AGENDA HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE February 5, 2020 at 6:30 P.M

AGENDA HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE February 5, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. River Plate Room, Town Hall Meeting No.1

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1. Call to Order

2. Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

3. Approval of Minutes

3.1 November 6, 2019 ...... Page 3

4. Presentation/Discussion Items

4.1 Workmen’s Circle Panel Installation [M. Sawchuck] (5 minutes)

4.2 DD Palmer Plaque Casting [M. Sawchuck] (5 minutes)

4.3 Westglen Property (1733 Westney Rd N) Updates [M. Sawchuck] (5 minutes)

4.4 456 Kingston Road West Development Concept [M. Sawchuck] (10 minutes)

4.5 Nicholas Austin House (775 Kingston Rd E) CHER [M. Sawchuck] (20 minutes) ...... Page 6

4.6 Update on Ajax Historical Minute Video Project [P. Pryjma] (10 minutes)

5. Correspondence

6. Update from Council

7. Standing Items 7.1 Work Plan ...... Page 46

7.1.1 2020 Display Case Change

7.1.2 Community Event Participation

7.2 Heritage Permit Updates [M. Sawchuck]

7.2.1 William Hartrick House (22 Linton Ave) Door Replacement (5 minutes)

7.2.2 William St. George’s Anglican Church (77 Randall Dr) Roof Replacement (20 minutes)

7.3 Ajax Archives Update [B.Kriz]

7.3.1 Lambard Crescent Rededication Ceremony

7.3.2 Ajax Archives – Co-op Placement Support

7.3.3 80th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate Documents Authored by Johnathan Harwood:

7.3.3.1 South America 2019 – Historical Narrative ...... Page 50

7.3.3.2 History of the Royal Navy in South America ...... Page 58

7.3.3.3 Earthquake at Concepcion – January 1939 ...... Page 65

7.3.3.4 HMS Ajax, Exeter, Achilles and Cumberland ...... Page 75

7.3.4 HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans’ Association Newsletter, Dec. 2019 ...... Page 86

8. Other Business

9. Adjournment

Next Meeting Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at 6:30 p.m., River Plate Room, Town Hall DRAFT MINUTES Heritage Advisory Committee

November 6, 2019 River Plate Room, Town Hall Alternative formats available upon request by contacting: Meeting No. 7 [email protected] or 905-619-2529 ext. 3347

Committee Members: Councillor Lisa Bower Bruce Balsdon Neil Burnett Beverley Briggs Camille Graham Paul Hébert Anderson Mendonca Pam Pryjma Stephen White Wayne Hingston

Staff: Brenda Kriz, records and FOI Coordinator Michael Sawchuck, Senior Planner Sarah Moore, Committee & Accessibility Coordinator

Regrets: Jeff Wood

1. Call to Order

Chair Balsdon called the Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

2. Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

None.

3. Approval of Minutes

Moved By: L. Bower Seconded By: B. Briggs

That the October 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes of the Heritage Advisory Committee be approved. CARRIED

4. Presentation/Discussion

4.1 November 18, 2019 Report/Presentation to Council M. Sawchuck and B. Kriz led the Committee through a detailed review and discussion of the draft presentation slides prepared by P. Pryjma for the Committee’s report to Council on November 18, 2019. Members contributed suggested edits and content to finalize the draft, focusing the presentation on core elements of the committee’s mandate. Actions supporting

3 Heritage Advisory Committee November 6, 2019 Page 2

the mandate taken over the past seven months of the Committee’s existence were highlighted. Chair Balsdon will present on behalf of the Committee, with other Members planning to attend in support. S. Moore noted that she would inform the Committee where on the agenda the presentation will be scheduled once the agenda is posted.

4.2 775 Kingston Road East – Potential for Part IV Designation M. Sawchuck provided the Committee with an update on the status of 775 Kingston Road East, following an enquiry from a resident. He noted that the property has been evaluated by the Committee and meets the criteria for designation. M. Sawchuck shared photos of the property noting its significant features and its declining condition.

Members asked questions relative to ownership and whether the property is occupied. M. Sawchuck noted he will be looking into the ownership of the property further, as it has recently changed. He reviewed the summary sheet from when the Committee reviewed the property for the Heritage Register. He noted there has been no development application, nor demolition permit for the property, and the land cannot be severed as it is in the provincial Greenbelt.

M. Sawchuck reviewed opportunities for the Committee including the opportunity to have a qualified consultant complete a cultural heritage evaluation report (CHER). He also outlined opportunities for the Town to pursue property standards by-law violations if the building is not brought into an improved state of repair.

Members discussed whether or not to undertake a CHER given the current condition of the property. Staff responded to questions from Members relative to the cost of a CHER, the requirement to contact the property owner to conduct a CHER, the potential for heritage designation, and the process for By-law Services to serve notice regarding property standards infractions.

Moved by: P. Pryjma Seconded by: P. Hébert

That the Town retain a qualified heritage consultant to complete a cultural heritage evaluation report for 755 Kingston Road East. CARRIED

5. Correspondence

None.

6. Update from Council

In the interest of time, Councillor Bower deferred her report.

7. Standing Items

4 Heritage Advisory Committee November 6, 2019 Page 3

7.1 Work Plan Review & Brainstorming This item was discussed in detail during Item 4.1. November 18, 2019 Report/Presentation to Council.

7.2 Heritage Permit Updates In the interest of time, discussion of this item was deferred.

7.3 Ajax Archives Update B. Kriz shared information on a recent donation to the Ajax Archives of a binder of materials and photos from Pickering Public School.

B. Briggs exited the meeting (8:23p.m.)

8. New/Other Business

8.1 Sale of 57 Cameron Street M. Sawchuck informed the Committee that 57 Cameron Street, a property within the Pickering Village HCD, is currently for sale.

8.2 New Use for 244 Kingston Road East M. Sawchuck noted that there is a new tenant for 244 Kingston Road East (McKay House), which will change the use to a fine dining establishment. Interior and exterior changes to the property may be forthcoming.

8.3 Workmen’s Circle Commemorative Plaques M. Sawchuck informed the Committee that the commemorative plaques will be installed early December 2019 at the Workmen’s Circle site.

8.4 Westglen Update M. Sawchuck shared a photo of the construction and restoration of Westglen. He noted that the addition has been constructed, and that the siding will be reclad and the roof replaced with enviro-shakes (replica cedar shakes). Now that the surrounding houses in the subdivision have been built, the focus will be on the restoration of the heritage property.

9. Adjournment

Moved By: C. Graham Seconded By: L. Bower

That the November 6, 2019 Meeting of the Heritage Advisory Committee be adjourned. (8:25p.m.)

CARRIED

5 Nicholas Austin House Cultural Heritage Evaluation Report

775 Kingston Road East Ajax, Ontario January 21, 2020

6 PREPARED FOR: Michael Sawchuck Senior Planner | Planning & Development Services Town of Ajax 65 Harwood Avenue South Ajax, ON L1S 2H9 E: [email protected] T: 905-619-2529 x. 3200

PREPARED BY: Branch Architecture 2335 County Road 10 Picton, ON K0K 2T0 T: (613) 827-5806

ISSUED: 2020.01.20 DRAFT 2020.01.21

Cover Image: 775 Kingston Road East, 2019. (Branch Architecture, BA)

7 CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Project Framework & Background 1.2 Site Location and General Description

2 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST 3 2.1 Early Colonial Settlement 2.2 Property Boundary 2.3 Property Ownership: Lot 1, Con. 1, Original Township of Pickering 2.4 Property Ownership: Lot 2, Con. 1, Original Township of Pickering 2.5 Building Descriptions 2.6 Cultural Heritage Evaluation

3 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS 21

APPENDICES Appendix 1: Bibliography Appendix 2: Land Abstract, Lot 1, Concession 1, Township of Pickering Appendix 3: Land Abstract, Lot 2, Concession 1, Township of Pickering Appendix 4: Property Photos

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER i

8 775 Kingston Rd E - Property Context

PROJECT NORTH

Legend

Ajax Border Town Roads Rivers Ownership (PIN) Parcel Assessment Parcels Heritage Properties Designated

Adjacent to Designated

Non-Designated Schedule G Area Policies Section 2.2.4.2 f) vi)

Section 3.3.4 h)

Section 3.3.6

Section 3.5.4

Section 3.5.6 a)

Section 6.1

Section 6.11

Section 6.12

775 Kingston Rd E - Building Context Section 6.13

Section 6.14

Section 6.15

Section 6.16

Section 6.17 1. Location of subject property indicated in red. (Town of Ajax) Section 6.18 Section 6.19

Section 6.2 Legend 1: 8,000 Section 6.20 Notes A Section 6.21 T R 406.4 0 203.20 406.4 Metres Section 6.22 This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for HouseA reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, Section 6.3 NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_17N current,R or otherwise reliable. Section 6.4 © Town of Ajax THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION O IN A H D

A D

N-D S G A Stable S/ garageS S

S 5 Barn withS 5 silo S S

S HangarS S

S 5

S 7

2. Detail showing built structures at 775 Kingston Road East. (Town of Ajax) S

S ii 1: 1,000 S 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER Notes S

50.8 0 25.40 50.8 Metres S This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for reference only.9 Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, S NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_17N current, or otherwise reliable. S © Town of Ajax THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Project Framework & Background

Branch Architecture was retained by the Town of Ajax to evaluate 775 Kingston Road East to advise if it is has cultural heritage value.

Branch Architecture prepared this Cultural Heritage Evaluation in accordance with Ontario Regulation 9/06 - Criteria for Determining Cultural Heritage Value or Interest, the Ontario Heritage Act, the Ontario Heritage Tool Kit, Parks Canada Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada as well as other charters and guidelines that exemplify heritage best practice.

1.2 Site Location and General Description The subject property at 775 Kingston Road East in Ajax is located at the southwest inter- section of Kingston Road East and Lake Ridge Road South. The plan of survey notes that the property is formed by part of Lots 1 and 2, Concession 1 (located within the geographic township of Pickering) and now within the boundaries of the Town of Ajax.

Along the north edge of the property is a two-storey dwelling, a barn with a silo, a stable and garage, and a hangar. The remainder of the property is farm land.

3. Property survey dated Dec. 15, 2009. (Town of Ajax)

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10 4. Township of Pickering, County of Ontario Crown Lands Map No. 28, by Thomas Ridout, 1823. Lots 1 & 2, Con. 3 identified with red dashed line. (Ontario Archives, OA)

5. Detail of Lots 1 & 2, Con. 1 from map above. 6. Detail of Lots 1 & 2, Con. 1, annotated and (OA) undated version of above map. (OA)

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11 2 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST 2.1 Early Colonial Settlement

In 1791 the Pickering Township was surveyed by Deputy Provincial Land Surveyor Augustus Jones. The Act of 1791 (which created Upper and Lower Canada) delayed land grants within newly surveyed townships until the new provincial governments were established. In 1792, this responsibility was delegated to Lt. Governor, Col. John Graves Simcoe. Simcoe followed the British tradition and, in effect, made members of his legislative council into landed gentry. By the end of his term of office in 1796, he had placed one seventh of the surveyed townships in the hands of the Church of England and provided well for his council and his civil servants.

In the Pickering Township alone, of the 74,660 acres which the township contains, 18,800 were in the hands of five people; one of them the newly appointed Surveyor- General, two others, members of his family.1

Much of the Pickering Township was taken up by military and additional grants allocated to largely absentee landholders.2 There was little land left for new settlers looking to purchase land. Large areasof the township, in particular desirable lands along the shore- line, remained wild well into the 1800s when the original landowners began selling off parcels to new settlers. The subject property reflects this pattern of development as it was sold to Quaker settlers in the early 1800s.

Around the turn of the 19th century, Quaker (also known as members of The Society of Friends) pioneers arrived in Upper Canada and settled in select areas such as Adolphustown, Newmarket, Prince Edward County and Pickering. The Friends were from the northern states of New York and Pennsylvania. It is understood many immigrated to Upper Canada as Governor Simcoe offered them the protection of the new government of Canada and granted them exemption from military service. In addition, many were looking for new land to settle. Tradition dictated that the family farm be passed on to the eldest son and there was little unclaimed land left for younger sons.

In 1801, an early Quaker settler named Timothy Rogers (1756-1827) arrived near Newmarket with an interest in establishing a new home for The Society of Friends. In 1807, he and his large family relocated to Pickering (then Duffin’s Creek) with twenty other families. A Quaker community grew up on and around the 800 acres Rogers had purchased from the Surveyor-General D. W. Smith.3 The first Society meetings were held in Timothy Roger’s log home. Later, a frame Meeting House and school was constructed. Rogers encouraged other Quakers to settle here and by 1842 there were 245 Quaker families in Pickering. 1 The Pickering Story, p. 21. 2 The Crown provided Loyalists with 200 acres and military grants of up to 5,000 acres. 3 The land included Lots 13 and 14 of the broken front and Concession 1.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 3

12 As an aside, this lot is located along the south side of a military road dating from 1800. Kingston Road served as the primary route for pioneers travelling between York (Toronto) and the Bay of Quinte (Kingston). In 1796, an American engineer named Asa Danforth was awarded with the contract for the road. It included for a road two rods wide and far enough from the shore to avoid enemy forces from observing troop movements. 2.2 Property Boundary

The subject property is comprised of the north half (N 1/2) of Lot 1, Concession 1 and the northeast quarter (NE 1/4) of Lot 2, Concession 1. The parcel is contained within the boundaries of the Town of Ajax boundaries, however, it originally fell within the Township of Pickering in the County of Ontario.

The property boundary has changed several times since the original land grants, mainly:

• 1795: John Smith received the patent for the 200 acre parcel at Lot 1, Con. 1. • 1827: The north half (100 acres) of the Lot 1 was sold to Nicholas Austin. • 1842: Austin obtained a patent for the adjacent 50 acres (NE 1/4) of Lot 2, Con. 1 resulting in a 150 acre farm. • 1875: The lot was halved and the east-most 75 acres sold to Whitfield Lee. • 1935: The 150 acre farm land was reunited as the south farm of Red Wing Orchards.4

2.3 Property Ownership: Lot 1, Con. 1, Original Township of Pickering

1795-1824: MAJOR JOHN SMITH + DAVID WILLIAM SMITH

Major John Smith received the patent for Lot 1, Concession 1 on November 6, 1795.5

In 1793, Major John Smith received 6,400 acres in land grants within the Township of Pickering.6 This included 5,000 acres in a single block which covered two and a half miles along the lake shore. Major Smith was “an officer in the 5th Regiment during the Revolutionary War and later a commanding officer at Detroit (1790-92) and Niagara (1792- 95)” and father to the newly appointed Surveyor-General, D. W. Smith.7

In 1795, D. W. Smith (Surveyor General) inherited his father’s lands. According to The Pickering Story, this land inheritance adjoined his 1,200 acre parcel in Pickering and created a land block that ran from the lake to beyond Concession 3. This block was only broken by Clergy Reserve lands. Records indicate that the Upper Canada land regulations paired with Smith’s position as Surveyor-General enabled him and his family to acquire more than 20,000 acres, including 7,800 acres in Pickering. 4 This reflects the current lot size. 5 Land abstract for Lot 1, Concession 1. See appendix for summary of property ownership record. 6 The Pickering Story, p. 22. 7 The Founding of Pickering Village, p.2.

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13 1824-1827: ELEAZER B AND ELIZABETH ORVIS

In 1824, D.W. Smith sold Lot 1, Con. 1 to Eleazer Brooks Orvis (1797-1879). The family settled the south half of the Lot 1 and, later, Orvis sold the north half of the lot to his brother- in-law Nicholas Austin.

Orvis was a Quaker born near Bristol, Vermont on August 24, 1797.8 9 According to A History of the Orvis Family in America, Eleazer, his brother Silas and his brother-in-law Nicholas Austin travelled to Pickering in 1821 to establish homesteads. Sila’s biography read:

In June, 1821, he, with his brother, Eleazer, and one Nicholas Austin, went to Pickering, Ontario, and bought farms, built log houses and then went back to Vergennes, Vt., for their families in February, 1822. They left Ferrisburg February 5, 1822, at six a. m., crossed an ice bridge at Prescott and made the trip in five and one-half days to Pickering with a one horse team and a yoke of oxen. The ox sleigh was covered with tin. His son, Loren, was born on the 17th of the same month. The celebrated cane belonging to the Orvis family was supposed to descend to the oldest son. After Loren’s death, in whose possession it then was, it was to go to Silas, his oldest son, but Silas was a Quaker and believing the cane was “the price of blood” would not accept it, as he did not believe in war. His son, Eleazer, died one week before his son, Eleazer Jr., was born, and to the latter the cane was given.10

In 1823, Eleazer submitted a request at the Yonge Street meeting to join the Pickering Society of Friends.11

He married Elisabeth Austin (sister to Nicholas) (1799-1877) in 1824 or 1825 at Ferrisburg, Vermont. She soon joined him in Upper Canada as, in 1825, Elizabeth was accepted as a member of the Yonge Street Friends.12 Their children were: Austin (1826-1912); Susan (1828-1888); Phebe (1831-?); Huldah (1833-?); Maria (1836-1890); Myron (1838- ?); Andrew (1840-?); and, William Henry (1843-1880).13

Eleazer and Elisabeth were buried in the Hicksite Brown Friends Cemetery. The Hicksite Brown Friends cemetery is located east of the subject property at 310 Kingston Road East (southwest corner of Lot 5, Con. 2). The property is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act. The cemetery is one of the oldest graveyards in Ajax and is associated with the Hicksite Quakers.

8 Death certificate. Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 25 and A History of the Orvis Family in America, p. 61. 9 Year: 1851; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario County, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C_11742; Page: 17; Line: 6. 10 A History of the Orvis Family in America, p. 61. 11 Yonge St Monthly Meeting loose notes, 1812 – 1825, Box 23 (CFHA). 12 Yonge Street Monthly meeting held the 17th. day of the 3rd. month 1825 (CFHA). 13 A History of the Orvis Family in America, p. 102.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 5

14 7. Tremaine’s Map of the County of Ontario, Upper Canada by John Shier Esq. P.L.A. & County Engineer and published by Geo. C. Tremaine, 1860. Building footprint shown at approximate location of existing house. (University of Toronto Map & Data Library)

8. Map of Pickering Township, 1877. Building footprint shown at approximate location of existing house. A building is also shown on the Lot 2 portion of the property. (Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Ontario)

6 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

15 1827-1863: NICHOLAS AND HARRIET AUSTIN

Nicholas Austin (1792-1863) purchased the north half of Lot 1 from Eleazer Orvis in 1827.

Nicholas Austin was born in Maine in 1792. He was a member of the Ferrisburg Society of Friends and often served as clerk at the meetings. He also undertook a range of business for The Society of Friends such as hiring teachers, attending monthly meetings, acting as an overseer of the poor, completing building repairs and construction, caring for the school and meeting house and grounds, collecting subscriptions, etc.14

He married Harriet (Orvis) (1799-1883) of Vermont in 1822. The two immigrated to Canada with their son Hiram (1823-18?). The family would grow to include Henry (1826-1826), William (1828-1895), Nathaniel (1830-1906), Alfred (1833-1856), Sylvanus (1835-1904), George (1838-1912) and Elizabeth (1840-1854).15

On December, 31, 1823, the family was accepted into The Society of Friends at the Yonge Street meeting.16 The Yonge Street meeting records show that Nathaniel Austin was an active member often directed to address members acting “contrary to the Discipline” as well as other Society business such as managing funds, acting as clerk, liaising with the women’s meeting group, overseeing property, resolving complaints, oversight of funerals and burials, etc.17

The Austin and Orvis families were both part the Pickering (Yonge Street) Hicksite members that split from The Society of Friends in 1828. This split was not unique to Pickering. It reflected a wider movement in North America often referred to as the Great Separation. In The Quakers in Canada, A History, Dorland explains that the Yonge Street separation fell from a disagreement arising from “a minute of advice and direction” issued by the Orthodox Party in New York that had disowned the Amercian Hicksites.18

The Hicksite sympathizers in the Pickering Meeting refused to recognize the authority of that section of the Yearly Meeting which had issued the statement. The Orthodox party, therefore, on the ground that the presiding Clerk (Nicholas Austin) and his supporters were “rejecting the authority of our discipline and casting off the subordination and restraint which is due that body” (namely, the “Orthodox” New York Yearly Meeting). took matters into their own hands and appointed a new Clerk of the Preparative Meeting in the person of William Wright.19

14 Ferrisburg VT, Mens Preparative Meeting 1801-1816, Canadian Friends Historical Association (CFHA). 15 Yonge Street Registry of Births and Deaths (1803?-1866) (CFHA) and A History of the Orvis Family in America, p. 105. 16 Quaker Meeting Records, Yonge Street (Conservative) Monthly Meeting, 1818-1823 (CFHA). 17 Yonge Street Monthly Meeting, Book 3, 1828 - 1851 (CFHA). 18 The Quakers in Canada, A History, p. 145. 19 The Quakers in Canada, A History, p. 146.

