The pub sign shows a painting of Sir William Peel depicted as the great Captain he was, at war. He hold his hat in his left hand and sword in his right hand.
Sir William Peel returned from the Crimean War and purchased land in Sandy. He lived in Swiss Cottage which is now part of the RSPB reserve at Sandy and rehabilitated here. He was an advocate of the railway and built the Potton line on his private land from Sandy to Potton.
Wikipedia describes Sir William Peel and his career:visit link
'Captain Sir William Peel VC KCB (2 November 1824 – 27 April 1858) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the third son of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. Like his father, he was educated at Harrow School.
He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and thus became Sir William Peel.
Military career
Peel was a Captain in the Royal Navy, serving with the Naval Brigade during the Crimean War. On 18 October 1854 at the Siege of Sevastopol, he picked up a live shell with the fuse still burning from amongst several powder cases and threw it over the parapet. The shell burst as it left his hands. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC); it is now displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.
On 5 November at the Battle of Inkerman, he joined some of the officers of the Grenadier Guards and helped to defend the Colours of the regiment when they were hard-pressed. On 18 June 1855 he led the first scaling party at the assault on the redan, and was himself severely wounded. On each of these occasions Captain Peel was accompanied by a young midshipman, Edward St. John Daniel as Aide-de-camp.
After the Crimean War, he served in the Indian Mutiny and was wounded at the Relief of Lucknow. At the age of 33, he died of smallpox at Cawnpore, India, on 27 April 1858.
Travel
Captain Peel wrote A Ride through the Nubian Desert (1852), detailing his travels of the preceding year.
Memorials
There is a memorial to Captain Peel and the Naval Brigade from HMS Shannon on the seafront at Southsea, England.
There is a statue of William Peel by William Theed in the south transept of Saint Swithun's Church, Sandy, in Bedfordshire. There are two copies of this statue, one in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and one which was erected in Eden Gardens, Calcutta. This statue was moved to Barrackpore in 1977 and was due to be moved back to Calcutta in 2004 amid some confusion over its identity: it was thought to be Peel's father, Robert Peel.
Opposite Sandy church across the High Street stands the Sir William Peel pub.
A plaque at The Lodge, headquarters of the RSPB in Sandy, commemorates the 150th anniversary of the death of Captain Sir William Peel. It is situated near the Swiss Cottage which he built in the 1850s, which is now the gatehouse to The Lodge, built by his brother Arthur Wellesley Peel. A similar plaque is mounted on a bench on Sandy High Street.
There is a memorial on Southsea sea front commemorating William Peel's ship, HMS Shannon, and the Naval Brigade.'
Details from Bedford Borough Council can be found on the following website and are quoted below. This describes the history of the pub itself: visit link
'The Sir William Peel Public House: 39 High Street, Sandy [formerly the Lord Nelson].
The name Sir William Peel is a relatively new one, having been bestowed on the public house in 1994 following refurbishment. It refers, of course, to the son of Prime Minister Robert Peel, the Victoria Cross holder who built the railway to Potton and is commemorated by a statue in the church.
The public house began life as the Lord Nelson Beerhouse. The 1876 countywide licensing register states that this beerhouse was first licensed in 1838. The name came from the Nelson family who were the original owners. The Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record [HER] contains information on the county’s historic buildings and landscapes and summaries of each entry can now be found online as part of the Heritage Gateway website. The entry for the public house [HER 16447] describes it as of brick construction with a tile roof and two gable ends on each side of the front elevation. There is a porch located over the area between the gable ends and a number of the windows are sashes.
The beerhouse was owned by E. K. and H. Fordham of Ashwell [Hertfordshire] from 1883 and the deeds to the building now form part of the Whitbread Brewery collection [WB] at Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service. The first deed is in 1780 when William Nelson of Sandy, blacksmith was admitted to a copyhold cottage, held of the Manor of Sandy Rectory, following the death of his father, William [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN1]. This William Nelson died in 1833 and the following January his wife Ann and children Elizabeth, Mercy Cross, Mary Ann and Maria were all admitted to the property under his will [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN4]. At this date the property was described as a messuage and blacksmith’s shop with a close of one acre adjoining it.
