Robert Blatchford: and the Values of the Countryside

40 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 Newsletter May 2010

Kites around Horsham ed kites used to be familiar scavengers through the streets of London, but persecution took its toll and they became a lost species R– until their successful reintroduction in the last century. They are now a familiar sight in many parts of the country. Keep a watch out, for example, for those characteristic forked tails while driving along the M40 towards Oxford, and feeding time at Gigrin Farm at Rhayader, overlooking the Wye and Elan valleys, is an astonishing spectacle. Every afternoon at 2 pm the farmer has been putting out off-cuts from local butchers, and now up to several hundred kites gather there, along with assorted ravens, buzzards and other opportunists.

Closer to home my wife thought she saw one passing over the garage out at Manning’s Heath, and a few weeks ago we spotted a pair on the Horsham to Guildford road, not far from the county boundary. This is excellent news, and see if you can add to the local sightings. Do write in.

Directory By The Way Mrs Alex Tweedie on cycling for women New members From the 26 December 1896 issue of our local paper: The Horsham Society is an independent body supported by members’ subscriptions, a registered charity (No.268949) and affiliated to the Just two names so far this month, and a very warm welcome to That cycling for women is a beautiful or graceful exercise cannot be admitted. A woman never looks more hideous than on a bicycle Campaign to Protect Rural England. Mrs Williams, Parkside Mews, Hurst Road, Horsham, and Mr. It is a member of the English Historic Towns Forum. – unless perchance she is remarkably tall and thin. It is a very strange fact that while nothing is more becoming to the female form Fletcher, The Causeway, Horsham. than a riding habit and a side saddle, every curve of what constitutes a well made woman’s figure seems out of place on a bicycle. PRESIDENT: Dr Annabelle Hughes Cycling is in fact the most unbecoming innovation possible to the daughter of Eve. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Oliver Palmer, Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP, Nigel Friswell Horsham English Festival There are some things, however, which are so practical, so redolent of common sense, that appearances must be thrust aside, and Jolly times in the town centre on Saturday and Sunday 8-9 May, bicycling is one of them. To a vast number of women cycling has come as a boon. Instead of idling their mornings away with a novel CHAIRMAN VICE CHAIRMAN they are often up and about on their bicycles before breakfast, and the less energetic This position Ian Dockreay when there’ll be English traditional dance, music, local produce, is currently 24 Wimblehurst Road crafts and an historic vehicle rally. The Broadwood Morris Men generally manage a spin before lunch. Life has a fresh charm, some say, headaches are vacant. Horsham RH12 2ED will feature prominently, with beards, bells and no doubt less common and hysterics are on the wane. A healthy relaxation from desk and easel, Tel: (01403) 241582 clutching a pint or two. riding with discretion is an excellent exercise. Hon SECRETARY Hon TREASURER Rod Cuming But bicycle racing for women is deplorable. In the first place it necessitates hard and Roy Bayliss 3 White Horse Road Personal & Professional Service serious training; in the second it is a most terrific strain, and may be most injurious to 15 Patchings Horsham RH12 4UL health. Horsham RH13 5HJ Tel: (01403) 268444 from a company established Tel: (01403) 262262 NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION over 30 years Disclaimer: Before anyone reaches for their pen, can we make it absolutely clear that MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY ORGANISER the Newsletter in no way associates itself with Mrs Tweedie’s views, which are Pat Gale (Mrs) Business Stationery • Brochures • Leaflets Kathy Gleeson republished here simply as an historical curiosity. 46 Bedford Road 13 Millthorpe Road Envelope Printing • Folders • Design • Mailing Horsham RH13 5BJ Roffey RH12 4ER Tel: (01403) 253946 Tel: (01403) 210511 Digital Printing in Colour and Black & White

Horsham Society website: www.horshamsociety.org All major credit cards accepted Editor’s note

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Unit D & Unit 20, Huffwood Trading Estate, Horsham Press Individuals: £5 per year Single Pensioner: £3.25 per year Billingshurst, West Sussex, RH14 9UR igh powered editorial meetings about the Newsletter tend to take place more by Family Membership: £7.50 per year Family Pensioner: £5 per year E-mail: [email protected] www.horshampress.co.uk Businesses: £10 per year Single Life Membership: £100 chance than anything else, usually when I bump into a contributor in Waitrose or Family Life Membership: £150 01403 782776 Hmaybe around the Carfax. The other day I spotted John Bray in the Causeway, so we £2.50 postage is added to the above rates for out-of-town members had a quick chat on the bench outside the Barn – with the happy outcome that I now have a fresh batch of his latest drawings, one of which is featured in its usual location Correspondence relating to the Newsletter and articles for submission on the back page. should be sent to the Editor, Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, Cert no. CU-COC-807273-AE Horsham RH12 1JF. Other communications concerning the Society Copy date for the June issue is 5 May. Woman cyclist in an 1897 advertisement. should, in the first place, go to the Hon Secretary. The Newsletter is published monthly, except for August, and opinions in it, whether the © Individual contributors 2010. No material may be reproduced, copied or stored in a Editor’s or contributors’, are not necessarily the policy of the Society retrieval system without the prior consent of the relevant contributor, which should be sought via the Editor. OUR CONCERN IS THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE TOWN 34 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 39

