Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. III
2014 saw the centenary of the start of World War I and to commemorate the event the Felbridge History Group produced Felbridge Remembers World War I [for further information see Special, Felbridge Remembers World War I, SP. SJC 07/14]. So much information was donated it was decided to produce a series of Handouts that will culminate with the centenary of Armistice Day in 2018. The following is Part III of a series of Handouts that documents the information received into the Felbridge archive in response to the centenary, some of which may also appear in the commemorative publication Felbridge Remembers World War I, but where additional information has since be received this has be incorporated under the relevant sections.
This, and all the Handouts in the series, sets out to tell the stories of some of the local heroes with Felbridge connections who fought in World War I and how their families were impacted during this tumultuous time. Much of the information has come from descendants and family members who keep their memories alive, supplemented with information about their service from war records (where they survive) and details about some of the campaigns they were part of.
Part I covered the Arnold, Roberts and Sargent families, Sidney Godley, the first Private to receive the Victoria Cross in World War I, Frank Wells whose war memoires (in his own words) survive and Christopher Wren of the Tank Corps, all of whom have descendants that still live in Felbridge and the surrounding area.
Part II covered Henry Willis Rudd and the Lewis gun, the formation of the Voluntary Aid Detachment and the work of Mrs Blount of Imberhorne, together with some of the Auxiliary Hospitals/Convalescent Hospitals that were set up in the Felbridge area including the stories of LT. COL. J B Pym and LT.COL. R H Freeman MC who were sent for convalescence at The Lodge, Great Frenches Park and L. STO. Reginald William Morgan who was sent to FelbridgePark to convalesce. It also covered some of the wartime entries found in the Felbridge School Log and some correspondence of the war years, including a letter to The Times from Rev. G Osborne Troop of the Vicarage Felbridge and post cards sent home from the Front to the Martin and Sargent families.
This Handout will cover some of the servicemen who fought in World War I who have connections with members of the Felbridge community such as L. Corp. William Howard Roberts MM whose daughter has spent her married life living in Felbridge and the four Kenward brothers who were related to the Felbridge Wheeler/Pattenden families; Military Officers who came from or decided to move to the local area including: Lt. Ivan Donald Margary, Capt. Andrew Duncan MacNeill and his brother Lt. William MacKinnon MacNeill, Major Stewart Inglis DSO and Major Douglas Stern MC; a plea of exemption from the Farm Bailiff at Imberhorne Farm for Alfred Pattenden, the only man left to farm Tilkhurst Farm during World War I; Seaman Arthur Ernest Pattenden; and the Women’s Farm and Garden Union that was established at Wiremill as a result of World War I.
The impact of World War I on Felbridge
The impact of World War I on the people of the Felbridge community has to be viewed as two parts, those who sadly lost their lives, which can be measured in facts and figures and those who returned as very different men after fighting in the war.
For the facts and figures, eighteen men are recorded as having lost their lives in World War I in Felbridge. Of these eighteen, only fifteen appear on the official Memorial Plaque in St John’s church, with a further two remembered on memorials erected in the churchyard and one who has no memorial [for further information see Handout, War Memorials of St Jon the Divine, SJC 07/02v]. Of the eighteen men, there are four pairs of brothers who died and at least one brother-in-law. The average age of the Felbridge men who died was thirty, with 53% being single, 29% being married and the remaining 18% widowed or unknown. Although the men served with a variety of regiments, the largest percentage, 41%, served with the Royal Sussex Regiment, which lost a total of 6,800 men and of this figure 0.1% came from Felbridge. The highest loss of Felbridge lives occurred in 1915 and 1916, both years being 29% with 24% lost in 1917 and 18% lost in 1918, the majority of lives being lost in France.
The impact on the community of Felbridge also has to be considered in relation to the population figure of Felbridge at that time. Felbridge, although no longer a manorial estate as it had started to break up in 1911 [for further information see Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11], did not grow during the intervening years. This meant that the population figure was about the same as it had been during the time of being a manorial estate, which in 1913 was 293. On this basis, Felbridge lost 6% of its total population during World War I and presuming that about half of the population were males, Felbridge lost 12% of its male population. Considering the average life expectancy in Felbridge in the early 1900’s was 60 (from burial data) and the age for conscripted service was 18 to 50 by the end of the War, Felbridge lost 2 in every 9 males who were eligible for war service.
