Views

War and Peace

Issue 51 Autumn 2014

Views

War and Peace

Issue 51 Autumn 2014 Editorial information Guidelines for contributors

Views is compiled and edited by Jacky Ferneyhough. Credit and Views is intended as a free exchange of ideas, experiences and thanks are due to Anthony Lambert for his efficient proofreading. practices. Comments and contributions are welcomed at any time All queries associated with Views should be emailed to from the Views readership. However, if a contributor’s opinion differs [email protected] widely from policies and practices endorsed by the National Trust, The opinions expressed by authors are not necessarily those of we may wish to discuss with the contributor the best way to the National Trust. represent their view, whilst also giving space for the Trust’s approach This publication may be freely copied for the Trust’s internal to be stated in the same or a future edition. purposes but, if directly quoted, acknowledgement of source should Articles containing what could be interpreted as negative be given. Permission must be sought from the Editor before references to a named or identifiable individual within the Trust, their reproducing articles in external publications. work or opinions, will be cleared with that person before publication. Please email articles to [email protected]

ⅷ Length: Shorter, punchy pieces are easier to digest than long, complex ones, especially if you want non-specialists to read the article as well as the converted. The maximum length recommended is 1,200 words. Please use sub-headings to divide Distribution articles into manageable chunks. Corrections will be made, as necessary, to grammar and punctuation. Edited articles will be The distribution of Views to National Trust properties and offices is shown to you; if you disagree with the editing, please say so now centrally managed. If you need to change the quantity you immediately as silence will be assumed to be agreement (i.e. we receive or to raise any queries, please email won’t chase if we’re happy with the edited version). [email protected] ⅷ Illustrations: These will be reproduced in black and white. We can Views is also available on the Trust’s intranet at http://intranet/views use almost any medium but prefer high-resolution (minimum and on the internet: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/views 300 dpi) jpgs. We are trying to improve and increase the pictorial content and would prefer to receive an illustration with each article if possible. Please include a caption with each illustration and provide us with the name of the photographer or artist so that they may be credited.

ⅷ Deadlines: Please meet the deadlines given. For the next issue of Views these will be announced via Red email and other internal communications. There is no guarantee that articles or changes received after a deadline will be included. Permission will be sought from contributors if the Trust wishes to reproduce their article in any format (printed or electronic) for an external audience. For an information sheet on writing for Views, please email [email protected]

Front cover: Boating on the lake on the Longshaw Estate in August 1916. Printed on 100% recycled paper © Courtesy of Captain Murray Clifford. © 2014 National Trust. Registered charity no. 205846 Small images from left: Revolution replayed © National Trust/Tony Designed by Blacker Limited Mumford; Robertson brothers’ memorial at Frensham Common Print managed by Park Lane Press © National Trust/Matt Cusack; awarded to Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson © National Trust; Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) © National Trust Images/John Millar. Title page: Ken Cockburn reading at Overbeck’s (‘There were our own/there were the others’ by Alec Finlay) © Luke Allan

2 Views Editorial

hilst not as long as Tolstoy’s epic We have external contributions from the I’d like to dedicate this edition to Dave masterpiece, this Views edition is , the War Memorials Morris, Area Ranger, who looked after some Wpacked full of wonderful and Trust, English Heritage and the National of our Cheshire countryside properties and fascinating stories connected with Trust Heritage Memorial Fund, plus international in particular Bickerton Hill, itself a former properties and the theme of War and Peace. authors from as far afield as Moscow, New army training area. Dave died recently. My generation has been blessed by never Zealand and Australia. Before joining the Trust, Dave was in the having to face conscription or a world war, As you might expect from the scale of the army for ten years and saw active service so it is particularly sobering to be reminded Trust’s property stewardship and our in Northern Ireland. He brought to his work of the service given and sacrifices made by extensive military connections, we have an for the Trust the same amazing dedication so many during the two world wars of the amazing array of links with this theme. But that was typical of that other service he last century and, of course, various conflicts this has hitherto been a largely untapped gave to his country. since, from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan. area for the Trust to explore. I hope that you, The scope of this edition is wide, with as I have done, will greatly enjoy the Peter Nixon articles ranging from the Civil War to experience of reading this edition. At times Director of Land, Landscape and Nature veterans from Afghanistan and covering an you may be moved to tears, at others I think eclectic group of interests: events, you’ll smile. exhibitions, archaeology, memorials and This is my first edition of Views as sponsor, some very poignant personal stories of and I should like to take this opportunity of wartime experience. There are also some thanking Sarah Staniforth for doing it so well lighter moments, from Churchill’s butterflies in the past. And to thank Jacky Ferneyhough to beetles with military names. for her tireless and brilliant work as our editor.

We’re on the hunt for new stories!

If you’re doing something you find interesting, we’d love to hear about it. Tell us what you’ve tried, what you’ve achieved or what you’re planning to do. We want to know about the new initiatives, the revival of species, the care and conservation underway. The theme for Views 2015 is ‘Coast’ – we’d welcome your articles on all things nautical but nice, watery and wonderful, sandy and sustaining. Deadlines will be between 21 May and 1 June 2015; However, articles and recommendations of authors/ projects to follow up are welcomed at any time; send them to [email protected]

Views 3 Contents

Distinguished War and place Front line engagement: by conduct interpreting war stories 24 Landscapes of war and 6 Frederick Fowler DCM: peace: fighting for 39 English Heritage and the a servant of Stourhead in ‘The South Country’ First World War war and at peace 1914–18 Paul Stamper, Senior Adviser, Rob Bonser-Wilton, Volunteer John Godfrey, National Trust Council Designation Department, Archivist and Researcher English Heritage 26 Longshaw in the Great War 9 The Hidcote cure: Major Thelma Griffiths, Volunteer Historian 41 First World War centenary Johnston’s antidote to war commemorations in Graham Pearson, Volunteer Archivist 28 A monument to the Australia and New Zealand ‘Devil’s Own’: First World Tim Sullivan, Assistant Director, 11 Wartime archives plot the War practice trenches on Branch Head National Collection, course of tragedy at the Ashridge Estate Ightham Mote Gary Marshall, Archaeologist 43 Walking, reading, seeding – Chris Davies, Volunteer 30 Exploring the heritage remembering 13 The battles of Lady Bankes of Hellfire Corner: Tom Freshwater, Contemporary Art Programme Manager Elizabeth Baker, Research Volunteer archaeological investigations at Fan Bay Battery 45 The Great War through the 17 The man behind the maps Jon Barker, Visitor Experience eyes of children: a collection Jon Ducker, Visitor Services Manager Manager, and Nathalie Cohen, of children’s paintings from Archaeologist 19 Quakers in the First World the First World War War: the Peckovers 32 Ravenscar’s radar station: Evgeny Lukyanov, Curator, State and Penroses conservation and Historical Museum, Moscow Diane Smith, Marketing and Events interpretation 47 Heaven in a Hell of War: Assistant Kate Horne, Communications & exhibiting Spencer’s Engagement Officer 21 An archaeologist’s Sandham Memorial adventures with 35 The Royal Air Force Chapel canvases Operation Nightingale at Croome Amanda Bradley, Assistant Curator of Pictures and Sculpture, and David Rachael Hall, Archaeologist, Dennis Williams, RAF Defford expert Taylor, Curator of Pictures Midlands (East) and National Trust volunteer and Sculpture 37 A wartime legacy: the 48 Exhibiting good manners: Manor of Stockbridge and preparing the Spencer the Courts Baron and Leet exhibition Karin Taylor, Head of Land Use Fernanda Torrente, Registrar (Loans Planning & Exhibitions)

50 ‘A very moving exhibition’: Cotehele’s commemoration of the First World War Jenny Hill, Anne Ellard, Lesley Foster and Jane Prince, Volunteers

4 Views 52 Fashion parade: displaying Springhill’s finery through the ages Helen McAneney, Costume Curator

54 High tea and Hitler: telling Mrs Greville’s Second Monuments and Force of nature: World War story memories resurgence Vicky Bevan, House and Collections Manager 70 The Robertson brothers’ memorials 56 Arthur’s war 85 How the Forestry Alan Benny, Physicist (retired) and Chloe Tapping, House & Commission came into being Collections Manager Jacky Ferneyhough, Researcher (War Memorials) and its connection to the 57 A Day in the Life: National Trust 73 A memorial for the nation: Interrupted. Standen Ray Hawes, Head of Forestry the role of the National and the First World War 86 Retreat from the forest: Victoria Witty, House Steward Heritage Memorial Fund Fiona Talbott, Head of Museums, Croft comes full circle 59 A First World War Libraries and Archives, Heritage Ana Vaughan, Visitor Experience Lottery Fund garden project Manager Damian Harris, Head Gardener 75 Caring for Britain’s 88 The Rise of Northwood: war memorials 60 Red Poppies and White a pre-war restoration Frances Casey, former Project Bob Epsom, Senior Ranger Butterflies: small stories Manager, War Memorials Archive, and of the Great War Frances Moreton, Director of War 89 From sandbags to sand Memorials Trust Sarah Burnage, Project Officer dunes: the Cyril Diver Project 77 First World War memorials David Brown, Cyril Diver Project Officer, Purbeck Office, and John in Australia Newbould, volunteer ecologist and Julian Bickersteth, International Field Secretary, Dorset Natural History Conservation Services, Sydney, and and Archaeological Society former board member, National Trust of Australia (New South Wales) 93 The ecology of war Peter Brash, Animal Ecologist and 79 Safeguarding the future of Biological Survey Team New Zealand’s First World Articles of war War memorials 94 Six-legged soldiers: insects Jonathan Howard, Area Manager with military names (Otago/Southland), Heritage New Andy Foster, Invertebrate Ecologist 63 Brothers in arms: the Zealand Pouhere Taonga conservation of a and Leader of Biological Survey Team First World War photograph 81 Never forgetting 95 Churchill’s passion: the Bryher Mason, Conservation Plan Zimbabwe’s sacrifice butterflies of Chartwell Consultant, and Sarah Allen, Freelance Charles Hyslop, Member, National Photographic Materials Conservator Matthew Oates, National Specialist on Trust Zimbabwe Butterflies, and Rhiannon Harris, Diploma Gardener 65 A National Trust tiger hunt 82 Stories from silence: finding Pat Morris, Ecologist and former South Australia’s servicemen 98 Trench life: a soldier’s member of the National Trust Council Andrew Piper, Manager, Online personal habitat Projects, State Library Amber Swinburne, 68 Paintings in hiding: the of South Australia storage of National Gallery Conservation Intern paintings during the Second World War Christine Sitwell, Paintings Conservation Adviser

Views 5 Distinguished by conduct

Frederick Fowler DCM: a servant of Stourhead in war and at peace Rob Bonser-Wilton, Volunteer Archivist and Researcher, Stourhead, Wiltshire

‘On arrival at Gillingham Station, a porter told me I ought to have taken a return ticket as I would not be up there long.’ 13 March 1913

his handwritten note records Frederick Fowler’s introduction to TStourhead, where he was to spend the rest of his life. Known to all as Fred, he was born on 1 June 1893 at Wynford Eagle, near Dorchester, the son of a farm bailiff. At the age of 19 he took up the position of stable lad at Stourhead for Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Baronet, and his wife, Alda, Lady Hoare. Their only child and heir was Henry Colt Arthur (Harry) Hoare. When Harry obtained a commission with the Dorset Yeomanry in July 1914, shortly before Britain’s entry into the war (4 August), Fred joined up to accompany him as his batman (soldier-servant). Frederick Fowler at his call up to the Dorset Yeomanry, Sherborne, 4 August 1914. © Courtesy of Fred Fowler’s family

My research led me to Fred’s daughter and Meanwhile Fred was injured in action on granddaughter. They kindly gave me access 26 February. A letter to his mother from to a wealth of documents, photographs and Harry Hoare, dated 6 March 1916, on even a voice recording of Fred recalling his Stourhead-headed notepaper, is, we believe, wartime experiences. This article is based on the only surviving sample of Harry’s these and the Hoare family archive. handwriting. It reads:

Dear Madam To war I regret I can not get you any further news from the Regiment, about your son. The only thing On 1 April 2015 Harry and Fred sailed with I have got is to the effect that he has been the Dorset Yeomanry for Egypt, initially to dangerously wounded date 26-2-16 and is at Alexandria before moving on to Cairo. The Alexandria. I hope sincerely that you will soon regiment fought in the disastrous have good news of him although you cannot Dardanelles (Gallipoli) campaign against the expect to hear all at once. Certainly at the Turkish forces. They survived where present moment no news is certainly the best thousands didn’t, but Harry was evacuated news possible. in December suffering from double ys faithfully Henry Colt Arthur Hoare (1888–1917) by St George pneumonia and paratyphoid. After a period Harry C Hoare Hare (1857–1933); painted, or at least completed, in the Endsleigh Palace Hospital for Officers after Harry’s death. © National Trust Collection in , he returned to Stourhead on 17 February 1916 for further recuperation.

6 Views Distinguished by conduct Frederick Fowler and his fellow soldiers in Egypt. Fred is on the second camel from the left. © Courtesy of Fred Fowler’s family

Fred recovered and the pair were reunited Capt Henry Colt Arthur Hoare at Raseltin Trooper Fowler helped the Colonel get down the when Harry rejoined his regiment in June Hospital, Alexandria (Egypt) and rest in the hillside and, leaving him in a less exposed 1916. Later that year, in September 1916, Fred Hadra Military Cemetery there. position, went for help. He managed to secure a would have received the sad news that his Our only & the best of sons. He never grieved camel and some volunteers, and with these he brother, Lionel, known as Joe, was killed at us by thought word or deed. He loved Stourhead, managed to get Colonel Sir Randolf Baker back the Somme. worked for it, and with us all his life. He was to safety. For this gallant and devoted conduct, Harry was wounded again in March 1917 deeply respected by all here who mourn his loss. Trooper Fowler was awarded the DCM. during the Palestine campaign, but was back The DCM – Distinguished Conduct Medal fighting a month later and was promoted to – recognised an act of gallantry in the field by a Captain of B Squadron. From a journal kept Distinguished conduct non-commissioned rank, the equivalent to an by Sir Henry we know that Harry was officer’s Distinguished Service Order (DSO). invalided to Cairo in August and told by his Fred continued to serve with the Dorset doctor that his ‘heart was quite unfit to Yeomanry after Harry’s death, and with stand the strain of further active service’. considerable distinction. The regimental Despite this, he somehow persuaded a records note: medical board to declare him fit and he re-joined the front line. The 6th Mounted Brigade advanced into the Sadly, Harry was to receive another Judean Hills, and on 20 November British forces wound, this time fatal. His father wrote: attacked, meeting very strong resistance around Beirtunia, some four miles short of their During the attack on the Mughar Ridge [El objective. In this action and until relieved, the Mughar, Palestine] he fell shot through the Regiment lost Captain Yeatman and three lungs on Nov 13th 1917. He remained on the field ORs.[Other Ranks] Colonel Sir Randolf Baker all night and was then removed 24 hours, by and two other officers were wounded, together motor lorry ambulance to a dressing station, & with 20 ORs. The line held where the advance after two or three days there to Raseltin had been stopped, in spite of heavy counter- Hospital, Alexandria where with varying ups & attacks on 27 and 28 November. When the downs he struggled for life with the utmost Colonel was wounded in the attack about 1 pm, patience, cheerfulness & pluck. His doctor, the he lay incapable of movement. Nearby, Trooper matron & sister have all written to testify to this, Fowler also lay wounded but could have crawled & their regret at his loss. At two o’clock on Dec away, but he preferred to stay with his Frederick Fowler’s DCM. 19th died from Haemorrhage & heart failure. commanding officer. As evening drew on, © Courtesy of Fred Fowler’s family

Distinguished by conduct Views 7 Both awards have since been replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross. On 18 January 1918, Sir Henry Hoare wrote to Fred:

Long ere you get this you will have heard that Capt Hoare has passed away. In his last letter to us he enclosed your letter of Dec 12th & said in it ‘he did exceptionally well and has been awarded the DCM. He is a good fellow & I am very glad he looked after me very well when I was hit’. Lady Hoare & I both congratulate you on your distinction and gallant conduct & thank you for your faithful service to our son. Any details that you can write us as to his wound & the last engagement he took part in would be much appreciated. You are no longer with Capt Hoare A 1928 photo of Frederick Fowler with a Stourhead Percheron. © Courtesy of Fred Fowler’s family but I still consider you with me and your allowance will be continued of course, & waiting for you at the end of your job. I hope you will be To the peace of Stourhead Dear Fowler spared to return to your parents and to us again Sir Henry Hoare told me some time ago that here should you desire to do so. Fred did indeed return to work with the you were going to be married, and I believe you Yours faithfully horses at Stourhead; on his marriage to now have been. I have been waiting to give you H.Hoare Dorothy Mary Hallett on 30 September 1919, something to show my gratitude to you for your his occupation is recorded as ‘Groom’ and his gallantry & devotion in Palestine in Nov 1917 On 21 February, Fred replied: place of residence as ‘Stourton, Wiltshire’. when you stayed out with me that day I was There was plenty of work to keep him wounded. Just a few lines in answer to your most welcome fully occupied. Sir Henry hunted up to four I thoroughly realize that but for your help I letter I received I trust this will find you days a week, when not occupied with estate should probably have at least been taken and her ladyship in the best of health. I should business or in London in his role as a director prisoner if nothing worse had happened to me. have wrote before but was so grieved at Capt of Lloyds Bank. He also founded a stud farm I am sending to you or rather leaving at Hoare’s death I couldn’t. He was more like a pall for Percherons, a French breed of heavy Gillingham station a silver plated tea service, [sic] to me than a superior officer, everything he horse, and took up hunter horse breeding. which I hope you will accept as a wedding shared with me whether we were fighting or not. He showed his animals, and Fred travelled present, & as a mark of my gratitude. He is very much missed in the Regt everyone is the country to various shows with Sir Wishing you all possible good fortune in your sorry he is gone, anything in his power he could Henry’s horses. During this time, Fred and married life, & hoping that if you ever want any do for the men he was always more than willing his wife also raised their own family, a son help, I may be able to give you some assistance to do. He got a shrapnel wound in the left and daughter, in Terrace Lodge on the Yrs truly shoulder, and a rifle bullet in the back that must Stourhead Estate, later moving to 9 The Randolf L Baker have went through his left lung. I stopped with High Street, Stourton. him from the time he was hit till he was picked On 25 March 1947, Sir Henry and Lady up by the ambulance. He said all the time he Hoare died at Stourhead within six hours of Acknowledgment was not in much pain and was quite cheery each other. Sir Henry made a personal gift of when he found the Adjutant was going down in £500 to Fred in his Will, a considerable sum My thanks to Phyllis and Karen Burtt, Fred’s the same cart. We were leading the attack on a of money then and a gift equalled by that to daughter and granddaughter, for their hill and galloped across an open space to get to only one other senior and long-serving generosity in sharing their letters, it. When we dismounted for action the enemy member of staff. documents and photographs with me. poured a heavy fire into our horses which had Fred continued to work on the Stourhead no cover at all so Capt Hoare ordered them to Estate after it had passed into the ownership retire with the led horses to some cover a little of the National Trust. Present-day members Bibliography way behind, the rear lot of horses got into of the Hoare family can still recall Fred Thompson, Major General C.W, Records of difficulty owing to some being shot and he went looking after a large flock of poultry which the Dorset Yeomanry (Queen’s Own) 1914-1919 back to help them out of it, just as he turned to used to be kept in the Stableyard. (F. Bennett & Co. Ltd, Sherborne, 1921). get behind them he got hit. We took the hill, it In 1976 or thereabouts, Fred and Dorothy Stourhead Annals (unpublished). These are was a glorious victory. I must not say any more Mary moved to the nearby town of Mere. a record of notable events, as written by the or else the censor won’t post it I cannot mention Fred died on 30 June 1985, aged 92 years, and Baronets of Stourhead, commencing from any names of places. Must thank you very much Dorothy Mary died some years later. Their around the time of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, for your kindness to me and hope someday to son, Fred Junior, died in January 2013, aged 2nd Baronet (1758–1838) and concluding return to Stourton. Hoping you will accept my 91, but their daughter, Phyllis, is still well. with the death of Sir Henry Hoare in 1947. sympathy in your great loss and trusting this will I’ll end this story with a note from the A three-volume typed version of the find you and her ladyship quite well. man whose life he probably saved back in handwritten journals is kept in the Research from your obedient servant Palestine: Room at Stourhead House. F. Fowler

8 Views Distinguished by conduct The Hidcote cure: Major Johnston’s antidote to war Graham Pearson, Volunteer Archivist, Hidcote Manor Garden, Gloucestershire

Lieut. Lawrence Johnston leading a Royal Escort in 1906. © Hussars Regimental Archives

awrence Johnston, the American Hampshire, with Lawrence as their Transport grey figures and finally drove them over the hill. creator of Hidcote, began work on Officer, embarking on the SS Minneapolis on Our casualties, considering the severity of the Lthe garden in 1907. He was then a 5 October 1914 to Zeebrugge, Belgium. fighting, were relatively light, but among the lieutenant with the Northumberland They marched to Bruges en route to join the wounded were Major Johnston and Lieutenant Hussars, a territorial force, which committed Seventh Division as Divisional Cavalry and Laing… It was a rough piece of fighting, and the him to attend summer camps of ten days eventually entered Ypres on 14 October. regiment had acquitted itself most creditably. or so. The following extract is dated 23 October In the seven years prior to the declaration and comes from The History of the Lawrence’s injury was a gunshot wound to of war, Lawrence created significant parts of Northumberland (Hussars) Yeomanry, the right lung. He was evacuated on 30 Hidcote: the Old Garden, the Bathing Pool 1819–1919: October on the SS St Patrick from Boulogne Garden, the Red Borders, the Gazebos and to Southampton, from where he was taken the steps up to them. His horticultural skills This was a day of severe fighting for the to the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers were recognised with an Award of Merit regiment, a day on which one of the most in London. Interestingly the records of the from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) dangerous thrusts of the enemy was successfully RHS’s Lindley Library from November 1914 in 1911 for a particular species of Primulus. foiled. Under increasing pressure the infantry to March 1915 show that Lawrence was had been forced to give ground, and it was just borrowing books on gardening, garden at the moment when the gap was ominously design and plant hunting. The loans were Mobilisation widening that the regiment, waiting in reserve, signed out for Lawrence, not by him, often was called in to assist. … Here we remained by William Brown, his butler. We can thus When war broke out, Lawrence had risen to several hours under very heavy rifle and fire, envisage Lawrence sitting up in bed while the rank of major and he was mobilised at unable to retaliate very effectively, owing to the recovering from his wound and reading Gosforth Park, Northumberland. It is poorness of the field of fire. But these gallant these books which included Ernest H. probable that he was accompanied by his riflemen stuck to it, their crisp sharp fire orders Wilson’s A Naturalist in Western China and chauffeur, Ernest Daniels, as his batman. never seeming to falter. Then came the crowning Frank Kingdon-Ward’s The Land of the Blue Ernest was a private in the Northumberland incident of the day. A line of Scots Guards Poppy about his expedition in 1911 to the Hussars and it is evident from the regimental suddenly rose to the order of ‘Come on, the Scots north of Yunnan and south-eastern Tibet to war diaries that Lawrence was accompanied Guards!’ echoed by Major Sidney’s ‘Come on, collect plants for the horticultural firm of by a servant shown as ‘1 OR’ (other rank). Northumberland Hussars!’ and together guards Bees Ltd, Liverpool. The regiment travelled to Lyndhurst, and Hussars charged against a swaying mass of

Distinguished by conduct Views 9 Gardening leave regiment. A week later, on 22 August, issued with a Protection Certificate by the Lawrence took part in one of the last cavalry Dispersal Hospital at Millbank, London, Lawrence’s army records show that he went charges of the , into the which declares that from that date ‘he will before a Medical Board at the 2nd Southern ironically named Happy Valley, near Bray-sur- not be entitled to draw pay’. His medical General Hospital, Bristol, on 13 May 1915, Somme, where he was wounded for a second category is C1, i.e. fit for service in garrisons which recorded that ‘he has quite time. The Regimental Orders state: in the UK, able to march five miles, see to recovered’. He remained in England for a shoot with glasses and hear well. It records further year before returning to serve in The Commanding Officer wishes to thank all his address as being ‘Hidcote Manor’ and France on 11 June 1916. ranks of the regiment for the gallant and that his occupation in civil life is During this year spent at Hidcote, determined effort that they made to capture ‘Gentleman’. Ernest also survived the war Lawrence planted the hornbeams in the Stilt the high ground required, on 22nd inst., and and continued as Lawrence’s chauffeur for Garden to the west of the Gazebos, thus regrets that the regiment did not meet with the many years. continuing the axis running from under the success that such a splendid attempt deserved. In September the same year his mother, Cedar of Lebanon through the Old Garden, A more serious disaster was only saved by the Gertrude Winthrop, bought the the Circle and the Red Borders. The Stilt great drive and determination to get forward neighbouring farm and its associated fields Garden today is one of the significant in every single individual. to the south for £3,000. This enabled features of the garden that is clearly visible Lawrence to extend the garden, and the when looking along its major axis. All the Lawrence returned to England on 7 post-war years saw the creation of the Long component parts, including the Cedar of September on three weeks’ sick leave, giving Walk, the Wilderness and further garden Lebanon, are still there and the view as then his address as ‘Boodles Club, St James Street, rooms, including the Pillar Garden and Mrs continues to Heaven’s Gate and out over the London’; the second oldest gentleman’s club Winthrop’s Garden. Vale of Evesham. in London, it still exists in the same premises Lawrence engaged in plant hunting in Lawrence returned to his regiment in at 28 St James Street. A Medical Board on 16 the 1920s as well as becoming a member of France and fought through to the end of the December recommended a further two various syndicates of wealthy garden owners war. He was its Commanding Officer for months’ leave until 16 February 1919. His army who funded plant hunters to seek new about three weeks in February 1917 but was file holds a note written by Lawrence attractive plants from places such as South clearly not well, as it is recorded on 1 May requesting permission ‘… to proceed to the America, Africa, Formosa and China. that he rejoined the regiment from a south of France for my health on Jan 2nd. He was a judge at Chelsea in 1927 and 1930, convalescent home in Menton on the south- 1919. My destination will be one of Lady and won further Awards of Merit in 1925, east Mediterranean coast of France; seven Dudley’s houses.’ This refers to the hospitals 1929 and 1930. All of this contributed years later he bought land just inland from for officers created by Rachel, Countess of towards Hidcote’s heyday in the 1930s when Menton where he created another garden, Dudley, in St Nazaire, Wimereux and Paris. it was opened two or three times a year for Serre de la Madone, now run by the town She also established the British Officers’ charity in the forerunner of the National and open to the public. Clubs in France, which acted as both rest Gardens Scheme and became increasingly In August 1918 the regimental war diaries houses and social rendezvous. well known through articles in Country Life record that two chargers belonging to Major On 11 April, Lawrence was demobilised – and The Listener. Johnston were taken on the strength of the or, as his records state, ‘disembodied’ – and

Red Borders looking towards the newly planted Stilt Garden c.1916. © National Trust/Hidcote

10 Views Distinguished by conduct Marking the passing time References Pearson, Graham S., Lawrence Johnston: In 1920 Lawrence’s mother had a cover The Creator of Hidcote (Hidcote Books, 2013) put over the village well to War diaries of the Northumberland Hussars commemorate the end of the war and are held at the National Archives, Kew the great sacrifice made by so many. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/ This memorial still stands in Hidcote war-diaries-ww1.htm Bartrim and bears the date of the Pease, Howard, The History of the armistice, 11 November 1918. To mark Northumberland (Hussars) Yeomanry, 1819– the centenary, it will be restored so that 1919 (Constable and Co. Ltd, London, 1924) the water from the well flows again Wilson, Ernest H., A Naturalist in Western onto the central basin and into the China With Vasculum, Camera And Gun trough in front of the memorial. (Methuen & Co., London, 1913) Kingdon-Ward, Frank, The Land of the Blue Poppy (Cambridge University Press, 1913)

About the author Graham Pearson initially joined Hidcote as a volunteer garden guide with his wife in 2002. They became involved in filing the small archive and transcribing Lawrence’s diaries, which led to visits to archives around the UK, France and America. Distilling all this information, Graham wrote the first Left: The memorial at Hidcote Bartrim. © Graham S. Pearson. Right: A close-up of the memorial published biography of Lawrence Johnston, inscription (‘G.W.’ stands for Great War, rather than the sponsor’s initials). © Graham S. Pearson now available at Hidcote.

Wartime archives plot the course of tragedy at Ightham Mote Chris Davies, Volunteer, Ightham Mote, Kent

arbara Mollison, a volunteer at Thomas Riversdale Ightham Mote, took on the task of Colyer-Fergusson in 1917. © National Trust Bcollating and preparing material for our First World War displays. Her work brought together for the first time contemporary documents, pictures and sources which paint a picture of how the war changed life on the estate. At the beginning of this year, she delivered a final collection of her work for a book about Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson, which is now on display at Ightham Mote. Very sadly and unexpectedly, Barbara passed away on 19 March.

The wartime service of the Colyer-Fergusson boys

Thomas Colyer-Fergusson owned the Mote in 1914. All three of his sons – Max, William (known as Billy) and Thomas Riversdale (known as Riv) – went to war. Army records confirm that the brothers all joined the

Distinguished by conduct Views 11 The grave marker of Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson. © National Trust Images/Charles Thomas

The Victoria Cross (front) awarded posthumously. © National Trust

Middlesex Regiment, Public School Battalion, in 1914. Max was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps (Transport Logistics) in which he reached the rank of captain. He survived but was killed during the Second World War. Billy was wounded in the back in August 1916. He recovered and was transferred to the Northamptonshire Regiment. In 1917, he was wounded when crushed and buried after his dug-out was blown up. He was in hospital for four days and then recommended for ‘transfer to the seaside’. He survived the war commissioned as a lieutenant. Riv went into active service in France and Flanders in 1915. He was made a 2nd Lieutenant in 1916 and received a bullet wound in the arm in the same year. He recovered and returned to his regiment. In Third Battle of Ypres. Finding his company Families from the estate 1917, following an attack distinguished by his held down by a machine gun in a wired bravery and command, he was killed by a strong point, he led an attack with a sergeant There is little information regarding estate sniper’s bullet. and five men, capturing the enemy trench workers of the Mote during the war. What is and machine guns. He then resisted a heavy known comes from military records, the 1901 counter attack. The Battalion war diary and 1911 censuses and the memoirs of the Mementoes give substance records: ‘While directing the Consolidation Leftley family who lived and worked at Captain T.R. Colyer-Fergusson was killed by a Ightham Mote from 1888 to 1951. It is the small mementoes from this time sniper. A bullet hit him in the head and death The Leftleys lived in Mount Cottage, and that give substance to the reports about the was instantaneous. He had done by 1911, Fred, who was in charge of the Mote end of Riv’s life. In January 1917 he wrote an magnificently. The capture of Jacob Trench gardens, and his wife, Lilias, had six children, upbeat letter1 to his sisters thanking them was largely due to his courage and all of whom still lived at home. There were for two books sent as a Christmas gift. He initiative.’3 He was 21. Charles and Fred, both described as added: ‘We are still in the same camp and I After this, the sad paper trail collected ‘gardener improver’, Edward, a blacksmith believe we are going back into rest for from the archive includes a telegram from striker, and three children at school – Elsie, another two weeks or so without even going the Army Council informing Thomas of his Victor and Stanley. Memoirs written by into the front line at all. Last night some son's death. Particularly poignant is a Daily Norman and Hazel Leftley, the children of aeroplanes came and dropped bombs quite Graphic photograph from October 1917 Fred junior, relate: ‘As war approached all the close and made a frightful row which showing Thomas receiving the medal from men joined the Forces, the Colyer-Fergusson disturbed us so much that I played bridge King . boys ... and all the young men from the frightfully badly and lost six shillings before This year Riv's VC will be on display at estate. Fred senior was left to cope single- they went away.’ A picture from the same Ightham. It has been loaned by the handed in the garden with help of Mary Ann time shows him to be a slight young man. Northamptonshire Museum and Art Gallery Baldwin who lived in the Laundry Cottage.’4 Later that year – on 31 July – he earned and has been the object of much interest for On 31 August 1914, Fred, then 21, and the Victoria Cross (VC) for ‘most many visitors to the New Chapel where the Edward, 20, enlisted at Tonbridge into the conspicuous bravery, skilful leading and original marker for his grave in France is also Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment. determination in attack’2 at the start of the on display. They survived the war but Fred was

12 Views Distinguished by conduct wounded in the left leg and buttocks by a Fred Leftley junior, who became a hand grenade. He recovered and returned to gardener at Ightham his regiment. His son, Norman, still lives in Mote after the war. the local village and has kindly agreed to the © National Trust/ Ightham Mote loan of family medals to Ightham Mote. James Hyder, a waggoner, and his family lived in Mote Cottages. Their son, Alfred, had joined the Grenadier Guards in 1905 and sailed to France four days after his mobilisation in August 1914. He received an Army pension from 1915 having been discharged as being ‘no longer fit for war service’. He died in May 1918, aged 38, from a condition exacerbated by war. Another son, Frank, a carter, enlisted in the same regiment as the Leftley brothers in 1914. He was killed in action in June 1918, aged 28. Fred and Mary Jane Boorman lived at References 3. Military diaries of the Northamptonshire Mote Farm. Their son, Frank, a farm labourer, 1. Items stored in Ightham Mote archive. Regiment. also joined the Royal West Kents. He died of 2. Supplement to the London Gazette, 4. Leftley, Norman and Hazel, Leftley family his wounds in France in May 1917, aged 22. 6 September 1917. memoir.

The battles of Lady Bankes Elizabeth Baker, Research Volunteer, Corfe Castle and Purbeck properties, Dorset

ady Bankes of Corfe Castle was born Mary Hawtrey in 1598 in Ruislip, LMiddlesex. In 1618, she married John Bankes, a landowner and lawyer. In 1604, at the age of 15, John went to Queen’s College, Oxford, where he failed to gain a degree, but nevertheless applied himself successfully to the study of law. He was called to the Bar in 1614 and in 1624 became MP for Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire.1 It was during this period that John gained a reputation for integrity and became a mediator between king and Parliament. He was appointed Attorney General to Charles I and knighted in 1634. The following year, Corfe Castle was bought by Sir John and Lady Bankes.

Lady Mary Bankes, although the likeness was painted long after her death by Henry Bone (1755–1834). © National Trust Images/ Derrick E. Witty

Distinguished by conduct Views 13 The Civil War (1642–51) Sequestration

When Civil War broke out, Charles I delivered Sequestration was supposed to be for a Seventeen sequestrators were appointed the Great Seal2 to Sir John in his role as Lord specified period of time after which, once by the Dorset Standing Committee (DSC), Chief Justice with, surprisingly, the support fines were paid, it could be suspended and including Sir Walter Erle and Sir Thomas of Parliament. Unfortunately, in the summer estates returned to the owner. In theory, Trenchard. John Hunt, a gentleman tenant of 1643, Sir John lost its trust by declaring the profits and rents taken from of the Bankes family, was named as the that the actions of the Earls of Essex and sequestered estates were for the benefit of official receiver for the sequestrators. Manchester, William Waller and others were Parliament and repayment of the National Some Parliamentarians, including Sir treasonable. In retaliation the House of Debt. In reality, if the unfortunate Thomas, married their daughters to Commons declared him to be a traitor and ‘malignants’ could not pay, most of the malignants, enabling them to make a his estates were ‘sequestrated’, confiscated money and lands disappeared into the claim on the sequestered estate ‘for [their] until a fine was paid, along with a promise hands of the sequestrators. fidelity to the State’.3 not to take up arms against Parliament. While Sir John joined the king at his Oxford headquarters, Lady Bankes was left at Corfe with her younger children and a few servants and tenants. According to George Bankes,3 there were only five men in the castle at the time of the first attempt to take the castle; during the whole period of the first siege, the garrison never exceeded 40.

First siege of Corfe Castle 1643

An account of the various attempts to gain access to the castle is given in the Royalist news book Mercurius Rusticus.4 As Royalist propaganda it is suspect, but even so the three attempts to take the castle seem to have been inept. Although Lady Bankes surrendered her four small cannon after the besiegers, led by Sir Walter Erle, threatened to burn down the village, the siege seems to have been abandoned and she was able to re-provision the castle. Then, after failing to bribe or threaten the villagers and tenants to scale the walls, the besiegers prepared two battering rams nicknamed the ‘Boar’ and ‘Sow’. The ‘Sow’ cost £9 3s 4d and was paid for by the Dorset Standing Committee (DSC). It was borne by 11 men, nine of whom were shot by the defenders. Not surprisingly, no-one could be prevailed upon to try again so the ‘Boar’ was never used. The 2nd Earl of Warwick then sent 150 men with scaling ladders. Many of these men had been removed from gaols and did not fancy exchanging the ‘halter for the bullet’3, so, as a desperate measure, their commanders plied them with drink. The Middle Ward was defended by Captain Lawrence and most of the available soldiers. Sir John Bankes, painted during his lifetime by Gilbert Jackson (active 1621–43). The Upper Ward was defended by Lady © National Trust Images/Derrick E. Witty Bankes, her daughters, women and five soldiers. They heaved stones over the walls have supper first, then found he’d left it too was left with £1,427 3s 10d – no small sum so and threw down hot embers, wounding or late and had to flee before Carnavon’s one wonders what she would have had in a killing 100 assailants until they retreated. soldiers, leaving behind tents, horses, normal year.5 She was also left with William, In August, Robert Dormer, 1st Earl of ammunition and , all of which were her fourteenth child. She was 46! Carnarvon, came to the assistance of Lady commandeered by the castle. Sir John came The Earl of Carnarvon was to die a month Bankes. Sir Walter left hurriedly, leaving immediately to Corfe to congratulate his later at the Battle of Newbury. Shortly after Colonel William Sydenham to follow on with wife and her supporters. Lady Bankes later his return to Oxford, Sir John became ill and the equipment and munitions. He decided to recorded that after such a stressful year she died on 28 December 1644.