From the Committee Letters to the Editor AGM who might appreciate membership and the sweetener, to take the edge off things? If Do please write in: letters for publication to Group for the excellent book about the similarity) lit upon the unlikely choice of Newsletter, do ask them to get in touch so it hasn’t worked, at least in this Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, Denne Road cemetery, which I have read Bacon, Elizabethan statesman and ur AGM took place on Thursday 25 with Pat Gale (details on back page) who, household. It’s a bizarre little item, spanning Horsham RH12 1JF. with great interest and fascination. prophet of the scientific revolution. March in the Causeway Barn, and incidentally, is delighted that renewals parts of two calendar years and framed by Oconsidering the poor weather, there was an have gone so well this year. lots of small adverts – so if you need a As a native of Horsham (well, OK, nearly Poor Delia died in a lunatic asylum in excellent turnout. After the main business funeral parlour, or feel the urge for a bit of Oklahoma! I suppose as I came here in 1956!), a 1859, two years after having published was concluded Rear Admiral David Cooke, ‘spray tanning’, or fancy going to a ‘psychic HAODS’ next show is Rodgers and great number of the family names her views, but many others espoused the chief executive and clerk of Christ’s Civic Voice party’, or even decide to buy a ‘wholesale Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! It runs from mentioned were familiar to me, which cause. Another Shakespeare alternative was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Hospital, and his colleague Tony Hogarth- ast month we reported on the demise sturgeon’, then the wallplanner must be 20-24 April at the Capitol and (it says in made the book all the more interesting Oxford, and a certain Mr Looney (yes, Smith, gave an excellent presentation on of the Civic Society, with which we for you. Otherwise it seems a bit pointless. the handout) features lavish costumes, and I am now looking forward to another really) a South Shields school master, the history of their school and its place in were registered, and noted that a new colourful scenery and a live orchestra. visit to the cemetery, book in hand, to L It also lists a very odd selection of high went in to bat on his behalf in a book the educational world today. society had been mooted to take its place. Recent musicals from this group have seek them out! days and holidays (and, on another, pedantic published in 1920. Another character, This is to be called Civic Voice, and is been first rate, so don’t miss this one. level, is quite undecided as to its use of the Well done and congratulations once again Percy Allen, contacted a medium and was planned to be launched on 17 April. The Bookings on 01403 750220, or on online Notes on Christ’s Hospital apostrophe). Apart from the standard Bank to Susan and the others for their efforts able to hold lengthy consultations with organisers are canvassing membership, at www.thecapitolhorsham.com Holidays and so on, it lists Guy Fawkes and diligence in producing the book. the spirits of Shakespeare, Bacon and was founded in 1552 and its but are asking for a not inconsiderable Day (not Night?) and April Fools Day, Oxford, and they confirmed everything to original site was the Greyfriars’ subscription of £500, rising to £800 in with no apostrophe, but St Andrew’s Day Carole Sorrell the satisfaction of the latter’s supporters. Monastery off Newgate Street, in what year two. The committee thinks this is too CH etc with one. For some reason two fairly Holly Close, Horsham was then a pretty insalubrious part of high a price for an untested organisation obscure saints’ days are plucked out of the Indeed the Oxford cause is alive and well London. It was one of three royal hospitals (or even a tested one for that matter) and air and included: St Swithun’s Day on 15 Carole: I agree! See page opposite. Ed. today, and among his leading advocates for which funds were raised by the likes of other groups have voiced a similar opinion. July and St Michaelmas on 29 September. are Sir Derek Jacobi (alongside whom, I Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and it So we will adopt a wait-and-see policy. am proud to say, my stepson has remained there as a charitable foundation, Scurrying to my Dictionary of Saints, I appeared, in The Tempest at the Old Vic, through various building phases, until Shakespeare, Bacon find that the former (of 40 days’ weather or Oxford? a play not written by either Bacon or 1902, when the boys moved to the Council tax fame) was a bishop who died at Winchester Oxford) and Mark Rylance. Horsham site. But it had always been a co- e’ve now had our council tax in 862 and was a a trusted counsellor of ttributing other names to educational establishment, and the girls notifications for 2010-11, and should the Wessex kings Egbert and Ethelwulf. Shakespeare’s work was a particular But I’m afraid I know little about our had moved out of London to Hertford after Wbe pleased, no doubt, that the increase is The latter was of course Michael the A19th century obsession, which gripped own William Henry Smith, except that he the Great Fire, to join the boys in Sussex no more than 2.6%. The documentation Archangel, who had a church dedicated in both academics and those not so academic, now lies buried in Highgate cemetery, much later in 1985. states that HDC’s efficiency savings by his honour near Rome before the 7th and is one which still hits the headlines along with his obsession. BS from time to time today. But I hadn’t Many famous names have been taught at March 2011 (presumably over the previous century, and many others, later, on hill realised until recently that we could boast the school, including Sir Colin Davis, financial year) are forecast at £1.883 tops – including Skirrid Fawr near a follower of such wild goose chases right A-boards Bernard Levin, Edmund Blunden and million, and for once I scrutinised all the Abergavenny. The song Michael, row the here in Horsham. I stumbled across the Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and today it is information to see where the savings had boat ashore probably reflects the tradition HDC has confirmed that the long awaited name of William Henry Smith in an 1896 proud, among many things, of its musical been made, and what effect they might of him being the receiver of the souls of introduction of a new licensing protocol issue of the local paper, when it reported tradition and marching band – 120 strong have on operations. the dead. for A-boards would commence on 1 his death, at the age of 87, in May that – which takes part every year in the Lord March for a period of three months, but in But explanation there was none. It’s good Without the HDC calendar I wouldn’t Lady Fayre request year. He had been living in the Chantry in a subsequent communication to the Mayor’s Show and also features at Lord’s news that costs are being cut, but – have known any of this. Perhaps not so s subscribers to to the Horsham the Causeway, and apparently had moved Society Garry Mortimer-Cook, the cricket ground. confidentiality permitting – we really pointless after all. Society we enjoy the Newsletter and to the town only the previous year. manager responsible, has now stated that It is still a truly charitable establishment, ought to know some of the detail: overall the introduction would be phased as he Athe illustrations, most recently by Peter His belief – and he wasn’t the only one to perhaps more akin to the old grammar staff reductions, what services will be cut needs to talk to individual traders and that Ward. May we suggest, before it closes hold it – was that William Shakespeare school than the public school concept, and or curtailed, how deeply councillors’ More distributors needed this would take time. down, a sketch of Lady Fayre in Market was in fact Francis Bacon, and in 1856 he as many as 97% of its pupils are subsidised. expenses are going to be slashed and so e recently advertised for three Square – with bay trees in pots and some- instigated a ‘special enquiry’ regarding Meanwhile a good number of said traders So it is by no means a place for the on. After all, much of it is our money. To volunteers to help distribute the thing lovely in the window. Speed is of the authorship of the former’s works. In are obstructing the pavements with little wealthy or privileged – but its educational be fair a number of bland categories are Newsletter, and I am delighted to report W the essence! his time he published two books: William consideration for elderly or sight- standards are high, with some 90% of its listed (Leisure & Community Development that all the vacancies were quickly filled. Shakespeare, his Position as Regards the impaired members of the public – Middle 800 plus pupils going on to university. down from £10.007 million (2009-10) to So thank you to the many who responded Bob and Leslie Dommett Plays, and more pithily, Bacon and £9.403 million (2010-11), but that doesn’t – I am most grateful. Since that appeal Compton's Lane, Horsham Street being a particularly egregious Shakespeare. get us very far; nor do statements like another four distributors have retired or example. Let’s hope Mr Mortimer-Cook ‘Already underway is a continuous process gets on with it asap. Lots of new members moved, and so we need someone to Bob and Leslie: Many thanks for your But Delia Bacon (no relation) was the of developing more efficient ways of ince the January issue we have gained deliver around 6-7 copies per month in the note. Peter is on the case, and by the time person who kicked things off. She was doing things so that the Council’s financial no less than 42 new members, which is Forestfield etc area, another to deliver you read this will have completed a draw- born in an American frontier log cabin in County cricket at Horsham position remains resilient’. San excellent start to the year. So thanks around 5 to Norfolk Road, Barttelot Road ing of the shop, which very shortly we 1811 and became a school teacher and Arthur Oddie was the man who first and New Street, another to cover Blunts will include in an issue. Ed. again to everyone for joining, and also to So I’ll be writing to HDC asking a number lecturer. She was sure that Shakespeare, brought the county cricket festival to Way (21 copies) and (another of our hot those regular members who may have of specific questions, and will report back who she judged to be a ‘stupid, illiterate, Horsham back in 1908 and, with one or spots) a fourth to deliver about 25 in the introduced friends and neighbours to the in due course. third rate play-actor’, could not possibly two hiccups, the tradition continues Society. But we’re a greedy lot, and Causeway and Denne Road. Do please Congratulations have written works which manifested today. This year there will be a four day wouldn’t mind another 50 or so before too With the tax notification we all got a call me on 01403 263870 if the idea ay I through your Newsletter offer ‘the last refinement of the highest match against Derbyshire from 18 long (more members, more lobbying ‘complimentary 2010/2011 wallplanner’. appeals. Many thanks. my thanks and congratulations to Parisian breeding’, and for some reason August, and on Sunday 22 August a one power) – so if you know of anyone else Is this supposed to be some form of Brian Slyfield MSusan Djabri and the Local History (not, apparently, because of the surname day match against Somerset. 38 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 35

