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NATIONAL HERITAGE MUSEUMS ACTION MOVEMENT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 Lord Montagu of Beaulieu Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, 20 October 1926 – 31 August 2015

Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu Estate was sold to Lord Montagu’s James Bishop writes: In 1974 of Beaulieu, was the devoted ancestor, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Lord Montagu entered his custodian of his family’s 7,000- Earl of , by Henry National Motor Museum acre Beaulieu Estate in . VIII in 1538. for the Museum of the Year Montagu’s birth in 1926 came as He was also a champion of the Awards. It caused some debate historic vehicle movement and a great relief to his father, who at among the judges: one, a founder of the National Motor the age of 61 was desperate for a Museum. He played a major male heir to his title and the estate. retired director of a role in the preservation of After finally fathering the son he art museum, was concerned England’s historic houses and the had longed for, it was a sad irony that motor cars were not development of the UK tourism that John Montagu died in 1929 an appropriate subject for a industry. leaving Beaulieu to be managed museum. Reluctantly, he was Edward Montagu inherited by his widow and trustees until persuaded to visit Beaulieu and the Beaulieu Estate on the death Edward reached the age of 25. was greatly excited by what of his father, John Montagu, a By the age of two, Edward he saw. The museum won motoring pioneer, when he was Montagu was thus already a peer the award, sponsored at that just two years old. The family seat, of the realm, and gradually came time by National Heritage and to realise he was also heir to an Palace House, was built around The Illustrated London News, the original gatehouse of Beaulieu estate. In 1937, at the age of ten, and Montagu became an avid Abbey, a Cistercian monastery he attended the coronation of founded on land granted to the King George VI. The youngest supporter of the charity. Order by King John in 1204. The This article first appeared in The Times Continued on page 2 10 September 2015. peer in attendance, he wore a in trouble” he would later write. being, the house was a white special costume for minor peers In his second year at university elephant”, he would later say. “The and carried a black velvet bag an altercation between the wise solution was to get rid of it. containing sandwiches to sustain Bullingdon Club and the Oxford For me, however – neither entirely him through the day. University Dramatic Society led to sensible nor rational – that was In 1936 he went to boarding his room being wrecked, and he unthinkable.” school, attending St Peter’s Court, felt obliged to leave. Various solutions were Broadstairs, a feeder school for Edward Montagu was now considered, but eventually he Eton College where his name was determined to carve out a career decided to open the house to the already down. However, just as for himself. “Some eldest sons paying public (the abbey ruins and he was about to go to Eton, war were sufficiently affluent to retreat grounds had already been open intervened and he and two of his to the family estates and lead for many years). In his own words, sisters were evacuated to Canada, Edward Montagu’s early attempts to attract visitors to the house were “charmingly amateurish”. Palace House was not as grand as other stately homes, such as Longleat, which had opened its doors a couple of years earlier. What was needed, therefore, was an extra ingredient. Montagu later recounted: “What catapulted me permanently into the major league for the future was the idea of commemorating my father’s life… by exhibiting veteran cars. Without it, my life would have been very different and I doubt whether I would have been able to remain as owner and occupier of where they would spend the next a life entirely devoted to their my ancestral home.” two and a half years. He returned management and enjoyment”, he The idea would prove to be a to England when he was nearly said. “This was not an option for winner. In 1952, there were no sixteen and belatedly took up his me, nor did I want it.” other motor museums in the place at Eton. Instead, he secured a position country and it also gave Montagu In 1945, having completed with the advertising and public the opportunity to pay tribute to his schooling, he joined the relations agency Voice and Vision, the father he had never known, Grenadier Guards and was where his first job was to launch who as an MP had been an eager posted to Palestine as part of a the now classic comic Eagle. He campaigner for the needs of peacekeeping force. When he left publicised the first issue by hiring early motorists, and publisher of the army at the age of 21, he went a fleet of Daimlers mounted with the first motoring journal Car to New College