Newsletter August 2011 Newsletter

64 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 Newsletter

August 2011

Warnham Nature Reserve - over-management or And another thing ... sensible development? Either way, a view lost hile there are plenty of notices at Warnham telling you what you can’t have always been a great fan of the work carried out at Warnham Nature Reserve: W do (don’t do this, don’t do that and definitely the excellent board walks that take you right into a range of varied habitats, the I don’t have a quick ciggy, even in the open feeding station busy with bird life, the hides – and even the coffee shop. But I must air, in some far corner of the reserve), there’s say I was taken aback on a recent visit to see the latest activity there. The open one significant omission: a sightings report. grassland running down to the pond’s edge has been chopped up into a fenced-off Every self-respecting nature reserve has a area, and although you can at the moment still walk across it, the main way to get into daily updated list of interesting species seen, the reserve proper is by being funnelled down a pathway, again fenced. and this is the first thing birdwatchers etc The fine views down to and across the pond have been totally ruined, with an ugly look out for when they arrive. It would have barrier running along the edge of the water, and the whole feeling of the place has included, for example, the elegant common been knocked for six. Whoever masterminded all this clearly had no understanding terns I saw on my last visit, which had found of the beauty of the place – open meadow land, and an uninterrupted view down to their way to Warnham from their winter Group of disturbed grouse from Game Birds and Shooting Sketches by JG Millais. an expanse of placid water and across to reed beds and trees on the far side. All this quarters in South Africa. There used to be a has now been lost, and I, for one, think it’s very sad. list at Warnham, but no longer. Can we have it back, please? So why has it happened? There is talk in a document called the Warnham Local Nature By The Way Reserve Management Plan that access through Mill Meadow had become ‘an issue’ Directory because of uneven ground which becomes ‘wet and muddy’ during the winter, thus Design Awards - New members providing a problem for push chairs and so on. And by fencing off the meadow the plan the winners expresses the hope that it might become a winter grazing ground for wetland birds. This The Horsham Society is an independent body supported by members’ Thank you very much for joining to: Ms Hogan, Cootes Avenue, latter is a pretty desperate hope, as anyone who knows anything about birds knows. subscriptions, a registered charity (No.268949) and affiliated to the Horsham; Mr Chorley, North Heath Lane, Horsham. Campaign to Protect Rural England. We’re not talking Pulborough Brooks here, with wide, empty spaces, and the relatively It is a member of the English Historic Towns Forum. modest field at Warnham will never be a paradise for geese or other foragers. PRESIDENT: Dr Annabelle Hughes Natural history walks As to the former point, you do get mud in the countryside, you know. That’s what it’s VICE-PRESIDENTS: Horsham Natural History Society has two walks next month, on all about. People have been managing to cope with it for years - but now, sadly, it’s Oliver Palmer, Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP, Nigel Friswell, Roy Worskett Thursday 4 August and Thursday 11 August. The first, led by become an ‘issue’. The document also talks about ‘low fencing, carefully placed to Linda Kosica, is an easy one in a lovely area just over the border have minimum visual impact on the area’. Just take a look at the place for yourself, CHAIRMAN VICE CHAIRMAN David Moore Ian Dockreay in Surrey (meet at Albury Heath cricket ground) and the second, and make your own mind up. 99b Swindon Road 24 Wimblehurst Road also easy, is led by Gary Cooper and is centred around Warnham Horsham RH12 6HF Horsham RH12 2ED and the deer park. These are evening walks, starting at 7pm, and It also seems as if the whole meadow area will now be forbidden to walkers during Tel: (01403) 261640 Tel: (01403) 241582 for more details and membership contact Oliver Farley on 01403 the winter, and no longer can anyone walk freely down to the pond’s margins, as [email protected] many remember doing in those halycon days before council committees started to ast month we reported on a new initia- Hon SECRETARY 241458. Hon TREASURER meddle with nature, under the intrusive guise of ‘conservation’. Up to now Warnham Ltive, the Society’s Design Awards and Rod Cuming Roy Bayliss 3 White Horse Road has been thoughtfully managed, but through excessive fiddling about, one of the area’s Commendations project, launched to 15 Patchings Horsham RH12 4UL recognise the very best in local buildings and Horsham RH13 5HJ Personal & Professional Service finest views has been destroyed. The heart has been knocked out of the place. It’s a Tel: (01403) 268444 Tel: (01403) 262262 great shame and apart from anything else, how on earth could they afford it? BS conversions. I’m pleased to say it has met [email protected] from a company established with approval all round, and an illustrated MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Pat Gale (Mrs) DISTRIBUTION ORGANISER over 30 years Ugly barrier and no view. report, with details of the winners, appears 46 Bedford Road Kathy Gleeson on page 59. Horsham RH13 5BJ 13 Millthorpe Road Business Stationery • Brochures • Leaflets Tel: (01403) 253946 Roffey RH12 4ER Envelope Printing • Folders • Design • Mailing [email protected] Tel: (01403) 210511 Digital Printing in Colour and Black & White Editor’s note Horsham Society website: www.horshamsociety.org All major credit cards accepted e’re now heading for the summer ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Unit D & Unit 20, Huffwood Trading Estate, Horsham Press recess, and the next issue will be dated Billingshurst, West Sussex, RH14 9UR W Individuals: £5 per year Single Pensioner: £3.25 per year Family Membership : £7.50 per year Family Pensioner: £5 per year E-mail: [email protected] www.printedword.co.uk October, available around 25 September. If Businesses: £10 per year Single Life Membership: £100 you’re travelling on holiday, have a great Family Life Membership: £150 01403 782776 time, and if you’re staying at home, likewise. £5.00 postage is added to the above rates for out-of-town members. See you after the break.

Correspondence and other Newsletter matters should be sent to the The copy date for the October issue is 3 Editor, Arun House, Denne Road, Horsham RH12 1JF (Tel: 01403 263870, Printed on paper from sustainable sources. September. email via: [email protected]). Other communications concerning the Society should go to the Hon Secretary. The Newsletter is published monthly (except August) and opinions in it, whether the © Individual contributors 2011. No material may be reproduced, copied or stored in a Editor’s or contributors’, are not necessarily those 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 58 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 63

From the committee Letters Etc.