Review: Horsham Through Time and Waking the Dead Motor tricycle identified both by Susan Djabri n the December 2009 issue we ran a short item about an early English racing driver of the time, on a De Dion Bouton tricycle Horsham Through Time is yet another picture book about the Let’s face it, the picture book formula, as far as Horsham is motor car seen in Horsham in 1896, which caused in May 1899 just before a Paris to Bordeaux race. While we have town, the tenth I now have on my shelves. Publishers like them concerned, is pretty tired, and one gets the overwhelming Iconsiderable interest at the time. We also commented that a permission to publish the picture in the Newsletter, Nick Pellett (in this case Amberley Publishing) because they are stock items impression that this version is no more than a commercially ‘sextuplet’ had been here, which weighed 130 lb and was geared asks that it should not be copied or put on the web. For those who on any local history list, and tend to have a steady sale, driven enterprise. No substantial new editorial ground is broken ‘at 196’, and asked if anyone could make any sense of all this. might be interested, the De Dion Bouton UK Club website is irrespective of how new or inspired the material might be. But – but surely there must be many, so far unseen, good Victorian www.dedionboutonclub.co.uk. others might feel that, in the case of Horsham at least, enough is pictures in the museum archive? A portfolio of genuinely new So I am most grateful to Society member Ken Pritchard Jones now enough, and that no more should appear – unless the images subjects, without all this ‘then and now’ and ‘time and space’ (who acts as solicitor for the Veteran Racing Car Club) for have something genuinely different to offer. business, and an editorial ambition that aims high, might perhaps writing in, and casting light on the subject. He says that the revive the genre here at home. mystery vehicle is unlikely, in fact, to have been a car because of Susan Djabri has had a stab at breaking new ground, but her its very light weight – and it was probably a motor tricycle. efforts are not terribly convincing. She talks of ‘taking the reader Waking the Dead is quite another kettle of fish. It calls itself a These were produced by a number of manufacturers but the most on a tour of the town through time as well as space’, and again pocket guide to Denne Road Cemetery, Horsham’s 19th century common were those made by De Dion Bouton in France. Ken of having attempted to show developments ‘through time’ rather Pantheon, which was opened in 1852, and as such brings points out that they take part today in the London to Brighton run than just ‘then and now’. I think I follow her drift (but mind you, something new to our publishing scene. A team from the Local and are very fast due to to their relatively powerful engines and she and the Museum Society have already done a ‘then and History Group has, as best possible, traced and mapped the graves, light weight. But they are not for the faint hearted, especially as now’), and in this book the Horsham Photographic Society has and the story of the burial ground itself, which broadly speaking the ignition system on early versions was a naked flame burning been recruited to take the modern photographs - but sadly there served the town after St Mary’s was full and before Hill’s between the legs of the rider, so – understandably - many owners is little that is really new in the enterprise. cemetery in the Guildford Road was established, is also set out. have opted to convert them to electrics. The background captions to the scenes, filling in some of the In addition brief sketches of many of the town’s leading Ken has also been in touch with Nick Pellett, chairman of the De historical detail, are generally an informative read, but too many personalities and families buried there are provided, along with a Dion Bouton UK Club, who has given the identification of the of the old pictures chosen have been seen before, starting with good range of supporting illustrations. I’m not sure that the title vehicle some thought and confirms it was probably a DDB the very first page (definitely a ‘then and now’) with one of is quite apposite, but this little book is an original contribution to tricycle. Nick has also been good enough to supply this very rare Denne Road railway bridge in Victorian times. The picture of Horsham’s history, and as such is welcome. BS photograph of Charles Jarrot, who became the most important Charles Jarrot on his De Dion Bouton. Copyright Nick Pellett trees on Horsham Common is interesting but puzzling, and it’s a struggle to spot the signpost and the location of Depot Road, Both Horsham Through Time (£12.99) and Waking the Dead both referred to in the text, which needs to offer the reader more (£5) can be obtained from Horsham Museum. direction through the scene. At the AGM But a true original, and to my mind the best picture of the lot, is that of Dr Padwick sitting on a bench in front of a huge yew bush in his fine North Street garden. It’s got real style, speaks volumes and takes us right back to those leisured days (for some) in the early part of the twentieth century.