14 Views Distinguished by conduct Financial hardship Bankes deceased shall be had and rec’d by the Royalist garrison into the castle and Mr John Hunt... reservinge a fifte part for made away with 160 cattle and horses from The sequestration of Sir John’s estates maintenance of the children of the said Sr the village. Later that year he sent more caused considerable legal difficulties. Lady John Bankes... no Collector or Sequestrator troops to besiege the castle, but in January Bankes’s lawyers appealed, but the family of are to interrupt...’6 1646 a Royalist troop managed to get Sir John were deemed to be malignants and If this concession had not been granted, through by wearing Parliamentarian colours. all profits and rents from the estate were it would have been very difficult for Lady The news that ‘Brave Dame Mary’ and her forfeited. Moreover the sequestrators laid Bankes to pay the fines. Failure to do so younger daughters were besieged in the last down a scale of fines which had to be paid might have resulted in the whole of the Royalist stronghold in the south was well before any suspension could be considered. Purbeck Estate falling into the hands of the known, and this foray was possibly a rescue The heir’s fine was £1,974 and Lady Bankes local sequestrators. Her tireless and dogged attempt. had to pay £1,400 for herself and the seven determination to end the sequestration Colonel Pitman, an officer within the younger children. deserves as much admiration as her castle, offered to fetch reinforcements from The DSC minutes record that: ‘Her courageous defence of the castle. By and the governor, Colonel Anketil, husband’s estate was sequestrated by us February 1646, she had raised enough to pay agreed. However, once outside, Pitman during his lifetime for his delinquency but the ‘moiety’ or half of the heir’s fine and, a plotted with Colonel Bingham to betray since his decease she hath petitioned us little later, part of her own. Lady Bankes. Instead of going to Somerset, to enjoy the jointure settled on her... he went no further than the Parliamentary we conceive we ought to continue the garrison at Weymouth. He led 100 men back sequestration...’. The second siege of Corfe Castle, to Corfe, calling at West Lulworth to pick up The legal problems necessitated 1645–6 another 40 soldiers. prolonged stays near London for Lady Bankes for much of 1645. Her efforts were By the time Lady Bankes returned to Corfe, partly successful: ‘In pursuance of an order the Parliamentarians had strengthened their of the Lords and Commons of 10th July hold on Dorset. In June 1645 Parliamentarian last...rents and profits of lands of Sir John Colonel John Bingham succeeded in driving

A sketch of how Corfe Castle would have looked when intact. © National Trust/Simon Harris

Distinguished by conduct Views 15 Betrayal Parliament, along with another £7 for an The suspension order appears to have alleged slander. Captain Lawrence, who had been backdated because the DSC minutes There would be no help from local defended the castle so well during the first record: ‘whereas we have received an order landowners. Humphrey Weld’s estate at siege, was allowed to let Steepleton Farm for from the Commissioners of Goldsmyths’ Lulworth had been sequestered and ‘his good service done at the takeing of Hall, London for the suspencon of the Lulworth Castle was fortified as a garrison Corfe Castle’ – in other words, as soon as sequestracon of the estate of Dame Mary for Parliamentary troops. George Loope of the besiegers entered Corfe Castle he had Bankes, widd., bearing date the xvijth [17th – ‘Binknowle’ tried to avoid sequestration by joined Pitman in betraying Lady Bankes. j was sometimes substituted for the final i of saying he had been forced to defend Corfe a number] day of February last...’ – ‘...will and Castle by Colonel Anketil; he was fined £20. require the Sequestrators of this Countie, Mr Culliford of Encombe was freed from The end of an era and all of them whom it may concerne, that sequestration as long as ‘he and his they permit and suffer the sayd Dame Mary neighbours would engage themselves Lady Bankes arrived in London having lost Bankes and her assigns, from the sd xvijth of against Corfe Castle’. Nearby Steepleton her home and possessions. Her accounts February last, to hold and enjoy the sayd Farm was sequestered from the Marquess record purchases of even basic necessities lands and estate and to receive and take the of Winchester.6 such as coal, candles, pots, pans and pffitts thereof, according to the sd order of When Colonel Pitman returned with ‘re- chamberpots. A trusted servant, Will Fenton, Goldsmiths Hall.’ enforcements’, Colonel Anketil seems to was paid £8 for three journeys into Dorset, After two and a half years of tragedy and have become suspicious. After around 50 and other servants later joined them. In April, loss, but also of courage and determination, soldiers had entered, he ordered the gates to Besse Baron from Blandford was paid a she had succeeded in securing the estates be shut, but it was too late. The newcomers guinea to fetch the children and escort them for her descendants, although the castle took quick possession of the Upper Ward. to Stepney. Besse and her husband were loyal itself was destroyed. The Civil War would see This was thought to be impregnable so was tenants for she was given £1 for 15 bushels of more bloodshed, the execution of Charles I defended by only six of the garrison. More oats ‘owing to her husband at Corfe’ and £7 and the abolition of the monarchy as besiegers entered the castle leaving Lady for wages in arrears by Lady Bankes from ‘the England became a republic, but Lady Bankes Bankes no option but to surrender. Corfe time I came from Corfe till and for ‘was not further molested during the Castle surrendered on 27 February 1646 after midsummer 1646’.4 Commonwealth’.6 a siege that had lasted for 48 days.7 In September 1647 Lady Bankes achieved She survived to see the return of Charles It is possible that Parliament was afraid what she had worked so hard to accomplish II in 1660. She died a year later ‘giving her that Lady Bankes would become a focus for since Sir John’s death. She paid a fee of £12 5s relatives so little expectation of her death any lingering Royalist support for she was 0d to pass the suspension order through the that her eldest son, then absent from her, ordered to leave the castle immediately. She House of Commons, plus another £13 5s 10d being in Dorsetshire, was married on the could take her two daughters with her but to get it through the Lords. In October she morning of the day on which she died.’3 only four servants and had to report to John wrote: ‘payd in full of the heirs fines into Lentall, son of the Speaker of the House of goldsmiths hall £987’; ‘payd at goldsmiths References Commons, at Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, hall in full of the childrens composition £222 1. Wootton Bassett was one of the ‘Rotten where sequestration business was dealt with. 00s 0d’; ‘and in full of my owne compo Boroughs’ where votes could be bought; The DSC awarded £200 to Colonel £190 00s 0d ... in the passing of the pardon when Sir John became its MP, it had a voting Pitman for delivering Corfe Castle to £2 16s 6d’. electorate of 20. 2. The Great Seal is used symbolically by a monarch to approve important state The original keys to Corfe Castle, now in documents. In giving it to Sir John, Charles I Kingston Lacy was handing it to a Member of Parliament, © National Trust but one whom he trusted. Images/Andreas von Einsiedel 3. Bankes, George, The Story of Corfe Castle (1853). 4. Barwick, John, Ryves, Bruno, Wharton, Sir George, Mercurius Rusticus, or, The country's complaint of the barbarous outrages begun in the year 1642 by the sectaries of this late flourishing kingdome (printed for W. Mears, 1732). 5. Lady Bankes Household Accounts: Dorset History Centre Archives. 6. Dorset Standing Committee Minutes: Dorset History Centre Archives. 7. Bayley, A. R., The Civil War in Dorset (Barnicott and Pearce, , 1910).

16 Views Distinguished by conduct The man behind the maps Jon Ducker, Visitor Services Manager, Tyntesfield, Somerset

The portrait of Sir Thomas by James Northcote (1746–1831) was purchased by Richard, 2nd Lord Wraxall, in the 1970s. © National Trust Images

A redcoat, a revolution, a relation and patriotic cries help our visitors to Now, what shall we call this hill? understand those turbulent times and show Hanging quite unassumingly in the Drawing the Gibbs’s family link to this momentous In 1775, long-standing disagreements over Room at Tyntesfield, almost hidden amongst period in world affairs. taxation between the British Government the other decoration, is a painting of a man and 13 British colonies in North America who seems not to fit in the Victorian Gothic turned into armed conflict. Hoping to gain surroundings. Sir Thomas Hyde Page from this civil war, France and Spain entered To some he was a ‘lobster back’, on the side of the rebel colonists, creating, representing all that was bad about the The son of Robert and Elizabeth Hyde Page, arguably, the first world war. power-hungry British Empire. To others he Thomas was born in Harley Street, London, Thomas’s military service took him to was a skilled cartographer, helping to map in 1746. Robert was a military engineer and America and straight into the first of the and protect the American colonies. But to Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps. major conflicts, the Battle of Bunker Hill, as Matilda Blanche, wife of William Gibbs, who He completed his training at the Royal aide-de-camp for General Howe. The Battle purchased Tyntesfield in 1843 and later Military Academy in Woolwich at the top of of Bunker Hill on 17 June 1775 – or, more remodelled the house, he was grandfather. his class. For his efforts Thomas was accurately, Breeds Hill (Bunker Hill was the Today, the portrait of Sir Thomas Hyde awarded the King’s Medal by King George III original objective for both forces) – was a Page and his influence on shaping and himself. nominal victory for the British. A superior naming the modern world is the inspiration Joining the Royal Corps of Engineers in force of British line regiments and Royal for bringing to life a rather overlooked, in the 1769, he was regularly commissioned to Marines suffered great losses attacking a UK at least, historic period when 13 British design ways of providing garrisons and forts redoubt on Breeds Hill, against colonial colonies formed the fledgling with fresh supplies of water, a theme which troops commanded by William Prescott. The of America. would continue throughout his career. These phrase ‘don’t fire until you see the whites of Now in its second year, ‘Revolution!’ is a plans involved the creation of detailed maps, their eyes’, whilst not new in military usage, National Trust commission working with the a skill which would distinguish him during his was also popularised by this battle, being UK’s leading American Revolution time in Boston, Massachusetts, early in the attributed to any one of four Americans, reenactment groups. Their colour, sound revolutionary war in America. Prescott included.

Distinguished by conduct Views 17 ‘Boston, its environs and harbour, with the Rebel works raised against that town in 1775 from the observations of Lieut. Page of his Majesties Corps of engineers and from those other gentlemen.’ © Image courtesy of Geography and Maps division, Library of Congress Washington D.C.

Despite the apparent victory and the Fort near Felixstowe in Suffolk (now 3rd Baronet, his first wife’s brother’s son. capture of six artillery pieces, General Howe managed by English Heritage), which Their third daughter, Matilda Blanche, did not press his advantage against the appears in the background of the portrait. married William Gibbs, her cousin, in 1839. rebels, a habit which persisted throughout The war in America lasted until 1783 when Thomas was made a captain in 1787 the conflict. Thomas, having served for only King George III recognised the independence before moving to the invalid engineer corps, 11 days, was so severely wounded that a leg, of the 13 colonies, which now styled something he had refused to do in Boston. believed to be his left, was amputated. themselves the United States of America. He continued to work as a consulting Despite this, Thomas remained in Boston Although Britain had suffered a humiliating engineer on major navigation and drainage where he created maps for another two defeat, King George still ruled over projects in England and abroad. He had an years, many of which are now held in the and much of the West Indies, large tracts of extensive period of work in Ireland around Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The the Indian subcontinent were effectively run the ports of Dublin and Wicklow from 1792. ones which Thomas created of Boston at this by the (British) East India Company, and After his second wife died in 1794, time are among the most detailed, and his Captain Cooke had already started the Thomas married for a third time, to Mary names for the hills were given to the names process which would lead to Australia and Everett. He was much in demand, advising of the battles. New Zealand becoming British dominions. on engineering works on eastern ports and In the same year that America won its further afield, including the harbour of independence, Thomas was knighted and Montego Bay in Jamaica, for which he was Honoured by the king became a Fellow of the Royal Society; he was awarded a cask of rum. described as ‘a gentleman well versed in On 30 June 1821, the extraordinary life of On his return to England in 1777, Thomas mechanics and many other branches of Sir Thomas Hyde Page came to an end. He married Susanna, a widow and the sister of experimental philosophy’. In what was had lived the latter part of his life in Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey, 2nd Baronet. already a momentous year, he found time to Boulogne, France, and is buried there. Sadly, Susanna died within a few years of remarry. His second wife was Mary Albinia, their marriage. Our Thomas became the and it is through this marriage that the commanding Royal Engineer of the eastern connection with Tyntesfield would be made. coast district and worked on a number of Their eldest daughter, also called Mary southern fortifications including Languard Albinia, married Sir Thomas Crawley-Boevey,

18 Views Distinguished by conduct Revolution replayed. Revolution revived © National Trust/ Tony Mumford Now in its second year, the August Bank Holiday weekend event Revolution! combines the re-enactment and re-creation of British and loyal American camps and those of the rebel Americans, with weapons and tactical demonstrations culminating in a grand skirmish. Younger visitors have a chance to take sides in a solider school taking the King’s shilling or joining the upstart American patriots. Visitors have the chance to step back into these turbulent times, as well as see the portrait and learn Good relations restored. about the man who links Tyntesfield and the © National Trust/ birth of a new nation. Tony Mumford

Acknowledgements

Tyntesfield volunteers David Hogg and William Pummel for their extensive research of Sir Thomas Hyde Page; Rachel Humphries, Visitor Services Manager, Sissinghurst, for helping create Revolution!; and the Society of King George the Third, the Lexington Minutemen and the Crown Forces for their dedication to portraying the American Revolution and efforts at the Revolution! event.

Quakers in the First World War: the Peckovers and Penroses Diane Smith, Marketing and Events Assistant, Peckover House and Garden

undertook the research on the role of The effects on the Peckover family follow their own conscience, answered their Quakers during the First World War for country’s call in various ways. Some went to IPeckover House’s current exhibition. The In 1914, Alexander, Lord Peckover, by then an fight with their fellow countrymen, some more I read and discovered, the more elderly gentleman of 84, and two of his refused and suffered imprisonment for up to admiration I felt for them and the decisions daughters, Alexandrina and Anna Jane, were three years. Others decided that they could they made. living at Bank (later Peckover) House. His still live by their principles by serving The Quakers are against all war, believing eldest daughter, Elizabeth Josephine, had humanity, whether through groups such as that violence and hatred feed evil, whereas married the artist James Doyle Penrose, with the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) or the love can defeat it. For them, it isn’t just the whom she had four sons. It was these young Friends Emergency Committee, which cruelty of war that is so abhorrent, but also men who, as Quakers, had to answer a helped enemy aliens in this country, or by the destruction of hope and love it causes. profound moral dilemma on their imminent travelling abroad to aid victims of war. These Their beliefs mean that they cannot bear role in the war. The eldest son, Alec, was forms of contribution were badly needed arms, but, from the research I've done, it is eighteen years old, his brothers Lionel and and much of the work would have been clear that when faced with the fact of war, Roland being sixteen and fourteen dangerous, requiring considerable bravery. the great majority of them felt they could respectively. Bernard was only eleven and so Alec, Lionel and Roland chose to join the not simply stand by and ignore suffering. had no immediate need to make a decision. FAU, which grew quickly and was a front-line Their actions, both during and after the First My research showed me that the service, carrying the wounded from the World War, succeeded in helping countless Quakers, often known as Friends, debated battlefields to hospitals. Lionel was deployed numbers of people. the situation and, because the essence of in France from 1916–18 where he worked on their belief is in individual responsibility to the ambulance trains that travelled between

Distinguished by conduct Views 19 Demobbed in 1919, he went on to become a renowned artist, as his father was, although he worked in a very different style. Roland also used his skills to creative advantage in the Second World War. He taught military camouflage at a Home Guard training centre based at the Trust’s Osterley Park, Middlesex, and wrote a book, Home Guard Manual of Camouflage.3 His skills earned him a commission as captain in the Royal Engineers and he was later to lecture at military training centres in Norfolk and Surrey. Alec served with the FAU from 1914–18 but unfortunately we have no details of where or what his role was. He later became an honorary representative of the National Trust and it was he who persuaded his aunt, Alexandrina, to pass Peckover House to the Trust in 1943. Bernard, who was too young to have a role in the First World War, went on to have a distinguished career with the Royal Navy, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and was mentioned in dispatches during the Second World War (London Gazette, 1 January 1945).

A belief in service

The Quakers had made the general decision to help the civilian sufferers of war, whether the need came from the destruction of homes by invading armies, exile, epidemics, starvation, overcrowding or other war hardships. The plight of all people was seen as of equal importance, irrespective of race, politics or religion. One of the books that was key to my research was A Quaker Adventure written by A. Ruth Fry.4 The book describes the huge contribution of Quakers to relief work and A sketch made by Lionel Penrose while he was serving with the Friends Ambulance Train in northern France during the First World War. © Penrose Papers, UCL Special Collections. reconstruction in Europe. By the time I reached the end, I was full of admiration for these people who, in deciding it was wrong field hospitals and the coast. Via hospital Lionel’s later contribution to medical to fight, still gave their all to help in other ships, wounded servicemen were taken to science is such that he was elected a Fellow ways. And, for me, it was the author’s England where many hospitals and of the Royal Society, an honour given to footnote that put it all into perspective: convalescent homes had been set up in top scientists in their field by other leading It is immensely important that there should houses now owned by the National Trust. scientists. He is remembered as a pioneer be in the world a body of Christians who are not Lionel’s war-time diaries (held by the in human genetics, particularly for his satisfied alone to bear testimony to the gospel University College London) particularly work on the genetics of mental retardation. of peace... but who undertake to continue mention a seminal moment which caused His home at Thorington Hall, Suffolk (which allegiance to Christ when the nation to which him to change his career plans: I think that he gave to the National Trust) was a hostel they belong is engaged in war. Such a position my interest in psychiatry began very suddenly for the Friends Relief Service during the cannot be justified alone by quoting scripture or when, during the First World War, one evening I Second World War, giving refuge to elderly by maintaining a passive attitude to war. No, … heard a short lecture on Freud's theory of people whose homes had been bombed. they who stand behind such a bold experiment dreams, given by a lecturer at Manchester In the 1950s, he became a founder member must be prepared to adjust their lives to the University. The occasion was an informal one of the Medical Association for the demands of Christ’s way of living and to when there was a break in the routine on the Prevention of War and contributed a mobilise moral and spiritual forces in some Ambulance Train in Northern France on which I study on crowd behaviour.2 positive way and show that love does not let go was then working. … I decided then, if possible, Roland joined the FAU in August 1918 and in the welter of hate and darkness. to give up mathematics and to study something was in Italy with them by September 1918, more exciting.1 seconded to the 1st British Red Cross Unit.

20 Views Distinguished by conduct Another book gave a different insight: Conclusion Reference War As It Is by Wilhelm Carlsen5 was 1. Forrester, John. 'Freud in Cambridge', translated from the original Danish by There may no longer be Peckovers living in Critical Quarterly 46 No. 2 pp. 1–26 (2004). another family member, Priscilla Hannah the house, but their spirit definitely lives on. 2. Various, Penrose Pioneer (Report on a Peckover, who was a keen and talented The more we research, the more we interpret symposium held to celebrate the centenary linguist and translator of peace tracts. The the lives of those who lived here with of the birth of Lionel Penrose, 13 March book describes the horrors of war and the exhibitions throughout the year and share 1998, University College London). destruction it brings to family and what we find with our visitors, helping to 3. Penrose, Roland. Home Guard Manual of community life. Its message is clear: war bring the house to life. Camouflage (George Routledge & Sons Ltd, should be avoided at all costs. However, just The work of the Quakers during the First London, 1941). over a decade after it was written, and faced World War is exhibited in the library of 4. Fry, A. Ruth. A Quaker Adventure (Nisbet & with the reality of war, the Peckovers and Peckover House. Like everything else we do Co., London, 1926). Penroses, like many other Quaker families, in this small Cambridgeshire property, the 5. Carlsen, Wilhelm. War As It Is (Swan, reacted in a very practical way. Their beliefs exhibit was set up with pride and admiration Sonnenschein & Co., London, 1900). still upheld, even strengthened, they did for the fine family who gave their name to what they could to help the victims of war this wonderful place. This article was adapted from a blog: and were not afraid to put themselves in the http://eastofenglandnt.wordpress.com/tag/ firing line in doing so. wartime/ (17 February 2014).

An archaeologist’s adventures with Operation Nightingale Rachael Hall, Archaeologist, Midlands (East)

uring 2013 an exciting new As the excavation was a military partnership was born between operation, the exercise name ‘Operation Dthe National Trust and Ministry Hades’ was given to the project. Due to the of Defence. The partnership came nature of the site, and the potential for what about through a set of extraordinary might be discovered, all of those working on circumstances, and in many ways I think the project were sworn to secrecy. For serendipity was also at play. colleagues and myself this was an element of the project that made it all the more exciting. For the past year we have kept the Left behind 2,000 years ago secret of Reynard’s Kitchen and what was found. We can now at last share our secret. In May 2013 we were faced with an urgent but not unwelcome problem in the Peak District. An unexpected find had been made Operation Nightingale at Reynard’s Kitchen, a cave in Dovedale. A local climber, who had been sheltering in the Some might be surprised to read of the cave during a heavy rain shower, made the military’s interest in archaeological matters. very unusual discovery of three late Iron-Age The military have in fact had a long silver coins and a pre-conquest Roman coin. association with the archaeological world. It became clear that we needed to excavate Several of the founding fathers of modern The steep climb up to Reynard’s Kitchen. the site – and soon – as it was vulnerable to © National Trust/Rachael Hall archaeology were military men, the most various types of erosion, both human and well-known of them being Lieutenant- natural. We were also keen to understand and the military. So when the Defence General Pitt-Rivers, Colonel T.E. Lawrence more about the context in which the coins Archaeology Group’s Operation Nightingale (Lawrence of Arabia, of course) and had been found and why they might be was approached about our cave site, things Brigadier Mortimer Wheeler, widely credited there, especially as such a find is very rare for began to fall into place very quickly. A week for bringing archaeology to a mass audience. this part of the country. later the team was mobilised to make the The British military have had, and still play, A call to arms was made by the Trust’s steep climb up to the site to undertake a an important role in the protection of our Head of Archaeology, Ian Barnes. Ian had measured survey of the cave that would then cultural identity and heritage. already been discussing potential form the baseline for the excavation that The Defence Archaeology Group was the partnership opportunities between the Trust was to come. idea of Sergeant Diarmaid Walshe of the 1st

Distinguished by conduct Views 21 Digging for victory! © National Trust/Rachael Hall

Battalion, The Rifles. Through his role as an archaeological projects on Ministry of foray into the world of archaeology – and army medic, Diarmaid understood the need Defence lands. Their projects have ranged in what a fantastic first site it turned out to be! for some form of recuperation to aid the scope from the search for a lost Spitfire to For three weeks the team worked inside the recovery of those returning from military the rescue excavation of a nineteenth- dark cave, sheltered from the sunlit world operations with injuries or trauma. Drawing century cemetery which had been exposed outside. Within the dark and damp, a upon his experience as an archaeologist, following winter storm damage in 2013/14. remarkable discovery was made – a hoard Diarmaid recognised that perhaps of Iron-Age gold and silver coins! This, archaeology might provide a possible answer for archaeologists, is a once-in-a-lifetime for some of the service personnel with Operation Hades discovery that most of us could only whom he had been working on their return dream of. from Afghanistan. Operation Nightingale was the perfect The experience of working on Operation The discipline of archaeology partner to work with on the excavation at Hades is nicely summed up by Joanne encompasses a wide variety of expertise, Reynard’s Kitchen. The difficult terrain leant Richardson, who spent ten years in the including surveying, geophysics, mapping itself very well to the skills of the team who military and was part of the excavation team. and reconnaissance. Diarmaid recognised are not unused to negotiating challenging ‘This was the first archaeological excavation that, through their military experience, many locations. The cave sits high up on a steep- I’ve ever taken part in and it was brilliant. I service personnel already had these core sided limestone gorge cut by the River Dove. was working at the back of the cave, in the skills and that these skills could perhaps be There is little doubt that the cave, with its dark, and I was the first person to find a coin adapted and developed for use in an monumental arch below, is a dramatic – a silver coin. It was so exciting and really archaeological context. feature in the landscape, but the climb up to helped to lift spirits, after several fruitless In 2012 the Defence Archaeology Group the cave can be arduous. Much to the days of hard graft. My first dig and this is was established to use the technical and delight of my colleagues and me, on first what I found! The experience of working social aspects of field archaeology in the sight of the cave the Operation Nightingale alongside archaeologists and other veterans recovery and skills development of service team discussed hanging zip wires across the was inspiring. It has given me a new interest personnel injured in conflict. The project gorge and having helicopter drops to site. in life and helped me adapt to the civilian codename ‘Operation Nightingale’ was born, In the end, a less thrilling but simple environment.’ and the team undertook their first safety/grab rope was temporarily installed Cave excavations are a very rare excavation at Barrow Clump on Salisbury and the climb was made each day on foot. occurrence and uncovering an Iron-Age Plain where they worked alongside a team of The Trust commissioned the University of hoard is pretty exceptional. The unusual professional archaeologists to excavate a Leicester Archaeological Services to provide circumstances of the initial find, the sixth-century Saxon cemetery which had site supervision and training during the location, the subsequent discovery and been disturbed by a badger sett. Since then excavation. For some members of the working with Operation Nightingale made the team have been involved in a number of Operation Nightingale team, it was their first for a very special excavation indeed.

22 Views Distinguished by conduct Greek odyssey tiny gold-leafed tesserae, I learnt more about life. The skills being taught are opening up the lives of some of the members of the new opportunities for participants that After Operation Hades I had the very great Operation Nightingale team. Their stories would perhaps not been have thought of privilege of being invited to join the team at certainly made me think, with much previously. Several of the Operation RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Exercise Artemis, embarrassment, about some of the things Nightingale veterans have now retrained to where the team were excavating a Byzantine that I have stressed about in the past. Take become professional archaeologists. church. The excavation, on sovereign land, George, for example, who to me is one of I loved working with Operation was being led by the Cypriot Department of the most inspiring people that I have met, Nightingale. It is a brilliant initiative and has Antiquities with Operation Nightingale although he would certainly tell me off for such positive impacts. The partnership having been invited along to assist. My saying so. George has been in the army between our organisations has truly turned adventure began when I arrived at RAF Brize reserves since 2003 and had done several out to be a golden one and I for one am Norton and was flown out to RAF Akrotiri on tours including two to Afghanistan. In 2011 really looking forward to working with the a military transit flight. As one of my he was involved in a very serious motorcycle team again. travelling companions was Channel 4’s Time accident, in which he sustained spinal cord Team Phil Harding, an Operation Nightingale damage that left him paralysed. From that patron, our small group attracted quite a bit moment, his life and that of his family of attention at the air base. For one week, changed forever. What I loved about George last October, I got to experience what life was his wonderfully positive ‘get on with it’ was like on an RAF overseas base. Most attitude towards life despite his injury and excitingly whilst on the base I had the rank also personal losses. Operation Nightingale of major! I am still trying to persuade my gave George an outlet where he could get Trust colleagues that they should recognise away from it and enjoy the social and team- my newly bestowed status ... working side of archaeology, especially the During my week at RAF Akrotiri I did at banter with other service personnel. times feel as though I was undertaking an Having worked with Operation anthropological study into a world that is Nightingale, both at home and abroad, the very different from the one that I usually benefits to those taking part are very clear. inhabit. As we brushed away the earth from The team working and social aspects provide the mosaic floors and sieved soil looking for a great antidote to some of the stresses of

On Exercise Artemis with the team at Cyprus. © National Trust/Rachael Hall

Distinguished by conduct Views 23 War and place

Landscapes of war and peace: fighting for ‘The South Country’ 1914–18 John Godfrey, Member of the National Trust Council

‘The South Downs are no ordinary hills. motivating and sustaining a nation at arms. the South Downs above Shoreham as he They are perhaps the most familiar hills in Poet and essayist Lieutenant Edward endured the mud of Flanders; the artist and England … Their exquisitely smooth yet Thomas, home on leave in Hampshire in 1916, 3rd Earl of Lytton, Major Neville Lytton, sculpted landscape imbued with the tang was asked by his friend Eleanor Farjeon what refers to his attachment to the landscape as of the sea remains unspoiled, its loveliness he was fighting for: ‘He stopped, picked up a one of the factors that influenced him to only enhanced by man-made associations pinch of earth. “Literally, for this.” He enlist.5 arising from its bountiful corn and crumbled it between finger and thumb, and Both Blunden and Lytton were officers Southdown sheep … With nineteenth- let it fall.’3 Lieutenant Edmund Blunden, the in the 11th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment century urbanisation the rhythmically author and poet who was born in Kent but (the Southdown Brigade) and survived the rolling Downs came to be regarded as educated in Sussex, describes himself as ‘a war; Thomas, an officer in the Royal Garrison peculiarly and beguilingly English, the harmless young shepherd in a soldier’s coat’4, Artillery, was killed in action at Arras in landscape of dreams.’ reflecting in his memoir on the tranquillity of April 1917. Peter Brandon, The South Downs (1998)

imon Schama reminds us that, ‘Before An idealised view of English countryside it can ever be repose for the senses, reminiscent of the Slandscape is the work of the mind. Its South Downs, albeit scenery is built up as much from strata of with a Scottish soldier, 1 as used on a First memory as from layers of rock.’ World War recruitment In Hilaire Belloc’s eulogy to Sussex, ‘The poster. © IWM South Country’, the poet expresses his longing for the countryside and companions of his past. In the years leading up to the First World War, when the National Trust was establishing itself as the nation’s pre- eminent conservation body, writers such as Belloc, Rudyard Kipling (both of whom were to lose much loved sons in the war), Edward Thomas, W.H. Hudson and E.V. Lucas did much to create the emotional concept of ‘the South Country’ in the public imagination. Central to this concept was the distinctive landscape of the range of low, rolling hills (Kipling’s ‘whale-backed Downs’) of the chalk country of southern England in general and of the South Downs of Sussex in particular. Social historian Alun Howkins points out that, ‘The ideology of England and Englishness is to a remarkable degree rural’, that rural images are used ‘to mobilise innocence or purity against an industrial image of corruption and violence. … For the young officers of the New Armies in particular, Englishness meant ruralism and the South Country.’2 As war approached, the notion of the South Country played an important role in

24 Views War and place Howkins argues that ‘This vision seems to Once in France, soldiers from Sussex encountered on the Western Front were have spread downwards’ to other ranks, and observed the differences between the chalk many and various, but there is no doubt that there is no doubt that the recruitment of hills of the South Downs and the clay and the concept of the South Country provided men to the New Army battalions of the Royal mud of Flanders. Private Ralph Ellis, a sign- a focus for their motivation to enlist and Sussex Regiment sought to appeal to feelings writer and artist’s colour-man from Arundel, helped sustain them through the tortured of county identity and loyalty: recruitment records in his memoir that, in the trenches of landscapes in which they found themselves. posters appealed to ‘the honour of Sussex’ Flanders, ‘Everything is vile, horrible and Men from other parts of the country (for and featured images of Chichester Cathedral hateful’,7 while Major Lytton notes that, ‘The example, Lieutenant John Purvis of the destroyed by German bombs and pastoral country around Festubert was completely Yorkshire Regiment’9 and Lieutenant Sidney scenes of the South Country, implying that water-logged and I doubt if any system of Rogerson of the West Yorkshire Regiment10) the war was being waged to defend them. drainage could have kept the trenches dry.’ also drew comfort from their recollection of Recruitment took place on a local basis, Private George Farndell, one of the sunny days on the South Downs. For others, with men being given the opportunity to join Shippams recruits, thought the landscape their own familiar landscapes would have up, train and fight with others from the same around Le Havre, where he landed, was very provided inspiration and strength. As town or workplace: the Territorial 5th like Sussex and that, ‘a nearby house Schama writes, there is indeed more to (Cinque Ports) Battalion Royal Sussex reminds one very much of Goodwood [the landscape than meets the eye. Regiment was raised largely in Hastings, a country seat of the Duke of Richmond, near town with a distinctive sense of identity; the Chichester].’ Initially, the chalk landscapes The great hills of the South Country 7th Battalion attracted men who worked of the Somme seemed familiar and They stand along the sea; together at the Shippams meat-and-fish comfortable: writing to his wife, Ivy, back in And it's there walking in the high woods paste factory in Chichester; and the 11th, Bexhill, Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Sansom That I could wish to be, 12th and 13th Battalions (the Southdown reports that, ‘We are now in a country very And the men that were boys when I was a boy Brigade) were raised largely from the coastal like parts of Sussex; there are fruit trees, Walking along with me. towns and villages of the Weald and Downs. streams that move, hills and valleys high and The Southdown Brigade adopted a deep enough to break monotony and make Extract from ‘The South Country’ by Southdown lamb as its mascot and became you realise how much more interesting a Hilaire Belloc.11 known as ‘Lowther’s Lambs’ after their country is when you can’t see the whole of commanding officer, Colonel Claude it.’ Shortly before Christmas 1915, ‘with some References Lowther, the owner of Herstmonceux Castle. sandwiches in my pocket and a feed in a 1. S. Schama, Landscape and Memory Fighting in Flanders and on the Somme, nose-bag on the saddle’, Sansom wrote (London, 1995). many of them were killed in a diversionary about riding his horse, Jorrocks, on a 30km- 2. A. Howkins, ‘The Discovery of Rural attack on the Boar’s Head, Richebourg, on ride through Courcelles, Mailly-Maillet and England’ in R. Colls and P. Dodds (eds), 30 June 1916, ‘the day Sussex died’. The Englebelmer to Albert, returning by an Englishness, Politics and Culture 1880-1920 dead included Company Sergeant-Major alternative route via Auchonvillers, passing (London, 1986). Nelson Victor Carter, battalion heavy-weight as close to the front-line as he could: ‘The 3. E. Farjeon, Edward Thomas: The Last Four boxing champion, who was awarded the sun was out all day … I think it has been the Years (London, 1997). Victoria Cross for his bravery and lionised in pleasantest day I’ve had since coming to 4. E. Blunden, Undertones of War (London, the popular press as ‘a big, and splendid these parts.’8 A schoolmaster before the war, 1928). Sussex yeoman, with the great thews Sansom was killed at Monchy in 1917. 5. N. Lytton, The Press and the General Staff [musculature] and greater heart, a perfect The reasons why men from Sussex (London, 1920). example of the bold peasantry which is our volunteered to fight in the First World War 6. The Referee, 7 July 1917. Nelson Victor Carter county’s pride and glory.’6 and withstood the conditions they papers in Royal Sussex Regiment records, West Sussex Records Office (RSR 7/27–41). 7. R.Ellis, A March with the Infantry, 1914–1918. By Four-Two-Eight. (1947–8). West Sussex Records Office (Add Mss 25001). 8. A. Sansom (I. Sansom, ed), Letters from France: June 1915–July 1917 (London, 1921). 9. J. Purvis, The Steyning Poem (London, 1916). 10. S. Rogerson, Twelve Days on the Somme: A Memoir of the Trenches, 1916 (London, 1933). 11. H. Belloc, Songs of the South Country (Duckworth & Co. Ltd, 1951).

About the author Dr John Godfrey researches and writes on aspects of the landscape and social history of Sussex and is a visiting lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.

‘The great hills of the South Country’: Newtimber Hill from Devil’s Dyke. © National Trust Images/ John Miller

War and place Views 25 Longshaw in the Great War Thelma Griffiths, Volunteer Historian, Longshaw Estate, Derbyshire

ike other National Trust properties, Longshaw Lodge in north-east LDerbyshire was a hospital for wounded soldiers during the First World War. It took convalescent patients from the 3rd Northern General Hospital for the Territorial Forces in nearby Sheffield. Set among the stunning scenery of the Derbyshire moors, Longshaw was a shooting lodge owned by the Duke of Rutland. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, during some shooting seasons, over 3,500 brace of grouse were shot. Other game birds were shot in much smaller numbers (sometimes only in single figures), including pheasants, black game (black grouse), partridges, woodcock and snipe.1

Longshaw Lodge Nurses and soldiers in front of Longshaw Lodge, taken between 1915 and 1919. © Courtesy of Captain Convalescent Hospital Murray Clifford, Mrs Clifford’s grandson.