Do please write in: letters for publi cation to After a long wait the goods and the gift released over 80 harvest mice into the A cure for street clutter? But we have now moved on, and it’s Agates in East Street, and the second hand Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, arrived, but, of course, no money. I still wild at Chesworth Farm, in the hope that restaurants. restaurants, restaurants these booksellers. Horsham RH12 1JF. receive letters from them, offering various the species will become established there. e all know there are far too many days. No harm in that, but let’s hope ASK sums of money. Sometimes they include a Apparently females give birth to litters of street signs, and now hear that, Paul and the family are keen cyclists so it W brings a different spin to what’s already sheet of pictures of alleged winners. A three-eight young after 17-19 days of under the Government’s newly announced is unsurprising that he says, “It’s available. There’s enough pasta and pizza A saucy question more miserable-looking bunch would be pregnancy, and with the right conditions a Localism Bill, we can do something about disappointing that the Council’s cycling around already. hard to imagine. At least I did not lose single pair might have three litters a year. it. Apparently residents will be able (yes, strategy never came to much, leaving the found the article about Evershed and anything. The young become independent of their really) to get rid of unsightly street clutter town cut off from the countryside”. He I Cripps very interesting, especially the Miss R Reeves parents after 16 days – but little ones, do - bollards, railings, signs and hoardings. explains “There are very few places on the price lists. May I draw your attention to A24/A264 where it is possible for cyclists page 22 of the Churchman’s Almanack Burford Road, Horsham watch out for hunting barn owls. And the All that needs to happen is that a to cross safely, creating a terrible and in particular to the mention of creatures really are little, weighing less minimum of 21 get together to draw up a disincentive for families with children to ‘Horsham’ under ‘Sauces’. I am fascinated than a 2p coin at maturity, and most live ‘neighbourhood development plan’ to go out into the country other than by car”. to know what type of sauce this was and if Autumn gems just a few months at the longest. If redesign their local area. The plans then it was locally produced. Does anyone e’ve a talk this autumn on predatory birds don’t get them, then a cold have to be put to a local referendum, Paul remembers the days when the Society know? Wgemstones – a topic we haven’t winter could well do. Oh dear. But let’s which if carried by a majority has to be campaigned about the town centre re- Beryl Dold via email tried before – and as there’s no September hope the experiment works and a viable adopted by the council. The latter also has development plans and reflects on the fact dated issue here’s plenty of advance colony is created. to pay for the referendum and the costs of the Forum still needs some sort of focus. Beryl: I think I can answer this one. I warning. It will be, as usual, in the removing the clutter. Resiting the market might help but, what- wrote a short item back in December 2002 Boarded up no longer? Causeway Barn at 7.30 pm on Thursday 6 ever is done, it is important not to jeopardise about a chap called W Redman who in October, and as Wakefields the jewellers We read that developers’ plans for new the future of our excellent town markets. 1875, a year before the Churchman’s price celebrates its centenary as a Horsham estates can be influenced, but community A member’s point of list, was knocking out his own sauce in a business this year it seemed appropriate to initiatives must be ‘legally compliant’ to back room of the Bedford pub, behind the ask Melanie Wakefield to share with us stop people getting rid of safety features view: Paul Fletcher Committee change station. He sounds an enterprising chap, her love of the subject. such as essential traffic lights or zebra n 1987, Paul moved to Horsham from here’s a minor change in the com- and his advert in the local paper went like crossing lights. New local history books I Faversham where he had been a mem- Tmittee line-up, in that yours truly has this: Redman’s appetite finder: the superior Why is quality jewellery so expensive? ber of the Faversham Society – similar to decided to stand down from now on. B S Where did this love affair with gems wo new local history books have It all sounds fine and dandy. Let’s see Bedford Hotel sauce, patronised by all the Horsham Society, but with a very originate from? How does Wakefields get appeared recently, and both will be of what happens. commercials, for roast meats, steaks, T active social side. So, in 1988 he joined Sussex Artists chops, cutlets, fish, game, gravy and soup. its precious stones? Where do they come interest. First there’s Winning the Clay , the Horsham Society and is now a May be obtained of all grocers and of the from and is there an endless supply? How co-authored by Catherine Andrews and longstanding member of the executive This year’s Association of Sussex Artists sole manufacturer W Redman, Bedford do they get from their source to the end Patsy Laker and published by Southwater committee. Exhibition runs from 11-20 August at Hotel, Horsham. I bet this was our man, product? Local History Group – one of the more Horsham’s Drill Hall, so do come along and no doubt anchovies (which the lively of such organisations around – an Paul is an electrical engineer who designs Melanie will tell us all about this (admission free). There are always Victorians absolutely adored) featured illustrated history of brickmaking in the power systems (think of the National Grid) fascinating subject and even. bring some paintings of quality by a number of local somewhere in the recipe. Ed. village. The Southwater brickworks was and, like many residents, was originally people, as well as pottery and sculpture – with her for us to look at – but active from 1890-1983 on a site which is attracted to the town because it was and in the latter category this year is work unfortunately I don’t think she’s bringing now a country park, and was for some convenient for travel to work. Although by two exceptional sculptresses: Marilyn More cautionary tales any free samples. It should be a most time a major employer, along with other he now works in Brighton, the family is Panto and Sandy Medany. he article headed Beware! in the July interesting pictorial and not too technical works in the area, such as Warnham. The firmly settled in Horsham which has been Tissue reminded me of a couple of tour of the world of gemstones and it’s book features an attractive painting on its an ideal place to bring up children: with postal scams. My first attempt at scam- certainly not a talk to be missed. Do come cover – a depiction by Hazel Barnard of King’s Head saga good schools and plenty of sports and Chinese Brush busting happened some years ago. I saw and by all means bring a friend with you. the works as it probably appeared between recreation facilities for youngsters. “It’s Painting anyone? an advertisement in a magazine for a book There will be tea and coffee available 1903-14, and copies of the publication can t looks as if the King’s Head saga is large enough to have all the services you costing £3.50 and decided to send