The modern views chosen do not show off the Photographic Society’s undoubted skills to any great effect. Most of the pictures tend to be very flat, with little imagination in the portrayal of buildings and views (and that from Denne Hill, no more than a line of trees obscuring the Horsham panorama, and the very gloomy picture of the Arun footbridge, should surely have hit the cutting room floor) – but on the other hand the reflected image of trees on the glass facade of the swimming pool is much more captivating. Dr Padwick at ease in his garden.

An exciting five minutes nder this headline the local paper for 5 September 1896 reported a story that would send shudders of horror through every Health and Safety jobsworth today. It goes as follows: Apparently at 7.45 pm the previous Saturday Mrs Oakes set about lighting the gas Ulamp in the window of her Gun Stores in East Street. Naturally she had to strike a match to do so, and not unreasonably, given the nature of her trade, there was also an unsealed basin in the window, which just happened to be immediately below the lamp, and which held a quantity of gunpowder. This explosive substance was often sold loose in those days. Nigel Friswell (left), with Tony No prizes for guessing what happened next. Sparks from the match ignited the gunpowder, which promptly exploded ‘and caused some Hogarth-Smith and David Cooke. alarm’. Children who were in the shop screamed with fright and a certain Mr P Manvell, a young chap who happened to be passing at the time, proved to be the hero of the hour. He rushed in and tore down a number of ‘bill files’ that had also caught light, and at the same time Mrs Oakes’ son, ‘a lad’, did his best to bundle his mother outside. But all in all, the local paper concluded, ‘no great harm was done’.

I reckon I’ve spotted at least four contraventions of the Health and Safety rules, based on today’s standards. But I bet a man with a clip board and a long list of regulations could identify a good few more. 36 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 37

