Save your house deeds!

House deeds may no longer be needed as proof of ownership but it is vitally important to look after them if you want to study the history of your house or the land on which it is built. Some law firms have thrown out old documents to save space – make sure that yours are safe. We would be very interested in looking at any building documents for Campden and surrounding villages. Contact CADHAS on 01386-848840 or email us.

Hands

Henry Joseph Hands, ‘Chemist & Druggist’, bought Dovers House in 1896, when he was 41 years old. He had taken over his parent’s chemist shop on the corner of Church Street, which was started before 1851. His father Joseph was dead, but in 1881 his mother Elizabeth aged 55 was still working as ‘Chemist and Grocer’, although by 1891 she was retired and living in Leysbourne.

Henry Hands had married Rosellen Roberts, daughter of Roberts of the draper’s shop in Campden High St and by 1895 they had seven children. Henry carried on working until 1910 and then handed over the Chemists to his son Reginald Harry Hands. Henry died in 1920, his executors, Reginald of The Pharmacy, Hunstanton, Norfolk and his brother Joseph Garnet Hands, Architect of Forest Hill, London, sold Dover’s House for £1400. The Hands family do not seem to have ever lived in Dovers House but at 4, North End Terrace and their shop.