in November 1914 to join him - by this time a number of Edward Agius' older daughters had moved to Malta and settled on the island, marrying Maltese men. The battalion then sailed from Malta to France at the beginning of January, and Dollie made her own way back to England - a route which at the time was pretty safe. Out of all the brothers he appears to have been the one involved in the most notable action of the First World War, being involved in the following battles:
Neuve Chapelle 10-13/3/15
Aubers Ridge 9/5/15
Festubert 15-25/5/15
Loos (Pietre) 25/9/15
Gommecourt 1/7/16
Guillemont 3-6/9/16
Ginchy 9/9/16
Fleurs Courcelette 15-22/9/16
Morval Transloy Ridge 1-18/10/16
He was granted home leave after the Morval Transloy Ridge battle, and married Dollie on October 21st 1916. All the other brothers, with the exception of Alfred, were also granted leave to attend the wedding. He returned to France after a short honeymoon, and was awarded the Military Cross in January 1917. Shortly afterwards, he returned home from the front sick, serving as Garrison adjutant No.2 District Aldershot Command until the war ended. Following the end of the war, not much is really known about Arthur, he faded into civilian life and died in 1979.
Richard Victor Joseph Roy Agius - (19/9/1896 - 26/10/1917)
Richard Agius in uniform, 1916.
Richard Agius was the youngest of the Agius children, born on September 19th 1896 at Belsize Grove, Hampstead. Like all his other brothers, he attended Downside School, this time between 1907 and 1914. Upon leaving he was too young to commission into the military, but as soon as he turned 18 he was commissioned into The 2/3rd (City of London) Battalion, sailing to Malta in January 1915 with the Battalion. The Battalion left Malta for Egypt in April 1915, eventually landing at Gallipoli in September 1915. Him and his Battalion made their way into France in April 1916, in June 1916 the 2/3 Londons were disbanded at Rouen. The 3/3 Londons became the 2/3 Londons (in 173rd Brigade in 58th Division). Richard was posted back to England where he was with the 4/3 London Reserve Battalion for a few months with brothers Alfred and Edgar. He was granted leave in July 1916, but sickness meant he wasn't passed fit enough to return to the front until Spring 1917. From May until October 1917, he served at the front without a break, and in autumn of that year the Pascchendaele offensive began. During a battle at Poelcapelle near Ypres on October 26th 1917, he was shot through the head and killed instantly, and despite his brother Arthur's best efforts after the war ended, his remains were never discovered. It's likely they are in an unmarked grave in nearby Poelcapelle cemetery.
Which leads us to Edgar, and the link to this house.
Edgar Emanuel Gordon Agius - (1/12/1888 - 29/1/1969)
Edgar Agius in uniform, date unknown.
Edgar Agius was born on December 1st 1888 at Belsize Park Gardens. He attended Downside School at the same time as his two brothers Alfred and Tancred, and after leaving Downside in 1906 worked for the family business in the Glasgow offices. On November 12th 1914 he joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, and on January 24th 1915 he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the 3/3rd London Battalion, the newly formed Battalion to replace the 2/3rds now in Malta. He fought in the battles of Aubers Ridge and Festubert with his brothers Alfred and Arthur, however was wounded at Festubert on May 16th 1915 and sent home to recuperate. He was posted back to the front in the 2/3s in March 1917, followed in May by Richard, remaining on the Western Front until February 1918.
Following the war, he married Dorothy Adela Hatton-Hall on April 24th 1921, and remained in France working for Esso until the outbreak of the Second World War. He had one son, Peter, who was born on January 22nd 1922. He was unable to escape the German military's advance into France and was captured in June 1940, where he remained at St. Denis Internment Camp for the duration of the war. Internment camps are not to be confused with Concentration Camps, they were totally different. They were used to house people who were considered 'enemies' but not dangerous or likely to cause issues, or part of the Nazi crusade. Families would live together in the camps wearing their own civilian clothes, the buildings were generally well heated and they had proper beds. St. Denis had food rations augmented by Red Cross packages, an extensive library, plus sports and a theatre, so compared to other places it was a comparatively pleasant place to be housed for the duration of the war.
After the war ended and the camp was liberated, Edgar returned to England, he died on January 29th 1969, the first of the four surviving brothers to die.
His son, Peter, also carried on the family tradition and went to Downside School like his father and uncles. He married Pauline Smith in Clitheroe on April 24th 1952, and moved to Oxford after taking a job at one of the universities. The house, Thickets, was built in 1960 and he lived there until his death on May 20th 2009. During his marriage, he fathered three children - Clare, Carolyn and Martin. Clare moved to Malta and is currently one of Malta's most famous top TV presenters, Martin stayed in the UK and has owned a string of restaurants around the Oxford and Bristol areas. After his father died, the house was used by Martin to store records and documents in from his various restaurants and businesses, although these only went up as far as 2012-ish.
So that's the potted history of the family involved. If you've read this far, that's pretty good going, now it's finally time for some photos.
We entered into the living room from the access point, and immediately realised we'd found something interesting, that hadn't been modernised at any point. It looked as if a half-hearted clear out had started to be done but then stopped a long time ago.
We then ventured upstairs.....
Either Peter or Martin appeared to be a proficient photographer.
Both upstairs bathrooms were wonderfully dated.
Continued...
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