A Change of Owners

Sir William Heathcote died in August 1881 after several years of ill health. In a deluge of rain, a large congregation witnessed the interment in the family mausoleum in Hursley churchyard. In 1888, the Dowager Lady Heathcote sold the whole estate at Hursley to Joseph W Baxendale for £150,000.

Hursley Hunt by Castle Tower (c. 1900).
The gentleman in the top hat is Joseph Baxendale, the then owner of Hursley Park.

At that time, Joseph Baxendale was senior partner and principal proprietor of Pickfords (Removal Contractors). Later, in 1901, when Pickfords became a private limited company, he became chairman and the largest shareholder. He had a son and two daughters. In 1906 his son J F Noel Baxendale married Margaret Heathcote, a granddaughter of Sir William Heathcote the fifth baronet. Joseph Baxendale seems to have been a much respected man who, during his time of residence, kept a full complement of domestic and estate staff and fulfilled all the public duties expected of him. During his fourteen years of ownership, he made no alterations to the house or grounds except for the rebuilding of the stable. In 1902 he concluded the sale of the whole estate to George A Cooper (later Sir George Cooper) for £230,000. This sale was brought about due to business problems at Pickfords and the financial drain of investments in the Trans Siberian Railway. Joseph Baxendale decided that he could no longer maintain four estates, and Hursley was the one to be sold.