Extract from Alton mail, Friday, December 17, 1948

LICKFOLDS OF LICKFOLD

The associations with Headley of a well-known family who bear the name of the village in which they originated—Lickfold, Sussex—are recalled by some comments in the Midhurst Deanery Notes.

Stating that he had no idea the fame of Lickfold had been spread abroad, the Vicar of Lodsworth (Rev. F. R. Stutely Abbott) wrote that he had received from Trinidad a letter from Mrs. Hilda Lickfold, who had seen in the press a photograph of St. Hilda’s Chapel, lickfold. She asked if he could trace any connection with the family name. A copy of the photograph had also been received from South Africa.

The Vicaar went on the say that a Walter de Lykfold was given as owning land at Lickfold in 1332, and in the old registers there were numerous references to the Lickfold family as recently as 1844. He was told there were Lickfold memorials at Lurgashall, and he asked if anyone knew where in Lickfold, the Lickfold family lived.

Having read the Vicar’s remarks, Mr. G. L. C. Warren, of The Mill House, Standford, says he believes, from information handed down, that a Lickfold lived there near the bridge over the stream.

Mr. John E. Lickfold, of Arford, Headley, who is a descendant, is in possession of numerous very ancient and historical family documents dating from the Elizabethan period onwards, comprising old English and Latin versions of conveyances of land, etc. One document in Latin, part of which has been translated, appertains to the detention of certain cattle and is an agreement of settlement between the parties concerned. Attached to this document is a large seal embracing the Elizabethan Royal Arms. There are a considerable number of indentures with ancient seals attached relation to drafts of agreements in which the names of Edward, William and John Lickfold appear. These mainly deal with the conveyance of certain lands in Lurgashall and Northchapel, together with the wills and convenants, the last of which dates back for well over a century.

Edward Lickfold, described as a yeoman of Lurgashall, took part in the battle of Waterloo, and the present Mr. John Lickfold is in possession of his blunderbuss and holster, and other antiques retrieved from the battlefield. The latter’s grandfather, Mr. John Lickfold, was born at Lickfold, and was apprenticed to a tailor at Guildford. During his apprenticeship he was sent to Curtis Farm, Headley, to measure Fauntleroy, the banker, who was the last man to be hanged for forgery, for a new suit. Fauntleroy resided at Curtis Farm and upon his arrival there the apprentice learned that he had been apprehended a few hours previously.

Having finished his apprenticeship, Mr. John Lickfold opened up a business as a tailor at Mr. Bohanna’s shop in Arford, later giving that up to open a grocery business at the shop in High Street owned by Mr. Rogers. In addition to his business as a grocer, he was also appointed highway warden and village policeman, and in the latter capacity he arrested a man who was afterwards transported for sheep stealing. Mr. Lickfold is still in possession of the knife which his grandfather wrested from the sheepstealer.

During the bread riots, which began near Alton in protest against the introduction of machinery on the farms, the rioters tried to force their way into the grocery shop, demanding food and tobacco, but Mr. Lickfold kept them at bay with a loaded gun. They stripped tiles from the roof of Headley Workhouse, now The Grange, and were arrested and transported for the damage they had caused in the district.

Mr. John Lickfold married a Miss Upperton who had relatives in Headley, and giving up his grocery business he started in business as a miller at Headley Mill. This was carried on by his son, the late Walter Lickfold, and his two sons, the late Mr. Frederick Lickfold and the present Mr. J. E. Lickfold, until the two last-named gave it up to start a motor business in Headley.

Incidentally, there are a number of memorials to past members of the Lickfold family both in Lurgashall and at Headley.