General Information on World War I
Set against a back drop of manoeuvres for European supremacy, World War I began on 4th August 1914, triggered by the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand whilst on a visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia. The War drew in all the World’s big powers divided between two main camps, the Allies consisting of Britain, France and Russia, later joined by countries from the British Commonwealth and America, and the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
It was the first war that involved the majority of the world and saw the introduction of a very different form of warfare to that previously experienced. Men no longer fought hand to hand combat but saw the introduction of indiscriminate mechanical warfare at close range. Originally believed to be ‘over by Christmas’ it soon became apparent that this war would not be so easily won and would end up having a huge impact upon all the countries involved.
By the end of the War in Europe, on 11th November 1918, many millions of lives had been lost on all sides and the four major European imperial powers, German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman, ceased to exist after 1919. Germany lost substantial territory, whilst the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman states were dismantled. This saw the re-drawing of the map of Europe with several independent nations restored or created. To try and prevent the repetition of such an appalling conflict again the League of Nations was formed, thus World War I was billed as the ‘War to end all Wars’ but sadly the weakened states renewed European nationalism and the German feeling of humiliation contributed to a rise of fascism and the conditions for World War II, just twenty years later.
L. Corp. William Howard Roberts, MM
William Howard Roberts was the father of Felbridge resident Sheila Martin (daughter-in-law of Sydney Martin, [for further information see Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.2, SJC 09/16]). William Howard Roberts was born in East Grinstead, Sussex, on 23rd September 1899, the son of William Henry Roberts and his wife Blanche née Cheetham. William senior came from Oxfordshire but had settled in East Grinstead by 1891, working as a saddler and living at Little Holly Bush (near Standen). Blanche had been born in the Chichester area of Sussex, moving to the East Grinstead area sometime between 1891 and 1898 when she married William Henry Roberts. Besides William Howard, William and Blanche had at least four other children including: Gladys Alice who was born in 1898, Richard Henry who was born in 1901 but who had sadly died by the spring of 1902, Jack who was born in 1903 and Arthur who was born in 1905, all born in East Grinstead. In 1911 the Roberts family was living at 8, Chequer Road, East Grinstead, William senior still working as a saddler.
With the out-break of World War I in August 1914, William Howard Roberts had not yet reached the age of 15 but was eager to sign up so lied about his age and enlisted with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. Shortly before his deployment to France, William returned home to his family who had moved from East Grinstead and were renting a cottage at Little Hedgecourt off the Copthorne Road in Felbridge. The family resided at this property in 1916/17 so it is likely that William had enlisted c1915/16 aged about 15. Sadly William’s World War I Service Record does not survive so it has proved impossible to determine exactly when he enlisted but it is known that he fought with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment who, alongside the 4th, 7th and 11th Battalions, saw action in the Battle for Arras between 9th April and 16th May 1917. The Battle for Arras was a particularly brutal engagement that resulted in the loss of around 158,000 soldiers (on both sides) and it has been reported that the battle saw the heaviest daily casualties of any battle in World War I involving the British Army.
Although William’s Service Record has not survived his Medal Card has, this indicates that as a Private with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment he won the Military Medal (MM), the Level 3 Gallantry Medal that had been established in 1916 and was presented to personnel below commissioned ranks of the British Army (and other services and personnel of Commonwealth countries). It was the lower ranks’ equivalent to the Military Cross (MC) which was only awarded to Commissioned Officers. The Military Medal was awarded to William H Roberts for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire, for individual or associated acts of bravery and allowed him to use the letters MM after his name. The family also have two other medals that William was awarded, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal and family tradition has it that William rose to the rank of Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment.
William Howard Roberts survived World War I and after a few years to re-adjust to civilian life, married Doris Watts Grainger on 1st January 1925. Doris had been born in Dartford, Kent, on 25th February 1900, the daughter of Charles James Grainger and his wife Isabel Mary née Watts of Lewes in Sussex. By 1904 the Grainger family had moved to East Grinstead, living at 25, Chequer Road in 1911 so it is possible that William knew of Doris before his enlistment with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment.
William and Doris went on to have two girls, Sheila J and Doris Isabel (known as Isabel) and settled in Holtye Road, East Grinstead. Sadly World War II would also affect the Roberts’ family as Isabel fell victim to the Whitehall Cinema bombing in East Grinstead on 9th July 1943 [for further information see Handout, Felbridge at War 1939-1945, SP 06/05], just one month off her fourteenth birthday. As for William and his wife, Doris both went on to live lengthy lives; Doris died aged 93 on 18th July 1993 and William died aged 95 on 31st March 1995.
