Category Archives: World War One

A Sutton man in Chicago

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George Haydon was born in 8th March, 1889 at 1 Ship Lane, Sutton at Hone, and was baptised at St John’s on 26th May 1899, and was the son of Ernest and his wife Elizabeth (nee House). The couple had moved to Sutton at Hone from Berkshire in 1880, and lived at 1 Ship Lane with their children, and Edward was described as working in the paper mill in 1881

George and his siblings would have attended Sutton at Hone school, and what he did after school is unclear. His passage to America has not been traced but seems to have been before the 1911 census. His sister Alice would follow him and arrived in Boston in August 1911.

George and his brother Cecil both served during World War 1 as they are listed on the Absent Voters list for Sutton at Hone. George was listed as being a Private in 8th (Res) Grenadiers, and Cecil was a Gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery.

In June 1919 after discharge from the army, George sailed back to Chicago, and on his papers he is described as being single and a chef. It seems he stayed in the US.

Edward lived in the village for the rest of his life, dying at 7 Ship Lane in 1941, and Elizabeth had died in 1924.

Women Vote! – 14th December 1918

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A General Election was called on the 14th November, three days after the Armistice, and this was to be the first election since the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed, which enabled all men over the age of 21 to vote and all women over the age of 30 to vote.

Before this Act was passed, many poorer men were excluded from voting as they had not owned land or rented property of a certain value in their constituency.  

On Saturday 14th December, the local polling station opened, and voting took place.  This was the first election when the voting took place on a single day, but the result was not declared until 28th December.  This delay was caused by the need for the votes of the men overseas on military service to be included for each constituency.  

The electoral voters lists for this election are invaluable for local historians, especially those researching the men who served in the Great War.  All the constituencies had to compile “Absent Voter” lists which name all the local men who were away, giving their full names, addresses, as well as the name of their regiment (or ship), and service number.

Sutton at Hone’s ward, which covered Sutton, Hawley, Clement Street and Button Street, had 966 voters in total and there were 197 absent voters.  Oddly, Sutton was not in the same parliamentary constituency as Dartford, instead it was in the Chislehurst constituency.

1916 – Hawley’s disabled soldier – Frank Wynn Chapman

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The Dartford Express – November 10th 1916

This article appeared in the Dartford Express on 10th November 1916, but unfortunately I have not yet managed to work out the identity of the soldier.  The Myrtles, which is now 2 semi detached houses, seems to have had a number of lodgers, as John Tingle, who is commemorated on the Sutton at Hone War Memorial and in the Farningham Homes for Little Boys Roll of Honour, also lived at the Myrtles.

Rood Ashton House was the family home of the Long family, near West Ashton, Wiltshire.  During the Great War it was a convalescent home for wounded soldiers and sailors.

The Myrtles today

Update:

Thanks to Malcolm Scott looking further back in the census records than I had done, the Chapman family has been found in the 1891 census, living at the Myrtles.

Charles and his (blind) wife Ellen, were living at The Myrtles with their son William, but they had two other sons, Charles (who died in 1900), and Frank Winn, our disabled soldier.

Frank Winn was born on 10th August 1874, and joined the Welsh Fusiliers in January 1890, and served 21 years with the regiment, serving in Crete, Malta, Egypt, China and India, and finally left in April 1911.

On 29th August 1914, Frank having been working as a messenger, re-enlisted on 29th August 1914 in London, and served briefly on the Western Front before being taken prisoner, and then repatriated back to England in a prisoner exchange. Frank was discharged from the army as being unfit for military service on 28th June 1915. His wounds were described as being a gun shot wound to his right leg, and his right arm and his left hand had been amputated. In December 1916 he was awarded a Silver War Badge.

His bride was Ellen Elizabeth Braithwaite, and they married in late 1916. After spending time in Wiltshire, the couple moved to Birkbeck Avenue, Ealing, and Frank died there in 1949.

