The Wield Family The story of the Weild family is centred on John Wield because it is largely owing to him that the Cottage museum exists (see The Museum). Nevertheless, we will begin with his parents, Thomas and Mary. We will end with Gillian and Angela because they have provided important details about their grandfather and the bungalow. They both have children but they play no part in our story. The family tree Thomas Wield and Mary Anne Thomas and Mary moved to Woodhall Spa from Hampshire. They began working at the baths in 1880 and in 1884 they were put in charge. One of Thomas's tasks was drawing up the water from the well. Mary organised the baths for women. The bungalow, which was made by Boulton Paul, was provided for them by Mr. Hotchkin and the Medical Officer of Health in 1887. Click on image for a larger version It was in 1887, too, that the bath chair business began. There were both donkey and hand drawn chairs. They were very necessary for taking ill or arthritic patients to the baths but were also used to transport people to the station and for pleasure trips. There was a forge, with a fan driven fire, and a workshop at the rear of the bungalow that enabled Thomas to shoe the donkeys and make some of the chairs himself. Like his son, John, he was clever with his hands. Outside the front gate (of the bungalow) there was a stereoscopic peep show which he made. This had several scenes on a revolving drum and required 1d. to operate. He made violins out of sycamore, making the last one the year he died at the age of eighty. Thomas John Wield and Asenath This photograph shows John and Asenath on their wedding day in 1898. He was 21 and she was 22. They were to be together for 63 years until the death of Asenath in 1961 when she was 83. John died three years later at the age 87. John began his working life as a whitesmith with Humpersons, the ironmongers and sanitary engineers. He was a polymath who could turn his hand to almost anything he chose. In later times he would probably have had a distinguished career. Photography was a major interest. He had a dark room and a studio in buildings behind the bungalow. He also made cameras and gave magic lantern shows. He became every interested in optics and this provided another source of income when his prescriptions were accepted by the NHS. A room in the bungalow became the NHS office for the village. When electricity came to the village he wired the bungalow himself. He mended clocks and watches and created his own "inventions" as his granddaughter Gillian describes them them. One of these was a "calculator" which had "cogs moved by a sort of darning needle on a longish handle". He also entertained Gillian and John "with paper and pencil games and drawings. He would draw round pennies (old 1d. ones) and then put simple faces in them; each one showing different emotions: crying, laughing, puzzled, etc. He had a fine tenor voice and sang with the church choir. He sang solos, not only in the village church but also, on occasion, in Lincoln Cathedral. We know less about Asenath than we do about John. Presumably, her major concern was looking after the house and the children (see below). Her grand-daughter (Gillian) says that "whilst he (John)spent the day in the workshop, studio or mending watches in the office Grandma did the housework and cooking. After dinner - mid day - she got changed. Then came knitting, sewing, darning, reading and shopping". This, of course, was after their children had left home. In her later years she was very unfortunate with her health. Gillian tells us that "she had broken her hip in the early 30's and medical science not being what it is now she was lame for ever after. She would move about the house without her stick by using the walls and furniture to lean on. In the garden she usually had her stick but all shopping trips were done in the wheel chair." More tragically still, she was blind for the last 5 years of her life. Two photographs of Asenath taken in the same place but many years apart. Gillian tells us that in an overgrown part of the garden there lived a family of feral cats. Some would venture to the back of the house where saucers of milk and scraps were left for them. "One lean old lady had been befriended by granddad and became a semi-house cat. We could stroke her but she never allowed anything else. .... One of her sons, a handsome fluffy tabby, loved being a house cat and was a great favourite of ours. Gillian also remembers the bread delivery. "The man would come down the drive with his big basket over his arm. He would lift up the white cloth covering the loaves and Grandma would choose what she needed. John and I would take it down to the pantry and put it in the big brown crock.