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16 9. Map of the Township of Pickering by Chas E Goad, 1895. (Pickering Archives, PA)

10. Gidual Landowners’ Map of Pickering, c. 1917. (PA)

8 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

17 As a result, in 1829 there was a separation within The Society of Friends where the Orthodox membership disowned local Hicksites at a Society Meeting. The Hicksites included Joseph Webster, Nicholas Austin, James Brown, Rowland Brown, Silas Orvis and Eleazer Orvis.20

Falling from the separation, the Orthodox group retained control of the Yonge Street meeting house and property, and the Hicksites retained the Pickering meeting house.21 The group established separate meetings with Nicholas Austin acting as the clerk.22 23 Nicholas was also employed by the Town as an “assessor”.24

Records indicate that by the 1850s, the Austin family were well established on the Pickering farm.25 They were living in a two storey brick house; where as in the mid-1800s most families in the area were living in log or frame houses.26 By 1861, the household had grown to include two labourers (John Roberts and John Edwards) and a servant (Eliza Martin). And, the 150 acre farm had 100 acres under cultivation including 70 acres under crop (wheat, peas, buck wheat, potatoes, turnips and hay) and a 5 acre garden / orchard.27 28

Nicholas and Harriet Austin were also buried at the Hicksite Brown cemetery.

1863-1876: GEORGE AND ELIZABETH AUSTIN

After Austin Nicholas’s death in 1863, the property was willed to his son George Austin.

George (1838-1923) had married fellow Quaker Elizabeth Ann (Taylor) (1844-?) in 1867. George continued to work the family farm. In 1871 the household included the married couple as well as Ann Chambers (servant, Irish, 35) and John F. Ballard (teacher, Canadian, 20). At this time, Harriet and Sylvanus Austin lived at the adjacent property (likely Lot 2 as shown on 1877 map, figure 5).29

George and Elizabeth immigrated to the US in 1879.30

20 The Quaker Meeting Records, Yonge Street Preparative Meeting of Ministers and Elders, 1828- 1835, p. 36 (CHFA). 21 The land abstract for Lot 5, Con. 2 indicates that Nicholas Brown sold 2 acres to Caleb Crawford in 1819. The remarks on this transaction note The Society of Quakers. The 1860 and 1877 maps indicate a religious property or church structure here. 22 The Quaker Meeting Records for the Women Friends of July 9, 1829. 23 Quaker Crosscurrents, p. 130. 24 Pickering News, Friday December 23, 1881, p. 2. 25 The 1852 tax assessment value for the property was £1050. This was at the higher end of local property values. 26 Year: 1851; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario County, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C_11742; Page: 9; Line: 3. 27 Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1057. 28 Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1059. 29 Year: 1871; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario South, Ontario; Roll: C-9973; Page: 11; Family No: 34. 30 1900 US federal census.

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18 12. Detail of Map of Pickering Township, Centennial Souvenir, 1967. (PA)

11. Aerial view of the Red Wing Orchards, February 1929, G. Norman Irwin (Whitby Archives, 22- 000-043)

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19 1875: HENRY GOULD

Henry Gould (1856-1899) briefly owned the east 75 acres of the north half of Lot 1 in 1875. He sold it back to George Austin later the same year. Gould was born in Somerset England and in 1861 he was living in Pickering with his wife Jane and daughter Mary.31 32 He worked as a drover - a cattle or sheep driver. They had relocated to Whitby by 1871.33

1876-1934: WHITFIELD LEE + GEORGE WHITFIELD (SON)

Whitfield Lee (1831-1919) purchased the east part of the north half of the Lot 1 from George Austin in 1876. Whitfield, an English immigrant, married Elizabeth May (1837-1874) in 1856 and they had a farm in the Township of Reach.34 In 1876, after Elizabeth’s death, he married Mary Jane (Sara) Rodd (1841-1919). They purchased this farm on Kingston Road. The household included his daughter Francis (from his first marriage) and his children George Whitfield (1880-1960) and Ida Maria (1880-1960) as well as a Frank Wadman.35 The Lee family grew after his son George’s marriage to Cora in the early 1900s. Their children were Chester, Readia, Kenneth and Elmer.36

In 1919, Whitfield passed away and George was the primary benefactor. In his will, Whitfield left the 75 acre farm and associated stock, equipment and chattel to George with the provision that his wife Mary Jane was provided with one hundred dollars annually and “...the three front rooms on the ground floor of my present dwelling house and the furniture and other contents there of and necessary fuel for on fire therein...”37

1935-1985: RED WING ORCHARDS + STONEHAVEN FARMS

In 1935, Red Wing Orchards purchased the farm from George Lee.38 Red Wing Orchards (later known as Stonehaven) was the farm located directly north and on the opposite side of Kingston Road. The property was purchased by George McLaughlin in 1927 for his daughter Ethel Kathleen (1905-1984) and son-in-law George Norman Irwin (1903-1983).39 In 1927 and 28, he had Stonehaven built as a country residence for his daughter Ethel.

31 Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1057. 32 The 1866 assessment rolls indicated he lived on 2 acres on Lot 2, Concession 1. 33 Year: 1871; Census Place: Whitby, Ontario South, Ontario; Roll: C-9974; Page: 55; Family No: 207. 34 Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1059. 35 Year: 1881; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario South, Ontario; Roll: C_13244; Page: 42; Family No: 210. 36 Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 75; Census Place: Pickering (Township), Ontario South, Ontario; Page Number: 6. 37 Last Will & Testament of Whitfield Lee, December 11, 1919. 38 The land abstract states that the property was sold to Melrose Securities Ltd. for $9,000. This company may have been associated with Red Wing Orchards as Maddaford’s record indicates they purchased the south farm in 1935. Margaret was G.N. Irwin’s secretary. 39 George McLaughlin’s brother was Robert Samuel McLaughlin (1871-1972). Their father founded the McLaughlin Carriage Company in 1869 and, in 1907, Robert established the McLaughlin Motor Car Company. In 1918 the company merged with Chevrolet and General Motors to form General Motors in Canada.

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20 13. Aerial view of the south farm of Red Wing Orchards, 1937, G. Norman Irwin (Whitby Archives, 22-000-041). Detail of buildings shown above.

12 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

21 Red Wing Orchards, know widely for its apple orchards, was named after George Irwin’s plane which had red wings.40 The farm was also known for its social gatherings. According to an article in the Oshawa Times, “Wealthy members of the Toronto Flying Club would fly to the farm for garden parties in the 1920s and 30s.”41 14. Stonehaven’s Aviation Of Stonehaven’s expansion to the south, Margaret G. Garden party, June 1936, Maddaford’s record of Red Wing Orchards notes the following: Marjorie Ruddy photographer. (Whitby Archives, 1935: In September another seventy-five acres of 2013_040_196A) land was purchased directly across the highway formerly the property of George Lee. Farm operations began and six roomy paddocks were built presumably by passerby “for race horses”, or “the growing of hops”, in reality they were for Suffolk Punch (horses). The derelict orchard was uprooted in November, and a driving shed torn down. 15. Red Wing Orchards Over the following years, further changes were made to the Pontoon Plane, May 1931. (Whitby Archives, 11-001-065) south farm: 1936: During the winter the south barn was remodelled, and upon its completion the house was renovated for the habitation of two families. A galvanized hangar was next built, and a cement pig pen removed. On the old orchard site to the west of the lane 16. Red Wing Orchards 199 pear trees were planted, and on the eastern October 14, 1950, Marjorie section 114 trees consisting of two varieties Ruddy photographer. (Whitby Bartlett and Flemish Beauty. Archives, A2013_040_227) A combination stable and garage was commenced in July. The stable having eight box stalls and a five place garage. These changes were all made at the south farm. Summer 1938: Booth opened at South Farm with large apple booths bought from T.H. Richards on either side. A puss moth painted Red Wing 40 The first apple orchard here was planted c. 1912 when the 17. Roadside booth. (Red property was purchased by Toronto businessman R.J. Fleming. Wing Orchards) 41 Barris, Michael. Famous Ajax Estate sells for $1.8 million. Oshawa Times, March 12, 1985.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 13

22 red and green and bearing “Red Wing Orchards” on wings was erected in pear orchard southwest of booth. The aeroplane and apples drew much attention from passer-by. Bus drivers et al came to know the “big apples” at the Apple Juice booth. The ownership of the south farm changed a couple times under the umbrella of Red Wing Orchards / Stonehaven Farms. First, in 1943, when Ethel Kathleen Irwin purchased the property for $10,000, and second, in 1965, when the property was sold to Stonehaven Farms.

With George and Ethel Irwin deaths in 1983 and 1984 respectively, the property was left to their children. In 1985, Bill Irwin divided the Stonehaven Farms property into three parcels (including the subject property known as the south farm) and sold them off individually.

1985-?: STROUD FAMILY

In 1985, the subject property was purchased by Ernest Leonard Stroud (1918-1990).

According to an article in the Bay News, Ernie Stroud operated the Stroud’s Food Market at 365 Kingston Road. It opened in December 1950 and was the first self-service store in the Rouge Hill area.42 It operated for forty years.

18. Stroud’s food market. By 1960, Ernie had begun to turn his attention (Buildings file, PA) to farming. In 1970 he left the store to dedicate himself to the land... Soon Ernie accumulated almost 2,000 acres of land and was growing all the fresh produce sold in the store. By now he had become a local personality and familiar to everybody who lived in the region.43 After Ernie’s unexpected death in 1990, the Estate transferred ownership to Rose, Nelson and Leonard.44

42 The Bay News, Dec. 12, 1990, pg. 13. 43 Ibid. 44 Land abstract record ends here.

14 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

23 19. Lease agreement between Henry Crawford and the Attorney General, July 9, 1817. (PA) 2.4 Property Ownership: Lot 2, Con. 1, Original Township of Pickering

According the 1851 map of Ontario, this property was granted to Major John Smith, however, land transfer and sale records indicate that these were Clergy Reserve lands. Records indicate that Henry Crawford leased the Clergy Reserve lot in 1817 (see agreement above).45

1829-1920: NICHOLAS AND SYLVANUS AUSTIN

Nicholas Austin leased the northeast quarter of Lot 2, Con. 1 from Henry Crawford prior to obtaining approval from the surveyor general’s office to purchase the property.46 A Clergy Reserve Sale record from April 26,1842 indicates that Austin purchased the fifty acres of Lot 2 adjoining his property (NE 1/4) under the authority of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.47

After Nicholas’ death in 1863, his son Sylvanus Austin (1835-?) inherited the west half of the farm which included the 50 acres of Lot 2. Sylvanis and his wife Caroline (1854-?) lived here with their children Leslie and Edgar.48 At the turn of the 20th century they also had help living here.49

In 1904, Sylvanus passed away and the property was willed to his family. In 1920, the family sold the property to James Miller for $9,000. In 1944, Miller sold the property to Ethel Kathleen Irwin to join Red Wing Orchards. 45 Lease agreement between Henry Crawford and the Attorney General, July 9, 1817. (PA) 46 Receipts of payment for lease of NE 1/4 of Lot 2, Con. 1 from 1829 and 1832. (PA) 47 Clergy Reserve Sale record. (PA) 48 Year: 1891; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario West, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6358; Family No: 195. 49 Year: 1901; Census Place: Pickering, Ontario (West/Ouest), Ontario; Page: 2; Family No: 18 includes Margaret Stonehouse (domestic) and Richard Bradwell (labourer).

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 15

24 2.5 Building Descriptions

For the purposes of this report, Branch Architecture completed a review of the site from the road and the adjacent property on December 12, 2019. The visit included walking along the road adjacent to the property and completing a visual review and photographic docu- mentation of the visible structures. The review focused on gaining a visual understanding of the buildings on site. The buildings all appeared to be vacant.

The following buildings were observed on the property:

Residence

• Likely constructed prior to 1851 by the Austin family as a single family house. • Converted into duplex in 1936 by Red Wing Orchards.

Barn with silo

• Likely constructed in the early-to-mid 1800s. • ‘Remodelled’ by Red Wing Orchards in 1936.

Stable and garage

• Constructed by Red Wing Orchards in 1936.

Hangar

• Constructed by Red Wing Orchards in 1936.

16 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

25 Residence The two-storey dwelling at 775 Kingston Road East is an example of a Loyalist/Georgian residence with 20th century alterations. This Loyalist/Georgian style filtered from Britain via the United States in the early 1790s. It was first adopted by settlers in the United States and arrived in Canada first with Loyalist settlers and later with British immigrants. This style remained popular through to 1860. Loyalist/Georgian buildings generally had a box-like massing and were either timber construction with wood siding or solid masonry buildings. They had a rectangular floor plan organized according to a centre hall layout. Common characteristics of this building style include: a side gable roof; symmetrical elevations; Classical proportions; and a prom- inent front doorway (in keeping with the Georgian tradition of hospitality). This architecture displays minimal decoration; it follows simple designs with limited classical detailing. Building elements and/or attributes include: simple cornices with returns at the gable ends (eaves); small-paned double hung windows (often 12-over-12, four panes wide); flat or splayed window arches and door openings; wood or stone window sills; and, when masonry, contrasting quoins. For residences, this style was most commonly applied to single family dwellings.50 The following is a description of the residence with observations: • The building has a T-shaped plan with a two-storey rectangular front and a one-and-a- half storey rear tail/wing. At the west side of the rear wing, there is a modest shed roof dormer as well as a cellar entrance. • There are two front entrance doors (labelled 775 and 775A) which reflect the building’s conversion into a duplex in 1936. It is likely that this was originally a single family residence with a central front doorway. • The front (north-facing) facade displays a four bay symmetrical configuration. The front doors are centrally placed within a porch entry and framed by windows to the side and above. The front porch is likely a 20th century alteration as its style and construction (materials and detailing) differ from the house such as the brick columns with stone/ concrete caps, the wood deck, stair, railing and eaves. • The foundation is fieldstone laid in a random pattern with large stone quoins. • The exterior walls are clad in stucco. Given that the stucco steps out from the face of the stone foundation and the shallow depth of the wood window sill, the stucco was likely applied over the original cladding. The removal of a section of the stucco would verify if the exterior cladding is the brick noted in the 1851 census records.51

50 Well-Preserved, p. 24. 51 Prior to the 1860s, before towns instituted by-laws prohibiting wood buildings, solid brick buildings were not common. According to Looking for Old Ontario, between 1861 and 1891 the proportion of brick dwellings rose from 4% to 21%.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 17

26 • The exterior doors are varied. In general, they appear to be painted wood panel doors with screen doors. • The windows openings are rectangular with a flat top and painted wood frames and sills. At the front section of the dwelling, the windows are 12-over-12 (four panes wide) wood sash windows with a 2-over-2 wood storm window. At the rear wing the windows are generally 9-over-6 (three panes wide) wood windows on the ground floor and 6-over-6 (three panes wide) wood windows on the second floor. • The roof has gable roof configuration with a low to medium pitch. The eaves are painted wood and display simple detailing including eaves returns on the side gables. The roof is covered in asphalt shingle and the rain gear are painted metal. There are two chimneys rising at the side (east and west) walls. The brick is red and the chimneys appear to have concrete or stone caps.

Barn The gable roof barn is located south of the house and at the end of a gravel drive. It has a rectangular plan with the long side facing south and a concrete silo to the north. On the long faces (north and south elevations) there are large slide barn doors. The landscape around the structure has been modified such that the ground floor is accessible from the south and west, and the loft is accessed via a wide earth ramp at the north elevation. The foundation is fieldstone with large quoins (similar to the residence). The top of wall is punctuated with eight pane windows (four panes wide). The barn structure above the foundation was not visible, though based on its age and the adjacent building elements, is expected to be timber frame construction. The exterior walls are clad in shingles. The gable roof is covered in sheet metal panels and the eaves are wood. At the centre of the roof ridge is a square louvred vent with painted wood slates and a pyramidal top covered in metal.

Stable and garage The stables and garage building is located south and west of the house, and off the gravel drive. This 1936 building is made up of two parts; the south part is likely the stable with eight stalls, and the north part the five car garage. The stable is a one-and-a-half storey building with a pair of gable dormers facing west. The building is also clad in shingle. The roof has a medium pitch, gable profile that is covered in wood shingle. At the centre of the roof ridge is a roof vent of a similar design to the barn vent, and at the eaves there is a unique hipped roof treatment at the gable end returns.

18 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

27 The garage is similar building profile and exterior treatment as the stable. It is a shorter building with a smaller building footprint. The north elevation is largely blank with a six pane window (three panes wide), a matching bird house at the top of the gable, and a short brick chimney. The east-facing elevation is made up of five garage doors. The west elevation displays three six pane windows. The building has a poured concrete foundation.

Hangar Directly west of the stable and garage structure is a one storey hangar that was built in 1936. It is clad in horizontal metal siding and the roof has a curved profile. There is a small rectangular vent near the top of the north wall. 2.6 Cultural Heritage Evaluation

The following evaluates 775 Kingston Road East in Ajax in relation to Ontario Regulation 9/06. Criteria Description Assessment Design or i. is a rare, unique, representative, The property is a unique, and likely Physical or early example of a style, type, early, example of an evolved farm- Value expression, material, or construc- stead in Ajax. tion method; The property hosts a collection of buildings clustered together along the south side of Kingston Road. These structures include: the Georgian/ Loyalist style residence; the barn with a concrete silo; the stable and garage building; and the hangar. ii. displays a high degree of crafts- This requires further on site investiga- manship or artistic merit, or; tion. iii. demonstrates a high degree of This requires further on site investiga- technical or scientific achievement. tion.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 19

28 Historical or i. has direct associations with The property has associations with Associative a theme, event, belief, person, The Society of Friends. The families Value activity, organization, or institution that settled this property - the Orvis’ that is significant to a community; (1824-1827) and the Austin’s (1827- 1876) - were Quaker pioneers that arrived in the Pickering Township in 1821. Both families were members of the Yonge Street Society of Friends. Both were involved in the Great Separation of 1828 and original members of the resulting Pickering Hicksite Society of Friends. The property has further value related to its 20th century associations with the Red Wing Orchards / Stonehaven Farm. ii. yields, or has the potential to This requires further on site investiga- yield, information that contributes tion. to an understanding of a community or culture, or; iii. demonstrates or reflects the None known. work or ideas of an architect, artist, builder, designer, or theorist who is significant to a community. Contextual i. is important in defining, maintain- The property reflects the agricul- Value ing, or supporting the character of tural character along this portion an area; of Kingston Road. Together with Stonehaven and the Regency cottage on the north side of Kingston Road, it forms a small cluster of 19th and 20th century historic buildings of architectural merit. ii. is physically, functionally, The property is historically linked visually, or historically linked to its with the Hicksite Quaker families who surroundings, or; settled this area in the early 1800s and, many of whom, were buried in the Hicksite Brown Quaker cemetery nearby at 310 Kingston Road East. The property is visually and historically linked with the Stonehaven property to the north. iii. is a landmark. No.

20 775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER

29 3 FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

The property at 775 Kingston Road East in Ajax was found to satisfy multiple criteria set out in Ontario Regulation 9/06. It has design/physical value related to the agricultural structures, has historical/associative value related to The Society of Friends and Red Wing Orchards, and contextual value related to Stonehaven and the Hicksite Quakers.

This review finds that the property merits designation under Part IV of theOntario Heritage Act, however, it is recommended that further on site assessment be undertaken in order to clearly document and accurately describe the landscape and built structures, and identify the heritage attributes of the site. It is recommended that the site review include the following scope:

1. At the dwelling:

• Review the construction materials and methods of the front portion of the house and the rear wing to determine the sequence of construction. These may be contempo- rary or one may pre-date the other. For instance, the rear wing may have been an earlier farm house that the front portion of the house was added to once the farm was well established. Alternatively, the rear wing may have been added to accommodate a growing household. • Review the exterior cladding to verify that this in the 2-storey brick house noted in the 1851 census. • Review the building interior to understand its conversion into a two family dwelling and document any original Quaker style architectural detailing. 2. At the barn:

• Review the timber construction so as to determine the barn style or design influ- ences. Based on the site history, roof profile and massing it is likely an English or Pennsylvania style barn. • Review the building to determine the 1936 alterations. 3. At the stables and garage:

• As a structure is visible here in the 1929 photo (figure 11), review the building construction methods and materials to determine if any portions pre-date 1936. In the short term, it is recommended that the property is added to the Town of Ajax Heritage Register as a listed heritage property.

775 KINGSTON ROAD EAST, AJAX - CHER 21

30 Appendix 1: Bibliography

1. ---. The Founding of Pickering Village. Ajax: The Ajax Historical Board, April 1979. 2. ---. The Pictorial History of Ajax 1941/1972. Ajax: Ajax Historical Board, 1972. 3. ---. The Village of Pickering 1880-1970. Pickering: The Corporation of the Village of Pickering, 1970. 4. Barbour, Hugh. Quaker Crosscurrents: Three Hundred Years of Friends in the New York Yearly Meetings. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1995. 5. Barris, Michael. Famous Ajax Estate sells for $1.8 million. Oshawa Times, March 12, 1985. 6. Dorland, Arthur Garrett. The Quakers in Canada, A History. Toronto, The Ryerson Press, 1968. 7. Fram, Mark. Well-Preserved: The Ontario Heritage Foundation’s Manual of Principles and Practice for Architectural Conservation. Toronto: Boston Mills Press, 1992. 8. Greenwald, Michelle. The Historical Complexities of Pickering, Markham, Scarborough and Uxbridge. Ontario: North Pickering Community Development Project, 1973 9. J.H. Beers & Co. Illustrated Historical Atlas of the County of Ontario. Toronto: J.H.Beers &co., 1877. 10. Macdonald, Archie (Ed.). A Town Called Ajax. Ajax: The Ajax Historical Board, 1995. 11. Maddaford, Margaret G. Red Wing Orchards. Available at Pickering Public Library. 12. Mikel, Robert. Ontario House Styles. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. Ltd., 2004. 13. Gannon, Bessie et al. (Hicksite) Society of Friends Cemetery: A Genealogical Reference Listing. Whitby, Ont.: Whitby-Oshawa Branch of the Ontario Geological Society, 1988. 14. Orvis, Francis Wayland. A History of the Orvis Family in America. Hackensack, N.J.: The Orvis Company, Inc., 1922. 15. Wood, William. Past Years in Pickering: Sketches of the History of the Commmunity. Toronto: William Briggs, 1911.

