By 1926 United Dairies had taken over Curtis Bros. & Dumbrill Ltd., together with a tranche of other dairies in the district including Clara’s. The Valley Road dairy (where Thomas William had been living at the time of the 1881 Census) was refurbished in 1926 to become capable of processing 30,000 gallons of milk a day. This dairy must have been the wonder of its age since it merited a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Elizabeth) in 1927. Charles John was put in charge of this operation which he ran until he moved with the rest of the Curtis family to Effingham in 1935 when the Home Farm was purchased.
By 1928 Clara was living at 46, Merton Hall Road in Wimbledon; Charles John was at “Terriston Lodge” in Ullathorne Road, Streatham, working for the dairies of Curtis Bros. & Dumbrill Ltd.; William Thomas was living at Court Farm in Ewell; George Herbert (II) was a dental surgeon in London; and Clara’s fourth son Edwin Elnor, described as a gentleman, was at Hampton in Middlesex.
C. I. Curtis Dairy Farmers Ltd. bought the Home Farm at Effingham in 1935. Clara moved from her Wimbledon home to “Windy Ridge” in Effingham around 1936-37; Windy Ridge was situated on the raised minor road running alongside the east side of Effingham Common Road, opposite Leewood Farm. Charles John had already moved into “Terriston” in Effingham on September 4th 1935 (this house name was a melange of syllables from the names Curtis and Potterton). His brother William Thomas moved to “Glen Lynn” (later “Haverthorn”) by 1936. William Thomas ran the farming whilst Charles John ran the pasteurising and retailing side of the business. Their brother George Herbert (II), the dentist, came to live at “Fairhaven” in 1936, but moved to Epsom Downs in 1939.
The southern half of the Home Farm house was occupied by Mr. Capon, the chief clerk of the business, and his wife, using the east-facing front door as their entrance. Charles John’s daughter Dorothy Joan had in 1933 married Harry Westcott Selley [GRO Ref: Wandsworth 1d 1008, 1933 (Q2)], who was born in 1902 [GRO Ref: Wandsworth 1d 734, 1902 (Q3)]. She and her horse-loving friends used the northern half of the house (entered from the farmyard via the west-facing back door) for riding weekends, until the outbreak of WWII when she and her family moved in permanently to escape the London blitz. Their part of the house was fitted with the very latest Potterton coke-fired central heating system (her mother was of that family) and the old dairy on the ground floor was turned into a bathroom with a vast black marble bath. An air raid shelter was built in the garden, with an escape tunnel that exited in the adjacent orchard. Her second son Richard Curtis Selley was born on the kitchen table in 1939 [GRO Ref: Surrey S.W. 2a 948, 1939 (Q4)].
Under the ownership of C. I. Curtis Dairy Farmers Ltd. the Home Farm consisted of some 400-500 acres and had about 50 cattle, including about 30 in milk, 2 bulls and assorted heifers and calves. The cows used to walk up and down The Street in Effingham twice a day in single file to the field now occupied by houses of Leewood Way. Milk was also bought in from adjacent farms and small-holdings.