for it. I from 7.00 pm. DM be obtained from Horsham Museum or I lumbering to a conclusion, with work need from week to week, but not so large est Sussex Adult Community waited several weeks, during which I Southwater Local History Group. Visit the now underway to convert it into a that you live in a distant suburb”, he says. WLearning Service is running an received letters saying more copies had to Food, glorious food website at www.southwaterhistory.co.uk restaurant. An outfit called ASK (don’t ask However, he feels the town is slowly eclectic range of courses through from be ordered. Eventually, when neither the why) plans to launch an Italian eating losing some of its character. He fondly September 2011 - July 2012, and its book nor my money arrived, I wrote to the he Horsham District Food and Drink Secondly there’s Memories of Mannings place there, and we must all welcome the remembers old fashioned shops like programme is well worth studying (call magazine and had the advertisement re- TFestival runs from 3 September –2 Heath , this time by Tony Turner, a local fact. It’s been seven long years since there 01403 229200 for details). If you’re really moved. Later, when it appeared in another October, so there’s plenty of opportunity resident with an excellent track record for was any life in the place, and open doors sensible you can get stuck into Basic magazine, I had it removed from that as to join in. It’s a month-long celebration of documenting the history of his patch. It and people going through them, in what is Plumbing, if you’re feeling frazzled why well. good things, and there are special events, contains a wealth of maps, photos and at the moment a dead zone on the corner not go for Confidence Building or even offers and much more. For further details several watercolours by local artist of the of the Carfax and East Street, must be Tai Chi and Meditation and if you fancy More recently I received a letter from a visit www.horshamlocalproduce.co.uk. 1920s, Henry Browning, and by utilising good news. taking off for the Mediterranean there’s company saying I had ‘won’ £15,000. the 1841 Tithe Map and the census for that Spanish, French or Italian on offer. For There were three ways to receive the Harvest mice at Chesworth year focuses on what the village was like Back in the late 1950s/early 60s, the something really different try Chinese money - by cheque, in cash delivered to at the time, and who its inhabitants were. King’s Head on a Saturday lunchtime was Brush Painting – but I’m a bit suspicious the door (!) or, wait for it, sending my he July/August issue of the Horsham There are also over a dozen accounts from the hub of Horsham’s young set, with the about Creative Writing, and take the old- bank details. The letter was on its way to TNatural History Society’s newsletter people who have known the village since Wee Willie bar (another odd name; again fashioned view that if you’re not already the bin, when a picture of a free gift, a cat- reports on an interesting initiative by its then. Copies, price £15, can be obtained don’t ask) packed out and everyone up to it, you can’t be taught it. Did James shaped pendant, fell out. I decided to buy fellow organisation, the Friends of Warn- from Tony on 01403 269141 or email looking for a party that night. Happy days. Joyce need an eleven-week course? a few small items so as to obtain the gift. ham Local Nature Reserve. The latter has [email protected] 62 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 59 had to break out a trail for the horses, one of which, when they operated by the maxim ‘what’s hit is history; what’s missed is were pushing for the Dease Lake Mountains, got trapped in a mystery’, and the Victorians saw little distinction between a deep Design Awards and Commendations bog, sinking so low that only its head was visible. After a one- love of nature on the one hand and the killing of animals, the and-a-half hour’s struggle they decided to make a form of spade collecting of birds’ eggs and the stuffing of birds on the other. number of presentations have now been made to our winners from a fir tree, and with the help of this crude implement While this behaviour might well be alien to us today, it was quite A(and there is one still to go). Apart from the formal side of managed to clear away the mud to one side of the horse, then fill acceptable then, and that must be the context within which we things – the presentation of framed certificates by Society the gap with branches, and so by dint of strenuously rolling the should view Millais and his activities. And we must not forget, of chairman David Moore – they were all delightful and relaxed animal over, eventually managed to free it. Sounds like an course, that his legacy to us has been some of the finest depictions social occasions as well, and recipients were pleased to see the absolute nightmare. of animals, birds and plants that the world has ever seen. good work they and their organisations had put in publicly recognised in this way. But to the intrepid Millais it was all worthwhile. He had secured ‘some splendid horns, the blue riband of the woods’, he had Awards go to Horsham District Council for The Bus Station killed his grizzlies, and he had spent his time in ‘what to him was and The Capitol , to Medex for The Old Grain Store and to most loveable on earth, in the air and in the sea’. Strada restaurant . In addition the judges awarded a Commendation to Wabi restaurant . On a more homely, but still interesting, level, he reported in the The Bus Station was praised for its construction as a free- July 1910 issue of British Birds that he had seen crossbills standing, transparent structure in outstanding contemporary style, Wabi chef and MD, Scott Hallsworth. flocking ‘in old Scotch firs’ near Compton’s Brow in April-May, which is both elegant and functional; The Capitol for the creation an unusual sight as this was nesting time and early for this type of a transformed theatre with its art deco/rococo decoration, and of activity, even though the species was known to be gregarious. the impressive addition of a two storey glass atrium to the original A local sighting of crossbills today would be a very unusual sight facade; The Old Grain Store for the thoughtful development of at any time of year. an old building for modern office use, with its restoration of original features, the addition of sympathetic new ones and a Millais died suddenly, aged 66 and on his birthday, 24 March sensational interior design; Strada for extensive and sensitive 1931, and there was a simple family funeral at Warnham, renovation work to a landmark building, creating a quality interior presided over by the Rev. F. S. Farebrother from Horsham. Faru! Faru! and exterior, and resulting in a valued contribution to the character of the area; and Wabi for a most interesting conversion of a So what, finally, should we make of that most contentious issue – building with Victorian/Edwardian features, which has respected his attitude to the natural world, his concern for it, but at the its heritage while creating an imaginative and contemporary look. same time his destruction of it? Men like Millais make today’s conservationists flutter their hands in horror, of course, but autre Future Awards and Commendations will be made as and when there temps, autres moeurs , as the French would say. Naturalists then is good reason, rather than on an automatic annual basis.