The lodge did not become a convalescent home until February 1915. On 27 February that year the Sheffield Daily Telegraph reported:

Longshaw Lodge is ideally situated for such a home, as not only is it within convenient distance of Sheffield, but it is placed in the midst of health-giving moors, and surrounded by beautiful scenery, which will prove a mental tonic to the soldiers who are sent there to recuperate. The writer was privileged to peep into the mess room, a long, fine room, where the men were giving evidence of vigorous appetites induced by the keen air and their exertions of Boating on the lake on the Longshaw Estate in August 1916. © Courtesy of Captain Murray Clifford, the morning, during which they had scrubbed Mrs Clifford’s grandson. the floors of their rooms, a duty which they perform most conscientiously. Longshaw, picnicking on the moors, visiting After the mid-day meal, the 35 men, who local beauty spots and places of interest, and with Sergeant Nixon RAMC, occupy the home at visiting the offices of the Sheffield Daily present, scattered in various directions, some to Telegraph to see ‘the wonders of modern take a brisk walk, others to smoke or play cards newspaper production’. in the smoking room, where a piano was in constant action. Several of the soldiers possess marked musical gifts, and the strains of dreamy Collecting Sphagnum moss waltzes were heard, as well as lively ragtime tunes and popular songs. A tournament was in Doris Elliott was a Voluntary Aid Doris Elliott (pictured right) and friend at progress in the billiard room, the table having Detachment (VAD) nurse who worked at Longshaw in 1918. © Courtesy of Mrs Beverley been kindly left there for the use of the men.2 Longshaw in 1918 when she was 20 years old. Hardy, Mrs Elliott’s granddaughter. Her granddaughters remember her tales of We know from an album of autographs, how she would go out on the moors to photographs and newspaper cuttings kept collect Sphagnum moss to make surgical also slightly antiseptic, making it an ideal by Mrs Alice Clifford, a local lady who visited dressings. It was used in place of cotton substitute for cotton wool. Its properties the wounded soldiers, that they also enjoyed wool, which was in short supply. Sphagnum have been known for millennia, and its many taking a rowing boat out on to the lake at moss, or bog moss, is highly absorbent and uses have included nappies, sanitary towels,

26 Views War and place toilet paper, stuffing for pillows and mattresses and an insulator to keep milk either cool or warm. When a soldier was injured at the front, an initial dressing was put on the wound which might not be changed until he arrived at a hospital, sometimes several days later. It was reputed that after such a time wounds with a conventional dressing may have turned putrid, whereas those with a dressing made of Sphagnum moss had started to heal. S. papillosum and S. palustre were considered best for dressings although lower grades of moss were made into dysentery pads and splint pads.3 The gathering of the moss could be done by hand or by using a wooden rake,4 but whichever method was used it must have been an arduous task. The exposed, boggy and often remote locations in which it grows were not easily accessible, but the work was mostly done by volunteers, often groups of women and children. As much moisture as possible would have been squeezed out of the moss on the moor to make transportation easier. Before it could Sphagnum palustre. © National Trust/Stephen Morley be used, the moss had to be picked clean of extraneous matter and dried. One account of moss-gathering in Dumfriesshire states: wool. They were lighter, cooler and instead The matter of food supply must ever be of allowing the discharge from a wound to uppermost in the present crisis, and whilst it is The Duke of Buccleugh’s head keeper would take pass through the dressing directly above it, good to know that the nation’s ordinary us out on the hill to pick Sphagnum moss as would absorb the discharge laterally, provender is in no immediate danger, it is nice part of the war effort. We would collect it in therefore absorbing a much greater quantity to learn of the wishes of influential sportsmen sacks, and then lay it across the lawn on dust of fluid. This meant that dressings would that their game preserves should be devoted to sheets to dry. Afterwards all the bits of heather require changing less frequently, not only the common good. In our preliminary glance at and peat, dead frogs and other foreign bodies saving the hard-pressed nurses’ time, but grouse shooting prospects mention was made had to be picked out of it before it could be sent also reducing the pain and distress of having of the good use which might be made of the to the hospital.5 a dressing changed.4 birds in the direction indicated. The gathering of moss and manufacture As the shooting season would in normal It is likely that the moss gathered on the into dressings was too labour-intensive to be circumstances be beginning, we respectfully Longshaw Estate was sent to the Sheffield viable after the war. Between the wars, moss venture to suggest to owners and lessees of University Hospital Supply Depot for was gathered and used on a small, local scale shootings that as far as possible game should cleaning and making into dressings. Its in some places. The industry was resurrected be regarded solely from the point of view of Sphagnum moss department was started in in the Second World War, although not to the food supply. … the summer of 1916 at the request of the same extent. There is a report in the Aberdeen No one, we hope, will imagine that this is Director General of Voluntary Organisations, Journal from 1940 of the Princesses Elizabeth anything more than a suggestion which we ‘much of the moss being collected on the and Margaret ‘doing their bit as Girl Guides’ throw out in the conviction that there must be neighbouring moors’.6 by gathering moss for use in dressings.7 many, who, like ourselves, are anxious to take The most basic dressings for use in home some exceptional measures during the hospitals were made by loosely packing the present season.9 moss into muslin bags, which were then Grouse shooting during the war sterilised. For use abroad, the moss was In 1915 the paper reported: compressed into cakes before being placed Grouse shooting continued at Longshaw into bags that were very much larger than during the war, albeit to a lesser extent. On The famous range known as the Longshaw the size of the cake to allow for expansion 13 August 1914 the Sheffield Daily Telegraph Moors, belonging to the Duke of Rutland, were during use.4 reported: ‘The glorious twelfth was a shot over on the first day of the season for very The manufacture of Sphagnum moss misnomer yesterday. Men who could handle many years. Longshaw Lodge, the Duke’s well dressings was carried out on an industrial guns were on sterner business than shooting known shooting box, has been placed by His scale during the First World War. Many grouse, and the moors around Sheffield Grace at the disposal of wounded soldiers, and millions of dressings were produced, not presented a deserted appearance.’8 they are not to be disturbed. With the Marquis only in Britain but also in Canada and, after Later that month the paper published a [sic] of Granby nobly doing his duty at the front 1917, in the United States. Apart from its letter, previously printed in The Field … the moors are now being shot by Colonel availability and cheapness (manufacture was magazine, from ‘noble sportsmen who Chandos Pole …10 also mostly carried out by volunteers), moss command a large head of game’ entitled dressings had other advantages over cotton ‘What to do with your game’:

War and place Views 27 The numbers of grouse shot during the war years varied from 3,282 brace in 1914 to a low of 853 grouse in 1916.1 We do not have any records of the Longshaw gamekeepers at this time, but gamekeepers in general were in great demand by the army as snipers. One of the ‘5 Questions to those who employ male servants’ in a recruitment advertisement from December 1914 was: ‘Have you a man preserving your game who should be helping to preserve your Country?’ When rationing was introduced in 1918, the regulations required that one coupon should be detached for every four grouse consumed. The number of other game birds per coupon varied according to their size: two pheasants, four black grouse or partridge, eight woodcock or 16 snipe. The number of birds per coupon was halved if they were sent to friends or restaurants.11 Quite how well the regulations were enforced does not appear to be recorded! Moorland on the Longshaw Estate. © National Trust Images/Joe Cornish

References 1. The Celebrated Longshaw Estate For Sale by 4. Grieve, M., A Modern Herbal (Society of 9. ‘What to do with your Game’, Sheffield Daily Auction, sale catalogue (Messrs John D. Herbalists, London, 1931). Telegraph, 21 August 1914. Wood & Co., Auctioneers, London, 1927). 5. Vickery, R., Dictionary of Plant Lore (Oxford 10. ‘The Twelfth – Grouse Shooting Opens 2. Longshaw Lodge, ‘Soldiers happy in University Press, Oxford, 1995). Quietly’, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 August convalescent home’, Sheffield Daily 6. Sheffield University Hospital Supply Depot 1915. Telegraph, 27 February 1915. (statement undated). 11. ‘The Game Season: Coupon Regulations 3. ‘Notes from Ireland: Spaghnum Moss 7. ‘Princesses’ fun with Guides at Balmoral’, Affecting Sportsmen’, Yorkshire Telegraph Dressing’, The Queenslander, 13 October Aberdeen Journal, 13 January 1940. and Star, 29 July 1918. 1917: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/ 8. ‘Deserted Moors’, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, printArticlePdf/22343299/3?print=n 13 August 1914.

A monument to the ‘Devil’s Own’: First World War practice trenches on the Ashridge Estate Gary Marshall, Archaeologist, London & South East

n September of 1914 the tranquillity of A significant monument to the activities of provided ideal training ground, combining a the Hertfordshire town of Berkhamsted the regiment is provided by the extensive varied terrain of open ground, low hills and Iwas disturbed by the arrival of the Inns of network of practice trenches traversing the woodland. Errington writes: Court (Officer Training Corps) Regiment. commons that straddle the Ashridge Estate. Nicknamed ‘The Devil’s Own’, the regiment The regiment was led by Lt Col F.H.L. For the squadron, long treks without touching a was made up of trainee officers derived from Errington, who in 1922 published an account road, wide movements, distant reconnaissance; the Inns of Court in London. During the of their activities. He describes the for the infantry, wood-fighting, canal crossings, period from 1914 to 1918, approximately excavation of more than 13,000 yards of river crossings, big fights on the open commons 12,000 officers were trained at Berkhamsted, trench on the Ashridge Estate during the or downs, local fighting among the enclosures, 2,100 of whom would lose their lives, with a course of the war, which were used for front- every form of open training was available. In the further 5,000 injured. The regiment was line training and for simulating gas attacks neighbouring villages, Nettleden, Little awarded 2,800 honours, including three after chlorine gas was first used by the Gaddesden, Aldbury, Ashley Green, Bovingdon, Victoria Crosses. German Army in April 1915. The landscape the awakened villager turned to sleep again with

28 Views War and place Above: The Devil’s The trenches were backfilled in 1919. Own in Berkhamsted Fortunately this seems to have been a half- in summer 1916. © Imperial War hearted effort as they still survive to a depth Museum/M.Gowing of up to half a metre, retaining traces of the collection. spoil used to form the front parapet and rear Left: Digging training trenches in summer parados which provided protection from 1916. © Imperial War shrapnel. Their survival raises interesting Museum/M.Gowing questions as to how they should be collection. maintained for perpetuity – should their significance as a monument to the First World War be recognised through designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument? Whilst they are not the best preserved system – better examples survive on Marlow Common in Buckinghamshire – their extent and complexity suggest they greater security when he realised that the ideal width (6 feet 6 inches) and depth probably evolved during the course of the outburst of firing, and the swift rush of feet (6 feet) of a trench. Those at Ashridge have a war as a response to changing battlefield through the village street, betokened nothing rather chaotic plan, reflecting contemporary tactics and technologies, particularly with more than a night raid of the Devil’s Own. advice that they should never be laid out in the introduction of gas in 1915. Perhaps straight lines which could be strafed by more to the point, how should the Trust With the aid of property volunteers, a project enemy planes or provide a channel for maintain and interpret such evidence and has been launched to record the trenches on shrapnel. Regular 120-degree changes in reconcile its survival alongside requirements Northchurch Common where the evidence is alignment evidence this, as does the of nature conservation and public access? most extensive. The project aims to map a inclusion of ‘traverses’ or short in-out bays The survey work is planned to continue over representative area of the trenches to on the front line trenches. Communication successive winters when bracken growth has determine their layout and identify specific trenches connecting the front line to the died down. For 2014, the evidence recorded features suggesting how they might have reserve trenches are also evident. These so far will be used for illustrating an been used for training purposes. Useful incorporate ‘islands’ of undisturbed ground exhibition to be placed in the Ashridge comparative evidence comes from the 1926 serving a similar protective purpose to the visitor centre, and for a guided walk that will Manual of Fieldworks which describes the traverses. take place at the end of the year.

War and place Views 29 Exploring the heritage of Hellfire Corner: archaeological investigations at Fan Bay Battery Jon Barker, Visitor Experience Manager, White Cliffs, and Nathalie Cohen, Archaeologist, London and South East

Introduction

In early 2013, the National Trust acquired a 0.8-mile-long stretch of the Kent coast, uniting the properties at the White Cliffs and South Foreland Lighthouse. £1.2 million was raised in just 133 days1 from more than 16,000 people and organisations, including the Dover Harbour Board, the Regatta Foundation and Royal Oak. As part of the acquisition process, an archaeological assessment of the coastline was undertaken, which identified artefacts and structures ranging in date from prehistoric to twentieth century2 already recorded across the area. Of particular significance are the very well- preserved remains of the deep shelter tunnels and two sound mirrors at Fan Bay, the subject of this short article.

Site background

The first of two sound mirrors at the site was constructed in 1917,3 with a second built during the 1920s. Sound mirrors were Figure 1: General view of one of the tunnel sections. © National Trust/Nathalie Cohen designed to provide early warning of approaching enemy aircraft by long-distance listening for the sound of their engine. The rooms, searchlights and large Archaeology in the tunnels original sound mirror at Fan Bay, and its accommodation blocks, together with other partner mirror at Joss Gap in Kingsgate, ancillary buildings. The battery also had a The shelter comprises a series of ten covered the Kent coast and the English large ‘deep shelter’ where troops could take interconnecting tunnels, constructed 23m Channel, intersecting at the French coast. refuge during counter bombardments. This below the ground surface. Parts of the The first mirror at Fan Bay measured 15ft was carved out of the chalk by military tunnel system are unlined, others show (4.5m) in diameter, while the second was engineers and was reached by one of three evidence of partial dismantling (Figure 1), slightly larger (around 20ft/6m). Both were entrances, two of which were located near and the remainder are supported by a convex concrete discs set into the hillside. the sound mirrors in Fan Hole. When the mixture of timber bracing and iron girders, These mirrors would probably have had shelter was completed, it could with galvanised sheet lining. The tunnels are small tunnels excavated behind them to accommodate all of the military personnel blocked with debris towards the entrances isolate the operators from surface noise. The from the battery above, with bunk beds next to both sound mirrors, and a brick wall, tunnels were reused in the 1940s and lining the tunnels and additional space for using material recycled from one of the extended to form the deep shelter. rifle racks, stores and even a small hospital. latrine blocks, has been built within the Construction of the Fan Bay Battery The tunnels also had three large water tanks tunnel behind the western sound mirror. began in 1940 after the Allied evacuation for the use of soldiers, and latrines were built Since the Trust acquired the site, from Dunkirk. Churchill was infuriated to outside next to the Fan Hole entrances. considerable work has taken place, both to discover that German shipping moved freely After the Second World War, the site secure the access into the tunnels, and to in the English Channel and personally remained under military administration until record and understand the complex. In ordered three long-range gun batteries to be it was decommissioned in the mid-1950s. October 2012, the Kent Underground constructed at Fan Bay, South Foreland and The site was eventually returned to its pre- Research Group (KURG) compiled a scaled Wanstone. Fan Bay Battery became fully war owner, stripped of all metalwork and survey of the tunnels (Figure 2), together operational in February 1941 and housed a armaments. By the late 1970s, a programme with an initial survey of the graffiti noted crew of 184 men and four officers. The of ‘eye-sore clearance’ led to the demolition within the different areas.4 An asbestos finished battery incorporated the two earlier of all the surviving above-ground structures, report was also commissioned and material sound mirrors and had three six-inch guns, while the entrances to the subterranean removed as a result. Structural and an experimental radar system, plotting areas were backfilled with rubble. geological surveys followed, to assess the

30 Views War and place impossible. Perhaps most intriguingly the highest concentrations of wartime inscriptions were recorded in the areas immediately behind the areas of tunnel backfill, and the graffiti continues beyond these areas. Indeed, a number of the inscriptions, including the ‘running man’ (Figure 4), may well indicate that these areas of backfill are located quite close to the original surface area/exits, and suggests that more inscriptions are likely to be revealed as the debris is cleared.

Figure 2: Plan of the shelter. © Courtesy of Kent Underground Research Group

Figure 4: The ‘running man’. © National Trust/Matthew Champion

The second general category of inscriptions dates from very recent decades and appears to have been recorded by either condition and stability of the tunnel water tanks were formerly sited. Further local people or ‘urban explorers’ visiting the network, and repairs were undertaken to concentrations of graffiti were recorded in site during its decades of redundancy. These support some of the unlined areas. Overall the area of tunnels extending towards the inscriptions are most often of a larger scale the site is in excellent condition and is the sound mirrors and latrines. It is also in this than those created during the wartime biggest and best-preserved deep shelter in area that the only possible dated inscription occupation, created in either chalk or paint, Dover. The top flight of stairs has been was located that might be associated with and record the names and dates of the gradually cleared of modern debris and First World War activity at the site; sadly the individuals and their visits to the site. While overburden by volunteers, and secure doors inscription is so badly worn that certainty is these inscriptions form part of the ‘complete have now been added to each of the three entrances. During December 2013, Matthew Champion of MJC Associates carried out a detailed graffiti survey,5 and some of his conclusions are summarised here. In general terms, the graffiti falls into two very distinct categories: that from the period of military occupation and that from the decades immediately prior to purchase by the Trust. The earlier inscriptions tend to be the more discrete, being executed on a small scale in either pencil or chalk, or carved into the chalk walls. A number contain enough detail to identify the person who created them and record their role in the construction of the tunnels (Figure 3) or their presence while stationed at the site. Analysis of their distribution has revealed higher concentrations of graffiti within the long tunnels used as accommodation areas, both high up on the walls (created by people lying in bunk beds), and around the areas where Figure 3: Second World War graffiti inscription. © National Trust/Matthew Champion

War and place Views 31 story’ of the site, unfortunately, in some 3. English Heritage Record; cases these obscure those dating from the Monument No 1479430 wartime use of the tunnels. www.pastscape.org.uk/ The most recent piece of archaeological hob.aspx?hob_id=1479430 work has involved investigation of the sound 4. Kent Underground Research mirrors, which were buried beneath modern Group, Fan Bay Deep Shelter rubble and debris during the 1970s. During Assessment (unpublished report May 2014, the Dover Archaeological Group for the National Trust, 2012). removed part of this material, revealing the 5. Champion, M., Fan Bay Deep well-preserved concrete remains of both Shelter Graffiti Survey mirrors (Figure 5). Paths and tracks (unpublished report for the associated with the mirrors’ construction National Trust, 2014). and use have also been identified within the landscape. Eventually each of the three access points to the tunnels will be reinstated, and the White Cliffs property team plans to open this unique site to visitors, offering guided torchlit tours of the interior, during 2015.

References 1. Nation rallies to safeguard iconic White Cliffs www.nationaltrust.org.uk/article- 1356398222643/ 2. Cohen, N., Archaeological Assessment of coastland from Langdon Hole to South Figure 5: Excavation of the 1917 sound Foreland Lighthouse (unpublished National mirror. © National Trust/Nathalie Trust report, 2011). Cohen

Ravenscar’s radar station: conservation and interpretation Kate Horne, Communications & Engagement Officer, North York Moors & Coast and Durham Properties

avenscar Low Radar Station lies in pasture on a high cliff Rtop just to the south of the village of Ravenscar near Scarborough, an area known as Bent Rigg. It is adjacent to the Cleveland Way National Trail and ‘Cinder Track’ bridleway which follows the old Whitby– Scarborough railway. Owned by the National Trust, the field is tenanted by a local farmer and has been subject to a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) environmental scheme via Natural England since October 2009. The station was constructed as part of a coastal defence radar system in 1941, and continued in use until after the Second World War. The site now consists of:

Second World War radar station complex, Bent Rigg, Ravenscar. © National Trust/John Moorey

32 Views War and place ⅷ a group of three reinforced-concrete and brick buildings (Transmitter/Receiver Block, fuel store and engine house/standby set house) plus a Nissen hut-style Communications Hut;

ⅷ evidence for both below-ground services adjoining these buildings and ploughed- out remains of outlying defences such as slit trenches;

ⅷ the footings of a complex of about a dozen barrack blocks and other domestic buildings.

The buildings were long neglected. It seems likely that most of the domestic/barracks structures were demolished when the station was decommissioned, although one or more were retained possibly for agricultural use. The run-down buildings Nissen hut-type Communications Hut. © Ed Dennison of Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd were a frequent source of negative comment, and proposals for their demolition were seriously considered. Thankfully, their to consolidate and manage the remains to safe storage by the Trust. Interiors of the value has been more fully recognised in ensure their long-term survival. buildings were thoroughly cleared of sheep recent times, and both the radar buildings Further to the initial proposal, several dung and other debris. and the remains of the barrack complex planning meetings ensued between the Trust were given Scheduled Monument property and relevant regional staff, the designation in 2002. tenant and various representatives from Recording The remains were surveyed by volunteer Natural England. Funding of £50,000 for Katie Kenyon and the Trust’s Consultant cleaning/consolidation work and further Contractors Peter Gaze Pace Chartered Archaeologist Mark Newman in 2000. Their recording was granted, with an additional Architects and Ed Dennison Archaeological findings were reported within Bent Rigg £9,600 for on-site interpretation. Services Ltd (EDAS) were commissioned. In Radar Station: Standing Buildings Recording, Scheduled Monument Consent was February 2012 EDAS produced a draft including recommendations for further sought in order to undertake the proposed archaeological survey, fulfilling Mark fieldwork, detailed recordings and physical works. This was granted by English Newman’s recommendations for a detailed documentary research. Heritage in September 2012. recording. This included a photographic survey of the buildings in their present condition, including elevations and a Higher Level Stewardship Cleaning and clearance detailed survey of the window configuration of the Transmitter/Receiver building because A site visit by Trust staff (Mark with property As a first stage, a contractor was employed to of the notable surviving features, e.g. blast staff Mark Bradley, Bill Blake and Zoë Frank), remove rubble and any remaining elements shutters. EDAS also provided drawn and the tenant farmer and Margaret Neike, of asbestos sheeting cemented onto/into the textual recording of the services around the Historic Environment adviser to Natural concrete bases of the barrack block remains. complex (a feature-by-feature survey), a plan England, in September 2009 led to a Materials from the radar complex that had of the whole complex and other proposal for works suitable for HLS funding. been stored on site were removed and put in documentary research. It was envisaged that work to reveal and record the site more thoroughly, plus Blast shutters in measures to offer better interpretation and Transmitter/Receiver access, would be completed in a number of block. © Ed Dennison of Ed Dennison phases over the next two to three years, with Archaeological the Trust offering a high level of support to Services Ltd the tenant and the programme. The primary aims were to bring the remains into a condition (and under a management regime) appropriate to their designation as a Scheduled Monument and make them much more accessible to the public, both through planned events and for the public when passing or visiting the buildings. Linked to these was a need to meet broader Natural England and Trust objectives (e.g. improved Conservation Performance Indicator score), and essentially

War and place Views 33 Bill Blake installing the panels and Mark Newman continuing a watching brief. © National Trust/Kate Horne

Consolidation/repair works together by property staff in conjunction information to add context while capturing with Natural England to facilitate these human interest, all within a very limited word With buildings clear of debris, work was visits, including a farm facts leaflet and count. Individuals at the Department of undertaken to slow further decline of their teacher’s pack. Research & Information Services of the Royal condition and make them safe for the tenant For general visitors, there was a clear Air Force Museum and RAF Historical Society farmer and his livestock, Trust staff and need for on-site interpretation. In the early proved invaluable in supplying advice, visitors. A number of crumbling walls had to days of this project a design brief was agreed reference documents and further leads. be repaired and reinforced, several walls by representatives of Natural England and We needed Scheduled Monument were repointed and secure grilles fitted in the Trust’s Regional Learning and Consent to install the panels, which was each doorway to prevent access by livestock Interpretation Officer at the time, Katie granted in April this year, and the panels and further vandalism to the interiors. Croft. This prescribed a series of six free- were put up on site in June. Additional measures are planned, standing interpretation panels – the largest including the removal of invasive vegetation located adjacent to the field entrance on the References to reveal the extent and nature of surviving ‘Cinder Track’ public bridleway giving a 1 Newman, Mark, ‘Proposal for archaeological structures and allow planning of potential general introduction to the site, another at recording and presentation’ (National Trust, archaeological works. In the interests of the remains of the barrack blocks, with the September 2009): unpublished. public safety we shall also have to fence off remaining four interpreting the other 2 Newman, Mark and Kenyon, Katie, ‘Bent the Communications Hut as the state of the buildings in the complex. Rigg Radar Station: Standing Buildings roof deteriorates. The panels were put out to tender to Recording’ (National Trust, September three companies. The winner of the contract 2009): unpublished. was Buffalo Design Consultants based in 3 ‘Bent Rigg Radar Station Draft Interpretation and visitor engagement Bath, the quality and creativity of their Archaeological Survey’ (Ed Dennison portfolio being of a higher standard than the Archaeological Services Ltd, February 2012): A key element of the HLS agreement at Bent more local companies approached. unpublished. Rigg is educational access. In accordance The design process was not without its with Natural England requirements, a challenges. The topic of Second World War minimum of four education visits must be radar stations is complex, and sourcing conducted annually, up to a maximum of 25; historical documents and images proved a for each visit led by the Trust, £100 is paid by time-consuming process. Text was honed to Natural England. Materials have been put include some technical and historic

34 Views War and place The Royal Air Force at Croome Dennis Williams, RAF Defford expert and National Trust volunteer, Croome, Worcestershire

‘A’ Flight of the Telecommunications Flying Unit, 1943. © Crown copyright

n 1751 the 6th Earl of Coventry entrusted No. 23 OTU was based at RAF Pershore TRE moved to Malvern, and the aircraft Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown with the task with over 50 Wellington bombers. To flown on trials for TRE by the Iof redesigning the landscape surrounding accommodate all these aircraft, a site was Telecommunications Flying Unit (TFU) his ancestral seat at Croome Court. The long chosen for a ‘satellite’ airfield, between arrived at Defford. period of stability that followed at Croome Croome and Defford village. The airfield RAF Defford grew into a large station, was ended by the Second World War. opened in September 1941, but its role in accommodating over 2,200 service In 1940, the 10th Earl was killed in action, training bomber crews was short-lived. It personnel; 130 aircraft were in operation at serving with the British Expeditionary Force was soon required for a secret task – the any one time. The radar development at in France. The same year, the house and a testing of radar. Defford revolutionised British aircraft for it substantial part of the parkland were allowed Britain's Bomber Command to requisitioned by the government, and the locate its targets, crucially enabling Coastal Coventry family left, never to return as full- Radar comes to Worcestershire Command to destroy U-boats in the North time occupants. Although allocated as a Atlantic. Automatic landings for aircraft were refuge for the British royal family, they never The Telecommunications Research also developed and tested at RAF Defford, visited Croome Court but Queen Wilhelmina Establishment (TRE) was responsible for allowing us to have safe flights – and of The Netherlands, in charge of the Dutch developing radar for the RAF. In May 1942, landings – today. Government in exile, did stay there briefly. The parkland served a greater purpose in wartime, however, with part being turned Oblique aerial view of Defford Station Sick into a top-secret airbase which changed the Quarters, 1950. On the fortunes of Britain. right-hand side is the Decontamination Annexe, now restored as the RAF Defford RAF Defford at Croome Museum. © Crown copyright During the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command needed a steady supply of aircrew for its bombing campaign over Europe. Pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and air gunners met each other for the first time at an Operational Training Unit (OTU).

War and place Views 35 Oblique aerial view of RAF Defford, looking east. The edge of the walled garden can be seen at the bottom of the image (slightly left of centre), with all the military buildings and airfield beyond. © Crown copyright

The Cold War years meet so many of the veterans and to witness The buildings were of ‘temporary brick’ their joy as friendships were renewed after a construction, using a minimum of materials. Although there was a rapid rundown at gap of half a century. The reunions brought After their purchase by the Trust, its initial Defford after the war, many new systems forth many memories of RAF Defford, plus a archaeological assessment concluded that were tested during the tense years of the considerable amount of archive material, they were of ‘limited historical significance, Cold War. By this time, the fortunes of the and the veterans hoped that there might one and should be recorded and then Croome Estate had been in decline, day be a museum to commemorate their demolished’. Fortunately, Croome’s team prompting drastic action in 1948, when station, before it passed completely from made a case for the retention of the Croome Court and the surrounding parkland living memory. buildings as a visitor centre and by 2008 two were sold. Sadly, by 2010 it was evident that the wings of the main building were restored. RAF Defford’s days as an airfield were RAF Defford Reunion Association was fading The reception area is now in the former numbered. The large ‘V’ bombers couldn’t away, as old age took its toll. An initiative Ward Block, which also includes the canteen, use its main runway and in September 1957 was taken to form the Defford Airfield second-hand bookshop and lavatories, the station closed and the aircraft and Heritage Group (DAHG) to continue the which display authentic wartime fittings and personnel were relocated to Pershore. Some historical research and to organise reunions colour schemes. The adjacent Medical of the wartime buildings in the park gained a as long as they could be attended by the Inspection Block has been put to use as an temporary reprieve when they were used by veterans. Subsequently, DAHG was office and kitchen. contractors building the first section of the recognised as an official supporter group by Now recognised as a historic asset, the M5 motorway but once this task was the National Trust. Station Sick Quarters buildings are notable finished in 1962, the remaining buildings for their value. The main building and all but were demolished, except for the Station one of the outbuildings survive – a unique Sick Quarters. The Station Sick Quarters situation for any disused RAF sick quarters. The outbuildings comprise a combined In 1996 the National Trust purchased the Ambulance Garage and Mortuary building, The veterans parkland at Croome and took on the Ablutions and Latrines Block, and Medical challenging task of returning a decayed Orderlies’ Quarters. (The foundations of the In 1990, the RAF Defford Reunion landscape to its eighteenth-century missing building, a Picket Post, were recorded Association was formed. For those of us of splendour. The acquisition included the when an archaeological watching brief was the post-war generation, it was a privilege to former Station Sick Quarters. carried out during a car-park extension.)

36 Views War and place The RAF Defford Museum at Croome

Adjoining the Medical Inspection Block, but derelict until recently, is the Decontamination Annexe. This stood by to receive casualties in the event of a chemical attack on the station, and saw no active use. To rescue this building from ruin and enable the Trust to restore it, DAHG negotiated a grant of £87,500 from the Severn Waste Environmental Fund. The structural work was completed in May 2014 and a further award of £80,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund has transformed it into a museum dedicated to RAF Defford. The challenge has been to convey the nationally significant story of RAF Defford to visitors to Croome, along a timeline that incorporates a range of aviation, technological, landscape and social history displays. Full use is being made of audiovisual effects, with presentations being changed, in Vertical aerial view of the park with Croome Court on the left and the very large walled garden in the centre, surrounded by belts of dark trees. To the right of the walled garden are the many wartime order to provide fresh attractions for buildings. © Crown copyright Croome’s many repeat visitors. The official opening of the RAF Defford Museum takes place this autumn (2014). drawings do exist for the ‘missing’ Picket About the author DAHG and the Trust are currently exploring Post, so we hope that one day the site will be Dr Dennis Williams is a founding committee further sources of funding which may enable complete once more. Not bad for some member of Defford Airfield Heritage Group. the other Station Sick Quarters buildings to hastily constructed and temporary buildings, be returned to good use too. Finally, intended to last only for the duration.

A wartime legacy: the Manor of Stockbridge and the Courts Baron and Leet Karin Taylor, Head of Land Use Planning, Heelis

very spring the burgesses of the small came into the ownership of Sir Norman Hill, Sicily. Both were keen amateur historians and town of Stockbridge in the Test Valley, who revived the Courts and their traditions Sir Gray was involved with an archaeological EHampshire, meet in the Town Hall which dated from the twelfth century. survey of a Bronze Age site on the Down. His with the Lord of the Manor – in actual fact, Elderly residents of Stockbridge still sister, Professor Rosalind Hill, a distinguished the National Trust, but now represented by remembered the format of the Courts, and historian, decided to give the Lordship and Judge Guy Boney Q.C., local resident. They some of the ceremonial objects – the silver the manorial wastes to the Trust, although elect the Courts Baron and Leet, who on mace and seal (both election bribes from she continued to act as Quondam Lord of their behalf decide when to open Common Stockbridge’s Rotten Borough days) and the the Manor until her death in 1997. Marsh and Down for grazing, and hold the staff – have been recovered. Sadly the stocks Trust to account in respect of its had long disappeared and the ducking stool management of these ancient commons, was last seen upholstered in a sitting room A serious undertaking both now Sites of Special Scientific Interest. many miles from Stockbridge and several decades ago. The Courts open with the Town Crier and The Trust’s ownership of the Manor of Bailiff announcing the arrival of the Lord of How the Trust came to be Lord Stockbridge, along with 94ha of common the Manor and his Steward, along with of Stockbridge land, came about as a legacy of the Second representatives of the Trust and any other World War. Sir Norman died in January 1944 distinguished guests present. The Lord of After a somewhat chequered history and, within a month, his son, Lieutenant- the Manor then asks: involving pawnbrokers and the House of Colonel Sir (Norman) Gray Hill, a doctor with ‘Mr Crier, would you please proclaim Lords, in 1920 the Lordship of the Manor the Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in the court?’

War and place Views 37 View along the River Test and the bridge that links Common Marsh to Stockbridge. © National Trust Images/Chris Lacey

This is the cue for the Crier to ring his bell The Lord of the Manor replies and then given to the Trust but it later sold it in the and call out: proceeds to ‘record with affection’ the 1970s. In recent years it has been listed as ‘Oyez, oyez, oyez: all manner of persons names of those burgesses who have died in Grade II as a fine example of Baillie Scott’s who do owe suit or favour of these the previous year and gives an account of work. courts, draw near and give your notable events that have taken place during Sir Norman was knighted for his services attention, answering everyone to his the year. The jury are then asked to ‘consider to shipping and given a peerage for his work name or pay your fines. God bless the your findings and present fit and proper during the First World War. He was an Queen and the Lords of all Manors.’ persons to serve in the office of Bailiff, advocate of the convoy system where ships Sergeant-at-Mace and Hayward’. Whilst travelled in more easily defendable groups to The Lord of the Manor then asks the these roles are now mainly ceremonial, the reduce the losses caused by German Steward to read out the names of the nine Hayward – a position usually held by a local submarines. Once the Admiralty agreed to jurors selected for the Court Leet and the six farmer – has oversight of the grazing on the adopt this system, it proved very successful. for the Court Baron, who take their places at marsh and the common jointly with the As Chairman of the Port & Transit Executive the side of the hall, appoint their foreman Trust. The Courts, whilst no longer fulfilling Committee, he reported in 1917 a probable and are sworn in by the Steward: their ancient roles in respect of the deficiency in available shipping for the year, ‘You shall well and truly enquire and true administration of justice, still play a wider which so alarmed the government that they presentment make of all such articles, role in the community by giving small grants prohibited non-essential goods into the matters and things as shall be given you to local causes and by providing a source of country – a policy that he had been in charge. The Queen’s counsel, your local expertise and advice in relation to land advocating since 1915 as the most effective companions’ and your own you shall keep management issues. means of maintaining essential supplies into in secret and undisclosed. You shall the country. present no man for envy, hatred or malice nor spare any man for fear, favour or The Hill family connection Acknowledgement affection or any hope of reward, but We are indebted to Alex Kalisperas who according to the best of your knowledge The family had a home in Stockbridge called kindly provided the information about Sir and the information you receive, you Green Place which was built for Sir Norman’s Norman and Green Place. Her full article shall present the truth, the whole truth wife, Ellen Mary Stratford Hill, and designed about Green Place can be found at and nothing but the truth. I invite you to by the Arts and Crafts architect M.H. Baillie http://littlesomborne.wordpress.com/2012/11 say “I swear”.’ Scott. The house, called Green Place, was also /11/green-place/

38 Views War and place Front line engagement: interpreting war stories

English Heritage and the First World War Paul Stamper, Senior Adviser, Designation Department, English Heritage

Introduction over a decade old; by 1917 German Gotha Some of the earliest images in the recently bombers were regularly attacking England, digitised Aerofilms collection present a August 2014 marks the centenary of the and by 1918 over 300 new airfields had been unique record of Britain as it emerged from outbreak of the First World War, which created. Wireless communication was war. Volunteers from the Britain from Above lasted until the Armistice of 11 November quickly adopted by the world’s leading project are being invited to tag images 1918 (with Peace Day being celebrated on 19 navies, and, as a foretaste of today’s cyber showing traces of wartime activities July 1919). The impact of the war on Britain warfare, listening stations were built to (www.britainfromabove.org.uk/). over that five-year period was enormous: intercept German military and diplomatic factories were turned over to war communications. English Heritage has production, military camps and coastal commissioned work to identify the sites of War memorials defences were erected, and tens of these early wireless stations, some thousands of hectares of land were put comprising no more than a couple of timber In March 1915 the decision was taken not to down to the plough. It is estimated that sheds and masts. repatriate British war dead, leading to the three-quarters of a million died, and many At sea, the German Navy attacked coastal establishment of war cemeteries and the more than that were physically injured or shipping, and seaside towns were Imperial, later Commonwealth, War Graves mentally damaged, primarily but not bombarded by warships and even U-boats. Commission. As a consequence, community exclusively servicemen. Memorials in almost Wrecks from this conflict litter the sea bed; or workplace war memorials remembering every community recall this sacrifice. recent reports commissioned by English the fallen were erected in prominent In comparison with the Second World Heritage highlight the significance of locations across Britain – although quite War and the Cold War, there has been submarine wrecks and those beneath the how many there are remains uncertain. relatively little effort to chart the impact of North Sea. Despite the good work of the War Memorials the First World War on England, or to To assist many local research initiatives, Trust and the Imperial War Museum, there is identify, and where appropriate record, its English Heritage has worked with the as yet no comprehensive national database surviving remains. As part of its National Council for British Archaeology (CBA) to of these nor a single point of contact for Heritage Protection Plan, English Heritage develop the Home Front Legacy project to advice on listing, maintenance and has defined a systematic programme to take encourage people to record traces and conservation. (For more on the developing forward this agenda, which includes events of the war in their localities work of both of these organisations, see recommendations for designation (www.homefrontlegacy.org.uk/wp/). page 75.) assessment.