land, fit for happy bands of cyclists, ramblers and choral singers. The author was influenced by the ideas of William Morris, and emphasised the importance of the arts Robert Blatchford: and the values of the countryside. This pamphlet, described as ‘a plain account of socialism addressed to the working man’, was seen to be an excellent example of campaigning journalist who went from left to right socialist propaganda. It was first produced as a 1/- paperback, and sold 20,000 copies by Brian Slyfield straight away. Later a penny edition was published, and this sold 70,000 copies within the year, was translated into several languages and ended up selling 2,000,000 copies latchford Road is not one of the most elegant parts of world-wide. Horsham, but no doubt is just the ticket if you are running a Bbusiness, or need a decent sized warehouse. Situated off Redkiln As his thinking developed Blatchford took up several positions which clashed with Way, it is part of that small complex of industrial estates between those of his fellow socialists. He became unpopular, for example, because of his support Horsham and Roffey. But much more interestingly, it’s named for the government during the Boer War, and increasingly he spoke out against ‘the after campaigning journalist Robert Blatchford, who after a long German menace’. At first a supporter of women’s rights, he turned against this and energetic career which covered the political spectrum from movement as well, and after the Great War moved steadily to the right and became a left to right, came to live in Horsham around 1921. His home was strong supporter of the Empire. He declared that Stanley Baldwin was Britain’s most The Firs, in nearby King’s Road – and this well set-up house is outstanding politician and supported the Conservative party in the 1924 election. All this still there, the last on the right before the Parsonage Road must have been anathema to his old colleagues back in Manchester. roundabout, and now named Blatchford House. Before his move Again in 1938 he spoke out against the threat of Hitler, and said of Germany that ‘we to Horsham he lived for a year or two in Holmbush Manor. were facing the same old Hun again’. He may have been right – both times – on the German threat, and wrong on the question of women’s emancipation, but he was never Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (so named by his parents after others, raised sufficient capital and founded The Clarion – a afraid to speak out, and roundly declared ‘I am ready to sacrifice socialism for the sake – in their view – a great Tory prime minister) was born in socialist paper that was to have immense influence. It was a of England, but never to sacrifice England for the sake of socialism’. Maidstone on 17 March 1851, and his mother (who was French) penny weekly publication, and using the pen name of and father were both travelling actors. His early career was pretty ‘Nunquam’ (‘Never’) which he had written under earlier, he Blatchford’s socialism was personal, and his ideas were suggestive rather than detailed. He hated plutocratic greed and selfishness but undistinguished, and he had no education to speak of. His father developed a tremendous rapport with its working class wanted a more equal distribution of wealth to be achieved by legislation rather than force. He stressed worker self-improvement, not died when he was only two and later, at the age of fourteen, after readership, and was instrumental in the success of the newspaper class consciousness, and was British to the core. the family had settled in Halifax in 1862, he spent six years - which was affectionately known to one and all as ‘the Perisher’. apprenticed to a brushmaker. But this was not to his liking, and His claim was that The Clarion would follow ‘a policy of In his later days in Horsham he was asked by local activist Glen Hayler, a man who greatly admired him, to come out of retirement after tramping all the way to London he joined the Army – the humanity; a policy not of party, sect or creed; but of justice, of and help the Horsham Labour Party, but he declined to do so, and was reported to be keen to discuss gardening matters, but little else. reason and mercy’. Fine words - but effective ones for the times. 103rd Regiment, Dublin Fusiliers, where he eventually rose to He died at home on 17 December 1943, aged 92, and after a funeral attended by no more than a handful of people, was buried at Hill’s Its first edition sold 40,000 copies, and when in 1895 it moved the rank of sergeant major. cemetery. south to London’s Fleet Street it put on even more sales. By 1908 At the age of 27, in 1878, he left the Army, and after trying his it was selling 80,000 copies an issue. My thanks to Erik Shopland for drawing my attention to the essay on Robert Blatchford by Professor John Osborne of Rutgers hand at a number of jobs (he was a clerk in Northwich for a University. while) found his true metier. He set about educating himself and Blatchford’s forte was in writing rather than making speeches, learnt grammar, shorthand and arithmetic. Thus armed he began and his power as a propagandist lay in his pen. He was reported to write short stories, and joined the London staff of Bell’s Life. as being awkward, shy and ineffective on a platform, but his The next year, in 1885, he landed a job as a leader writer on the writing style was clear and vigorous, and a commentator Horsham’s grand croquet tournament: Balls! Balls! Balls! Sunday Chronicle in Manchester. Five years earlier he had declared that he had the skill ‘to make labourers understand orsham’s 1906 croquet tournament had been so successful that its instigators decided to mount another the following year. So all married Sarah Crossley, a Halifax girl, and they were to have one higher economics’. For a dozen years or more this talent made the necessary arrangements were made for Monday 2 September and subsequent days, the cricket ground was booked and Rev son and two daughters, Winifred and Dorothy, both of whom him Labour’s chief recruiting officer. HRM Rosseter (Hon Sec) and Mr AC Holland (Manager) put in charge. were to remain unmarried. The Clarion lasted until 1934, but in a relatively short life In the way of things in those days, nothing could get going without a heavyweight committee or two, and so a couple were created It was in this Manchester period that he began to make a real engendered an extraordinary range of allied activities, all with a (‘strong and influential’) to mastermind the event. The General Committee boasted no less than 21 members, including Sir Henry and impact. He rapidly became well known for his sketches of Army socialist emphasis, and all under The Clarion’s banner. And so Lady Harben, Miss Innes, Mrs Willis, Colonel Dibley, Lady Bell and Mrs Bigg – all from the grand houses round about, and the referees life and articles on the slums of Manchester. Shocked by the there were scouting groups, rambling societies, choral societies – and handicappers were Sir Collingwood Hughes, Captain Drummond and Mr Holland. This was not a game for the lower orders. and perhaps most famously, Clarion Cycling Clubs. Remember poverty that he found in the industrial working class north, he The local paper announced that ‘the ladies of Horsham’ were to present a silver cup and a silver bowl for two of the categories, and this was the great age of cycling, began to develop a radical Miss Allcard and Mrs Oddie took it upon themselves to provide the pavilion with fresh flowers every day. The resultant effect was and Clarion Clubs developed philosophy and socialist views, much remarked on. which found expression though throughout the country. There his newspaper columns. But this was a missionary zeal about the As for the tournament itself, there were a large number of entries, play was ‘interesting’ and all the games were keenly contested. Apart led to fierce clashes with the whole movement, and these from a number of useful local competitors (notably the Misses K and V Rosseter, Mrs Walter Creyke and Messrs Harrison, Whitmore, Chronicle’s management, and he earnest cyclists spread healthy Otter and Oddie), the event attracted a quality field from far and wide, and it seems that Mr Coningsby Clarke was a particular star. left the paper in 1891, declaring: and vigorous socialism wherever He won two events – but was hard pressed in one of them. The report goes: ‘Mr Clarke had to give Mr Oddie a bisque and it looked ‘you will not have socialism in they went. as if the latter would win, as he peeled and pegged out one of Mr Clarke’s balls, and still had his bisque in hand. However Mr Clarke your paper, and I will not write got in with a splendid long shot, made the rover hoop from about twelve feet off and pegged out, winning by seven points’. Do you anything else’. Around this time Copies of The Clarion were get the drift? he also stood unsuccessfully for carried in their saddle bags, and Parliament. dished out to one and all. But as some form of consolation a local figure, Miss G Rolls Hoare from West Grinstead Park, won the Ladies’ Open, and a certain Blatchford’s newspaper columns CC Lloyd, a spectator, was so moved by the whole occasion that he penned a poem in celebration. It was published in the paper after A year earlier he had founded were so popular that in 1894 a the main report, and is pretty lengthy. It is also so bad (and not, I think, meant to be humorous) that I will only burden you with the the Manchester Fabian Society, collection of them was published first three lines: and the same year that he under the title Merrie England, Balls! Balls! Balls! walked out of the Chronicle he, which conjured up a vision of a Hear those balls, with his brother Montague and pre-industrial green and pleasant Hear the ringing and the knocking of those balls ... Robert Blatchford. 36 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 37

