 Two years before this he had married Mary Jane Davis and they had one son John Nigel Phipps who was born in 1893.The Phipps sold the house to Sir William Avery in 1908.William Bielby Avery was born in 1854 in Birmingham He was a member of a long-established dynasty of steelyard and scale makers whose business, W & T Avery, manufactured weighing machines.