Oxford where he huge model eagles to tour the Illustrated. The only drawback read modern history. During this country distributing vouchers for to this plan was that, at the time, time, he also took his seat in the the first issue. Over a million were he only had one veteran car, a House of Lords, where his maiden printed and all were sold. 1903 6hp De Dion Bouton which speech was about his experience When Edward Montagu took had previously been used by the in Palestine. over the running of the Beaulieu estate electrician. A call-out to the A keen party-goer, Montagu Estate on his 25th birthday in Society of Motor Manufacturers enjoyed mixing with the artistic 1951, he found that he could and Traders produced the and bohemian set as well as being expect only £1,500 a year from his additional exhibits he needed to part of conventional society. “I inheritance, a figure that would start a small motor museum in the suppose I should have realised that barely cover running costs. “In front hall of Palace House. sooner or later… I would end up 1951, to any sensible, rational On opening day, Edward 2 Montagu told his private house in 1957 recommended the guests that if they received more decriminalisation of homosexual than a hundred visitors by 6pm acts between consenting adults they would have champagne with in private. A decade later, dinner. The doors opened at 11am this recommendation was and by 12.30pm the hundredth implemented. Speaking on visitor passed through: they had the fiftieth anniversary of the champagne with lunch. publication of the Wolfenden Soon after the opening of Report, Edward Montagu said, the house, Edward Montagu “I am proud ... that the so-called embarked on a lecture tour of Montagu Case had more effect on America to publicise both his changing the laws than any other stately home and Britain’s other factor... I think because of the historic houses. It proved a great way we behaved and conducted success. However, on his return he our lives afterwards, because we would face a difficult time. didn’t sell our stories, just returned later recognised as pioneering The infamous Montagu trials of quietly to our lives ... that had a events in the burgeoning music 1953 and 1954 resulted in the peer big effect on public opinion.” festival movement that followed, being charged with homosexual By 1956 the vehicle collection, and top performers such as acts, which were then illegal. which now included several John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, He pleaded not guilty but was motorcycles, had outgrown the Humphrey Lyttleton and George convicted and given a twelve- house and Montagu established a Melly drew large audiences to month sentence. On his release, separate home for them in some Beaulieu. However, after what he immediately went about large sheds in the grounds. The became known as the ‘Battle of Montagu Motor Museum was Beaulieu’ at the 1960 festival, born. In the same year, he also involving rival gangs of modern launched Veteran and Vintage and traditional jazz fans, followed magazine, which he published by further trouble in 1961 when until its sale to IPC in 1979 (it 20,000 visitors crowded in for later became Collectors’ Cars the weekend, Lord Montagu and eventually Classic Cars). reluctantly called a halt to the Over the years he also became a events as they were having a successful author, The Gilt and detrimental effect on the village the Gingerbread, The Motoring and the patience of its residents. Montagus and Jaguar: A Biography Undaunted, Edward Montagu being the best known of the 21 put his energy into other ventures. books he wrote on motoring and Ever the entrepreneur, he noticed heritage topics. that the owners of old cars were rebuilding his life and developing By 1959 the vehicle collection having difficulty obtaining the estate. While not wanting to had grown even further, and authentic tyres, so in 1962 he hide his bisexuality, he was also a new building was therefore co-founded Vintage Tyre Supplies determined to keep his private life constructed. It was officially which remains the world’s largest private and refused to comment opened by Lord Brabazon of supplier of original equipment on the events of the trial, a silence Tara in the presence of many tyres for veteran, vintage and broken only in 2002 with the luminaries from the world of classic cars. publication of his autobiography motorsport, including Stirling Wheels within Wheels. Moss, Tony Brooks and Graham Opposite page: Lord Montagu with the Walker. collection in the Palace in the 1950s. The backlash against the Above left: with his first wife, Belinda, heavy-handed prosecution Another of Montagu’s passions whom he married in 1958. Above right: of Edward Montagu and his at this time was jazz, and in 1956 Lord Montagu and his second wife, he held the first of six Beaulieu Fiona, on their wedding day in 1974. fellow defendants contributed All photos