The remarkable Auberon Herbert is still known to people of New Milton

DRIVING along Ashley Road from the traffic lights in the centre of New Milton you will see on the right a large white building behind some trees. This is Ashley Arnewood. It is now a nursing home but was once the residence of a most remarkable man, the Honourable Auberon Herbert. He lived there from 1872 to 1886.

Early life

Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert was the third son of the Earl of Carnarvon. He was born in Highclere in 1838 and educated at Eton and St John’s College, Oxford. Two stories from his younger days give an impression of the man. At home, one night he awoke the entire household by beating on the gong. He then hid up on a servants’ stairway to watch the ensuing chaos. On another occasion he armed himself with an empty revolver and used it to keep away a dentist who had been called to extract a tooth from the youngster. Wisely the dentist left, but the next day a somewhat chastened Auberon walked into Newbury to enable the dentist to carry out the extraction.

Military career and adventures

In 1858 he purchased a commission in the army and served in India. On his return to England in 1861, he returned to Oxford where he lectured in history and jurisprudence at St John’s College.

He had a great love of adventure and was a very compassionate man. He was a witness to the Prussian Danish war of 1864 where he was made a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog in recognition of his services in leaving the Danish lines to go out into no man’s land to rescue the wounded. This was not the only occasion where Auberon’s lifesaving gallantry was recognised. The Western Times of Friday 24th September 1869 records that he had received the Humane Society’s Medal for saving a person’s life in a creek near Lowestoft. In 1868, accompanied by his sister the Countess of Portsmouth, he saved the lives of the crew of an Austrian ship that was wrecked near Westward Ho! For this he was awarded the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown.

Auberon also visited the United States and witnessed some of the battles of the civil war. He was present in France during the Franco Prussian war and was one of the first outsiders to be allowed into Paris after the city surrendered to the besieging Prussian forces. He was nearly shot as a spy by the French during this period.

Auberon was one of the early cyclists, at a time when bicycles were not that well designed. In addition to sailing small boats, he enjoyed climbing and was a member of the Alpine Club for nearly 10 years. His other interests included collecting fossils and flint tools. Felicite Hardcastle in her book ‘Records of Burley’ states that in 1898 he purchased Picket Post where a flint bed was discovered. The excavation of the area “formed one of his chief hobbies in later life”.

Political career

Auberon Herbert made several attempts to become an MP. He failed to be elected on the Isle of Wight and again in Berkshire. He was eventually successful in a by-election and became the MP for Nottingham in 1870. Auberon was a radical politician, and within the first two weeks of entering parliament he was advocating that all state schools should be non-religious. In 1879, when Ashley School was founded on the corner of Hare Lane, Auberon insisted it be non-denominational. Ashley at the time was a Baptist stronghold.

Auberon described the House of Lords as “a body wholly irresponsible” and urged the Commons to take action against their power to veto bills. He was also an advocate of life peerages rather than hereditary. His love of wildlife came to the fore when he was one of the leading MPs to support the 1872 Protection of Wild Birds Act. As a young man Herbert had been a keen game sportsman. He gave this up and became a vegetarian as he objected to all forms of killing, including the slaughtering of animals for food.

Auberon Herbert and ‘voluntaryism’

Auberon believed that the law of equal freedom was the supreme moral law. He became an advocate of the philosophy of anthropologist and socialist, Herbert Spencer, and promoted his own thoughts which became known as ‘voluntaryism.’ In essence this was a belief that government should be limited to just defending private ownership and individual rights and not initiating force against the people. He called for a system funded by non-coerced contributions, in other words, voluntary taxation. Those who contributed to the government funds would be entitled to vote. Those who made no contribution would not.

He wrote about the need for selfishness and believed there were good and bad uses of selfishness. It was a necessary part of nature that a person should take care of and provide for themselves before they could go on to help others. He explained that the alternative was aggressive selfishness where the rights of others are trodden underfoot for self-gain.

Auberon organised anti-government protests in London, notably one in Hyde Park in opposition to an anticipated war between Britain and Russia. Many thinkers of the time were calling Auberon Herbert an anarchist but others disagreed. William R. McKercher, a notable anarchist, writing in ‘Freedom and Authority’ in 1888, stated that while Herbert was often mistaken for an anarchist, reading his published work would show that he was not one. S. Hutchinson Harris in his 1943 biography of Auberon, quoted him as saying, “I have not been preaching any form of anarchy, which seems to me […] merely one more creed of force”.

Auberon professed thoughts and ideas that at the time seemed anti-establishment, but some of them are today accepted as normal practice.

Ashely Arnewood

On leaving politics Herbert purchased in 1873 Ashley Arnewood, in Milton Parish, and took up farming. He worked hard to improve the standard of living for farm workers. Those lucky enough to work for Auberon were paid an extra two shillings a week above the normal wage. He also encouraged local farm workers to form a union to assist in their struggle for better conditions.

