Nos 37 & 38 Market Place, 2012
Situated on a large corner plot, before they were divided, Numbers 37 and 38 Market Place were the home of the Talbot family for many years. John Hale Talbot lived there through to the late 1840’s and Charles Hale Talbot lived there with his wife, four children and three servants in 1851.
Thomas Freeman bought the premises in 1873 and lived and worked there with his sons as carpenters and building contractors, and it was known as Number 37. However, it was subdivided at some later date into two separate shops; one being a china shop run by the female members of the Freeman family and the other half used by Barclays Bank. In 1939 the left hand side became Olney’s Post Office.
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Nos 37 & 38 Market Place 1950s
No 37 was the Post Office and No 38 a shoe shop
Three generations of Freemans have lived there. First, Thomas, who was listed in the 1891 Census as a builder (partly blind). The 1910 Inland Revenue Survey records S J Freeman, probably Thomas’s wife Selina J as the owner/occupier. According to the 1911 Census Walter Steff (the second generation), carpenter, lived at Number 38 with his sister. The 1936 Register of Electors lists Margueret Freeman living at Number 37, and lists Harrold (the third generation), Alma and Dorothy living at Number 38.
Associated images and advertisements:
Nos 35, 36, 37 &38 Market Place 1930s
No 37 was Barclays Bank – The man on the left is Harrold Freeman
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