WIDECOMBE HISTORY GROUP Registered Charity 114684 WW2 Widecombe Roll of Honour Newsletter Volume 35 – January 2017 Contents Committee Members Page 2 Note from Kirsty Page 2 Postcard Entrepreneurs Pages 2 and 3 Roll of Honour Pages 4 to 7 Moustaches! Page 8 Recruiting The Forces Page 9 The First National Park Page 9 and 10 Dartmoor Prison Bicentenary Pages 11 to 16 Lost Devon Pages 17 and 18 Life and Times of 17th c Mortonans Pages 18 and 19 Tavistock vs Taj Mahal Pages 20 and 21 Stepping Out of the Stoneage Pages 22 and 23 Dartmoor by the Sea Pages 23 and 24 Peter Hirst Memorial Walk Page 24 to 26 Widecombe Fair and Stover Lunch Page 27 Diary of Events Page 28 www.widecombe-in-the-moor.com email: history@widecombe1 -in-the-moor.com Hon Sec.: Margaret Phipps Tel: 01626 834737 email: [email protected] Committee for 2016/17 *Terry French Chairman Peter Carrett Vice Chairman *Margaret Phipps Secretary *Roger Claxton Treasurer *John Walling Committee Member *Sue Boustead - ditto – David Ashman - ditto – Tim Whitten - ditto – Marcia Babbington Programme Organiser *Trustees of the Charity ------------------------------------------- Note from Me! The start of a new year is just ahead as I put this edition together sitting here at our home in Montana watching the snow falling. A huge thank you to all the contributors, without you there would not be a Widecombe History Group Newsletter. Kirsty Postcard Entrepreneurs (my apologies, I did not make a note of who sent this) Listening to our speaker Tracy Elliot-Reep at the April meeting, talking about establishing her publishing business in Widecombe, I was reminded of the number of “Postcard” producers the village has had over the years. These local businesses set out to produce a suitable Widecombe souvenir which also had a practical purpose. In Widecombe the following enterprises produced postcards: F.W. Broughton, Old Inn Widecombe Edward Dunn, Widecombe (almost entirely of himself in Tom Cobley costume) 2 M.M. Foot, Wayside Café, Widecombe Owen Harvey, Post Office, Widecombe Kernicks Pottery Stores, Widecombe A Ruth, Photographer, Ashburton. These small businesses were in direct competition with the large suppliers such as Chapman & Sons of Dawlish, whose card catalogue is stored on the Devon Hertitage Web site. Firth & Co who had at least 80 different postcards depicting Widecombe and District, and Raphael Tuck & Co, who amongst other things published Beatrice Chases “Snapshots of Dartmoor” published in 1931. Set out are examples of cards some of the locals produced. A R Ruth Owen Harvey F W Broughton M M Foot 3 Roll of Honour Widecombe Roll of Honour by Peter Rennells Back in 2014 Anthony, our Secretary, received an invite to the inaugural meeting of the Devon Remembers campaign in Exeter. We had, at last, enjoyed the first ‘dig’ of North Hall and thinking I was now on a ‘run down’ I volunteered to join him. I had a personal experience of my own family’s involved in WW1. As far as the campaign was concerned (Devon Remembers) we were sadly lacking! Anthony, John Kimber and myself attended several meetings, studying the situation in other villages and our number one problem soon surfaced. Memorials to those who died were evident in various forms. However, recording the names of those who served and survived, we were sadly lacking. Widecombe had a list in the 1920’s but it was neglected and had disappeared. No supporting records were available from the Church. We had a major problem. Leusdon Church records 6 who died and 47 who served and survived. Widceombe Church records six who died and had no other information. Our first port of call, family and relatives, proved very scarce. It was only thanks to the memories of Bessie and Terry French, Ena Smerdon and Geoff Bamsey added to Anthony’s knowledge of all things Widecombe that we even got started. Our first approach was to get the details of the men who had died. It took us more than a year to investigate all 12. Access to national archives is not easy. A wide selection of history websites are helpful but not cheap. However the effort and the expense has been well worth it. Two from Leusdon came to mind with such different stores. The Struben Gold Mining Family and Sidney West’s death as a POW needed very careful research. For Widecombe we have the touching story of John Radcliffe 4 of Bagpark and his groom Henry Broome who both died in France within a year of each other. Eventually we began to concentrate on the ‘unknowns’ of Widecombe. Combing the 1911 census gave us a list of names of those who could have been in the right age group to go to war. Then school records indicated boys who could have grown into service age. Stephen Woods’ books on Widecombe referred to ‘ex servicemen’ which a few clues. Then we had to take a serious look at Beatrice Chase and her Mr. Blue Jacket. We joined the Newton Abbot branch of the Western Front Association. John Ellis and his colleagues gave us a lot of guidance in local sources of information. From here on John K. became engrossed in the archives of local newspapers, particularly The Western Morning News and the Mid Devon Advertiser Recruitment tribunals in Newton Abbot frequently gave us names of farmers and their employees pleading for a stay of execution. Delays of call-up was only given in the event of harvesting time. A trecruitment march through Dartmoor villages earned a bad press particularly from Widecombe. However as the band had lunch in the village it is safe to assume that most men were working in their own locality and nowhere within sight or sound. A nil return was most likely. Then we were advised by another History Group to get a copy of the 1919 election ‘list of absent voters’. This revealed a few names of men still serving overseas in 1911. The area included Widecombe, Leusdon, Postbridge, Poundsgate and Buckland. 29 possibilities. So slowly and gradually names were found and checked. Our list began. We put on Recruitment Exhibitions at Leusdon, Widecombe and Princetown which aroused interest but few names. It soon became clear that more details records were kept of officers than the ‘other ranks’. One other source gave us considerable help, Michael 5 Nosworthy’s careful maintenance of the local British Legion Records. These dated from the 1920’s and contained the names of all the local members who had meetings and functions at the Old Inn, also their family members. Wonderful! This turned out to be of great value as it contained over 60 names to be researched. Fortunately David Ashman arrived at this opportune moment and assisted greatly in researching this vast list of unknowns. Quite a few names had no Widecombe connection but eventually our list of names was up in the 30’s. Anthony, so enthusiastic, focussed on being able to display our list in the Church. From his long list of friendly contacts he produced Daphne Murphy our calligrapher. Her enthusiasm for the projects was to gratifying. From her home in Paignton she made trips to Widecombe, not just to check our list, but also its final resting place in the Church. So we have reached the point where we have to bring these lads back to Widecombe and acknowledge their contribution. We appreciate how the interest and cooperation of Rev. Geoffrey Fenton, The Parochial Church Council, the entire membership of The History Group, the sadly diminishing group of village elders and enthusiastic leadership of Anthony Beard has made all of this commemoration possible. However the project is forever open. Once the restriction on the records of the Home Guard are lifted, more Widecombe and District names will be available for our research. What now? Hopefully Brian will have finished framing the Roll of Honour in time for its commemoration at the Remembrance Service on Sunday 13th November 2016 (note from Ed: He did). However thanks to Mary Pascoe, the project will continue. She noticed in Princetown Parish Church a Book of Remembrance dedicated to all local residents who 6 served in WW!. An everlasting account of their service and sacrifice. A very helpful records of life in the area, family names, addresses to guide anyone researching ancestors. We are making a start on our own village Book of Remembrance. Already we have a lot of family stories and background, but we also have a lot of almost blank entries. Still much research to be done. This is not a book that will have a happy ending, but we will know much more of their lives and that of their families. We hope to show that they are not just long-forgotten names on a memorial scroll. We will try to record the stories of their lives, before, during and after The Great War. They are not just Servicemen – they are Widecombe Servicemen and their memories truly belong here. 7 Moustaches! Have you ever wondered why nearly all the army officers you see in picture of World War 1 wore moustaches?. The answer is they were obeying Command 1695 of Kings Regulations which read “ the length of the hair will be kept short, the chin and under lip will be shaved but not the upper lip” Failure to comply could have lead to a term of imprisonment in army custody. However during the Great War it became more and more difficult for the men to comply and so on 6th October 1916 the order was dropped. ***************************** 1916 British soldiers serving on the Western Front were issued with “tin helmets” for the first time.