The Tunstills at Otterburn and Aysgarth

Following their marriage, Gilbert and Geraldine set up home at Otterburn House, in the hamlet of Otterburn, which lies almost equidistant between Skipton and Settle in the Craven District of North Yorkshire. Quite how and why the couple came to establish themselves in Craven is unclear but over the next eight years they were to become prominent members of the local community. By 1911 the large house was home not only to the Tunstills but also to a parlour maid, a cook and a housemaid. The couple, however, were childless and that was to remain the case. 

It may have been Gilbert’s association with Yorkshire which influenced his father, Harry’s, decision also to set up a home in the county.  Following the death of Gilbert’s grandfather, William, in 1903, Harry had moved from Montford to his father’s even grander home at Reedyford House on the outskirts of Nelson where William had maintained a staff of ten domestic servants. However, in 1909 Harry began the construction, in the hamlet of Thornton Rust, near Aysgarth, of a new country house which he called Thornton Lodge and which would eventually become the family’s main residence. At the time of the 1911 census, Harry, Margaret, three daughters and a staff of nine were at Reedyford while Thornton Lodge was in the care of William Graham, the estate gardener, along with his wife Sarah. As Harry gradually reduced his day-to-day involvement in the running of the family business following its conversion into a limited company, so he came to spend more time at Thornton Lodge.

Harry Tunstill's new home at Thornton Lodge under construction

By 1914 Gilbert Tunstill had become a well-known and respected figure in the Craven community. In December 1913 he was elected, unopposed, as the Settle representative on the West Riding County Council, following the death of the previous incumbent