Other resources

Canadian Friends Historical Association, Gord Thompson and Heather Ioannou City of Pickering Archives, Becky George Library & Archives Canada Ontario Land Registry Town of Ajax Archives, Brenda Kriz Town of Whitby Archives

31 Appendix 2:Land Abstract, Lot1,Concession Township ofPickering Instrument Date of Date of Grantor Grantee Consideration Remarks Instrument Registration Patent Nov. 6, 1796 Smith, John All B&S May 15, 1824 July 9, 1827 Smith, David Wm Orvis, Eleazer B. All £ 162-14 B&S July 6, 1827 July 11,1829 -Orvis, Eleazer B. Austin, Nicholas N 1/2 £ 81-51 Will Jan 9, 1863 Mar 11, 1863 Austin, Nicholas N 1/2 Release Sept. 21, 1875 Sept. 6, 1875 Austin, Harriet Austin, George N 1/2 B&S Sept. 21, 1875 Sept. 6, 1875 Austin, George Gould ,Henry East 75 acres of N 1/2 B&S not listed not listed Gould, Henry + w Austin, George B&S Dec 18 -- Jan 29 1876 Austin George + w Lee Whitfield Release Mar 5 1876 Jan 4 1977 Dunbar, Eliz A et al Austin Sylvanus & Geo N 1/2

32 Will Sept 30, 1910 Dec 12, 1919 Lee, Whitfield Lee, George W 75 acres of N. Pt. Grant Oct. 1919 Jan. 3, 1920 Austin: Caroline, Miller, James 25 acres of N Archie + w, Edgar 1/2 / $9,000 Taylor + W Release Jan. 2, 1920 Feb. 2, 1920 Mackay, Francis A. Lee, George Whitfield E 3/4 of N 1/2 Hall, Eda Marcia Cert of Oct. 27, 1934 Oct. 31, 1934 SGO in Toronto - Lee E 3/4 of N 1/2 FOF Grant Dec. 2, 1935 Dec. 3, 1935 The Toronto Gen Melrose Securities Ltd E 3/4 of N Triceto Corp - 1/2 / $9,000 Estate of J Kellech Grant July 14, 1943 Aug. 21, 1943 Melrose Irwin, Ethel Kathleen E 3/4 of N 1/2 Ex. Securities Ltd / $10,000 highways Instrument Date of Date of Grantor Grantee Remarks Instrument Registration Grant Sept 29, 1965 Dec 20, 1965 Irwin, Ethel K. Stonehaven Farms Ltd $1.00 E 3/4 of N 1/2 except Hwy. + w. 25 acres of N 1/2 Plan Aug. 21, 1972 Part - Parts 2,3,4 40-R-767 and pt of parts 1&5 - Stonehaven Farms Grant 18 03 85 Stonehaven Stroud, Ernest Part - Parts 1, 2,3,4 Farms Ltd. Leonard & 5 on 40R-8658 subj to easements Transfer 91 12 31 Stroud, Ernest Stroud, Rose $2.00 Part - Parts 1, 2,3,4 33 Leonard Estate & 5 on 40R-8658 subj to easements Transfer 91 12 31 Stroud, Rose Stroud, Rose $2.00 Part - Parts 1, 2,3,4 Stroud, Nelson & 5 on 40R-8658 Woodrow subj to easements Stroud Leonard George Appendix 3: Land Abstract, Lot 2, Concession 1, Township of Pickering Remarks Part - Parts 1, 2,3 Part - Parts 1, 2,3 on 40R-8658 Part - Parts 1, 2,3,4 & 5 on 40R-8658 subj to easements Part - Parts 1, 2,3,4 & 5 on 40R-8658 subj to easements NE 1/4 NE 1/4 ex. Hwy. Pt. of parts 1 & 5 - Stonehaven Farms Consid. 50 acres “ “ “ $9,000 $2.00 $2.00 $10,000 $1.00 Grantee Austin, Nicholas Austin, George Austin Sylvanus Austin Sylvanus + Geo Miller, James Miller, Rose Stroud, Rose Stroud, Nelson Stroud, Woodrow Leonard Stroud George Irwin, Ethel Kathleen Stonehaven Farms Ltd. Ernest Stroud, Leonard Grantor Austin, Nicholas Gould, Henry Dunbar, Eliz A et al Dunbar, Austin, Sylvanus Austin Family and (Caroline Edgar) Stroud, Ernest Ernest Stroud, Estate Leonard Rose Stroud, Miller, James Miller, Irwin, Ethel K Stonehaven Farms Ltd. Date of Date of Registration Mar. 11, 1863 11, Mar. Sept. 6, 1875 Jan. 21, 1877 Sept. 27, 1904 27, Sept. Jan. 3, 1920 91 12 31 91 12 31 Jan. 3, 1945 Dec. 20, 1965 Aug. 21, 1972 18 03 85 Date of Date of Instrument 26, 1842 Apr. Jan 9, 1863 Sept. 4, 1875 Mar. 5, 1876 Mar. Nov. 4, 1902 Nov. Oct. 1919 Dec. 26, 1944 Sept. 29, 1965 29, Sept. Instrument Patent Will Release Release Will Grant Transfer Transfer Grant Grant Plan 40-R-767 Grant

34 Appendix 4: Property Photos

1. Site: View northwest across Lakeridge Road and the fields to the barn (right) and hangar (left), 2019. (BA)

2. Site: View west across Lakeridge Road and the fields to the barn (left), and the stables and garage (right), 2019. (BA)

35 3. Site: View looking south across Kingston Road, 2019. (BA)

4. House: North, front elevation, 2019. (BA)

36 5. House: South and east elevations, 2019. (BA)

6. House: South and west elevations, 2019. (BA)

37 7. House: West elevation showing rear wing, 2019. (BA)

8. House: South and west elevations, 2019. (BA)

38 9. House: Front porch, 2019. (BA)

10. House: Stone foundation with large quoins at 11. House: Window with brick arch set into stone corners and stucco wall treatment, 2019. (BA) foundation, 2019. (BA)

39 12. House: 12-over-12 wood sash window, 2019. 13. House: 2-over-2 wood storm window, 2019. (BA) (BA)

14. House: Eaves returns 2019. (BA) 15. House: Asphalt shingle roof, painted metal rain gear and brick chimney, 2019. (BA)

40 16. Site: View south from Kingston Road along the east side of house, 2019. (BA)

17. Site: View south from Kingston Road along the driveway, 2019. (BA)

41 18. Farm buildings: View south to stable and garage (right) and barn (left) from adjacent property, 2019. (BA)

19. Barn: North and part west elevation (at right) showing concrete silo, 2019. (BA)

42 20. Stables and Garage: North elevation, 2019. (BA)

21. Stables and Garage: West (left) and north (right) elevations, 2019. (BA)

43 22. Stables and Garage: East elevation, 2019. (BA)

23. Garage: Foundation and cladding, 2019. (BA) 24. Garage: Window, 2019. (BA)

44 25. Barn ventilator and carriage house gable end 26. Garage: Bird house, 2019. (BA) eaves return, 2019. (BA)

27. Hangar: North elevation, 2019. (BA)

45 HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN

OBJECTIVES & PROJECT ITEM LEAD TIMELINE STATUS / NOTES SUMMARY

• Develop project outline Staff Liaisons • partnership with Ajax • 1 Ajax Historical Minute partner with local schools Committee TBD High School confirmed Video Project • Review submissions Ajax High School • Project delays due to • Celebrate completion Admin education labour action  Prepare and operate Staff Liaisons 2 Canada Day Celebrations display table July 1 Annual event  Other activities as identified Committee  Prepare and operate display table 3 Culture Days Events Staff Liaisons September Annual event  Other activities as Committee identified  Selection of sites for heritage designation (goal of one per year)  Review and approval of Heritage Designation 4 Heritage Designations As needed Annually Reports Staff Liaisons  Recommendation to Council for designation Committee  Organize plaque unveiling and reception  As presented by Planning Staff – Committee will review Review of Development applications regarding Monthly 5 Applications and Heritage designated properties, Permits properties abutting Staff Liaisons as needed designated properties Planning Staff and properties on the Heritage Inventory

46 HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN

OBJECTIVES & TIMELINE STATUS / NOTES PROJECT ITEM SUMMARY LEAD

 Assist with the selection Staff Liaisons 6 Ajax Town Hall Display of themes for the display Committee cases in Ajax Town Hall Annual  New drawings of houses Revision of Pickering  Design of new brochure Staff Liaisons 7 Village Walking tour  Include recent designations Committee booklet  Communication Plan for printing / promotion

 Work with Recreation & Develop Spirit Walk Staff Liaisons 8 Culture staff to develop a As Dialogue spirit walk in Pickering Committee Required Village / Ajax  Assist staff with the planning and development Doors Open of the Doors Open event Staff Liaisons Bi-annual 9  Committee will be Committee Ongoing 2020 & 2022 actively involved with the event  Assist staff, as required, with property inspections, education and updates 10 Heritage Property Tax Staff Liaisons  Compare value of Rebate Program Committee increasing tax rebate from 10% (max permitted is As needed 40% as per the  Municipal Act) with establishing a new designated property grant program

47 HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN

PROJECT ITEM OBJECTIVES & TIMELINE STATUS / NOTES SUMMARY LEAD

 Examine and provide 11 Heritage Legislation comment on any relevant Staff Liaisons cultural heritage legislation Committee As needed  Attend high school Patrick Sheehan Bursary commencement 12 ceremonies to present the Awards Staff Liaisons bursary awards to the Committee As needed Annual graduating students Pickering Village Heritage  Assist staff in creating a 13 Conservation District brochure for the Pickering Staff Liaisons Village Heritage As needed Brochure Conservation District Committee

 Review the Nomination of the role of letter/application and Submission of Application generally takes Defence Industries prepare the necessary Application 3 - 5 years for it to be Limited (DIL) during the information required to 14 Completed assessed by the Historic Second World War to the submit a complete Staff Liaisons Next steps TBD if Sites and Monuments Historic Sites and application, including Committee obtaining letters of designation Board of Canada Monuments Board of received. Canada support from various groups and government levels.  Arrange for guest Guest Speakers & speakers to attend Workshops meetings  Organize participation Staff Liaisons 15 in workshops and other Committee As needed similar learning opportunities

48 HERITAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN

OBJECTIVES & PROJECT ITEM LEAD TIMELINE STATUS / NOTES SUMMARY

Plaques  Research topics to be commemorated through local plaques Staff Liaisons 1 As needed 6  Review and edit plaque Committee wording

Jane’s Walks  Organize guided walk within Ajax to celebrate Staff Liaisons First weekend in 1 7 the life of Jane Jacobs Committee May

Last Updated: January 2020

49 A short history of UK links to Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

Chile: At the time of the Spanish conquest of Chile in the mid-16th century, at least 500,000 Indians inhabited the region. Nearly all of the scattered tribes were related in race and language, but they lacked any central governmental organization. The groups in northern Chile lived by fishing and by farming. The Spanish conquest of Chile began in 1536–37, when the region was invaded in search of an “Otro Peru” (“Another Peru”). Finding neither a high civilization nor gold, the Spaniards returned to Peru. They returned to Chile in late 1540 and founded Santiago. The Araucanian native tribes resisted the Spanish but fighting and disease reduced their numbers by two- thirds during the first century after the Europeans arrived. Concepción was founded in 1550 and during the next two years further settlements and forts were established. Although Concepción was destroyed on several occasions, it remained as the Spanish outpost in the south as did La Serena, founded in 1544, in the north. The conquest of Chile was finally consolidated during the late 1550s. Between this time and the early nineteenth century Chile remained a relatively poor colony of Spain with mediocre administration dominated by the Roman Catholic Church.

Despite the colony’s isolation, its inhabitants by the start of the 19th century were becoming affected by developments elsewhere. The most significant of those developments were the winning of the American War of Independence by the 13 Anglo-American colonies, the French Revolution, and the inability of Spain to defend its system in America, as indicated by the British invasion of the La Plata region in the early 1800s and increased contraband trade on the part of British and U.S. citizens. Finally and decisively came the intervention of Napoleon in Spain, an act that in 1808 threw Chile and the other colonies on their own resources and led them to take the first steps toward greater autonomy and self-government. In Chile the initial move toward independence was

50 1 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 made in 1810, when an open town meeting in Santiago accepted the resignation of the President-Governor and in his place elected a junta composed of local leaders. From 1810 to 1813 the course of the patriots was relatively peaceful because they were able to maintain themselves without formal ties to the Viceroyalty of Lima. However, the embers of civil strife were also fanned. Spain then started to take steps to reassert its control over the colony. At the Battle of Rancagua in 1814, it re-established its military supremacy and ended what has been called la patria vieja (“the old fatherland”). However there were many in Chile suffering from the harsh rule of Spain’s inept representatives and became convinced that absolute independence was necessary. In February 12, 1817 patriot forces defeated the royalists on the hill of Chacabuco with Chile’s independence being declared a year later (February 12, 1818), on the first anniversary of Chacabuco, but the decisive defeat of Spain on the Chilean mainland (Spain held the island of Chiloé until 1826) did not come until after the Battle of Maipú, on April 5, 1818. The newly emancipated state of Chile formed its own navy, which by late 1818 was in the process of clearing the Chilean coast of Spanish vessels. The fight for Chilean independence was aided by the British Admiral, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860).

Admiral Thomas Cochrane. Although Lord Cochrane was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, he was also a mercenary and radical politician. During the Napoleonic Wars he was a daring and successful captain, leading Napoleon to nickname him Le Loup des Mers ('The Sea Wolf'). He was successful in virtually all his naval actions. Cochrane was dismissed from the Royal Navy in 1814 following a controversial conviction for fraud. He move to South America and helped organise and lead the rebel navies of Chile and Brazil during their respective successful wars of independence through the 1820s. While in charge of the Chilean Navy, Cochrane also contributed to Peruvian independence. In 1832, he was pardoned by the Crown and reinstated in the Royal Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral. He died in 1860. His life and exploits inspired the naval fiction of 19th- and 20th-century novelists, particularly the figures of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's protagonist Jack Aubrey. During World War II Chile remained neutral until, in 1942, in a common action with other Latin American countries, it declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan.

War of the Pacific 1879-1883. The War of the Pacific, also known as the Saltpetre War was a war between Chile and a Bolivian-Peruvian alliance. It lasted from 1879 to 1884, and was fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert, an area rich in saltpetre deposits. The dry climate of the Peruvian and Bolivian coasts had permitted the accumulation and preservation of vast amounts of high-quality guano deposits and sodium nitrate, an economic resource that each country sought after.

51 2 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 ‘Guano’ is a Quechua word for fertilizer. Potassium nitrate (ordinary saltpetre) and sodium nitrate (Chile saltpetre) are nitrogen-containing compounds collectively referred to as salpetre, saltpeter, caliche, or nitrate. In the 1840s, Europeans knew the guano and nitrate's value as fertilizer and saltpetre's role in explosives. The Atacama Desert became economically important economically with Bolivia, Chile, and Peru located in an area with the largest reserves in the world. The war ended with victory for Chile, which gained a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia. Chile's army took Bolivia's nitrate rich coastal region and Chile's navy defeated that of Peru. Battles were fought at sea in the Pacific Ocean and on land in the Atacama Desert, Peru's deserts, and in the mountainous regions in the Andes. However for the first five months the war played out in a naval campaign, as Chile struggled to establish a sea-based resupply corridor for its forces in the world's driest desert. Given the few roads and railroad lines, the nearly waterless and largely unpopulated Atacama Desert was difficult to occupy. From the beginning naval superiority was critical. Bolivia had no navy. Early on, Chile blockaded the Peruvian port of Iquique. In the Battle of Iquique (May 21, 1879), the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar engaged and sank the Chilean wooden Esmeralda. Close by on the same day, at the Battle of Punta Gruesa, the Peruvian Independencia chased the Chilean schooner Covadonga until the heavier Independencia collided with a submerged rock and sank in shallow waters. In the months that followed, despite being outnumbered, this powerful Peruvian monitor, Huáscar whose main armament comprised two 300lb guns on a single rotating turret continued to hold off the Chilean navy and upheld Peruvian morale in the early stages of the war. The capture of the steamship Rímac by the Huascar on July 23, 1879 while carrying a cavalry regiment was the Chilean army's largest loss to that point. Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas of the Chilean navy then devised a plan to catch the Huáscar. At the Battle of Angamos, on October 8, 1879 the Chilean Navy cornered the Huáscar and after several hours of fierce battle when she was bombarded by the Chilean Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada and eventually captured, despite her surviving crew's attempts to scuttle her. From then on the Chilean Navy carried troops and supported the invasion of Peru and provided fire support for amphibious assaults. Chilean warships also imposed a naval blockade of Peruvian ports. When the Peruvian capital Lima fell after the battles of Chorrillos and Miraflores, the Peruvian naval officers scuttled the entire remaining fleet to prevent its capture by the Chilean forces.

Argentina: The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. Historians dispute whether the Rio de la Plata estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501–02 or by Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516. Solís and a small party

52 3 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 sailed up the Plata, which he called the Mar Dulce (“Freshwater Sea”), and made landfall. However the expedition failed and The Río de la Plata (‘River of Silver’) was not explored again until Magellan arrived in 1520 and Sebastian Cabot in 1526. Cabot discovered the Paraná and Paraguay (now known as Uruguay River) rivers that feed into the Plate estuary and established the fort of Sancti Spíritus (the first Spanish settlement in the Plata basin). He also sent home reports of the presence of silver. Inspired by the conquest of Peru and the threat from Portugal’s growing power in Brazil, Spain in 1535 sent an expedition under Pedro de Mendoza to settle the country. Mendoza was initially successful in founding Santa María del Buen Aire, or Buenos Aires in 1536.

In the same year, a party from Buenos Aires under Juan de Ayolas and Domingo Martínez de Irala, lieutenants of Mendoza, pushed a thousand miles up the Plata and Paraguay rivers and founded Asunción (now in Paraguay). In 1541 the few remaining inhabitants of Buenos Aires abandoned it and moved to Asunción, which was the first permanent settlement in that area. In the next half century Asunción played a major part in the conquest and settlement of northern Argentina. The main population of Argentina was concentrated there until the late 18th century. Buenos Aires, re-established in 1580 by Juan de Garay with settlers from Asunción, was largely isolated from this northern area. Northern Argentina as well as Buenos Aires was settled mainly by the overflow from the neighbouring Spanish colonies of Chile, Peru, and Paraguay (Asunción). There was little direct migration from Spain, probably because the area lacked the attractions that Mexico, Peru, and other Spanish colonies offered such as rich mines, a large supply of tractable Indian labour, accessibility, and the privilege of direct trade with Spain.

Politically, Argentina was a divided and subordinate part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1776, but three of its cities—San Miguel de Tucumán, Córdoba, and Buenos Aires; successively achieved a kind of leadership in the area and thereby sowed the regional seeds that later grew into an Argentine national identity.

Of these three cities, San Miguel de Tucumán dominated with trade as the chief economic activity, by supplying the rich silver-mining area of Upper Peru (now Bolivia) with foodstuffs and livestock in return for European manufactures and other goods brought from Spain. Buenos Aires, which rose to leadership in the late 18th century, symbolized the reorientation of Argentina’s economic, intellectual, and political life from the west to the east. On the economic front commerce was oriented away from the declining silver mines of Peru and toward direct transatlantic trade with Europe. Political life was reoriented in 1776, when Spain created the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (consisting of modern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Bolivia), with Buenos Aires as its capital. By carving the new viceroyalty from lands formerly part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Spain intended to put its east-coast dominions in a better defensive position. The chief threat came from Brazil, which was growing rapidly in population, wealth, and military potential. For the first time, the port of Buenos Aires was opened to transatlantic trade with Spain and, through Spain, with other countries.

In Argentina the independence movement began in 1806–07, when British attacks on Buenos Aires were repelled in the two battles known as the Reconquista and the Defensa. Also important there, as elsewhere in Spanish America, were the ramifications of Napoleon I’s intervention in Spain, beginning in 1808, which plunged that country into a civil war between two rival governments; one set up by Napoleon, who placed his own brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne, and the other created by patriotic juntas in Spain

53 4 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 in the name of the exiled Ferdinand VII and aided by the British. In most of Spanish America there was general sympathy with the regency, but both claims were rejected, mainly on the ground that an interregnum existed and thus, under ancient principles of Spanish law, the king’s dominions in America had the right to govern themselves pending the restoration of a lawful king. On May 25, 1810 (now celebrated as Venticinco de Mayo, the day of the revolution), an autonomous government was established in Buenos Aires to administer the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in the name of Ferdinand VII, pending his restoration. When Ferdinand was restored in 1814, however, he was virtually powerless in Spain, which remained under the shadow of France. An assembly representing most of the viceroyalty met at San Miguel de Tucumán and on July 9, 1816 (Nueve de Julio), declared the country independent under the name of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

Several years of hard fighting followed before the Spanish royalists were defeated in northern Argentina. But they remained a threat from their base in Peru until it was liberated by José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar in 1820–24. The Buenos Aires government tried to maintain the integrity of the old Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, but the outlying portions, never effectively controlled, soon were lost: Paraguay in 1814, Bolivia in 1825, and Uruguay in 1828. The remaining territory—what now constitutes modern Argentina— was frequently disunited until 1860. The root cause of the trouble, the power struggle between Buenos Aires and the rest of the country, was not settled until 1880, and even after that it continued to cause dissatisfaction.