by Allan Warren, https:// to the establishment of the Jazz Festivals on the lawns en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Douglas- Wolfenden Committee, which of Palace House. These were Scott-Montagu,_3rd_Baron_Montagu_of_ Beaulieu 3 In 1963, Montagu created a divert traffic away from the the Beaulieu Museum Trust. Maritime Museum at Buckler’s village, the construction of a As chairman of the charity, his Hard, establishing the village marina at Buckler’s Hard and a enthusiasm and drive won the as the second visitor attraction limited number of residential support of the motor industry on his estate. Opened by the developments elsewhere on the and other sponsors, and within then Admiral of the Fleet, Earl estate. The overall plan was seen a couple of years the necessary Mountbatten of Burma, it tells the as far-sighted and was the first funds to start construction work story of 18th century shipbuilding such large-scale private plan to be had been raised. on the Beaulieu River. accepted as the basis for county This ambitious project, which In 1967, the now world-famous planning policy. Montagu’s advisors had warned Beaulieu Autojumble was held The plans for the new Motor against, came to fruition on 4th for the first time. The inspiration Museum and its visitor buildings July 1972 when The Duke of came from the automobile swap were then drawn up by the Kent came to Beaulieu to open meets Montagu saw in the United architect Leonard Manasseh. They what was to become Britain’s States and he was proud that the centred on the design of a new National Motor Museum. The name he devised, Autojumble, was 40,000 square-foot museum with newly designed visitor complex later given a place in the Oxford space for at least 200 vehicles. To separated the new motor museum English Dictionary. achieve this, Montagu founded buildings from the historic abbey By the mid-1960s, Beaulieu was attracting over half a million visitors a year. Edward Montagu realised that a long-term plan was needed to fully harness the potential of its leisure and tourism business but in a way that didn’t diminish the scenic and conservation value of the estate. He commissioned a leading planner of the day, Elizabeth Chesterton, to draw up a strategy for the redevelopment of the visitor site, a by-pass to 4 ruins and Palace House. It also Houses Association was finally became the Federation of British relocated the car parks, diverting formed with Lord Montagu as its Historic Vehicle Clubs, of which the bulk of visitor traffic away President. Today, the organisation he was President. In 2012 Lord from Beaulieu village. The new represents 1,600 houses and Montagu received the accolade buildings, which included a has 42,000 friends. He was also of a lifetime achievement award purpose-built admissions centre, closely involved in establishing for his dedication to preserving cafeteria, motoring research the Association of Independent automotive history over many library and offices, won several Museums, of which he was Patron. decades. awards. The most significant of In 1983, in recognition Lord Montagu played as hard as these, the prestigious National of his innovative approach he worked. He was a keen shot, Heritage Museum of the Year, was and commercial success, the loved foreign travel, went wind- awarded in 1974. In the same year, government invited him to surfing off his own foreshore and a monorail was installed, passing chair its new Historic Buildings regularly competed in historic through the museum at high level. and Monuments Commission, motorsport events. He also It didn’t stop there. In 1989, which he soon renamed English had a passion for the theatre, the National Motor Museum Heritage. Those who feared the opera, gourmet restaurants and Collections Centre opened to insensitive commercialisation of parties, for which he never lost provide an administrative centre ancient sites were proved wrong, enthusiasm despite mobility for the Trust and to house the although Montagu did make difficulties in later life. ever-expanding motoring libraries them more visitor-friendly, with Edward Montagu was first and archives. The reference improved interpretation and married in 1959, to Belinda library is one of the largest of facilities. When the government Crossley. They had a son, Ralph, its kind and together with the decided to abolish the GLC, the in 1961 and a daughter, Mary, in photograph and film libraries is then Prime Minister Margaret 1964. The marriage was dissolved used by commercial and private Thatcher was said to have in 1974, after which he married researchers from all over the endorsed the transfer of its Fiona Herbert in 1974 with whom world. historic buildings to English he had a second son, Jonathan, While he was most closely Heritage because “Edward in 1975. His elder son, Ralph, associated with the motor Montagu will know what to do succeeds to the barony. museum, Edward