Having been associated with the area for a number of years, in 1907 including the estate Dr. Vaughan Harley purchased Walton Hall as his country residence. An eminent surgeon, Dr. Harley practised at no. 25 Harley Street, and the fact that the names were the same was no coincidence, for he claimed descent from the Earls of Oxford, who had been the family responsible for the development of that part of London. Edward Vaughan Harley was born on December 28th, 1863, in London, the son of Dr. George Harley, a heart specialist of Harley Street, and even from an early age he had decided to pursue a career in medicine. Having studied at Edinburgh University, where he gained the bronze medal in pathology, he next took the opportunity to travel around the world in 1887/8, but for the following four years would then study at foreign universities, to include Vienna and Paris. Admitted to the Royal College of Physicians in 1890, in 1893 he was invited by Sir Victor Horsley to organise the first department of pathological chemistry in England, and with this was being consequently established in the pathological department of University College, London, it soon became a centre for post graduate research. When Horsley retired in 1896 Vaughan then became Professor of Pathological Chemistry, and in this appointment he was to remain until 1919. During his career, ‘The Chemical Investigation of Diseases of the Stomach and Intestines’ would be just one of his many published works, whilst as for less academic pursuits in 1905 he had married a renowned beauty, Mary, the eldest daughter of the Reverend Canon Blagden. Two years later, as their country home the couple then moved into Walton Hall although, possibly due to his continual travels to London, Dr. Harley would in time make preparations to sell the premises. However, these plans were never fulfilled, and pursuing a parallel interest in agriculture he emphasised his decision to retain the Walton estate by establishing a farm, on which he would employ all the latest methods. Here he spent at least two days a week, and his prize ‘Notlaw’ herd, of pedigree beef shorthorn cattle, gained such a renown that many specimens would be shipped to the Argentine. In fact examples from the herd won numerous prizes at all the major shows, and one animal, which was later sold for £1,000, gained the Champion Bull of England prize. The proud Dr. promptly awarded every man on the estate £1, and every boy 10s! Continuing this success, in 1918 he then won the championship, reserve championship and Maclennan Cup at Birmingham, with his two exhibits fetching £2,000 and £1,600 in the sale ring. That year Dr. Harley was made President of the Shorthorn Society, having been a member of the council since 1911, and perhaps of little surprise he enjoyed a close friendship with Lord Luke of Pavenham, the head of the Bovril concern. Apart from cattle, the Oxford Downs sheep of the farm were also successful in the show ring, and further bred at Walton were fine shire horses and Large Black pigs. Indeed, the estate provided work for many employees, but it would be to his chauffeur, Bayford, that Dr. Harley could ‘talk better than his own brother.’ Of Dr. Harley’s two children, Diana, ‘Dido’, was the eldest. She had been born in 1907, but of later twins only one, Primrose, survived, being named in commemoration of the date of her birth, Primrose Day, April 19th. As for their mother, they would invariably refer to Mrs. Harley as ‘Ming’, since having a passion for all things Chinese she even decorated the walls of the morning room with black wallpaper, embellished by a gold Chinese pattern! Whit Monday, 1921, had found Dr. Harley spending much of the morning on the estate, shooting rooks in the company of his guest Sir John Macfadyen, President of the Royal Veterinary College, but after lunch he then retired to his room for his usual rest, having suffered from an aneurism of the heart for the previous seven years. Yet despite this condition, and despite the knowledge that he might collapse at any moment, he had nevertheless kept up with both his medical and his agricultural work. Later in the afternoon Mrs. Harley then went to see him, but being suddenly taken ill he died in her arms. On Friday, having been rehearsed the previous day his coffin was carried from Walton Hall towards the church on an estate wagon, drawn by four of the fine farm bred shire horses, and in addition to Mrs. Harley and her daughters, amongst the mourners in the following procession were Dr. and Mrs. Francis Goodbody, brother in law and sister, Squadron Leader Harley Alec Tweedie and Mr. Marcus Goodbody, nephews, Mr. J. Turney, the steward, and many members of staff. Farm employees then carried the coffin from the church gates to the church, where it was met by the rector of Walton, and even before the service, to pay their last respects there had been a continual gathering of people, who had been associated with Dr. Harley in either his medical or agricultural careers. At the eastern end of a church lined with ivy, evergreens, white lilac and other ‘simple flowers’, he was duly laid to rest in a plain earth grave, and recording the event an obituary would appear in the early edition of the Times of May 25th, written by his great friend T.P. O’Connor, the ‘Father of the House of Commons.’ Following Dr. Harley’s death the farm at Walton was discontinued, the farm equipment laid out for auction, and a part of the estate sold off. As for Mrs. Harley, until the marriage of her eldest daughter she continued to live at Walton Hall, then moving to Radnorshire in 1931. Diana now took over Walton Hall, but Primrose, who as a talented artist was responsible for many murals in Walton church, would make her home in London. On December 21st, 1936 she had married Lt. Col. John Codrington, the son of Lt. Gen. Sir Alfred Codrington, but after their divorce in 1942 she would occasionally return to Walton, to lunch at Walnut Tree Farm with the Hooton family. In fact it would be to them that she bequeathed her only photo of Diana, taken at Diana’s presentation to court. As recalled by the Hootons, Primrose was ‘smaller than Diana, with dark hair and eyes’, and alongside her parents it would be at Walton that she was laid to her final rest.