Coxes Orange Pippin Orchards at Cockayne Hatley

Information taken from 'Apple Years at Cockayne Hatley' by Antony Crossley.

In 1929 Alexander Whitehead purchased part of the Cockayne Hatley Estate, purchasing it in full by 1934. Within a span of ten years he had developed the largest apple orchards in Europe. The apples chosen for the orchards was the Coxes Orange Pippin. By early 1931 he had planted 2000 trees and by 1933 this had risen to 30,000. At its peak the orchards employed between 200 and 300 people. 

In 1933 the company incorporated as COPO (Coxes Orange Pippin Ordchards). Directors were appointed and Whitehead had developed "The 105 Tree Plan". As part of this plan, for £30, investors, whom he called "treeholders", would own 90 Coxes trees and 15 Worcester Pearmains. 105 trees could be purchased at 10s a month for 60 months, or £5.10s for 5 years. Each treeholder could then recruit others and obtain £5 commission from their subscriptions. The trees would be budded in 1933, planted in 1934 and would yield profits in 1937/38. Some 2000 people subscribed and 193,000 trees were budded in 1933. 

In 1934 Whitehead had modified the commission system in a dubious way, describing it as what we now call a pyramid scheme. For 10s, the investor would receive one apple tree. He (or she) would then recuit further members, and after the first two recruits, the investor would receive 4s. for all subsequent members recruited. Alternatively, trees could be purchased at 50 trees for £15 to be planted the following year. By 1936 5000 people had subcribed to the scheme, and the "treeholders" had provided Whitehead with £500,000 capital for his orchards. 

As his capital rose, Whitehead had to buy more land, purchasing Stonebury Farm in Buntingford and 60 acres of land in Stratton, Biggleswade. In 1937 he purchased 291 acres near Potton, together with Brook Farm in Wrestlingworth. 

Between 1933 and 1939 enough money had been subscribed to enable more than 1000 acres of orchard to be planted. From 1934 to 1936 the crops were good, but in 1937 the crop was reduced by hail. 

By 1939 the estate comprised 2500 acres, with 1100 acres of apple trees. Other crops were planted including: wheat, potatoes, onion and soft fruit and livestock such as cows, sheep and pigs were kept. Beeking was started to help assist in pollination with 400 hives by 1942 making honey worth £3000 p.a.

The first signs of problems occurred in 1938 and 1939 when there was an overall deficit of £7000. During the war years Land Girls and other workers were drafted in to help on the farm and more emphasis was placed on crops other than apples to assist the national economy. The business' working capital began to struggle and by 1941 Whitehead was trying to raise £60,000. 

Unfortunately, in 1940 Whitehead devised a scheme which eventually lead to his downfall. Whitehead sent out a letter to treeholders telling them that the War Agricultural Committee had directed COPO to carry out "certain works of cultivation" which would incur additional costs equal to a further description of £1.5s per 100 trees which they were asked to forward. He stated that the money would be returned as soon as conditions permitted. Whitehead's accountant compiled information on this scheme and presented it to Biggleswade police with a result that Whitehead, his wife and other directors of COPO were brought before magistrates in Biggleswade. Judge, Sir Gerald Dodson, stopped the case after two days saying there was no case to answer. 

In 1942 Whitehead proposed that COPO and the treeholders interests should be amalgamated into a new company. The proposition was worked out in great detail but its not clear if it took place.  

In September 1946 the orchards and the estate were sold to the Cooperative Wholesale Society. Whitehead sol his land and houses separately to CWS. With the advent of the EEC and cheap European apples, the orchards became uneconomic and the trees were grubbed up and burned in 1974.

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• X67/709: Poster advertising an Ox roasting 'Ye Olde Englishe Custome' at the cox's Orange Pippin Orchard, Cockayne Hatley, 1935
• CRT130COC/1: Copy of a letter from W.J. Robinson to Mr E.H.M. Barker of Bedford regarding his suspicions about the finances of COPO, 1936-1945
• X604/33/7: Tree Owners’ Pictorial Souvenir of the visit of her grace the Duchess of Montrose to Cox’s Orange Pippin Orchards, 1936
• Z534/1: Printed booklet regarding COPO (Cox's Orange Pippin Orchards), 1937
• X704/307: Postcard of North gate entrance to Cox's Orange Pippins Orchards, c.1930ss