HIGH LEE (continued)

Another timber merchant Laurence McLaren was in the house by 19209 and by 1930 the owner appears to be Douglas Hamilton Beckett. By 1936 the house seems to be empty.

HIGHER LEE c.1861, demolished by 1951.

No description here is possible as we have no photograph of this house. Sometimes said to have been 'in Wavertree' as it was approached from that direction via Gipsy Lane or Druids Cross Rd. The house is said to have been like High Lee, but smaller - the Rateable Value here in 1886 was £263.10. while at High Lee it was £425.

Owners and Occupiers - whether one of the Vernons ever lived here we do not, at present know, but we have first found James Wilson at this house in 1864 (previously living in Dudlow Lane, Wavertree). Wilson was a corn merchant, with an office in Doran Lane, Lord St. By 1867 he was styled corn & provision merchant. The 1871 census reveals that he and his wife had been born in Ireland, and that the household included two nieces (with differing surnames) the elder aged 20 had been born in Jamaica, and 3 servants. James Wilson was aged 54.

In 1874 Thomas Best (1839-1894) was living in Woolton Park, but by 1876 he is occupying Higher Lee, owned by David Jardine of High Lee. In 1881 he is recorded as aged 42, born in Liverpool and a South American merchant, with a wife Caroline age 33, his sister with her 3 daughters and 4 servants. It seems that he died in 1894 but his wife continued to occupy the house until her death in 1931. Effects £52,413.

From 1932 Reginald Stockdale, a Banks director, lived here.

continued . . .