Samuel Philip Raymond - 1886-1974
Samuel Philip was known in the village as just Philip. He was active in village matters and the church. As the principle of Belchamp Hall at the time he not only wrote the original church guide he also provided information about the history of the village. This information appears in multiple histories of the village and on the Belchamp Hall website.
The listing on the historicengland.org.uk website for Belchamp Hall contains information that was probably derived from Philip's accounts. The listing was from the '60's and more likely to have been provided by Micheal Raymond, his son and possibly the principle of Belchamp Hall.
Philip was born in 1886 and died in 1974, this date is from the tombstone in St. Mary's churchyard. At the time of the Historic England listing of the Hall he may have handed over the running of the hall to Micheal. At the time of the collation of information for the Hall's website and the Lovejoy era, Philip would not have been able to contribute.
Philip was interviewed in 1972 for the Halstead Advisor for the article Belchamp Walter - a very special retreat, he would have been 88 years old.
The period around the turn of the 20th century is not well recorded in respect to Belchamp Hall. This was probably due to the World Wars and that the nature of such recording was changing. Belchamp Walter school was in its heyday and continued to do well up until the 1960's. On its closing as a school the school building, which was on Raymond land, was "gifted" to the village for use as a Village Hall. Philip was probably the one that made that determination. Philip was active with the parish, the Parish Council and the PCC.
Samuel John St.Clere Raymond - died 1900 - Philip's father
When Philip's father died in 1900 he was only 14. His mother, Margaret, was the effective head of the household.
The 1904 Kelly's directory refers to a Mts. Raymond for the Hall. The 1914 edition lists Captain William Gibbs at Belchamp House. This was the start of the Great War and many estates may have been under the jusidiction of the state. No other mentions of Captain Gibbs has been found but a Major Henry Penrose Coode is found as being resident at the Hall on his death in 1928.