Capercaillie.

Frances Millais remembered One Horsham resident remembers, as a six year old girl, visiting Compton’s Brow and meeting Frances Millais in the 1930s when Lions chasing a Koodoo Bull. the lady was a widow. In contrast to Mrs Courage (from the HDC chairman Claire Vickers receives two Awards from David Moore. brewing family), who lived at nearby Compton’s Lea and ‘a more contrary person it would have been hard to find’, Mrs Millais was ‘a truly delightful lady’. But she seemed to live in fairly straightened circumstances, with just one elderly maid who had been with her for years, and a man who came in to mow the grass and keep the shrubs, which her husband had brought back from his travels, under control. Those splendid rhododendrons and azaleas are still a feature of the area. One day, with a friend, the six year-old was collecting moss from The winners, from the top: The Bus beside a path which was within sight of Mrs Millais’ window, Station; The Capitol; The Old Grain when the latter came out to ask what they needed the moss for. Store; Wabi; Strada. The answer was that the girls were keen on making miniature gardens, and the moss was intended to represent the lawns. They were invited in and given a tour of Mrs Millais’ own garden, and Thanks to Chris Smith she sent them home with an enormous bunch of flowers each. for the presentation photos. Mt. Kilimanjaro from the North. Medex director Andrea Bradley with David Moore. 60 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 61

At this point he fitted out his expedition with five horses and two John Guille Millais and his 3,000 dead birds Indian guides, one a professional moose hunter from the Liard River, and the other a native from the Tahitian tribe. The journey by Brian Slyfield was now overland, and the party made slow progress for another 150 miles to the south-east of Dease Lake in the Rockies, near the head of the Yukon River. Here they spent two weeks hunting ohn Guille Millais, explorer, naturalist and closed drawers protected it from fading in the in what Millais lightly described as ‘bad weather’, and he was Jauthor, was the fourth son of the famous painter sunlight. I am told that Horsham Museum threw able to shoot two moose and two caribou, which he was happy to Sir John Everett Millais, and for a good part of his out a number of specimens some years ago, and it claim were ‘exceptional specimens’. life lived off Compton’s Lane at a house called might just be that they were from the Millais Compton’s Brow (now long demolished), together collection. Let’s hope not – but whatever their He found himself back at Telegraph Creek around 23 September, with his private museum and a collection of 150 origin, they should of course, if in good condition, and his next task was to find another Indian guide who knew that heads of deer and over 3,000 birds (either stuffed or have been offered to an institution such as the part of the Stikine River ‘where bears were to be found’. But this was no easy task, as bear-hunting guides were few and far skinned). Before we take a closer look at this Rothschild Museum at Tring. A catalogue entry. remarkable man and the no less remarkable between. The grizzlies’ reputation was fearsome, and no sensible contents of his house, a word or two about his Millais travelled extensively in pursuit of his local would want to put himself in the path of such a natural illustrious father. interests, and the roll-call of the territories he aggressor. But eventually a man was found – and he must have explored is equally long: Iceland, Newfoundland been a good one, because in the space of four days they found Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) came to (in 1902 he was the first to explore and map 100 three bears, and killed two. One was nine feet in height, and London from Jersey with his parents in 1837 and square miles of the interior, and Millais Lake is needed four shots from Millais, before ‘falling to his magazine’. rapidly made a name for himself as a painter. named after him), Norway, Canada, Alaska, the But it seems that the hard work was only just beginning, as they Together with Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Carpathians, western America, and north-east, then took three days in skinning and dissecting the bodies – ‘a Rossetti he founded the Pre-Raphaelite south and central Africa. He was a tough, energetic toilsome task’. Brotherhood in 1848-49, and was responsible for and restless man. some of the movement’s greatest masterpieces, A canoe took them and the bearskins swiftly back down the such as Lorenzo and Isabella , Mariana and The He also left a considerable legacy of fine books Stikine; they managed to do 80 miles in one day, but then had to Blind Girl . John Ruskin gave the group his seal of behind him. His first was Game Birds and Shooting wait a week on the coast for the steamer to arrive to take Millais approval, and Millais later produced more popular Sketches (1892), and others in the same vein back to Vancouver. and overtly sentimental paintings such as The included A Breath from the Veldt (1895), based on Boyhood of Raleigh and Bubbles . He also became a John Guille Millais his South African sojourn, and Newfoundland and In his own hand. He made particular comment on how bad the weather had been, fashionable society portrait painter, and counted its Untrodden Ways (1907). All are desirable with lots of early snow – apparently two- and-a-half feet of it on Gladstone, Tennyson and Carlyle among his sitters. collectors’ items today, but none more so than his A good way to get a flavour of the man is to accompany him on the mountains on 10 September. The year before a man had died His enormous success brought considerable wealth, and in the fine folio studies of birds, animals and plants, which are among one of his many expeditions, and we can do this, of course, by there in similar conditions. 1880s his income was estimated at £30,000 a year – a huge sum the best of their kind. A set of the two-volume British Diving digging into his travel books. But thanks to an enterprising for the times. He had the additional distinction of being the first Ducks (1913), for example, was recently on sale for £6,200, and reporter from the West Sussex County Times , who sat down with Millais thought it had been the roughest trip he had made in the English artist to be made a baronet. a copy of his limited edition Wild Life in Africa (1928) for about Millais one day at Compton’s Brow just after he had returned last twenty years, and the worst bit had been the stretch after £10,000. Prices of £1,000 and upwards are routine for volumes from his latest trip, we can learn about one of these expeditions, leaving Telegraph Creek. All along the way the Indian guides had His son was born in London on 24 March 1865, and was such as British Deer and Their Horns (1897). as it were, hot off the press. educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as a lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry and the It is said that no contemporary artist could equal him for It went something like this. In mid-October 1908 Millais Seaforth Highlanders between 1883 -1892, and after he resigned portraying animals and birds in action, and he was much in returned home from a four-month expedition to Alaska, where he his commission went to South Africa for a while. He later rose to demand as well as an illustrator of books on sport and natural had been invited by the British Columbia government to report the rank of lieutenant commander in the RNVR, and was prone history, such as the Badminton Library . He also collaborated on the natural resources of the north country, its scenery, wildlife to label himself ‘a jack of all trades’, prepared to serve as with other well-known artists, and had a fruitful partnership with and flora, and its ‘general stability for emigration’. They had soldier or sailor. He was both man of action and creative spirit – the great Archibald Thorburn in volumes such as The Natural been impressed by his earlier work on Newfoundland, and so he in that very Victorian way – and his curriculum vitae had many History of the British Surface-feeding Ducks (1902), and The set off on 8 July: next stop - Vancouver. His journey was to take strings to its bow: soldier, sailor, explorer, hunter, wildlife artist, Natural History of British Game Birds (1909). him a distance of some 8,000 miles, and he told our local reporter writer, naturalist, plantsman, animal sculptor and even landscape that (apart from any obligatory survey work for the government), artist. He married Frances, the second daughter of P. G. Skinwith, and he was particularly anxious to bag ‘the big moose of Alaska’, as they came to live in Horsham in the late 1890s, where their first well as caribou, that lived at a height of 6,000-8,000 feet among In his childhood he had spent much time on family property in address was Melwood in Rusper Road. But this was no more the snow-covered mountains and if he was very lucky, a grizzly Scotland, and taught himself to be a sharp observer of the natural than a stop-gap, for soon afterwards, in 1902, they moved to the bear or two. This seemed his main focus. world – as well as a sharp shot. He was later to boast (in a way newly-built Compton’s Brow, which was to remain the family calculated to make today’s birders shiver) ‘in the course of home for the rest of his life. His family name is, of course, When he got to Vancouver he had to wait a while for the steamer twenty-five years I killed every British bird it is possible to retained in today’s naming of ‘Millais’ as a Horsham road, and to take him up the coast, and so – not to miss a single obtain in our islands, beyond rare visitors, with the exception of the many rhododendrons that still grace that area are a reminder opportunity – he spent a pleasant few days with rod and line on curlew sandpiper in full breeding plumage’. This, then, was the of how splendid his gardens on the same site, which he Vancouver Island, where he caught three fine salmon, each source of his 3,000 bird collection at Compton’s Brow. developed with care, must once have been. He also bought land weighing over 50lbs. One of these splendid fish, landed on 12 in St Leonard’s Forest. August, a massive 59 pounder, now resides in a glass case in the He was reckoned to be a dead shot with a catapult, and claimed hallway of Horsham Museum – all the way from the clear cold to have killed many of the specimens in his collection this way, Between them John and Frances had three children, two sons and waters of the Campbell River, and in its case for more than 100 particularly small birds, and to have stunned larger ones, from one daughter. Of the sons, Geoffrey was killed in the Great War years. Eventually he got to Fort Wrangell ‘in American Alaska’, cormorants to Rocky Mountain blue grouse. His museum in 1918, a lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment, and Hesketh and then transferred to a small river steamer that took him inland collection was stored in filing cabinets, with a glass top to each Raoul (known generally as ‘Raoul’) was later to travel extensively up the Stikine for 150 miles to an Indian post called Telegraph drawer. Each skin was stuffed with a little cotton wool, and the with his father, and collaborated with him on many of his books. Creek. A Hadendowa tribesman, from Far Away Up The Nile . 60 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 61

