Mr M Clarke gave the history of Bentley Manor at the last meeting.
The manor was demolished in 1950 because its owner, Colonel L Greycheap, said it had been damaged by occupying forces, had dry rot and was too big for him!
From the late 1890s the 'Squire' had been Maud, who had inherited the property because her brother had been a gambler and was disinherited.
She had six children, four of whom met a violent death. Daisy drowned in a sailing accident in 1896; Katie drowned in 1914 when The Empress of Ireland sunk; Leslie, Commander of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, died in the battle at Oghtaratina in 1916; and in 1918, Hugh stayed on board his ship, the Leasowe Castle, after it had been torpedoed off Alexandria and was drowned. Hugh had three daughters and one son, Leslie, who inherited Bentley Manor as a baby, only to order its destruction in 1950.
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