Montagu’s with them.” underlying focus remained the Montagu regularly attended the management and improvement House of Lords and when the 1999 of the Beaulieu Estate. In 1978 reforms were implemented he was he worked with the Nature one of the Conservative hereditary Conservancy Council to establish peers elected to remain. Over the a nature reserve on the southern course of six decades, he spoke part of the estate adjoining the on motoring, tourism, museums, Solent foreshore. He also founded historic buildings, conservation a charity called the Countryside and the New Forest. Education Trust. This now Lord Montagu was an active operates two centres on the estate, in many clubs, associations including a residential centre on and organisations and held the a small farm, and welcomes over Presidencies of the Tourism 5,000 children and adults each Society (1991-2000), the Southern year. Tourist Board (1977-2004), the From the time he first opened Museums Association (1982-1984) Beaulieu to the public, Lord and the Institute of Journalists Montagu worked to establish (2000). He was Chancellor of an association for the owners of the Wine Guild of the UK from stately homes. Some of the old 1983 and President of the UK guard opposed this, especially Vineyards Association from when a membership fee was 1996. He was also instrumental in This obituary is reproduced with kind suggested, but in 1973 the Historic setting up an advisory group that permission of Beaulieu (http://www. beaulieu.co.uk) 5 Two museums in Denmark

Ray Sutcliffe

Ray Sutcliffe visited the Sea War Museum Jutland and the Moesgaard Museum

Gert Normann, co-owner of the subsea company JD-Contractor felt that the First World War was not only fought in the muddy trenches of Flanders, but also on the stormy North Sea and decided to create the Sea War Museum Above: Painting by Johannes E. Møller depicting Four German mine trawlers being fired on and were later sunk by British Naval forces on the west coast Jutland to tell the dramatic of Jutland. Below: the 11-ton conning tower from the British submarine E-50 history and fill it with the many which is on display with kind permission of the Royal Navy. On 31 January 1916 artifacts which his team of divers the E-50 struck a mine, and the whole crew of 30 was lost. In the museum they are remembered with a memorial plaque. had salvaged over the years. The museum is situated on the only tells the history about the West Coast of Jutland, from where Battle of Jutland, but also about it was possible to follow the Battle four years of war, which was of Jutland in 1916. The ships were fought on, above and below the too far out to be seen, but the roar surface of the sea. It was four of the big guns came in from the brutal years with submarines and sea like rolling thunder. zeppelins, with mine war and It was the first and only destroyer war, with trade-war and encounter between the German cruiser war. High Seas Fleet and the British Men fought and died in the cold Grand Fleet, and the result was waves of the North Sea and maybe devastating. 250 ships and 100,000 it was here, the war was decided. men met with the sole purpose of Whoever controlled the sea-lanes destroying and killing each other, to Britain would win the war, and and the amount of firepower consequently the North Sea came was so great that it could have to play a crucial role. destroyed a big city. The museum is housed in For 24 hours the big guns kept historic buildings that formerly firing gigantic shells that could belonged to the Danish Coastal Sea War Museum Jutland penetrate even the strongest Kystcentervej 11 Authority. It is funded by the armour. It was history’s greatest 7680 Thyborøn Realdania Foundation, Lemvig naval battle and when it was over, Denmark Municipality and the subsea www.seawarmuseum.dk 25 ships lay on the seabed and company JD-Contractor A/S and 9000 young men would never see is supported by Maritimhistorisk The museum is open every day. the light of day again. Adults Kr79, Seniors over 65 years, Selskab - Maritime Historical Sea War Museum Jutland not Kr74, children aged 3-12 Kr69 and Society. children aged 0-2 free. 6 Moesgaard Museum (MOMU) is a regional museum dedicated to archaeology and ethnography. It is located in Højbjerg, a suburb of Aarhus, Denmark. The museum’s striking new exhibition building was designed by Henning Larsen Architects. The sloping grass-covered roof appears to grow up out of the hilly landscape around the old manor buildings. There is a roof patio where you can enjoy the veiw of the forest and sea. The interior is designed to resemble a terraced landscape - opening up a multi-layered, multi- facetted narative. The main part of the museum’s archaeological collection is of Danish origin. In addition, the Ethnographical Collections contain almost 50,000 artefacts from all over the world. The museum’s exhibitions presents several unrivalled archaeological