Cattistock and the Great War Cattistock Armistice Commemorations 1918 -2018
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Cattistock and the Great War Cattistock Armistice Commemorations 1918 -2018 Edited by Charlie Bladon Detail from the Thiepval Memorial showing Frank and Harry Brown, brothers from Cattistock 1 Contents Introduction 3 The Men of Cattistock in the Great War 11 Harry Brown 11 William Brown 12 Edwin Herbert Cousins 14 Reginald John Davis 17 William Thomas Dove 18 Leonard Sydney Everett 20 Joseph Charles Lane 21 James Albert Powell 22 (Thomas) John Welch 23 William David Lane 24 Bernard Brown 25 Frank Ewart Savill 26 Frank Barter 27 George Hugh Digby 28 Allen Llewellen Palmer 29 Albert Ernest Dewdney 30 Reginald Joseph Dubbin 32 William George Ellis Lee 33 Acknowledgements 34 Appendix 36 2 Introduction n 1914, Cattistock as a Parish covers a large area amounting to approximately I2,986 acres, and extends almost to Evershot and Rampisham. Most of the area is farmland, and includes Sandhills, Higher and Lower Holway, Chantmarle, Inpark, Rotley Row and Merrifield. Many of these hamlets have decreased in size or vanished, with only a few derelict buildings remaining. In this booklet, where ‘Cattistock’ is used, it is implicit that this includes those places mentioned above. The Parish is an area of civil government and is unconnected, in this sense, to the church (whose local affairs are overseen by the Parochial Church Council, or PCC), and is governed by the Parish Council, the lowest level of local government. In building a picture of how Cattistock and the parish looked in 1914, there are several primary sources to draw upon. The census of 1911 gives us the names of the inhabitants, but sadly does not tell us where they lived. It is a snapshot of local population carried out every ten years, and so in this sense is useful as we can directly compare it to the 2011 census. The census also includes only those people who were actually in the village on the day of the survey; indeed, the 1911 census includes a Mr Dunford who was ‘sleeping rough open air’ in Chantmarle that night! It does not include those away for any reason, including those serving in the army or navy anywhere else in the Realm or overseas, even if they were clearly ‘Cattistock residents’. Perhaps more useful to the local historian is the Finance Act (1910) put forth by the Liberal Government when Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer. A measure within this budget intended to reflect the changing land values over time and so a nationwide survey of all property was carried out in the following years, listing not only population but also occupation, and who the property owner was (at this time home ownership was not prevalent and most of the population would have been paying rent). The value of the property was then assessed with the intention that it was taxed accordingly. Cattistock Stores c 1900 Cattistock Post Office at Castle Cottage 3 In actual fact the Act was repealed before the tax could be levied, but we are left with a fascinating insight into the village as it was. It is the Enumerators’ survey books - a sort of 20th century Domesday Book - that have allowed us to pinpoint where our soldiers and tradesmen lived in the years immediately preceding the war. We have also looked at baptism and marriage records to ensure that we have correctly identified the men who served in what was called the ‘Great War for Civilisation 1914- 1919’ (1919 is given as the end of the war as the 1918 armistice was a ceasefire, whereas the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June in 1919, exactly 5 years after the Archduke was assassinated, formally ended the conflict). Finally, we examined the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which allowed us to identify three casualties of the war not formerly listed on the village war memorial. We are greatly indebted to Grassby’s of Dorchester for making and supplying (without charge) a tablet listing those men. Cattistock pre war Cattistock in 1914 was very different to the village as it is now. Physically it was a lot smaller, with many houses not yet having been built, yet the population was remarkably similar to today. The main difference in 1914 was that most people who lived here worked here in local trades and on local farms, and the houses had many more occupiers than today! The table below shows how population and the number of houses has changed over the past century. Whilst the population is broadly the same, the number of houses has doubled, meaning that a century ago houses had many more inhabitants than now. A look at the land survey maps will also show how much smaller some properties were, meaning much more cramped