Interesting details about Fernhill House, Wootton Bridge and the people who lived there by Doris G. Wilson.
Page Seven
The deceased was for many years a director of the Portsmouth Water Works Company and of the old Portsmouth and Ryde Steam Packet Company. He took during middle life an active part in freemasonry.
The deceased's father was for a long time in the Commission of the Peace for the Borough of Portsmouth. The late Mr. Joseph Galt was a brother of Lieut. Col. Edwin Galt, J.P.
It was hardly eight month, ago when the deceased lost his belovedl wife, at a time when his own failing health rendered her loving attention a source of comfort and consolation.
Among those whe followed were the five sons of Mr. Galt, Lieut. Col. Edwin Galt and....... The R'vd. Macnamara, a very old friend, officiated on this occasion.
In the County Records Office there is a report that J.J. Galt, Esq., his wife and their infant daughter, Ethel, aged 6 months, had been interred at Arreton. I can find nothing to suggest that there were any other daughters, but from Mr. Galt's obituary he certainly had five sons. It seems, therefore, that the preponderancy of girls born to former owners of Fernhill was effectively changed by the Galt family, and I can imagine these young stalwarts ranging the countryside, carrying out their boyish pursuits. It is a great pity that I can give no inkling of what they were, but such facts are seldom to be found in old records unless the subjects are famous or infamous.
On the 3rd. April, 1882, Fernhill was sold to Frederick Brodie, Esq. Here again I can find no record of where the Galt family lived after this.
Frederick Brodie, Esq., and his family
Frederick Brodie retired to the Island from London in 1880 and purchased Fernhill from the Galt family.
In the quest for information on Fernhill whilst he and his family lived there, some friends and I had the pleasure If visiting four extremely charming ladies, Mrs. Dechering and. the Misses Brodie, at their home in Niton Undercliff.
We were shown a number of interesting photographs and were given some very valuable information concerning their family. Mrs. Dechering told me that -
Frederick Brodie was the son of the Revd. Alexander Brodie, who was born in Antigua in the West Indies. He came to England and took holy orders, becoming vicar of Eastbourne and chaplain to George 1V. He married Anna Walter, the youngest daughter of John Walter, Esq. who founded the Times newspaper in 1785, although at that time it was known as the Daily Universal Register.
Frederick Brodie Was born in Eastbourne and became a civil engineer. He married his first cousin, once removed, Miss Ada Blanche Carden, who was the daughter of Sir Robert Carden, Lord Mayor of London in 1857/8. They were married from the Mansion House. Miss Carden's great–grandfather was John Walter, Esq. who is mentioned above. There were three sons and one daughter of the marriage :–
Charles Brodie, M.C. Harley Street surgeon and lecturer on anatomy, who married Miss Antoinette Jane Armstrong, the daughter of Major General E.H. Armstrong, Indian Army. They had a son and four daughters, - Douglas Gordon Brodie, and Irene, Joan, Cicely and Aileen Brodie: who entertained us so charmingly when we visited them:
Frederick Carden Brodie, M.B. physician, who practised in Fakenham, Norfolk and in various other parts of the country:
William Alexander Brodie, an electrical engineer, who spent some time in Italy until Mussolini came into power and decreed that all work must be carried out by the Italians only. His son, Air Commodore Ian E. Brodie, D.L. is now living in Freshwater: and
Ada Blanche Brodie, who married Samuel Onslow Waring, M.B. They had four children- Joceyln, John, Samuel and and Rosemary Waring.
Whilst residing at Fernhill, Frederick Brodie dismantled part of the tower which was unsafe safe; built a conservatory in the arcade of the mansion and installeds a heating system. (This conservatory can be seen in the copy drawing of the aerial photograph of the mansion. He was a keen astronomer and erected an observatory in the grounds of Fernhill, which had been transferred from Uckfield in Sussex. At the side of this observatory there was a weather gauge from which regular readings were taken and sent to London.
Frederick Brodie died in 1896, and left Fernhill to his wife for the remainder of her life; the mansion to become the property of his three sons after her death. 0n the death of his father, Charles Cordon Brodie gave up his practice in Harley Street, London, and came to the Island to look after Fernhill estate for his mother. He joined the Isle of Wight Rifles (Volunteers), afterwards becoming the 8th Hants. Territorials. He and Sir Charles Seeley of Gatcombe were brother officers and became great friends.
After a number of years he left the Territorials and just before the end of World War I he was asked to raise a company of Royal Engineers fronm the Isle of Wight. They were known as the 221st Army Troop Company. He recruited personnel from all trades on the Island, - carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, etc. They were posted to Buxton in Derbyshire to learn bridge-bUlding, after which they were drafted to France for the purpose of supplying water to the front line. Lieut.Col.Brodie was awarded the Military Cross and twice mentioned in despatches.
He returned to the Island when the war ended and be re-elected, member of the District Council. He had been the first County Commissioner of the Scouts, but relinquished the position on joining the services. Mrs. Brodie was Division Commissioner of Central Wigbt in the Guides, and she, the first Lady Baring and Mrs. Barbon were the first three lady magistrates on the Island.
In December 1916, Mrs. Brodie (the widow of Frederick Brodie Esq.) was taken ill and died soon afterwards. Charles Gordon Brodie purchased his brothers' shares in Fernhill and lived there with his family until his death in 1933. He is buried in St. Edmund's churchyard at Wootton.
