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I've now found out from a newspaper report that the house, renamed to St Margaret's, opened sometime in 1901 as a convalescent home run by a Sister Mary Louisa and Ms Stirling Stuart.

I don't have the date yet for the newspaper report other than 1901 but when the 1901 Census is taken we find a Sarah Watkin there as Superintendent Home of Rest along with two boarders, so these must be the paying guests, and two domestic staff.

So I went back to 1891 and it was a private house.

As the building was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a big office block does anyone know where the deeds showing it's ownership over the years, might be found? Possibly the county records office or would the land registry hold them?

Looking for something completely different on the 1911 Census I came across this interesting occupation for Ethel Helmore.

She's at the home of Marion Stirling Stuart, a substantial house known as St Margaret's in Tickford Street in Newport Pagnell:


Marion Stirling   Stuart   Head   Single   Female   49   1862   -   Lanarshire N B
Alice   Brown   Boarder   Single   Female   30   1881   -   Folkestone
Emily   Bolton   Servant   Widow   Female   42   1869   Cook domestic   Shritham
Emma   Steers   Servant   Single   Female   46   1865   Tablemaid domestic   Rotherhithe
Mary Jane   Agar   Servant   Single   Female   47   1864   Ladiesmaid domestic   Denby Yorkshire
Ruth   Gratham   Servant   Single   Female   33   1878   Housemaid domestic   Sussex Farm Ripley
Mary   Hogg   Servant   -   Female   15   1896   Training girl   Windsor
Ethel   Helmore   Servant   Single   Female   43   1868   Professonal nurse   Wimbledon

My immediate reaction was to think about how nurses could be unprofessional

I'm assuming that Ms Stirling Stuart was ill and needed a live in nurse although she is still at St Margaret's in 1921 as is Alice Brown - Alice is shown as 40 while Marion is now 37. Emma Steers the servant is still in the household but there is no cook.

Ms Stirling Stuart dies in March 1953, North Bucks RD which would cover Newport Pagnell, leaving over £11K. I think I might just get a copy of her will as I'm now intrigued by her and her household.

Have you looked at the Beesley (and variant spellings) entries in the Keith Chandler database to see if there's anything useful there:

https://rtfhs.org.uk/the-keith-chandler-collection-of-romany-and-traveller-biographies/ and scroll down to Beesley

The Romany and Traveller FHS have recently added two new collections to their free records: https://rtfhs.org.uk/free-records/

Part 1 of the Directory of Travelling Photographers collated by Chy Hersey: https://rtfhs.org.uk/directory-of-travelling-photographers-1841-1881/

and The Keith Chandler Collection of Romany and Traveller Biographies.

Keith started out collecting information about Romany musicians but the database grew to include  other Travelling people he came across. The result is a Collection of thousands of individuals that Keith has kindly donated to the RTFHS for everyone to gain from.

Surnames A to B launched on 2 April 2024 and will be joined by other letters of the alphabet over the coming weeks and months: https://rtfhs.org.uk/the-keith-chandler-collection-of-romany-and-traveller-biographies/

Do also look at the other free records such as The Ian Orchard West Country Collection while you browse the site and pop back every so often to see what else had been added.