The Budgetts of Kingswood Hill

“The Budgetts”, originally written about forty years ago, was my first attempt at the story of a family and therefore I call it part of my “Juvenilia”. It arose out of a conversation with Alan Bryant, now the curator of Kingswood Heritage Museum concerning Prospect House, one of Kingswood’s few buildings of historical and architectural importance. Samuel Budgett was much admired as “a self-made man” a phrase coined in 1842 for an individual who rises in the world from poor circumstances through perseverance and hard work rather than inherited wealth. As well as Samuel himself, anecdotes from his former staff members are included, along with the life of his lesser known brother, Henry Hill Budgett, Kingswood’s indefatigable philanthropist, the “H.H.” who was retained in the firm’s name. At the time the booklet was researched I used original documents as then the tools we now take for granted, particularly personal computers, and the internet did not exist for the lay person. The work was typed on an Amstrad Word Processor, which itself is now part of history.

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The Budgetts of Kingswood Hill

Prospect House, The Chase, Kingswood, a Grade II Listed building