William Retford

Working at Ashley Arnewood as the gardener was William Retford, his wife Jane, a dairy woman, and their eight children. They lived in a tied cottage at Litchford, near Ashley Arnewood. Their youngest son, William Charles Retford, was assisted into an apprenticeship as a violin bow maker by Auberon, who introduced him to Arthur Hill, a London violin maker.

William became the leading bowmaker of his day and his book ‘Bows and Bow-Makers’ is considered to be the bible for those aspiring to the craft. Fortunately, he wrote his memories of life in Ashley and later in Burley. He recalled that “the Herberts were, perhaps, somewhat eccentric and of much personal charm”. He wrote that “there were no liveried servants or coachmen and the carriages were not used”. He went on to describe the slow pace of life in Ashley village, with just occasional passing traffic and tradesmen calling to deliver bread, fish or meat.

The Shakers of Hordle

Mary Ann Girling, the leader of the Shakers religious sect, believed that she was the reincarnation of Christ in female form. She was a charismatic lady who had many followers or disciples. The group was initially called the Children of God but became known as the Shakers because of its members’ ecstatic dancing and gyrating when moved by the spirit of the Lord as they worshipped.

In 1872 the group moved to Forest Lodge in Vaggs Lane, Hordle, which was partially funded by money from one of the disciples. The group grew to about 160 followers. They were forbidden from making economic transactions and would not buy or sell goods, nor would they accept payment for work. ‘Mother’ Girling decreed that “God would provide”.

Eventually their economic practice became their undoing; the interest on the mortgage of Forest Lodge had not been paid and the mortgagee felt he had to act. During a storm on a bitterly cold night in December 1874 the New Forest Shakers were evicted onto Vaggs Lane. Auberon took them in and gave them temporary shelter in one of his barns at Ashley Arnewood. He also wrote to The Times regarding their plight, saying that while their ethos was eventually going to lead them to catastrophe, they were “quite harmless folk, leading blameless, happy lives”.

Auberon interviewed Mary at Ashley Arnewood and asked her if the rumours of “nudity in their ceremonial dances” were unfounded. To his surprise, Mrs Girling said this was “not malicious scandal, but had justification”. Auberon insisted on a written undertaking from Mrs Girling that this would cease.

On 11th February 1875 the clerk of the Lymington Union Rural Sanitary Authority wrote to Auberon informing him that the overcrowded barn had been reported by the Inspector of Nuisances for the district and that they must leave. This ended Auberon’s attempts to assist the Shakers. They moved back to the top end of Vaggs Lane and lived in a shanty camp constructed from tarpaulins, carpets and their furniture.

Marriage and children

In 1871 Auberon married Lady Florence, the daughter of the Earl of Cowper, and they had four children. Sadly their eldest son died in childhood. Tragedy struck again when his eldest daughter Clair died in 1893. Their second son, Auberon (Bron) Thomas Herbert, inherited the title of Lord Lucas from his maternal uncle. He entered politics in the House of Lords and served as private secretary to the Secretary of State for War, Richard Haldane. Despite losing a leg while serving in the Boer War, during the First World War Bron trained as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps but was shot down and killed during the closing stages of the battle of the Somme in 1916.

The ‘Old House’ at Burley

After the death of Lady Florence in 1886, Auberon Herbert sold Ashley Arnewood and moved to premises in Burley known as the ‘Old House’ at Berry Wood. With the death of his daughter Clair in 1893, his remaining daughter Nan became his close companion and confidante.

Whilst at Ashley Arnewood they had started the practice of inviting people in the summer to come for afternoon tea. At Burley he and Nan invited “all comers, without distinction of class”. This included the local gypsies. An invitation card for tea on Thursday 8th August 1895 announced that everyone was welcome “as long as the tea pot lasts”. Over the years he and Nan entertained hundreds if not thousands of guests. Felicite Hardcastle wrote that during the tea parties he was unconventionally dressed in “baggy homespun trousers, loose woollen shirt, and shapeless coat”.

He continued living in his eccentric ways, avoiding rooms that had a fire lit and the windows closed. It was at the Old House in 1906 that Auberon died and, in accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the woodland near to his house.

Auberon was a controversial figure in late Victorian life. He was an early champion for liberty and equality. He had some unconventional views on government but he was a supporter of the ordinary working people. It is little known that this man spent the latter part of his life in Milton Parish and Burley. He was certainly a great crusader for liberty and equality.

Auberon Herbert’s name lives on in New Milton, as the residents of Herbert Road and Molyneux Road will testify.

• Nick Saunders MA is a local historian and chairman of the Milton Heritage Society. He can be contacted via nick@miltonheritagesociety.co.uk or 01425 618549.