The brother who was working at Eynsford Paper Mill, was William Michael, who had married Ellen Sarah Gibson at St John’s in 1899. The couple had a daughter, Violet Kathleen, who married in 1930 to Cecil Roberts, and the couple were living in the High Street, Dartford, where Cecil ran a hairdresser’s salon.

New Local Publications

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Horton Kirby & South Darenth Local History Society’s latest publication is a history of the parish during the Great War, and commemorates the men who feature on the War Memorial in St. Mary’s Church.  It also features the men from the Farningham Homes for Little Boys who are named in the Homes Roll of Honour, which is also kept in St Mary’s Church.

Copies of the book cost £6, and are available in the Horton Kirby Parish Office, or contact sarahvlewis@yahoo.com

The Swanley History Group has recently published this guide to the men listed on the Swanley War Memorial.  There are 105 men named on the Memorial, which is now situated in front of St Mary’s Church.

For details of how to purchase a copy (£8), please go to https://swanleyhistorygroup.weebly.com/

Christmas 1914 – Fund raising carol singers

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From the Dartford Express – 1st January 1915

Wesleyan Carol Party

The Sutton-at-Hone Carol Party, under the direction of Mr Saker, had another very successful season according to the secretary, Miss Bowers.

The Carol Party were entertained on the first evening, at the end of their journey, by Mr & Mrs A. Saggs at Hawley, and on the last evening at Mr & Mrs James Salmon’s at Riverside House, South Darenth. The total amount collected was £4, and is for the soldiers in the trenches, and all were delighted at the result, and considered themselves well recompensed for their effort.

The Carol Party was composed of:
Mrs Saker
Miss Doris Blackman (of St John’s Terrace, Sutton-at-Hone)
Miss E. Davis
Miss N. Evered
Miss H. Griffen
Miss Lily Henry (of Progression Place, Sutton-at-Hone)
Miss Mabel Packman (of Cromwell Villas, Sutton-at-Hone)
Miss Bertha Salmon (daughter of Mr & Mrs J. Salmon)
Miss N. Trimmer
Mr B. (or Herbert) Blackman  (of St John’s Terrace, Sutton-at-Hone)
Mr A. Davis
Mr T. Davies
Mr J. Smith
Stanley & J. Saker

1915 – Hawley cyclist’s accident in Crayford

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The Dartford Chronicle of the 9th April 1915 told of an accident that happened to Alfred Outram, aged 28, of 3 Claremont Cottages, Hawley.  Alfred was cycling along High Street, Crayford, towards Dartford, when his front wheel struck a small stone, Alfred was thrown and in falling dislocated his right knee and fractured his right leg.

No doctor was available, but Nurse Hartley and Mr William Bond, both members of the Red Cross Society, and Alfred was then removed to the Dartford Infirmary by the Police.

This accident probably had a life changing affect for Alfred, as it seems he did not get called up for military service during World War One, as he is listed on the Electoral Roll for 1918, rather than on the Absent Voters list (which shows all the men eligible to vote but serving in the military).  It is likely that his broken leg meant he was classed as medically unfit to serve.

By 1939 Civil Registration Register, Alfred is living with his wife and two children at Elm Close, Dartford, and was working as a Coke Plant attendant at a gas works.

1915 – Death of Hawley resident Thomas Webster

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The importance of the local paper has declined in our digital world. It was in the 19th century the main source for all news unless you bought a national daily paper, and as they were expensive, most people did not buy them.  In the 20th century, cheaper daily papers were being published (the Daily Mail had started in 1896, the Daily Express in 1900 and the Daily Mirror in 1903) but the local paper was still the main source of local news, and so family notices for weddings and funerals could be very detailed.  Wedding announcements usually gave details of employment, and for some there are even lists of presents.  For funerals, there is often some autobiographical detail, as well as a list of those who attended (and their relationship to the deceased) and who sent flowers.  These can be useful if you are tracing your family tree.

During the Great War, there did not seem to be that many local notices, probably because there were restrictions on paper, but on 15th February 1915 the Dartford Chronicle noted the death and funeral of Thomas Webster, which gives the date of the formation of two local organisations.

