A Victorian farmer and Rickmansworth's diarist

John White was born in 1813, into several generations of tenant farmers. His grandfather William had Oxhey Hall farm near what is now South Oxhey, his father William had Appletree Farm near Chorleywood Common, and John had the adjoining Parsonage Farm, on the edge of Rickmansworth from at least 1839.

None owned their own land – as was usual, they were all tenants of the landowners.

All three farmhouses still stand. The farm fields have all now been built on. Parsonage Farm house is seen here:

Discover some of the stories of Mr White and his family in these pages.

This map, made up from the Tithe Map of 1839 as John White was starting out, shows the layout of the farm.