Our History

They say there is no substitute for experience, and in the 100+ year history that Agri-Linc calls its own, experience certainly isn’t lacking. We’ve been leafing through the family albums, gathering memoirs from family members, and this is the complete and unabridged story of how Agri-Linc came to be.

While Lenin had died in Russia, and Hitler was being sentenced to five years for treason in Landsberg Prison, George Whyles began farming an approximately 260-acre area of the Grimsthorpe & Drummond Estate, near Edenham, for livestock and arable use.  The 1st generation of the farming family operated under the name of ‘G. Whyles’ and lived on the land, in the farmhouse next to where the Agri-Linc offices are now located.  

Throughout the depression, George Whyles could not afford to pay George Whyles junior (his son) a reasonable wage.  Instead, he said George was welcome to as much of the farm’s game as he could catch, and so, George jnr. became a commendable huntsman, with a record of trapping 200 rabbits in one night, which he then sold for his livelihood.  He also became a skilled mole-catcher, skinning them and selling the skins to Horace Friend of Wisbech for ‘moleskin’ clothing.

During the 2nd World War, George was exempt from service because farmers were required to work the land and feed the country.  However insignificant our little farm may have been in relation to the world events happening at the time, war-time Britain was a hungry land, and farmers were essential. George Whyles died in 1940, leaving a young George Whyles junior and his brother Tom to continue operations at Randalls Farm.  George, (now married to Grace Whyles) lived in a caravan for the first 3-4 years of his married life, as the remaining family lived in the farmhouse, which was divided into two dwellings. 

Despite Edenham’s remote location, the war did have quite a profound effect on life on the farm.  The farm was host to several German and Italian P.O.W’s, one of whom kept in contact with our family until the 1980’s.  They were treated very well and given extra rations of food – in return for this they made toys for nieces & nephews.  These prisoners were not Nazis, just conscripts who were glad the war was over for them. They could not comprehend the stories they heard about the concentration camps, they thought the pictures were of victims from the allied bombing raids. One of the prisoners had been on submarines and told how they had caught the ‘Queen Mary’ troop ship in their sights in the Atlantic, but she was too quick for them.   The P.O.W said of that incident that ‘Britain’s biggest ship was nearly kaput’. The German prisoners worked very hard and appreciated the way they were cared for.

Other anecdotes of note include the time when Tom Whyles rescued a pilot from the wreckage of a crashed trainer plane.  The plane was upside down, (fortunately not burning) and the pilot was tangled in his parachute harness.  Tom Whyles used a pocket knife to cut the pilot free.   Another time, an RAF plane crashed about a mile away from the Farm and burst into flames.  The Fire Brigade managed to get the rear gunner out alive, but he died shortly after. George Whyles recalled the ammunition exploding in the heat, and they were told to keep well clear in case there were any bombs on board. During the Blitz of November 1940, despite Coventry being 65 miles away, from a hill on the farm, the blaze could be seen, along with hordes of fighter planes.