Thomas Sumpter was born in 1735 and was baptised on 18 Oct 1735 at Histon Church, Cambs. In 1782 he inherited the manor of Histon St. Etheldred, which included the Manor House (at that time called Histon Hall) and its 25 acre parklands. Thomas Sumpter was a key local landowner with land reaching over 400 acres in Histon and Impington. Richard Sumpter, his son, later sold a large part of the land but the house and parklands was always kept as the family residence.

In this era, the house had beautiful Georgian symmetry, with a third storey that served as staff quarters. The 1820 painting by Relhan, depicted above, shows the moat in the foreground and St Andrew’s church behind. The two yew trees either side still exist today, framing this original part of the house.

Following extensive recent research, a small oil painting from the 1780s has been discovered showing the house again with 3 storeys and a circular front drive. ~The back of art work has handwriting stating ‘T Sumpter Esq - Histon Hall’’ in keeping with the date of the painting. It is thought that is was commissioned around the period Thomas Sumpter inherited the property.

The much reduced manorial estate passed to Richard's brother William (d. 1847), William's son William Richard (d. 1870), and the latter's widow Catherine who was well known for her charity and kindness.. On her death in 1877 her husband's nephew, the Revd. W. S. Beevor, sold the estate.

William Peed lived in the house from 1877 - 1897. He made the most significant architectural changes of all its owners. He reduced the 3 storey Hall to a 2 storey Manor House and added an East wing for servants and staff. Research is still being carried out as to why the third storey was removed. He also built a large Billiard Room to the rear where, no doubt, he convinced his clients to part with vast sums of money over a cigar and glass of port.

The following newspaper quote from 1897 highlights that he wasn’t quite the country gentleman he purported to be in the village! He disappeared one morning owing millions of pounds, leaving his wife and children destitute and many Cambridgeshire residents penniless. He had embezzled funds using his board director’s status from many companies, but also from residents of the village and even the parish church.

‘‘On the morning of Monday 7 June 1897, the esteemed lawyer and owner of Histon Manor, William Peed, was seen driving towards Cambridge. According to a local newspaper, nothing peculiar in his demeanour was noticed by his neighbours or his own acquaintances; he has of late continued the usual, steady, business-like habits. He was held in high esteem, was Under Sheriff & Deputy Lieutenant of the County and generally regarded as one of the soundest men in the county’’

In 1899 Mr Ambrose Harding became the new owner of Histon Manor. He moved from Doddington near March, Cambridgeshire with his wife Adele and daughter Rosamund (aged 1). His father Colonel Walter Harding, had purchased the well known Madingley Hall on the outskirts of Cambridge in 1905.

Ambrose Harding led a life of an academic, supported by his father’s wealth. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Zoological Society. Within the East Garden of the manor he developed a private zoo. Structural evidence of this remains today. He would travel the world for Zoological research and, to the delight of his children, would bring back animals for his collection which included Exotic Birds , Lemurs and other small mammals. He was a renown specialist on leeches about which he wrote many academic studies and books!

When his father passed away in 1927, Walter inherited Madingley Hall, just 9 miles from his Histon home. He sold Histon Manor and continued his father’s work restoring Madingley Hall. He took many items with him from Histon Manor. This included fireplaces and garden urns and even had his gardeners dig up yew trees from the formal gardens to create the topiary gardens still present at Madingley Hall today.

Harding made very few changes to the house compared to Peed, his predecessor. He added just two small extensions. The study on the West side was extended with a balcony created to the dressing room directly above and a bay window extension was added to the servants study in the East Wing.

Rouse was appointed headmaster of The Perse School, Cambridge, in 1902. It was he who restored it to a strong financial footing following a crisis. He was described by the archivist of The Perse School as the school's greatest headmaster: "Rouse was strongly independent to the point of eccentricity. He hated most machines, all bureaucracy and public exams." He retired from teaching in 1928 and settled into an academic life at Histon Manor

Rouse, like Harding, had 1000s of books. The billiard room was changed from being a place of entertaining in Peed’s time, to the library of the house with all walls lined with books right up to the ceiling.

In 1911 W.H.D. Rouse, was chosen to be one of the founding editors of the Loeb Classical Library.

Rouse is known for his plain English prose translations of Homer's Odyssey (1937) and Iliad (1938 which are still in print today and used by pupils around the world.

Rouse was a key figure in the village during the war period. He was know for his kindness and generosity to people.

During the St Josephs’ time at the house, it was divided into two residences. The family lived on the Georgian West Side. An upstairs flat on the East side was created and this, together with the rest of the East wing, was rented out with access to this from Bell Hill so as not to disturb the main residence. Yet another academic owned the house. JK St Joseph was a fellow at Selwyn College leading the large billiard room to stay as a library for the third time in succession. The family rented the fields to local residents who kept sheep and horses in them.

JK St Joseph developed an interest in aerial photography whilst he was an intelligence analyst with the Royal Air Force (RAF) looking at photographs of bombing operations

His war time experience led him to the theory that aerial photography could play a vital role in discovering and analysing archaeological sites. He convinced the RAF for may years to take photographs for him without charge. When their generosity ceased in 1965, the university bought a Cessna Skymaster 337 and employed a pilot, allowing for a systematic and extensive programme of aerial archaeology taking in total 500,000 images.

The present owners, purchased the house in 2018 from The Biggs family, a well known and much respected family from Cambridgeshire. The house remained divided until the recent sale and provided a wonderful multi generational family home for The Biggs. Mr and Mrs Biggs lived in the West side whilst their daughter, husband and grandchildren set up home in the East Wing, adding an additional staircase and reconfiguring the upstairs the East wing to suit their needs. An amazing garage extension was also built.

The house today has returned to use as one single residence with divisions removed and has been renovated by Katherine and Rob Mann. We hope its listed building status will ensure that its charm and architectural features and grounds are protected for the villages for years to come and that future owners continue to allow it to be appreciated by residents