At this point he fitted out his expedition with five horses and two John Guille Millais and his 3,000 dead birds Indian guides, one a professional moose hunter from the Liard River, and the other a native from the Tahitian tribe. The journey by Brian Slyfield was now overland, and the party made slow progress for another 150 miles to the south-east of Dease Lake in the Rockies, near the head of the Yukon River. Here they spent two weeks hunting ohn Guille Millais, explorer, naturalist and closed drawers protected it from fading in the in what Millais lightly described as ‘bad weather’, and he was Jauthor, was the fourth son of the famous painter sunlight. I am told that Horsham Museum threw able to shoot two moose and two caribou, which he was happy to Sir John Everett Millais, and for a good part of his out a number of specimens some years ago, and it claim were ‘exceptional specimens’. life lived off Compton’s Lane at a house called might just be that they were from the Millais Compton’s Brow (now long demolished), together collection. Let’s hope not – but whatever their He found himself back at Telegraph Creek around 23 September, with his private museum and a collection of 150 origin, they should of course, if in good condition, and his next task was to find another Indian guide who knew that heads of deer and over 3,000 birds (either stuffed or have been offered to an institution such as the part of the Stikine River ‘where bears were to be found’. But this was no easy task, as bear-hunting guides were few and far skinned). Before we take a closer look at this Rothschild Museum at Tring. A catalogue entry. remarkable man and the no less remarkable between. The grizzlies’ reputation was fearsome, and no sensible contents of his house, a word or two about his Millais travelled extensively in pursuit of his local would want to put himself in the path of such a natural illustrious father. interests, and the roll-call of the territories he aggressor. But eventually a man was found – and he must have explored is equally long: Iceland, Newfoundland been a good one, because in the space of four days they found Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) came to (in 1902 he was the first to explore and map 100 three bears, and killed two. One was nine feet in height, and London from Jersey with his parents in 1837 and square miles of the interior, and Millais Lake is needed four shots from Millais, before ‘falling to his magazine’. rapidly made a name for himself as a painter. named after him), Norway, Canada, Alaska, the But it seems that the hard work was only just beginning, as they Together with Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Carpathians, western America, and north-east, then took three days in skinning and dissecting the bodies – ‘a Rossetti he founded the Pre-Raphaelite south and central Africa. He was a tough, energetic toilsome task’. Brotherhood in 1848-49, and was responsible for and restless man. some of the movement’s greatest masterpieces, A canoe took them and the bearskins swiftly back down the such as Lorenzo and Isabella , Mariana and The He also left a considerable legacy of fine books Stikine; they managed to do 80 miles in one day, but then had to Blind Girl . John Ruskin gave the group his seal of behind him. His first was Game Birds and Shooting wait a week on the coast for the steamer to arrive to take Millais approval, and Millais later produced more popular Sketches (1892), and others in the same vein back to Vancouver. and overtly sentimental paintings such as The included A Breath from the Veldt (1895), based on Boyhood of Raleigh and Bubbles . He also became a John Guille Millais his South African sojourn, and Newfoundland and In his own hand. He made particular comment on how bad the weather had been, fashionable society portrait painter, and counted its Untrodden Ways (1907). All are desirable with lots of early snow – apparently two- and-a-half feet of it on Gladstone, Tennyson and Carlyle among his sitters. collectors’ items today, but none more so than his A good way to get a flavour of the man is to accompany him on the mountains on 10 September. The year before a man had died His enormous success brought considerable wealth, and in the fine folio studies of birds, animals and plants, which are among one of his many expeditions, and we can do this, of course, by there in similar conditions. 1880s his income was estimated at £30,000 a year – a huge sum the best of their kind. A set of the two-volume British Diving digging into his travel books. But thanks to an enterprising for the times. He had the additional distinction of being the first Ducks (1913), for example, was recently on sale for £6,200, and reporter from the West Sussex County Times , who sat down with Millais thought it had been the roughest trip he had made in the English artist to be made a baronet. a copy of his limited edition Wild Life in Africa (1928) for about Millais one day at Compton’s Brow just after he had returned last twenty years, and the worst bit had been the stretch after £10,000. Prices of £1,000 and upwards are routine for volumes from his latest trip, we can learn about one of these expeditions, leaving Telegraph Creek. All along the way the Indian guides had His son was born in London on 24 March 1865, and was such as British Deer and Their Horns (1897). as it were, hot off the press. educated at Marlborough and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as a lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry and the It is said that no contemporary artist could equal him for It went something like this. In mid-October 1908 Millais Seaforth Highlanders between 1883 -1892, and after he resigned portraying animals and birds in action, and he was much in returned home from a four-month expedition to Alaska, where he his commission went to South Africa for a while. He later rose to demand as well as an illustrator of books on sport and natural had been invited by the British Columbia government to report the rank of lieutenant commander in the RNVR, and was prone history, such as the Badminton Library . He also collaborated on the natural resources of the north country, its scenery, wildlife to label himself ‘a jack of all trades’, prepared to serve as with other well-known artists, and had a fruitful partnership with and flora, and its ‘general stability for emigration’. They had soldier or sailor. He was both man of action and creative spirit – the great Archibald Thorburn in volumes such as The Natural been impressed by his earlier work on Newfoundland, and so he in that very Victorian way – and his curriculum vitae had many History of the British Surface-feeding Ducks (1902), and The set off on 8 July: next stop - Vancouver. His journey was to take strings to its bow: soldier, sailor, explorer, hunter, wildlife artist, Natural History of British Game Birds (1909). him a distance of some 8,000 miles, and he told our local reporter