findings from The First Emperor - Chinas Denmark’s ancient past, amongst Terracotta Army. The exhibition others the Grauballe Man, the closed on 30 September and world’s best preserved bog body was seen by more than 340.000 and the large ritual weapon caches visitors. from Illerup Ådal, testifying the Moesgaard Museum power struggles and warfare of Moesgård Allé 15 the Iron Age. The collection also 8270 Højbjerg contains seven local rune stones. Denmark Temporary exhibitions at the http://www.moesgaardmuseum.dk museum also display examples of [email protected] the world’s cultural heritage. Open Tues 10-5, Wed 10-9, Thurs- Ray saw the Terracotta Warrior Sun 10-5, closed on Mondays. Adults exhibition while he was there, (18+ years) DKK 110, Seniors over but the idea is to have a rolling 65 years & students (with current ID card) 90 DKK, children 17 years and programme of touring exhibitions. All photos courtesy of the Media Department - under free. MoesgaardMuseum 7 from the bottom in class but “good with his hands”. After five years as an apprentice cabinetmaker, he escaped to better things. This came through a passage to Britain. He arrived in 1950 with no contacts and nowhere to go. His wood-carving skills took him to the bombed Houses of Parliament, where he “carved endless Pugin mouldings in very hard English oak”. He was spellbound by the Festival of Britain and feasted on museums, galleries and concerts. He joined a judo club but this put him into St George’s hospital, then situated at Hyde Park Corner. There he became captivated by his nurse, Penny Ladds, and she him; they married in 1953 and had three children. She later became a founder of the National Childbirth Robin Wade Trust. 11 April 1929 - 11 September 2015 Encouraged by a friend to study at the Royal College of Innovative museum designer who helped modernise institutions Art, he turned up there with from Ironbridge to the British Museum no qualifications other than his Neil Cossons practical experience with wood, gained an interview with the From the late 1960s, museums responsive, affordable and good. furniture designers RD “Dick” moved from the twilight to The best are now world leaders in Russell and David Pye in the the spotlight of public esteem, museum design. Robin was one school of wood, metals and through a fusion of sound of these. By the time he retired, he plastics, and won a place as a curatorship and innovative had completed several hundred student. Under its new rector, exhibition design. Robin Wade, projects, from entire museum Robin Darwin, the RCA was in who has died aged 86, was one of design schemes to smaller the ascendant – self-confident, the key figures in effecting this assignments for the burgeoning anarchic and bursting with talent. transformation. By the mid-60s new breed of independent Russell saw talent in Robin, helped most museums had discovered museums. His work ranged from him win a scholarship and, after the benefits of professional major galleries at the British his graduation with distinction, presentation and the larger Museum to display of the national encouraged him to visit Finland ones set up big in-house design collection of telephone boxes at and Denmark. In Copenhagen studios. These have now largely Avoncroft Museum of Historic he met Børge Mogensen, the disappeared, not only as victims of Buildings in Worcestershire. leading Scandinavian furniture high fixed costs and intermittent Son of Nancye (nee Fethers) and designer, and worked for a year workload but because a new, more Evan Wade, Robin was born in in his studio. On his return, in flexible and creative option was on Melbourne, Australia; his mother 1956, Russell took Robin into his offer. died of tuberculosis the year after own practice, working mainly on It came from independent his birth. A haphazard boyhood – furniture design. designers in small practices. They seven homes and six schools – left Robin’s first professional developed specialist museum him, as he put it, timid, with big encounter with museum design display skills and were adaptable, glasses, a bad stammer, second was working with Russell, RY First published The Guardian, Tuesday 22 September 2015 to display the aircraft engines collection. It has stood the test of time well. We collaborated again on major projects at the National Railway Museum in York, including the Great Railway Show (1990), in the goods shed across the road from the main building. This enabled much of the national collection to stay on display while the museum’s roof was being replaced. It won the Museum of the Year award in 1991. Robin’s output was prolific. Godden and another RCA standard so high as to underline Exhibitions included the Chinese graduate, Alan Tilbury, who were the deficiencies of the rest of the Exhibition (1973) at the Royal engaged to redesign the Greek museum.” Academy, Destruction of the and Roman galleries in the British By then Robin