Description:Garden staff and children by the greenhouses at Butterton Hall, near Newcastle-under-Lyme. Charles Robert Gunn can be seen far left, back row, then aged about 16.
At the time this photograph was taken Butterton Hall was being leased by Robert Lewis Johnson of earthenware manufacturers Johnson Bros. of Hanley and Tunstall. He died in 1909 and his sons relinquished the tenancy early 1912.
Charles Robert Gunn was born at nearby Willoughbridge on 19 August 1891 and started his working life as a gardener for the Johnson brothers at Butterton Hall. During World War I he served in the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment. After the war he went to work for Alfred George Johnson of the Radfords, Stone as a chauffeur. By 1948 he was chauffeur at Chartley Hall, still working for Mr A.G. Johnson, where he remained until his retirement, aged 73, in 1964. He died on 18 April 1974.
Jenny Fletcher has kindly provided some additional information: 'The far right senior looking gardener I believe is John Hope and 2 young children are James and Eric Hope'.