RADWINTER ARCHIVES - LOCAL HISTORY RECORDERS REPORT 2014

Radwinter Society AGM
The Radwinter Society 2014 A.G.M. was held in Radwinter Village Hall on Thursday 20 March 2014. A motion was be tabled at the meeting to increase the membership fee for subsequent years to £8. Existing members would still be able to renew before the meeting at the old fee of £5, which has remained the same since the Society’s inception in 2004. A renewal notice was be sent to current members. Following the very brief AGM, a new book, Radwinter’s First World War was launched with a talk on the subject.

First Radwinter at War Book Published

The part played by Radwinter in the First World War was published in a book from the Radwinter Society, available from 20 March 2014.

Entitled Radwinter’s First World War, the book records the War both from the home front as well as the activities of the 104 Radwinter men who served their Country during the Great War, of whom 28, almost a third, gave their lives.

Of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, five had been wounded previously, some of them several times but had been patched up and sent back to fight. One of these men had already been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). No less than 21 men were also wounded but survived the War making it nearly half the serving men being either killed or wounded; three of them had also been gassed.

One other DCM was also awarded to a Radwinter man and two had Military Medals (MM), the other- ranks equivalent of the Military Cross (MC). This distinction was removed by the time of the Second World War, all ranks receiving the Military Cross. Inevitably, as the troops became mingled in action, one Radwinter man was awarded the Médaille Militaire, the French military medal for bravery.

The book includes 18 black and white and seven colour photographs of people and artefacts from the time and indexes no less than 346 Radwinter people, involving 90 distinct surnames and many others from neighbouring parishes.

It reproduces letter home from the serving men, extracts from private family archives and reports in the Radwinter Parish Magazine of those awarded medals, wounded, made prisoner of war or home on leave. Fundraising, food provision and support activities for the boys at the front are also detailed, as are the Zeppelin raids over Radwinter.

Radwinter surnames recorded in the book include: Acker, Adams, Andrews, Archer, Bacon, Baily, Ballard, Barker, Baynes, Brigley, Bullock, Butcher, Butterworth, Carter, Chapman, Clarke, Colley, Colman, Coote, Cornell, Cowell, Crickmore, Cuffley, Edwards, Ellingham, Farrant, Freeman, French, Gibson, Gowlett, Graves, Gypps, Halls, Harris, Hatton, Hoare, Housden,Ingle, Jarrard, Jarvis, Ketteridge, Livermore, Mascall, Medcalf, Mizen, Monk, Moore, Mortimer, Newell, Newling, Nicholson, Palmer, Porter, Potts, Powley, Price Powell, Richardson, Ridgwell, Robbins, Rule, Ruse, Scase, Sharpe, Sheard, Shearman, Swan, Thake, Thomas, Turpin, Underwood, Valient, Vernon, Webb, Wigley, Wilkie, Winship, Wright, Wyers and Youel. There were several additional names from surrounding parishes.

Published by Radwinter Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9927909-0-5, the book was available at the launch on March 20 2014, priced at £7.00 for Radwinter Society Members attending or who had notified their intention to purchase, and £8.00 for others, or at £8.00 from Radwinter Post Office, or in Saffron Walden from the Tourist Office, Market Square, Trade-In-Post, 7 Central Arcade and Harts, Shire Hill Estate, or by post, plus £2.50 postage and packing, from The Radwinter Society. Local purchases could be delivered or left for collection at a convenient location in Radwinter or Saffron Walden to avoid postage.

The British Victory Medal
Since the book had gone to the printers, Joy Matthews had donated her father’s (Cliff Jarvis’s) collection of Wartime memorabilia to the Radwinter Archives.  In addition to many WW2 items there was a WW1 Victory Medal (also called the Inter-Allied Victory Medal) which is a United Kingdom campaign medal.

The basic design and ribbon of The Victory Medal was also adopted by Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Siam, Union of South Africa and the USA in accordance with the decision of the Inter-Allied Peace Conference at Versailles (a ‘Winged Victory). A particular form of this historic Greek monument was chosen by each nation, except the Far East nations who issued the medal but with a different design. The dates of the war were in every case 1914 to 1918, except that of the British Empire, which gave the dates as 1914 to 1919.  These are the dates inscribed on this particular medal. It was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914-15 Star, and to most of those who were awarded the British War Medal - it was never awarded singly. These three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

The particular medal donated in Cliff Jarvis’s collection was awarded to 15570 Private James Arthur Jarvis, 11th Bn. Essex Regiment, whose name, rank and number is inscribed round the rim. By the time he lost his life, he was a Lance Corporal. He was the uncle of Clifford Jarvis and was killed in action on 27 April 1916 (aged 20). He is remembered on the Wimbish War memorial but I have included his Commonwealth War Graves citation in the Radwinter WW 1 book, which bears a photograph on the cover that was actually taken in Flanders field.