land, fit for happy bands of cyclists, ramblers and choral singers. The author was influenced by the ideas of William Morris, and emphasised the importance of the arts Robert Blatchford: and the values of the countryside. This pamphlet, described as ‘a plain account of socialism addressed to the working man’, was seen to be an excellent example of campaigning journalist who went from left to right socialist propaganda. It was first produced as a 1/- paperback, and sold 20,000 copies by Brian Slyfield straight away. Later a penny edition was published, and this sold 70,000 copies within the year, was translated into several languages and ended up selling 2,000,000 copies latchford Road is not one of the most elegant parts of world-wide. Horsham, but no doubt is just the ticket if you are running a Bbusiness, or need a decent sized warehouse. Situated off Redkiln As his thinking developed Blatchford took up several positions which clashed with Way, it is part of that small complex of industrial estates between those of his fellow socialists. He became unpopular, for example, because of his support Horsham and Roffey. But much more interestingly, it’s named for the government during the Boer War, and increasingly he spoke out against ‘the after campaigning journalist Robert Blatchford, who after a long German menace’. At first a supporter of women’s rights, he turned against this and energetic career which covered the political spectrum from movement as well, and after the Great War moved steadily to the right and became a left to right, came to live in Horsham around 1921. His home was strong supporter of the Empire. He declared that Stanley Baldwin was Britain’s most The Firs, in nearby King’s Road – and this well set-up house is outstanding politician and supported the Conservative party in the 1924 election. All this still there, the last on the right before the Parsonage Road must have been anathema to his old colleagues back in Manchester. roundabout, and now named Blatchford House. Before his move Again in 1938 he spoke out against the threat of Hitler, and said of Germany that ‘we to Horsham he lived for a year or two in Holmbush Manor. were facing the same old Hun again’. He may have been right – both times – on the German threat, and wrong on the question of women’s emancipation, but he was never Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (so named by his parents after others, raised sufficient capital and founded The Clarion – a afraid to speak out, and roundly declared ‘I am ready to sacrifice socialism for the sake – in their view – a great Tory prime minister) was born in socialist paper that was to have immense influence. It was a of England, but never to sacrifice England for the sake of socialism’. Maidstone on 17 March 1851, and his mother (who was French) penny weekly publication, and using the pen name of and father were both travelling actors. His early career was pretty ‘Nunquam’ (‘Never’) which he had written under earlier, he Blatchford’s socialism was personal, and his ideas were suggestive rather than detailed. He hated plutocratic greed and selfishness but undistinguished, and he had no education to speak of. His father developed a tremendous rapport with its working class wanted a more equal distribution of wealth to be achieved by legislation rather than force. He stressed worker self-improvement, not died when he was only two and later, at the age of fourteen, after readership, and was instrumental in the success of the newspaper class consciousness, and was British to the core. the family had settled in Halifax in 1862, he spent six years - which was affectionately known to one and all as ‘the Perisher’. apprenticed to a brushmaker. But this was not to his liking, and His claim was that The Clarion would follow ‘a policy of In his later days in Horsham he was asked by local activist Glen Hayler, a man who greatly admired him, to come out of retirement after tramping all the way to London he joined the Army – the humanity; a policy not of party, sect or creed; but of justice, of and help the Horsham Labour Party, but he declined to do so, and was reported to be keen to discuss gardening matters, but little else. reason and mercy’. Fine words - but effective ones for the times. 103rd Regiment, Dublin Fusiliers, where he eventually rose to He died at home on 17 December 1943, aged 92, and after a funeral attended by no more than a handful of people, was buried at Hill’s Its first edition sold 40,000 copies, and when in 1895 it moved the rank of sergeant major. cemetery. south to London’s Fleet Street it put on even more sales. By 1908 At the age of 27, in 1878, he left the Army, and after trying his it was selling 80,000 copies an issue. My thanks to Erik Shopland for drawing my attention to the essay on Robert Blatchford by Professor John Osborne of Rutgers hand at a number of jobs (he was a clerk in Northwich for a University. while) found his true metier. He set about educating himself and Blatchford’s forte was in writing rather than making speeches, learnt grammar, shorthand and arithmetic. Thus armed he began and his power as a propagandist lay in his pen. He was reported to write short stories, and joined the London staff of Bell’s Life. as being awkward, shy and ineffective on a platform, but his The next year, in 1885, he landed a job as a leader writer on the writing style was clear and vigorous, and a commentator Horsham’s grand croquet tournament: Balls! Balls! Balls! Sunday Chronicle in Manchester. Five years earlier he had declared that he had the skill ‘to make labourers understand orsham’s 1906 croquet tournament had been so successful that its instigators decided to mount another the following year. So all married Sarah Crossley, a Halifax girl, and they were to have one higher economics’. For a dozen years or more this talent made the necessary arrangements were made for Monday 2 September and subsequent days, the cricket ground was booked and Rev son and two daughters, Winifred and Dorothy, both of whom him Labour’s chief recruiting officer. HRM Rosseter (Hon Sec) and Mr AC Holland (Manager) put in charge. were to remain unmarried. The Clarion lasted until 1934, but in a relatively short life In the way of things in those days, nothing could get going without a heavyweight committee or two, and so a couple were created It was in this Manchester period that he began to make a real engendered an extraordinary range of allied activities, all with a (‘strong and influential’) to mastermind the event. The General Committee boasted no less than 21 members, including Sir Henry and impact. He rapidly became well known for his sketches of Army socialist emphasis, and all under The Clarion’s banner. And so Lady Harben, Miss Innes, Mrs Willis, Colonel Dibley, Lady Bell and Mrs Bigg – all from the grand houses round about, and the referees life and articles on the slums of Manchester. Shocked by the there were scouting groups, rambling societies, choral societies – and handicappers were Sir Collingwood Hughes, Captain Drummond and Mr Holland. This was not a game for the lower orders. and perhaps most famously, Clarion Cycling Clubs. Remember poverty that he found in the industrial working class north, he The local paper announced that ‘the ladies of Horsham’ were to present a silver cup and a silver bowl for two of the categories, and this was the great age of cycling, began to develop a radical Miss Allcard and Mrs Oddie took it upon themselves to provide the pavilion with fresh flowers every day. The resultant effect was and Clarion Clubs developed philosophy and socialist views, much remarked on. which found expression though throughout the country. There his newspaper columns. But this was a missionary zeal about the As for the tournament itself, there were a large number of entries, play was ‘interesting’ and all the games were keenly contested. Apart led to fierce clashes with the whole movement, and these from a number of useful local competitors (notably the Misses K and V Rosseter, Mrs Walter Creyke and Messrs Harrison, Whitmore, Chronicle’s management, and he earnest cyclists spread healthy Otter and Oddie), the event attracted a quality field from far and wide, and it seems that Mr Coningsby Clarke was a particular star. left the paper in 1891, declaring: and vigorous socialism wherever He won two events – but was hard pressed in one of them. The report goes: ‘Mr Clarke had to give Mr Oddie a bisque and it looked ‘you will not have socialism in they went. as if the latter would win, as he peeled and pegged out one of Mr Clarke’s balls, and still had his bisque in hand. However Mr Clarke your paper, and I will not write got in with a splendid long shot, made the rover hoop from about twelve feet off and pegged out, winning by seven points’. Do you anything else’. Around this time Copies of The Clarion were get the drift? he also stood unsuccessfully for carried in their saddle bags, and Parliament. dished out to one and all. But as some form of consolation a local figure, Miss G Rolls Hoare from West Grinstead Park, won the Ladies’ Open, and a certain Blatchford’s newspaper columns CC Lloyd, a spectator, was so moved by the whole occasion that he penned a poem in celebration. It was published in the paper after A year earlier he had founded were so popular that in 1894 a the main report, and is pretty lengthy. It is also so bad (and not, I think, meant to be humorous) that I will only burden you with the the Manchester Fabian Society, collection of them was published first three lines: and the same year that he under the title Merrie England, Balls! Balls! Balls! walked out of the Chronicle he, which conjured up a vision of a Hear those balls, with his brother Montague and pre-industrial green and pleasant Hear the ringing and the knocking of those balls ... Robert Blatchford. 38 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 35

