Description:

Kelly’s Directory for Herefordshire, 1929, lists Richard James Hissey of Trewern, Cusop, both as a private resident and also as a poultry farmer.

Richard was the eldest son of John James Hissey by his second marriage, as a widower, in 1890 to Kathererine Pidcock at Eastbourne. He had a sister and three other brothers one of whom died as an infant.

John James Hissey was a man of wealth; he was never required to work or become involved in business. He was descended from an old landed family but most of his income came from the USA. He had inherited from an uncle who many years before had purchased four plots of undeveloped land in the USA. These later became prime city centre blocks in the business centre of Chicago. He had built himself a mansion at Eastbourne which he called Trevin Towers and had other property in London. He was an Artist, Photographer, and a Pioneer Motorist. From 1884 he made many tours of England and Wales, initially by dog cart and later in a series of early motor cars. Between 1884 and 1917 he wrote and published 14 books detailing his travels. In them he sought out the by ways and minor roads of England avoiding towns and cities and using old coaching inns for his over night stops. His writing provides a vivid picture of the countryside of those days, a countryside now gone forever.

His three sons all served as Junior Officers in World War 1, they all suffered shell shock in the trenches of France to varying degrees. The health of the second son Tristam was broken and he died in a private nursing home soon after the end of the war, the other two survived.

Richard married the daughter of a Welsh farmer and came to live and farm at Cusop. He lived at Trewern until his death in May 1959. He was a Churchwarden of Cusop Church and is buried there. His wife survived him for some years and is also buried at Cusop

Trewern was eventually sold although possibly not at the auction of 1955; the above agent’s details probably come from a later date

Trewern was opened in 1967 as an outdoor pursuits centre for the schools of Barking and is now an educational facility for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

We thank John Hissey, a grandson of John James Hissey for information about the Hissey family and the supply of digital images.