Huffer’s Geese

Imagine the scene! Five hundred plus geese on the riverbank in Deeping Gate eating corn and leftovers to fatten them up for the Christmas table! John Huffer was the farmer whose family of farmers and smallholders can be traced back to the 1700’s in Deeping Gate. The coming of the railway in nearby Helpston had given them the opportunity to expand the poultry business and John born in 1830 to John and Sarah Huffer who had embraced the challenge and the culinary fashion to have goose on the Christmas table.

As well as geese John bred turkeys and chicken and would employ two men at night to walk the river bank and fire off their guns occasionally to prevent opportunistic foxes and people trying to get a free meal. This did not stop a dog belonging to Mr Hides of Deeping Gate in April 1878 going amongst the flock of 61 goslings and killing all but one! The birds were worth about three shillings each and were sold to London Hotels and at the markets in Stamford, Market Harborough, Peterborough and Uppingham. At the zenith of his enterprise in 1881 he supplied London Club Houses and Hotels with 1200 geese and a number of turkeys and other fowl. Buyers wanted to see their geese alive and not trussed, plucked and hung as they do now and so the geese were taken alive to the station and to toughen up their feet they were walked through tar after they had been herded up like cattle.

Behind every great man is a woman, as they say, and for John this was his second wife Harriet Barker whom he had married in 1864 after the death in childbirth of his first wife Frances Beeson. With two children, Lucy and John, from his first marriage, and three from his second; Emily, James and Annie, the family played a large role in the community in Deeping Gate. John Junior did not marry but helped his father in the poultry business while boarding at the Crown & Anchor in Deeping St James. He was the Secretary of the Deeping Gate Pig Club of which his father was the President, having started up the Club in 1868.

This successful business did not pass without incident. In 1875 it was reported in the Stamford Mercury that John had lost one of his workers. An inquest was held at the Black Bull with Mr Percival as the Coroner after the body of John Lambert, aged 75, had been found in the Welland. He had been a hardworking and trustworthy labourer for John Huffer for many years and that day was no different. Having had his supper and drink allowance at John Huffer’s he had left to go home a little after 10.00pm. It was thought that from the darkness of the night and the unevenness of the path at High Locks he had lost his footing and fallen in the river. He was wearing a large overcoat and this floated him down the river to Deeping St James Bridge where he was found drowned the next day, floating on top of the water – the verdict was accidental death.

Calamity struck again in 1886 when at about 11.00 am on a Saturday morning a fire broke out in Mr Huffer’s stack yard. Smoke and flames were seen issuing from a large straw stack. Every means was tried by the neighbours to put the fire out but it was the Fire Engine under the direction of Mr Dean with an

efficient brigade which finally put it out and the buildings and property were saved. It was thought that children playing with matches had caused the fire.

At the heart of the community, John Huffer ensured that every inhabitant Deeping Gate and his workers were given a fowl for Christmas dinner. This would last for several days and afterwards the goose fat was kept as a cure. If suffering from a bad cough or respiratory problems people would rub the fat in their chests and tie brown paper over the grease. Some would do this all winter to prevent coughs and colds. And when it was the Jubilee Celebration for Queen Victoria John Huffer once more stepped in and every inhabitant of the hamlet was accommodated in his orchard and barn for a celebration. He and one or two other locals had raised subscriptions for the celebrations and about 50 children and their parents were ‘regaled to their hearts content and provided with an excellent repast’. Edmund Waterton from the Manor presided over the event and John Huffer was Vice Chairman. The Chairman gave the toast to ‘Our Sovereign Lady, the Queen’ and in the evening men had tobacco and ale while others danced in the new-mown field and children were presented with medals.

There had been celebrations too when in 1884 Lucy, John’s eldest daughter, had married John Pridmore, a cattle dealer at St Peter’s in Maxey. They became next-door neighbours to her father in Deeping Gate near High Locks. Son James married Hannah Parker in 1890 and moved to Peterborough where he had work as a Clerk for the Post Office. Anna stayed close to home in Bridge Street, Deeping St James, after her marriage to Thomas Lambert, a blacksmith. When Thomas retired they moved to the Moorlands, Deeping Gate. Emily had also married at St Peter’s, in 1896 to a groom/gardener named Henry Hallam, setting up at home at Upper Broughton, Nottinghamshire.

In the 1891 Census it was reported that John had increased the acreage on the farm and employed Elizabeth Lambert (aged 47) as a housekeeper/domestic and her son Thomas (28) as a farm labourer. By 1901, though, his wife Harriet had passed away and he had retired but still employed Elizabeth as his housekeeper. On 17th February 1907 John too died after a short illness, leaving a not inconsiderable estate of £1428. William Smith purchased the livestock as previously arranged before John’s demise. In March 1907 the property was put up for sale at The Bell Inn. Bidding commenced at £150 for the freehold house, outbuildings, yard, garden and orchard situated in Deeping Gate. The property was withdrawn at £250 but was afterwards sold privately while 2 acres, 2 roods and 6 perches at Linchfield were sold to Mr M Smith for £165.

With John’s death came the end of an era – when goose were fattened for the London Christmas table on the banks of the Welland.