The theme-park order that proved disastrous

Smith family, Derbyshire

In the second part of her profile on the Derbyshire Smith dynasty, Rosy Thacker looks at more of the family’s nursery developments in Darley Dale and Tansley; more royal business – and the order that proved their undoing

FROM THE 1890S, the family lived in Wheatley House, in Darley Dale, across the road from the Home nursery and packing shed, but James junior also built the beautiful house called The Winnats on Long Hill. Sadly, his elder son James Salsbury went missing in France in November 1917. According to his mother’s grave, he was buried by the Germans near Honnecourt…