writer, naturalist, plantsman, animal sculptor and even landscape that (apart from any obligatory survey work for the government), artist. He married Frances, the second daughter of P. G. Skinwith, and he was particularly anxious to bag ‘the big moose of Alaska’, as they came to live in Horsham in the late 1890s, where their first well as caribou, that lived at a height of 6,000-8,000 feet among In his childhood he had spent much time on family property in address was Melwood in Rusper Road. But this was no more the snow-covered mountains and if he was very lucky, a grizzly Scotland, and taught himself to be a sharp observer of the natural than a stop-gap, for soon afterwards, in 1902, they moved to the bear or two. This seemed his main focus. world – as well as a sharp shot. He was later to boast (in a way newly-built Compton’s Brow, which was to remain the family calculated to make today’s birders shiver) ‘in the course of home for the rest of his life. His family name is, of course, When he got to Vancouver he had to wait a while for the steamer twenty-five years I killed every British bird it is possible to retained in today’s naming of ‘Millais’ as a Horsham road, and to take him up the coast, and so – not to miss a single obtain in our islands, beyond rare visitors, with the exception of the many rhododendrons that still grace that area are a reminder opportunity – he spent a pleasant few days with rod and line on curlew sandpiper in full breeding plumage’. This, then, was the of how splendid his gardens on the same site, which he Vancouver Island, where he caught three fine salmon, each source of his 3,000 bird collection at Compton’s Brow. developed with care, must once have been. He also bought land weighing over 50lbs. One of these splendid fish, landed on 12 in St Leonard’s Forest. August, a massive 59 pounder, now resides in a glass case in the He was reckoned to be a dead shot with a catapult, and claimed hallway of Horsham Museum – all the way from the clear cold to have killed many of the specimens in his collection this way, Between them John and Frances had three children, two sons and waters of the Campbell River, and in its case for more than 100 particularly small birds, and to have stunned larger ones, from one daughter. Of the sons, Geoffrey was killed in the Great War years. Eventually he got to Fort Wrangell ‘in American Alaska’, cormorants to Rocky Mountain blue grouse. His museum in 1918, a lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment, and Hesketh and then transferred to a small river steamer that took him inland collection was stored in filing cabinets, with a glass top to each Raoul (known generally as ‘Raoul’) was later to travel extensively up the Stikine for 150 miles to an Indian post called Telegraph drawer. Each skin was stuffed with a little cotton wool, and the with his father, and collaborated with him on many of his books. Creek. A Hadendowa tribesman, from Far Away Up The Nile . 62 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 59 had to break out a trail for the horses, one of which, when they operated by the maxim ‘what’s hit is history; what’s missed is were pushing for the Dease Lake Mountains, got trapped in a mystery’, and the Victorians saw little distinction between a deep Design Awards and Commendations bog, sinking so low that only its head was visible. After a one- love of nature on the one hand and the killing of animals, the and-a-half hour’s struggle they decided to make a form of spade collecting of birds’ eggs and the stuffing of birds on the other. number of presentations have now been made to our winners from a fir tree, and with the help of this crude implement While this behaviour might well be alien to us today, it was quite A(and there is one still to go). Apart from the formal side of managed to clear away the mud to one side of the horse, then fill acceptable then, and that must be the context within which we things – the presentation of framed certificates by Society the gap with branches, and so by dint of strenuously rolling the should view Millais and his activities. And we must not forget, of chairman David Moore – they were all delightful and relaxed animal over, eventually managed to free it. Sounds like an course, that his legacy to us has been some of the finest depictions social occasions as well, and recipients were pleased to see the absolute nightmare. of animals, birds and plants that the world has ever seen. good work they and their organisations had put in publicly recognised in this way. But to the intrepid Millais it was all worthwhile. He had secured ‘some splendid horns, the blue riband of the woods’, he had Awards go to Horsham District Council for The Bus Station killed his grizzlies, and he had spent his time in ‘what to him was and The Capitol , to Medex for The Old Grain Store and to most loveable on earth, in the air and in the sea’. Strada restaurant . In addition the judges awarded a Commendation to Wabi restaurant . On a more homely, but still interesting, level, he reported in the The Bus Station was praised for its construction as a free- July 1910 issue of British Birds that he had seen crossbills standing, transparent structure in outstanding contemporary style, Wabi chef and MD, Scott Hallsworth. flocking ‘in old Scotch firs’ near Compton’s Brow in April-May, which is both elegant and functional; The Capitol for the creation an unusual sight as this was nesting time and early for this type of a transformed theatre with its art deco/rococo decoration, and of activity, even though the species was known to be gregarious. the impressive addition of a two storey glass atrium to the original A local sighting of crossbills today would be a very unusual sight facade; The Old Grain Store for the thoughtful development of at any time of year. an old building for modern office use, with its restoration of original features, the addition of sympathetic new ones and a Millais died suddenly, aged 66 and on his birthday, 24 March sensational interior design; Strada for extensive and sensitive 1931, and there was a simple family funeral at Warnham, renovation work to a landmark building, creating a quality interior presided over by the Rev. F. S. Farebrother from Horsham. Faru! Faru! and exterior, and resulting in a valued contribution to the character of the area; and Wabi for a most interesting conversion of a So what, finally, should we make of that most contentious issue – building with Victorian/Edwardian features, which has respected his attitude to the natural world, his concern for it, but at the its heritage while creating an imaginative and contemporary look. same time his destruction of it? Men like Millais make today’s conservationists flutter their hands in horror, of course, but autre Future Awards and Commendations will be made as and when there temps, autres moeurs , as the French would say. Naturalists then is good reason, rather than on an automatic annual basis.