Early 20th century;

Internal revolution and unrest plagued Argentina for many years into the 20th century. World War II saw the rise of Colonel Juan Perón. By 1945 Perón was vice president and minister of war and was instrumental in declaring war on Germany which facilitated Argentina’s admittance to the United Nations.

Uruguay.

The first European to explore Uruguay was the Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516, who, along with several of his men, was killed and eaten by Guaraní warriors. Ferdinand Magellan anchored at the future site of Montevideo in 1520, while Sebastian Cabot led a Spanish expedition up the Río de la Plata in 1526, but they found the Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay (“East Bank of the Uruguay River”) unattractive for settlement because of a lack of mineral wealth and the absence of Indians who could be readily enslaved or compelled to serve European interests. Jesuit and Franciscan missions were not established in Uruguay until the 1620s. By that time, however, the indigenous population had begun to collapse, as European diseases killed thousands.

Cattle from neighbouring regions, allowed to roam freely in Uruguayan territory, multiplied over the years until their numbers reached the millions. In 1680 the Portuguese established Colonia del Sacramento on the Río de la Plata opposite Buenos Aires. There they carried on a contraband trade with Spanish settlers, who were collecting great quantities of silver from the mines of Upper Peru (now Bolivia). Spanish authorities countered this move by founding San Felipe de Montevideo as a fortified city in 1726 and attacking Colonia, which subsequently changed hands several times before being ceded to Spain in 1777.

54 5 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 Montevideo became the major Spanish port of the South Atlantic, and the process of dividing the area of Uruguay, known as the Banda Oriental, into huge unfenced ranches began. In 1776 the Banda Oriental became part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the capital of which was Buenos Aires; Montevideo, with its Spanish military and naval contingents, was a royalist stronghold when a movement for independence broke out in Buenos Aires in 1810. In the interior of the Banda Oriental, the fight against Spain was led from 1811 by José Gervasio Artigas, commander of the Blandengues, a mounted corps that the Spaniards had originally created to police the region. Artigas’s small army, which soon included a battalion of freed African slaves, was supported by rural inhabitants, antiroyalist Montevideo leaders, and an army from Buenos Aires. Following victories in the interior and in Montevideo, Artigas promoted a loose confederation of provinces of la Plata, but he also considered forming a rival confederation centring on Montevideo. These plans made him a threat to centralists in Buenos Aires but when Portuguese Brazilian forces took over the Banda Oriental in 1820, Artigas was driven into exile.

“Brazilianization” was resisted within the Banda Oriental and by Uruguayan exiles as well. Argentines felt increasingly threatened by the Brazilian presence, and their government was compelled to support Juan Antonio Lavalleja, one of Artigas’s exiled officers, and his “33 orientales” when they crossed the river to free their Uruguayan homeland in 1825. The ensuing war was a stalemate, but British diplomats mediated a settlement in 1827, and in 1828 a treaty was ratified creating Uruguay as a separate state and a buffer between Brazil and Argentina. The nation’s strategic location also served British interests by guaranteeing that the Río de la Plata would remain an international waterway. On July 18 1830 the constitution for the Oriental State of Uruguay was approved.

The first half of the nineteenth century was a disaster for the new Uruguay with a long, damaging and bitter civil war that threatened the existence of the new state, followed by further war with neighbouring Paraguay. However matters improved during the latter part of the 19th century as increasing numbers of immigrants established businesses and bought land. Partly through their efforts, sheep were introduced to graze together with cattle, ranches were fenced, and pedigree bulls and rams were imported to improve livestock. Earnings from wool (which became the leading export in 1884), hides, and dried beef encouraged the British to invest in railroad building and also helped to modernize Montevideo—notably in its public utilities and transportation system—which thereby encouraged additional immigration. In 1876 the Uruguayan armed forces took over the government and, aided by improved communications, began to establish firmer control over the interior. However, public support for the regime eventually waned because of the brutality and corruption of some of its leaders, and a civilian government returned to power in 1890.

20th-21st century: General Alfredo Baldomir was President during the period 1938–42 and was initially tasked with reversing the decline after the Great Depression. The state interfered with labour unions, postponed social legislation, preserved as much as it could of the British market for Uruguayan meat, and halted government attempts to nationalize foreign, mainly British, enterprises in Uruguay. At the onset of World War II, European nations began eagerly to buy Uruguay’s meat, wool, and hides, bringing a period of genuine prosperity. The war also strengthened Uruguay’s manufacturing sector, which employed nearly 100,000 people by 1945.

55 6 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 In the first round of the presidential election in October 2009, the EP–FA’s presidential candidate, José Mujica, a senator and former left-wing guerrilla, won just less than half the vote, which was not enough to avoid a runoff election against the runner-up, former president Lacalle of the Blanco Party. In the November 2009 runoff election Mujica was elected president of Uruguay with more than half of the vote.

In December 2013 the government cut off revenue to drug dealers by legalizing marijuana and putting its production, distribution, and sale under state control.

British influence in the foundation of Uruguay – George Canning and Viscount Ponsonby.

George Canning (1770 – 1827) was a British Tory statesman who served as British Prime Minister from April to August 1827 – the final four months of his life. However prior to that he occupied various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers. During the Napoleonic Wars and his period in the Foreign Office Canning became deeply involved in the affairs of Spain, Portugal and Latin America. He helped guarantee the independence of Brazil and the Spanish colonies in the early nineteenth century which helped British merchants open new markets across South and Central America. Britain had a strong interest in ensuring the demise of Spanish colonialism, and was keen to open the newly independent Latin American colonies to British trade. The Latin Americans received a certain amount of unofficial aid – arms and volunteers – from outside, but no official help at any stage from Britain or any other power. However at the same time Britain refused to aid Spain and opposed any outside intervention on behalf of Spain by other powers. The Royal Navy was a decisive factor in the struggle for some Latin American countries to achieve independence. In 1825 Mexico, Argentina and Colombia were recognised by means of the ratification of commercial treaties with Britain. In November 1825 the first minister from a Latin American state, Colombia, was officially received in London. "Spanish America is free," Canning declared. Also in 1825, Portugal recognised Brazil as an independent nation, thanks to Canning's efforts (and in return for a preferential commercial treaty). On 12 December 1826, in the House of Commons, Canning was given an opportunity to defend the policies he had adopted towards France, Spain and Spanish America, and declared: “I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old." By granting recognition to Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil Canning brought these new states into the European system of trade and diplomacy, while blocking further colonization. Recognition was greeted with enthusiasm throughout Latin America. Canning was the first British Foreign Secretary to devote a large proportion of his time and energies to the affairs of Latin America (as well as to those of Spain and Portugal) and no doubt foresaw the important political and economic role the Latin American states would one day play in the world. At the Pan-American Centennial Conference of 1926 which took place in Panama City and celebrated the centenary of the South American movement to Independence, it was declared that: “Great Britain lent to the liberty of Spanish America not only the support of its diplomacy, represented by Canning, but also an appreciable contingent of blood and it may be asserted

56 7 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 that there was no battlefield in the War of Independence in which British blood was not shed." John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby (1770-1855): On 28 February 1826 Ponsonby went to Buenos Aires as envoy-extraordinary and minister-plenipotentiary. There he greatly fostered the independence of Uruguay as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil, similar to the earlier creation of Belgium in Europe as a buffer state between France and the Netherlands. Fray Bentos. In 1865, Liebig's Extract of Meat Company was founded in Britain by German chemist Justus von Liebig. The company established a factory in Uruguay in the town of Fray Bentos on the Uruguay River in the west of the country in order to manufacture a beef extract product that would later be sold under the name Oxo. In 1873, the factory began manufacturing tinned corned beef, which was sold in Britain under the name Fray Bentos, Although Fray Bentos was trademarked by Liebig for the purpose of marketing glue and "extract of meat", it was used principally for marketing corned beef. Over time, Fray Bentos became synonymous with corned beef. Fray Bentos corned beef was targeted at a working-class market. The tins were also ideally suited as army rations as they weighed just one pound and were easily transportable. With the outbreak of the Boer War, the company's profits were significantly boosted from supplying corned beef to the British Army in South Africa. Fray Bentos corned beef was also supplied to the troops in World War I. Its popularity was such that the term "Fray Bentos" was used as a slang by soldiers to mean "good quality". One of the early British tanks that fought at the Battle of Passchendaele was given the nickname "Fray Bentos", because the men inside felt like tinned meat. In 1924, Liebig Extract of Meat Company, together with the Fray Bentos brand, was acquired by the Vestey Group who renamed the Uruguayan operation Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay, also known as the "Anglo Meatpacking Company". Fray Bentos's heyday was in World War II. As a supplier of meat to the Allies, Fray Bentos shipped more than 16 million cans of corned beef to Europe in 1943 alone. British soldiers serving in North Africa during the desert campaign referred to it as Desert Chicken. The Anglo factory in Fray Bentos, at its height, employed over 5,000 workers from more than 50 countries to process 400 cows an hour. As a result of the demand for Fray Bentos products at this time the Uruguayan currency became more valuable than the US dollar. In the immediate post-war years, the Fray Bentos products continued to be a staple food in Britain. The product range was expanded to include canned meat pies such as steak and kidney and minced beef and onion. In 1958, Vestey began manufacturing Fray Bentos pies in England and production was moved to a plant in Hackney, London. In 1964, the use of the brand for corned beef was significantly damaged when an outbreak of typhoid in Aberdeen, in which three people died, was traced to a tin of Fray Bentos corned beef imported from South America. The corned beef had been contaminated as a result of the cooling process during manufacture, in which the untreated water used had come, according to the BBC, "from a river into which an estimated 66 tonnes of human excrement and 250,000 gallons of urine entered every day". At the end of the 1960s, Vestey disposed of the Anglo factory to the Uruguayan government and, in 1968, sold Liebig to Brooke Bond.

57 8 Author – Jonathan Harwood – November 2019 The History of the Royal Navy in South America before Second World War Jonathan Harwood

Background pre-1937: After the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 the Royal Navy assumed a more paternal role in the world and apart from a few isolated actions, transformed itself into a form of global policeman and nautical pioneer. This occurred at a time of huge expansion of the British Empire which was the main driver for the navy’s activity across the globe. Any colonisation was only possible if sea routes were to be established and protected not only from hostile forces but also the hazards of nature. Accordingly, the Royal Navy charted the oceans and seas of the world, mapping the harbours and estuaries. Admiralty charts remain some of the best in the world; the Navy’s hydrographers are still very active, although they use very different methods to improve and update the knowledge of the waters of the world. The nineteenth century was also a period of enormous scientific progress with the navy in the 1 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 58 forefront not only in the mundane science of weather forecasting but also our understanding on the natural world through their prodigious collection of creatures from the world’s oceans, many of which are still to be found in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London. Of course, no discussion of this period and a connection with South America would be complete without mention of Charles Darwin’s epic voyage in HMS Beagle from 1831- 1836 where he first formulated his ideas on the theory of evolution. In the South Atlantic British possessions tended to be islands stretching from the Bahamas, Bermuda and Trinidad in the north to St Helena, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands in the south. Britain’s South Pacific possessions tended to be closer to Australia, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean. At the same time the rapidly-growing empire of the Kaiser’s Germany raised their flag over new colonies in Pacific region, notably Samoa and northern New Guinea. In the early nineteenth century Britain had assisted several countries on the South American continent achieve independence from Spain, exerting some military muscle at times to ensure its interests were met. From then onwards there was an immense commercial interest in developing these countries through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Britain obtained extensive mining concessions, most of the railways were built and owned by British companies with other companies owning enormous sheep and cattle holdings. The British- owned corned beef factory at Fray Bentos, up the River Uruguay supplied over 250 million tins of beef to the allied troops in France during the First World War. However Germany also had strong commercial interests in South America, especially in Chile and Argentina with the government encouraging thousands of Germans to emigrate and set up a new life in these countries. In 1914 two significant events occurred that would affect the British and the Royal Navy’s influence in South America. Firstly, the USA developed and finally opened the Panama Canal on August 15th. Although an enormous boon to world trade this event marked the start of an increasing US policy to regard South America as now residing in its sphere of influence. Secondly, at the start of the First World War, in November and December 1914 the Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy clashed twice - catastrophically for each side in turn. On 1st November Admiral Cradock’s force, sent to stop German Admiral Von Spee’s East Asiatic Squadron from returning to Germany was comprehensively defeated off Coronel, Chile, resulting in the death of Cradock and the loss of the Armoured Cruisers HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope, making this battle the worst loss for the Royal Navy in almost 100 years. One month later, on 8th December, Von Spee himself was caught by an avenging British force and annihilated at the Battle of the Falklands, resulting the death of Von Spee, his two sons and the loss of his squadron. However, one of the German ships, SMS Dresden escaped the battle and managed to hide out along the coast of Chile until cornered and sunk in March 1915 while hiding off the Robinson Crusoe Island of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific Ocean (that is owned by Chile). The drama of these two world powers clashing off South America highlighted hidden sympathies for the plight of the German ships who were being supplied with coal, food, materials and intelligence by both the German immigrant communities and Chilean officials who were either unable or reluctant to impose the legal restrictions under which naval vessels of belligerent nations are permitted to stay in harbour and obtain supplies. In addition, it became clear that South America was sufficiently remote in those days that Admiralty orders and interference tended to be counterproductive and decisions were best left to the squadron commanders who could make better use of local intelligence and counter efforts by the German population to thwart their endeavours. Sub-Lieutenant Charles Woodhouse, later Captain of HMS Ajax at the Battle of

2 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 59 the River Plate was present at the Battle of the Falklands in HMS Bristol who was also involved in the subsequent hunt for SMS Dresden. One observation made by Lloyd Hirst, the Intelligence Officer on HMS Glasgow, a light cruiser that fought at both battles and was instrumental in bringing about the destruction of the Dresden was that a benign naval presence went a long way to maintaining good relations between Britain and the South American countries. For example, Montevideo in Uruguay readily welcomed Glasgow, referring to her as “Our ship”, a phrase repeated when HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax were to visit the same port 25 years later. South American Squadron, 1919-1921. After the First World War ended in 1918, the Royal Navy re-created the South American Division and in 1919 Lieutenant Commander Henry Harwood, aged 31, travelled to South America as Squadron Torpedo Officer and First Lieutenant of HMS Southampton with his lifelong friend Lieutenant Lloyd Hirst as Squadron Intelligence officer. The CinC, Rear Admiral Hunt, saw his appointment as an opportunity to further his sporting interests in addition to promoting the Royal Navy and Britain’s connections to South America. Both sides of the continent were visited and there was even a formal naval visit to Asuncion in land-locked Paraguay with the Admiral travelling up the Parana River in the sloop HMS Petersfield. Such was Admiral Hunt’s fondness for game-shooting and fishing that he purposely stationed ships off either coast of South America so that the only way to get messages and orders between them was via the arduous land-crossing over the Andes. The consequent fortnight’s wait for a reply allowed the Admiral and his entourage to embark on a shooting expedition organised by Lieutenant Commander Harwood, the unofficial Staff Officer (Shooting). So began Harwood’s development of a deep respect and affection for South America and its peoples. He visited most of the countries and travelled to the interior, undertaking shooting and fishing expeditions to the high Andes. For the ships’ crews there were also numerous opportunities to visit the ports and beyond. Although the young Harwood tended to find the official visits and ceremonial with dinners and dances tedious, he was not impressed that throughout the whole period Admiral Hunt was never able to deliver a speech in Spanish, instead relying on a younger officer to interpret for him. This flaw left its mark on Harwood who back in England took time to learn conversational Spanish from a local priest prior to his next appointment to South America from 1936-1939.

The South American Division 1936-1939. The Royal Navy withdrew the South American Division in 1921 but re-instated it in 1931, only to withdraw it again in 1935 to provide a naval presence in the Abyssinian crisis. It was re-constituted in 1936, comprising the Leader class light cruiser, HMS Ajax, commanded by Captain CS Thompson and the York Class medium cruiser, HMS Exeter with Harwood as the ship’s captain but also division commander, thereby promoting him to Commodore (2nd Class). The South American Division formed part of the America and West Indies Fleet whose CinC was Admiral Sir Mathew Best. At the time that Harwood joined the division in September 1936, Ajax was already on station in the South Atlantic while Exeter was undergoing a refit at Plymouth and did not leave until December that year. The purposes of the South America Division were summarised by Harwood as:

3 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 60  To assist diplomatic representatives to enhance British prestige in the area, thereby producing a pro-British atmosphere so that in the event of war they will grant us at least benevolent neutrality and deny this to our enemies.  To influence the various local officials and nationals.  To assist British trade generally.  To deal with the strategic and intelligence aspects of a future war.  To ensure the safety of British lives and property in the event of an Emergency.  To foster friendly relations with local navies.

However times were changing and by 1937 the South American nations were growing up and starting to want to run their own national economies to the detriment of many British interests.

The most significant of the British diplomatic representatives to our story was Mr, later Sir, Eugen Millington-Drake, the British Minister in Uruguay. This eccentric and erudite old Etonian, ably assisted by his wife Lady Effie, had the happy knack of endearing himself to the Uruguayan people while maintaining close personal friendships with senior members of the Government. Most important of these friendships were those with Dr Guani the Foreign Minister, and General Campos the Minister of Defence. Millington-Drake was later to found the Anglo-Uruguayan Society, and write what is still regarded as the definitive anthology of the River Plate campaign. In Buenos Aires the British Ambassador was Sir Esmond Ovey who, with Lady Ovey, had the difficult job of pressing British interests in a powerful country under considerable German pressure.

Initially there was only one Naval Attaché to cover the whole of South America, Captain P.J. Mack, but in late 1937 a second, Captain Arliss, was appointed to the West Coast countries, leaving Mack to concentrate on the East Coast. The Naval Attachés were responsible to the various ambassadors for arranging visits to local ports, providing liaison with the national naval authorities and furthering Royal Naval interests in general. They had an overt intelligence role and were accountable over-all to the Director of Naval Intelligence. In December 1938 Captain Mack was relieved in the East Coast post by Captain (later Admiral Sir Hugh) Mc Call who was to play an important part in the diplomatic phase after the Battle of the Plate. The job of British representation was complicated by the fact that there was little communication between the east and the west coast countries who were in some ways mutually antagonistic.

1936-39 was a time when the threat from the totalitarian powers (Germany and Italy) was at last being taken seriously and the slow process of re-armament was starting. Plans to modernise the Royal Navy were beginning to materialise and the first of the new 10,000-ton Town class cruisers was nearing completion. The German navy was expanding rapidly in defiance of international agreements and it was clear that Germany was intent on crippling British trade routes in the event of war. The spearhead of these plans were the three Pocket Battleships, Deutschland, Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee which, although not designed specifically for commerce raiding were, with their long-range diesel engines, ideal for this purpose. The German submarine force was not yet in a position to play a major part in the war on commerce. When re-formed it was planned that the South American Division would make a circuit of the continent each year, leaving time for a fleet exercise period in the West Indies, a maintenance period in Bermuda dockyard and if possible, a short cruise to North American ports. Ideally the two ships of the South American Division would cruise in company, visiting major ports together and splitting for visits to neighbouring minor ports. However, in the event, the two ships of the Division were seldom in company during 1937 and the early part of 1938.

4 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 61 In 1936-37 Ajax circumnavigated the South American continent anticlockwise alone in 1936, passing through the Panama Canal, and visiting Ecuador, Peru and down the Pacific Coast to Chile where she called into several ports, including visiting Juan Fernandez, the Robinson Crusoe Island in the Pacific Ocean where Alexander Selkirk lived for four years in the eighteenth century. The crew of Ajax spent Christmas 1936 in Punta Arenas, an isolated town in the Magellan Straits before heading to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

HMS Exeter joins the Fleet.

On 29th December 1936 HMS Exeter re-commissioned. The majority of the old commission marched ashore and their replacements marched on board. Next day the Mayor of Exeter paid the ship a formal visit and the following day, 31st December Exeter sailed for her new station with full ceremonial. All hands were fallen in on the upper deck and the Royal Marine Band played on the quarterdeck.

On 13th January 1937 King Neptune and his court came on board for the Crossing the Line ceremony where all those crossing the equator for the first time undergo a traditional ritual.

On 18th January Exeter linked up with Ajax off Punta del Este, a resort on the coast of Uruguay. Next the two ships, in company with the CinC America and West Indies in HMS York together visited Montevideo and then on to Rio de Janeiro. This was followed by visits to Barbados, to the fleet base in Bermuda and celebrations in May to mark the Coronation of King George VI with Exeter celebrating in the Bahamas while Ajax visited Trinidad. After this both ships returned to Bermuda to welcome the new CinC America and West Indies; Vice Admiral Sir Sydney Meyrick.

