Ossemesley was built in the early 20th century but on the site of a much older property. In 1901 Major William Murray was living in the house with his wife, three daughters and son. The servants listed are Agnes Baker (cook, housekeeper), Caroline Schumaker (lady’s maid), Edith (young lady’s maid), Caroline Selwood (housemaid), Ellen Wilcox (housemaid), Laura Lowes (housemaid), Elizabeth Jones (parlourmaid), Eliza Craddock (scullery maid), Charles (Butler), Charles Cordy (footman), Herbert Barge (coachman) and Andrew Moody (groom).
Lady Katherine Gatty (1869-1949) bought Ossemsley Manor in 1920 from Lady Marion Cooper. Lady Gatty was a member of the fabulously wealthy Morrison family whose sister Dorothy Morrison had bought Walhampton in 1910. She and her husband Sir Stephen Gatty had two sons and a daughter, Hester who married the war poet, Siegfried Sassoon.
In 1937 the 29 bedroom house and 702 acre estate was put up for auction in 68 lots. It was bought by Christchurch Solicitor Harold Walker, who was Chairman of Bournemouth Football Club. He demolished some of the older parts. The house achieved notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s as a club run by professional golfer Ernest Milward but is now a Grade 2 listed building and divided into flats.