Capercaillie.

Frances Millais remembered One Horsham resident remembers, as a six year old girl, visiting Compton’s Brow and meeting Frances Millais in the 1930s when Lions chasing a Koodoo Bull. the lady was a widow. In contrast to Mrs Courage (from the HDC chairman Claire Vickers receives two Awards from David Moore. brewing family), who lived at nearby Compton’s Lea and ‘a more contrary person it would have been hard to find’, Mrs Millais was ‘a truly delightful lady’. But she seemed to live in fairly straightened circumstances, with just one elderly maid who had been with her for years, and a man who came in to mow the grass and keep the shrubs, which her husband had brought back from his travels, under control. Those splendid rhododendrons and azaleas are still a feature of the area. One day, with a friend, the six year-old was collecting moss from The winners, from the top: The Bus beside a path which was within sight of Mrs Millais’ window, Station; The Capitol; The Old Grain when the latter came out to ask what they needed the moss for. Store; Wabi; Strada. The answer was that the girls were keen on making miniature gardens, and the moss was intended to represent the lawns. They were invited in and given a tour of Mrs Millais’ own garden, and Thanks to Chris Smith she sent them home with an enormous bunch of flowers each. for the presentation photos. Mt. Kilimanjaro from the North. Medex director Andrea Bradley with David Moore. 58 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 63

From the committee Letters Etc.