At the end of June both Exeter and Ajax were called to help quell riots in Trinidad, after which Ajax and Exeter went their separate ways. After two years away, Ajax returned to Britain, arriving in Portsmouth on July 29th, 1937 to the end of her commission. Her crew discharged, HMS Ajax became a Chatham-based ship with a new Captain and a new crew for her next commission but remaining with the South Atlantic Squadron.

Alone, Exeter commenced her first (anticlockwise) circumnavigation of the continent, transiting the Panama Canal and then headed north to visit the US naval base at San Diego, thence on up to Esquimalt, the base of the Canadian West Coast Fleet, in late July before turning south to visit San Francisco. Then, like Ajax the previous year, Exeter headed south to Mexico and then to Peru in September. After that Exeter visited Chile, calling at Iquique, Antofagasta, two weeks at Valparaiso to celebrate the Battle of Angamos in 1879 and from where Harwood travelled to Santiago for an audience with the President. Next there was a week at Talcahuano, the Chilean naval port that serves the town of Concepción and finally a visit to Puerto Montt in October. Exeter continued southward, crossing from west to east through the Magellan Straits, calling in at Punta Arenas (Chile) for three days. She then headed to the Falkland Islands for two weeks in mid-November. Whilst there a landing party exercise was carried out that ‘captured’ and then demolished the old wireless masts on Wireless Ridge, a place whose name would become better known during the assault on Port Stanley in the Falklands War in 1982.

Exeter’s first circumnavigation of the South American continent was celebrated during a two week visit to Buenos Aires in early December 1937 when Harwood was invited to lunch with the President of Argentina who then did the honour of visiting HMS Exeter. This was followed by a further two weeks in Montevideo over Christmas. New Year 1937/38 saw Exeter visiting Argentina once more to the port on Mar del Plata and the naval base at Puerto

5 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 62 Belgrano before returning to Uruguay to call in at Punta del Este on her way up to Brazil in February 1938.

HMS Ajax was re-commissioned in January 1938 and sailed re-join the squadron with a new crew and with Charles Woodhouse as her Captain.

In March Exeter headed back to the West Indies, joining the CinC and winning the fleet pulling regatta held off St Kitts, receiving the coveted “Cock of the Fleet” trophy from the CinC. Sadly Ajax was unable to join in, having been detached to Jamaica for strike duties. From March to July Exeter underwent a refit at the fleet base in Bermuda.

Exeter emerged from her refit with a changeover of 150 of her crew members and commenced her second (this time clockwise) circumnavigation of the South American continent, heading south to Brazil and Uruguay for July-August 1938, arriving in Argentina in September. Here she was joined by HMS Ajax and the two ships stayed together for the remainder of the commission.

The Munich crisis in September 1938 sharpened everyone’s attention to the increasing risk of war. From now onwards Harwood’s main focus was no longer simply “flying the flag” but real preparations for war. Naval Control of Shipping organisations were set up at ports and the pattern on merchant ship movements were studied. In ports, anti-sabotage plans for the ships had to be tactfully discussed with the host nations. Luckily the Munich Crisis was resolved and Exeter paid her final visit to Buenos Aires where the emphasis was placed on reassuring the local British Chamber of commerce that the Royal Navy was able to protect their ships in the event of war.

In November both ships sailed for the Falkland Islands. While there Exeter made a brief excursion to South Georgia, taking the Governor of the Falkland Islands on an inspection visit. In December both Exeter and Ajax headed south for Punta Arenas and the Straits of Magellan, finally spending Christmas together at Puerto Montt. The New Year 1939 was marked during a visit to Talcahuano, the port of Concepción, from whence the ships continued up the coast to Antofagasta, Coquimbo and back to Valparaiso.

[Earthquake at Concepcion, January 24th 1939 – Covered in Separate Document]

The Cruise Resumed, February 1939.

Both Exeter and Ajax continued their journeys together northwards up the Pacific coast of South America, visiting new ports such as Huacho and Chimbote in Peru as well as old ports visited by Exeter in August 1937 such as Talara in Ecuador. Both ships transited the Panama Canal from west to east on 27th February, meeting up with the remainder of the fleet and conducting exercises en route to Jamaica, arriving back at Bermuda in March. Exeter remained in Bermuda for a further two months until May when in company with HMS Berwick, the fleet flagship that had replaced HMS York, she sailed for a visit to the eastern seaboard of the USA. Starting at New York, attending the 1939 World Fair along with the new cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Southampton. Exeter then headed south, calling in at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington (where Harwood met King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth), the naval base at Norfolk, Virginia and Miami in mid-July. From there Exeter headed back to Bermuda via the Bahamas and Haiti. While meeting up with a visiting French cruiser squadron the subject of how to fight a German pocket battleship was discussed. No doubt Harwood and Woodhouse, a gunnery officer himself, would have discussed this between themselves.

6 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 63 On 8th August Exeter left Bermuda and headed back to Britain after a commission lasting two years and eight months. She arrived back at Plymouth on 17th August and most of the crew departed, owed up to two and a half months foreign service leave. However, war was inevitable and imminent. Harwood’s elder son, Henry, aged 13 at the time recalls his father explaining to his tearful mother that he expected to be at sea again in a few days.

Sure enough, on 24th August all men on leave were recalled and on 25th August Exeter sailed back to her war station in the South Atlantic. Harwood remained on board as a Commodore 2nd Class but Captain FS “Hookey” Bell assumed command of the ship as his Flag captain.

On 3rd September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany.

7 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 64

VISIT TO CHILE 2019 HMS AJAX & EXETER VETERANS ASSOCIATION

OVERVIEW

TO COMMEMORATE 80th ANNIVERSARY CONCEPCIÓN EARTHQUAKE OF 24th JANUARY 1939 HUMANITARIAN AID RENDERED BY HMS AJAX & HMS EXETER

Jonathan Harwood

CHILE

MONDAY 2nd DECEMBER 2019 – SATURDAY 7th DECEMBER 2019

65 1 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019

66 2 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019

Earthquake at Concepción, January 1939

On the morning of 24th January 1939 HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax arrived at Valparaiso, Chile, looking forward to the best port visit on the west coast of South America; “The Pearl of the Pacific”. Leave was granted but just before midnight slight tremors of an earthquake were felt. Commodore Harwood (Captain of HMS Exeter at the time) was in the casino at nearby Vina del Mar and described the noise as like an express train. Then the building gently rocked for about a minute and a half. People remained calm but made for the door. He stood under an arch, clear of the ceiling. At the same time, back in HMS Exeter, Warrant Officer Reginald Cogswell, in his book, ‘Exeter, a Cruiser of the Medium Size 1936-40’, describes feeling the ship make a sudden lurch when a larger-than-normal wave struck her as she was moored stern-on to the breakwater bollards. This lurch occurred just as Cogswell was climbing into his bunk, resulting in him falling back onto the steel deck and injuring his shoulder. Meanwhile another crew member, Basil Trott was sat with a beer in front of him and noticed the liquid shaking about as the earthquake occurred. Although surrounding civilians began to panic, no doubt very aware what these vibrations were due to, the sailors were for the most part unperturbed.

Apart from his sore shoulder, Cogswell went to sleep thinking nothing more about his fall. However, the following morning he realised something was afoot when he observed Commodore Harwood hurrying out onto the quarterdeck in his shirtsleeves; what would usually be considered most out of order. Harwood ordered the immediate raising of steam and the ship to be brought to immediate readiness for sea. Harwood then headed ashore in his barge to see the British Consul General and garner support in making a formal offer of assistance to the Chilean government. It turned out that the Commodore, who was a keen radio enthusiast, had picked up distant signals from Argentina reporting that a great earthquake had wrecked the city of Concepción the night before; over 200 miles to the south. Harwood’s primary aim was to go to help the British community but the Royal Navy was also in a position to help others if necessary. Normal means of communication by road and rail to Concepción had likely been destroyed so rescue by ship was a sensible option, especially when Exeter and Ajax could be quickly brought to a state of readiness and depart the same day. Only three weeks previously Exeter and Ajax had been at Talcahuano, the port close to Concepción. Accordingly both ships prepared for sea and made the necessary preparations for earthquake relief operations. Shortly afterwards a formal request for assistance was received from the Chilean government.

At 1900 on 25th January Exeter sailed for Talcahuano, leaving Ajax to embark further equipment. Exeter anchored off Talcahuano at daybreak on 26th January, 36 hours after the earthquake had struck. The prompt action was indeed fortuitous, since with road and rail bridges reported to be down there was no way that land-based assistance was possible from

67 3 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019

Valparaiso in the north, or from Valdivia in the south. On arrival, crew members found that in Concepción, a town of nearly one million inhabitants there were thousands of homes wrecked, 800 deaths with 300 more buried under the ruins (a situation made worse, no doubt, since the earthquake had occurred at night time), and thousands injured. The centre of the earthquake had been about 60 miles inland, at Chillán.

In the past, the original site of the town at nearby Penco had been razed by earthquakes in 1570, 1657, 1687, 1730 and 1751, after which the city was moved to its current (safer) location. A previous one at the current site had occurred while Charles Darwin and HMS Beagle were in the vicinity in February 1835, so that like Harwood after him, Captain Fitzroy was compelled to land at Talcahuano Demolition party at work and provide assistance.

Meanwhile back in 1939, three landing platoons, a demolition party and a medical team were landed at a jetty which was showing ominous cracks and were driven by bus convoy through a devastated Talcahuano to an even more devastated Concepción, 5 miles away, clearing the roads of debris so they could get through. As regards the British community, the Consul was unharmed, but the consulate was a wreck, as were the two British clubs, but residents were busy checking up on each other. It was decided that any British subjects who could do no good in Concepción should be taken to Valparaiso in Exeter. The Chilean authorities requested the Royal Navy to also transport back to Valparaiso homeless refugees and migrant workers (now unemployed and becoming a liability in the disaster zone) and provide demolition parties.

In the city the wooden houses had suffered least but many of the older Spanish-style buildings were top-heavy so that their upper storeys had collapsed and crushed the floors down to street level. One of the west towers of the cathedral had telescoped down into itself while the other tower was tottering and threatening to fall. The demolition parties lost no time in taking charge and starting to pull down various dangerous buildings that lay close to pathways or roads. These buildings, or parts of buildings, were either pulled down or blown up by Exeter’s torpedomen who proved to be skilled at the task. Many Chilean soldiers were present during the demolitions not only to keep the bystanders out of harm’s way but also to prevent looting.

First-aid stations and a hastily-erected kitchen were installed in the main Plaza where the majority of the homeless had gathered. A small power-plant was set up, making it the only place illuminated at night. The lack of piped water due to ruptured pipes brought with it the fear of typhoid but carted fresh water supplies were organised.

Medical teams at work

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Midshipman Bobby Vine described the situation in a letter to his parents: - “I have never seen such a tragic or terrible sight as met our eyes when we got near the place. Literally every building, except one or two, had crumpled up and smashed itself across the roads. Lines and lines of bodies lay covered in sacks. These were placed in the main plaza. One thing I noticed was a dead horse which presumably had been pulling a farmer’s cart along the main street before the disaster. The horse had fallen into a big crack where the road had opened up and only its head was visible above the road level. We dug and hacked among the broken buildings, heaving out furniture, bodies and other rubbish; a frightful job. The heat was terrible; flies everywhere for the drains had been smashed and the smell was awful. We worked bare to the waist, giving our water to the Chileans who were homeless and had no water or food, and, some of them, no clothing.

We got back to the ship just before dark. They were embarking refugees by the hundred including the British residents who were given priority over everyone else. I had to get each refugee to sign his or her name, sex, age, residence etc. This was an awful job but it gave me the opportunity to study the poor wretches. Most of them had lost friends and relations, were starved and very thirsty. We served out water from a tub at the head of the port gangway. 700 Chileans (an over-estimate) were embarked and quartered amidships, everything was done to make them comfortable. The aged and ill were taken to the sick bay and The Cathedral given a cot. Any men who looked dirty were given a steam bath behind a screen right aft under the ensign staff. This was done to kill off any bugs or disease. The officers all gave up their cabins for the British women, the Midshipmen their hammocks for the girls, and the Commodore’s cabin was used to accommodate the children. The men slept in the wardroom, gunroom and warrant officers messes. We did not sleep at all.

However, the trip was very pleasant as most of us knew many of the Britishers from our former trips to Talcahuano. I entertained two girls who I knew and the other Mids did the same. We had an excellent party in the gun room and the girls were very thrilled by their sea trip.”

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Aboard Exeter, after space had been found for the British subjects, space was found for the Chileans, the women and children below decks and the men in the covered spaces on deck, close to the warmth from the boilers below. Many had brought personal items with them, including pots and pans, a double mattress, even an old-fashioned clock that were all stored under a sheet on the quarter-deck. Exeter sailed for Valparaiso that evening with 50 British and 350 Chileans on board, with awnings spread to provide protection from the weather, looking very much like a circus afloat, as she passed Ajax on the way out who was entering the harbour. The evening meal consisted of bread and soup served at tables on deck, all fine except after eating, many of the men were reluctant to leave their tables so Talcahuano Harbour others could sit down, preferring to play cards instead. Overnight Cogswell had to make do with sleeping on the deck outside his cabin. The following morning Exeter secured alongside at Valparaiso at 0930, January 27th, and disembarked its passengers before undertaking a lengthy cleaning and disinfection. Ajax then took Exeter’s place at Talcahuano and shuttled back to Valparaiso with more refugees. Exeter embarked Chilean troops and returned to Talcahuano, arriving at 1800 that evening. The soldiers were landed, the ship was disinfected, and a further 15 British and 600 Chileans were embarked early next morning. These were bedraggled, frightened and suffering from exposure and lack of nourishment. The group included many children and the ship’s company, with the sailors’ traditional love of children, excelled themselves in looking after them. Feeding some of these babies was proving problematic. Unsurprisingly, some nursing mothers found that they had insufficient milk to feed their babies. Providing powdered milk wasn’t a problem, but the provision of teats was more difficult. However, mechanics on board managed to turn ordinary bottles into feeding bottles using rubber oddments including tubing from the laboratory with cigarette filters fitted into the end. Among the refugees was a teenage mother who had been found dazed and bewildered, clutching her four-day-old son. She was taken to the sick bay where the Medical Chief Petty Officer looked after the baby ‘as if it were his own’. A priest among the refugees christened the child Juan Exeter Christiano, and the ship’s company had a whip-round for him.

Over £30 was raised and this was passed to the British Consul to ensure that this (very large sum by local standards) was properly administered to provide for the mother and her child. Juan Exeter Christiano Fortunately, the boy’s father was found; he had stayed behind to help with the rescue work. Among the refugees was an organ grinder and his monkey. The latter was allowed on board reluctantly after being doubly de-loused and the pair provided entertainment all the way to Valparaiso. Chilean police, who were on board to help control the refugees, arrested two men for the murder of a taxi driver ashore.

On board, wiser on the second trip, shipwrights had built a long food bar abreast the galley with gangways to ensure orderly queues. As can be imagined, necessary improvements were

70 6 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 made to the toilet facilities; on the previous trip the foredeck had become most foul. While loading, Exeter was inundated with requests to board from people getting around the port authorities and approaching the ship in small boats with some seemingly taking advantage of what they considered to be a free ride to Valparaiso – many of these were permitted to board. After leaving Talcahuano, Exeter encountered thick fog, necessitating slowing down to a crawling speed and sounding its fog siren every two minutes in case there was other shipping about. This whooping sound unsettled many of the passengers and babies and the unrelenting fog created a palpable uneasiness among the passengers, especially the children. To lift morale, Commodore Harwood left the bridge to the commander and walked among the people on the upper deck, putting them at their ease as he walked amongst them, smoking a cigarette and joking in Spanish. The slow progress made turned a journey that should have only lasted approximately eight hours to one that lasted nearly twenty hours. Accordingly, Exeter broke into its supplies of corned beef, bread and jam and tinned herring in tomato sauce – the latter causing immense mess on the exquisite teak-planked decks.

Exeter arrived at Valparaiso at 0700 on the morning of 30th January and disembarked the passengers. There were signs that the Chilean authorities now had the situation under control. The railway loop that connected Concepción with the main north-south railway inland had been repaired and Chilean naval ships were bringing troops and engineers into the area. Accordingly, the Royal Navy ships stood down and each watch of Exeter’s ship’s company was given 48 hours leave.

The rapid and effective response of the South American Division struck a deep chord in Chile, a country which had always had a tremendous respect for the Royal Navy.

The press of Chile was fulsome in their thanks. From one paper, ‘El Mercurio’; “The latest in the long account of deeds by which the Royal Navy had given aid to the people of Chile….forging yet another bond to bind our two nations together” (citing the name and deeds of Admiral Cochrane who had helped them win independence from Spain a hundred years before). From another paper, ‘El Prensa’; “The Royal Navy, terrible in war yet kind and gentle in understanding to those in need ... The heart of Chile floods out in gratitude.” Other newspapers across South America were also full of praise.

From Santiago, the President sent a letter of thanks and the Congress voted a motion of appreciation. Commodore Harwood was awarded the Grand Cross of the Chilean Order of Merit for his squadron’s valuable help in the earthquake relief, Captain Woodhouse of Ajax was made a Commander of the Order and 41 officers and senior ratings were awarded the Order at Bronze level. Every member of the ship’s company of the two ships was awarded a medal by the grateful Chilean government.

71 7 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019

Cogswell concludes that the (traditionally- termed) ‘body snatching’ mission to Concepción had been possible “all because two ships, all ready to go had been in the right place at the right time. Two fast ships, well manned and well provided for, and commanded by a resolute officer who could make up his mind and set matters in train while still in his shirtsleeves and without his collar and tie.”

The 1939 earthquake, measuring 8.3 on the Richter Scale, was one of the deadliest ones to hit the country and is estimated to have killed up to 30,000 people in all. Since 1939, there have been further earthquakes at Concepción in 1953, 1960 (the Valdivian earthquake; the most powerful every recorded in the world, at 9.5 on the Richter Scale) and most recently in 2010 when 521 people were killed, and thousands injured nationwide. Following this earthquake, geologists observing GPS data concluded that the city had been displaced roughly 3 meters (9.8 feet) to the west as a result of the event. The tsunami that followed had luckily missed the city.

Aftermath: Sadly, the intervention of World War II prevented HMS Exeter and Ajax from re-visiting Chile and as a result, crew members did not receive the medals awarded to them by the Chilean government. However, around 1990, Charlie Maggs, Treasurer of the Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association, opened up a dialogue with the Chilean government and arranged for the medals to be sent to the association for forward distribution to surviving crew members of the ships.

The story lay dormant until 2017 when Malcolm and Judi Collis had a fresh look at it, first approaching Jim London of HMS Exeter who reckoned that he had indeed received his in the 1990’s, an opinion Ted Wicks of Ajax concurred with. However, it was discovered that a further two association members; Frank Burton and Basil Trott, who were crew members in Ajax and Exeter respectively at the time of the earthquake, had never received their medals, perhaps because they were not on the association’s mailing lists in the 1990’s.

Malcolm and Judi resolved to put matters right and to get Frank and Basil their medals presented, so a letter was sent to the Ambassador of Chile to the UK, His Excellency Rolando Drago Rodriguez. The reply was enthusiastic, “It is with great pleasure that I offer my utmost support to the initiative…regardless of the time that has passed, deserved our highest recognition and gratitude. … also to strengthen the long-lasting ties of our two countries”.

Accordingly, on 17th March 2017, the Ambassador, in the company of Association members, the local Royal Naval Association and other Navy representatives, Frank and Basil were presented with their medals. In addition, both men received a letter of grateful thanks from the town of Concepción.

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Frank Burton receives his medal Basil Trott receives his medal

Basil Trott and Jim London with Frank Burton Medal awarded to crew members Frank Burton of HMS Ajax recounted a story of how after the earthquake he had pulled a six-

year-old boy out of the rubble. Years later in Cambridge, Frank was conducting interviews at work when one candidate recognised him – it was the same boy, by the name of Carlos Symmes.

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Commodore Harwood's Chilean Order of Merit Captain Woodhouse's Chilean Order of Merit (Gold) (silver)

74 10 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 Royal Navy ships prior to and after the Battle of the River Plate, 1939

HMS Exeter

Built at Devonport dockyard, Plymouth, the fourth HMS Exeter was a York-class heavy cruiser. She was launched in 1929 and commissioned in 1931. Designed following the Washing Naval Treaty of 1922 she was fitted with only six 8” guns as her main armament as opposed to the usual eight. Accordingly, in her stern she only had one turret – ‘Y’ turret. Weighing 8,400 tons, she also carried two Supermarine Walrus floatplane aircraft. From a distance she was recognisable by her twin funnels and very tall masts. Exeter was initially assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, where she served between 1931 and 1933. In 1934 she was assigned to the America and West Indies Station and remained there, aside from a temporary deployment to the Mediterranean during the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935–1936, until 1939. After a re-fit in 1936 Commodore Harwood became her captain through to the end of her commission in August 1939, as part of the South American Division of the America and West Indies Fleet. She circumnavigated the South American continent twice, once alone and once in conjunction with HMS Ajax when aid was given to the Chilean government following the Concepción earthquake in 1939. In August 1939 she returned to Britain but, with war imminent, she was ordered to return to the South Atlantic as Commodore Harwood’s flagship in Force G with Captain FS Bell as her captain. This squadron consisted of the heavy cruisers HMS Exeter and Cumberland and the light cruisers HMS Ajax and Achilles. During the period September to November 1939 the destroyers HMS Havoc and Hotspur were also under Harwood’s command but were recalled to the Home Fleet. Freetown, Sierra Leone was made a meeting point for merchant ships from the South Atlantic prior to grouping them into convoys prior to entering the western approaches. Vice Admiral D’Oyly Lyon, the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic was also based at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Approximately six weeks prior to the Battle of the River Plate Harwood transferred to HMS Ajax as his flagship. One reason for this was that Ajax was designed and equipped to be a headquarters ship and so more spacious for a separate command and staff. Another reason was that Harwood planned to send Exeter to Simonstown in South Africa for a boiler clean. This never happened but she went to the Falkland Islands for self-maintenance instead and Harwood remained at sea on Ajax.

