Reproduced from the September 2010 edition of the Bromsgrove Society Newsletter
Crinda Wilson has sent a sepia photograph of Eversleigh, a large house on the Stourbridge Road, which once belonged to the grocer, John Broad Wilson. When J.B. Wilson died at Eversleigh in 1898, his wife and son, William Hanbury Wilson, continued to live at Eversleigh. The family grocery business at 139 High Street was continued as J.B. Wilson and Sons. The premises were renumbered 133 High Street and were rebuilt by Braziers in 1962. In the 1920s, Eversleigh was occupied by Arnold Elliott Pearce, who had some connection with the motor industry.
Crinda Wilson's great grandfather, William Coleman Wilson, was a baker at 4 Stourbridge Street, Bromsgrove. The family, including William Coleman's wife, Sarah and their three children, May, William and Elsie, were there from at least 1914. The family tradition is that they moved to Eversleigh about 1930 and that Elsie Wilson was married from the house. They do not, however, appear in the 'private residents' section of the trade directories at the time.
William Coleman Wilson was not related to John Broad Wilson, but was born in Aston in 1876. He died at Barnsley Hall Hospital in 1951. His son William (Billie) Wilson took over the bakery business at 4 Stourbridge Street, which was known as the 'Golden Crust Cash Bakery'. He sold the business in the 1950s. Crinda would be glad to hear any recollections of the Wilsons in Bromsgrove and any proof that they lived at Eversleigh.