By 1901, the Durbar family(in some spellings Doorbar) was occupying Ladymoor Gate as tenants. They were the sitting tenants when the property was sold by Richard Harrison's executors to James Goodwin who in turn sold it to George Mellor in 1906 and they were still there in 1911. William Durbar had been born in Norton in the Moors, son of Daniel and Lucy Durbar and he was christened on 29th Feb 1864.
George Mellor, of Clay Lake, their landlord, mortgaged the property to Elizabeth Venables, a widow of Park Lane, Congleton, Cheshire on 2nd October 1906 for £1,000 at 3.75% interest and redemed it on 27th April 1908. (View 1906 Mortgage Deed)
On 15th August 1910 George Mellor, still of Clay Lake, Staffordshire sold Ladymoor Gate Farm to Walter Mellor a china dealer of Pontypridd, Glamorgan for £1,350. (View 1910 Deed of Conveyance)
1910 Conveyance...the freehold messauage or dwellinghouse Outbuildings land and hereditaments situate at Crowboro in the parishes of Horton and Endon in the County of Stafford comprising in the whole thirty acres and three roods or thereabouts known as Ladymoor Gate Farm now in the occupation of William Doorbar...
In 1901 Walter Mellor 29, a china merchant from Leek, Staffordshire was already living in Pontypridd with his wife Margaret, 25 from Brecon.
In 1911 George Mellor, 58 a retired pottery dealer, (born Horton) was living with his wife Sarah Ann from Wiltshire at Spring Bank, Endon. They had been married 33 years and had had one child. Ten years earlier he had been living at Houghwood (Clay Lake) and was described as farmer born Biddulph, working on own account. With him was his nephew Hugh Proctor, 13 born in Manchester.
It is highly likely that George and Walter are related in some way. It is possible Walter is George's son from a previous marriage, but as yet I have found no direct link other than the conveyance documents.
On 8th March 1920 Walter Mellor, china merchant, of 23 Stow Hill off Wood Road Pontypridd, Glamorgan and Daniel Durber of Ladymoor Gate Farm, Horton, Staffordshire made a memorandum of agreement whereby Walter agreed to let the farm comprising about 31 acres to Daniel on a year to year tennancy, with a six month notice period for termination, commencing on 25th March 1921 for £60 per annum payable in two halves on 25th March and 29th September.
By 1921 Daniel Durber, aged 32 years and 9 months and his immediate family were still living at Ladymoor Gate Farm but his parents and siblings who had been there in 1911 had moved out. Daniel now describes himself as a farmer working on his own account and gives his place of birth as Norton in the Moors. Ten years earlier he had worked as a miner (coal hewer). His wife Mary Alice Durber, aged 33 years and 9 gave her place of birth as Horton. They had three children: John William, 9 years and 10 months old, Daniel 8 years and 5 months and Mary Annie 5 years and 3 months. The size of the farm is not recorded but the house is listed as having six rooms.
Daniel's father William and his mother Hannah are, at the time of the 1921 census, living at Singlet House, Brown Edge. He is 57 years and 3 months old and still describes himself as a farmer on own account at home. With him are his wife Hannah and four of his children: Winnie, Harry and Anne all single, Anne still at school, and his married daughter May Smith.
The death of a William Doorbar, aged 66 was registered in June 1931 in Leek (6b 288).
The next record of Daniel and Mary Alice is the 1939 register which shows them living at Barrage Fields, Crowborough, about a mile from Ladymoor Gate. Daniel is more specifically described as a dairy farmer (dob 12 September 1888) and Mary Alice, as common at the time for a married woman was described as unpaid domestic, although she probably helped on the farm (dob 9th October 1887).