HMS Exeter 1937

75 1 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 HMS Exeter fought at the Battle of the River Plate on 13th December 1939. During the battle she was badly damaged with all her main armament either destroyed or out of action. She was taking in water and listing, although her engines remained intact. She retired from the battle and was able to reach the Falkland Islands where the wounded were treated by a medical team that travelled out from Buenos Aires. Sixty-six crew members were killed or subsequently died of their wounds. Initially not considered worth salvaging, at Winston Churchill’s insistence she was repaired using steel brought in from Argentina and escorted back to Plymouth by two cruisers since her main HMS Exeter after Battle of the River Plate armament was still out of action. From February 1940 until March 1941 Exeter was refitted and modernised. She left Britain for the last time in May 1941 and joined the East Indies Squadron, largely escorting convoys in the Indian Ocean between India and Singapore. After the outbreak of the Pacific war in December 1941 and the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Exeter became part of a joint American-British-Dutch-Australian command and was attacked by Japanese torpedo bombers during the Gaspar Strait Sortie. At the first battle of the Java Sea (27 February 1942), Exeter was hit by a torpedo fired by a Japanese destroyer but luckily this did not detonate. However, a few minutes later her boiler room was hit by a shell fired by the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro which crippled her, reducing her speed to just 5 knots. However, she managed to return to Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). There Exeter refuelled and the following day was ordered to steam to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Early the following morning, at the second Battle of the Java Sea on 1 March 1942. Exeter and her escorts were attacked by a large force of Japanese cruisers. Although repairs had enabled her to reach a speed of 26 knots, another hit in her boiler room knocked out all power. Japanese destroyers then fired a total of 18 torpedoes at her, two of which struck her on the starboard side, as a result of which HMS Exeter quickly capsized and sank. The Japanese rescued 652 men of the crew of the Exeter, including her captain, who became prisoners of war. Of these men, 152 died in Japanese captivity.

HMS Exeter under air attack, February 1942 The Names of all those who perished while serving in HMS Exeter (including during her time in the Far East) and as PoWs later on are sealed in the time capsule place under the Memorial to the Battle of the River Plate at the National Memorial Arboretum. In the same time capsule also reside the names of all those who died serving in Ajax, Achilles and Admiral Graf Spee during the war.

76 2 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 The wreck of HMS Exeter was located and positively identified in 2007, lying in Indonesian waters at a depth of about 200 feet (61m), 90 miles north-west of Barwean Island. Her wreck, a British war grave, had been destroyed by illegal salvagers when an expedition surveyed the site in 2016.

HMS Exeter sinking The fifth HMS Exeter was a Type 42 Destroyer. Commissioned in September 1980, her first captain was Jeremy Dreyer, son of Lieutenant (later Admiral Sir Desmond) Dreyer, gunnery officer in HMS Ajax at the Battle of the River Plate. HMS Exeter fought in the Falklands War and the first Gulf War and was scrapped in 2009. In the 1956 film, ‘Battle of the River Plate’, HMS Exeter’s part was played by HMS Jamaica.

Captain Frederick Bell of HMS Exeter: Nicknamed “Hookie” due to the shape of his nose, Captain Bell was one of the last to graduate from Osborne College at the start of the First World War. Choosing to serve on submarines, he was torpedoed and one of only two survivors when it sank. He spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner. After the war he served on the China and then Australian stations where he met his wife. Following the Battle of the River Plate HMS Exeter returned to a heroes’ welcome in Britain. Afterwards Bell was sent to the Far East and was famous for escaping Singapore on a yacht just as the Japanese were invading, before organising further escape to Australia aboard on old coal-fired Dutch coaster. Bell commanded the King George V-class battleship HMS Anson in 1945 but retired from the Navy owing to ill health in 1948. He was one of the principal advisers for the film of the battle in 1955 and was featured in an episode of the BBC programme, ‘This is your life’ in the same year. He died in 1973, aged 76.

Winston Churchill, Admiral Sir Dudley Pound Captain Bell and John Gregson during filming of 'Battle of the River Plate' and Captain FS Bell

77 3 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 HMS Ajax

A Leander class light cruiser, 7,500 tons, built by Vickers-Armstrong in Barrow-in-Furness, she was launched in 1934, commissioned in June 1935 and based at Portsmouth. She was the eighth in the Royal Navy to bear the name Ajax. Her main armament was eight 6” guns. No discussion on cruiser design would ever be complete without mention of Naval Constructor, Albert ‘Ajax’ Adams who designed the cruisers HMS Exeter (York class) and Ajax & Achilles (Leander class). Adams’ son Bob is a member of the HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association.

HMS Ajax’s first deployment under Captain C.S. Thompson was detached service to the Mediterranean after the Abyssinian crisis but towards the end of the year she headed to Bermuda to join the North America and West Indies Station. In 1936 she circumnavigated the South American continent anti-clockwise via the Panama Canal with visits to various ports as well as to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. She returned to UK in 1937 where she underwent a refit and was recommissioned in January 1938 as a Chatham-based ship with Charles Woodhouse as her captain. For a second time she circumnavigated the South American continent, this time clockwise and in conjunction with HMS Exeter, providing assistance at the Concepción earthquake in January 1939. When war was declared on September 1939, Ajax formed part of Force G, Commodore Harwood’s south Atlantic squadron that also included HMS Exeter, Cumberland and Achilles. In late October 1939 Commodore Harwood transferred his broad pennant to Ajax and made her his flagship. HMS Ajax fought at the Battle of the River Plate on 13th December 1939, and with Achilles and Cumberland was present at the subsequent blockade off Montevideo that culminated in the Admiral Graf Spee scuttling herself on December 17th. The three ships then joined Exeter in the Falkland Islands where they spent Christmas. During the battle Ajax sustained a hit by a 11” shell that exploded in the Commodore’s accommodation, killing several members of HMS Achilles viewed from HMS Ajax at Battle of the River the Royal Marine crew in X-turret situated Plate above. At the same time Y-turret’s barbette was damaged so that she was temporarily unable to rotate. A short time later the ammunition hoist in B-turret was damaged and temporarily out of action, leaving Ajax with only one turret firing and seven of her crew killed.

78 4 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 In January 1940, Ajax visited Montevideo for a celebratory visit while Achilles did likewise in Buenos Aires. Commodore Harwood transferred his flag to Achilles so that Ajax could return to Britain. She arrived back in Plymouth from whence she proceeded to Chatham for a refit. Once refitted (including radar), and commanded by Captain McCarthy, Ajax joined the 7th Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean in th HMS Ajax in Mediterranean August 1940. On 12 October, while on Malta convoy duties Ajax intercepted a small Italian force at the Battle of Cape Pissero but was hit by seven shells, killing thirteen crew members. October and November 1940 saw Ajax escorting convoys to Malta and troopships to Crete and Greece, suffering near misses from air attacks. In May 1941 Ajax participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan but in the days following was hit by bombs from German Junker 87’s while assisting with the evacuation of troops from Crete. In February 1942 HMS Ajax was withdrawn for a refit, returning to Britain around Africa via the Suez Canal and Cape of Good Hope. After a refit at Chatham when her aircraft was removed and further radar facilities were installed or updated, she re-joined the Mediterranean fleet on 31st December. The following day, 1st January 1943, while on convoy escort duty off Algeria, Ajax was hit by a 1,000lb bomb that disabled her boiler room, necessitating a tow to Gibraltar for temporary repairs. Complete repairs and upgrades to her armament and radar were undertaken in the USA at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia before Churchill on HMS Ajax, Athens, Dec 1944 returning to the Mediterranean fleet in February 1944. As part of Force K, Ajax bombarded Gold Beach during the D-Day invasion of France. A German battery at Longues was causing some trouble but was silenced by 6-inch shells fired by Ajax through the embrasures of two of the four casemates. Ajax later supported the invasion landings in Southern France and operations in the Aegean Sea during the HMS Ajax in action on D-Day reoccupation of Athens and the communist uprising in Greece.

79 5 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 After the war, Ajax escorted the liner Highland Monarch that was used to repatriate German sailors from the crew of Admiral Graf Spee from South America back to Germany - a historic irony. Ajax was then assigned to the Royal Navy Palestine Patrol and took part in efforts to halt illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine. In July 1947 Ajax took part in the Exodus incident, in which she formed part of the Royal Navy task force which subdued the illegal immigrant ship and later escorted it back to Germany. HMS Ajax was decommissioned in February 1948. Sales to the Chilean or Indian Navy were mooted, but this latter deal did not materialize due to Churchill’s apparent disapproval of the sale. He felt that such an important vessel would be better off broken up to preserve her history. Ajax duly arrived at Cashmore’s breakers yard in South Wales in November 1949. Ajax's bell was donated to the Uruguayan government by Admiral Sir Henry Harwood and Sir Eugen Millington-Drake and installed on a monument in Montevideo, just outside the port customs house in 1949. The ninth HMS Ajax was a Leander-class Frigate. She was launched on 16 August 1962 and commissioned on 10 December 1963. In 1976, commanded by Captain Robert ‘Tubby’ Squires, Ajax visited the town of Ajax in Ontario, Canada, which had been named in honour of her predecessor, the Leander-class cruiser Ajax. This 'new' Ajax was granted the Freedom of the Town of Ajax. Numerous crew members from this ship form the backbone of the HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Association. She was decommissioned 31 May 1985 and scrapped in August 1988. Her anchor is now located at the local Royal Canadian Legion and her bell hangs in the Ajax Town Council Chamber in Ajax, Ontario. In the 1956 film, ‘Battle of the River Plate’, HMS Ajax’s part was played by HMS Sheffield.

Captain Charles Woodhouse of HMS Ajax

Charles Woodhouse joined the Royal Navy in 1906, first visiting South America as a sub- Lieutenant in HMS Bristol and was present at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 and the subsequent

hunt for the German light cruiser, SMS Dresden. After the Battle of the River Plate Captain Bell and himself were made Companions of the Order of the Bath and led the victorious march through London. Afterwards he joined the Admiralty and in April 1942 he assumed command of HMS Howe, a King George V-class battleship. In March 1944 he went on to be Director of Naval Ordnance at the Admiralty.

Captain Woodhouse and Captain Bell during Guildhall March, February 1940

80 6 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 After the War he became Second-in-Command of the Carrier Fleet and in 1948 he was made Commander-in-Chief, East Indies station. He was advanced from Companion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath before retiring in 1950 as Admiral Sir Charles Woodhouse KCB and died in 1978 aged 85.

Captain Woodhouse with HM King George VI on board HMS Howe HMS Achilles: Fifth in the RN to bear that name, HMS Achilles was a Leander class light cruiser and sister ship of HMS Ajax; 7,500 tons, built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. Achilles was launched in 1932 and commissioned October 1933. Initially out of service, she was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1936. She served with the Royal Navy's New Zealand Division from 1937 up to the creation of the Royal New Zealand Navy, into which she was transferred in September 1941 and recommissioned HMNZS Achilles. Her crew was approximately 60 per cent from New Zealand. Although she was fitted to carry a Walrus seaplane, she was carrying no aircraft at the start of the war. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Achilles began patrolling the Pacific west coast of South America looking for German merchant ships, but by October 1939 she was assigned to the South American Division under Commodore Harwood and allocated to Force G (with Exeter, Cumberland and Ajax). During the Battle of the River Plate on 13th December 1939, Achilles fought alongside Ajax under a combined gunnery control. A near miss from an exploding 11” shell threw up shell fragments that not only killed four crewmen on deck and in the Director Control Tower above, but also injured Captain Parry on the bridge. After the blockade of Montevideo had ended with the Admiral Graf Spee being scuttled on 17th December, Achilles spent Splinter damage, HMS Achilles' Director Control Tower Christmas in the Falkland Islands before returning to Buenos Aires in Argentina where there were stories of crew members meeting German sailors from Admiral Graf Spee. After HMS Ajax departed for Britain, Rear Admiral Harwood transferred his flag to Achilles until February 1940 when she left for New Zealand and Harwood remained in South America in HMS Hawkins.

81 7 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 During the refit in Auckland, Achilles became notable for being the first Royal Navy cruiser to have fire (gunnery) control radar, with the installation of the New Zealand-made SS1 fire- control radar. From June 1940 until she was re-commissioned in 1941 as HMNZS Achilles, the ship saw service escorting convoys before joining US Navy Task Force 67. While operating off Guadalcanal Island in January 1943, Achilles

HMS Achilles' return to Auckland was attacked by four Japanese aircraft. A bomb blew the top off X turret, killing 13 sailors. This resulted in her being sent back to Britain for repairs and a refit, following which she returned to the Pacific war, stationed off Okinawa at the end of the war with Japan. After the war, Achilles was returned to the Royal Navy in September 1946. She was then sold to the Indian Navy and recommissioned on 5 July 1948 initially as RINS Delhi, later (after independence) INS Delhi. She remained in service with the Indian Navy until decommissioned for scrap in 1978. As part of the scrapping her Y turret was removed and presented as a gift to the New Zealand government. It is now on display at the entrance of Devonport Naval Base in Auckland. HMS Achilles played herself in the film ‘The Battle of the River Plate’ in 1956. Achilles veterans in front of Y-turret in 2009

Captain William Parry of HMS Achilles William Parry joined the Royal Navy 1905 and served in the First World War. During the Battle of the River Plate battle he was captain of HMS Achilles and was wounded in both legs when shrapnel hit the bridge. In 1943 he assumed command of HMS Renown, a battlecruiser. He took part in the Normandy Landings and served on the staff of Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force in 1944. After the war he became Deputy

82 8 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 Head of the Naval Division in Germany followed by Director of Naval Intelligence. In 1948 he became Chief of Naval Staff (Commander-in-Chief) of the Royal Indian Navy. He was advanced from Companion to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath before retiring as Admiral Sir William Edward Parry in 1951. He died in 1973, aged 79.

Captain Parry, wounded during the Battle of the River Plate

Rear Admiral Parry with Churchill and General Alan Brooke off Normandy, 1944 HMS Cumberland The 10th HMS Cumberland was a County class cruiser, built by Vickers Armstrong in Barrow- in-Furness and launched in 1926, HMS Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th cruiser squadron from 1928 until 1938. She then joined the 2nd cruiser squadron on the South American station. Although built within the Washington Treaty limit of 10,000 tons, her main armament consisted of eight 8” guns. Commander Henry Harwood was Executive Officer (2nd in command) of Cumberland 1927-1929. At the start of the war in September1939, Cumberland was assigned to Force G of the South American Division. On her way down to the South Atlantic she was spotted by Admiral Graf Spee’s Arado aircraft on 11th September that was out on reconnaissance searching for British merchant ships. Cumberland did not see the aircraft that was able to return to Admiral Graf Spee who happened to be replenishing with Altmark at the time. Using her signal lamp, the aircraft was able to warn of the British cruiser’s proximity without using her radio. Even though Cumberland was observed to be turning towards Graf Spee, this was probably a routine anti-submarine manoeuvre since she then turned back and resumed her course and the two German ships were able to escape. Another lucky escape occurred on 5th October 1939 when Admiral Graf Spee sank the British merchant ship SS Newton Beech, her second victim. Newton Beech managed to put out a weak SOS signal that was picked up by another British merchant ship who then passed the message by signal lamp to HMS Cumberland as the ships passed each other. Since this was not an RRR raider signal, Captain Fallowfield chose not to interpret this as a possible surface-raider attack and did not pass this message to Vice Admiral D’Oyly Lyon, the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic based at Freetown, Sierra Leone. If he had, it is possible that Admiral Graf Spee may have been caught sooner.

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At the start of December Cumberland was forced to self-refit in the Falkland Islands, thus depriving Force G of their strongest unit. Nevertheless, she was ordered to operate at short notice on two shafts; i.e. to be able to start-up and promptly respond if requested. On their own, Exeter, Ajax and Achilles engaged Admiral Graf Spee on 13th December at the Battle of the River Plate. During the battle Cumberland received a garbled indication that a contact with the enemy was being made, raised steam and moved north to reinforce, arriving at the River Plate at 22:00 on 14th December, after steaming for 34 hours. Along with Ajax and Achilles (Exeter having been heavily damaged), Cumberland patrolled the estuary, resulting in Graf Spee being scuttled by her crew on 17 December. After this Cumberland escorted convoys along the African coast, bound for the Middle East and intercepted and sank a Vichy-French merchant ship which had been carrying ammunition. Later that month she attacked Dakar, HMS Cumberland suffering damage from a French coastal battery. Cumberland escorted the Arctic convoys 1941-1944. She was then transferred to the Far East Fleet and carried out raids on Northern Sumatra. After being placed on the reserve list 1945-49 she was refitted for further service as a gunnery trials ship. She lost her 8-inch turrets, and for a few years had prototype turrets fitted. For the 1956 film,’ The Battle of the River HMS Cumberland, guns removed Plate, Cumberland played herself, although she was without her 8-inch gun turrets at this time and was refitted with lattice masts, Between 1955 and 1956, HMS Cumberland was fitted with a number of trial anti-A-bomb and anti-H- bomb defences. Her first voyage in this configuration was delayed after some "defects" were found in her engine room, which were not explained as normal mechanical faults. In April 1956, having set sail on another secret test mission, she returned to port within 36 hours following another unexplained "defect" in her main gearbox. Sabotage was suspected. HMS Cumberland was finally decommissioned in 1958 and was immediately sold for scrapping. The 11th HMS Cumberland was a Type 22 Frigate. She was launched in 1986 and commissioned in 1989. The frigate was on station during the First Gulf War. Cumberland was decommissioned on 23 June 2011.

84 10 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 Admiral Sir Henry Harwood Henry Harwood joined the Royal Navy in 1904 and served in HMS Sutlej and HMS Royal Sovereign. Although he did not see action he was awarded the OBE for his work on torpedoes. Between the wars he served in destroyers, as a staff officer in the Mediterranean and was second-in-command of HMS Cumberland. More notably, he was on the staff of the Royal Naval War College 1934-36 where he studied tactics how to attack a German Pocket battleship. He was Captain of HMS Exeter 1936-39 and Commodore Second-class, in command of the South American division of the South Atlantic squadron. At the outbreak of war, he was appointed Commodore First-class and returned to the South Atlantic as commander of Force G. Immediately after the Battle of the River Plate but before the Admiral Graf Spee had been scuttled, he was promoted to Rear Admiral and knighted. He did not return to Britain until September 1940 since it was regarded that his continuing presence in South America would help prevent unrest fomented by the Axis powers. From 1940 to April 1942, Harwood served as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff. In April 1942 he was promoted to vice-admiral and Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria, Egypt. The command was later split, and he became Commander-in- Chief Levant (eastern Mediterranean) in February 1943, with responsibility for flank support and seaborne supply of the British Eighth Army. However, a heart attack necessitated evacuation back to Britain where he spent almost a year convalescing. In April 1944, Harwood became Admiral Commanding Orkney and Shetlands. He retired on 15 August 1945 with the rank of admiral and died in 1950, aged 62.

Commodore Harwood at Valparaiso, 1937 With Lady Harwood, Orkney 1945

85 11 Author – Jonathan Harwood. November 2019 NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2019

CONTENTS Committee Details Chairman's Report Secretary's Report Membership Secretary's Update Paintings of Ted Wicks Red Tape of Top Secret? - Bob Adams Chalke Valley History Festival – Richard Llewellyn Standard Bearer Report Who Fired the First Shots at Normandy: Update Q Ship – Heber Collis Graf Spee Captain Who Defied Hitler Captain Tubby Squires Award 2019 Letter from Mayor of Ajax Graf Spee Shrapnel Review of 2019 Reunion Graf Spee Artefact Update Geoffrey Haylett – Mike Cranswick Missing Association Flag Commission 1965 Stokers Mess South America Trip Final Update Ride to the Wall Archivist Update

SEPARATE PAGES 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES BALANCE SHEET YEAR ENDING 31ST AUGUST 2019 UPDATED ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION

1935 - 48 1963 - 85 Nec Quisquam Nisi Ajax www.hmsajax.org86 2. 3.