Investigating the war’s legacy

The extent to which the British mainland was affected by the first total war, where the state placed unprecedented demands on individuals and property, is an unfamiliar story. Over the next four years English Heritage will work with others to chart the way buildings were put to warlike purposes, to discover new structures created by the war and how the countryside was transformed by army camps, training areas and the need to produce more food and timber. The conflict saw rapid advances in technologies that would revolutionise the This British army accommodation hut at Southam in Warwickshire saw service in Belgium and was later conduct of warfare. At its outbreak, powered returned to England and sold for use as a community hall. The CBA’s Home Front Legacy project aims to flight by heavier-than-air machines was just discover how many other huts such as this survive. © W D Cocroft

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 39 Thanks to additional monies from the We Will Remember Them: London's ‘War and the Horse’, a series of events Treasury, a series of initiatives will drive Great War Memorials exhibition that remembers the contribution of horses towards all the country’s war memorials and their riders who served in their millions being identified and in a fit state of repair by This English Heritage exhibition will focus on on all fronts of the war, will be the 2018. English Heritage is committed to a the six major war memorials in London centrepiece of English Heritage’s living major programme of listing which will see an which it cares for. These are some of the history programme. A mixture of dramatic average of 500 memorials listed or upgraded finest memorials ever created: re-enactment, educational talks, period each year, defining their particular special (cleaned and conserved by English Heritage music and children’s activities will tell the interest. We will also investigate and in 2013); the Memorial; story of life in early 1914, drawing on the promote understanding of the ‘living the Memorial; the Belgian remarkable bond between the English memorials’ such as village halls, libraries, National Monument; and the statues of people and the horse. hospitals and playing fields which some Edith Cavell and Field Marshall Earl Haig. At Pendennis Castle in Cornwall a new communities favoured as socially beneficial The exhibition, which is free, is in the exhibition will open in the summer telling ways of remembering. Quadriga Gallery at the the story of life within ‘Fortress Falmouth’ In collaboration with the War Memorials (at ) from 16 July to during the First World War. Artefacts and Trust, English Heritage has produced The 30 November 2014. memorabilia will recall life at the time, Conservation, Repair and Management of War including first-hand accounts of the soldiers Memorials (2014), written by David Odgers, stationed at the barracks there. Brodsworth This complements guidance produced in Other events and exhibitions Hall, South Yorkshire, will host an exhibition 2012 on The Conservation and Management of and year-long series of events, introducing War Memorial Landscapes; both can be Other commemorative events and visitors to the true stories of the people who accessed via www.english- exhibitions will take place at many English lived and worked there, and how their lives heritage.org.uk/professional/advice/advice- Heritage properties in 2014, showing visitors changed with the outbreak of war. by-topic/buildings/maintenance-and- the impact of the conflict on the people and Find out more about First World War repair/war-memorials/ places involved. events at: www.english-heritage.org.uk/ daysout/events/first-world-war/

Scarborough Castle, became one of the cultural monuments deliberately targeted during the war. On 16 December 1914 the town and castle were shelled by the German battlecruisers Derfflinger and Von der Tann. © English Heritage AMDO/2/548A

40 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories First World War centenary commemorations in Australia and New Zealand Tim Sullivan, Assistant Director, Branch Head National Collection, Australian War Memorial, Canberra

Projections on to remembering its significance today. Each the Australian War name on the First World War Roll of Honour Memorial 2013. © Australian War will be projected on the exterior of the Memorial building, and recordings of the names of each soldier killed in the war will be played in the Commemorative Area. While the galleries are closed, a temporary exhibition, Anzac Voices, uses AWM’s archives of private records to tell some of the remarkable stories of individuals. It is also working with the Australian National University to present an international symposium on Gallipoli 1915: a century on, and developing travelling exhibitions on the photography of Frank Hurley and Hubert Wilkins, official war hree themes underpin the response Collaborative projects photographers, and that of ‘Plevna’ Ryan, of museums in Australia and New a Gallipoli veteran who had served in the TZealand to the centenary of the First Projects to identify and commemorate Turkish Army, and producing a large-format World War: commemoration, collaboration indigenous personnel are underway at the book on its Gallipoli collections. The AWM and community engagement. AWM in collaboration with the Australian is providing objects and content for a range Commemoration is at the heart of the National University and at the Tasmanian of projects for the Remembrance Trail on programme for the next four years. Around Museum and Art Gallery. the Western Front, including new museums our countries, communities are seeking to The Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, on significant sites in Belgium and connect with their forebears of 100 years Te Papa in Wellington and Museum Victoria northern France. ago in understanding their response to the in Melbourne will have online access to Te Papa is developing a major exhibition war and its consequences in shaping the collections within commemorative on the Anzac relationship which will include destiny of our nations. programmes and exhibitions. History SA an immersive experience of a Gallipoli Families, schools and communities are (South Australia) will create a blog platform trench. Museum Victoria’s exhibition World finding a personal connection to the larger called ‘With every good wish…’ drawing on War One: the Impact and the Aftermath narrative through the stories of relatives primary source materials about South focuses on the impacts of the war on who served or lost their lives, through the Australians in the war at home and on the Australian society and on individuals. The names on the memorials and avenues of battlefronts. Sydney Living Museums is National Museum of Australia’s suite of honour across our countries, and in the creating a microsite to tell the stories of public programmes onsite and online to cemeteries where Australians and New individuals linked to the historic buildings in support its exhibition What did you do in the Zealanders are commemorated. its collection including expressions of War? explores the emotional response to war The national institutions holding personal patriotism, pacifism and war-weariness. The in private and public lives. It is collaborating service military unit records are creating city’s Powerhouse Museum will add First with the National Film and Sound Archive to online resources to help. More than just World War uniforms and fashion from public create a large-format media screen in its putting digital material online, projects such and private collections through the online Entry Hall showing stills and film of Australia as the Australian War Memorial’s (AWM) Australian Dress Register. on the home front. The Australian Centre for Anzac Connections, the Auckland War A rich fare of new and temporary the Moving Image in Melbourne will feature Memorial and Museum’s Cenotaph and exhibitions is being created. The largest is film from a century ago of Australians during Discovering Anzacs by the national archives in the AWM’s refurbishment of its First World the war which may also travel regionally. Australia and New Zealand will provide War galleries, which will tell the story of As well as hosting travelling exhibitions search tools linking archive and collection Australians in each of the theatres of war and from the in databases to create rich biographical the significance of Australia’s contribution to Melbourne, and the AWM’s Remember Me: resources; see the article on page 82. the Allied victory. In response to audience the Lost Diggers of Vignacourt photographic Cenotaph may also include an inquiry space research, it will incorporate a more cohesive exhibition for its regional audiences, within the museum building with a timeline in its layout than the gallery it Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, the largest regional community outreach programme to help replaces, and explore why Australia museum in Australia, is developing an collect and preserve stories and objects responded to the war as it did in 1914, the exhibition Ballarat at War exploring the connected with the service of New consequences of the loss of 62,000 lives for enduring commemoration of the loss of so Zealanders in the First World War. the nation, and the renewed focus on many from a typical regional city.

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 41 The original Menin Gate lions in Australia, which will temporarily return to the Menin Gate memorial in Belgium. © Australian War Memorial

History SA is developing exhibitions on will host AWM’s Remember Me exhibition at Art Gallery and Museum, Launceston, will use enemy subjects interned during the war and its Perth, Albany, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie- its collection to tell the story of the impact of a symposium on South Australia on the eve Boulder campuses and the Maritime the war on people from northern Tasmania. of war, both in collaboration with Flinders Museum’s Test of War exhibition at its University. A programme by the Museum of Geraldton and Albany venues. Australian Democracy, located in the Old Another travelling exhibition will tell the A national experience Parliament House, will focus on the story of the clash in which HMAS Sydney Commonwealth Government’s decision- sank the German raider SMS Emden near the The biggest project is a large-scale national making in the first crucial months of the war Cocos Islands. Outreach projects will include travelling exhibition led by the AWM in and how it shaped Australia’s response working with 30 historical societies, collaboration with the Australian during the war. community museums and local governments Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the to develop exhibitions on the impact of war National Museum of Australia, the National on Western Australian communities. A Film and Sound Archive and the Queensland Return to the front collaboration between Albany and its sister Museum. The exhibition, The Spirit of Anzac: city in France, Peronne, will highlight the the Centenary Experience, will be a major The Menin Gate memorial at Ypres stands in shared experiences of the war. event in regional and some metropolitan place of the gate on the road to Menen, The Tasmanian Museum and Gallery is hubs and travel the nation during 2016–18. It which so many Australian, New Zealand and developing It will be splendid when we are all will feature large technology objects as well Commonwealth troops marched through in together again… about Tasmanians in the war as multimedia experiences, community 1917 on their way to the awful experiences of and its consequences for the state, the way it programmes and commemorative events in battle at Passchendaele, Messines, Polygon was commemorated and the impact of telling the story of the war at home and at Wood and Zonnebeke. The lions from the grieving and loss, whilst the Queen Victoria the front. original gate, which were donated by the city of Ypres in 1935 and now adorn the entry to the AWM, will return on loan to Menin Gate during 2017. The Australian National Maritime Museum will open a new Royal Australian Navy Pavilion in 2015 to enrich interpretation of its floating collection of naval vessels. A major travelling exhibition, The Test of War – the RAN in , will draw on objects from local and international museums. It is working in collaboration on projects exploring the enigmatic stories of Australia’s two submarines in the war – the AE1 and the AE2 – both lost in action mysteriously in New Guinea and the Dardanelles respectively. The Western Australia Museum (WAM) is leading the development of the new National Anzac Centre at Albany overlooking the spectacular King George Sound where the first convoy of Anzac troops departed in November 1914. The Centre will tell the stories of 33 men and women who sailed on A member of the Australian 2nd Battalion carrying on with his correspondence in billets at Flesselles, that and subsequent convoys. WAM itself November 1916. © Australian War Memorial/photographer unknown

42 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories The extent of sharing collection and country towns. Those memorials are Acknowledgement resources for the range of exhibitions and providing a basis for school students to online developments is significant. Regional explore their local history and relate it to the Compiled with the support of the member and local museums, historical societies, larger national and international story. institutions of the Council of Australasian libraries and community groups are The level of interest and desire to engage Museum Directors. undertaking projects to explore the First in remembering the First World War and its World War and local identity, often in consequences for our nations and the world This article is based on one which appeared collaboration with the major state and is already extraordinary. Australia’s and New in ICOM News, published April 2014. national institutions. The Australian Zealand’s cultural institutions, large and Government is providing $AUS125,000 to small, will have a critical role to play in each Federal electorate for projects linking supporting it and the acts of with centenary commemorations. Many commemoration and remembering which projects are for refurbishing the memorials are to come. To find out current details created in the depths of mourning in the about our plans, please visit AWM’s website post-war period in hundreds of city suburbs at www.awm.gov.au

Walking, reading, seeding – remembering Tom Freshwater, Contemporary Art Programme Manager

Peace in the meadow at Castle Drogo; poetry reading by Ken Cockburn (far right). © Luke Allan

mong the places in the care of Whipsnade Tree Cathedral in Bedfordshire New Art, the National Trust’s contemporary National Trust, there are those with was created by voluntary working parties for arts programme supported by a partnership Astrong connections to the First 'faith, hope and reconciliation'. Construction with Arts Council England, artist and poet World War. Some were gifted to the nation stopped at Castle Drogo in Devon while the Alec Finlay was invited to develop a response as a consequence of the war’s impact on the workforce served. The White Cliffs of Dover to the anniversary, the places in the care of donor family, while others were presented in gave the last view of home for many that the Trust, and how we make them memory of the fallen by communities across never returned. meaningful today. the country: for example, Mount Pleasant at There is a need to stimulate reflection Clovelly in Devon was given in 1921 in upon the significance and relevance of these memory of those from the village who died; stories today. Under the auspices of Trust

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 43 Sandbag and lectern The last British combatants who served in installation in the the war have all now passed on. Our acts kitchen at Castle of remembrance continue, but beyond Drogo. © Luke Allan the guiding influence of their witness. How can we establish an authentic relationship with the wars of the past and the present? How can our culture reconsider the act of memorial itself? Alec Finlay, proposal statement

‘There were our own, there were the others’ is the name chosen by Alec for this programme. It is a quotation from a poem by Hamish Henderson, ‘End of a Campaign’ (published 1948), based on his experiences of the Second World War in North Africa. It is not incongruous that a poem inspired by the Second World War is being used to mark the beginning of the First World War. Rather, it gets to the heart of the commission, which is to bear witness to the experience of war through representations in poetry over the last 100 years, seeking resonances with the stories of the places in the Trust’s care that have chosen to participate. The selected poems are an act of witness, Dunham Massey, Ightham Mote, Killerton, giving voice to the words of soldiers, peace Knightshayes Court, Lanhydrock, Nostell activists, dissidents, refugees, exiles, Priory, Nymans, Ormesby Hall, Osterley Participating in the creation freedom fighters and the grieving. 'Our own' Park, Overbeck’s, Penrhyn Castle, Stourhead does not refer to UK poets, nor does 'the and The Hardmans’ House. Properties with Alec’s work can be visual arts or poetry – others' indicate foreign writers. Wars, walking events only: Ashridge Estate, and here combines both. His track record disruption and diaspora cut through such Clovelly Peace Park, Whipsnade Tree of deeply philosophical and reflective place- reductive distinctions. The assembled poems Cathedral and White Cliffs of Dover. based creative practice includes poetry and explore connections and resonances across For full project details, see textual work, as well as walking and seeding cultures, through language and images – www.therewereourown.com (Two Fields of Wheat Seeded with a Poppy- many of the poems are translations – and poem, MK Gallery 2006), most frequently what emerges time and again is the Reference outside gallery spaces. His work often brings commonality of experience. It is no accident All images are part of ‘There were our own / people together in new configurations and that the walks join people in a shared silence, there were the others’ by Alec Finlay. goes beyond the making of ‘things’ or beyond words, encouraged by the artist to ‘poems’ for their own sake, nor is he be in a place differently, walking, reading, interested in creating ‘experiences’. The seeding – and remembering. work demands response, or action. He wants to work with other creative practitioners and elevates audiences into active participants. Bringing it home The work is principally a series of staged silent memorial walks with the public. For A new poem will be created by Ken each of the 23 sites, a pair of poems has Cockburn, poet and leader of the walks at been selected, representing the themes of the 23 sites, in time for 2014. ‘our own’ and ‘the others’. These are read He will visit the war cemetery at St during the silent walk, with a landscape Symphorien near Mons, Belgium, the only location as the destination – perhaps a site where British and Germans troops from conventional war memorial, or a pill-box, or the First World War are buried together. a view, or a practice trench – where the Informed by this visit, and the experience of second poem is read. The property walking all the National Trust places, he will welcomes people to these places in a new make this new work: a profound and way. Where possible a book installation is informed reflection on this anniversary which constructed and left at the property: two continues to shape our lives to this day. lecterns with the poems displayed face each When we invited properties to apply to other, joined by a sandbag wall. Here ‘our host the event, we had a fantastic response, own’ and ‘the others’ come face to face. In and our ‘absolute maximum of 20’ became addition, a scattering of poppy seeds is 23. Properties with installations and walks: made where permissible, and a seed packet Attingham Park, Bateman’s, Castle Drogo, given to each walker. Chirk Castle, Croft Castle, Dudmaston, Ken Cockburn reading at Overbeck’s. © Luke Allan

44 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories The Great War through the eyes of children: a collection of children’s paintings from the First World War Evgeny Lukyanov, Curator, State Historical Museum, Moscow

tored in the State Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow is a unique Scollection of children's drawings from the middle and second half of the 1910s. Skilfully and originally, they reflect events of the First World War, two Russian revolutions and the first years of Soviet power. The collection was acquired in 1919 by the famous scholar V.S. Voronov and number more than 1,600 graphic works, of which about three-quarters are of the Great War. One could endlessly contemplate these works, which show startling precision and are characteristically poignant in their surprisingly noticed details. Before us stands a whole era seen through the eyes of children.

The man behind the collection

Children's drawings were one of the most important discoveries introduced into the art world in the twentieth century. Interest in them as an aesthetic way to perceive, ‘In pursuit of the enemy’: painting of an aircraft battling an airship (1914–16); artist unknown. ‘Aeroplanes experience and reflect upon the world became play a major role in modern warfare and nearly all the children’s drawings show this new form of fighting a professional art movement, not unlike particularly powerfully: rarely is a battle depicted without a variety of aeroplanes busily soaring. Often primitivism which was inspired by children's there are as many aeroplanes shown in the sky as soldiers fighting on the ground, so tempting is it for the artists to depict the air machine in military operations: different types of aeroplane fighting each other, drawings, folk art and the art of prehistoric attacks on Zeppelins, pilots dropping bombs on fortresses, ships and individual figures.’ (V.S. Voronov) peoples. Prominent Russian art critic J.A. © State Historical Museum, Moscow Tugendhold noted that ‘since the end of the nineteenth century, children's drawings have ceased to be viewed by adults as smudgy into collecting by the war: ‘The future Voronov’s collection is composed of pranks or ignorant scrawls; they began to historian of our days will be grateful for each drawings by boys of pre-school age and see genuine creativity – modest, unconscious true and correct line that reflects our elementary grades, students of urban and full of children’s individual, multi-coloured present day. Many books, paintings, schools and secondary institutions in imaginings and freshness of expression’ photographs, newspapers, letters and other Moscow. It is dominated by the work of (Apollon [Apollo], No.3, 1916, p.58). things will bear witness to the enthusiasm students from the M.V. Lomonosov Thus raised to the rank of ‘high art,’ and unity of the many nationalities, classes Grammar School and the I.I. Alexandrov children’s masterpieces acquired their and ages of Russia brought together in the Secondary School. Almost all the drawings, connoisseurs, collectors and researchers. days of the great struggle. I think that according to the testimony of the collector, Among them was Vassily Sergeyevich amongst all of this evidence, large and small, were not done in the classroom, but at home Voronov (1887–1940), who dedicated more the pictures by our children will prove – during free time, without the assistance or than ten years to studying the different irreplaceable. Modest but lively, sincere and guidance of the teacher, under the influence aspects of children's art. After graduating in irreplaceable, they have captured in their of the events and moods the city lived 1906 from the Stroganov College, he took up games, amusements, activities and creativity through during the war. a position as fine art teacher at the I.I. the nation’s evolution and overall Alexandrov Secondary School and, from indifference to world events. In the future, 1910, at the M.V. Lomonosov Grammar the lines written by our children and their What they portray School for Boys. Totally fascinated by drawings will provide a huge chronicle of our teaching, Voronov remained a teacher for days, directly reflecting what they saw and The children’s ‘war’ drawings can be divided many years. In 1914, he began to collect what they thought. Without this evidence, into two groups of different subject matter. children's drawings on the theme of war, the chronicle would not be complete’ The first group of works shows evidence of owing to its proliferation as a subject. In one (Vestnik Vospitania [Bulletin of Education], the war against a backdrop of peaceful city of his articles, he said he had been prompted No.2, 1915, p.35). life: ‘Here you can see representations of

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 45 Vestnik Vospitania. The exhibition aroused great public interest and was widely covered in the press. In the spring of 1916, with the active support of Voronov, an exhibition was organised called ‘Children's Creativity’, which became a big event in the cultural life of Moscow during the First World War. Exhibits in the show came from a huge variety of different educational institutions from across the whole of Russia as well as from private collectors of children's drawings, teachers and artists (Bashilov, Voronov, Zhuravlev, Kamensky, Ulyanov and Sherlaimov). ‘War’: painted during 1914–16; artist unknown. ‘Modern, epic warfare on land, on sea and in the air has The exhibition received positive feedback produced a number of grandiose paintings which are extremely difficult to depict due to the lack of from the press, not only in Moscow but also adequate visual material in civilian life. Many phenomena of war are happening now for the first time: dramatic pictures of aerial battles, the horrors of the Zeppelins, new siege guns, armoured cars, etc. in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg). Giving an Amongst the familiar scenes of war, new images are appearing depicting things of which children were overview of the exhibition, Voronov wrote previously unaware.’ (V.S. Voronov) © State Historical Museum, Moscow how ‘gratifying it is to forget for an hour the military storm amid a tender collection of field hospitals (interior and exterior), memories of war veterans, telegrams and children's drawings – a fragrant field full of vehicles carrying wounded soldiers, newspaper descriptions, magazine simple and beautiful colours’ (Vestnik ambulance tramcars, goods vans with stoves illustrations, and, finally, from their own Vospitania, No.4, 1916, p.106). Tugendhold, at the station, wounded soldiers on the imagination. who worked for the art magazine Apollon, streets and in the hospitals, collecting enthusing about this ‘collective and donations with carts, the Sisters of Mercy in spontaneous children's talent’, noted that a variety of settings, Austrian prisoners of Early exhibitions the exhibition of children's art deserves ‘to war in boxcars, unloading the wounded from be talked about in the pages of an adult trains and trams, crowds of citizens around a Voronov’s assembled collection of children’s magazine’ (Apollon, No.3, 1916, p.58). wounded soldier, flags of the Allied Powers, ‘war’ drawings was repeatedly exhibited. At individual figures of soldiers – Russian, the beginning of 1915, he initiated an German and Austrian – pictures of weapons exhibition ‘War in the Drawings of Children’, Conclusion in shop windows, helmets, boxes for where more than 5,000 graphic works were lowering newspapers to the wounded, and shown. Exhibits were displayed in five large These children's drawings from the so on, almost all of these new features halls in the Stroganov School on collection of the State Historical Museum showing the impact of war on the bustling Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow. There were are a unique historical resource of the First streets of major cities’ (Vestnik Vospitania, drawings by children from rural and urban World War. Naïvely and amateurishly No.2, 1915, p.43). All the drawings are based schools, boys’ and girls’ grammar schools, as executed, sometimes even quite ordinary, on real scenes and pictures, appearing well as private collections. Along with pencil they completely win over people’s hearts before the eyes of these attentive young drawings and paintings, there were many with the power of their emotional impact. observers. sculptures made by children from clay and Children have a tendency to be direct, The second and larger group is dedicated coloured mastic. At the opening of the spontaneous and sincere and have to events spontaneously happening in the exhibition on 29 January 1915 Voronov gave a transmitted through visual imagery all the theatre of war: ‘These include multiple lecture about the impact of war on children's horrors and hardships of wartime – nothing images of different battles and fights on creativity, which was subsequently published can escape their inquisitive gaze. It is land, at sea and in the air. A smaller number in the education journals Izvestia Obschestva difficult not to agree that children's ‘war’ of paintings reflect actual events taking Prepodavatelei Grafitcheskih Iskusstv [Bulletin pictures are one of the most ‘honest’ place in our time; another larger group of the Society of Graphic Arts Teachers] and historical sources known to mankind. simply shows all sorts of war scenes and To find out more about our collections, episodes. Here they are besieging and visit www.shm.ru/en/ bombarding a mighty fortress with crenellated walls, destroying cruisers, shooting at and ramming zeppelins, lying in Acknowledgement the trenches, being attacked by a huge elephantine gun, soldiers running, climbing, Our thanks to Tamara Igumnova, Deputy crawling, shooting and cutting, carrying Director of the State Historical Museum, guns across a bridge, fixing bayonets, etc – Moscow, for facilitating communication with all the facets of complex military operations Evgeny, and to Catherine Leonard, Head of come to life through children's hands, away INTO Secretariat for the National Trust, who from the noise of battles in peaceful rooms, provided the translation. by the gentle light of home fires’ (Vestnik View of the exhibition ‘War in the Drawings of Vospitania, No.2, 1915, p.49). Inspiration for Children’ from the collection of V.S. Voronov. Photo from Izvestia Obschestva Prepodavatelei these drawings came from war stories heard Grafitcheskih Iskusstv, No.2, 1915, p.7. © State or read about by the children, earlier Historical Museum, Moscow

46 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Heaven in a Hell of War: exhibiting Spencer’s Sandham Memorial Chapel canvases Amanda Bradley, Assistant Curator of Pictures and Sculpture, and David Taylor, Curator of Pictures and Sculpture

andham Memorial Chapel in Hampshire, built in memory of a fallen Ssoldier and consecrated as the Oratory of All Souls, is something of a rarity amongst the National Trust’s broad portfolio of properties. It houses what is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of Modern British Art by the celebrated English painter Stanley Spencer (1891–1959). Influenced by Giotto’s Arena Chapel in Padua, this work of art is unusual within the Trust, indeed within the UK, and is a highlight of our important and often overlooked twentieth-century art collection. A conservation and refurbishment programme at the chapel provided an occasion for the 16 removable canvases to be exhibited elsewhere. To make the most of this rare opportunity, we decided that the canvases should be exhibited in London and at a second venue outside the capital, along with other works that would serve to illustrate the story behind the commissioning of the paintings by the enlightened patrons, John Louis and Mary Behrend. After a very short lead-in period in exhibition programming terms, two suitable venues were found for the exhibition: Somerset House in London and Pallant House in Chichester. The exhibition, entitled Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War opened at Somerset House on 7 November 2013 and closed at Pallant House on 15 June 2014. Surprisingly, this was the first major exhibition of Trust pictures to be shown in London for eighteen years, the previous occasion being in 1995 when In Trust for the Nation was held at the National Gallery to celebrate our own centenary. It is only the second time that the removable canvases had been taken out of the chapel and exhibited elsewhere; the last time was for the retrospective Spencer exhibition at the The poster for the exhibition at Somerset House. © National Trust Royal Academy, London, in 1980. (The altarpiece, The Resurrection of the Soldiers, and the two spandrels could not be removed powerful art to emerge from the carnage of impressive … they would blow the “Gallery” from the chapel but an image of the the Great War’. While the notion of taking atmosphere to the four corners of the altarpiece was projected on to the gallery the paintings out of a commemorative heavens.’ Similarly, it is worth noting that wall at Somerset House.) chapel might seem odd, we have to Spencer was still a jobbing artist at this time; remember that Spencer himself had wanted he realised that showing the paintings in them to be seen in a gallery environment London would generate new and lucrative Seen in their own right once the series was complete, and commissions. Encouraged by his mistress, specifically in London. In 1932 he wrote: ‘I Patricia Preece, he wrote to Mary Behrend The historian Simon Schama has described think the arched and predella pictures that ‘a lot of people … might give me a job if Spencer’s chapel paintings as ‘the most arranged … round a gallery would be they saw these pictures in London’.

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 47 Behind the paintings Spencer described it – he overcame his own, Alongside the paintings, other items were horrible experience of war. This was where on display such as Henry Lamb’s (1883– It was a brave and expensive undertaking for Spencer found his ‘heaven in a hell of war’. 1960) remarkable Irish Troops in the Judean the Behrends to commission both Spencer’s The process of painting the Sandham Hills Surprised by a Turkish Bombardment paintings and the building in which they would pictures appears to have been a cathartic (Imperial War Museum) and his 1923 be housed. Whilst the murals were being experience for an artist who had once portrait of Spencer (National Portrait painted, a visitor to the chapel rudely revealed: ‘I had buried so many people and Gallery), as well as the screening of a short exclaimed: ‘It smells of money here, seen so many dead bodies that I felt that 1956 BBC film of Spencer at the chapel doesn’t it?’, to which Spencer replied: death could not be the end of everything.’ discussing his paintings. ‘No, only courage’. After the completion of the chapel he stated: Physically unsuited for combat duties, ‘The Burghclere memorial redeemed my Spencer initially served as a medical orderly experience [of war] from what it was, But was it worth it? in Bristol. In 1916 he was posted to namely something alien to me. By this means Macedonia as a stretcher bearer with the I recovered my lost self.’ He resolutely chose The exhibition has clearly been a success, 68th Field Ambulance Unit, but was later not to paint the horrors of battle, and there averaging a thousand visitors a day and accepted as an infantryman for the Royal is no suggestion of conflict at all in the receiving wide press coverage and positive Berkshires in 1917, when he fought on the scheme. Instead, the beauty and serenity he reviews; it was included in a list of the best front line. His elder brother, Sydney, was brought to everyday tasks, and the events commemorating the First World War killed in action in France in September 1918, exquisitely recalled observations in Spencer’s in the Daily Telegraph (7 January 2014), and shortly before Spencer was invalided out canvases, puts this amongst the most Brian Sewell wrote: ‘This exhibition is the following recurring bouts of malaria. As moving of Great War memorials. first of many to commemorate the Great tormented by his own survival as by what he War. It may well be one of the best’ (Evening had witnessed, he found some solace in his Standard, 5 December 2013). This gives the artistic work after the war. Seen in a new light Trust huge encouragement to continue The canvases took six years for Spencer programming external exhibitions and to paint. Completed in 1932, they are As well as being one of Britain’s most publishing associated exhibition catalogues. considered his finest work. Typical of his important and innovative war artists, In all, 80,000 visited the exhibition at figurative painting at this period, they Spencer was, of course, a key figure in the Somerset House, some more than once, and combine realistic depictions of the development of twentieth-century British nearly 2,500 copies of the catalogue were humdrum life of soldiers (at the Beaufort painting; this exhibition provided an sold. A second period of conservation work Military Hospital in Bristol, the Tweseldown opportunity to view closely some of his most at the chapel this winter gives us a fresh training ground in Hampshire and on service accomplished work. A combination of opportunity to loan the paintings to in Macedonia), fused with the visionary and artificial light and a lower hang made details Manchester City Art Gallery. dreamlike world of Spencer’s imagination. By clearer than could be seen in the chapel; visually describing the menial, everyday even those who knew them well felt they tasks of the soldiers, such as filling tea urns, were seeing them for the first time. The Acknowledgement sorting laundry, eating bread and jam, and effect on visitors was extraordinary – no scrubbing floors – this ‘symphony of rashers matter how busy the room was, the canvases Adapted from an article for Arts, Buildings of bacon’ and ‘tea-making obligato’, as were viewed with hushed respect. and Collections Bulletin (Winter 2013–14).

Exhibiting good manners: preparing the Spencer Exhibition Fernanda Torrente, Registrar (Loans & Exhibitions)

n March 2013, I was asked to help with As you may know, exhibition registrars Exhibitions, as with any project, have a the Stanley Spencer exhibition taking are, among other things, responsible for long planning phase. It took about six Iplace in Somerset House, London, the managing loans to exhibitions. This was in months of detailed negotiations, following November. This exhibition was one fact a double loan: we were lending some of information gathering and planning to of the first major National Trust centenary our most iconic Stanley Spencer works from organise the exhibition. The nice and events to mark the outbreak of the First Sandham Memorial Chapel to Somerset glamorous bit at the end is usually done very World War. I was delighted to be part of this House and at the same time borrowing a quickly. In this case the artwork was commemoration, although eight months is a further 12 paintings from six UK museums prepared in two weeks, delivery took one day short timespan to prepare any exhibition. and one private lender. and installation was finished in just two days.

48 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Fine Art Services Ltd before removing them from the owner’s taking down the premises, upon arrival at the display venue paintings at Sandham. © National Trust/ and again shortly after de-installation and Holly Lopez upon return to the owner. During this loan period, the Spencer canvases will be checked at least ten times and the findings recorded on their conditions reports. These will be copied on to the Collections Management System and inform the future care of the canvases.

D-Day!

Four weeks prior to the opening day, all was ready. We had drawn up and agreed a detailed work schedule (we produced eight Loans to and loans from from his computer, allowing him to monitor versions of the document!). The design the space with no need physically to travel to company CassonMann had produced Tackling the most involved process first, we The Strand. Training was also provided to drawings of the exhibition space, with details began by gathering all the information we Somerset House staff to assist him with of where each painting would go and at what needed about each item from external monitoring the space. height it should be hung. We agreed which lenders. We wrote letters and signed loan paintings needed rope barriers, where the agreements with all the lenders, extracting guards would sit and how many security from them their environmental requirements, Framing and packing guards would stay overnight in the exhibition insurance values, packing and display galleries while the paintings were uninstalled. specifications. When the frame suppliers visited to take We spent the first two weeks in October We also drafted a loan agreement to cover measurements for the frames, we took the taking down the canvases from the walls in the transaction of our Spencer paintings to opportunity to check for asbestos, a Sandham, condition checking and applying Somerset House. We needed to develop a requirement from our building surveyors; a backing materials. Once that was done, good relationship with staff at Somerset small amount was found and dealt with framing and packing were finalised. In the House and ensure all the work we were during the refurbishment of the chapel. The last week of October the exhibition space planning was done in accordance with their company measured all the canvases (each is was painted and conditioned ready to working practice. It can be challenging to slightly different) and superimposed the receive our exhibition. False walls were built, work in line with the policies and procedures measurements to produce a one-size frame the display case for works on paper of two organisations, and it isn’t just the loan which fitted all. Frames were delivered to delivered, humidifiers and data loggers that has to be agreed, but the environment, Sandham and installed there in situ by Fine installed and tested, and the space cleaned. hanging methods, security, etc. We also Art Services and packed them ready for Everything went according to plan on our collaborated on a risk assessment and an transport. Under the supervision of Tina D-Day: Friday 1 November 2013. At 3pm we emergency evacuation plan. Sitwell, Paintings Conservation Adviser, it arrived in The Strand exactly as planned, also applied backing material to the where the truck drivers stopped the traffic canvases, which is used to prevent damage and skilfully reversed into the courtyard Environment to the back of the painting during transport through the main arch by the Courtauld. It and the exhibition period; it also acts as a took them only a few minutes but had the As detailed environmental data of the buffer against changes in humidity and van been just a few centimetres wider, they exhibition galleries was not available, Nigel temperature and as a dust barrier. would not have made it at all! The truck was Blades, Preventive Conservation Adviser unloaded and paintings carried into the (Environment), installed a computer system exhibition space to allow the paintings to with data loggers in May 2013 and data were Condition reporting and conservation acclimatise before installation. analysed on a monthly basis for five months. On Monday morning the paintings were Once the data were fully analysed, he could We contracted Melanie Caldwell, one of our unpacked and their condition checked by advise on the environmental needs of the external conservators, to check and clean all Tina and Melanie, before one by one, they galleries during the exhibition period. canvases in the chapel before transportation went up on the wall. Environmental standards vary according and again in Somerset House before The external loans were also delivered to materials and may differ slightly between installation. and condition-checked by Julie Marsden, different institutions. In the case of this loan, Condition reports are necessary for Conservator, before installation, while we had to negotiate our own standards (on accountability purposes and also to record Andrew Bush, Paper Conservation Adviser, relative humidity, temperature and light any changes to the artwork during the loan checked the works on paper. As expected, levels) with those of Somerset House and period. This helps to ascertain why, how and we did not finish installation until 3pm the the other lending institutions’ requirements. where any potential damage happens. The following day. The lights were then adjusted, Nigel therefore advised that humidifiers document would be used in the event of an interpretation finalised and the whole space would be necessary and light control insurance claim and is therefore an essential cleaned ready for the press view on the measures would need to be put in place. The part of any loan transaction. Normally loans following morning. The exhibition was ready humidifiers were monitored closely by Nigel are checked at all stages of the loan process: for all to enjoy!