was working Country House (1974) at the Museum. Here Robin worked with independently and building the V&A, Vikings (1980) at the British team that was to become Robin Museum, and Magna Carta (1988) Wade Design Associates. An early in Brisbane. commission, in 1972, came from His spectacular Egyptian the Ironbridge Gorge Museum sculpture galleries at the British where, as director, I had already Museum were controversial, admired his work and approach. but he wisely stood his ground Over some 10 years he designed against pressures to paint the a sequence of new museums, all space in Pompeiian reds, most in adapted historic buildings. His notably from the Victorian work led to Ironbridge winning Society. In 1858, the Victorian the Museum of the Year award sculptor Richard Westmacott had in 1977 and the first European recommended a stone colour, in Museum of the Year award in line with the original intentions 1978. of the museum’s architect, Robert Later, at the Science Museum, I Smirke. Robin’s scheme, with turned to him again for a refresh carefully tuned lighting, picked up Denys Haynes, keeper of Greek of the flight gallery, where he used on this report, and let the exhibits and Roman antiquities, who was a novel warehouse stacking system speak with confidence, reinforcing to become one of his heroes. Sir John Pope-Hennessy, later director of the British Museum, wrote: “When these rooms opened in 1969 they were the best- designed galleries of their day in any London museum and the best-designed galleries of classical sculpture in the world. They set a

Opposite page: Robin at Royal College with Percy Hancock, Head of Workshop (left) and Professor Dick Russell (right) Top: ‘Destruction of the Country House’ exhibition, 1975 – V&A. Centre and bottom right: Great Warehouse, Ironbridge Gorge Museum. All photos except top, courtesy of the Robin Wade Archive. 9 Right: (from left to right) Harry James, Keeper, Tony Snook, Stone technician, Robin Wade and David McCabe at the BM during Egyptian Gallery project. Above: The Egyptian Gallery, British Museum, Both photos courtesy of the Robin Wade Archive. the nobility of the Greek revival Ferry, West Virginia. Gleason, and brilliant application of lateral interior. who said he had “come to London thinking to problem solving”. Dozens of smaller museum to meet the best designer”, To work with Robin was a exhibitions and design studies commissioned Wade to write and spirited adventure. A sensitive were a distinguishing feature design publications and panels and civilised man and an of Robin’s practice. He wrote for historic iron-working sites, accomplished cellist, he was never strategic plans for new museums notably Hopewell Furnace in pretentious or high-handed, or the modernisation of old Pennsylvania. always open-minded and keen to ones, designed visitor centres, In the quiet and thoughtfully engage his client in vigorous and signposting schemes, graphics told stories of Canterbury creative debate. panels and publications. Cathedral, in the crypt (1975), and Penny died in 2008. Robin is Regrettably, his brilliant proposal King’s College, Cambridge, in the survived by their children, Tim, for the Museum of Australia in side chapels (1987), it was hard to Jennie and Emma. Canberra came to nothing, after see the hand of the designer, such more than a year’s work with a was Robin’s acute sense of place. large team of Australian academics Key to his success was his focus and museum professionals. The on the visitor, on simple design plan featured a series of galleries and clearly written words, without surrounding a central rotunda a compromise of intellectual devoted, as Robin put it, to “who integrity. He saw himself as an we Australians are now and interpreter to the public, disliking our relationship with this vast prescriptive written briefs, but island”. It was greeted with great preferring to sit down with his enthusiasm, but the government client and work up ideas from changed, as did the site of the basic principles. Peter Saunders, museum and the scheme died. former director of the Salisbury Robin developed a close and South Wiltshire Museum, relationship with Vince Gleason at where Robin worked over several © 2015 Guardian News and the US National Park Service, and years, summed up his approach as Media Limited. All rights its interpretive team at Harpers “rapport, patience … imagination reserved. 10 First NH Volunteer Management Training Workshop

Liz Moore

