The Radford Family 1717 to 1854

The Radford family owned Elms Farm, having taken it over from the Hierons through marriage. They were also related to the Strutts who built the mills at Belper.

Francis Radford (1717-1769) came to Little Eaton from Holbrook. He married Elizabeth Hieron who inherited the copyhold to the house and land at Elms Farm. His brother, John, married Elizabeth’s sister, Rachel.

Francis and Elizabeth had seven children between 1742 and 1761. Francis contributed to the establishment of the National School in what is now The Parish Room in 1841. When Francis died in 1769, the house and land passed to his eldest son Francis.

Francis Radford (1747-1801) married his cousin Martha (1751-1835). They lived at Elms Farm and had five children between 1779 and 1792. Francis was a benefactor to the village. He contributed to the rebuilding of the church in 1791 and he built a new brewery which opened in 1780. When Francis died in 1801, the brewery went to his brother John who went bankrupt in 1820.  Martha continued to bring up her family and run the estate on her own. She outlived all her children except Mary.

Mary Radford did not marry. When she died in 1847, the estate passed to her cousin Jedidiah Strutt.

Jedidiah Strutt (1785-1854) was the grandson of the Jedidiah Strutt who (along with William Woollatt) built the mills in Belper and Milford. The mill owning business had passed from Jedidiah senior to his son George Benson Strutt (who married Catherina Radford, Martha Radford’s sister). George Benson Strutt was Jedidiah junior’s father. When Jedidiah junior inherited Elms Farm from his cousin Mary Radford, he did not live in Little Eaton but let Elms Farm and the land to Thomas Tatam.