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 49 ‘A very moving exhibition’: Cotehele’s commemoration of the First World War Jenny Hill, Anne Ellard, Lesley Foster and Jane Prince, Volunteers, Cotehele, Cornwall

ot many people realise that Cotehele after the war. The publicity prompted more History lesson is a registered war memorial. It was than 60 people from around the area to get Ntransferred to the National Trust in in touch with offers of items they were We certainly hadn’t realised how many losses 1947 through the National Land Fund, which prepared to lend to the exhibition. Rachel there were locally, and the emotions aroused was established in memory of those who fell Hunt, House and Collections Manager, set by some of the items and tales really did hit during the war, including 26-year-old these up on a spreadsheet and enlisted us to home. For example, three brothers who were Edgcumbe son and heir, Piers Richard, who get in touch with the lenders, complete loan all musicians in the Royal Lancasters joined died at Dunkirk. Had he lived, Cotehele's forms and collect items. the ranks so that they could fight rather than story might have been very different. After making initial contact by be stretcher-bearers; they were rushed to Reflecting on this, and responding to phone/email, we had fun travelling around France in August 1914 to support the interest from volunteers and members of our the area, locating addresses in obscure, Expeditionary Force retreating from Mons local community, it was decided that muddy country lanes or narrow town streets and the youngest (aged only 20) was killed Cotehele should hold a small exhibition to (strictly no parking!) and chatting to people that month, with no known grave. The elder commemorate the centenary of the First about their ‘offerings’. Most people were brothers were caught in shellfire, invalided World War, which is how we all became relatively elderly and only too happy to talk home and continued to serve. How must involved with the preparation and about their families – and lots of other they have felt? presentation of the exhibition. things besides! They were very keen for the A small item which has made quite an Local interest was raised by a press deeds of their kith and kin to be impression on visitors is a 1912 penny with a release issued by Tish Valva, Visitor Services commemorated. Their stories were touching bullet embedded in it – a possible life-saver. Officer. It was illustrated with a photograph and we hope that, on seeing the items and Also a whistle which would have been blown of a local soldier on his war horse, Stanley hearing the stories behind them, our many when it was time to go ‘over the top’. There Breen, who became Cotehele’s tenant farmer visitors will also be touched. are some amazing examples of trench art –

Stanley Breen on his war horse. He later became the tenant farmer at Cotehele’s Home Farm. © National Trust

50 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Photo of Reginald Auber Thompson, and his ‘death penny’. He died on 26 August 1914 at the Battle of Mons, aged 21. © NT

needlework, a button hook and bronze shell displayed in two display cases, their ‘A very moving tribute, beautifully cases beautifully engraved and made into appearance enhanced with sackcloth and understated. A very calm and peaceful ornaments or ash trays. Presumably these poppies. The intention is that one case will room.’ helped the soldiers to pass the time when contain exhibition highlights and items with they were ‘resting’ behind the front line, the strongest local relevance. The second ‘WWI exhibition very apt in timing and waiting to return to the horrors of the fray. will be refreshed annually until and including displays sensitivity to local folk and One exhibit which is particularly thrilling 2018, and contain items relevant to a recognises their supreme sacrifice – to have is a bronze cigarette and tobacco particular year of the war centenary (most very moving.’ box, Princess Mary’s gift to the troops at people were happy to lend their items for Christmas 1914, which still contains nine of four years). Our working titles for the years ‘A very poignant and meaningful exhibition. the original 12 cigarettes and the tobacco. are: Over by Christmas, Entrenched, On the The personalisation makes it so.’ And it actually smells of tobacco! Home Front, Keep the Home Fires Burning and No one could fail to be touched by the Dulce et Decorum Est. We think this series of ‘Fascinating and very moving. A powerful poignancy of the background stories, such exhibitions will arouse the interest of people exhibition, Thank you to all who made it as the letter from a mother to her son or the who might not otherwise visit an historic possible.’ story of a horse that returned but was ever house or who would not normally linger for after terrified of loud noises. We have a long over an historical collection. ‘Wonderful property. To finish in this room number of ‘death pennies’, large copper The exhibition has so far been very well is so significant.’ discs – about the size of a CD – engraved received by visitors, and has prompted a with ‘He died for Freedom and Honour’ and number of reflective responses, including: It has also been gratifying to find that so the name of the deceased. many young people clearly know about the ‘A very well thought out and tranquil space. war and are familiar with some of the poetry. The juxtaposition of British and foreign Exhibition highlights can be viewed via Refreshing the exhibition exhibits is thought provoking and reminds www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk or do us not to judge our ancestors for their drop by and see our exhibition for The small exhibition is accommodated in our actions.’ yourselves. Victorian Breakfast Room. Apart from the pictures, which either stand on easels or ‘A wonderful exhibit! There isn’t enough hang on the walls, the borrowed objects are information about WWI in the States.’

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 51 Fashion parade: displaying Springhill’s finery through the ages Helen McAneney, Costume Curator, Springhill House, Co. Londonderry

Springhill’s Costume Collection served to make it one of the most enduringly Colonel Jack was a career soldier, who popular of museum exhibitions in the had retired from active service in 1912. When The nucleus of the Springhill Costume twentieth and twenty-first centuries. the First World War broke out, he Collection was established in the 1960s. immediately rejoined his regiment, the Over the years it has grown into a significant 6th Battalion Connaught Rangers, as collection which ranges from about 1690 to Step forward, Colonel Jack commanding officer. He had a reputation for the late 1970s and is made up of around being an exceptional leader and in showing 3,250 items, including accessories such as This year we decided to focus on the ‘Old great concern for the welfare of his men. hats, fans, shoes and bags as well as Masters’ of Springhill House, the theme of Captain Stephen Gwynne of the 6th household textiles, linens and dolls. Its the exhibition being a look at the leading Connaughts said: ‘No commanding officer highlights include a particularly fine array of figures in the Lenox-Conyngham family who was more beloved by those he commanded eighteenth-century costumes in amazing finished building Springhill in 1690 and lived and I have known no better Irishman than condition, as well as a hanging pocket in it until 1957 when it was bequeathed to this son of an Ulster house. . . ’ (forerunner of the built-in variety) dating the Trust. One of the main reasons for The 6th Connaughts were posted to from around 1690 and embroidered Italian making this choice was that we wanted to be France in December 1915 for active combat. shoes dating back to 1740. At any one time, able to tell the story of John Staples The last time John was seen alive, he was around 1.5 per cent of the collection is on Molesworth Lenox-Conyngham, ‘Colonel leading his men into action in the Battle of display in the museum. The costumes and Jack’, a First World War hero in the Guillemont on 3 September 1916, carrying the theme of the display are changed on a traditional mould. only his service revolver and a walking stick. yearly basis. What makes it truly unique is that every item has been donated, with a significant number coming from families in the north west of Ireland. Its main strengths lie in the range and the many processes of manufacture demonstrated. The collection isn’t just about fashion, but is also a testament to the techniques and skills used to produce them. As many of the items have been made by hand, and the methods used to produce them lost in the modern technological age, this marks out the collection as an invaluable research resource well worth preserving.

Worn, not worn out

Unlike many other historic objects, costume provides a very close and tangible connection to our forebears and our shared history. It is able to demonstrate the changing shape of the human body linked to nutrition and lifestyle and the changing shape of clothing through the influence of foreign travel, climate, world and domestic events and so on. Costume isn’t just about the aesthetic or lifestyle, but is also a study of technical achievement. Through the design and manufacture, fabric and decoration and through the wearer and their families, costume can communicate the many stories of our shared past in a way that Colonel Jack. no other museum object can match. This has © National Trust

52 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories John is buried in Carnoy Cemetery priority. Costume is one of the most fragile If I were to pick a favourite from this in France (Row R: grave 33). He is collection types and is liable to damage from year’s exhibition, it would have to be the commemorated on both the Moneymore light, heat, relative humidity and dirt as well pelisse from around 1820, a kind of and Coagh war memorials. Four other as inappropriate storage, handling and lightweight women’s full-length overcoat in members of the family served in the war display. Each time a costume is exhibited, it the Empire style. It is made from an and fortunately survived. accumulates a small amount of irreversible amazingly vivid green textured silk and there damage from any of the factors above. The is beautiful rouleaux detail on the bodice most challenging job in the development of and collar. What you can’t tell from the Putting on a show any costume or textile display is minimising picture is how tiny it is, and it ended having the possible damage each piece might to be mounted on a child’s mannequin to get As the exhibition spans almost three sustain. This is a particular challenge at the bodice buttons done up! hundred years of family history, of which Springhill, as both the costume store and The exhibition is going down very well Colonel Jack plays an important part, we exhibition space are housed in outbuildings with visitors to Springhill, and the following were able to provide almost all the costumes which date from around 1690; they are hard quotes have been taken directly from our for the display ‘in-house’ because we needed to control environmentally, even with some Visitors’ Book: only a few from each era. We lacked two very industrious dehumidifiers! early twentieth-century costumes but were Each exhibition is open for six months, so ‘A truly fascinating window into the lives of fortunate to be able to borrow these from the costumes are on mannequins in the the Lenox-Conyngham family, thank you!’ our sister property, The Argory in County display cases for quite a long time. The Tyrone. In total the exhibition features 30 impact on them is minimised by using an ‘The costumes are amazing to see, especially costumes, five of which actually belonged to LED lighting system, which is basically light the ones belonging to the family.’ the Lenox-Conynghams. Exciting stuff! without any heat, and by dehumidifying In deciding which costumes to use in the each of the cases. The relative humidity in ‘We come to see the costume exhibition display, good condition was an important the public spaces is also monitored regularly. here every year, and this is the best yet.’

Glowing praise indeed!

Springhill’s wartime connection didn’t end with the death of Colonel Jack. During the Second World War, Springhill and its surrounding estate were used as a billet for soldiers of the Berkshire Yeomanry and 119th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery. Its donor, Captain William Lowry Lenox- Conyngham, led the local Home Guard. In 1942 the first American Army personnel arrived and these were 112th Engineers with Company L 519th Quartermaster Regiment, arriving on 23 December 1942. Perhaps in another 25 years, we shall be exploring the history of the house and its family from that very different perspective.

Left: Leather boots and a jacket, part of Connaught Rangers uniform, and a trunk which belonged to Colonel Jack. © National Trust Above: The fabulous pelisse which is in excellent condition and colour despite its age (around 200 years). © National Trust

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 53 High tea and Hitler: telling Mrs Greville’s Second World War story Vicky Bevan, House and Collections Manager, Polesden Lacey, Surrey

Mrs Greville’s invitation to the Nuremberg Rally in 1934, issued by Rudolf Hess on behalf of the Führer. © National Trust Images

dwardian hostess Mrs Ronnie Greville For me the 1930s is a fascinating point in was not an entirely likable figure. In Polesden Lacey’s history. Mrs Greville’s Eher time she was loved and loathed in parties were filled with all the main players of equal measure. In the run up to the Second domestic and foreign policy. Ministers and World War, Mrs Greville became more ambassadors, whose action would determine controversial than ever. Invited to the the course of history, were drinking her Nuremberg rallies, given a private audience champagne and enjoying her comfortable with Hitler and Mussolini, courted by Edwardian mansion as the world inched Ribbentrop and Count Grandi, she is quoted towards war. as referring to her ‘dear little brown shirts’.1 We have always found this period Mrs Greville as an Ehrengast (guest of honour) In Harold Nicolson’s opinion she was a ‘silly at the Nuremberg Rally in 1934. challenging to convey to visitors, tending to selfish hostess’ who dangerously conveyed © National Trust/Polesden Lacey tip-toe around Mrs Greville’s pre-war politics the impression that ‘foreign policy was for fear of saying the wrong thing. We also decided in [her] drawing room’.2 She was Don’t mention the war worried that it would overwhelm other certainly firmly in the appeasement camp in storylines. Many people at the property have the lead up to war. Mrs Greville has been branded a ‘Nazi had understandable concerns that it reflects The centenary of the First World War and sympathiser’ by her critics, while her poorly upon our donor. But the history of 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings are defenders say that, like many others, she was our places shouldn’t always be a eulogy to making us all think about how we tell the misled by Hitler’s propaganda for she their former owners, should it? stories of our war heroes. In this article I reversed her opinions well before the Bit by bit this ‘don’t mention the war’ want to use Mrs Greville’s story to ask the outbreak of war. She demonstrated this attitude is changing and we are finding ways question: ‘how should we communicate our reversal in a typically flamboyant gesture by to give our visitors the chance to learn about inglorious war stories?’ buying a Spitfire for the nation in 1941. and debate this pivotal period of history. We

54 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Context is key

As Simon Jenkins has reminded us in the past, the history of our places did not happen in isolation. The publication of Sian Evans’s book Mrs Ronnie: The Society Hostess who Collected Kings has been hugely helpful in setting Mrs Greville’s life against the backdrop of the early twentieth century and placing her within the context of her time. The fear of another war, which was common to almost everyone in her generation, is evident in Mrs Greville’s correspondence. Together with her often provocative and vitriolic style, it leads her to express pretty abhorrent views, views that The Spitfire sponsored by Mrs Greville in March 1941. It brought all its crews home but was scrapped in were sadly not unusual in pre-war high December 1944, having been damaged too many times. © IWM society. Sian writes that although numbering many Jewish people amongst her friends in the 1930s, Mrs Greville made ‘increasingly recognise that Mrs Greville’s is a far from Society at war harsh observations about Jewish people, and glorious war story. As a fallible woman, in this respect she reflected the attitudes of whose failings were as interesting as her Mrs Greville was described by Kenneth Clark her time.’4 This should not excuse those strengths, her story is compelling and as the queen of a circle who closed their eyes opinions but it does put them in context. illuminates the political spectrum of pre-war to Hitler ‘because they mistakenly supposed Our visitors’ understanding of Mrs high society. that the Nazis were less likely to take away Greville’s life and character has been their money than the Bolshies’. Fitting that enhanced by the Mrs Ronnie biography, more sort of statement into the spirit of a place guided tours, an introductory video and an Daring to speak ill of the donor which exudes sociability and play can seem increase in our research activities. These challenging. Where do you slot in factors have probably also contributed to a Much of the narrative in the house at appeasement and visits to the Führer with year-to-date 17 per cent rise in positive Polesden Lacey depends on volunteer high tea, royal honeymoons and golf? survey responses to ‘good story’ and guides. Our Room Guide training course is Our introductory film and the early part rendered Mrs Greville slightly less obscure. tailored to the property, and we look at how of the visitor route concentrate on Mrs All this helps us become more confident in to work together to tell a narrative Greville’s early life and her career as one of articulating the complex and controversial throughout the house. In Mrs Greville’s the foremost Edwardian hostesses. But by storylines that make up her life. Study we take time to try to give Room the middle of the visitor route in the house, It is more difficult and less comfortable to Guides the confidence to discuss the it is possible to start to tell later stories. We tell our inglorious war stories, but at hostess’s political life in the 1930s, without can show how Mrs Greville’s hospitality Polesden I feel we have made a start. I think feeling they are bad-mouthing the lady who threw together contrasting political the experience of our visitors is becoming gave Polesden Lacey to the nation. opinions. These stories add the necessary richer and truer as a result. Our Room Guide training looks at the shadows to the glitz of twentieth-century sources and how to bring contemporary high society that we portray. Bizarrely, one References voices back to our storytelling. The sources of the opportunities we had to do this in a 1 Cartland, Barbara, I Search for Rainbows for Mrs Greville’s life almost invariably have a little more depth this year was at Christmas. (Arrow Books, 1973); p.234. strong bias of one sort or another. Each As part of our ‘Three Kings’ theme, we 2 Nicolson, Harold, Diaries and Letters 1930– diarist who writes about her has his or her looked at the abdication of Edward VIII over 1939, 10 April 1939, Vol. 1 (Collins, 1973); own perspective, often a strong dislike or the Christmas of 1936 and produced iPad p.396. great admiration. Some are also writing at a content exploring the guest list for New Year 3 Corvidae, ‘Have you heard of distance of many years. The newspaper 1937. The guest list shows the range of Mrs Mrs Greville…?’, (short film, 2010) cuttings which Mrs Greville kept of her own Greville’s social and political acquaintances http://vimeo.com/53148419 life are generally fairly sycophantic. So and paints a fascinating picture of the sort 4 Evans, Sian, Mrs Ronnie: The Society Hostess knowing who said what about who brings of conversations held within her glittering who Collected Kings (National Trust Books, important layers to our understanding. Saloon walls. Amongst that festive house 2013). A closer acquaintance with the sources party were: the American Ambassador Mr and the odd well-placed quote gives skilled Ray Atherton, Nazi party member Otto von guides the opportunity to create discussion. Bismarck and his wife Ann-Mari, Sir Austen We can say ‘Beverley Nichols said this of Mrs Chamberlain, half-brother to the prime Greville but Harold Nicolson thought this. minister and at that point a supporter of What do you think?’ This is part of a gossipy Winston Churchill’s anti-appeasement theme entitled ‘Have you heard…?’3 which stance, Sir Alexander Cadogan, the newly has been running at Polesden for a number appointed Deputy Under-Secretary of of years now. We use quotes in a similar way Foreign Affairs, and Emile-Ernest de Cartier on grab sheets in each room. de Marchienne, the Belgian Ambassador.

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 55 Arthur’s war Chloe Tapping, House & Collections Manager, Scotney Castle, Kent

Arthur served on the Western Front for the majority of the war where he was involved in many of the major battles, including the Battle of Neuve Chappelle (March 1915), the major battles at Ypres, including the recapturing of Hill 60 (April and May 1915), the Somme (July to November 1916) and Passchendaele (October to November 1917). These were battles where some of the first uses of tanks and chemical weapons took place. The Fifth Division was redeployed to Italy at the end of 1917, which, despite being another battlefront, seemed like another world to many of the men after the mud and slaughter that they had witnessed on the Western Front. However, the relatively moderate conditions were short-lived as the Fifth Division was recalled to France in April 1918, taking part in many complex battles that forced the German Army into retreat and eventually to surrender. Arthur retired from the army in December 1919 after 38 years’ service and settled in London where he took up municipal work, including being elected to Westminster City Council and the administration of the Royal Artillery charities. He co-wrote (with Major D.S. Inman) the official history of the Fifth Division, The Fifth Division in the Great War, published in 1923. He continued to enjoy travelling and sport, and undertook hunting expeditions to India and Africa. On his way home from his last trip, when he travelled with his friend Major-General Sir Neill Brigadier-General Arthur Hussey. © National Trust Malcolm to Java and Borneo, he was taken ill with blackwater fever (a form of malaria). He died on 27 May 1923 in the General Hospital his winter Scotney Castle will host an A career soldier at Singapore, where he was given a ‘military exhibition from 9 October until 22 stature’ funeral and buried in Bidadari TMarch 2015 which will focus on the Brigadier-General Arthur Herbert Hussey Cemetery. The was played at his story of Arthur Hussey and his experiences was the third son of Edward Hussey III of funeral by the Middlesex Regiment. of the First World War. It will also tell the Scotney Castle. Born on 2 June 1863 at stories of the men of the local village of Scotney, along with a twin sister, Mildred, he Lamberhurst who sadly lost their lives during remained close to his family throughout his A wealth of artefacts the conflict. Our intention is for the life. He was educated at Eton and at the exhibition to demonstrate the juxtaposition Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, which This winter we will be exhibiting many of an officer from a wealthy aristocratic obtained him a commission into the Royal fascinating objects from our collection. The family and soldiers from a village, and the Artillery in 1882. A career soldier, Arthur exhibition will be displayed on the ground reality of war for both parties. It will also spent much of his army service in India and floor of the house and will include Arthur’s enable us to display our very large and also took part in the South African never-before-seen personal diaries of his diverse collection of war memorabilia and campaign. In the First World War, he went experiences of the First World War, the period items; we’re very proud of our out on Sir Henry Rawlinson’s staff with the letters that he sent home to his elder sister, extensive collections here at Scotney and Seventh Division and was soon afterwards Gertrude, First World War recruitment we’re always looking for new opportunities appointed CRA (Commander Royal Artillery) posters, stereoscopic and photographic to show more of it. of the Fifth Division. images from the battlefields, as well as other

56 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories family and war-related items from the time. abundance of primary sources and we are contrasts between Arthur’s letters home, as We shall also take this opportunity to show hoping that our visitors will be able to use well as his dispassionate daily diary entries another side to Arthur; he was a very talented the exhibition to look at how we form of the war itself. These have all been carefully amateur artist and brought back many opinions about historical events from such transcribed for us by a team of volunteers. beautiful sketches from his travels. We’ll have objects as an historian would do. We will be asking our local community of a selection of his artwork on display. General Haig wrote the foreword to staff, volunteers, visitors and local residents It will be exciting to be able to show our The Fifth Division in the Great War and states: to record the diary entries for posterity, and 3D stereoscopic images as they should be ‘This brief summary of a splendid tale of excerpts will be played in a quiet room where seen and to give our visitors the feeling of achievement gives but an inadequate idea of we shall also show some of the photographic being transported back in time by viewing the courage and devotion displayed through images that we have from the front line. them through a stereoscopic viewer. four-and-a-half years of war. The full story Amazingly the majority of this exhibition The recruitment posters that we have in can only be understood by those who know is based around the contents of one box our collection are quite rare in that they have from their own experience what it was our found in the stores. The excitement amongst clearly been used and yet are in great troops were called upon to do, and in which the Scotney team is that if the discovery of condition. After the initial awe one feels they accomplished this task.’ one box has led to this fascinating journey, when looking at the artistry of the posters, We hope that our exhibition will help to what other stories have we yet to find? there is an awful sense of sadness as one tell some of the story of the achievements realises that residents from our local village and convey much of that courage and would have looked at these very same images devotion. Arthur’s conclusion in the book is: and signed up, some never to come home ‘The love of the grand old Division, the again. We will also be using this connection recollection of the many battles and the to tell the stories of the brave men who left noble achievements of individuals, and lastly Lamberhurst, impossibly unprepared for the the memory of our fallen Comrades … will horrors that they were about to encounter, long be cherished in the hearts of those who and who gave their lives for their country. have had the honour to serve in it.’ We are very lucky to have such an Our exhibition will show the subtle

A Day in the Life: Interrupted. Standen and the First World War Victoria Witty, House Steward, Standen, West Sussex

What’s it about? family home. Maggie died in 1947 and Helen with the local Red Cross (Maggie also served in 1972. On her death, she bequeathed the as a VAD nurse but was based in England.). Our exhibition is intended to tell visitors property to the National Trust. Interpretation boards will be hung from the about Helen Beale’s experience of working coat-hooks, interspersed with coats, hats as a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse and scarves, moving to nurse’s aprons and in Etaples on the north-east coast of France. The exhibition other accoutrements. The hospital at Etaples was huge and the The second part of the exhibition is in the attached basecamp became notorious for its The exhibition will be held in our Cloakroom Business Room. Cleared of furniture, the poor conditions – indeed it was later the and Business Room and it is intended that it walls will be covered by wooden tongue- setting for a mutiny, described by Vera will break into the visitor’s experience of the and-groove screens to represent the huts Brittan in Testament of Youth. However, the ongoing ‘Day in the life’ theme of the house, that made up the majority of No. 26 General primary focus of our exhibition will be in much the same way that the war broke Hospital at Etaples. Designed by Chris, the Helen’s experience as related in letters she into the lives of everyone at the time. interpretation has been printed on the wrote and received from her family, which The space constraints and relatively few installation and includes quotes from Helen’s only touch upon what was happening in the pieces of furniture available encouraged me, letters, and images and text relating to her wider arena. assisted by Chris Hill, our former Visitor time in Etaples. There will be a camp-bed Helen’s personality and interests emerge Services Manager, to move away from the and other things recognisable from Helen’s clearly from her letters. She was the very familiar image/text boards to create a letters, plus a VAD uniform recreated by a youngest child of Mr & Mrs Beale who more immersive kind of exhibition. volunteer. She often contrasted her work commissioned Standen from the architect The exhibition is in two parts: the scene with her life at Standen, to which the war and great friend of William Morris, Philip is set in the Cloakroom where we have appears as a backdrop. Helen herself realised Webb. Neither Helen nor her sister, Maggie, background material about the VAD scheme, that she was living through history but, as married and they remained living in the Helen and Maggie, and their involvement she said, ‘It’s a great time to be out here & a

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 57 The first job was to transcribe the letters. I engaged a large group of existing property volunteers from all sorts of areas, from the house to garden and estate. This took most of 2013, and the final editing was only completed in April this year. Rather than try to write the whole exhibition myself, I enlisted the most enthusiastic transcribers, whom I knew would work collaboratively and with guidance, as they had by now the knowledge as well as the time to prepare much of the copy. Although I gave my group of volunteers guidance and met with them regularly, I kept my involvement quite flexible as I wanted their voice to come through – they are so enthusiastic about the letters and I wanted this spirit to come through in their interpretation. I had my own strong ideas of how I saw the exhibition, but had to remind myself that my way is not the only way to do it! They also met on their own to discuss the topics and decide on their methods. My role became one of facilitating and, whenever they needed it, helping them with their focus. This was a new way of working for me as usually I write exhibitions by myself, and I knew that the volunteers working on this hadn’t done anything like it before. I had previously collaborated with other volunteers on general room interpretation and I know how very interested and passionate people become about the history and stories of ‘their’ house. It seemed like a good opportunity to involve them more in the process while making the use of all Helen’s letters more manageable. As can happen on projects, we did run behind at times – we had so much material and choices to make! However, we are now up and running. The exhibition will remain until 16 November and I hope you’ll come and see it for yourself!

Acknowledgements

With thanks to all my volunteer transcribers, especially Eileen Hall who also proofread Helen (left) and Maggie outside the Conservatory at Standen. The jokey caption ‘Off to Bulgaria!!’ was written by one of their brothers – they weren’t really off to Bulgaria! © Beale family/Janet K. Watson every single letter and Val Walter who started off transcribing by herself, and to Anne Philips who designed and created the replica thing to remember for always, and I wouldn’t and her family wrote a huge number of VAD uniform, and my team of very be missing it for anything, though it is rather letters, both during her time with the Red enthusiastic and understanding volunteer a strain on one’s nerves & temper sometimes.’ Cross and when she worked as one of the exhibition writers. first recruits to the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) later in the war. In 2018, How we put everything together when we are ready to commemorate the end of the war, I plan a new exhibition based I decided to keep a very narrow focus for around letters from her WRNS days. There the exhibition, concentrating on Helen’s are some brilliant stories and experiences time in France, from August 1915 to within the letters from both periods, and for September 1916, although we do have far her achievements Helen was awarded an more correspondence to draw upon. Helen OBE, which we also hold in the collection.

58 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories A First World War garden project Damian Harris, Head Gardener, Dunham Massey, Cheshire

Patients and nurses in the gardens at Dunham Massey, c.1917. © National Trust Images/Robert Thrift

unham Massey has turned the clock flowers there – it was noted that there were highlighted some of the medicinal herbs that back to its time as Stamford Military many who took regular trips across to the would have been grown on site, and an area DHospital. Until 11 November 2015, walled garden to visit the glasshouses, fruit, has been planted with some of these. many of its grand reception rooms will house flowers … and the ladies? The old rose garden would have offered hospital beds and nursing facilities just as patients somewhere to sit and relax in a they did in 1917–19. sheltered sunny spot. Although this area has Sister Bennett, the nurse in charge of Wartime garden since been transformed into a new Stamford Hospital, firmly believed in the contemporary design, the ethos of the old restorative power of fresh air and sunshine. During the course of our wartime project, scheme is still very present; it is still a She fully exploited the beautiful gardens and the garden will aim to give the same calm fantastic place to sit, relax, contemplate parkland at Dunham for her ‘fresh air cure’. relaxing environment that the soldiers would and recuperate with the intoxicating scent We know from photographs in the archives have experienced. We are creating two of the roses. that some of the beds from the house were victory gardens, a scheme similar to the We have sown poppies around the new moved outside to the parterre, and the better-known ‘Dig for victory’ campaign in visitor reception building. This iconic plant, patients were encouraged to sit, and even the Second World War, where people were so closely associated with the First World have their meals in the Inner Courtyard. This encouraged to plant vegetables to War, will offer a short but wonderful display allowed even bed-ridden patients the chance supplement the food that was in short for everyone entering the property. to get out of the house and enjoy the sun supply. Using our plant archives as a We are going to give a home to some new and fresh air to aid their recovery. There is reference, we will be using heritage varieties rescue chickens this year as the Dunham also evidence of patients playing games such and trying to obtain cultivars that would Massey flock has dwindled over the last few as croquet on the lawns, and a cabin was have been grown on site. As well as seasons. Chickens would have been kept built in the garden for the soldiers to visit vegetables, flowers would have been grown very economically by almost every and relax in. to enhance the home, help raise the spirits household during the war. In return for During the war, several female gardeners and give some relief from war; here again, kitchen scraps and somewhere to sleep, the were employed, mainly in the walled garden. heritage varieties will be used to offer the chickens would have provided a regular This appears to have encouraged the scent and colour that people would have supply of fresh eggs for their owners as well soldiers to take an interest in the plants and known then. Our research has also as a roast dinner every now and then.

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 59 Events

Two garden fêtes were held by Stamford Hospital so we followed their lead and held our own this July. We also got our visitors involved in a participatory event to show how gardens had a role in supplementing wartime rations. The reaction to the change has been great, with visitor numbers reaching a record high; the feedback about the transformation of the house, and the emotional connection which it has created, has been overwhelming. The stark reality of what life was like for the soldiers returning from the front and the injuries that these brave individuals had to cope with is something that many of us have forgotten and have taken for granted. I certainly didn’t appreciate some of the horrific injuries, both physical and psychological, that hospitals like Stamford had to deal with daily, even though they were hundreds of miles from the fighting. I find it amazing to look back at the treatments that were being pioneered in hospitals during the First World War and realising how far medically we have evolved. We have planted our vegetable garden with heritage varieties that are historically accurate to the period. Many medical procedures in use today have © National Trust Dunham Massey roots in field medicine developed then.

Red Poppies and White Butterflies: small stories of the Great War Sarah Burnage, Project Officer, Nostell Priory, North Yorkshire

ed Poppies and White Butterflies’ was a series of commemorative ‘Ractivities that collectively became a compelling narrative of the experiences of Nostell Priory’s people, from soldiers, miners, nurses and munitions workers through to the wartime highs and lows of its owners, the aristocratic Winn family. The project was part of a broader collaborative venture with the Yorkshire Country House Partnership entitled ‘Duty Calls: The Country House at War’. Before we became involved, little was known about how Nostell Priory and its people were affected by the First World War. Organising a range of community engagement activities in the run-up to the centenary, and doing it through the ‘Duty Calls’ initiative, was the brainchild of Chris Blackburn, House and A poppy for Alfred Bradshaw, killed in September 1915. © National Trust/Nostell Priory

60 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Nostell Priory during the war. This ‘community archive’ offers a vivid and very tangible reflection of the enthusiasm and interest the project has generated locally.

The events

A key aspect of Chris’s original vision was a series of property-wide events, such as the popular ‘WWI Family History Days’, where visitors have been able, with the help of volunteers, to trace their own relatives. To celebrate International Women’s Day we held a ‘Women at War’ weekend in March 2014. Actresses from Yew Tree Youth Theatre played real-life characters from the community, and spectators got to meet local heroines such as VAD nurse Zenia

A butterfly for Wilfred Bellamy, killed in April 1918. © National Trust/Nostell Priory

Collections Manager. The project has given 2013. Many of these were held in our ‘Old us the perfect opportunity not only to add Kitchen’ where, in addition to interpretation to the house’s rich history, but also to share panels and information about the project, the wartime history and personal stories of we have two computer terminals with access the local community. to Ancestry.com enabling visitors to research their own family’s First World War story. The room also houses our large-scale Something special commemorative meadow wall, a large fabric hanging where visitors are encouraged to Funding for the project was secured in leave a red poppy or white butterfly in January 2013 from the Heritage Lottery memory of an ancestor involved in that war. Fund, and in March 2013 I was taken on as Our commemorative meadow wall has Project Officer. My very varied role has proved to be immensely popular with included in-depth research into the Winn visitors, and the comments left by relatives family’s forgotten war story, gathering have been incredibly poignant and heartfelt. accounts from the local community, running To stress the transition for visitors workshops and school visits, as well as arriving in the Old Kitchen through the establishing a varied programme of house, we installed an exhibition of war commemorative events. Research for this photographs along the linking corridor. project was significantly aided by our These inspiring and moving photographs, partnership with West Yorkshire Archives shared with us by visitors and members of Services, which had recently received the local community, show the faces of the funding to re-catalogue Nostell Priory’s people who lived and worked in and around archive. This not only resulted in many collaborative events, including talks, workshops, family activities and a memory Eva White, munitions worker, one of the photos shared with us for our photo archive. project, but also gave me privileged access © National Trust/Nostell Priory to the collection and ensured I was kept abreast of all new finds. Indeed, the project’s ambition to reach deep into the local Harrrison,and munitions worker Eva White, community has led us to develop a number as well as the shopaholic Lady St Oswald and of other rich and fruitful partnerships with her romantic daughter Edith. The day also groups and organisations such as Yew Tree included a host of themed family activities, Youth Theatre, BBC Radio Leeds, Ackworth from a munitions time challenge, First World School, Crofton Historical Society and War postcard competition, VAD station and Wakefield Council. knitting socks for soldiers on the Front. With the support and help of such That weekend achieved 900 visitors on the partnerships and the new research Saturday and 1,500 on the Sunday and undertaken, Red Poppies and White managed to reach a very diverse audience Butterflies was launched with an innovative who were overwhelming in their praise and exciting programme of events in June Our meadow wall. © National Trust/Nostell Priory and appreciation.

Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Views 61 social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Audioboo to promote and record the project, giving us an online presence and a much wider audience than only those who visited. We have had our stories published in the local press, history journals and featured in Hudson’s Historic Houses (2014) and some also feature in The Country House at War (June 2014), a National Trust publication, written by Simon Greaves. On 5 June BBC Radio Leeds aired Rowland Winn’s war story from Nostell Priory and included interviews with members of the community who have taken part, giving us a sound archive of the project.

Success through support

The project would not have been possible without our dedicated volunteers. Existing Trust volunteers, new recruits and members of the local community were enlisted for the project. A series of volunteer role profiles was created including digital archivist, family history advisor, researcher and events assistant, and the team received training in accessing online archival resources (such as www.ancestry.com, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk), accessing and recording information found in period newspapers, as well as handling and documenting archival material. Some of the volunteers also received training on using our HLF-funded scanner and Lightbox Digging in for our World War Allotment challenge. © Dominic Russell-Price archiving programme to help record visual finds and upload them on to our Flickr site. They had opportunities to attend in-house Another event which had its genesis in start of the national centenary talks and larger regional events and lectures the local community was our World War commemorations. On 27 July we held the on the impact of the war on the country Allotment challenge. Run in the Easter ‘Party at the End of World’, a re-creation of house. As a result of all this training, the holidays, it offered families the opportunity Rowland George Winn’s (3rd Baron St team quickly developed a firm grasp of the to ‘dig for victory’ by developing a small plot Oswald) coming-of-age party which took subject matter and became excellent of land in the kitchen garden. The two-day place a week before Britain declared war on advocates for the project. activity (which was revisited in the late Germany. With performances by Yew Tree Overall the success of Red Poppies and summer for harvesting) explored the role Youth Theatre, Nostell Colliery’s brass band, White Poppies can perhaps best be that children played during the war in WI stalls, period games and family activities, measured by the way in which it has engaged turning over fallow land for food production. the event offered visitors a glimpse of a the local community. We have been thrilled Working with Wakefield Council, we held world on the brink of catastrophic change. In by the positive reactions and overwhelmed an Armed Forces Day in June, the the days that followed, visitors were able to by the generosity of local people in sharing culmination of a competition called ‘Our listen to an audio guide that used period their family’s stories and wartime Heroes’. Promoted through school visits and letters and newspaper reports to tell the memorabilia. This has helped us to amass a local libraries, children and young people wartime story of Nostell’s people. remarkably rich and varied community were encouraged to trace a First World War archive which will have a legacy and impact solider (a relative or a local figure) and tell on the narrative of Nostell long after the their story using a pre-prepared storyboard. Legacy project is completed. Our success in this We also hosted ‘Shaping up for Battle’ in area was recently acknowledged at the partnership with Pontefract Scouts, a three- The success of the project has ensured that National Trust’s ‘Bringing Places to Life’ day event which recreated a 1914 Scouts our events and workshops have been award at which Red Poppies and White camp and demonstrated the role the attended and contributed to by a diverse Butterflies won the award for ‘Community movement played during the war. audience. To leave a long-term legacy, we Involvement’. Indeed, we believe we have a The culmination of the Red Poppies and have significantly developed our website to useful model of how a small-scale project White Butterflies programme took place in act as a repository for the wartime stories we can offer innovative and inspiring late July/early August to coincide with the have researched and gathered. We also used community outreach.

62 Views Front line engagement: interpreting war stories Articles of war

Brothers in arms: the conservation of a First World War photograph Bryher Mason, Conservation Plan Consultant, Tredegar House, Newport, and Sarah Allen, Freelance Photographic Materials Conservator

astle Drogo in Devon was built by Julius Drewe, a self-made millionaire Cof the Edwardian era. Designed by Sir , the castle was not only an Before-and-after full-length architectural masterpiece but also a shot. © National Trust/ comfortable family home equipped with the Sarah Allen latest gadgets. In general, the collection reflects the tastes and interests of a family whose lives revolved around their love of the outdoors and spending time together. Photography was also a family enthusiasm, resulting in a substantial collection of informal and formal portraits. They seem to have been particularly fond of opaltypes (photographs on milk-glass or porcelain, frequently tinted) as well as unusually large portraits. Their collection records the lives of the five children in the family, from small babies through to adulthood. At the outbreak of the First World War, Julius and Frances Drewe had three sons in their late teens and early twenties and, perhaps inevitably, all three joined the army as soon as they were able. The youngest, Cedric, was only 18 when he joined up. He spent the first year of the war at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and served with the Royal Field Artillery until 1919. Basil served in both the Devonshire Regiment and the Royal Garrison Artillery. Adrian, the Drewe’s eldest son, joined the Royal Garrison Artillery and was promoted to the rank of major. Adrian was killed in action at Ypres on 12 July 1917, aged 26. His parents were devastated. Like many grieving families at the time, they dedicated a room to their son’s memory. A small room at Castle Drogo acts as a repository for Adrian’s personal effects which range from his academic gown to items he took to the battlefield, such as his cap and badge. One of the most striking items in the room is a two-thirds life-size it is often mistaken for a painting, the subtle tinted colour photograph of Adrian in his colouration of the tinting giving the military uniform. Set in an ornate gilt frame, impression of a ‘hyper-real’ portrait.