The Kenward Brothers
The Kenward brothers were related to the old Felbridge resident Dora Wheeler of the Felbridge Pattenden family through Dora’s mother who was the sister of their mother, Harriett Kenward née Pattenden [for further information see Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01]. Harriett had been born in Charlwood, Surrey, in 1859, the daughter of Henry Pattenden and his wife Sophia née Prevett and had married Stephen Kenward in Horley, Surrey, in 1889. Stephen had been born in Burstow, Surrey, in 1859, the son of Robert Kenward, farmer, and his wife Amelia née Daniels. Besides the four boys, Harriett and Stephen Kenward had at least two daughters, Daisy born on 5th June 1894 and Amelia Jessie (known as Millie) born on 17th June 1904, both born in Horley. Sadly Harriett died in 1906 and by 1911 widower Stephen and his family were living at 72, Lumley Road, Horley.
Bertie Kenward, actually registered as Bertie and not Albert,was born in Horley on 4th October 1890 and in 1911 was living at the family home, working as an upholsterer. Bertie was aged 23 when World War I was declared and, from a family photograph of the four boys taken on 13th November 1915, his cap badge would suggest that Bertie enlisted with the Army Service Corps (ASC) [the Corps receiving the Royal prefix in late 1918 becoming the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC)]. Sadly Bertie’s World War I Service Record does not appear to have survived although a Medal Card for a Private B[ert (hand written in pencil)] Kenward of the Army Service Corps, Reg. no. M2/054705 does survive and potentially relates to Bertie. It was the job of the ASC to transport food, equipment and ammunition, using horse-drawn and motor vehicles, railways and waterways to the army on the many fronts of the war and at its peak numbered in excess of 325,800 officers and men. Bertie was awarded the 1914-15 Star Medal, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, being awarded the Star Medal indicates that Bertie served in the European theatre of war in 1914/15 and as such probably enlisted when war was declared or very shortly after. The Star Medal was never awarded on its own and recipients were also awarded the Victory and British War Medals. The three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip (The Star Medal), Squeak (British War Medal) and Wilfred (the Victory Medal) after three comic strip characters, a dog, a penguin and a rabbit, which were popular in the immediate post-war years.
Bertie Kenward survived World War I and returned home to Horley where he married Margaret Ellen Parsons at St Bartholomew’s Church on 13th December 1922; Margaret had been born in East Grinstead in 1894. At the time of their marriage, Bertie was living in Horley and was working as a motor driver and Margaret was living in Burstow. Bertie and Margaret had at least two sons, Stephen J who was born in 1925 and Robert C who was born in 1931 and the family settled in Smallfield, Surrey. Margaret died aged 67 in 1962 and Bertie died aged 82 on 13th April 1973.
Alfred Kenward was born in Horley on 9th May 1892 and in 1911 was living at the family home, working as a lath clever for the local timber merchants. Alfred was aged 22 when World War I was declared and both his Service Record and Medal Card survive. Alfred enlisted on 10th December 1914 being registered on 17th December 1914 for the 15th Hussars. This was later crossed through and Machine Gun Corps stamped on the document and, for some unknown reason, Alfred gave his date of birth as 9th May 1894. Additional information can be gained from his Medal Card that records he actually served as a Private with four Regiments or Corps: the Gloucestershire Regiment (Reg. no. 37537), 15th King’s Hussars (Reg. no. 19159), Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Reg. no. 32940) and the Machine Gun Corps (Reg. no. 147031). The card also lists that he was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. The 15th King’s Hussars were a cavalry regiment in the British Army during World War I attached to an infantry division in France forming their divisional reconnaissance element. The photograph of Alfred taken in November 1915 shows him wearing the regimental cap badge of the 15th King’s Hussars implying that he was serving in that regiment in 1915. As for the Machine Gun Corps, this was not created until October 1915, gunners being initially equipped with light-weight Lewis Guns [for further information see Handouts, The Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 11/02 and Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15]. As the Machine Gun Corps was not established until October 1915, it would imply that this was where Alfred ended up serving for the remainder of the war years, advancing to the rank of Acting Corporal.
Alfred survived World War I and returned home to Horley where he married Evelyn Alice Cooper at St Bartholomew’s Church on 16th January 1929. Alice was born in Horley on 17th March 1903, the daughter of William Frederick Cooper, an engine driver, and his wife Alice Fanny née Henley. At the time of their marriage they were both living in Horley, Alfred working as a sawyer. Alfred and Evelyn appear to have had just one son, Donald Alfred Charlie who was born in 1930. At his death, aged 73, on 3rd September 1965, Alfred Kenward was living at 1, Maplehurst, Lee Street, Horley. Evelyn outlived Alfred by 31 years and died aged 93 in 1996.