Chairman Ken Jones, visit a ropery where you can take part in the making of ropes, just like they CHAIRMAN Nigel Masters did in days gone by; and even go on a “Call the Midwife” tour - the series is filmed around the The Lookout Dockyard buildings, Golden Cross Terrace Station Road, Swineshead We then returned to Hotel. Some of us visited a nearby Pub which had a singer performing Boston, Lincolnshire PE20 3LP Reggae and Ska, a great way to finish the weekend .A footnote to this, the Hotel was not at its Tel: 01205 820127 best, poor management, which has since been rectified. Mobile: 07743 381153 [email protected] Moving on we are now only a few weeks away from the South American trip to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate. Malcolm has not stopped his hard work, if anything SECRETARY his workload has increased and as l write there are reports of civil unrest in Chile, the first country Peter Danks we visit, with restrictions put on movement. Our hope is that by the time we arrive it will have 104 Kelsey Avenue Southbourne, Emsworth www.hmsajax.org settled down and be back to normal. Hampshire PO10 8NQ [email protected] We will produce a comprehensive report for our next Newsletter, complete with plenty of Tel: 01243 371947 [email protected] photographs and stories to tell and probably a souvenir booklet. It just leaves me to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN'S REPORT SECRETARY Best Wishes Paul Parker Hello everyone and welcome to December's Newsletter. It 8 Templecombe Road follows shortly after the Association's annual Reunion, for Nige Masters Eastleigh, Hampshire those of you who don't know it took place at the Holiday Inn SO50 8QL in Sittingbourne, Kent. Chairman HMS Ajax & River Plate Veterans Association Tel: 02380 693709 Mobile: 07962 080240 Most of us arrived on the Friday afternoon, me following an [email protected] horrendous journey from Boston, Lincolnshire; in short l can confirm that the M25 is the world's largest car park! TREASURER Ian Darbyshire The Committee then held a meeting followed by dinner and a 28 Antony Road, Torpoint, few drinks. Cornwall PL11 2JR SECRETARY'S REPORT DECEMBER 2019 Tel: 01752 815789 Up early in the morning for breakfast and a short journey to As this is the last newsletter of 2019, may I take this opportunity to wish all our members a very [email protected] Chatham to St. George's Chapel situated in the grounds of the Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. By the time this reaches you, members will be in South ARCHIVIST/WEBMASTER/ University of Kent, formerly HMS Pembroke (Chatham America commemorating the events of 1939 both in Chile, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. It is NEWSLETTER EDITOR Barracks) for the memorial service. It had been four years hoped that the weather is kind and all activities go according to plan. In the information booklet Malcolm Collis since we last visited for our Reunion in Chatham. As reported that has gone to South America attendees it is requested that trip photographs and memories be The Bewicks, Station Road elsewhere, a mystery was solved when we entered the Chapel collated, the idea being that a souvenir booklet will be produced sometime in 2020. I am acting as Ten Mile Bank, Norfolk PE38 0EY - there draped below the Ajax memorial plaque was the Tel: 01366 377945 trip diarist for the Uruguay and Argentina leg and Alan Phillips likewise for the Chile leg. [email protected] Associations Flag. “We” had managed to leave it there after the last service. This will be the second high profile event in the last 5 years. It may not be necessary to wait that MERCHANDISE OFFICER long before we make arrangements for another event. The Committee would like to hear your Michael Fox After the service we returned to the hotel for lunch, of sorts, thoughts on the next event – some of the Frigate members might like to think of commemorating 6 Bown Hill followed by our AGM in the afternoon. A great deal of it being the first commissioning and perhaps also the date F114 went out of service. SO PLEASE THINK Southwell, Portland taken up finding volunteers to take the many gifts to South ABOUT IT. The committee are happy to listen to ideas from members and if possible try to Dorset DT5 2ED America on our forthcoming trip. implement them. Tel: 01305 823436 [email protected] One very important item was finding a replacement for Judi There is a separate report on the Reunion and it was nice to see support from families from the and I am delighted that Paul Parker agreed to take on the role local area. COMMITTEE MEMBER of Membership Secretary – a big thanks to Paul and an Alan (George/Phil) Phillips The minutes of the AGM are attached and for non-attendees please read them and get in touch 8 Orchard Way especial welcome to the mysteries of the Committee! with any of the committee members if you see anything of interest or any item that you might feel Send Hill, Send, Surrey GU23 7HS In the evening we had “Up Spirits” and wine reception, Tel: 01483 223299 able to support. I say this most times, but it is your Association and the committee will try to [email protected] followed by the Gala Dinner and entertainment by Guitarist meet the needs of you. “Andy” who seemed to enjoy himself! STANDARD BEARER Peter Danks Secretary Alf Larkin Sunday morning arrived and after breakfast some boarded the Stonecleave coach and set off for a visit to the Historical Dockyard at 26 Wakeham Portland Chatham. This really is a fantastic day out with lots to see and Dorset DT5 1HN do, including: you can board a WW2 Destroyer, HMS Tel: 01305 457259 [email protected] Cavalier, a nuclear Submarine, HMS Ocelot and a Victorian sloop, HMS Gannet, view the excellent models of former

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MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY'S UPDATE an honorary member. Son Ray is a member as well and will be going with At the 2019 AGM in Sittingbourne one obvious item was the election of officers and sadly this us to South America. year we had a large vacancy to fill. Member Paul Parker was approached and I am delighted to Being his birthday at the British say he readily agreed to take over as Membership Secretary and his appointment was endorsed by Legion afterwards there was birthday members present. Also endorsed was the following change to the Association's Constitution with cake to be had. the following clause updated: “If any member fails to pay his/her annual subscription following a reminder after one year membership may be closed at the end of a second year, if there has been no response.” I have spent quite some time trying to tidy up the “books” before handing over to Paul. Thank you to those who responded. All papers have now gone off to Paul and any future payments of subscriptions by cheque or cash should go to him and his full details are at the end of this report and on Page TWO of the Newsletter.

CROSSED THE BAR NEW MEMBERS Judi Collis Just the two new members in this Newsletter period. I am sure you will be aware that my dear Judi lost her battle with ovarian cancer on 21st August at the age of 63. Her funeral was held at St Mary's Church on Wednesday 11th September 2019 Sue Harwood as part of the Harwood Dynasty, by virtue of marriage to Jonathan, has attended in the nearby little village of Denver, Norfolk. many events over the years and was at the 2019 Reunion in I was really quite overwhelmed by the numbers who attended, particualry the large gathering of Sittingbourne. Association members who had come from far and wide from all over the country and even from Sue has joined as a member in her own right and we welcome Canada, specifically for the her. She and Jonathan are visiting all three countries on our funeral. On behalf of all the South American tour. family I send my heartfelt thanks to those who came, The photograph is also from the NMA in 2014. those who sent messages and cards of condolences and John Mayor had been in touch with Town of Ajax to arrange those who donated to Judi's to visit in summer 2020 as his uncle had been in HMS Ajax chosen charity, Cancer at the time of the Battle of the River Plate. He does have a research UK with over £1250 street so the Town will try and arrange a street dedication. As raised. a result John has joined the Association and we welcome him too. The photograph is us at the NMA at the Memorial Dedication in which Judi was heavily involved, besides many, many other events. BIRTHDAYS Happy Birthday to the following Crew Members who had birthdays in this Newsletter Stanley James 'Jim' London. period (September to November incl.) Brief reference was made in the last Newsletter to the death As part of our Data Protection Policy we now just put ages rather than birth dates. of Jim that came in just as the Newsletter was going off to Sadly five names were deleted from last year's list. the printer Particular congratulations to Albert Robb on his 101th birthday. Jim passed away on Sunday 25th August having been Albert Robb Cruiser 1940-41 101 admitted to hospital following a fall and subsequent Charles Poole Frigate 1965-66 79 complications. George (Alan) (Phil) Phillips Frigate 1965-66 73 Jim was an HMS Exeter River Plate veteran and was looking Ken (Sharky) Ward Frigate 1968-70 72 forward to receiving his Queen's telegram for his 100th Robert (Yorkie) Brook Frigate 1972-75 65 birthday on 2nd October. Jim lived in Worcester. Andy (Danny) Daniel Frigate 1973-75 65 Whilst the Association was in Ajax in 2016 we dedicated Terry Webster Frigate 1976-78 62 London Lane in his honour. Eddie Greenslade Frigate 1979 61 Members – if your name is missing from the birthday list please supply details to Membership His funeral was held at the Worcester Crematorium on what Secretary. would have been his 100th birthday, Wednesday 2nd October. Alf Larkin with the Standard, Chairman Nigel Masters and I represented the Association of which Jim was

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WEDDINGS PAINTINGS OF TED WICKS We do not get many weddings to report upon but Congratulations to George and Rosanna Harwood on their marriage on 21st September at Woolley Church in Yorkshire where the bride's You may recall from previous Newsletter pieces that the Association was bequeathed seven parents live. paintings from former Ajax River Plate member Ted Wicks. One of Ajax we retained and it is George is an Association member and the two of displayed in the Royal Beach Hotel Southsea next to our other painting donated by member them will be joining parents Ben & Kate Clive Sharplin. Harwood (pictured), brother Giles and sister Serena for part of the Uruguay/Argentina leg of The other three “modern” ones of HM the South American tour. Ships Illustrious, Orion and Cleopatra, had no direct link to the Association and with nowhere really to store or exhibit them we resolved at our 2017 AGM to donate them to other Associations.

Of the three “old” ones of Mary Rose at London, HMS Centurion taking a Spanish ship and HMS Centurion rounding the Horn all were sold at auction for much less than expected.

Ted at Royal Beach Hotel next to Ajax at Crete

Dan Sherren presented the HMS Illustrious painting to their Association at a remembrance parade in Weymouth leaving just two to go.

In early September 2019 Treasurer Ian Darbyshire firstly presented the painting of HMS Cleopatra (the ship where Ted nearly lost his life) to the Honorary Secretary of the Cleopatra Association Warwick SUBSCRIPTIONS Franklin who said, “Many thanks for the painting Annual subscriptions for both crew members and associates, following the 2019 AGM, stay the which will eventually go to a good home. I will let you same at £12 for an individual and £18 for family membership at same address. know the outcome come May next year when we will raffle it at the next Cleo reunion. May I, on behalf of Electronic means of paying are by using the subscribe button on the joining page on our website HMS Cleopatra Old Shipmates Association thank you http://www.hmsajax.org/?use_flash=1#/joining/4560949163 – you can do it when you join or as and the Ajax Association for the painting” an existing member. Future payments are taken out on that anniversary and we are notified by PayPal that the payment has been made. Single payments for any amount can be made by using the donate button and overdue sums can be paid this way.

Bank Transfers or standing orders can be set up using the details below. Ian also presented the HMS Orion painting to David Scott in the waiting room at HMS Drake Bank details: HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans Assoc main gate. Account no. 24865868, Sort Code 30-99-56. Cheques payable to HMS Ajax & RPVA and sent to: Ian said,

Membership Secretary - Paul Parker “Note behind his head identical but smaller print 8 Templecombe, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 8QL Tel. 02380 693709 [email protected] of picture. David Scott was Field Gun Officer HMS Drake 1991 when I was the Field Gun IF YOU PAY THROUGH PAYPAL PLEASE ENSURE YOUR PAYMENT BANK CARDS Battery Staff bugler!” HAVE NOT EXPIRED – IT'S SIMPLE TO UPDATE. The model is of HMS Orion Malcolm Collis On behalf of new Membership Secretary Hopefully that concludes Ted’s legacy.

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Of the three “old” ones of Mary Rose at London, HMS Centurion taking a Spanish ship and HMS Centurion rounding the Horn all were sold at auction for much less than expected.

Ted at Royal Beach Hotel next to Ajax at Crete

Dan Sherren presented the HMS Illustrious painting to their Association at a remembrance parade in Weymouth leaving just two to go.

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RED TAPE or TOP SECRET? by Bob Adams CHALKE VALLEY HISTORY FESTIVAL – Richard Llewellyn

This painting (first shown in June 2019 Newsletter) is of HMS Ajax entering Portsmouth for Following on from Ben Harwood's piece in the September Newsletter Richard Llewellyn wrote to removal of the Seafox plane and catapult to be replaced by radar. say: “I noticed the article in the Newsletter about the Chalke Valley History Festival and thought that At the start of WWII the Admiralty you might be interested to know that I and Joe Cattini, another D-Day Veteran, were invited to Constructors in London were open the Festival on the first morning. We were chaired by Peter Caddick-Adams, who you may relocated to Bath. My father, Albert know of, and we had an hour of chat to an over-flowing audience in the main Marquee. (Ajax) Adams [HMS Ajax Achilles & Exeter designer], my mother and We were well entertained and hosted by a charming couple whose tastes matched our own. We I, lived adjacent to another of Dad's also came away with a signed proof copy of James Holland's latest book “Normandy 44” and a Naval Constructor colleagues, Mr copy of Peter's book just published “Sand and Steel” which is a highly detailed account of the first Dippy. One day, a playmate and I 24 hours from the landings on 6th June. Both massive volumes, though James writes in a very over-heard them complaining about easy to read manner, so all I need is the time to read them!” something at work. As kids, we only Richard Llewellyn pricked up our ears at the word "Secret". They had been given orders to fix something really high STANDARD BEARER'S REPORT DECEMBER 2019 up on their ships. What was it? On the 15th September the Standard was paraded at a commemorative service for the sinking of With hindsight, the top brass probably sent out a top secret order to replace catapult aircraft with the Avalanche, a merchant ship, at Avalanche Memorial Church on Portland. radar on its Battle fleet. The designers' quandary was, how to build it without any details of size, weight, location and function. At least, I never gave away any secrets. On Tuesday 11 September 1877, the sailing ship Avalanche was bound for Wellington, New Zealand Researching the history, I now find that radar was invented in Germany in 1904. Christian when off Portland was struck amidships by the Huelsmeyer was detecting ships at a range of 3000 rnetres and was granted a patent in Nova Scotian ship Forest and sank within three ENGLAND that year. In 1906 he filed another patent application minutes. All 59 passengers were drowned. Of the 34 written in English in the UNITED STATES for an improved seamen, 3 were saved. Of the 21 crew of the Forest, radar system. 9 were saved. Of the 59 passengers, a third of them were from, or had connections to Wanganui, New No nation used radar in WWI, but by 1935 the Germans had both Zealand. a land-based system (opposite) and sea-based systems and were visible for all nations to see. What was not visible was the German technical input into airborne radar detection and land- Avalanche Memorial Church on Portland based and sea-based radar-directed gunnery prior to WWII. The Church, also known as the Church of St Andrew, is a 19th century Anglian parish church built We only had 20 land-based radar towers along the east coast of following a national campaign to raise £2000 to become a memorial to the tragedy. It was Britain just for detection of incoming aircraft but were vital in the consecrated in 1879 and is located in Southwell village on Portland. air Battle of Britain. Nothing sea-borne, unlike the German Navy. On 2nd October Alf attended the funeral of Jim London, HMS The 1939 Graf Spee certainly had radar and I Exeter River Plate Veteran at Worcester crematorium together with presume the network of wires in the photo is the the HMS Exeter Association Standard and the local RNA Standard radar antenna and the horizontal arm is the carried by an ex-Grenadier Guard. traditional optical rangefinder? [Editor - This rangefinder is displayed in the Montevideo On Sunday 3rd Naval Museum and will be visited] November Dan Did it have radar not only for detecting and Sherren took on the measuring target distance but linked to unusual task of automatic gun laying as well? If Ajax was the supporting the RNLI first British ship to have radar, and that was after as they dedicated their the May 1942 refit, the British Navy was surely new Standard at a disadvantage in the River Plate Battle. The Standard also attended the various Bob Adams events surrounding Armistice Day and Remembrance 93 Sunday. 8. 9.

RED TAPE or TOP SECRET? by Bob Adams CHALKE VALLEY HISTORY FESTIVAL – Richard Llewellyn

WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOTS AT NORMANDY? UPDATE Q SHIP - HEBER COLLIS

You may recall in the September 2019 Newsletter there was piece entitled “WHO FIRED THE Going through some boxes of family photographs I came FIRST SHOTS AT NORMANDY?” in which Ajax's claim to have fired the first shots in across this one. In my father's hand writing on the back Operation Neptune appears to have been challenged by HMS Belfast at 0527 and indeed HMS read “Some of the crew of a Q Ship torpedoed by a German Warspite. Sub on December 16 1916 in the Mediterranean Sea. Heber Collis Front Right” Richard Llewellyn, who has featured in several D-Day Newsletter articles, sent in this record Heber Collis was my paternal grandfather. He died in 1973 that appears to confirm Ajax's rightful place at 0525! and I recall opening my 21st birthday presents in the “Thought you might be interested. Copied from my Midshipman's Journal. Not sure how accurate churchyard at his funeral! the time is!” I should know more but like so many others I actually don't know too much about his naval career. I know he was Royal Navy 1908 to 1929 and I have his medals: 1914-18 Star; British War Medal 1914-18; 1914-18 Victory Medal; Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service & Good Conduct Medal (King George V). He was home guard in the Second World War.

I remember the story that he sat in a flooded hull for quite some time, days, awaiting rescue – he blamed his piles on the Germans!

I didn't really know too much about Q Ships either I am sad to say. Thanks to the internet - 'It seems that Q Ships, or Defensively Armed Ships, were the British naval vessels that officially didn't exist; the mystery ships of World War One. Their captains and crew needed to be masters of disguise, not only of themselves but of their vessels. To all intents and purposes the ships were scruffy little colliers, tramp steamers, fishing smacks and luggers, manned by salty old seadogs with a no-nonsense attitude to landlubbers. Behind these facades they carried 12-pounder and Maxim guns and twice the crew that a commercial craft would need. Their mission was to decoy and destroy German submarines. They were Britain's answer to the Submarine Menace.'

I thought it would be a simple task to identify his ship but no, there were none on the 16th as recalled by my father but plenty of others to choose from. In fact the number of Q Ships lost to subs in December 1916 alone in the Meditterraen is quite staggering and worth listing.

WHO FIRED THE FIRST SHOTS AT NORMANDY? UPDATE Q SHIP - HEBER COLLIS

I remember the story that he sat in a flooded hull for quite some time, days, awaiting rescue – he blamed his piles on the Germans!

BURCOMBE, 3,516grt, defensively-armed, 1 December 1916, 100 miles SE by E from Malta, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 8 lives lost ISTRAR, 4,582grt, defensively-armed, 2 December 1916, 120 miles NNW ½ W from Alexandria, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 1 life lost Chief Engineer made prisoner CALEDONIA, 9,223grt, defensively-armed, 4 December 1916, 125 miles E by S from Malta, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 1 life lost Master made prisoner BRITANNIA, 1,814grt, defensively-armed, 8 December 1916, 70 miles W by S from Cape Sines, I did ask Richard the stupid question of how he told the time and he informed me that, “as the Portugal, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 2 lives lost Master made prisoner Navigating Officers 'Dogsbody' my Action Station was on the bridge and I was privy to ST URSULA, 5,011grt, defensively-armed, 12 December 1916, 45 miles SE by S from Malta, everything that was going on. Either the Pilot or me would have filled in the Ship's Log, times torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 4 lives lost would have been taken from the Ship's Chronometer but of such details I'm afraid I have no BRETWALDA, 4,037grt, defensively-armed, 13 December 1916, 220 miles E by S from Malta, recollection. I know I read in some 'official' document that Ajax was supposed to have been the torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine first ship to open fire.” WESTMINSTER, 4,342grt, defensively-armed, 14 December 1916, 196 miles E by S from Malta, [A Chronometer is a device that measures time very accurately. If a watch is referred to as a torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 15 lives lost including Master Chronometer, it means that it is COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) certified RUSSIAN, 8,825grt, defensively-armed, 14 December 1916, 210 miles E by S from Malta, and the watch has an accuracy of +6/-4 second in a day. A normal watch is a normal watch] torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 28 lives lost ITONUS, 5,340grt, defensively-armed, 20 December 1916, 60 miles NW by W ½ W from Malta, Malcolm Collis torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 5 lives lost Master made prisoner MUREX, 3,564grt, defensively-armed, 21 December 1916, 94 miles NW from Port Said, 96 12. 13. torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 1 life lost obedience should go.” THISTLEBAN, 4,117grt, defensively-armed, 23 December 1916, 5 miles NNW from The defence ministry has rebuffed previous attempts to commemorate Langsdorff and played Alexandria, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine down the significance of his story for the modern military, the Bundeswehr. ORONSAY, 3,761grt, defensively-armed, 28 December 1916, 48 miles SE from Malta, torpedoed Jörg Hillmann, head of the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr, without warning and sunk by submarine, Master made prisoner said the Langsdorff biography would be read “and then we will look at how we position ourselves regarding this person”. The “Russian” or “Westminster” are looking favourite for my grandfather's ship although I need His daughter has been invited to Portsmouth for a memorial dinner in December to mark the 80th to confirm this – it could be that he was rescued on the 16th. anniversary of the River Plate battle.” [Editor's note - Inge will be with us in Uruguay on this date The sailors who served on these ships, Royal & Merchant Navy, were true heroes by putting & Argentina later] themselves up as decoys to lure enemy submarines close enough to shell whilst trying to evade incoming torpedoes – rather them than me! The numbers speak for themselves. Member Alec Taylor spotted the article and felt compelled to write in response and had his, Malcolm Collis edited, letter published.

