W J Fieldhouse was a manufacturer in Birmingham. He was awarded the CBE. He acquired the title of Lord of the Manor of Henley in Arden in 1913 and purchased a property in the town which has formerly been the medieval Guild Hall. He restored the Guild Hall and its garden and built the Guild Hall Cottage in its grounds for the Curator. These properties were left to his daughter, Mrs Nancy Barnard, who gave them to the Henley in Arden Guild Hall Trust in 1957 for the benefit of the people of the town.