William Brown was born in the tiny village of Scalford near Melton Mowbray in 1819. William was the second eldest of nine children born to John and Ann Brown.  As William was growing up, he was known in Scalford as "Silly Billy" and "Blinking Billy" due to a severe defect in his right eye which made it only half-open. 

 

The name of Scalford comes from Old English and originally meant shallow ford.

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Scalford as follows:

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"SCALFORD, a parish, with a village, in Melton-Mowbray district, Leicester; 3½ miles N by E of Melton-Mowbray r. station. It has a post-office under Melton-Mowbray. Acres, 2, 520. Real property, £3, 855. Pop, 553. Houses, 124. The property is much subdivided. A Roman station was on the site of the village. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough. Value, £355.* Patron, the Duke of Rutland. The church was restored in 1859. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, a national school, and charities £25".

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Scalford parish church, located on a small hill in the center of the village, is named after St. Egelwin the Martyr and is considered the only one in the country dedicated to this saint. Also, Grade II* listed, it was built circa 1100 AD. Scalford New Street Wesleyan Chapel was built of brick in 1835/44, and by 1860 the original building had been extended and altered.

Over the years, Scalford has lost many industries and services. There was a dairy that produced Stilton cheese; three bakers; a blacksmith; stonemasons; builders; cobblers; a variety of shops; a garage and two other pubs - The Plough Inn and The Black Horse - all now gone. There were also flourishing brickyards around 1875 to 1930, and bricks with the Scalford imprint burned in can still be found.

Scalford Hall, on the outskirts of the village, is an Edwardian mansion house, which, not so long ago, was a hotel and wedding venue. In the 1930s, it was the home of Colonel Colman, of the Colman's mustard company. The Colonel was an associate of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and throughout their courtship, Edward and Wallis Simpson frequently stayed at Scalford Hall. Anyone who has enjoyed a game of Cluedo will know of Colonel Mustard. Rumour has it that the game took its inspiration from the Halls’ rooms and the guests who stayed here.

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