Articles of war Views 63 Once the structural integrity of the object had been re-established, Sarah undertook sympathetic touching-in of the areas of loss to the emulsion. This was carried out by first applying a layer of gelatine as the ground and then retouching the losses using a fine paintbrush and watercolours mixed to match the surrounding area. The 6in/6ft approach was utilised for the infilling; i.e. the areas of loss were touched in using a stippling technique so that they were not visible when viewed from 6ft away, but were able to be seen if examined more closely. This approach was taken so as to show clearly the areas of modern retouching. It also allows the fact that the print had been damaged in the past to be seen – a reflection of the way in which Cedric’s portrait was treated compared to Adrian’s. Before-and-after close-up of face. As the intention was to put the portrait © National Trust/Sarah Allen on display, a special purpose-built frame was constructed for the print. It was made from dark oak so as to blend in with other items in the show-rooms at Castle Drogo. The frame was made to fit the print tightly, but care was taken to ensure that the photographic Cedric’s forgotten image stored in high humidity conditions, emulsion was held well away from the although, fortunately, mould had not surface of the glazing. This was carried out However, there is another very large portrait affected the emulsion. using a wooden fillet. This fillet and all other photograph at Castle Drogo. The For all of these reasons, the photograph wooden interior surfaces of the frame were photograph is the same size as Adrian’s and was seen as being a high priority for sealed with EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) in employs the same techniques. The subject is conservation, both to safeguard its future order to prevent harmful gases from the the youngest son, Cedric, and appears to and to enable it to be put on display within wood affecting the emulsion. To ensure that have been taken in the same photographic the castle. In the autumn of 2013, Cedric was gases could not escape, the entire interior studio as Adrian’s (there doesn’t seem to be sent to Sarah Allen, Photographic was then sealed again with 3M Scotch 425 an equivalent surviving portrait of Basil). Conservator, for remedial conservation. The soft aluminium tape. The tape also sealed However, Cedric’s portrait has not received aim was to put Cedric on display in the castle the glazing within the frame, preventing the same cherished treatment as Adrian’s. for the first time, ready for the 2014 centenary future ingress of pests such as thrips. Finally Perhaps because Cedric survived the war, of the outbreak of the First World War. a backing board was inserted, which had the portrait became forgotten amongst the been covered with Moistop barrier foil. The family possessions at Castle Drogo. The purpose of the Moistop was two-fold: firstly photograph was unframed and it was clear Cedric in Sarah’s care to prevent harmful gases from the wooden that at some stage in its life it had been backing board affecting the emulsion; and stored folded. There were extensive areas of Firstly, Sarah undertook a surface clean of secondly, as high humidity levels have been physical damage to the surface of the print, the photograph by brush-vacuuming with a prevalent in Castle Drogo, it was felt that ranging from light but disfiguring damage to squirrel-hair mop and museum vac with a providing the entire object with the Moistop the surface of the photographic emulsion to protected nozzle. Areas which still remained seal would help prevent any future damage areas of complete loss where both the ingrained with dirt were cleaned with smoke to the object. Once the backing board was in emulsion and baryta layer – a coating which sponge and, if needed, cotton-wool swabs place, tabs were inserted to hold it tightly stops the emulsion sinking into the paper barely dampened. into the frame. The gap was then sealed and also brightens the image – had been In order to rectify the planar distortion again with the aluminium tape. removed down to the paper layer. and to prepare it for framing, the print then Cedric is now on display at Castle Drogo, It had also been stored unprotected for a needed to be flattened. It was humidified in a close to his brother’s memorial room. number of years, resulting in not only an purpose-made capillary matting/Gore-Tex extremely dirty surface but also in physical sandwich in order to make it more flexible. About Sarah Allen damage around the edges of the print. At This then allowed it to be flattened in a Sarah is a Freelance Photographic Materials some point, liquid had dripped across the purpose-made press. The press was Conservator, who works from the Manger surface of the print (exactly what the weighted down and the print was allowed Barn Conservation Studio, Fox Talbot substance comprised could not be slowly to reach its original EMC (Equilibrium Museum, Lacock, and has worked determined during the course of treatment). Moisture Content) over a period of six extensively for the National Trust. In light of issues with water ingress into the weeks. Once the print was flattened, it was castle, it is perhaps not surprising that the possible to consolidate the delaminating print was also suffering from having been layers of the photograph.

64 Views Articles of war A National Trust tiger hunt Pat Morris, Ecologist and former member of the National Trust Council

was in the basement at Gunby Hall where there is a small room dedicated to Field IMarshall Sir Archibald Montgomery- Massingberd, who gave the estate to the Trust. Under the table in ‘Archie’s Room’ was a faded tiger skin staring at me with glassy eyes. I stared back because I’d know those eyes anywhere! They are a highly characteristic feature of tiger trophies prepared by the Van Ingen brothers’ factory at Mysore in southern India. This used to be the world’s largest taxidermy business, employing 150 staff. They actually specialised in preparing tiger trophies – more than 20,000 of them in about 90 years.

Special eyes

Van Ingen’s customers included many of the Indian nobility and also serving British officers and civil servants who went tiger hunting as part of their Indian experience in the days of the Raj. Tiger hunting was part of the social scene, particularly for visiting dignitaries (British and Indian), but also a practical matter. Workers were reluctant to enter the forests where tigers prowled, and at one time bounties were paid to encourage their removal in order that normal forestry operations could continue. Tiger shooting was carefully managed by Forestry Officers to ensure that numbers were kept under Field Marshal Archie Montgomery-Massingberd by Francis Hodge (1883–1949). © National Trust/ Robert Thrift

control, but not allowed to fall below a viable population level. Today of course, tigers are scarce and fully protected, their forest habitat having given way to ever-expanding maize fields and farmland. But those eyes are special. Other taxidermists would use eyes in which the different colours were formed by melting together blobs of different coloured glass. Van Ingen eyes are plain glass with the rear surface hand-painted with concentric coloured rings. A man who painted them all his life (and the even more distinctive eyes for leopard trophies) went almost blind in old age. He had to make sure that each pair matched, despite each eye being a separate job. As for the tongue, that’s even more distinctive. A Van Ingen tiger tongue is spatulate, almost circular, and made from a The Van Ingen tiger. © Pat Morris

Articles of war Views 65 Above left: Here’s looking at you – with Van Ingen tiger eyes. © Pat Morris Above right: Van Ingen tongues were almost circular and made from a thin sheet of lead, painted a brownish pink. © Pat Morris. Left: Workers preparing tiger specimens in the factory. © Van Ingen & Van Ingen Below left: The eye painter colouring the backs of glass blanks, using diluted oil paints. © Van Ingen & Van Ingen

replace the lost flesh with clay, plaster and other stuffing materials. This was expensively laborious and also meant that every specimen was different and all of them were heavy and liable to crumble and split if ill- treated. The Van Ingen innovation was to sculpt a clay model of a skinned head, form a mould around it (made of cheap concrete) and then use that to cast innumerable hollow papier-maché mannequin over which the skin could be set. This enabled scores of trophy mounts to be made, with consistent quality and appearance using relatively unskilled labour. The specimens were very robust and also quite light, so they were easily transported to England when people like Archie came home after their service in India. Indeed these items were so well made and so numerous, that they still turn up more or less every month in the UK antiques trade despite being 80–100 years old in many cases. The use of moulds and mannequins also means that all the tigers and all the leopards have exactly the same facial expressions, not very lifelike, but suitably fierce to impress their owners and again easily recognised once you know what they are.

Knowing one’s tiger sheet of lead. The tiny papillae raised on its Moreover, the method they used to surface were the work of another patient prepare trophy heads on big black shields or The Gunby tiger has no whiskers and that’s craftsman who sat tapping away with a the raised heads on their tiger and leopard probably because tiger whiskers were highly hammer and nail to make them. All other rugs involved a technique now widely prized for their supposed medicinal qualities. taxidermists made their trophy tongues out adopted by taxidermists, but ahead of its Anyone who shot a tiger had to be vigilant or of plaster or clay, like a flattened sausage with time when Archie’s animals were processed. their trophy would be plundered by the parallel edges. So, it is small wonder that a Traditionally, taxidermists would clean up an beaters who helped find and acquire the Van Ingen trophy can be recognised so easily. animal’s skull by boiling and scraping, then animal. And if they didn’t steal the whiskers,

66 Views Articles of war workers at the tannery might, given half a Seeking the source four months to finish the job. The same page chance. So, another man at the factory had of the ledger shows Archie also consigned the job of making replacement whiskers, Archie spent two periods in India, in a long the skin, skull and ‘two hoofs’ of an Indian using emery paper to polish and wear down and highly distinguished military career. bison to the factory, the horns to be bristles from a yard broom. These would not According to the Gunby Hall records, his mounted separately. The skin would have normally be added to heads on rugs as their tiger was acquired in 1921 in his second been very large indeed and was probably whiskers anyway tend to get broken off as a period of service during which he also discarded at some time, perhaps even before result of being kicked or hit with a broom reorganised the Indian Army. The head has a being shipped to England. The hooves may too often. Poor Archie’s tiger is a bit the job number (871) crudely painted now be among the items still at Gunby Hall. worse for wear having experienced many underneath the wooden base. This is Archie was only away from England for a years of exactly that sort of ignominious important because in 2003 my wife and I couple of years, including the long journey treatment. It’s also faded and a bit split visited and befriended Joubert, the last to India, so he can’t have had much time for because the Van Ingens used a form of surviving Van Ingen brother (he died in 2013 tiger shooting and probably didn’t manage tanning that leaves the skin rather brittle. aged 101). He showed us round the derelict more than one hunting trip. The teeth are brittle too, an inevitable factory, now demolished to make way for a It’s nice to think that we now know a little change as they dry out over time, and they supermarket. He also showed us an more about this rather dejected-looking become badly fractured. incredible archive of business documents. In tiger skin and its connection with Archie Much of this applies equally to the particular, they had kept most of their order Montgomery-Massingberd. Both offer a link leopard skin that accompanies the tiger, books dating from the end of the nineteenth with history, a ladder into an age now long especially the distinctive eyes and tongue. century until the 1990s. In these big leather- gone when tigers were fair game and a tiger- Alongside them is a bigger tiger skin rug bound ledgers were details of over 50,000 skin rug the traditional souvenir of one’s (which the National Trust acquired later) jobs, some of them comprising a dozen or time spent in India. with modelled head prepared by Rowland more tigers. On our fifth visit to Mysore, Ward Ltd, the world leaders in hunting Joubert finally allowed us to copy the books, trophies from about 1880 until the mid- page by page, taking 12,000 photographs in About the author twentieth century. It makes an ideal three days. Now, given a date or job number, comparison, with its plaster sausage-shaped we can trace individual Van Ingen specimens Dr Pat Morris is an ecologist, author and tongue and pre-coloured glass eyes. This to learn more about them. Archie’s tiger is mammologist, particularly well known for his animal would have been sent to London as a the only one with that number in 1921. studies on hedgehogs. He is also a leading rough skin pickled in salt, along with the The ledger records the skin arriving at the authority on antique taxidermy and is a dried skull. It was set up here by craftsmen, factory on 25 August from Major General taxidermy inspector for Defra. In 2012 he using lots of clay and plaster so it is quite A.A. Montgomery of the General Staff at was awarded the Founder's Medal by the heavy. It would also have been much more Army HQ, along with bits of a chital (spotted Society for the History of Natural History. expensive than the skins prepared at the Van deer). A big ‘D’ in blue crayon signifies that Ingen factory, owing to the much lower the tiger was dispatched on 29 December labour costs in India. that year, having taken an unusually brief

The Van Ingen Order Book for 1921 with details of Archie’s tiger. © Courtesy of Joubert Van Ingen

Articles of war Views 67 Paintings in hiding: the storage of National Gallery paintings during the Second World War Christine Sitwell, Paintings Conservation Adviser

hen London’s National Gallery safety, some house owners proved to be wagons designed that would protect the closed its doors to visitors on challenging. At Penrhyn Castle where the paintings during movement. The transport W23 August 1939, a major operation paintings were stored throughout the house, of paintings to the quarry presented was begun to remove 1,800 paintings to safe including the Dining Room, the greatest problems as crates containing the larger storage as it appeared that war with Germany hazard was the owner, the 4th Lord Penrhyn. paintings were buffeted by high winds. One was imminent. Davies recorded in a private note to a of the largest paintings in the collection, Van In 1938, as international tensions colleague, ‘…one of our troubles at Penrhyn Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I had to increased, the Gallery had already begun to Castle is that the owner is celebrating the pass under a low railway bridge which devise plans for the removal of the entire war by being fairly constantly drunk. He necessitated hollowing out the road and collection (paintings, sculpture, books and stumbled with a dog into the dining-room a deflating the tyres on the lorry to enable it to archives) to Wales to protect it from possible few days ago; this will not happen again.’ pass safely under the bridge. bombing raids over London. It had been (Bosman, 2008; p.25) Over a period of five weeks, the entire agreed that the University of North Wales at By 1940, the Germans had advanced collection was moved to its new home. Bangor and the National Library at through northern Europe, the British Paintings were hung on walls and stacked in Aberystwyth would house the bulk of the Expeditionary Force had retreated to rows within the individual buildings, and collections, but additional locations were Dunkirk and there was a general fear of lighting and temperature were controlled sought as it was soon realised that more invasion. Concern was also growing for the with humidity readings taken on a regular storage space would be required. safety of the paintings in North Wales, basis. One interesting outcome of the Martin Davies, the Assistant Keeper of particularly as German bombers heading for storage conditions was the recognition of Fine Art at the Gallery, and Ian Rawlins, the the Liverpool docks flew directly over many the importance of maintaining relatively Gallery’s Scientific Adviser, began to visit of the locations where paintings were constant temperature and humidity to various country houses to assess their housed. It was suggested that the paintings preserve paintings. After five years of such suitability. Penrhyn Castle, Gwynedd, met should be evacuated to Canada but Kenneth care in storage, the paintings emerged in the physical requirements with regard to Clark, the Director of the National Gallery, good condition. access, suitable humidity levels, minimum was opposed to the idea as he feared that There was, however, one hazard within fire risks and accommodation for security the paintings would be at greater risk from the quarry which did lead to damage. Rock guards and was added to the list of country German submarines than in their present falls within the quarry were a constant fear houses that would eventually house parts of locations. He wrote to Winston Churchill to and although the paintings were inside the painting collection. The transport of the express his concerns to which Churchill buildings, there was concern that either paintings raised particular difficulties as it replied, ‘Hide them in caves and cellars, but minor rock falls would damage the buildings was realised that it would be impossible to not one painting shall leave this island.’ and their contents or the entire collection commandeer lorries in sufficient numbers to (Bosman, 2008; p.31) could be buried by a massive collapse of the remove the paintings from London once war rock ceiling. After one minor rock fall in 1942, commenced so it was decided that they scaffolding was erected below the rock should go by rail from Camden goods Hide them in caves and cellars ceiling to provide additional protection. station to Bangor. To reduce shock and Unfortunately in 1943 a large rock fall vibration, the wagons were fitted with In the summer of 1940, Martin Davies and penetrated one of the buildings, causing specially modified buffers, and large Ian Rawlins began to search for a suitable minor damage to two paintings and leading containers were built to house the paintings. underground storage area in the mines and to the evacuation of three hundred To ensure safe passage, control points along slate quarries in Wales. The ideal location paintings. Inspection by civil engineers the route were telegraphed and the train was Manod slate quarry near Blaenau concluded that the whole structure was carried a special headlamp code for instant Ffestiniog as it was remote, 520m (1,700ft) stable and further rock falls were unlikely. identification, though few staff knew the above sea level and was accessible only by a nature of the load. long, winding, mountainous road. In addition, it was vast, with numerous Life underground underground chambers. Paintings on the move To prepare the quarry, 5,000 tons of rock The quarry was more than just a storage area had to be blasted away to make an entrance as it was also a working area. Martin Davies By late August 1939, the carefully devised tunnel of sufficient size for the largest spent the duration of the war studying the plans of 1938 had been carried out and the paintings. Inside, freestanding brick paintings in order to revise the National paintings were safely housed in Bangor and buildings were erected to protect the Gallery’s catalogues of Early Netherlandish in various country houses in North Wales. As paintings from slate dust and to provide a Paintings, the British School, the French Martin Davies recorded in his diary, not all stable environment. A narrow-gauge railway School and the Earlier Italian School. As the the country-house locations proved to be was extended to transport the paintings to National Gallery library was also housed in ideal. Whilst the houses provided physical different chambers within the quarry, and the quarry, he had ready access to

68 Views Articles of war The evacuation of paintings during the Second World War. © Crown copyright

information for his catalogues. A colleague 23 October; by incredible fortune, the western side, which had taken the brunt of described Martin’s daily routine as ‘in the disposal team were on their lunch break at the bombs, was unusable and other galleries morning he would emerge thin and the time. Both the British Museum and the had either lost glass from the skylights or colourless as a ghost, and would be driven Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) were hit by were covered with corrugated iron. The full up to the caves, carrying with him a strong high-explosive bombs and by incendiary and reconstruction of the Gallery took almost a torch and several magnifying glasses. With smaller bombs on other occasions. The decade. As part of the reconstruction, air these he would examine every square British Library lost books collected by King conditioning was installed as the importance millimetre of a few pictures’(Bosman, 2008; George III when an incendiary bomb fell on of environmental control in the preservation p.83). A small conservation studio was 23 September 1940. The last of the large air of paintings had been observed during their erected outside the entrance to the quarry raids on London, and one of the most time in Manod. and a number of paintings cleaned. destructive, took place on 10–11 May 1941; nearly every museum, including the National References Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Bosman, Suzanne, The National Gallery in More paintings come to Manod British Museum, the Tate Gallery and the Wartime (National Gallery Company, Wallace Collection, all suffered some London, 2008). Although Manod had been kept as a secret damage, the British Museum extensively so. National Gallery archives related to the location, other museums eventually heard storage of paintings during the Second about it and asked if their paintings could be World War. stored there as well. The Courtauld Institute The paintings come home of Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Soane Museum, the Victoria and Albert Germany surrendered on 7 May 1945 and on Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the 9 May, the National Gallery closed its doors Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool sent parts of to the public so that 60 paintings could be their collections to Manod. The Royal returned for a reopening of two rooms in the Collection arranged for drawings by less-damaged eastern side of the National Leonardo, Michelangelo and Holbein to be Gallery. The exhibition was opened by King stored there, to be followed by some of their George VI and Queen Elizabeth on 17 May. A more valuable paintings. reporter from the Manchester Guardian They were wise to take precautions as wrote: ‘No fanfare of trumpets heralded the many of the galleries were hit or suffered return of sixty of its most famous pictures to indirect damage on many occasions. From 7 the National Gallery a few days ago, yet their September 1940, London was bombed for 57 presence in the first two rooms on the right consecutive nights. The National Gallery of the entrance hall is surely the completest suffered further significant damage later that symbol of victory in Europe.’ Within six year. A direct hit on 17 October failed to months, all the paintings had returned but explode until the bomb was being cleared on many could not be rehung because the

Articles of war Views 69 Monuments and memories

The Robertson brothers’ memorials Alan Benny, Physicist (retired) and Jacky Ferneyhough, Researcher (War Memorials)

wo miles to the south of Busbridge Many years before, when walking in and in the Royal Army Service Corps in February church, Surrey, is the entrance to the around the Devil’s Punchbowl at Hindhead, 1915 and transferred, at his request, to the TNational Trust property of Hydon's I had seen a similar memorial column at a King's Own Scottish Borderers in July that Ball, where my wife and I often go walking. place called Highcomb Copse on the western year, seeking front line action. He was About two years ago, we noticed an rim of the bowl, apparently identical to the killed during the Battle of the Somme on information board in the car park with Hydon’s Ball column. On a more recent visit, 30 July 1916. details of a suggested walk called the Octavia an information board had appeared stating Reginald died in August 1936 and the last Hill Trail. Following this trail takes one to the that a total of eight pieces of land and one member of the family, William, died the summit, with open views to the south across house had been purchased by the National following May. None of the sons married; all the Weald, and soon after leaving the summit, Trust using the Robertson bequest. This got left substantial sums of money. In his Will, following this new trail, we came across the me searching for the other sites and to find William left almost all of his estate for Robertson memorial, shown in the out more about the Robertson brothers. memorials of various kinds to family photograph. The memorial was then rather members. For his parents he endowed a bed hidden in the undergrowth, though doubtless at the Royal Masonic Hospital in London, much more obvious when it was set up about The Robertson family and for Reginald money to be invested and 65 years ago. The memorial has a metal plate the income devoted to providing annual inset into one face, with the wording: The Robertson family consisted of father prizes for the Ministry of Health Golfing William Robertson, born about 1825 in Society and the Richmond Golf Club. His Hydons Ball. This land was purchased for the Scotland, his wife Mary Elizabeth née Grant, largest bequest of around £50,000, the National Trust from funds bequeathed by W.A. born 1840/1 at Westminster, and four sons: residue of his estate, was given to the Trust Robertson in memory of his brothers Norman William Alexander, born 1871, Reginald to buy places in memory of Norman and Cairns Robertson (Capt. 2nd Batt. Hampshire James, born 1873, Norman Cairns, born 1876, Laurance. The bequest was unexpected for Regt) who died 20th June 1917 at Hanover and Laurance Grant, born 1877. The father the Trust only learned of it through a notice Germany and of Laurance Grant Robertson died in 1895, and the 1901 census shows the in . (2nd Lieut 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish remaining members living together in the His Will specifies that that each ‘land Borderers) who was killed in action in France family home at Cranley Gardens, South building or place is or are opened to the during the battle of the Somme in or near Kensington. The 1911 census shows the public, the said National Trust shall erect in a Delville Wood 30th July 1916. occupations of the sons to be Barrister prominent place thereon ... a column or pillar (William), ‘Stock Exchange’ (Reginald), at least eight feet in height or in the case of Solicitor (Norman) and Chartered the building, a large and prominent tablet Accountant (Laurance). with an inscription thereon in clear and large The two younger sons volunteered for lettering stating that such land building or active service in the enthusiasm of the early place has been given by me in memory of my months of the First World War. Norman two brothers’. It further prescribes that the joined the Inns of Court Officers Training Trust ‘shall supply a sum at least equal to the Corps in 1914 and was commissioned net amount received by them ... purchasing, Captain in the 2nd Battalion Hampshire acquiring and thereafter holding such land, Regiment on 20 February 1915. He was building or places so far as possible within taken prisoner after action near Monchy on easy reach of London ...’ 23 April 1917 and he died in a military hospital in Hanover, Germany, in June that year. He is buried in Hamburg Cemetery and Nine memorials his name is among those classed as 'missing' on the Thiepval Memorial. I have now made visits to all of the Laurance Grant Robertson worked as a memorials, and taken photographs of the chartered accountant for the Local obelisks and their surroundings. The nine The Robertson memorial at Hydon’s Government Board on the District Audit memorials all conform to Mr Robertson’s Ball. © Alan Benny staff. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant instructions, with the exception of the

70 Views Monuments and memories Clockwise from above: Sutton House memorial tablet. © National Trust Images/Lydia Evans; Netley Park memorial (Second World War pill-box in the background). © National Trust/Rob Hewer; Michel Dene memorial. © National Trust/Adrian Harrison

Hydon’s Ball memorial position; perhaps the attached to the front of the house in the Some work was undertaken earlier this site was ‘a prominent place’ when purchased 'prominent position' requested. year after it was noticed that the memorial but has become less so. All the obelisks are Another First World War memorial is had moved slightly off its base. As it is close made of aggregate concrete with a rough inside the house dating from its time as the to the road, the first thought was that it may finish and have an aluminium plaque. The St John’s Church Institute, a recreational have been hit by a car; however, there was inscriptions are similar: a plaque with the club for 'men of all classes'. no sign of an impact. The stonemason who name of the property, followed by the details repaired it concluded that where some of of the two men. Six of the memorials say Highcomb Copse, Hindhead, Surrey the mortar had come out, water had got in that land was ‘bequeathed’ to the Trust and (SU 88814 36958) and frozen, and the wind then moved the two that it was ‘purchased’ (Sutton House Highcomb Copse (85ha of heath, farmland memorial. The memorial is in an exposed says ‘given’); however, it is true enough that and coppice) plus two cottages were bought position, very close to the highest point in they were purchased with Mr Robertson’s in 1938, completing the Devil’s Punchbowl Bedfordshire. bequest. property. The memorial stands on the Nearby is Whipsnade Tree Cathedral, also The memorials, including their Ordnance western edge of the Devil's Punchbowl, with a First World War memorial. Survey locations, are shown in order of views over to Gibbet Hill and also long views acquisition below: to the north and the line of the Hog's Back. Sharpenhoe Clappers, Bedfordshire (TL 06634 30156) Sutton House, Hackney, London Robertson Corner, Dunstable Downs, Bought in 1939, this spur of high ground (TQ 35265 85107) Bedfordshire (TL 00894 19705) (55ha) at the north-eastern end of the This is the only built property as opposed to Dunstable Downs (115ha) were acquired by Chiltern range stands 160m above sea level landscape. A rare survivor from the 1530s, in the Trust in several parcels between 1935 and and has sweeping views to the north over 1938 it was at risk of being sold to 1948. The W.A. Robertson Bequest Bedfordshire. The spur is capped by developers. The recently established W.A. purchased a triangular piece of land at a road Clappers Wood and the Robertson memorial Robertson Bequest enabled the Trust to junction in 1938, which has since become can be found among the trees – the purchase the house. A memorial tablet was known as Robertson Corner. memorial was fortunately missed by falling

Monuments and memories Views 71 trees in the Great Storm of 1987. It is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest and on a Scheduled Monument thought to be an Iron Age hill-fort.

Weardale, Toy’s Hill, Kent (TQ 46793 51800) Toy's Hill properties (total 112ha) have been acquired in different lots since 1898. The Trust’s purchase in February 1940 of 28ha takes in fine views. The house which once stood on the site was demolished in early 1939, only for the same spot to receive a direct hit in 1940. The memorial is in good condition having been repointed recently.

Michel Dene, East Sussex (TV 54708 96536) The W.A. Robertson Bequest added to an existing property in 1940 where there had been plans to build a housing estate on the Seven Sisters. The area is part of a popular cliff top and downland walk and the memorial faces out over the sea (towards France). We have recently acquired additional land on the Seven Sisters which was home to a Second World War airstrip known as RAF Friston.

Netley Park, Surrey (TQ 07888 48578) This property (85.4ha) was acquired in November 1940 and although it includes a house (c.1850), this is leased and is not open to the public. It is within the Surrey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is significant for its woodland. The Robertson memorial is two-thirds of the way up the scarp of the downs behind Netley House, and a swathe of about one hundred yards in width is kept clear of tree growth to allow wide views to the south. Frensham Common memorial. © National Trust/Matt Cusack Footpaths to it can be accessed from the North Downs Way or from a public footpath just east of Gomshall garage. This memorial stands on rising ground about 200m from Acknowledgements was the first to have the word ‘purchased’ the road; not on high ground, but certainly rather than ‘bequeathed’ on the inscription in a 'prominent place' with sweeping views Adapted from an article which first appeared at the request of the previous owner. Cracks over Frensham Great Pond. in The Bridge, a Busbridge community in the memorial have recently been repaired newsletter, in December 2012. Reproduced and a nearby interpretation panel provides Hydon’s Ball, Surrey (SU 97701 39523) here with the kind permission of the editors information for visitors. Much of the area that comprises Hydon's www.thebridgeonline.org.uk During the First World War, the house Ball and Heath was bought between 1915 and Additional information provided by work was used as a hospital. Canadian soldiers 1926 as a memorial to Octavia Hill, co- undertaken for the National Trust by Ann were billeted in the house and grounds founder of the National Trust. One acre, Noyes, in particular details of the military during the Second World War; six ‘Type 24’ including part of the summit, was bought in service and deaths of Norman and Laurance pill-boxes dating from this time can still be 1959 through the W.A. Robertson Bequest. Robertson from letters to the Bulletin of the seen on the property. The memorial to Octavia Hill takes the form Western Front Association from James of a very large stone seat on the cleared Brazier, Hal Giblin and Dan Finnigan. Frensham Common, Surrey summit of this fine viewpoint. The Our thanks to National Trust staff who (SU 85139 40293) Robertson memorial is far less prominent updated the notes about the memorials: The property comprises parcels of land but clearly known and cared for locally as Adrian Harrison, Jon Powell, Rob Hewer and bought at different times. The greater part poppies and poppy crosses are sometimes Simon Vining. (266ha) was purchased through the W.A. left by it. The plaque is facing back up the hill Robertson Bequest in 1940. The memorial and not towards the view as at other sites.

72 Views Monuments and memories A memorial for the nation: the role of the National Heritage Memorial Fund Fiona Talbott, Head of Museums, Libraries and Archives, Heritage Lottery Fund

A view of the west front of Tyntesfield, North Somerset. © National Trust Images/Andrew Butler

hat do the magnificent country. Rather than creating new found, it became increasingly difficult for nineteenth-century Gothic monuments, the Fund safeguards the organisations like the Trust to take on new WTyntesfield Estate in North very fabric of the nation, our heritage, memorial properties. Mentmore, an Somerset, Brueghel the Younger’s Procession as that memorial. important but substantial Grade I-listed to Calvary, Ernö Goldfinger’s house in Although the Fund was established in house, was offered to the Government but Hampstead, a secretaire by Thomas 1980, its roots lay in the 1946 National Land no organisation could then afford to take it Chippendale and Orford Ness in Suffolk all Fund. Established by the Chancellor, Dr on, so it had to go to private sale. This failure have in common? Apart from being in the Hugh Dalton, £50 million was set aside to to meet a heritage emergency highlighted ownership and care of the National Trust, purchase land and buildings as ‘a thank- the shortcomings of the NLF, which was they were all acquired with financial support offering for victory, and a war-memorial shortly after revised. The resulting National from the National Heritage Memorial Fund which many would think finer than any work Heritage Act of 1980 established the NHMF (NHMF). of art in stone or bronze’. However, by 1957, and it was given the remaining money in the They join a collection of thousands of the Fund stood at just £10 million and lay Land Fund and annual grant-in-aid from historic treasures that, thanks to NHMF, largely unused in the Treasury. government. have all been saved for future generations to It was the sale of the Buckinghamshire Initially to be called the National enjoy. For over 30 years the Fund has helped property, Mentmore, in 1977 which Heritage Fund, it was swiftly agreed to protect and build an outstanding collection prompted the Government to set up a new add ‘Memorial’ to its title to recognise its ranging from historic houses and works of mechanism to deal with national heritage fundamental purpose. The outstanding art to industrial and maritime heritage and emergencies. Unlike the NHMF, the NLF was feature of the NHMF is that it safeguards outstanding landscapes. not used to provide an endowment, only to the very fabric of the nation, our heritage, meet the purchase price. Understandably as a permanent memorial rather than this considerably limited its ability to save creating new memorials and monuments. A permanent memorial places, however important they might be to In practice that means providing financial the nation. Within the National Trust, an assistance towards things which are of NHMF was set up as a ‘fund of last resort’ endowment was often provided, or at least scenic, historic, cultural, archaeological, in 1980 to provide grants and loans to help offset, by potential income from land, the aesthetic, architectural, engineering, artistic acquire the UK’s most precious heritage at donor family, another major benefactor or or scientific interest, including animals and risk of loss, as a permanent memorial to public appeal, such as the Neptune plants which are of zoological or botanical those who gave their lives in service to their Campaign. If an endowment could not be interest.

Monuments and memories Views 73 Saving First World War heritage Outstanding and significant

As we approach the centenary of the First Yr Ysgwrn is a modest stone farmhouse near World War, it is not surprising to learn that the village of Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia. It the Fund has saved significant heritage was the home of the Welsh poet Ellis associated with that conflict. In the early Humphrey Evans, better known by his bardic days of the Fund, we helped the Tank name Hedd Wyn. Hedd Wyn was killed at the Museum in Dorset conserve three tanks in July 1917 shortly deployed in the First World War. It also after completing his great poem Yr Arwr helped three regimental museums, the (The Hero), which was to win him a Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, the posthumous bardic chair at the National Gordon Highlanders Museum and the Royal Eisteddfod. At a ceremony attended by the Sussex Regiment Museum, acquire groups of Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, the chair medals from regimental members, including was draped in black as a symbol of mourning, two Victoria Crosses. not only for the poet but for a whole nation’s However, NHMF-supported acquisitions youth. It was to remain, along with Hedd of memorial nature are not just concerned Wyn’s five other bardic chairs, in the family with military history, as demonstrated by two home. In 2011 NHMF ensured that this site of fascinating awards to the Imperial War Welsh literary significance would be saved by Museum. The first was to secure five Lutyens supporting the Snowdonia National Park A sketch by Sir Edwin Lutyens showing a sketches showing proposed designs for the proposed design for the Cenotaph Authority in its purchase. Whitehall Cenotaph which were drawn drawn following a dinner conversation with following a dinner conversation with Winston Winston Churchill. © Courtesy of the National Heritage Memorial Fund The Snowdonia home Churchill. The second was autographed of the Welsh First drafts of Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of an World War poet, Infantry Officer, which were brought back to Hedd Wyn, who was killed at the Battle of the UK following an auction in the USA. This from NHMF. This acquisition complemented Passchendaele in 1917. is the second of Sassoon’s three-volume text the collection of Sassoon’s manuscripts and © Courtesy of the outlining his experiences on the Western letters bequeathed to the Library by Sir National Heritage Memorial Fund Front. It concludes with his famous public Geoffrey Keynes, Sassoon’s friend and protest against the war's continuation. biographer. To celebrate the acquisition, In 2012 NHMF was pivotal in saving HMS Twenty-five years after that acquisition, Cambridge University held a parliamentary Caroline, the only surviving large ship to have Cambridge University Library acquired reception where the author Michael fought in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Our Sassoon’s archive, including his wartime Murpurgo gave an extremely emotive funding of just over £1 million helped the diaries and notebooks, thanks to £550,000 rendition of ‘A Soldier’s Declaration’. National Museum of the Royal Navy with

‘A Soldier’s Declaration’ as annotated by Siegfried Sassoon. © Courtesy of the National Heritage Memorial Fund

74 Views Monuments and memories Anniversaries

As we come up to the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 2015, it is worth highlighting recent awards relating to that period. Our funding enabled Bletchley Park Trust to secure the personal papers of Alan Turing, the Enigma codebreaker and father of modern computer science. The collection belonged to Turing’s mentor and subsequent collaborator Max Newman and contains 15 of the 18 scientific articles that Turing wrote, some of which were signed or dedicated to Newman by Turing himself. NHMF has achieved a great deal over the last 34 years, and it is sobering to reflect on what might have been lost without it. With The Airside building at Stow Maries First World War aerodrome in Essex. © Courtesy of the National £20 million in grant-in-aid over the 2011–15 Heritage Memorial Fund period, an annual budget of £4–5 million is available to applicants. Demand for NHMF urgent repairs to keep the ship watertight 250 aerodromes were built in Britain around support has consistently outstripped its while a full-scale restoration and access this time, but a century later only ten survive resources and it continues to act as a project is developed. Moored in Alexandra of which Stow Maries is by far the largest bulwark to secure the future of our heritage Dock, Belfast, HMS Caroline still contains and best preserved, with its 24 Grade II* for generations to come. many original features and fittings, alongside listed buildings. Restoration work began in There is much to do, but for now the a collection relating to both world wars and 2009 with a team of outstandingly legacy of the Fund is an outstanding surviving accounts by crew members of life committed volunteers, and parts of the site collection of world-class heritage, and the on board, which provide a wealth of material have been open to visitors since 2010. centenary of the First World War provides a for telling the ship’s story. NHMF’s purpose in awarding a grant was to moment to reflect on this very special Moving from naval history to the early acquire the site for the Aerodrome Trust to permanent memorial to our nation’s heroes. days of aerial combat, Stow Maries ensure its integrity and also to Aerodrome near Maldon in Essex was built in commemorate the thousands who risked 1914 and during the First World War saw the and lost their lives during those early air first use of aeroplanes in combat. More than missions in defence of their country.

Caring for Britain’s war memorials Frances Casey, former Project Manager, War Memorials Archive, and Frances Moreton, Director of War Memorials Trust

here are an estimated 100,000 war concern that there was no national record of Archive. In contributing to the Archive’s memorials across the UK, looked UK war memorials. Initially, this was to be a records, people have ensured that war Tafter by the communities in which three-year project, and in an early ‘crowd memorials, and those they commemorate, they lie. Supporting those communities are sourcing’ exercise, volunteers filled in are not forgotten. You can search all the war two key organisations which help to record recording forms with the location, type, memorial records online at and conserve this unique part of our national history and names on memorials. No one www.iwm.org.uk/warmemorials heritage. This article looks at what they do imagined how popular the project would be, The Archive records memorials to all wars and how you can become involved. nor how mammoth the task! (to date 97 are represented). Of the 65,000 It had been estimated that there were memorials currently recorded, 43,099 around 25,000 UK war memorials. Twenty- commemorate the First World War, 23,836 War Memorials Archive five years later the Archive has reached are to Second World War service personnel, 65,000. Contributions to research have with an additional 923 to Second World War The Imperial War Museum’s (IWM) War been received from across the UK from civilians. The reason the total for these wars Memorials Archive began recording UK war volunteers, the public and other institutions, alone amount to more than 65,000 is memorials in 1989 as the UK National and many anoraks have been worn out over because war memorials often record more Inventory of War Memorials, prompted by the years in pursuit of information for the than one war.

