Horace and Margaret Preston: Old School House, Main Street

IDENTIFIED

We have numerous photographs in our archive that lack identifying information, and we invited the community to help gather names, places and dates behind them — this pair of photographs was among them.

What the Community has told us

UPDATE MARCH 2026

Update, June 2025: Thanks to a family member who recognised both photographs, we can now tell this couple’s story. They are Horace and Margaret Preston, pictured on the bench at the bottom of the garden of the Old School House, 24 Main Street, where they lived for many years. Horace died in 1958, after which Margaret moved to the bungalows at the bottom of Mill Lane, where she lived until her death in 1970.

The second photograph shows Horace in uniform — he worked as a “works policeman” at Tubes Limited, the factory between Desford and Kirby Muxloe, possibly around 1939.

Horace was part of the wider Preston family, who played a significant part in Newbold Verdon’s history:

• James William Preston, born 1885
• Frank Preston, born 1887, of Church Farm
• Horace Arthur Preston, born 1889
• Albert Frederick Preston, born 1891, who ran the butcher’s shop on Main Street
• Walter John Preston, born 1892, the coal haulier on Dragon Lane and a councillor — Preston Drive is named after him
• Florence Elizabeth Preston, who married Jack Potts, a colliery manager and councillor, and lived opposite the butcher’s shop

With thanks to a member of the Preston family, via our Facebook page, for this identification and family history.