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 Now Mardley Bury Manor 
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Tom was educated at Eton 1847/50 at the Rev. Hawtreys house. He then went to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. At the age of 14 he was costing his father £233 a year. He became a Major in the 7th Dragoon Guards. In 1854 his father bought Sayndon Farm in Staplehurst for him where he settled on leaving the army in 1855. In the same year he was renting the 300 acre Mardley Bury estate from his father for £300pa. He was still extending it in 1891 but sold up in 1892. In 1867 the agent handling his property wrote to his father "the Captain, who is seldom in town, does not seem capable of looking after his own interests or those of any one else". He married Ann Downing (Sissie) in 1867. She inherited Loddenden Manor in Staplehurst, Kent, from a long line of un-related Usbornes. They settled into the comfortable life of the leisured landed gentry with a cook, parlour maid, groom and gardener. Tom was a member of the United Services Club. In the 1881 census they were living off rents and shared the house with Jane and Thomas Downing and Ellen S.Usborne (40) (who?) and two servants. There were four households living in four Loddenden Cottages. The estate was sold in 1908 to H.S.Cowper. The great Loddenden table, seating 40, was inherited by John Hoblyn who sold it in 2008. |
 Loddenden in 1919 H.S.Cowper published a book called "Loddenden" in 1913. It tells the story of Usbornes living there since the reign of Edward 3rd. (1327-1377). More about the other branch click here He was the last surviving Usborne entitled to use the "virtus vincict invidiam" coat of arms granted to his great-uncle John in 1809. |