Monuments and memories Views 75 The Archive’s records show the variety of Stories associated with war memorials War Memorials Trust memorials and the ways people remember are very often sad, with some families losing war and loss. Types range from sculpted all their sons in the First World War, but Over the years, War Memorials Archive has figures, crosses, obelisks and plaques to other memorials tell of daring deeds and worked closely with War Memorials Trust hospital wings, playing fields, benches, Victoria Crosses won. One very British (WMT), providing information about the windows and even church hearing-aid loops. memorial proudly remembers the supply of history and form of war memorials to assist To date, 66 war memorials are recorded as cups of tea to 134,864 servicemen at its conservation work. In return WMT being in the care of the National Trust. These Dingwall railway station in the Highlands of encourages people to share historical and include the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral in Scotland between 1915 and 1919 (IWM WMA archival information with the Archive. The Bedfordshire, comprising 22 different types 61031). organisations work together, as well as with of tree and 14 types of flowering shrub which The names of First and Second World War others, to encourage an interest in war together form a 'Cathedral of Trees' based on casualties are still added to memorials as memorials in communities across the UK. the floor plan of Liverpool Cathedral (IWM omissions are found. There are retrospective The main focus of WMT’s work is to WMA 1682). The National Trust also looks memorials to events rediscovered by protect and conserve war memorials. The after war memorial landscapes such as research, such as to remote air crashes conservation charity provides advice and Downs Banks in Staffordshire (IWM WMA during the Second World War. More recent information on a wide range of war 13647) and the summit of Castle Crag, memorials to Iraq and Afghanistan are also memorial issues as well as administering Cumbria, (IWM WMA 3117), as well as historic recorded. A searchable database of the grant schemes which assist local estates gifted as national war memorials names recorded on First World War communities. The charity also encourages including Penrhyn Castle in Gwynedd (IWM memorials is currently being compiled for young people to engage with their war WMA 65501) and Dyrham Park in South release over the centenary of the First World memorial heritage through a Learning Gloucestershire (IWM WMA 61171). War 2014-18. Programme (see www.learnaboutwarmemorials.org). Downs Banks, One key project for the centenary is War Staffordshire, given to the Memorials Online, National Trust in 1950 by www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk which is John Joule & Sons, and endowed by public being supported by English Heritage, subscription, as a Historic Scotland and Cadw. This website memorial and a thank- seeks to create a greater understanding of offering for peace. © National Trust/Rod the condition of war memorials across the Whiteman UK. Anyone can register to upload information, add photographs and provide condition details of memorials. The information collected will enable resources to be targeted at memorials in need of attention. Currently around nine per cent of the condition reports suggest war memorials in ‘Poor’ or ‘Very bad’ condition – a significant number but more work is required Early morning view from the summit of to generate a true national picture. Any war Castle Crag, Cumbria, memorial concerns, or ‘Poor’ or ‘Very bad’ which was given to the condition updates, are passed to WMT’s National Trust in memory of 2nd Lt Conservation Team. John Hamer and the The charity provides advice on a broad men of Borrowdale spectrum of issues from materials and who fell in the First World War. addition of names through to ownership and © National Trust etiquette – how long do you leave wreaths Images/Paul Harris on a war memorial? Alongside this the charity administers a range of grant programmes contributing up to 75 per cent of project costs up to a maximum of £30,000 depending on the type of memorial, its location and the works being undertaken. The majority of grants relate to repairs associated with ageing or weathering but sometimes funds are needed to help repair a memorial struck by a vehicle – roadside memorials are increasingly vulnerable to changes in road layout, higher levels of traffic and pollution. Other grants have been given to help communities deal with the blight of metal theft. Damage to memorials by the removal of metal sculptures and

76 Views Monuments and memories The ‘Peace and fixings, and the loss of plaques carrying Victory’ organ, a names, is heart-breaking. In Memoriam substantial memorial 2014, www.inmemoriam2014.org, is an to the men of Warleggan, Cornwall, initiative offering free SmartWater to all war who served or fell in memorial custodians to help deter theft. the First World War. Recent projects supported by WMT © Warleggan PCC, 2011 grants include the memorial pillar in St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan (WMO106242), which has benefited from two grants of £1,206 and £550 over the years towards replacing the railings and repointing. Warleggan Parish, Cornwall, has an unusual memorial – an organ, known as the ‘Peace and Victory’ organ, with accompanying plaques which record both those who served and those who fell (WMO98050). It is in St Bartholomew’s church, which is Grade II* listed and in the Moor conservation area. A grant of £6,950 assisted with specialist repair of the organ and conservation works. Further details of these and other projects, including how you can apply, can be found at deal of time, but you might decide that once War Memorials Archive continues to www.warmemorials.org/search-grants. it is added you will check it each spring and accept new records of war memorials and autumn and update the condition amendments and additions to existing information. Many of the WMT’s members records as new information comes to light: Do you have a war memorial? also take on a more active role as Regional www.iwm.org.uk/warmemorials Volunteers who undertake condition surveys, If you have a war memorial on site or know photograph memorials and apply for listing of others in your local area, then please ensure freestanding memorials. New members are National Trust memorials they are added to War Memorials Online always welcome and further details of how with condition information. You do not need you could become involved can be found at These can be accessed from the online map to be a formal volunteer or commit a great www.warmemorials.org at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/firstworldwar

First World War memorials in Australia Julian Bickersteth, International Conservation Services, Sydney, and former board member, National Trust of Australia (New South Wales)

y the time the Great War ground to a the USA), the Australian Government made South African War in the 1890s and even in close in November 1918, 416,600 the decision not to repatriate any bodies the New Zealand wars of the 1840s. But it BAustralians had enlisted out of a from the war. The only exceptions were the was the sheer number of Great War population of 4 million, representing almost body of an unknown Australian soldier and memorials that transformed Australian 40 per cent of men aged between 18 and 44. Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges, townscapes. Australia's casualty rate was amongst the killed in Gallipoli, who was the country’s first Their form followed those created in highest in the war at 65 per cent, including major general and its first citizen to receive a Britain. They range from statues of soldiers almost 59,000 dead. knighthood. to obelisks to arches and cenotaphs. Some The impact on a small and new nation of the designs were uniquely Australian, such (Australia had become a federation only in as depicting Australian Diggers (soldiers), 1901) was profound. One of the most The war memorial scene in Australia and almost without exception they used difficult issues to come to terms with was local stone except for imported carved the remoteness of the battlefields. Whereas War memorials and their honour rolls figures in Carrara marble. Britons could easily cross the Channel to therefore became critical points of visit the graves of their loved ones, the high remembrance for grieving relatives. They cost of travel to visit Europe was beyond were not new to the country as Australians most Australians. As with Britain (but unlike had died in relatively large numbers in the

Monuments and memories Views 77 The Cenotaph in Sydney, designed by A mile from the Anzac Memorial, Sydney Sir Bertram Mackennal. commissioned a stone cenotaph outside the © Julian Bickersteth City's General Post Office designed by Australia's most eminent sculptor of the day, the Royal Academician Sir Bertram Mackennal. Mackennal chose to place a bronze soldier and sailor either end of a large block of local granite. Brisbane initially commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to replicate the Whitehall Cenotaph with the addition of bronze servicemen but when this proved too costly they went for a Delphic-colonnaded temple designed by local architects. The National Memorial in Canberra, known as the Australian War Memorial, was conceived and developed by an Oxford- educated Australian journalist, Charles Bean. Bean had reported from the Western Front and after the war ended was determined to do all he could to help Australians commemorate their loss. Principal amongst his means of doing this was the creation of the Australian War Memorial, which is actually a war museum centred on a Hall of Memory. This vast domed space is covered by the southern hemisphere's largest mosaic, designed by Australian artist Napier Waller. Waller was himself a war veteran; having lost his right arm on the Western Front, undaunted, he taught himself to draw again with his left hand. The city response called Well of Contemplation, lies one of Australia's greatest bronze figures, a naked In the capital cities, Melbourne chose a vast warrior carried on a shield supported by Placement of guns Shrine of Remembrance with an inner shrine three women sculpted by Raynor Hoff, surrounded by an ambulatory where books a Royal College of Art-educated Englishman Bean also struck upon the idea of shipping in glass-topped cabinets record the names of Dutch descent who had migrated to back to Australia large quantities of captured of the 114,000 men from Victoria who went Australia in 1923. Considered somewhat ordnance. Again he saw the power in the to the war, a fresh page turned every day to shocking at the time of opening in 1934, tangible form of these weapons in bringing this day. Sydney also chose to record all it was heavily toned down from the original the battlefields a little closer to Australia. In those who had gone to the war in its Anzac bronze concept entitled the Crucifixion of all some 500 pieces of artillery, 400 mortars Memorial, not by name but by a gold star Civilisation, which had been denounced and 4,000 machine guns were shipped back attached to the domed ceiling, some by clergyman for depicting tastelessly and held in Melbourne for cities and local 120,000 in all. Beneath them, in the so- vivid horrors. councils across Australia to apply for them.

The Anzac Memorial, Brisbane, Queensland, the dignified design chosen over a more costly creation by Lutyens. © Julian Bickersteth

78 Views Monuments and memories triumphal arches, a form which does not seem to have become widely popular due almost certainly to its celebratory tone.

Conservation issues

Conservation work undertaken on war memorials reflects the broad approach taken in Great Britain and generally involves careful cleaning, repointing to keep them weather tight, re-gilding of incised lettering and protective waxing of bronze honour rolls and figures. It is the guns shipped back from France and placed on top of many an Australian war memorial that often prove to be the most problematic element for the memorial's conservation due to the metal elements corroding and the wooden elements (e.g. The Arch of Victory and avenue of trees in Ballarat, Victoria. © Chris Betteridge wheels) rotting. The numbers of the most fragile of them, however, the machine guns, Due to over demand, a complicated system Trees and arches were dramatically reduced during the of ceding where each item of ordnance Second World War when they were removed would end up was developed based on the Avenues of trees are a particular feature of and refurbished for action. number of men that had enlisted locally, the Australian war memorials. They came about With the passage of time, war memorials number of medals won and whether the as a reminder of the avenues of trees that have inevitably deteriorated, but it is a particular gun had been captured by a local lined northern French roads, beneath which testament to the resilience of the materials battalion. The allocation did not please the Australian Diggers would have marched. selected and the care with which they were everyone, with some councils complaining The avenues serve the useful purpose of built that they remain in remarkably good that they had only been awarded a machine allowing individual trees to be planted as a condition. gun when their war contribution surely memorial to a slain relative or platoon. justified at least a mortar. Occasionally these avenues begin with

Safeguarding the future of New Zealand’s First World War memorials Jonathan Howard, Area Manager (Otago/Southland), Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

ore than 100,000 New Zealand and vulnerability. Drawing on the register of greater focus, determination and co- personnel served overseas during war memorials established by the Ministry of ordination not only from these stakeholders, Mthe First World War, from a Culture and Heritage (on New Zealand but also from central and local government. population of 1 million and of these 18,000 History Online Nga korero a ipurangi o To support the commemorations, the lost their lives during or immediately after Aotearoa www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the- Ministry of Culture and Heritage – Manatu the war. More than 500 public memorials in memorials-register), it appears that 30 per Taonga has, through the Lotteries Grant small communities, towns and cities cent take the form of obelisks, followed by Board, committed grants of just over $17 throughout New Zealand commemorate gates and arches as the next most common, million to 122 commemorative activities and those who died, with only around 20 per then by towers and cenotaphs. There are small- and large-scale interpretation, cent recording those who also served in and also less obvious forms of public memorial research, conservation and redevelopment survived the war. to the First World War, such as memorial of capital projects around the country. One As commemorations for the centenary groves and avenues. part of this relates to the preservation of were being planned, attention rightly turned Many memorials have long been cared for existing war memorials. to the associated memorials. From this we by local Returned Services Associations Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is have become more aware of their variety, (RSA), community groups and individuals, the lead historic heritage agency for the iconography, number, location, condition but the approaching centenary has seen government, equivalent to English Heritage

Monuments and memories Views 79 or Cadw. In this role it provides advice and significant and valued historical and cultural altered or demolished without Heritage New support to local government, private heritage places. The List is a heritage Zealand permission. The memorial is also in organisations and individuals, to lottery recognition tool and the intention was that, the process of being entered on the List, applicants, and to the Lotteries Grant Board once listed, the gates would then be which will make it likely that it will come to itself, on historic heritage-related included on the council schedule and be protected under the Dunedin City applications. It is clearly important to take protected. Council Schedule. the opportunities provided by the centenary Grey Main School’s gates are an example Many war memorials are at risk of to ensure that First World War memorials are of the threat to an unprotected memorial geographical isolation. The Anzac Memorial repaired and integrated as far as possible that is compounded by its location, in this Bridge (Category 1 Historic Place on the into community life. However, to achieve case, a redundant school. In the years List), a single-lane bridge near Kaiparoro in this there are a number of threats to these immediately after the war, many schools the North Island, was completed in 1922 and monuments that have to be eliminated or established roll of honour boards in their was re-dedicated with plaques to Anzac mitigated. halls or built grander structures in the school troops in 1923. Once situated on the main grounds to show patriotism and provide an highway, it was bypassed in the 1950s. Over exemplar to present and future students. the next fifty years it was repaired more than Working together to preserve Such war memorials may be particularly once but its irrelevance as a bridge put it at war memorials vulnerable to changes in population risk and it was not until the establishment of distribution. There are numerous examples the Friends of Anzac Memorial Bridge To protect significance and investment, of schools that have closed, exposing the Kaiparoro Incorporated in 2006 that its Heritage New Zealand has been working associated war memorial to the risks of future preservation was assured. with RSA, community groups and lotteries neglect or loss, such as the High Street The Dunedin Cenotaph (Category 2 to ensure that heritage conservation best School war memorial arch in Dunedin. When Historic Place on the List) in Queen’s practice is followed. Well-intentioned but ill- the school closed a few years ago, the Gardens had also become increasingly informed repairs and inexpert cleaning pose property was to be sold. Through the Crown isolated and irrelevant, except for a real risk to significance and may waste time Land disposal process, Heritage New commemoration days. The most prominent and money; encouraging groups to 'take a Zealand was able to have a Heritage of the city's war memorials, it was built in breath' and adopt a more considered Covenant registered on the title to protect 1927 in the commercial centre, but traffic approach can sometimes be the best the memorial before sale. So now, although congestion, road reconfiguration, economic outcome for the memorial in the long term. in private hands, the memorial cannot be downturn and gradual relocation of the Ideally repairs should be specified by built heritage specialists and tenders then invited to cost on the specifications. This is Dunedin Cenotaph especially important if these works are the sited in the middle of Queen’s Garden. subject of grant applications. It is essential © Heritage New that the causes and mechanisms of Zealand 2014 deterioration are accurately identified, rather than simply treating the effects. Memorials can be complex in construction, materials and forms of deterioration, which should be reflected in condition assessments and specifications for remedial work. In some cases war memorials were built quickly, with a relatively poor standard of site preparation and construction materials/techniques, and the deterioration we see today may be in part a result of this. Aside from physical deterioration and damage to war memorials, there are other threats, such as a lack of heritage recognition and associated protection. Without the protection afforded by listing on heritage schedules in the local authority district plans, memorials are at risk of neglect, demolition, alteration or having their setting encroached upon. We have already lost First World War memorials. An example of this is the memorial gates at the entrance to the former Grey Main School, Greymouth, on the west coast of South Island. At the time of their demolition in 2008, Heritage New Zealand was in the process of entering the gates in the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero (‘the List’), which identifies the country's

80 Views Monuments and memories commercial hub of the city northward Wellington commemorates more than Conclusion significantly reduced pedestrian use of the 300,000 New Zealanders who served their gardens and cenotaph, and their attraction country and the 30,000 who have died in its For many, war memorials have been as a destination. To counter this, Dunedin service. The National War Memorial has peripheral to our daily lives. Like churches, City Council has been re-evaluating road recently undergone seismic strengthening to they are places people may not frequent but layouts, working with owners of surrounding improve its strength in the event of an nonetheless use as landmarks, important to buildings to encourage adaptive reuse and earthquake, while the associated Hall of our sense of community and nationhood. revitalise the area. A conservation plan Memories (1964) is also undergoing seismic Their long-term survival is not just reliant on funded by the Lotteries Grant Board has strengthening. In the past, unprotected war good condition but on recognition of been completed to assess and manage the memorials have been lost or significantly significance, protection, community significance of the gardens and cenotaph, to altered due to concerns over earthquakes, commitment, relevance and integration. It is inform their repair and redevelopment as a including some damaged during the recent also important to take the opportunity to more attractive destination and multi- Canterbury earthquakes. These events have look at the plight of other memorials not purpose venue. refocused the need for all built structures to associated with wars that are part of the be made less susceptible to damage/collapse communities. Many of these are subject to during earthquakes. It is now recommended the same threats and can benefit from the Natural danger that the repair of war memorials includes same solutions. structural engineering input to assess the More generally, New Zealand's location at existing seismic performance and specify the convergence of two continental plates further strengthening. The primary driver is makes earthquake risk a significant to protect life but we also want to preserve consideration in protecting war memorials. heritage significance and safeguard The National Memorial Park (1932) in investment.

Never forgetting Zimbabwe’s sacrifice Charles Hyslop, Member, National Trust Zimbabwe

‘At the going down of the sun and in the offensive, a precursor to later desert warfare, Wood, which saw some of the greatest loss morning, we will remember them’ which in fact it was. of life in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Lawrence Binyon The battalion was disbanded on the The South African Forces memorial in successful conclusion of the hostility in Delville Wood is dedicated to those who South-West Africa. At that time there was no have died in all conflicts. Within the wood is First World War conscription in the Colony, so its members the memorial known as the ‘Last Tree’: returned to their homes, joined the 2nd despite the shrapnel embedded in its bark, The population of the country, then Battalion RR or the King’s Royal Rifle the hornbeam is the only survivor of the Southern Rhodesia, was small in the first two Regiment which were deployed on the original wood. Adopted by the South African decades of the twentieth century and Western Front. Many of those who re- Forces, it is now looked after by the accordingly mobilisation was limited in enlisted were destined to die at Delville Commonwealth War Graves Commission. number and deployment confined to the areas immediately adjacent to it. This may Delville Wood in have been a side-show to the main event in September 1916, the Europe but it was nevertheless significant in last sight seen by many local terms to curb the influence of then South African Forces personnel. © IWM Imperial Germany in South-West Africa (Namibia) and German East Africa (later Tanganyika and Tanzania). The 1st Battalion Rhodesia Regiment (RR) was raised to counter the German presence in South-West Africa. It was used to protect lines of communication from Walvis Bay to Windhoek, operating as part of the South African Forces under the command of General J. Smuts. This campaign was unusual in that it used aircraft and armoured cars (Maurice Farman and Rolls-Royce) in a fluid

Monuments and memories Views 81 HMS Matabele, lost in The 2nd Battalion RR was raised to resist the Barents Sea in 1942 the presence of German forces in German with all but two of its East Africa and some incursions into crew. © Crown copyright Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). The German commander, Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, and his officers made considerable use of trained askaris (native troops), who were mobile and attuned to the environment. This could not be said of white troops, many of whom succumbed to tropical diseases and ennui. The 2nd Battalion withered due to these effects and coupled with uninspired and unimaginative leadership, this conflict dragged on until 1918. Colonel Ken Harvey DSO, a former Holderness DSO, Southern Rhodesia MP At sea, the Imperial German light cruiser, chairman of the National Trust for 1954–8; and Flight Lieutenant Ian Smith, SMS Königsberg, trapped by Royal Navy Zimbabwe (NTZ), fought in the Western Prime Minister from 1965–79. Outside cruisers, was scuttled in 1915 on the Rovuma Desert and Italy with the Seaforth politics, another notable future Rhodesian River (Rufiji Delta), then the German East Highlanders and SAS. Colonel Don Grainger was Group Captain Brian Paddon DSO, a Africa/Mozambique border. of the Southern Rhodesia Reconnaissance contemporary of the British politician Airey Regiment, later a commander in the Neave, both of whom successfully escaped Rhodesian Army, was a major philanthropist from Colditz. Second World War to charities in Zimbabwe. Continuing his The Rhodesian ships of the Royal Navy, work, a donation from the Don Grainger HMS Mashona and HMS Matabele both took Learning from the lessons of the First World Memorial Trust has enabled the NTZ to part in the Norway Campaign (April to June War, when bands of friends and comrades refurbish the Rhodes Museum, Nyanga, one 1940) which ended when that country fell to stayed together to sometimes devastating of its properties. Another link of interest to the German forces. The ships and their crew effect, as happened to the South African locals, the 1st Battalion Rhodesia African continued operations, eventually Forces at Delville Wood, the 1st and 2nd Rifles trained not far from the NTZ’s experiencing mixed fortunes: on its return Battalions RR were distributed between headquarters in Borrowdale Road, Harare, from participating in the sinking of the the British regiments in the Middle East to even before being sent to the Far East. Bismarck, HMS Mashona was holed by an air out the probability of major casualties in one A number of future Rhodesian attack off Ireland in May 1941; of the ship’s group. They became involved in government ministers flew in the Royal Air entire crew, only five men were lost. HMS reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy Force during the war: Wing Commander Matabele was torpedoed in the Barents Sea lines, working with the early Special Air William Harper, a government minister from in March 1942; of the entire crew, only two Service (SAS). 1965–73; Wing Commander Hardwicke men were saved.

Stories from silence: finding South Australia’s servicemen Andrew Piper, Manager, Online Projects, State Library of South Australia

Introduction South Australia’s First World War memorial with the building that From 1916 until 1919, the South Australian housed the Red Cross Red Cross Information Bureau undertook Information Bureau in research into 8,033 enquiries from family the middle ground. © Andrew Piper and friends of Australian Imperial Force (AIF) personnel who fought in the First World War. The State Library of South Australia (SLSA) is developing a web resource that will enable researchers, family historians and institutions worldwide to interrogate, contribute to and harvest the content of those enquiries. It is anticipated that this resource will be available early in 2015.

82 Views Monuments and memories An enquiry from a History mother for news of her son. Private Benjamin In September 1915, it was reported that a Mogg died near Passchendaele on Red Cross bureau of ‘like character’ to those 12 October 1917 age 23. in London and Cairo was to be opened in © Reproduced Adelaide,1 and by early 1916 it was courtesy of State Library of South announced that: ‘Sir Josiah Symon, K.C. has Australia completed the organisation of an information bureau in Adelaide for the purpose of supplying information to relatives and friends in the State concerning the wounded, sick and missing soldier.’2 The legal profession bore the running An eyewitness account of the last hours of costs and co-ordinated activities, while a Lieutenant Eric Talbot- ‘staff of ladies’ giving their services ‘free and Smith who died on freely, being glad to do their bit for the 30 April 1915, two days 3 after his 23rd birthday. Empire’ undertook the office work. © Reproduced The Bureau co-ordinated enquiries courtesy of State between the military, families and other Library of South Australia bureaux nationally and internationally, analysing the results of searches in hospital wards and convalescent homes for eyewitnesses who could tell something about what happened. The frank eyewitness statements often show the realities of war, and were sometimes included in the letters that soldiers’ families ultimately received. Information on prisoners of war was gathered through ‘neutral intermediaries’.4 Its new web resource will enable searches to libraries, AWM and NAA, present much of On receipt of an enquiry, a ‘packet’ was be made across a range of indexed metadata their material online or, at the very least, created for the soldier enquired after. It and the retrieval of newly digitised scans of have an index, enabling soldiers to be contained correspondence with enquirers, the original packets and, for the first time, identified through common points of information about the soldier, eyewitness enable searching by eyewitness names and reference, such as name, rank, service statements about their last-known other characteristics. number, unit or conflict. Our web resource whereabouts and, in most cases, details of will integrate the personal dossiers for their fate. The resource will comprise three searchable servicemen held in the NAA (attestation In 1919 the Bureau closed its doors and elements, which represent phases of the papers and service records) and, using the the records were donated to SLSA.5 project: Trove API http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/api, bring together indexed obituaries from The 1. The entire content of packets in a Chronicle newspaper available in Trove. digitised format, giving public access to view and download copies of the original documents and the ability to search Opening up the packets across a range of indexed metadata. 2. A place for the public to contribute Whilst some enquirers visited the offices, additional information. This may range others sent letters and these are one of the from family photos of the soldiers to jewels in our archive. There is emotion and personal reminiscences or transcription resignation between the lines – a literal pain A series of notices placed within South Australia of letters within the packets and tagging. of not knowing – reminding us that we are newspapers invited the families of soldiers to This ability to engage with the public and dealing with people, families and the war’s contact the Bureau. © The Register, 10 April 1916 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59631123 offer opportunities to contribute more impact on society. information is attractive to us at SLSA. It is easy to overlook the length of time 3. Content from third-party sources, such as between enquiry and hearing pieces of What we have the National Archives of Australia (NAA), information; what we can read in minutes Commonwealth War Graves Commission may have taken years to compile. It is also SLSA’s holdings are unique in Australia. (CWGC) and the National Library of important to remember that the Bureau While the Australian War Memorial (AWM) Australia’s Trove, which directly relate to opened in January 1916, 15 months after the holds copies of most of the Australian the soldiers. first troops left Australia and eight months enquiry records from the London bureau and after the landing at Gallipoli. Some families may include some South Australian This third phase will link information from would have heard nothing during this time. information,6 SLSA’s collection includes many different institutions across Australia The eyewitness statements are another all the original documents from the South and internationally, bringing everything jewel which take the reader straight to a Australian Bureau, including the enquiry together into one searchable web presence. moment in the past, giving an insight into letter and often a response from the family. Most institutions, such as national and state the soldier, such as personal information or a

Monuments and memories Views 83 Conclusion

The centenary is an opportunity to offer something unique to world-wide commemorations and provide content for the public to learn from and reuse. It is also an opportunity to deliver the public’s expectation to be involved, to add their knowledge to our collections and create new content. This will, in turn, enrich the value of our heritage resources. The recruitment of volunteers for data entry is a natural alignment for this project, neatly creating a full circle that commences with volunteers in 1915 and ends with volunteers in the twenty-first century. For more information, visit our project page bit.ly/centenaryofanzac

References 1. ‘Wounded and missing’, The Advertiser, Signallers sending a message from the past. © Reproduced courtesy of State Library of South Australia. 4 September 1915, p.14; http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5479804 description. These words may be the only removing any requirement to interpret the 2. ‘Soldiers abroad’, The Advertiser, 5 January, record of that person’s experience of war. content, it will be easier for our volunteers to 1916, p.8; http://nla.gov.au/nla.news- Digitising commenced in December 2012 concentrate on indexing. This will be article8676852 and was completed in September 2013 using alleviated by providing the opportunity for 3. Saunders, A.T., ‘Notes and queries: war time a Kodak i1440 document scanner and Kodak visitors to transcribe and tag records with economy – a contrast’, The Register, Capture Pro Software, which simultaneously keywords. 11 August 1917, p.8; create searchable PDF and TIFF formats for To give the resource validity and http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60464308 preservation and for the website. Just as the authority, the focus is on the people: the 4. Schneider, E.F., ‘The British Red Cross Bureau used a volunteer workforce, SLSA soldiers, eyewitnesses and enquirers. The wounded and missing enquiry bureau: a continues the tradition by engaging following will allow connections with other case of truth-telling in the Great War’, volunteers to contribute to the rediscovery resources: packet number; title on the War In History, vol.4, no. 3, pp.302–3 of these South Australian soldiers through packet; date range; soldier’s name, service (SAGE Publications, July 1997). indexing. A team of volunteers is extracting number, unit and NAA barcode; their date of 5. ‘Public library board’, The Register, details from the records and entering data death; eyewitness name and identifying 20 December 1919, p.4; into a spreadsheet. The data will be added to details; locations associated with the soldier, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63123407 the library’s catalogue and then exported to including place of incident, hospitals, 6. Australian War Memorial (AWM), n.d., a purpose-built web resource during 2014. prisoner-of-war camps, burial, etc; and the Australian Red Cross records held at the Considerable thought has been given as enquirer’s name and address. In time we will Australian War Memorial (1DRL/0428), to what to index. While all the information is validate the place names and provide geo viewed 22 June 2014, valuable and interesting, time constraints codes for mapping purposes. www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/redcross/ dictated what to record. For example, by

84 Views Monuments and memories Force of nature: resurgence

How the Forestry Commission came into being and its connection to the National Trust Ray Hawes, Head of Forestry

he landscape of parts of northern despite Britain’s private woods also being industries depended. Again, mature woods France and western Belgium was ransacked for extra timber. such as the New Forest and Forest of Dean Tdevastated by the fighting and were heavily exploited, with large areas associated activities of the First World War. clear-felled. Although there were no land battles in the Action on forests UK at this time, our landscape also changed significantly because of the war. The reason Something had to be done and in July 1916 Out of the woods was trees – or rather the lack of them. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith appointed a committee chaired by the Rt Hon. Francis After the Second World War afforestation Acland MP to look at the best ways of continued, mostly with introduced conifer Sustained by timber developing the country’s woodland species in the uplands, both by the Forestry resources. The Acland Committee, as it Commission itself and by private owners After the retreat of the last Ice Age some became known, reported to Asquith’s encouraged by the Government with tax 10,000 years ago, trees began to recolonise successor, David Lloyd George, in 1918 and incentives and grant aid. At the end of the the British Isles, eventually resulting in recommended a state organisation as being twentieth century, woodland cover in the UK around 85–90 per cent forest cover. Tree the most effective way of co-ordinating a had reached around 12 per cent, so more cover then gradually reduced over thousands reafforestation plan to meet timber needs than double the figure only 80 years before. of years as the woods were cleared for for the foreseeable future. The Forestry Act Many ancient woodlands had also been farming and trees cut to provide the timber came into force on 1 September 1919, which planted up with conifer species during this for buildings, ships, etc, and for fuel, set up the Forestry Commission and gave it time, greatly changing their character and including charcoal for smelting. responsibility for woods in England, interest. The result of all this exploitation Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The It could therefore be considered that eventually led to a time when demand eight Forestry Commissioners were charged although the UK’s forest policy has gone outstripped supply, and by 1700 Britain was with promoting forestry, developing through many changes during the last already dependent on timber imports from afforestation, the production of timber and ninety-odd years and that maintaining a both the Baltic nations and from New making grants to private owners. The first strategic reserve of timber is no longer the England in the United States. In the Forestry Commission trees were planted on main purpose, the First World War has nineteenth century the government called on 8 December 1919 at Eggesford Forest, nevertheless had a significant effect on the landowners to plant trees, and particularly Devon, just over three months after its current woodland cover, both in terms of its oaks, to help restore our forests, but we still establishment which indicates the urgency extent and character. Multi-purpose forestry needed to import a large proportion of our with which the timber shortage was is now what the Forestry Commission and timber needs. The amount of British considered. other woodland owners, such as the Trust, woodland reached an all-time low by the The predominant aim of forestry policy in now practise but the term ‘sustainable’ is beginning of the twentieth century, covering the 1920s was to rebuild and maintain a invariably added because it makes people just five per cent of the land area, and we strategic timber reserve, which had been feel better, and the use of tangible products, were therefore still dependent on importing severely depleted by the demands of war, such as construction timber and fuelwood, is the bulk of our timber requirements at the and the new Commission was given a good once again becoming increasingly valued. start of the First World War. However, the deal of freedom to acquire and plant land. As hostilities made importing timber much well as restocking felled woods, the era of more difficult, and the amount of woodland afforestation had begun. Unfortunately, The Trust connection soon reduced to around 25 per cent of what before the trees planted had really started to it had been before 1914. Because wood was grow and produce timber, the Second World Now, what about the connection of the needed for the war effort in coal pits, steel War came along and again put huge National Trust to the Forestry Commission? works and railways as well as at the demands on the need for wood, particularly As stated above, the committee which battlefront for trench building, our timber for pit props for mines producing the coal on recommended the creation of the Forestry resources were stretched to breaking point, which so many of the armaments and other Commission was chaired by Sir Francis Dyke

Force of nature: resurgence Views 85 Looking towards woodland planted by the Acland family on the Holnicote Estate, Somerset. © National Trust Images/John Millar

Acland as he became when he succeeded his been planting trees/establishing forest reached impressive sizes. Although these father in 1926. The Acland family owned plantations in Ashclyst Forest at Killerton trees were planted to produce timber and both the Killerton and Holnicote estates and at Holnicote since the early nineteenth should have been felled some time ago, they which were given to the Trust by Sir Francis’s century, and this expertise might have been are now valued in their own right as son, Sir Richard Dyke Acland, in 1944. one of the reasons why Sir Francis was magnificent trees and will be retained. They Before the Trust took over, Sir Francis chosen to chair the committee looking at are a link back to the days when wood was in practised what he preached, and some of the the best ways of developing woodland urgent need and was the main aim of conifer trees planted on both estates from resources. Most of the conifer plantations at management. the early 1920s are still growing and the Holnicote, however, were established after Do the current forestry policy-makers woods have produced large quantities of the creation of the Forestry Commission, and managers have the right ‘vision’ for what timber over the past seventy years and and a few individuals of the earliest plantings future generations will require from our continue to do so. The Acland family had of Douglas fir are still standing and have woods? Only time will tell!

Retreat from the forest: Croft comes full circle Ana Vaughan, Visitor Experience Manager, Croft Castle and Berrington Hall, Herefordshire

ver 100 years ago, the historic view from the castle and the hill fort would The impact of war landscape around Croft Castle, then have been far reaching, with pockets of Odeep in the heart of rural coppiced and managed woodland. From 1795 until 1923, Croft was owned by the Herefordshire, was a very different place. For most of its existence, the estate was Davies, later Kevill-Davies, family. (William Before the First World War, as for most of its owned by the Croft family but at the time of Albert Somerset) Herbert Kevill-Davies, then 1,000-year history, Croft was a working the 1914–18 war it was owned by the Kevill- owner, died during the war as did his estate, designed to feed the castle’s Davies family. From this autumn and for the contemporary, Sir Herbert Archer Croft, 10th inhabitants and support the financial needs next three years, we are sharing the story of Baronet; Kevill-Davies died of his wounds of a powerful family. Its Grade II* historic wartime Croft Castle with our visitors. Our after the second Battle of Ypres on 15 May parkland, which dates back to the sixteenth volunteer research team have uncovered 2015 and Croft was killed in action in Gallipoli century, includes a deer-park, Iron Age hill many hitherto unknown stories, and we’ve on 11 August 1915. Neither man’s body was fort (Croft Ambrey), over 300 veteran trees, found that there is strong connection with ever found. Sadly, history was to repeat itself the picturesque Fishpool Valley and miles of some of the other very different projects as the eldest son of each man, William Kevill- old carriageways and tranquil walks. The which are happening at Croft in 2014. Davies and Sir James Croft, were to die in the

86 Views Force of nature: resurgence Second World War. It was William who had Trees hidden in woods agreement, with the support and funding of sold Croft back to Sir James in 1923. Natural England, which will dictate how this Back on the home front, horses were Nearly 70 ancient open-grown trees, area is managed after the conifers start to be requisitioned for war, the estate’s woodland principally sessile oaks and yews, were left removed. This HLS agreement will enable us was used for firewood or commissioned for standing amidst the developing conifer crop. to fund the initial costs of restoration over the war effort, and much of the land, Some of these are now decaying hulks, albeit the next few years, including grinding the including the gardens, turned over to still of value for invertebrates, lichens and conifer stumps and tree planting. It will also growing food. As with other estates, the other wildlife, but most have shown partly fund the cost of fencing, gates and woods became severely depleted by the remarkable resilience to attempts at ring- water troughs so that we are able gradually felling of timber so that by the end of the barking and still survive amongst the now to introduce light grazing as a grassland war, the maintenance and renewal of the mature conifers, relicts of the former wood sward is established. Restoration work will woods were a high priority. pasture. be undertaken with particular care around The demands of such a costly war Soon these ancient trees will be revealed the surviving ancient trees to ensure that resulted in a nationwide lack of timber which in all their glory once more, for this year they have time to adjust back to a more led to the setting up of the Forestry marks the beginning of a transformation as open landscape. After a few years, the Commission, formed to provide continuity we begin to return part of the parkland to its wildlife should start to adapt to the wood of planning and management to ensure original state as wood pasture. pasture, and a key part of Croft’s 647ha sufficient future supplies of suitable timber. Our countryside management team of landscape will look much as it did before the Some 194ha of Croft’s wood pasture and consultants and operational staff have First World War. broadleaved woodland above the parkland entered into a partnership with the Forestry Wood pasture is a rare habitat, and this and below the Ambrey were leased to the Commission as part of an ongoing woodland work will achieve up to 40 per cent of Forestry Commission in 1923. It planted this management plan which will, over the next Herefordshire’s Local Biodiversity Action land largely with conifer species for rapid 30 years, see the conifers felled and some Plan (LBAP) target for wood pasture timber production to fulfil a need for 51ha of historic wood pasture reinstated restoration whilst reinstating a key element firewood, furniture and general between the park and the Ambrey. As part of of a nationally important historic landscape. manufacturing. Croft’s landscape took on a the partnership agreement, the Commission very different appearance with dense stands is leasing back 41ha of this area to the Trust, of coniferous trees replacing the open park initially on a 15-year tenancy with an option and enclosing the veteran and other to renew. We have also entered into a Higher broadleaved trees within it. Level Stewardship (HLS) management

Clockwise from top left: before – dense growths of conifers hid the parkland trees; during – work is already underway on thinning the plantation; after – return of the giants! Open-grown trees back where they should be, in the open; a good store of wood is being created. All images © National Trust/Iain Carter

Force of nature: resurgence Views 87 Renewed energy heating needs, as well as heating the stables, precious resources. This work includes home farm and garden cottage too. This will insulating parts of the cellar ceilings, In addition to the large-scale woodland save 19,500 litres of oil per year as well as 52 secondary glazing in the offices and management project, 2014 also heralds an tonnes of carbon dioxide. domestic areas of the stables, and, most investment in renewable energy. One of the Not only will providing woodchip from importantly, continuing to encourage the pilot projects in the Trust’s Renewable the surrounding woodland make the team to save energy. Energy Investment Programme, a district property more self-sufficient, the woodland The new boiler is the modern-day biomass heating system will be installed at management associated with its supply will equivalent of burning wood from the forest, Croft this autumn to replace its inefficient also help us to improve it as a wildlife habitat something those who lived on the Croft and unreliable oil-fuelled boilers. The new and reduce the non-native tree species. estate would have relied on before the First boiler, which will be fuelled by woodchip Before the biomass boiler is installed, we World War. We are turning the clock back harvested sustainably from the estate, will are also making sure Croft’s buildings are as and forward, using the materials to hand but provide around three-quarters of the castle’s well-insulated as possible, to avoid wasting in a more sustainable way for the future.