Radwinter’s First World War Further Successes
Within a few weeks we had sold all but 17 of the second impression of Radwinter First World War. Family Tree wrote, “The book includes photos and indexes, involving 90-plus surnames. You’ll find letters home from serving men, extracts from family archives and parish magazine reports. Fundraising, food provision and support activities are also detailed, as are Zeppelin raids, making it an essential read for local and family historians alike”.

Lionel Bartram has sent me another WW1 photo, this time of John James Potts who was killed in action during the First World War on 7 October 1916. He served in the 6th Battalion of the Queens Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment.
Death of James Valiant

The following story about one of our Radwinter WW1 fallen was discovered in the Herts and Essex Observer, after our book was published.
“A wide circle of friends will regret to learn the sad news of the death, on Sunday 28 October, from wounds received in action, of Second-Lieutenant James Valiant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, son of Mr R. Valiant, farmer, of Radwinter. Second-Lieutenant Valiant was a well-known and prominent local sportsman. For a number of years he was a valued member of the Saffron Walden Cricket and Football Clubs, and afterwards he made football and cricket his profession. For one season, 1913, he was professional to the Bishop’s Stortford Cricket Club. Only the previous day to that on which the news of his death arrived had and intimation come that his personal friend, Corporal C.W. Green, of Saffron Walden, had been killed in action in France. Lieutenant Valiant and Corporal Green were two of the most popular young men in the Walden District.”

Photographs Please
I continued putting together the material I had collected on the Second World War. It concentrated mainly on the Home Front. If you have any photos I can copy that were taken in Radwinter at that time they would be invaluable. There wouldn’t have been many taken but it may not occur to people that photos of civilian activity, such as jam-making, would go down well. I am particularly interested in finding something that could be depicted in colour to make a compelling front cover. That’s a tall order I know but we might be able to get an artist to prepare a colour illustration from a black and white photo.

Cavalier Boot Crème
A glass Jar with raised moulding round the circumference saying “Cavalier Boot Creme by Cavalier” was dug up in the garden of Radwinter Manor Cottage. On the edge of the base is molded “Cavalier Baltimore” with the figure “2” in the centre of the circle. The lid was not found but is depicted opposite.

It was found in an area where rubbish was commonly discarded. After the Second World War, the former Radwinter Rectory, now Radwinter Manor, was converted into flats to house U.S. Army Air Force officers and their families. Since then the land around the rectory has yielded a rich source of both British and U.S. Military weapons and civilian products sold from the American PX stores.

Among other American products found, apart from numerous beverage and grocery product containers have been an M1 bayonet that fitted the American M1 Garant Rifle and an American National Defense Service Medal.
The NDSM was established by President Eisenhower on 2nd April 1953 and may be awarded posthumously. It is awarded for honorable active service for any period from 27 June 1950. The spellings in this and the previous paragraph are, of course, in American English.

The American airmen have since been represented in Radwinter by Amos Tupper (18 April 1926 - 31 December 2013), who died on New Year’s Eve. He and his wife June lived in Radwinter Manor after the War, June returned with Moss to the United States when he was posted there, but they came back when he left the service to live with us in Radwinter. It was while they were first in Radwinter that June recalls the rainwater collecting tank at the Manor, crashing through the roof. It was not until many years later, when underpinning activities were being conducted that it was discovered that the tank had fed an underground well which had been accessible from the cellars of the former Rectory and was used for the laundry. Later a motorised pump was fitted, which the late Bob Baynes remembered hearing pumping away when he delivered the milk to the back of the Manor.

Radwinter Society AGM
At the Radwinter Society A.G.M. on 20 March Michael Southgate was re-elected Chair, Tina Stratton Treasurer and Sue Taylor a Committee Member. Barbara Mizen joined the committee. The society still lacks a Secretary, following Wumf Tuxworth move away from Radwinter during 2013. Anybody who can type and could be with us three times a year can be co-opted by the committee, so do please volunteer for the post if you can. A motion was passed to increase the membership fee for the Society to £8.

Success for Radwinter’s First World War
Within days of the launch, Radwinter’s First World War was sold out and a further 100 copies of the book were printed.
Reviews of the book will have been published in Essex Life, Family Tree Magazine and the Genealogists’ Magazine, no doubt stimulating further orders. A book signing took place in Radwinter Church on Saturday and Sunday 28 and 29 June during the Church’s commemoration of the First World War.

Thanks to Beryl Barbour and Joy Matthews, the book was widely read in the United States and New Zealand. I received many kind messages from their relatives in Australasia but can’t resist publishing the following from a New Zealand reader. “After I had delivered the book to Steve and Eleanor, I called up to the cemetery, just had to tell Pop that he was in a book! Could hear him say, as he used to tell us, that he did nothing brave in the war, just kept his head down. But he was there and must have seen some dreadful things; would never talk about it of course. Think quietly though that he really would be right chuffed to think that he deserved a mention along with all the other brave ones from the old village. So many men and so much loss.”