LANGSDORFF TRIBUTE GRAF SPEE CAPTAIN WHO DEFIED HITLER Sir, Your article “Pleas to honour Graf Spee captain who defied Hitler” (Aug 15) recognises the honourable refusal of Captain Langsdorff to take the life of others unnecessarily. My father, a The following article appeared in The Times in August and whilst there are many interpretations junior signalman aboard HMS Ajax during the Battle of the River Plate, held him in high esteem of how the closing stages of the River Plate drama played out this is David Crossland's (Berlin) both for his willingness to remove the crews of merchantmen before sinking them in the South take on it. Atlantic and his refusal to take the crew of Admiral Graf Spee out of Montevideo to their certain death after the events of December 13, 1939. “The “pocket battleship” Admiral Graf Spee limped into port in Uruguay, heavily damaged in The town of Ajax in Ontario, Canada, is named after HMS Ajax and many streets are named after the battle of the River Plate and facing the those who served aboard her and other naval vessels. One is called Langsdorff Drive. The library prospect of a fearsome pack of enemy vessels holds a digital biography of those after whom streets are named. That of Captain Langsdorff waiting to pounce if it returned to sea. Its records that “He is remembered fondly for his conduct during war and for the many lives he commander, Captain Hans Langsdorff, was saved”. To date Germany may have failed to honour him. The free world that Hitler tried to under orders from the Nazi high command to destroy has not. fight on against what seemed impossible odds. Alec Taylor Biggar, South Lanarkshire He disobeyed and instead scuttled his ship, an act that earned him the wrath of Adolf Hitler. [Editor - Well done Alec – we shall be joining up with the Graf Spee Association in both Knowing of his disgrace, Langsdorff shot Uruguay & Argentina. I did try and make contact with David Crossland without luck] himself in the head three days later, his name already a byword in Germany for cowardice. Today, however, the German navy is under growing pressure to honour Langsdorff and recognise CAPTAIN TUBBY SQUIRES AWARD his act in December 1939 as one of moral courage that saved a crew of 1,000 from almost certain During the Association's 2016 visit to Ajax to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Frigate's visit to death. Former naval officers and politicians have joined the captain's only surviving daughter, Lake Ontario, Nigel Masters commissioned and presented a glass trophy to the Royal Canadian Inge Nedden, 82, in demanding that he receive official recognition. Sea Cadet Corps (RCSCC) be known as the Captain Tubby Squires Award. He was the Captain at the time of the visit. Langsdorff committed suicide in a hotel room in Buenos Aires, across the river in Argentina, Ross Mounsteven, the Commanding Officer updated the Association on this year's outcome. three days after he scuttled his ship rather than face what he believed to be a vastly superior As with previous years the cadets voted British force waiting out at sea. No streets or squares in Germany are named after him and there on the award in May and Ross presented is no official representation at the annual ceremonies at his grave in Buenos Aires held by the it to the winners in June at their Annual descendants of Graf Spee crewmen who settled in Argentina after being interned there during the Ceremonial Review. war. [Editor's note – we shall be there on 15th December] This year's vote was a tie, so the two Hans-Jürgen Kaack, who has written a biography of Langsdorff due to be published next month, cadets were both presented with the [Editor's note – unable to find this book] said it was a contradiction that Germany ignored his award. The winners were Chief Petty legacy while honouring Rear-Admiral Rolf Johannesson, who signed five death sentences against Officer Second Class Spencer Holmes, resistance members two weeks before the end of the war, with a bust that stands in the modern left, (older brother of last year's winner) navy's college at Mürwik on the Baltic coast. Kaack, a former commander in the post-war navy, and Petty Officer First Class Dawson said that Langsdorff was “an early embodiment of the moral leadership that is demanded of Diotte. German officers today”. Congratulations to them both. Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, defence policy spokeswoman for the liberal Free Democratic Party, said: “Langsdorff could serve as an example for discussing with young officers about how far 97 12. 13. torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine, 1 life lost obedience should go.” THISTLEBAN, 4,117grt, defensively-armed, 23 December 1916, 5 miles NNW from The defence ministry has rebuffed previous attempts to commemorate Langsdorff and played Alexandria, torpedoed without warning and sunk by submarine down the significance of his story for the modern military, the Bundeswehr. ORONSAY, 3,761grt, defensively-armed, 28 December 1916, 48 miles SE from Malta, torpedoed Jörg Hillmann, head of the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr, without warning and sunk by submarine, Master made prisoner said the Langsdorff biography would be read “and then we will look at how we position ourselves regarding this person”. The “Russian” or “Westminster” are looking favourite for my grandfather's ship although I need His daughter has been invited to Portsmouth for a memorial dinner in December to mark the 80th to confirm this – it could be that he was rescued on the 16th. anniversary of the River Plate battle.” [Editor's note - Inge will be with us in Uruguay on this date The sailors who served on these ships, Royal & Merchant Navy, were true heroes by putting & Argentina later] themselves up as decoys to lure enemy submarines close enough to shell whilst trying to evade incoming torpedoes – rather them than me! The numbers speak for themselves. Member Alec Taylor spotted the article and felt compelled to write in response and had his, Malcolm Collis edited, letter published.

GRAF SPEE SHRAPNEL I received an internet enquiry from Nick Evans MBE Lt RN (Rtd) asking if the Association would like to receive a piece of Graf Spee shrapnel and naturally I said yes! The background to it all goes like this; “I retired from the RN in 1999 after 40 years ending my days working for the Department of Naval Recruiting in Glasgow. It was there one day a dear little old lady, Mrs Barnes, came to my office and said 'I would like to give this to a serving Navy man, I know my husband would want me to'. She explained that the item belonged to her husband and had been used as a door stop for his potting shed. I opened up the bag and behold, the artefact from The Battle of The River Plate. Sid Barnes stayed on HMS Ajax, I think she said, until he was demobbed in 1947. It has remained in my possession since 1991 and has been a talking point on many occasion over a dram or two! I will forward the piece of shrapnel to you for your association to keep and exhibit or to donate to whoever you think would benefit from it the most. I am so pleased that I have found and contacted your Association.” I was able to confirm Sid E Barnes was indeed in HMS Ajax at the time of the Battle of the River Plate on 13th December 1939 and there is a Barnes Drive named in his honour in Ajax Ontario. Other than that unfortunately I had no further details. Nick duly sent me the item. A very impressive piece indeed and really brought it home what it must have been like to have been in the thick of it with such objects hurtling around the ship. I took the outside curvature and was able to establish it was from an 11 inch shell – for sure the Graf Spee's. The question of what to do with naturally arose – too good to be kept in my Archive cupboard for certain. I took it to the 2019 AGM where various options were discussed but finally we all agreed it should be presented to the Harwood family to join their collection and Jonathan was delighted to accept it – it now has pride of place on his mantle shelf. Nick was delighted with this choice. There have been several exchanges of emails between Nick, Jonathan and myself regarding the technical nature of the Graf Spee shells, much of it over my head! Jonathan did find this image on the internet – the top left sailor has Ajax on his tally and the piece of shrapnel looks remarkably similar – could it possibly be that one of the two is Sid? I'd like to think so! Malcolm Collis

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REVIEW OF 2019 REUNION models of the ships involved in the Battle of the River Plate remained in a prime place for visitors 80th ANNIVERSARY BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE to see. I personally did not stop for Sunday night dinner but I am advised that it was certainly not of a particularly good standard. Association members gathered for the 2019 Reunion at the Coniston Holiday Inn Hotel at Sittingbourne, Kent over the weekend of 4th, 5th, 6th October organised once again by the Isle of Wight Tours. The Committee met on Friday afternoon prior to an informal gathering for dinner in the evening. Saturday morning saw us take a coach trip to St George's Centre in Chatham for our Church Service. It was very nice to meet up again with Canon Paul Kerr and Doug Moutrie the organist. Doug, now aged 99, who had recently received the MBE, for which he was warmly congratulated. Paul had taken our memorial dedication at the NMA 5 years ago and since our last visit had retired. In addition to our Association Standard carried by Alf Larkin, member Terry Herbert had also brought along the HMS Dainty Standard. Chairman Nigel Masters read out the names of those who had "Crossed the Bar" since our last reunion and Dennis Talbot delivered the Exhortation and after Last Post, Silence and In summary, it was wonderful meeting new members and enjoying their company, but overall a Reveille Mike Fox laid the Association wreath at slight disappointment in the catering at the hotel due mainly to staffing issues and attendee the Memorial Board, a replica of the one in the numbers were again quite low. We shall be investigating holding the 2020 reunion in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Montevideo and where Portland/Weymouth area. we shall be holding our service, unveiling our plaque and laying wreaths, on the very day of the [Post script – the Association received a £300 refund as the result of a complaint by the River Plate anniversary, the 13th December 2019. Secretary!] For members visiting for the first time it was Peter Danks Association Secretary an opportunity to see the HMS AJAX memorial and many other Royal Navy memorials within the centre. One lesson for GRAF SPEE ARTEFACT UPDATE all future services – we need to learn verse 2 of The National Anthem - we were caught In the September Newsletter I advised that the napping when Doug played it! Uruguay Courts had ordered the government to A very full AGM was held in the afternoon. sell the bronze Eagle salvaged in 2006 from the After the traditional Up Spirits, well managed stern of the Graf Spee in the River Plate. as always by Alf Larkin and Doug Harris, and wine reception, 34 of us sat down to the Gala Considered divisive due to the Nazi symbol the meal which artefact has been kept hidden inside a sealed unfortunately crate in a Uruguayan navy warehouse for more was below than a decade. the standard The court ordered that it must be sold and the we had been proceeds split equally among the investors who used to. Yorkshire puddings, looking very much like Aunt organised the effort to recover the Eagle from Bessies, eventually arrived for those eating beef and when asked the bottom of the River Plate. if there was chance of another one, was told it would be 99p! I had hoped that our group would be granted special permission to privately view this artefact Alan and Malcolm ran a very successful raffle and Dennis with backing at a high level. Talbot certainly enjoyed the luck of the draw, although in all But our application failed at the last hurdle when the Minister of Defence said it is not possible to fairness to him, he did generously buy rather a lot of tickets. It visit the Eagle. The reason being the ongoing dispute between the Uruguayan Government and the isn't known if he did the lottery on the Saturday night! various salvage companies and negotiations over the last few weeks have been unsuccessful. The Sunday morning breakfast was a contest competing with the Eagle, therefore, remains secured at its current location, a MoD weapons deposit, with no access wedding guests also there. We then took the coach to the to the public or the possibility of being moved. If there is any change before we visit we will be Chatham Dockyard and it was great to see that Ken Jones' updated! Malcolm Collis 101 16. 17.

GEOFFREY HAYLETT – Member Mike Cranswick It was also pointed out to Mike that Haylett's name and rank of AB have been added as NEW to the Exeter website http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_people/crewexeter.php where the crew Member Mike Cranswick (Ajax 1976-78) contacted me with the following information and to from the River Plate are listed. [Editor - Looking at I also see that Charles Janes (see archivist see if I could shed any light: report) has been added as NEW – not by me!]

“I have a Battle of the River Plate query. In my school years I was a cadet scholar at Trinity House Navigation School in Hull, a very old boys school aimed at preparing young boys for a career at sea, more so the Merchant Navy. It was fairly brutal, think Tom Browns Schooldays, we all wore the midshipman uniform of bumfreezer jackets harking from the days of Nelson (attached school photo of 1973 will give you an idea - the whole school, pictured with the elders (brethren) of Trinity House and headmaster. I'm two rows up from the elders, 5th from right, tip of my hat in the centre pane.)

One of my old teachers was a Mr Haylett who was known as Jack.

I recently became a member of the old boys association for the school, long since gone. One of the administrators must have viewed some of the public profile pictures on MISSING ASSOCIATION FLAG my FB page and commented on the River Back in June of this year I came across a reunion photograph from 2015 when I noticed the flag Plate Memorial picture at as in the attached photo - the panel reads "Presented to HMS Ajax and River Plate Veterans the arboretum. He asked Association By Mayor Bill McLean Town of Ajax Ontario Canada October 26 1988". me whether I was aware It was also pictured in the 2013 reunion photographs in exactly the same position, to the brick. I that Mr Haylett served on emailed Committee members to see if anyone had it in their cupboard as it wasn't in my archive the Exeter during the battle, which of course I wasn't. cupboard – no takers.

It got me looking at the Exeter Wall in Ajax and I Our last visit to Chatham was in 2015 and since then we've had our reunions at Portsmouth in could not see Haylett's name, neither can I find 2016, NMA staying in Stafford 2017, Plymouth 2018 and this year we returned to Chatham but anything on the web that links him to the ship. staying at Sittingbourne. I went back to the school admin and asked him if he had any further information and he pulled up an So after 4 years we walked in to St George's Chapel and there before us was our missing flag in article from the Hull Daily Mail that he had in the exactly the position, to the brick, as previous photographs. I retrieved it along with many years of archives. dust. I've since found a 2008 picture showing the flag in, you've guessed it, the self-same, to the brick, position. As you can see, he had quite a distinguished life. Do you have any knowledge of Mr Geoffrey Haylett? He It looks as if it was draped for a taught me nautical studies, ropework etc. and PT and previous reunion, quite some as I remember, one of the kinder teachers! years ago, and “someone” forgot to take it home with them – and The other photo was in the Hull Daily Mail, I'm the there it has stayed for probably at 5th one in from the left. Both photos 1973 although least eleven years. they could have been 1873! After a good wash it will be back Mike subsequently came back with a quick update on to its former glory. Geoffrey Haylett: “as far as I can find out, he lived alone in Hull and died in a road accident some years It is also a tribute to the honesty back. I'm still not aware of any living relatives. The of the people of Chatham that it Trinity House Old Boys Association held their annual was still there bearing in mind meeting last night and one of the members thinks he the Chapel is now used daily as a might have access to Haylett's history, they are going community centre! to report back to me.” Malcolm Collis 103 18. 19.

One of my old teachers was a Mr Haylett who was known as Jack.

COMMISSION 1965 STOKERS MESS SOUTH AMERICA TRIP FINAL UPDATE After seven years Archivist gets an answer! Alan/George/Phil Phillips emailed me after the 2019 Reunion having picked up a spare By the time you read this the first wave of 29 travellers should be getting ready to be on their Newsletter back copy Peter Danks had taken to the reunion from the days when he was way to Chile; 28 from the UK and one from Canada. Newsletter Editor and trying to clear out his cupboard! In the weeks leading up to departure there were news reports of civil unrest in Chile's main cities “At our recent reunion, I picked up a copy of the March 2012 newsletter and on page 10 was an but FCO advice was that travel was safe. One impact may be the engagement of the Navy on article with photos from Ben Salter. You are correct in assuming that Ben Salter was a stoker. He other peace-keeping duties but seeing as they never really committed to meeting us …! was known by one and all as “Zoonie”. You also mentioned that they were no names, I can give you just about everybody's name on the The itinerary is all but fixed with minor tweaks as we go along. This group, having also been photo. The ones in red I am not too sure about. down to Concepción then fly over to Montevideo where, over the coming days, we are met by other members taking numbers up to 42.

The day trip to Punta del Este now does not involve any sailing either with the Navy, the waters are too shallow to get into harbour, nor with ADES. I have managed to get the individual who was arranging the ADES element to act as guide and it turns out he is the grandson of Lloyd Hirst who the historians amongst you may recall was the Intelligence Officer stationed in Buenos Aires during the Graf Spee drama. We shall join members of the local community for an informal service at the Ajax Anchor Memorial and lay a wreath.

On the Thursday I had hoped to be able to view the Graf Spee bronze eagle but this is not possible. But the British Defence Attaché is arranging for some form of presentation when we visit the Naval Museum in Montevideo involving the Uruguay Navy and their band, the German Ambassador and the German Defence Attaché. What exactly they have planned remains to be seen.

In the evening we are off to meet the British Society and we are joined by Inge, daughter of Hans Langsdorff and husband Rüdiger Nedden, and my good friend Enrique Dick and his wife, President of the Graf Spee Association over from Argentina – no pressure then on Jonathan Harwood as he delivers his Battle lecture!

Left to Right Front Row: Jim Tucknott, “Freda” Grimes, Chappell? “Bunny” Edwards, “Brum” Shinton, Larry Snellam? “Dickie” Dawes, “Scouse” Corrigan, Kenny Ferns? “Soapy” Watson, Appleton? Neil Minnis. Middle Row: Bill Smith, “Zoonie” Salter, “Father”Smith, Joe Best, “Jock” Nichol? “Bomber” Wells, Roger Cragg, “Squire” Myers, “Phil” Phillips*, “Nosey” Parker. Back Row: Andy Anderson, “Tug” Wilson, “Jan” Dalziel, “Mac” McLennan, CPO Gordon, Chris Townsend, Pete Earley,? Shepherd. *AKA Alan or George Phillips

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On the big day of the 13th I have secured the services of the Ambassadors of the UK, Germany RIDE TO THE WALL and New Zealand to take part in the various services and two Defence Attachés. The Association's Standard Party, Paul Parker & David Lear will process in accompanied by a piper Back in the summer Peter Danks' son David contacted me enquiring if it would be possible for and the bugler will, hopefully, play the actual bugle used on Achilles by Bob Batt [son Douglas him to fly on his motorbike a White Ensign with River Plate badges thereon or something similar, and Julie Batt are joining us from New Zealand] as he was to take part in the 12th annual Ride to the Wall; a bikers' tribute to our Armed Forces – the Wall being the Memorial Wall at the National Memorial Arboretum. Later in the day we shall set sail in a Navy frigate out to the Graf Spee wreck site where Excellent timing as I had just taken delivery of five Association flags I had made up for the South members will cast individual flowers on the waters of the River Plate. America trip – ideal. So I arranged to send one off to him in time for the event on 5th October.

The following day it’s over the water to Buenos Aires and on the Sunday services with the Graf David completed the Ride and sent in his report and photos – well done David. Spee Association at La Chacarita cemetery followed by a formal luncheon. On the Monday after the city David's journey to the meeting point at Woodall Services, one of 11 around the country, was tour some of us will meet up with the Graf Spee eventful in that just before joining the M18, the pole snapped. He arrived in good time to fix it Association for a discussion at which Jonathan and was ready to leave at 8.30 a.m. along with the several hundred other bikers. Harwood will again deliver his lecture. The obligatory Tango Show is that night. With a day of His group arrived at the NMA at about leisure on the Tuesday it is then time to fly home on 9.45 a.m. joining a sea of other bikes the Wednesday arriving Thursday 19th ... back just and was marshalled to a parking area in time to get ready for Christmas! with the flag still flying. Many people were looking to see what it was. With plenty of photographs taken and plenty of memories the plan will be to produce some form of souvenir publication.

At the AGM we displayed some of the impressive, and expensive, items we have commissioned for the trip including the brass plaque for the Cathedral in By the time the last of the bikes arrived at Montevideo, shields for the City of Concepcion and 1 p.m. it was estimated to be over 8000 similar shields for the British Society in motorbikes and probably 10000 bikers Montevideo and Graf Spee Association in Buenos gathered. A select few joined the main Aires. Additionally we have items such as inscribed and plain Association plaques, various ride through the Arboretum – David signed books, paperweights, flags, pennants, caps, port glasses, inscribed salvers, ties, memorial hopes to be one next year. photos, memorial DVDs, pens, lapel badges and other odds and sods. Depending upon the status and degree of help the Association has received will determine the level of gift but the recipient list currently stands at 32, hence the volume and number of gifts required. Hopefully they'll all fit in members' suitcases!

Malcolm Collis

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Malcolm Collis

108 ARCHIVIST UPDATE DECEMBER 2019

An unusually quiet period for enquiries that was most welcome given all that has gone on in last few months and an almost fulltime job as the big trip looms ever closer. CHARLES JANES I received an enquiry from Mark A. Reid saying, “Dear Sir; Congratulations on such an interesting and worthwhile website. I wonder if I might add some information that I have gleaned from the ADM 363 service document of J23732 Petty Officer Charles JANES; He joined AJAX on 30 Aug 1939 but transferred to EXETER on 2 December 1939 and appears to have served in her during the battle. Afterwards, he re-joined AJAX on 19 February 1940. There is a notation that he was awarded a Wounds & Hurts Certificate 'for wounds received in action.' PO Janes was from Herne Bay, KENT and had joined the RN in 1913. He was recalled from pension in 1938. Hope this was of some interest. Yours Sincerely, Mark, Ottawa. CANADA.” After a little digging I responded: This is very interesting and somewhat difficult to reconcile. On 30/8/1939 Ajax was at sea off Rio and had been for some days - it is more than likely he joined Ajax along with many others in Bermuda in 31/03/1939 before the ship sailed south? On 2/12/1939 Ajax sailed from The Falklands for the River Plate area joining up with Exeter on 12/12/1939, the day before the Battle. After the Battle both ended up in The Falklands before returning to England with Ajax arriving on 31/01/1940 and Exeter 14/02/1940 and both had refits.

Charles Henry "Jimmy" Janes features on the Town of Ajax, Ontario, Memorial Wall at the time of the Battle under Ajax rather than Exeter and on their database have him as 1939 for Ajax & 1940 for Exeter. There is a Janes Lane in his honour in the town. I have requested a copy of the service record so I can see if I can do some more researching.

CHARLES FRANCES KING David King contacted to say he had some photos of HMS Ajax & Graf Spee and of the Ajax Bell amongst others and offered them to me; his great granddad Charles King was on Ajax.

I have him as serving in Ajax 1939 through to 1942 with his name appearing on the historical memorial wall in Ajax.

I've asked to see his service record to work out exactly when he joined Ajax as the one sheet he sent me shows him entering service 23/07/1939; Ajax had already sailed from Georgetown, British Guiana on 16/07/39 and only called at Bahia on 09/08/39 and Rio de Janeiro 17/08/39 before war broke out so not too sure how and where he joined Ajax.

Malcolm Collis – Archivist

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