Henry Charles Stephens (1841–1918) was a remarkable man, even by the standards of a time that many see as the Golden Age of British intellectual, scientific and creative achievement.

He is most famous as the proprietor of the ink business that still bears the family name, but he was also a chemist and MP (he held the Finchley seat from 1887 until 1900). In the estate at Cholderton, which he began to assemble in the 1880s, he showed multiple interests in arable agriculture, aboriculture and architecture and in breeding purebred stock.

Henry Charles’s father, Henry Stephens (1796–1864) had invented the ink, but Henry Charles was a partner in the business, and on his father’s death became its sole proprietor. Henry Charles had been born in Finchley, north London, where his father had practised as a doctor, and he eventually bought Avenue House in Finchley in 1874. The house and its gardens were bequeathed to the people of Finchley and remain a local amenity, although the house was damaged by fire in 1989.

When Henry Charles Stephens died in 1918, the Cholderton Estate was taken over by his grandson, Captain Lewis Edmunds. What Captain Edmunds inherited was a model of Victorian advanced farming, along with such features as a walled garden complete with an elaborate series of ponds especially built to display aquatic plants of many sorts.

Captain Edmunds died in 1975, and the Estate was taken over by the present owner, Henry Edmunds. He has done much to protect the inheritance, despite death duties that amounted to 80% – an overhead that still affects the financial status of the enterprise.

Henry Edmunds has protected and nurtured much of what makes Cholderton special. The Hampshire Down sheep and the Cleveland Bay horses remain only because of his dedication and affection. The same can be said for the natural history interest at Cholderton: without Henry Edmunds’ continued commitment to conservation it is certain that the considerable wildlife interest – some of it unique – would have gone for ever.