Others have contributed further information on their relatives during the War. Jim Acker told me that his father had said that the Zeppelins dropped a bomb in the field by Stocking Green. Lionel Bartrum came to see me and allowed me to photograph the campaign medals and ‘Soldier’s Penny’ of James John Potts, one of the first of Radwinter First World War soldiers to lose his life.

Lionel let me copy of a photograph of the Rectory Cottages built along the side road at the bottom of Church Hill as well as one of Mrs Mascall outside her house and one of a garden party at the old Rectory (now Radwinter Manor). At the book launch, Joan Mizen and Beryl Barbour identified the people in the Rectory Garden Party photo and some of the former inhabitants of the Rectory Cottages. I was surprised that this was once called Rectory Cottages. Presumably Fred Bullock had had them built after the 1874 fire. The fact that he called them the Rectory Cottages was possibly because the curate was housed in one of them. Later, the cottage on the Walden Road side of the Village Reading Room, now the Village Hall, was used to house the Curate but this would not have been completed until sometime after 1881.

The Rectory Cottages
Joan and Beryl gave me the names of some of the people they knew had lived there in their time: Spittle (Owner of Shop); Jim Andrews & Mabel with their children, Maureen & Michael; (Arthur Gowlett?) and his wife (Margaret Hannah?); and in the 40s & 50s era Dora & Harold Chapman and their children, Dennis, Leslie and Pat. Prior to Spittle, Mr Harry Piper was in Mrs Murray’s shop.

The Rectory tea party picture shows (left to right) Bertha Mizen, sister to Ernest, who had married Alfred Chapman; Mrs Phoebe Whitworth; Revd. George Elwes Allen Whitworth, M.A.; Mrs Law, Stephen Thake’s mother; and Thomas Wigley the church organist. Mr Piper is mentioned in connection with the first photograph and Thomas Wigley appears in the second. Somebody had said that Mr Piper was a very skilled craftsman and had produced a model of the whole village. I had a note on file which said that the dolls’ house based on the Rectory and made for the Rector’s daughter Margaret Whitworth (now Margaret Osmaston), had been attributed by Mr Andrew Whitworth, his eldest son, to Mr Wigley and by Margaret Osmaston to Mr Piper, the Radwinter village carpenter. I wrote to Margaret, who responded that, “It had been made by Mr Piper whom we knew well, His wife was bed-ridden and had a bed in the shop so she could wave to passers-by. We used to like going in to see her and I think we bought sweets and toys there. The story goes that my paternal grandmother who lived in London, was so thrilled by my arrival, after having two or three brothers, four sons and then three grandsons, that when she came to Radwinter to view me she walked straight down to the village to Mr Piper’s shop to order a dolls house for me. It was Mr Piper’s idea to get hold of scraps of the wall paper for the rooms at the Rectory to paste into the dolls’ house rooms.

Karl Wesche
Denise Barbour, a daughter of Beryl Barbour, was studying for a degree in Fine Art at Winchester University. She was writing a book about Karl Weschke the leading Cornish School artist who was a Prisoner of War at Radwinter. We are exchanging our information on him and that I have received from her will immeasurably enrich our forthcoming Radwinter WW 2 book. The picture of him above was supplied by Denise.

Life in Radwinter in 1890
I was contacted by Sophie McGeevor, a Member of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure who is studying for a PhD at Downing College, Cambridge. Sophie had found an autobiography which contained some very interesting details about late nineteenth century Radwinter. It had been written by, Louise Jermy, née Withers, who had visited Radwinter while she was recovering from an operation for a tubercular hip. Louise described, among other things the cottage belonging to her step-mother’s Uncle John and Aunt Anne where she stayed, baking practices and the harvest being brought in by hand. There are two possible candidates in the 1891 Census for the Uncle and Aunt, John and Ann Porter, Ag. Lab, of Longs Lane and John and Ann Coote, Ag, Lab. Of Stocking Green. The Porters appear to be the most favourable candidates as the cottage was said by Louise to be about half a mile from the nearest shop and along a deeply-rutted, un-made-up lane.

Memories of a Working Woman by Louise Jermy, had been published in 1934 and the only library copy available was in the British Library. There was just one copy available from a bookseller, so I bought it for the Radwinter Collection. The foreword to the book states that ‘it is said to be the first autobiography written by a Women’s Institute member’. Her branch held an official reception on the book’s publication, which stated that not only were many copies sold at the meeting but ‘a copy had been purchased by the Queen and a letter of congratulation from Buckingham Palace was read by Mrs. Jermy’.

