It was a mixed farm with 61/2 acres of arable land and the rest pasture and meadow for which the rates in 1851 amounted to £1.14.11d. He had two men working for him and his wife would have been expected to look after hens and other poultry. One of the farm labourers lived in the house and they had a domestic servant as well. The family income was supplemented in 1851 by the presence of a lodger, the Rev. Francis Hole B.A. a 26 year old Devon man who was Curate here. His stay was not long, he returned to Devon to become Vicar of Broad Hempston in 1856.

Sadness and bereavement and a new beginning came to Henry before we see the household again in 1861. His wife Elizabeth Minton had died and he had married again at St. George's on 14th April 1857. Elizabeth Ann Sharpe was a widow who had been born at Thringstone, daughter of farmer John Potter.

By now Henry was a well established and respected Swannington figure. He attended the Vestry meetings, which were the precursors of the Parish Council, and he was one of only two lay residents of Swannington to be members of the Committee which managed the new school. The other was John Potter - in all probability the John Potter who lived at Swannington House and it seems more than likely that he was Henry Trinder's new brother in law.

Henry attended the Wyggeston Hospital Court Leet when that ancient institution was revived. At the time the Marquis of Hastings was holding Courts Leet in Whitwick and was laying claim to the Manor of Swannington for its valuable mineral rights. It was to emphasise their own rights that Wyggeston Hospital held their first Court for more than a hundred years in 1860. The next was held in 1863 when "... Mr. Henry Trinder, a respectable farmer, sworn on the Jury, who was for many years head Coachman to the old Marquis of Hastings, declared that that Nobleman acknowledged to him personally, when his Agents were urging forward His Lordship's Seignorial Rights on the neglected Common that he knew perfectly well that the Chaplains and Poor [i.e. Wyggeston's Hospital] were, and had been for centuries, Lords of the Manor of Swannington."

It must have been about this time that this picture of Henry Trinder was taken, making it quite the oldest likeness of a village resident in our possession. The photographer was J.F. Naddermier and the photograph was taken in his studio, opposite the railway station at Walsall.

As well as being a farmer Henry practised as a farrier and veterinary surgeon. That he called himself a vet does not mean that he had any formal qualifications, the Act prohibiting the use of this description by an unqualified person was not passed until 1881.

He seems to have prospered, having an indoor servant and a groom. His second wife died at the age of 68 in 1873 and he himself was buried in Swannington Churchyard on 27th July 1880 leaving his daughter and stepson to carry on in his old premises. They continued to farm but were also grocers and druggists.

Henry Trinder's broken headstone now lies propped against the boundary wall just by the entrance to the churchyard but his name lives on, for the house on the site of the old homestead still proudly bears the name TRINDERS.