It was a truly interesting and Clark from the National Trust informative day on 17 September spoke on Volunteer recruitment when heritage organisations and retention and the role from all over the country met Volunteer Managers play in the at NADFAS House for National National Trust. After which Case Heritage’s first Volunteer Studies were presented, first by Management Training Workshop. Chloe Bevan Chloe outlined the Florien Schweizer, Chloe Bevan role NADFAS plays and and their teams looked after us illustrated the Southside Textile all very well indeed, and Florien project. Finally Gail Bromley welcomed everyone warmly. Full presented a case study by Emma notes of the day can be found on Harrison of Historic Houses http://nationalheritage.org.uk/ Association on how best to recruit volunteer-management-training- volunteers and her own on how to workshops/ but the talks included deal with difficult volunteers. Kristen Stephenson on Current The feedback Gail has received legislation and best practice in has been very positive indeed and managing volunteering, and she during the day loads of aspects gave some excellent notes on were raised and Gail noted them DBS, and a paper on Barriers for future coverage. Meanwhile to Volunteering. Amanda Le if anyone has any interesting or Poer Trench followed Kristen on urgent topics to explore, please Assissing the Value of Volunteers contact [email protected] - the VIVA. After lunch, Rachel

11 Luggage van which carried Unknown Warrior to London Liz Moore

The Cavell Van No. 132, which is on display at Bodiam Station, East Sussex was a prototype parcels van, built by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1919. It was in this van that the bodies of three First World War heroes were conveyed back to Britain - in May 1919 the body of the Nurse , in July of the same year that of Captain , who had been executed for ramming a German U-boat, and on 10th November 1920 ahead of the unveilling of the Cenotaph memorial and the funeral at on Armistice Day. Nearly a million British personnel had been killed during World War I and the government had decided quite early in the war that the bodies of servicemen killed overseas would not be returned home. There were also a huge number of casualties with no known grave or who were unidentified. As early as 1916 the Army Chaplain, Reverend David who was taken with the idea and Railton, had wondered whether took up the campaign. Reverend the body of one of the many Ryle sought approval from King unidentified dead could George V and David Lloyd be returned for burial as a George, the Prime Minister. It representative of all those who was Lloyd George who persuaded had been killed, in an effort to the King and all haste was made ease the pain of the bereaved for the necessary preparations in back home. In 1920, he wrote time for Armistice Day. to General Sir Douglas Haig Top: Interior of the Cavell van at Elaborate precautions were with the notion, but got no reply. Bodiam Station, East Sussex by Liz taken to ensure that no one knew Moore. Above: Exterior of the van at Undeterred, wrote to the Dean of the origin of the chosen body, so Bodiam Station, courtesy of Michael Westminster Abbey, Herbert Ryle Roots https://commons.wikimedia.org/ the remains of four unidentified wiki/File:Cavell_van_restored.JPG, 12 British soldiers were recovered from the battlefields and one was selected by Brigadier General Wyatt, before it was transported to and onward to London by rail. The train consisted of the engine, the Cavell Van (as it was now popularly known) and a saloon carriage for the escort. John Preston wrote in his article The Unknown Warrior: A hero’s return, “As the train made its way to London, every station it passed through was filled to overflowing. People stood in silence with heads bowed. When it arrived at Victoria Station, thousands of people tried to push aside temporary barriers and extra police had to be drafted in to deal with the crowds. That night, the luggage van stood in darkness on one of the platforms, with four guards standing watch.” “Shortly after nine o’clock the next morning, 11 November, a bearer party of eight guardsmen entered the luggage van. The coffin was placed on a gun carriage. Behind it, already assembled in line, were the heads of the Armed Forces and 400 former servicemen, standing four a bre a s t .” “At 9.40, in pale winter sunlight, the parade moved off. An enormous crowd – the largest seen in the capital – watched as the coffin was borne through the streets. There was no sound except for people sobbing and the clop of horses’ hooves. As an outpouring of public grief, only the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales nearly 80 years later has ever matched it.”

This article is published with grateful thanks to Rother Valley Railway, Brian Janes author of The Unknown Warrior Top: Cavell Van at Dover Station where it stood for an hour guarded by four men and the Cavell Van, from which this representing the Navy, Air Force, Royal Marines and the Army, 10 November article is larely drawn together with that 1920. Above: King George V places his wreath of bay leaves and red roses of John Preston’s article, The Unknown on the coffin of the Unknown Warrior at the Cenotaph 11 November 1920 - both Warrior: A hero’s return Daily Telegraph photos courtesy of Topfoto. 9 Nov 2008. www.telegraph.co.uk