I reckon I’ve spotted at least four contraventions of the Health and Safety rules, based on today’s standards. But I bet a man with a clip board and a long list of regulations could identify a good few more. 34 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 39

From the Committee Letters to the Editor AGM who might appreciate membership and the sweetener, to take the edge off things? If Do please write in: letters for publication to Group for the excellent book about the similarity) lit upon the unlikely choice of Newsletter, do ask them to get in touch so it hasn’t worked, at least in this Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, Denne Road cemetery, which I have read Bacon, Elizabethan statesman and ur AGM took place on Thursday 25 with Pat Gale (details on back page) who, household. It’s a bizarre little item, spanning Horsham RH12 1JF. with great interest and fascination. prophet of the scientific revolution. March in the Causeway Barn, and incidentally, is delighted that renewals parts of two calendar years and framed by Oconsidering the poor weather, there was an have gone so well this year. lots of small adverts – so if you need a As a native of Horsham (well, OK, nearly Poor Delia died in a lunatic asylum in excellent turnout. After the main business funeral parlour, or feel the urge for a bit of Oklahoma! I suppose as I came here in 1956!), a 1859, two years after having published was concluded Rear Admiral David Cooke, ‘spray tanning’, or fancy going to a ‘psychic HAODS’ next show is Rodgers and great number of the family names her views, but many others espoused the chief executive and clerk of Christ’s Civic Voice party’, or even decide to buy a ‘wholesale Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! It runs from mentioned were familiar to me, which cause. Another Shakespeare alternative was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Hospital, and his colleague Tony Hogarth- ast month we reported on the demise sturgeon’, then the wallplanner must be 20-24 April at the Capitol and (it says in made the book all the more interesting Oxford, and a certain Mr Looney (yes, Smith, gave an excellent presentation on of the Civic Society, with which we for you. Otherwise it seems a bit pointless. the handout) features lavish costumes, and I am now looking forward to another really) a South Shields school master, the history of their school and its place in were registered, and noted that a new colourful scenery and a live orchestra. visit to the cemetery, book in hand, to L It also lists a very odd selection of high went in to bat on his behalf in a book the educational world today. society had been mooted to take its place. Recent musicals from this group have seek them out! days and holidays (and, on another, pedantic published in 1920. Another character, This is to be called Civic Voice, and is been first rate, so don’t miss this one. level, is quite undecided as to its use of the Well done and congratulations once again Percy Allen, contacted a medium and was planned to be launched on 17 April. The Bookings on 01403 750220, or on online Notes on Christ’s Hospital apostrophe). Apart from the standard Bank to Susan and the others for their efforts able to hold lengthy consultations with organisers are canvassing membership, at www.thecapitolhorsham.com Holidays and so on, it lists Guy Fawkes and diligence in producing the book. the spirits of Shakespeare, Bacon and was founded in 1552 and its but are asking for a not inconsiderable Day (not Night?) and April Fools Day, Oxford, and they confirmed everything to original site was the Greyfriars’ subscription of £500, rising to £800 in with no apostrophe, but St Andrew’s Day Carole Sorrell the satisfaction of the latter’s supporters. Monastery off Newgate Street, in what year two. The committee thinks this is too CH etc with one. For some reason two fairly Holly Close, Horsham was then a pretty insalubrious part of high a price for an untested organisation obscure saints’ days are plucked out of the Indeed the Oxford cause is alive and well London. It was one of three royal hospitals (or even a tested one for that matter) and air and included: St Swithun’s Day on 15 Carole: I agree! See page opposite. Ed. today, and among his leading advocates for which funds were raised by the likes of other groups have voiced a similar opinion. July and St Michaelmas on 29 September. are Sir Derek Jacobi (alongside whom, I Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and it So we will adopt a wait-and-see policy. am proud to say, my stepson has remained there as a charitable foundation, Scurrying to my Dictionary of Saints, I appeared, in The Tempest at the Old Vic, through various building phases, until Shakespeare, Bacon find that the former (of 40 days’ weather or Oxford? a play not written by either Bacon or 1902, when the boys moved to the Council tax fame) was a bishop who died at Winchester Oxford) and Mark Rylance. Horsham site. But it had always been a co- e’ve now had our council tax in 862 and was a a trusted counsellor of ttributing other names to educational establishment, and the girls notifications for 2010-11, and should the Wessex kings Egbert and Ethelwulf. Shakespeare’s work was a particular But I’m afraid I know little about our had moved out of London to Hertford after Wbe pleased, no doubt, that the increase is The latter was of course Michael the A19th century obsession, which gripped own William Henry Smith, except that he the Great Fire, to join the boys in Sussex no more than 2.6%. The documentation Archangel, who had a church dedicated in both academics and those not so academic, now lies buried in Highgate cemetery, much later in 1985. states that HDC’s efficiency savings by his honour near Rome before the 7th and is one which still hits the headlines along with his obsession. BS from time to time today. But I hadn’t Many famous names have been taught at March 2011 (presumably over the previous century, and many