The Rise of Northwood: a pre-war restoration Bob Epsom, Senior Ranger, Slindon Estate, South Downs

he Slindon Estate in West Sussex is team was based at Northwood to manage A brick incinerator was built to get rid of embarking on a large-scale woodland the felling operations, with some of the work the waste wood, and this can still be seen in Tcreation project on former farmland. undertaken by a prisoner-of-war camp which the woods today. An aerial ropeway and In fact the project could be called a was established on the site. narrow-gauge railway were also constructed restoration as the 75ha of arable farmland A document written in July 1918 by the to take the timber out of Northwood. Apart was woodland prior to the First World War. Canadian Forestry Corps recorded that from finding the occasional rail, there is We know that Northwood (or North 650,000 ‘FBM’ or foot board measure was nothing left on the ground. The area would Wood as it is called on Ordnance Survey milled that month with the majority being have been a hive of activity during the later maps) was wooded for a long time. However, beech. FBM is a timber measurement more years of war, which is hard to believe when during the Iron Age and Romano-British commonly used in North America. It is the standing in the quiet surroundings today. times, the land was farmed as there is equivalent of 1,533 cubic metres of timber, a During the interwar years, a large part of evidence of field systems. The earliest significant amount when you consider that Northwood was replanted with beech, which detailed map of the area in 1780 covers the they worked without chainsaws and timber now forms the Forestry Commission part of whole original extent and shows Northwood harvesters. the estate at Eartham Wood. Additionally, a to be fairly open woodland in appearance, compared with adjacent woods. Much of it was certainly common land before the 1880s when it would have been grazed by cattle and pigs.

Meeting the needs of the Trenches and the Home Front

It is during the two world wars that some of the greatest changes to the landscape took place. During the First World War there was an airship base adjacent to Northwood, which was a substation to a larger facility at Polegate, 35 miles to the east. The greatest change was the large-scale felling of trees, as timber was needed for trench reinforcements and for pit props to meet the increased need for coal production. In 1916 the Canadian Forestry Corps was set up to help Britain exploit its woodland resources for the war, using the Canadians’ expertise in all things related to timber production. A First World War incinerator in Stoney Bottom Wood. © National Trust/Bob Epsom

88 Views Force of nature: resurgence Aerial photograph large area was abandoned and left to become looking across the scrub, but growth was limited by the high War Ag Fields. rabbit population of the 1930s. This made it © James Laver/ AeRobot Ltd straightforward to clear the land and plough it for agriculture during the Second World War. It was the job of the War Agricultural Executive Committee to ensure there was an increase of home food production, and the fields were named War Ag Fields 1 to 6 after the government department that led to their creation. These continued to be cultivated until harvest 2013, when the National Trust took on the direct management of the fields to return them to woodland.

Plans for interpreting the changes of land use and the wartime story Northwood blog. The maps will have country. The laser technology produces Until now there has also been no clickable layers so that it will be possible to images that can see through the vegetation to information for the visitor on the history of see the changes of land use over time. reveal all the lumps and bumps. We anticipate Northwood, but this is set to change with On the ground, we plan to use discrete this will include features relating to the world the Rise of Northwood Project. interpretation in key places to tell the wars in Northwood, giving us more Apart from the current pattern of fields, curious visitor what they have stumbled understanding about what went on there. there is limited ground-level evidence of across, such as by the old incinerator, which Also, Worthing Archaeology Society, which what went on during the wars. Fortunately, is hidden amongst woodland. works closely with the Slindon Estate, has many aerial photographs and maps were We are planning to have sculpture at carried out extensive research on the wartime produced during the twentieth century that various locations to mark the work of the history of the estate. One of its members has show land-use changes. We are continuing lumber camp and the former land use. We even created a website about Slindon during this by taking fixed-point photos from the will launch this with a guided walk at the the wars. ground and the sky. This will provide good centenary of the clearance by the Canadian The Rise of Northwood is a fascinating documentary evidence for the changes that lumberjacks in 2016. project to be working on, especially as it is will occur throughout the woodland creation. The South Downs National Park Authority, about creating woodland for the benefit of We will be able to show visitors the alongside many partners including ourselves, wildlife and the landscape. However, it is changes on maps and plan to display these is embarking on a project using LiDAR to proving just as exciting to be able to on our touch-screen information point at discover the archaeology of the western South document and interpret the past land use the village shop and on the Rise of Downs, one of the most wooded parts of the for us and visitors.

From sandbags to sand dunes: the Cyril Diver Project David Brown, Cyril Diver Project Officer, Purbeck Office, and John Newbould, volunteer ecologist and Field Secretary, Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society

he National Trust is leading an Natural History and Archaeology Society, the 1930s. His approach was so thorough that ambitious ecological study of the Dorset Flora Group, Natural England, the his records can be scrutinised using modern TSouth Haven peninsula at Studland, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and scientific study methods, making this project Dorset, one of England’s most important Bournemouth University. both possible and valuable. coastal sites for biodiversity. Funded by the The project’s importance is down to the When the Centre for Ecology and Neptune Coastline project, Wild Purbeck work of the man after whom the project is Hydrology’s base in Dorset, where Diver’s Nature Improvement Area and the Heritage named. Cyril Diver was one of the last great archive was housed, was scheduled for Lottery Fund, the Cyril Diver Project is an ‘amateur’ naturalists, in the sense that his closure in 2000, the collection seemed active partnership of many local, regional expertise developed from a hobby, yet he destined to be disposed of. Angela Peters, and national naturalist societies and over a went on to become the first director-general the Trust’s Ranger Ecologist, recognised its hundred individual volunteers. The steering of the Nature Conservancy Council in 1948. value and was instrumental in keeping much group comprises the Trust, Dorset He made an extensive and highly detailed of it in the county. The raw data is now in the Environmental Records Centre, Dorset ecological study of the peninsula in the ownership of the Trust and housed in the

Force of nature: resurgence Views 89 Diver (right) with his Dorset History Centre, the insect collection colleagues at Studland. is in the Hope Museum at Oxford, whilst the © Cyril Diver Project botanical collection is currently being archived before being housed in the Dorset County Museum.

The man behind the project

Diver’s interest in natural history started early; trials on breeding snails in the family’s garden were a forerunner to later studies on genetics in ecology and nature conservation. These became one of his most outstanding legacies, all the more remarkable for being without the modern advantages of DNA analysis.

the flowers of the ling that first made him With others, Diver played a major role in determined to study the flora and fauna in drafting a report Nature Conservation and all its different habitats. Nature Reserves (October 1943) which Over the next seven years he was the recommended sites for protection. The lists constant presence in a multidisciplinary included 49 places which are now national study that involved many experts in natural habitat reserves and 33 scheduled areas. sciences, as well as a wider group of A number of papers were published by volunteers and family members. The sheer Diver and colleagues, but the onset of the number of records, and the detail at which Second World War halted further analysis of they were recorded, is remarkable, but it is significant amounts of data, and papers the cross-disciplinary nature of this work planned were either unpublished or that makes it stand out and effectively raised unwritten. The war also brought to an end the benchmark for ecological studies. Diver Diver’s hands-on association with the area. Cyril Diver – a giant in the history of biological studied the interactions between species; he Perhaps his increasingly national role in surveying. © Cyril Diver Project used a lightbox to compare the distribution nature conservation simply left him with less maps of invertebrates to that of plants or time to spend on fieldwork. In the First World War, he served on the habitat indicators. In doing so he started to front line in France with the Loyal North unearth not just the extraordinary diversity Lancashire Regiment, rising to the rank of of Studland, but its ecological dynamism Unearthing the ecological importance captain. He was wounded at the Battle of linked to the processes of dune formation of Studland Loos on 25 September 1915 and again in and succession. early 1918, before being ‘placed on the h.p. This was a time of great change in nature Diver’s studies began by investigating the [half pay] List because of ill-health’ shortly conservation generally. Conservationists geomorphological processes that had led to before the armistice. During his time in the were voicing their frustrations and bitter the original narrow peninsula of tertiary clays trenches he continued his scientific interest experiences of having to abandon long and gravels being extended via a system of in wildlife by making studies of the patterns series of observations because of changes dunes and slacks. His colleague, Ronald on the shells of snails. of use or ownership of a site. A few nature Good, studied the diverse vegetation and He took a job as a civil servant in the reserves did exist at this time – the Trust classified habitats according to the House of Commons after the war, reputedly owned Wicken Fen (acquired in 1912), underlying geology and geomorphological because the long summer recess gave him Box Hill (1914) and Scolt Head Island (1923) processes. Their three main study areas are time to pursue his nature interests. – and a Society for Promotion of Nature again being studied in the current South Reserves had been set up in 1912, but the Haven peninsula project: the Poole Harbour movement was disparate, with multiple shore (intertidal muds and saltmarsh Diver the Dorset field naturalist recording methods. communities); the Western Plateau (tertiary During the 1930s the Bankes family had clays and gravels dominated by a mosaic of Diver’s interest in Studland began with its been keen to sell Studland, and plans had wet and dry heath, valley mire and acidic geography and its influence on the many been drawn up for plots to be sold for woodland communities); and the Eastern types of habitat established there, with development. One only has to look a few Sands (dune system, lower lying, wetter dune plants ranging from marsh gentian and royal hundred metres north to see the fate of the slacks and open-water bodies behind them). fern to all three species of British sundews. Sandbanks peninsula to realise the Inevitably the quality and depth of Diver’s In his introduction to Diver’s memoir, Sir importance of Diver’s work, both in revealing data reflect the resources then available and Julian Huxley reports that it was the Studland’s diversity and in helping draw up the specialisms of the naturalists and discovery of a pink grasshopper matching the legislation to protect it. ecologists who worked with him; for

90 Views Force of nature: resurgence example, while detailed studies were carried recorders to contribute information in a Citizen science and building out for some insect orders, others are standardised format. Furthermore, in the local capacity notable for their virtual absence. intervening years, Studland has become one Nonetheless, their intensive efforts kick- of the UK’s most studied reserves. While With few exceptions, all the biological started scientific interest in Studland. The there has been no single study encompassing recording for the project is the work of site is now known to incorporate well over all taxonomic groups, considerable recording volunteers. Partly financial necessity, it also 40 National Vegetation Classification work has added to and built on the early reflects an important aim of building local communities including eight priority work carried out by Diver and his team. capacity in biological recording and habitats, and about 400 species with Diver divided the peninsula into over 70 increasing engagement in conservation. This individual national or international compartments that broadly correspond with requires the development of partnerships conservation designations. As well as discrete habitat areas or areas with a discrete and a culture of collaboration between constituting roughly 50 per cent of Studland land-use history. He produced over 1,500 individuals and organisations with ecological and Godlingston Heath National Nature species distribution maps, based on a 100- expertise, the Trust as landowner and Reserve, the South Haven peninsula is square-yard grid, which show the exact manager, and the wider local community. designated a Site of Special Scientific locations where species were recorded. He To ensure the scientific validity of results, Interest, Special Area of Conservation and also analysed his results by compartment, experts in each taxonomic group are Special Protection Area, and Little Sea is also with quantitative and qualitative habitat involved as recorders or verifiers, so many a Ramsar site. descriptions and species lists for each. These county recorders and conservation same compartments have been adopted as organisations are leading surveys in their the basic recording unit in the new study, specialism. To increase participation and The 2013–15 resurvey project although some have been subdivided, capacity, skills need to be passed on so the creating 92 overall. Recording effort during surveys are underpinned by a series of The project has three aims: the first full year (2013) concentrated on workshops and courses on identification and 1. Resurvey all the main groups of flora and building up an initial picture of each recording skills for the wider public. Many fauna on the South Haven peninsula, compartment. It will continue throughout recording groups team up beginners with compare findings with the 1930s data and the life of the project and beyond, with the experts who act as mentors, and a bursary identify the physical and ecological aim of building up an increasingly detailed scheme provides funding for individuals who changes. record of the full diversity of the South wish to develop expertise in a particular 2. Analyse, record and make available Haven peninsula and its spatial distribution. taxonomic area. Diver’s extensive document archive, The project itself will turn to detailed insect collection and herbarium. searches for species recorded by Diver but 3. Build local interest in and capacity for yet to be refound, as well as on distribution Interpreting change and research aims scientific ecological surveying. mapping of species new to the site and of rare, notable and protected species. A key research aim is not only to describe Our project echoes the original work but we Underlying the biological recording is a the change in biodiversity and species have a number of advantages: portable GPS series of investigations into soil and water distribution since the 1930s, but to further handsets, GIS software and online recording quality, for which some comparison with our understanding of the drivers of that systems, enabling a wider number of 1930’s data is possible. change. Diver highlighted the importance of on-going geomorphological processes in influencing ecological characteristics, in particular the continued accretion of dune ridges and the subsequent hydrological changes in the low-lying areas trapped behind them. Good (1935) studied the vegetation succession sequences that followed the creation of new dune ridges. Both these factors are still relevant today: recent aerial photographs show the peninsula to be nearly 100m wider at its northern end than it was 80 years ago, resulting in the main outflow of water from Little Sea moving from the eastern shore of the peninsula (Studland Bay) to the northern shore (Shell Bay). Other potential factors new to the site have also been identified: understanding their relative importance and specific impacts will be essential in interpreting the results of the current survey, and will influence decisions on conservation management into the future. Perhaps the most obvious changes are the many non-native species that have Dunes and heathland habitat of the South Haven peninsula. © National Trust/David Brown colonised the site; studies elsewhere have

Force of nature: resurgence Views 91 shown such species to have significant peninsula immediately after is not well but also through impacts on the climate- impacts on ecological dynamics. Around documented, but extensive burning, shelling limited ranges of plant and animal species, 200 sika deer (Cervus nippon), for example, and trampling by heavy machinery is likely to and the knock-on effects this will have on are now present; their impact on the heath have stripped the vegetation and effectively other interacting species. and freshwater habitats is unclear but they set back succession in many habitats. Other are known to have a detrimental effect on impacts may have been beneficial: bomb References saltmarsh and woodland vegetation. The craters, for example, have created numerous Good, R. (1935). ‘Contributions Towards a non-native moss Campylopus introflexus now pools that remain wet year-round and are Survey of the Plants and Animals of South forms dense carpets in many open heath known to be important for breeding Haven Peninsula, Studland Heath, Dorset: II. areas; Klinck (2010) discusses several studies amphibians and invertebrates, while localised General Ecology of the Flowering Plants and that have shown the effects of Campylopus lime enrichment due to path and pill-box Ferns.’ Journal of Ecology, 23(2), pp.361-405. in suppressing the distribution of other construction has increased the diversity of Klinck, J. (2010). NOBANIS – Invasive Alien bryophytes, lichens and vascular plants, substrates available for colonisation by Species Fact Sheet – Campylopus introflexus. consequently affecting dune and heath vascular and non-vascular plants. Online Database of the European Network fauna. Carp (Cyprinus carpio) were The area is a popular tourist destination on Invasive Alien Species www.nobanis.org introduced into Little Sea in the late receiving nearly a million visitors per year, [Online, accessed 17/12/2013] twentieth century; recent vegetation surveys and the impact of both trampling and noise McCormick, Paul, Loyal North Lancashire indicate a notable reduction in a number of disturbance on animal populations is likely Regiment website www.loyalregiment.com/ rare plant species such as Elatine hexadra to be significant, particularly on the younger Merrett, P. (ed.), Captain Cyril Diver that may be attributable to the carp. New dune habitats where most visitors are (1892–1969): a memoir. (Nature Conservancy, Zealand Pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii) is a concentrated. Furzebrook Research Station, 1971) highly invasive wetland plant whose Finally, it remains to be seen whether the detrimental effects on freshwater 2013–15 data will record changes from the In addition, a number of internal National ecosystems have been widely documented; 1930s data that can be directly attributable Trust nature conservation reports and unrecorded in Diver’s survey, in 2013 it was to climate change. Inevitably this will be an articles by Cyril Diver were drawn upon for recorded in over 20 different wetland important driver of change in the future, this article. compartments. most directly, perhaps, through the effects Studland was used during the Second of sea-level rise and surges that are You can follow progress on our Facebook World War as a training ground for the predicted to lead to the re-salination of page: www.facebook.com/CyrilDiverProject Normandy landings. The state of the Little Sea and many of the freshwater slacks,

Dragonfly identification and survey workshop. © National Trust/David Brown

92 Views Force of nature: resurgence The ecology of war Peter Brash, Animal Ecologist and Biological Survey Team

The ruined village of Belchite, created and destroyed by man, redeemed by nature. © Peter Brash

n the arid plains south of Zaragoza in ruins left by the Blitz giving it the name Spain lies a ghost town, a village where bombweed in parts of the South East. Ithe columns of the church reach up to an Rosebay was apparently a scarce plant in open sky and verandas cling to the walls of Britain before the advent of the railways. Its houses without rooms. Belchite was natural habitat would have been in newly devastated by the to and fro of battle cleared areas of woodland where coppicing between Nationalists and Republicans in would create the right combination of 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. It was left increased light and ground disturbance. as a monument by Franco, although the Steam railways brought with them an reasons are disputed: it seems more of an opportunity for rosebay to spread as the act of triumphalism than remembrance. frequent fires from sparks created bare Today it stands as it did then, ruined, a ground for this pioneer species to colonise; it testament to the destructive forces of war. Black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros. © Peter Brash is also known as fireweed. The tracks Although the streets are rubble-strewn and themselves provided linear distribution solemn, they are not completely silent. A corridors for the tiny windborne seeds. The short series of rising notes terminates in a The black redstart isn’t the only species prevalence of the plant in bombed areas of sizzling and crackling flourish, like a shorting to have taken advantage of war. Avocets, the capital was celebrated when it became electric circuit. A robin-sized black bird with Recurvirostra avosetta, the symbol of the the county flower of London in 2002. a red tail hops along the ruins and gives Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Rosebay willowherb wasn’t the only plant another burst of its fizzing song. This is the returned to nest along the Suffolk coast to spread as a result of the railways and also black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros, a bird of during the 1940s after reclaimed land was thrive on bombsites. Oxford ragwort Senecio parched rocky hillsides, mountain screes and flooded to help slow down or prevent a squalidus is a native of the volcanic slopes of cliffs. The ruins are a surrogate for its usual feared seaborne invasion. Mount Etna and was first introduced to haunts, and this species found similar Britain in 1700, before long being transferred habitat in urban Britain in the 1940s, its to the Botanic Gardens of Oxford where it population booming in Blitz-torn London Ground force gained its English name. Again the railways and other cities such as Liverpool, formed a route for its spread with the track Birmingham and Nottingham. Needless to The majority of battle-chasing species are ballast proving a good match for the hot, say, the UK population declined once those associated with dry and rocky habitats, barren and droughted lava flows of Sicily. redevelopment took place; although and plants are particularly quick colonisers. The bombsites of London and other cities numbers are lower, they remain fairly stable Rosebay willowherb Chamerion angustifolium provided a niche which the plant exploited around industrial sites. is one such plant, its predeliction for the to the full.

Force of nature: resurgence Views 93 Poppy culture

There is no doubt that the species most associated with war is the common poppy Papaver rhoeas. Poppies are the most enduring symbol of the sacrifices made in the First World War and other conflicts since. Vast swathes painted the battlefields of western Europe, the colour a reminder of the huge bloodshed. The ecology of poppies is very well suited to the massive impact that the shelling and other disturbing activities produced. The seeds are very long-lived, remaining viable when buried for a century or maybe more. The fact that poppies will also grow, flower and seed in a short period makes them ideally suited to growing on battlefields as well as their usual haunt of arable land. Fragile and resilient common poppy Papaver rhoeas. © National Trust Images/John Millar Another attribute of poppies – the incredible fragility of the petals which will fall Souvenir of a doomed campaign have been brought to this country in in a day – makes the real flowers impractical straw that was used in bedding by soldiers to wear and has meant that there is an Another of our naturalised plant species returning from the ill-fated Walcheren industry which creates paper alternatives. arrived on these shores in curious expedition in the Netherlands of 1809; The ephemeral nature of the flowers is circumstances. Hoary cress Lepidium draba ‘ill-fated’ because the vast majority of perhaps another analogy with the flower of is quite widespread but very localised, casualties died from malaria rather than youth which fell before its time. growing in locations such as soft sea-cliffs in battle. This campaign formed part of and roadsides. It’s a fairly undistinguished the War of the Fifth Coalition which saw member of the cabbage family with grey- Britain attempting to relieve the Austrian green leaves and stems bearing flat-topped forces that were at war with France. heads of off-white flowers. It is reputed to

Six-legged soldiers: insects with military names Andy Foster, Invertebrate Ecologist and Leader of Biological Survey Team, Heelis

ome of our insects have gained names uncommon insect, occurring in the southern Oxycera dives, the murky-legged black with a military theme – most because half of the country, but rare away from the legionnaire Beris chalybata and the Private Sof their neat colourful appearance coast. It is recorded on a few Trust sites such Pike of the corps, the delicate soldier Oxycera akin to historic military uniforms, though as the Purbeck Coast and Burton Bradstock nigricornis. There are nearly fifty species of some because of their war-like actions. in Dorset, and at Ivythorn and Walton Hills in them in the UK, and some are rare and very The orange and blue bombardier beetle the Polden Hills, Somerset. The even rarer fussy about where they live. Many are Brachinus crepitans, one of our ground streaked bombardier beetle Brachinus wetland insects with semi-aquatic larvae beetles, has a defence mechanism against sclopeta was thought to be extinct in the UK inhabiting ditches, pond margins or small predators which involves firing unpleasant until its rediscovery near the Thames Barrier trickles and flushes. One of the largest, and chemicals from its rear end. When in 2005, but it has not so far been reported most gaudy, is the bright lemon-yellow-and- threatened it ejects a cocktail of on Trust land. black banded general Stratiomys potamida, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, the Soldier flies and soldier beetles get their which is one of the wetland species, whilst latter known to have been used as an names from smart, brightly coloured the smaller creamy-yellow-and-black hill explosive in liquid bombs – surely a mixture markings. Among the soldier flies are bright soldier Oxycera pardalina is restricted to to deter even the most tenacious predator! yellows or greens with black, and sometimes small calcareous flushes – it occurs widely, When applied by the beetle, it looks to us metallic greens. Their names cover military but only at a few Trust properties such as like a small puff of smoke, and remarkably ranks from generals, through colonels and Upper Wharfedale in Yorkshire. the beetle can be primed and ready to fire majors, down to legionnaires and soldiers. The soldier beetles, of which we have 41 again within a few minutes. It is an Names include the round spotted major species, often combine oranges and reds

94 Views Force of nature: resurgence Left: Banded general Stratiomys potamida; Right: Hogweed bonking beetle Rhagonycha fulva. Both images © North East Wildlife www.northeastwildlife.co.uk

with blues and black, and some of those with One of the largest orange-and-navy-blue British beetles – is the bright orange navy-blue markings have been called sailor examples is Ancistronycha abdominalis which Rhagonycha fulva which has the notoriety of beetles. Most have soil- or leaf litter-dwelling has a primarily northern distribution and has also being known as the hogweed bonking larvae that are predators of other small been found in Skelghyll Wood and at beetle – that’s where you find them and what invertebrates, whilst the adults are most Hayburn Wyke. One of the most frequently they do all day… often found visiting flowers in high summer. seen – in fact one of our most common

Churchill’s passion: the butterflies of Chartwell Matthew Oates, National Specialist on Butterflies, and Rhiannon Harris, Diploma Gardener, Chartwell, Kent

his collections has survived: one was eaten by a rat, which we know from a letter that relates how he caught the rat and gave it to his dog called, rather wondrously, Winston. His career, not to mention affairs of state and two world wars, then got in the way, and butterflies rather retreated into his memory. But no one who develops an interest in butterflies ever loses it for good; the passion invariably returns.

Just when he thought he’d have time on his hands…

Shortly before the Second World War, Red admiral on yew at Chartwell. © National Trust/Jamie Harris Churchill contacted L. Hugh Newman, who ran a butterfly farm not far from Chartwell. ir Winston Churchill was a multi- He developed a passion for collecting and The farm had been established in Bexley in faceted personality – and still is, for breeding butterflies and moths at prep 1894 by Newman’s father, Leonard Newman, She’s not showing any sign of fading school, at Hove in Sussex. His letters home and had recently moved to the downs near into obscurity. He had many interests and tell of this keenness. Collecting butterflies Westerham, where the son was taking over skills away from politics and world affairs. It and moths was a popular hobby in those the reins. The farm traded in livestock and is well known that he enjoyed bricklaying days, particularly from the 1890s through to specimens, initially to collectors of all ages, and was also an accomplished artist, working the start of the First World War. As a young but increasingly to schools and scientific in oils. Less well known is that he knew and man, Churchill collected specimens in India, institutions, including London Zoo. Churchill loved his butterflies. South Africa and the West Indies. None of was probably stimulated by a leaflet

Force of nature: resurgence Views 95 produced by Newman entitled Butterflies in Newman quickly produced what Churchill were spectacularly misunderstood, for the the Garden. Early in 1939, Churchill visited the wanted, ‘a plan of action’. Initially, he caterpillars ended up on the bonfire. A farm and expressed considerable interest in proposed the mass release of common similar fate befell the swallowtail, when the breeding and releasing butterflies at butterflies native to the Chartwell area – gardeners cut down the vegetation around Chartwell, in part because he desired a brimstone, comma, holly blue, peacock, the lakes, including the fennel plants garden full of butterflies for his famous small tortoiseshell and speckled wood – plus harbouring swallowtail larvae. summer parties. the regular migrant species: clouded yellow, More successfully, on Churchill’s The timing was unfortunate as later that painted lady and red admiral. Newman also suggestion, Newman converted a summer- year an unsettled political situation abroad added the large tortoiseshell, which was in house, originally built as a game larder, into escalated into a Europe-wide and then a steep decline nationally. However, butterflies a butterfly breeding house, with a simple world-wide war. have a strong dispersal instinct, with netted front and door. The summer-house individuals of many species quickly forsaking was stocked with food plants and their place of origin. The clouds of caterpillars. The great man would sit on the Peace returns to the garden butterflies may have proven rather wooden benches that skirt the walls of the ephemeral at Chartwell, but other Kentish little building and admire the wonders of After the war, Newman contacted Churchill gardens may have benefited enormously. butterfly metamorphosis, liberating and received an immediate and enthusiastic Newman, whose passion for butterflies butterflies when they were ready to fly. In response. He recalled: ‘It was quite obvious and moths knew no bounds, at times 2010, under the inspiration of then Head that he knew a lot about our butterflies, became over-enthusiastic. He attempted to Gardener Giles Palmer, the Trust put what they needed as foodplants and which re-establish the black-veined white, which Churchill’s butterfly house back into use, at would be the most likely species to breed had become extinct in the UK during the least during the main summer months. Small successfully in the neighbourhood, so that in 1920s, and also the continental sub-species numbers of larvae of ubiquitous butterflies – most cases I found that I had merely to agree of the swallowtail. These attempts went comma, peacock, painted lady and red with his suggestions.’ The correspondence farcically wrong. Having published a note in admiral – are acquired in mid-summer, and between the two, which has survived in the The Entomologist magazine asking collectors allowed to complete their metamorphosis Churchill Archive, indicates that Churchill to refrain from taking specimens of the inside breeding cages in the summer-house, knew the scientific names of our native black-veined white in the vicinity of before being released. These, together with butterflies, for the pair communicated Chartwell, Newman was horrified when his interpretation panels and information largely through the use of these Latin and instructions to the Chartwell gardeners on sheets, are proving to be an added attraction Greek names. how to care for the black-veined white larvae to the garden, especially for young families.

The summer house which Churchill converted to a butterfly breeding house. © National Trust/Jamie Harris

96 Views Force of nature: resurgence The Trust continues to expand the wildlife theme at Chartwell. In 2013 a large border for pollinating insects was created close to the butterfly house and walk by one of the authors, Rhiannon. The Trust also maintains pockets of rough grassland, downslope of Butterfly Walk, as breeding grounds for butterflies such as the gatekeeper, meadow brown and common blue.

Legacy

Newman went on to become quite famous as the ‘butterfly farmer’. He was a regular contributor to BBC radio’s Nature Parliament programme on Children’s Hour, alongside Sir Peter Scott, and wrote a number of books on butterflies, moths and other insects, including Create a Butterfly Garden (1967). In 1962 he appeared on Desert Island Discs, signing off with Acker Bilk’s Stranger on the Shore. In 1966 he sold the butterfly farm to his protégé, Robert Goodden, who developed it into Worldwide Butterflies Ltd. Newman then became something of a recluse, taking to his bed for years before he died in January 1993. Today, we need to recognise Churchill as one of the founder figures of butterfly gardening, and even as an early pioneer of wildlife gardening. He would be delighted to know that Chartwell is one of the best National Trust gardens for butterflies. Long ago, Newman took a pair of freshly emerged purple emperors to show to Churchill as he recovered from an operation. Both would be Butterfly Walk. © National Trust/Jamie Harris astounded and delighted to learn that this rare and elusive butterfly is now breeding happily in the woods around Chartwell. Success breeds success. Soldier, statesman… eco-warrior?

Churchill was also a pioneer of wildlife gardening, and had butterflies particularly in mind. On Newman’s recommendation, he planted a number of butterfly-friendly plants in the gardens. Some of the original plantings still remain, most notably some large old Buddleja at the top of the orchard; others such as Lavandula have of necessity been replaced. When Chartwell passed to the Trust in 1966, the landscape architect Lanning Roper altered the planting in this part of the garden, increasing the number of grey-foliaged plants and adding box blimps. Over the years the Trust has replaced much of Roper’s planting with butterfly-friendly alternatives. Today referred to as Butterfly Walk, the area features grey-leaved Buddleja, Lavandula, Santolina and Anthemis, and spring-flowering bulbs such as Muscari and Scilla siberica which provide butterflies with an early source of nectar. Purple emperor. © National Trust/ Matthew Oates

Force of nature: resurgence Views 97 Trench life: a soldier’s personal habitat Amber Swinburne, Conservation Intern

Cramped conditions in trenches in Gallipoli. © Crown copyright

Trenches and their conditions Trench foot manure. In severe cases, gangrene would develop, caused by loss of blood supply and Trenches were dug to about 2m deep and Possibly the most well-known war disease, tissue death, leading to amputation of toes lined with sandbags for reinforcement. They trench foot is a fungal infection. It went by a or a foot. Some 74,000 British trench foot offered some protection from attack and a number of other names and diagnoses, such cases were recorded during the First World place for soldiers to live, but a combination as ‘frost-bite’ (trench foot does not require War; however, many more cases probably of being below ground level, poor drainage low temperatures to occur), ‘chilled feet’, went unreported. and little shelter from the elements meant ‘effects of exposure’, ‘N.Y.D. [Not Yet In 1915, conditions began to improve. that the trenches were often damp, muddy, Diagnosed] feet’ and ‘feet cases’. It was a Trench foot inspections and buddy systems cold and cramped. To add to the general result of the soldiers standing in water for were introduced; soldiers were paired up to unpleasantness, fires were prohibited as they hours or even days without removing their look after each other’s feet, as they often would identify the troops’ position, the boots, in filthy and flooded trenches. Their neglected their own, but were less likely to limited toilet facilities meant that sewage feet would go numb before turning red or neglect a friend’s. Whale oil was rubbed into would often flood, spreading illness and blue because of a reduced blood supply. the feet. The rubbing stimulated circulation attracting vermin, and as the timely They would then swell and develop blisters and the oil prevented waterlogging of the collection of bodies and proper burials was or open sores that were susceptible to skin. This led to a rapid decrease in cases, often impossible, corpses would rot where infection with the fungus Scopidariopsis although it remained a problem. they lay, attracting rats and flies. koninjii, usually found in litter, straw or

98 Views Force of nature: resurgence Rats Body lice breed in dirty clothing, an eventually and give great distress towards inevitability in the trenches. Even if the evening and into the night, there is usually a Rats were a huge problem in the trenches, in clothing was regularly washed and the sense of stiffness and soreness about the terms of both their number and scale of soldiers attempted to pick all the lice out, whole of the lower extremities. The lumbar contamination. Private Harry Patch (‘the last eggs remained and would hatch within a few pain sets in early, is severe, and in some fighting Tommy’) said some were ‘as big as hours of the clothing being put on. Many cases quite as unbearable as it is in the cats’. There are reports of them running over shaved their heads and body hair in an invasion period of smallpox. ... The (living) soldiers, even gnawing on sleeping attempt to cut down on lice. exhaustion following the acute stages of this men. More often they fed on the decaying While being generally unpleasant to disease is very marked.’ corpses, spreading infection back into the have, lice also caused diseases such as During its epidemic (few cases have been trenches. However many rats were killed, trench fever or typhus. The link between reported since), the disease is estimated to their reproduction rate meant there were trench fever and lice was unknown have infected around 800,000 Allied plenty of replacements. initially, but once discovered, DDT soldiers. Symptoms disappeared after about Weil’s Disease, a severe form of the (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) was used 12 days, provided victims were not bitten bacterial infection leptospirosis, is carried in to control the insect. As we now know, DDT again by lice during that time, but complete the urine of rats and is still a problem today. caused other health issues in the soldiers, recovery could take up to 12 weeks away It is contracted by contact with water, soil or could be passed on to their children, and has from the trenches. other materials soiled by rat urine. The long-lasting effects on ecosystems. (DDT is Typhus is caused by Rickettsia prowazeki, bacteria enters through wounds or the eyes, an effective pesticide but its long-term a micro-organism carried by body lice. nose or mouth, and causes headaches, chills, effects were not widely known until Rachel The symptoms include chills, a fever, rashes, bleeding and organ failure. Carson published her seminal book Silent convulsions and delirium. Cases are Spring in 1962. It has since been banned as estimated to have reached three million an agricultural pesticide.) during the war and the mortality rate ranged Lice Trench fever, which is caused by the from 10 per cent to 40 per cent. As effective bacterium Bartonella quintana, was antibiotics were not developed until 1932, Another horror of the trenches was lice. characterised by intense pain followed by a it was treated with powders to sweat the Both the head louse Pediculus capitis and fever, although other symptoms included disease out, and many of the treatments body louse Pediculus corporis were common, headaches, skin rashes, inflamed eyes and used to treat typhoid fever were also used to causing itching and secondary health leg pains. Major J. Graham describes the treat typhus – the two are unrelated but problems. The lack of space allowed lice to disease in his short article in The Lancet, 1915, ‘typhoid’ means ‘typhus like’. Typhoid is spread rapidly from soldier to soldier, so ‘A Note on a Relapsing Febrile Illness of linked to food or water contaminated by most (estimated over 95 per cent) would Unknown Origin’: ‘Before the pains faeces and the bacteria Salmonella typhosa. have harboured lice. concentrate in the shins, which they do Its symptoms include a fever, pink spots on the abdomen, enlarged spleen and diarrhoea. It was treated with calomel as a purgative, opium pills for the pain and diarrhoea, or oral turpentine and whisky if the patient collapsed. During the war, 63,000 soldiers and sailors died from typhoid fever, although, in some cases, it subsided after three to four weeks without treatment.

Will we ever learn?

While many important medical discoveries were made during and after the First World War, and we know more about the conditions that cause disease, persistent, damaging pesticides like DDT are dangerously close to making a comeback.

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my appreciation of David Bullock for initiating and aiding me Human head louse. © Gilles San Martin www.flickr.com/people/9082612@N05 with this project.

Force of nature: resurgence Views 99 Give us your views!

Please take a few moments to give us your opinion of Views – these feedback forms are all read and, as necessary, acted upon. Please detach this page and send it to Views, Conservation, National Trust, Heelis, Kemble Drive, Swindon SN2 2NA, or email your comments to [email protected].

How did you like this issue of Views? Would you contribute to a future edition? If yes, what would you write about? Dull Brilliant!

...... 12 3 4 5

...... Do you keep Views for reference? ......

...... Are there any other comments you would Have you any comments on a specific article? like to make?

......

......

......

...... If you read other conservation/heritage/ countryside/environmental magazines, how does Views compare? Have you any suggestions for articles or a theme for a future issue? ......

......

......

...... Your details

...... Your details are useful if we need to follow up feedback but not obligatory. We would appreciate a note of your Whom would you suggest that we approach for job title in order to see who in the Trust takes the most an article? interest in Views.

...... Job title …………………………………………….

...... Name ……………………………………(Optional) Property/office …………………………(Optional)

Thank you! ¢ Views is also available as a pdf on the intranet at http://intranet/views and website at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/views or by emailing [email protected] or by telephoning 01793 817791

The National Trust is a registered charity no. 205846 Printed on 100% recycled paper