Thomas Webster, of 5 Hawley Terrace, had died the previous Thursday (4th February) after a very painful illness that lasted five months.  Mr Webster was 56 years old and had worked for the past 19 years at the local paper mills of Messrs T.H. Saunders & Co. For over fifteen years he had held the secretaryship of the Sutton at Hone Friendly Society and was a most energetic member of the local football and carnival committees since the year of their formation, 1906.

Hawley Terrace is the row of houses to the right on this picture

The funeral took place on Monday 7th February at St. John the Baptist, Sutton at Hone, and the service was taken by the Vicar, Rev A. E. Bourne, the chief mourners were the widow, Mrs Eliza Webster, his daughter Mary (Mrs C. Carpenter) and sons William Webster and Albert Webster, Mrs P Ward (niece), Miss L. Hollands (sister-in-law), Miss M. Webster (sister), Mr & Mrs B. Hollands (brother and sister-in-law), Mr & Mrs F. Hollands (brother and sister-in-law), and Mrs T. Williams (cousin).

Thomas Webster was born in Wrotham in 1858, the son of Thomas and Mary Webster (nee West), and was by 1881 working in a paper mill as a paper maker cutter.  He married Eliza Hollands in 1884, and by 1896 the family had moved to Hawley, and in 1901 they were living at 8 Mill Road, and by 1911, they were living at 5 Hawley Terrace.

Remembering the men who fell at the Battle of the Somme

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The Battle of the Somme started on 1st July 1916, and the first day is notorious for the number of men who died or were wounded on the first day, making it the worse day in the British Army’s history.

The following men are from Sutton at Hone and Hawley, and they died during this battle, which lasted from 1st July to 18th November 1918

3rd July – Corporal Henry K Smith, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

13th July – Private Arthur Mankey, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

17th July – C.S.M. Francis (Frank) Neave Reynolds, York and Lancaster Regiment

29th July – Sergeant Charles Elliott, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)

11th August – Private Thomas Harold Ovenden, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

15th September – Private Leonard Willett, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

3rd October – Rifleman Arthur Owen Mayne, King’s Royal Rifle Corps

15th November – Private George William Mayne, Northumberland Fusiliers

 

A Hawley VAD in World War One

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The Red Cross has recently completed uploading all their WWI VAD record cards to their website, and have made them searchable.  Whilst I have not yet found anyone from Sutton at Hone, there is a VAD from Hawley.

Miss Ellen Tamar Wingrove, of 1 Royal Road, Hawley, became a Head Cook in the 5th December 1917, with a salary of £45 per annum, and served until the 27th May 1918.  Ellen was Head Cook at Canadian Special Hospital (tubercular), Lenham, where the Canadian Army had taken over the Kent Sanatorium, which had been built in 1914.

The war diaries of this hospital are available online, and the entry for 3rd December states that Major Hart had been in London where he had arranged tentage and VAD women cooks. On 4th December twenty bell tents were received for use as personnel accommodation.

On 5th December, the war diary notes that Head V.A.D. Cook reported for duty ( a day before nursing staff), and that all personnel accommodation had been moved from the hospital buildings to the bell tents.  So Ellen Wingrove and all other staff, would have lived in tents in the grounds of the hospital.  There is no specific comment about Ellen’s departure, and I have not yet read through all the diary, but the weather is noted daily, and there are comments about air raid warnings at night, as well as regular entertainment for the patients.

Ellen Wingrove was born on 21 June 1882, the daughter of John and Isabel Wingrove, and by the 1891 census, the family were living at Spring Gardens, Franks Lane, and her father was described as a butcher. in 1901, Ellen had gone into domestic service, and was a maid at Riverside, working for Hawthorn Brown (a paper maker) and his family.  In 1911, Ellen and her mother Isabel were in Edmondton, visiting an uncle.

The 1939 Civil Register tells us that Ellen was living at 110 Tufnell Park Road , Islington, London, and she is described as Hospital Nurse & Caterer, and Ellen died on 2 November 1970 at 8 Church Lane, London, N8