others, later, on hill realised until recently that we could boast the school, including Sir Colin Davis, financial year) are forecast at £1.883 tops – including Skirrid Fawr near a follower of such wild goose chases right A-boards Bernard Levin, Edmund Blunden and million, and for once I scrutinised all the Abergavenny. The song Michael, row the here in Horsham. I stumbled across the Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and today it is information to see where the savings had boat ashore probably reflects the tradition HDC has confirmed that the long awaited name of William Henry Smith in an 1896 proud, among many things, of its musical been made, and what effect they might of him being the receiver of the souls of introduction of a new licensing protocol issue of the local paper, when it reported tradition and marching band – 120 strong have on operations. the dead. for A-boards would commence on 1 his death, at the age of 87, in May that – which takes part every year in the Lord March for a period of three months, but in But explanation there was none. It’s good Without the HDC calendar I wouldn’t Lady Fayre request year. He had been living in the Chantry in a subsequent communication to the Mayor’s Show and also features at Lord’s news that costs are being cut, but – have known any of this. Perhaps not so s subscribers to to the Horsham the Causeway, and apparently had moved Society Garry Mortimer-Cook, the cricket ground. confidentiality permitting – we really pointless after all. Society we enjoy the Newsletter and to the town only the previous year. manager responsible, has now stated that It is still a truly charitable establishment, ought to know some of the detail: overall the introduction would be phased as he Athe illustrations, most recently by Peter His belief – and he wasn’t the only one to perhaps more akin to the old grammar staff reductions, what services will be cut needs to talk to individual traders and that Ward. May we suggest, before it closes hold it – was that William Shakespeare school than the public school concept, and or curtailed, how deeply councillors’ More distributors needed this would take time. down, a sketch of Lady Fayre in Market was in fact Francis Bacon, and in 1856 he as many as 97% of its pupils are subsidised. expenses are going to be slashed and so e recently advertised for three Square – with bay trees in pots and some- instigated a ‘special enquiry’ regarding Meanwhile a good number of said traders So it is by no means a place for the on. After all, much of it is our money. To volunteers to help distribute the thing lovely in the window. Speed is of the authorship of the former’s works. In are obstructing the pavements with little wealthy or privileged – but its educational be fair a number of bland categories are Newsletter, and I am delighted to report W the essence! his time he published two books: William consideration for elderly or sight- standards are high, with some 90% of its listed (Leisure & Community Development that all the vacancies were quickly filled. Shakespeare, his Position as Regards the impaired members of the public – Middle 800 plus pupils going on to university. down from £10.007 million (2009-10) to So thank you to the many who responded Bob and Leslie Dommett Plays, and more pithily, Bacon and £9.403 million (2010-11), but that doesn’t – I am most grateful. Since that appeal Compton's Lane, Horsham Street being a particularly egregious Shakespeare. get us very far; nor do statements like another four distributors have retired or example. Let’s hope Mr Mortimer-Cook ‘Already underway is a continuous process gets on with it asap. Lots of new members moved, and so we need someone to Bob and Leslie: Many thanks for your But Delia Bacon (no relation) was the of developing more efficient ways of ince the January issue we have gained deliver around 6-7 copies per month in the note. Peter is on the case, and by the time person who kicked things off. She was doing things so that the Council’s financial no less than 42 new members, which is Forestfield etc area, another to deliver you read this will have completed a draw- born in an American frontier log cabin in County cricket at Horsham position remains resilient’. San excellent start to the year. So thanks around 5 to Norfolk Road, Barttelot Road ing of the shop, which very shortly we 1811 and became a school teacher and Arthur Oddie was the man who first and New Street, another to cover Blunts will include in an issue. Ed. again to everyone for joining, and also to So I’ll be writing to HDC asking a number lecturer. She was sure that Shakespeare, brought the county cricket festival to Way (21 copies) and (another of our hot those regular members who may have of specific questions, and will report back who she judged to be a ‘stupid, illiterate, Horsham back in 1908 and, with one or spots) a fourth to deliver about 25 in the introduced friends and neighbours to the in due course. third rate play-actor’, could not possibly two hiccups, the tradition continues Society. But we’re a greedy lot, and Causeway and Denne Road. Do please Congratulations have written works which manifested today. This year there will be a four day wouldn’t mind another 50 or so before too With the tax notification we all got a call me on 01403 263870 if the idea ay I through your Newsletter offer ‘the last refinement of the highest match against Derbyshire from 18 long (more members, more lobbying ‘complimentary 2010/2011 wallplanner’. appeals. Many thanks. my thanks and congratulations to Parisian breeding’, and for some reason August, and on Sunday 22 August a one power) – so if you know of anyone else Is this supposed to be some form of Brian Slyfield MSusan Djabri and the Local History (not, apparently, because of the surname day match against Somerset. 40 The Horsham Society Newsletter May 2010 Newsletter May 2010

Horsham Society website: www.horshamsociety.org All major credit cards accepted Editor’s note