In 1845 when the premises was mortgaged it was still not described as a beerhouse but a messuage divided into two tenements with a blacksmith’s shop adjoining [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN8]. This does not necessarily mean that the date of first licensing ascribed in 1876, it may just as easily be that the description in the court roll was not updated.
In 1857 Mercy Cross’ daughter Lavinia Nelson Cross became sole owner of the property [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN10] which was then described as a principal dwelling in the occupation of Samuel Dixie, a two roomed dwelling occupied by James and Mary Ann Usher and Elizabeth Nelson, a blacksmith’s and wheelwright’s shop occupied by Judd and a plumber’s shop by Mackaness. Mercy Cross died in 1870 [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN14] at which point, in the Inland Revenue account the Lord Nelson beerhouse is first mentioned.
In 1883 the Lord Nelson was put up for sale by auction by Lavinia’s executors. The sale was in five lots [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN16]. Lot 1 was the beerhouse itself, described as plaster and thatched with a new brick front with an adjoining cottage of similar construction. The beerhouse was approached by a large gravel yard and contained a tap room, a bar, a scullery, a cellar and three bedrooms – “it is a free house and has done a very large business”. The main beer suppliers were E. K. and H. Fordham who bought it at the auction for £1,000. The adjoining cottage had two rooms with a lean-to washhouse and was occupied by James Usher.
The property was enfranchised, that is, made freehold in 1896 at the cost of £93/12/8 to Fordhams [WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN27]The countywide register of alehouse licences of 1903 reveals that the nearest licensed house was 52 yards away, that the state of repair of the Lord Nelson was good and that it had two front doors and one back door.
The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The valuer visiting the Lord Nelson [DV1/C147/62] found the beerhouse still owned by Fordham & Company of Ashwell and occupied by Charles Edward Butterfield who paid rent of £15 per annum fixed at Christmas 1925.
The brick, tiled and slate, detached property comprised a tap room and smoke room, bar and kitchen with two bedrooms, a lumber room, bathroom and w. c. above. Outside lay a cellar, a wood and felt scullery, a w. c. and urinal, a brick and slate washhouse, garage measuring 13 feet 6 inches by 15 feet and two stall stable. The valuer noted: “Good range of buildings”.
Business consisted of one to one and a half barrels of beer per week. Takings were £12 per week, or £14 per week including sales of tobacco. The tenant also had cars for hire. The valuer commented: “Good draw up, modern building. Good bars”. Another hand has written that the scullery was rebuilt in brick in 1935.
In 1952 E. K. and H. Fordham was bought by Luton brewer J. W. Green Limited and two years later Green merged with Midlands brewer Flowers, the new company taking the Flowers name. The Lord Nelson became a fully licensed public house on 6th March 1957. In 1962 Flowers was taken over by Whitbread. In 2001 Whitbread pulled out of brewing and sold most of its licensed premises. The Sir William Peel, as it has been since 1994 continues to operate as a public house at the time of writing [2010].
References:
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN1: admission: 1780;
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN4: admission: 1833;
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN8: mortgage: 1845;
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN10: admission: 1857;
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN14: Inland revenue succession account: 1870;
HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN16: sale particulars: 1883;
HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
HF76/6/4/1-4 and WB/Fordham4/1/Sandy/LN27]: enfranchisement: 1896
HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
X758/1/11 (56-58): poor copy photographs: c. 1920s;
PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980;
Z898/3: landlord referred to in an oral history transcript: 1995
List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list.
1870-1883: Lavinia Nelson Cross;
1883-1884: James Braisher;
1884-1888: Jesse Blain;
1888: Thomas Worsley;
1891-1896: Arthur Parsons;
1896-1909: William Parrott, cab and car proprietor;
1909-1911: Henry Woodthorpe;
1911-1924: Frederick William Rust;
1927-1928: Charles Edward Butterfield;
1931: Frederick Gasson;
1936-1940: Frederick Simms;
1957: Laura Simms;
1957-1985: Myer Hyman;
1985: Edith May Hyman;
1985-1987: Stephen Ronald Dipple;
1987-1993: Paul Stephen John Ryan;
1993-1994: Brian Harold Pike and Alice Pike;
1994-1995: Geoffrey John Reeve;
1995: Darren Neil Owen and Michael Charles Barham;
1995-1996: Janet Chambers and Michael Charles Barham;
1996: Glen Aitken and Michael Charles Barham '