	Articles Posted October 27th 2003
	TRINDERS Though a very comfortable home with a paddock and stabling built in the 1990's, it is the name of the house that qualifies it for inclusion in this occasional series on interesting Swannington properties. It is the only house in the village named after a former resident and built on the site he once occupied. Henry Trinder, the son of a carrier, was born in 1799 at North Leach a few miles south east of Cheltenham and near to the most beautiful of the Cotswold villages. His home was by the Fosse Way so when he came to Leicestershire we can guess at the route he took. All his life he was concerned with horses and we know that by 1835 he was employed by the second Marquis of Hastings as a groom at Donington Hall. On the 19th February of that year he married Elizabeth Minton at St. Werburg's Derby, and the only child of the marriage, a daughter Martha Minton Trinder, born in Shardlow was christened at Donington on 27th December 1835. The second Marquis was a great sportsman, only with difficulty could he be persuaded to absent himself from Donington to perform his wider duties as a peer. Above all his chief interest, which developed into a passion, was in foxhunting and much of his life was spent leading the field in the Donington area. Between 1835 and 1842 he kept a pack of hounds at the Hall in purpose built kennels. It must have been an exciting time for Henry Trinder to have obtained a job with such an aristocratic family and where horses were as important to his employer as they were to him. The hours would be long in the hunting season and we can imagine he would take responsibility for seeing that the horses were fit and that the Marquis's favourite mounts were able to carry him to the meet on a succession of wintry days. It is probable that this is where Henry acquired his skill in looking after sick horses and learned some expertise in curing their ailments. He had good accommodation provided for him as part of the job. He, the Huntsman and the Dog Feeder all had premises in the Park near the stables. The Dog Feeder was a single man and would have had rather spartan quarters but for Henry Trinder and for the Huntsman there would have been good rooms and in each household there was a domestic servant, whether to wait upon them or as part of the establishment of the Marquis is not known. By 1841 Henry Trinder was established as head groom and later was to become head coachman, but in 1844 there came a great change at Donington when the fox-hunting Marquis died at the age of 35 and was succeeded by his 12 year old son. There would no longer be the same lavish gatherings and it is likely that it was at this time Henry Trinder decided to make a break, at 45 he may have been ready to have his own place and become his own boss. Be that as it may, he found accommodation for himself and his family in Main Street BACK TO TOP \| HOMEPAGE		Swannington between what is now the Village Hall and the Fountain Inn. The plan shows it to have been a small but unusually compact holding of 23 acres which he had on lease from Mr Fenton. It was a mixed farm with 61/2 acres of arable land and the rest pasture and meadow for which the rates in 1851 amounted to £1.14.11d. He had two men working for him and his wife would have been expected to look after hens and other poultry. One of the farm labourers lived in the house and they had a domestic servant as well. The family income was supplemented in 1851 by the presence of a lodger, the Rev. Francis Hole B.A. a 26 year old Devon man who was Curate here. His stay was not long, he returned to Devon to become Vicar of Broad Hempston in 1856. Sadness and bereavement and a new beginning came to Henry before we see the household again in 1861. His wife Elizabeth Minton had died and he had married again at St. George's on 14th April 1857. Elizabeth Ann Sharpe was a widow who had been born at Thringstone, daughter of farmer John Potter. By now Henry was a well established and respected Swannington figure. He attended the Vestry meetings, which were the precursors of the Parish Council, and he was one of only two lay residents of Swannington to be members of the Committee which managed the new school. The other was John Potter - in all probability the John Potter who lived at Swannington House and it seems more than likely that he was Henry Trinder's new brother in law. Henry attended the Wyggeston Hospital Court Leet when that ancient institution was revived. At the time the Marquis of Hastings was holding Courts Leet in Whitwick and was laying claim to the Manor of Swannington for its valuable mineral rights. It was to emphasise their own rights that Wyggeston Hospital held their first Court for more than a hundred years in 1860. The next was held in 1863 when "... Mr. Henry Trinder, a respectable farmer, sworn on the Jury, who was for many years head Coachman to the old Marquis of Hastings, declared that that Nobleman acknowledged to him personally, when his Agents were urging forward His Lordship's Seignorial Rights on the neglected Common that he knew perfectly well that the Chaplains and Poor [i.e. Wyggeston's Hospital] were, and had been for centuries, Lords of the Manor of Swannington." It must have been about this time that this picture of Henry Trinder was taken, making it quite the oldest likeness of a village resident in our possession. The photographer was J.F. Naddermier and the photograph was taken in his studio, opposite the railway station at Walsall. As well as being a farmer Henry practised as a farrier and veterinary surgeon. That he called himself a vet does not mean that he had any formal qualifications, the Act prohibiting the use of this description by an unqualified person was not passed until 1881. He seems to have prospered, having an indoor servant and a groom. His second wife died at the age of 68 in 1873 and he himself was buried in Swannington Churchyard on 27th July 1880 leaving his daughter and stepson to carry on in his old premises. They continued to farm but were also grocers and druggists. Henry Trinder's broken headstone now lies propped against the boundary wall just by the entrance to the churchyard but his name lives on, for the house on the site of the old homestead still proudly bears the name TRINDERS.