conditions! Population: 1911 vs 2011 (latest census data) Total Men Women Dwellings (inhabited) Dwellings (uninhabited) 1911 457 219 238 125 6 2011 509 243 266 241 11 To the north, Cattistock stopped after the cottages known as The Rocks (other than Prospect Farm which existed), and Meadow View did not exist. To the south, Kennel Lane had not yet been built upon from the corner up to the kennels, the barn conversions and houses on that corner were all working outbuildings for Manor Farm and what is now Ringers Plot was allotments owned by the church for the benefit of parishioners. In 1914 the motorcar was uncommon and only the rich could afford one; public transport was negligible (some things never change!) and thus most people had to convey themselves either on foot, or by horse and carriage. For the majority, the former was the only means 4 Cattistock Square with gas lamp – note the tailor’s swatches in the window of getting from A to B and as a result people who lived in the village also worked here in one of the local trades or as farm labourers. There were also a large number of grooms looking after horses – not only for the hunting fraternity, but also for farms and as means of conveyance in an age when the internal combustion engine was a rarity. The Great Western Railway line opened in 1857 having been diverted from the proposed route down the Cerne Valley due to Lord Digby not wishing it to cross his estate. The branch line from Maiden Newton to Bridport, which was finally closed in 1975, carried the products of Bridport’s famous rope works to the front in the form of hemp lanyards, hay nets (for army horses), rifle pull-throughs, tent, balloon and airship ropes, camouflage nets and twine for stitching canvas; steel ropes for anti-submarine defences were also transported from there by train. However, it is not certain how much the railway affected our small community as it would appear from records that most people who lived here worked here in the pre-war years. A man was employed to take care of the tracks in the parish. In the immediate pre war years the village supported at least two bakehouses, blacksmith, carpenter, two engine sheds, two mills, the Fox & Hounds public house in Cattistock and the Three Horseshoes in Sandhills, a tailor, post office, two bootmakers, and several dressmakers – although many of these did not have premises but were cottage industries in the truest sense of the term. 5 The village did not have piped water or electricity; those came in the 1920s. A large gas lamp which was erected to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria occupied the centre of the Square; nevertheless the village is still recognisable today with many of the old houses and institutions remaining unchanged. Use Occupier Current name and position Metford Mill (corn mill) Frances George CURTIS Metford Mill House and premises Wyatt PAULL Shop / Grocer Arthur PAULL Demolished shops next to Bun House Engine shed Arthur PAULL Three Horseshoes pub John CHARD Sandhills Cattistock Mill George RIGGS / Lionel & Cattistock Mill Louise Williams, his nephew and niece Baker & Confectioner Ernest VARDY Bun House Engine shed Post Office Hedley Herberty HALLETT Castle Cottage Blacksmith Richard HATCHER The Old Forge - back section in Mill Lane Blacksmith’s shop Cecil UPSHALL Upshall’s Tailor William CARTER Tailors Cottage Fox & Hounds James DAWE Fox & Hounds Carpenter’s shop James DAWE Prospect Farm Methodist Chapel The Old Chapel Bootmaker Samuel Dunnett LEE Demolished shops next to Bun House Bootmaker and mender Herbert SAUNDERS Rose Cottage, The Rocks Baker Thomas John ROGERS As well as the Established church of St Peter and St Paul, the Methodist chapel was in use, and the school had a resident headmaster called Mrs Browne and teacher called Miss Alice Paull. As a church school it was overseen by the rector, the Reverend Robert Stickland with the intention of providing a Christian education and catered for all children of the village - although during busy times many had to forsake learning for helping out on the farm or with other seasonal tasks. During the war it is probable that attendance rates fell, as in the example of Eric Cox’s family (see ‘The Cox family in the First World War’ - right) 6 The Cox family in the First World War The following history was kindly supplied by Eric Cox, Cattistock resident. Whilst the people concerned did not live in the village at the time, Eric’s words illustrate amply how a typical family fared in the war: Drummer Harold Willoughby Shorto, 2/4 Battalion the Dorsetshire Regiment. First cousin of Ivy Cox (nee Payne). Harold served with the battalion in Egypt. In November 1917 he was on the road to Jerusalem and on 21st reached the village of Biddu.