Do please write in: letters for publi cation to After a long wait the goods and the gift released over 80 harvest mice into the A cure for street clutter? But we have now moved on, and it’s Agates in East Street, and the second hand Brian Slyfield, Arun House, Denne Road, arrived, but, of course, no money. I still wild at Chesworth Farm, in the hope that restaurants. restaurants, restaurants these booksellers. Horsham RH12 1JF. receive letters from them, offering various the species will become established there. e all know there are far too many days. No harm in that, but let’s hope ASK sums of money. Sometimes they include a Apparently females give birth to litters of street signs, and now hear that, Paul and the family are keen cyclists so it W brings a different spin to what’s already sheet of pictures of alleged winners. A three-eight young after 17-19 days of under the Government’s newly announced is unsurprising that he says, “It’s available. There’s enough pasta and pizza A saucy question more miserable-looking bunch would be pregnancy, and with the right conditions a Localism Bill, we can do something about disappointing that the Council’s cycling around already. hard to imagine. At least I did not lose single pair might have three litters a year. it. Apparently residents will be able (yes, strategy never came to much, leaving the found the article about Evershed and anything. The young become independent of their really) to get rid of unsightly street clutter town cut off from the countryside”. He I Cripps very interesting, especially the Miss R Reeves parents after 16 days – but little ones, do - bollards, railings, signs and hoardings. explains “There are very few places on the price lists. May I draw your attention to A24/A264 where it is possible for cyclists page 22 of the Churchman’s Almanack Burford Road, Horsham watch out for hunting barn owls. And the All that needs to happen is that a to cross safely, creating a terrible and in particular to the mention of creatures really are little, weighing less minimum of 21 get together to draw up a disincentive for families with children to ‘Horsham’ under ‘Sauces’. I am fascinated than a 2p coin at maturity, and most live ‘neighbourhood development plan’ to go out into the country other than by car”. to know what type of sauce this was and if Autumn gems just a few months at the longest. If redesign their local area. The plans then it was locally produced. Does anyone e’ve a talk this autumn on predatory birds don’t get them, then a cold have to be put to a local referendum, Paul remembers the days when the Society know? Wgemstones – a topic we haven’t winter could well do. Oh dear. But let’s which if carried by a majority has to be campaigned about the town centre re- Beryl Dold via email tried before – and as there’s no September hope the experiment works and a viable adopted by the council. The latter also has development plans and reflects on the fact dated issue here’s plenty of advance colony is created. to pay for the referendum and the costs of the Forum still needs some sort of focus. Beryl: I think I can answer this one. I warning. It will be, as usual, in the removing the clutter. Resiting the market might help but, what- wrote a short item back in December 2002 Boarded up no longer? Causeway Barn at 7.30 pm on Thursday 6 ever is done, it is important not to jeopardise about a chap called W Redman who in October, and as Wakefields the jewellers We read that developers’ plans for new the future of our excellent town markets. 1875, a year before the Churchman’s price celebrates its centenary as a Horsham estates can be influenced, but community A member’s point of list, was knocking out his own sauce in a business this year it seemed appropriate to initiatives must be ‘legally compliant’ to back room of the Bedford pub, behind the ask Melanie Wakefield to share with us stop people getting rid of safety features view: Paul Fletcher Committee change station. He sounds an enterprising chap, her love of the subject. such as essential traffic lights or zebra n 1987, Paul moved to Horsham from here’s a minor change in the com- and his advert in the local paper went like crossing lights. New local history books I Faversham where he had been a mem- Tmittee line-up, in that yours truly has this: Redman’s appetite finder: the superior Why is quality jewellery so expensive? ber of the Faversham Society – similar to decided to stand down from now on. B S Where did this love affair with gems wo new local history books have It all sounds fine and dandy. Let’s see Bedford Hotel sauce, patronised by all the Horsham Society, but with a very originate from? How does Wakefields get appeared recently, and both will be of what happens. commercials, for roast meats, steaks, T active social side. So, in 1988 he joined Sussex Artists chops, cutlets, fish, game, gravy and soup. its precious stones? Where do they come interest. First there’s Winning the Clay , the Horsham Society and is now a May be obtained of all grocers and of the from and is there an endless supply? How co-authored by Catherine Andrews and longstanding member of the executive This year’s Association of Sussex Artists sole manufacturer W Redman, Bedford do they get from their source to the end Patsy Laker and published by Southwater committee. Exhibition runs from 11-20 August at Hotel, Horsham. I bet this was our man, product? Local History Group – one of the more Horsham’s Drill Hall, so do come along and no doubt anchovies (which the lively of such organisations around – an Paul is an electrical engineer who designs Melanie will tell us all about this (admission free). There are always Victorians absolutely adored) featured illustrated history of brickmaking in the power systems (think of the National Grid) fascinating subject and even. bring some paintings of quality by a number of local somewhere in the recipe. Ed. village. The Southwater brickworks was and, like many residents, was originally people, as well as pottery and sculpture – with her for us to look at – but active from 1890-1983 on a site which is attracted to the town because it was and in the latter category this year is work unfortunately I don’t think she’s bringing now a country park, and was for some convenient for travel to work. Although by two exceptional sculptresses: Marilyn More cautionary tales any free samples. It should be a most time a major employer, along with other he now works in Brighton, the family is Panto and Sandy Medany. he article headed Beware! in the July interesting pictorial and not too technical works in the area, such as Warnham. The firmly settled in Horsham which has been Tissue reminded me of a couple of tour of the world of gemstones and it’s book features an attractive painting on its an ideal place to bring up children: with postal scams. My first attempt at scam- certainly not a talk to be missed. Do come cover – a depiction by Hazel Barnard of King’s Head saga good schools and plenty of sports and Chinese Brush busting happened some years ago. I saw and by all means bring a friend with you. the works as it probably appeared between recreation facilities for youngsters. “It’s Painting anyone? an advertisement in a magazine for a book There will be tea and coffee available 1903-14, and copies of the publication can t looks as if the King’s Head saga is large enough to have all the services you costing £3.50 and decided to send for it. I from 7.00 pm. DM be obtained from Horsham Museum or I lumbering to a conclusion, with work need from week to week, but not so large est Sussex Adult Community waited several weeks, during which I Southwater Local History Group. Visit the now underway to convert it into a that you live in a distant suburb”, he says. WLearning Service is running an received letters saying more copies had to Food, glorious food website at www.southwaterhistory.co.uk restaurant. An outfit called ASK (don’t ask However, he feels the town is slowly eclectic range of courses through from be ordered. Eventually, when neither the why) plans to launch an Italian eating losing some of its character. He fondly September 2011 - July 2012, and its book nor my money arrived, I wrote to the he Horsham District Food and Drink Secondly there’s Memories of Mannings place there, and we must all welcome the remembers old fashioned shops like programme is well worth studying (call magazine and had the advertisement re- TFestival runs from 3 September –2 Heath , this time by Tony Turner, a local fact. It’s been seven long years since there 01403 229200 for details). If you’re really moved. Later, when it appeared in another October, so there’s plenty of opportunity resident with an excellent track record for was any life in the place, and open doors sensible you can get stuck into Basic magazine, I had it removed from that as to join in. It’s a month-long celebration of documenting the history of his patch. It and people going through them, in what is Plumbing, if you’re feeling frazzled why well. good things, and there are special events, contains a wealth of maps, photos and at the moment a dead zone on the corner not go for Confidence Building or even offers and much more. For further details several watercolours by local artist of the of the Carfax and East Street, must be Tai Chi and Meditation and if you fancy More recently I received a letter from a visit www.horshamlocalproduce.co.uk. 1920s, Henry Browning, and by utilising good news. taking off for the Mediterranean there’s company saying I had ‘won’ £15,000. the 1841 Tithe Map and the census for that Spanish, French or Italian on offer. For There were three ways to receive the Harvest mice at Chesworth year focuses on what the village was like Back in the late 1950s/early 60s, the something really different try Chinese money - by cheque, in cash delivered to at the time, and who its inhabitants were. King’s Head on a Saturday lunchtime was Brush Painting – but I’m a bit suspicious the door (!) or, wait for it, sending my he July/August issue of the Horsham There are also over a dozen accounts from the hub of Horsham’s young set, with the about Creative Writing, and take the old- bank details. The letter was on its way to TNatural History Society’s newsletter people who have known the village since Wee Willie bar (another odd name; again fashioned view that if you’re not already the bin, when a picture of a free gift, a cat- reports on an interesting initiative by its then. Copies, price £15, can be obtained don’t ask) packed out and everyone up to it, you can’t be taught it. Did James shaped pendant, fell out. I decided to buy fellow organisation, the Friends of Warn- from Tony on 01403 269141 or email looking for a party that night. Happy days. Joyce need an eleven-week course? a few small items so as to obtain the gift. ham Local Nature Reserve. The latter has [email protected] 64 The Horsham Society Newsletter August 2011 Newsletter

August 2011