Coronation Committee Transcription
Before the recent Coronation Celebration I was asked if we had any information on what had happened in Radwinter at the Coronation. All I could come up with was that the gates to the Recreation Ground had been provided. We now have the minutes of the Radwinter Coronation Committee which been transcribed by Denise Piper. I only wish we had them at the time. They reveal so much about the people and the time.

A coronation spoon was given to all the children in the village and, if anybody still has one, I would very much like to photograph it for the archives. However the situation regarding the American children was rather amusing. On 23 March it was decided to supply Coronation Gift Spoons to all the children but not to the American children. However, on May 6th The Chairman said he would like the Committee to reconsider the American Children living at Radwinter Rectory and thought it would promote good relations to give them each a Coronation spoon as a memento of their stay in England during Coronation year. The earlier minute was therefore rescinded and it was agreed that American children should be invited to tea in Schoolroom on Coronation Day where the spoons would be given out.

Living in the old Rectory, apart from June Tupper, I had only met one of the former American residents, who were there when it was married quarters for US Army Air Force Officers. I was delighted, therefore, to see a list of the 15 American children at the Rectory. They were:

W. Nicholas Stoffel 10 yrs, Linda Lee Petersavage (5), Beck Lou Petersavage (9) yrs, Dennis Petersavage (8), Michael J. Stevens (9), Mark G. Stevens (1) Rebecca A Baader (1 yr 5 mths), Janet E. Jones (3) Nancy A. Jones (1 yrs 4 mths), Patty Jo Abraham (3), Diane Farrell (9), Linda Farrell (7), Robert T. Farrell (2), Donna B. Hughes (4), Michael J. Hughes (5 mths).

There are several transcriptions of this nature in the parish archives and few of them would make a book on their own. Perhaps a compilation of like subjects might be attempted in the future.

QE II Coronation
Shortly after reporting in the Summer Ambo that the children of Radwinter has been presented with silver spoons to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation, Cynthia Gypps told me that she and her husband had one of the spoons and a silver dish that had been presented to her husband, Brian. Mrs Gypps produced three high quality photographs of them and e-mailed me copies for the Radwinter archives

Joan Halls arrived at the Church Flower show with a Coronation Spoon. As both she and Fred had received one, she presented one to the Radwinter Archives. It polished up with a brilliant silver shine and is now a star exhibit in the collection.

Hockhams Remembered
I was also contacted at the flower show by the latest occupant of Hockhams. I apologise that in the mêlée I forgot to note her name. However, she will be contacting me in the coming weeks and, in preparation I have been looking at what I have on my computer. The schedule of listed buildings describes it as “A 17th century timber-framed and plastered building (formerly two dwellings) with later alterations. A wing extends to the south-west at the north-west end. One storey and attics. Casement windows. Roof tiled, with two gabled dormers on the front and a central tall chimney stack on the main block and another on the wing”. The 1838 Tithe Apportionment Schedule shows Hockhams Farm comprising some eight acres, with other cottages adjoining.

Jessie Bacon told me that during the Second World War, she had lodged there for a time. She said, “I went to lodge with my boyfriend’s sister. Moss, down at Hockhams, and I lived with her for a time; because her husband was away in the Forces and she had nobody. She hadn’t got a family so I helped her as well as it helped me. When her husband came home it wasn’t convenient to have anybody about the house. There were two bedrooms but you had to go up in Hockhams; one bedroom led through, it was a wall put on an extension and it wasn’t convenient.

Is this Hockhams?
I have an undated, mislabelled photograph in the Hockhams folder but it doesn’t completely accord with the above description and I would be grateful, if anybody can confirm whether it is Hockhams.

Suzanne Wardley, when living at Hockhams wrote: Separating Old Hill from Hockhams is a stream - its source coming from a natural spring somewhere in Hempstead - hence it never dries up and was used for animals as well as people - the latter using the steps in the garden of Hockhams to do their washing and extract water.

Fred Potts, as a child, used to drive in the dog-cart on Saturday mornings when his father took the washing from the Rectory to Hockhams. Hockhams was also known as Brands in the 1860s. It was a small farmhouse originally with a barn that stood by the roadside and had other small buildings with cobbled floors that suggest it may have been a pig farm - hence the name was changed to Hockhams. Early records show that Thomas Chapman lived here with his wife, Amy, daughter Fanny aged 9 months and Frederick Mascall (nephew) aged 4 years. Also Mary Andrews, a widow, aged 73 years. William Webb aged 73 years and wife, Phoebe aged 88 years. Very good ages at the time. This amount of people shows that the house was divided. Robert Baynes and his wife Mary lived here too. Robert was the grandfather of Bill and Bob Baynes, mentioned earlier. Going back to 1865 Thomas Baynes was renting the house for a yearly rate of 1s 10d (about 9p) plus 5 eggs!

Michael Southgate
Radwinter Village History Recorder