Charlie Kenward, actually registered as Charlie and not Charles, was born in Horley on 26th June 1896 and in 1911 was living at the family home, working as a general labourer like his father. Charlie was aged 18 when World War I was declared and by November 1915 had enlisted with the 7th (Service) Battalion of Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), rising to the rank of Corporal. The 7th (Service) Battalion had been formed at Guildford as part of the Second [Kitchener’s] New Army (K2) and was mobilised for war and landed at Boulogne in July 1915. In 1916 the Battalion were in action on The Somme in the Battle of Albert capturing their objectives near Montauban, The Battle of Bazentin Ridge including the capture of Trônes Wood, The Battle of Delville Wood, The Battle of Thiepval Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre Heights playing a part in the capture of the Schwaben Redoubt and Regina Trench and The Battle of the Ancre. Sadly for Corp. Charlie Kenward (Reg. no. G/1843), war ended on Friday 14th July 1916, being part of the capture of Trônes Wood, when he was aged just 20.
The following is an account of the circumstances leading up to the 14th July, taken from the Surrey in the Great War Project:
….3rd July, Sir Douglas Haig, the British commander-in-chief, decided, much against French wishes, to abandon the offensive north of the road and to concentrate on consolidating the gains made in the southern sector. Work began on the planning of a major operation for which it was of vital strategic importance that Trônes Wood should be securely held to protect the flank of a British attack. The situation, however, changed dramatically on 12th July, when the Germans retook Trônes Wood. On 13th July in the afternoon, the 7th Queen’s, occupying Dublin Trench, were subjected to heavy German artillery fire, which inflicted 20 casualties on the battalion.
Although the Germans had themselves suffered heavy casualties from previous bombardments of the wood, it was known that they had deep dug-outs and that it would not be easy to dislodge them. After another heavy artillery barrage by British guns, a two battalion attack was launched on the wood at 7pm with the Royal West Kents attacking from the south and the 7th Queen’s from the north. It soon became apparent that the enemy had suffered very little damage from the previous bombardments. The 7th Queen’s came under heavy fire whilst trying to attack across the open ground in the north and were forced to ground 100 yards short of the edge of the wood. Those who had not already become casualties took cover in shell holes, unable either to advance or retreat. Meanwhile the West Kents had got lost and 150 of them eventually managed to reach the east end of the wood. A further bombardment was attempted at 8.30, but the operation was finally abandoned at 9.00 pm.
Under cover of darkness, the survivors of the 7th Queen’s started to make their way back towards the British lines and from then until 2.30 am on 14th July, when the battalion withdrew under continuous shell fire, efforts were made to bring in all the wounded. Initial returns recorded 4 officers and 22 other ranks killed, 7 officers and 150 other ranks wounded and 2 officers and 44 men missing. Of those initially listed as missing, a number had in fact been killed in action. In the end, 6 officers and 36 other ranks had been killed on that day. Out of the total of 42 men, 32 have no place of burial and are listed on the Thiepval Memorial …... Trônes Wood was finally retaken by the British troops in the morning of 14th July.
The story of Trônes Wood doesn’t end here as it was re-captured by the Germans shortly after but re-captured by the British in November 1918. A contemporary and full account of the events can be found in the surviving 1st World War Diaries of the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment.
Charlie Kenward is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial at Somme, Picardie, France.
Stephen Kenward was born in Horley on 21st July 1898 and in 1911 was living at the family home and attending the local school with his younger sister Millie, whilst Daisy the older sister was housekeeper for the family after the loss of their mother Harriett. Stephen was aged 16 when World War I was declared and didn’t join the war until 1915 when he enlisted with the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division made up of Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers who were not needed at sea. In 1916, following heavy losses among the original naval volunteers, it was transferred to the British Army as the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and as an Army unit fought on the Western Front for the remainder of the war.
Fortunately some of Stephen’s War Service Record survives showing he served on HMS Pembroke II between 9th and 30th May 1916. The Pembroke II was the Royal Naval Air Station at Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey between 1913 and 1918, which encompasses the time that Stephen was there, although he was listed as an Able Seaman and trained to become a Stoker, 1st Class. On the 1st July 1916 he took up his post as Stoker, 1st Class, on board HMS Constance, the position he held until 10th March 1917 when presumably Stephen was transferred to the British Army as the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. The only other information on Stephen’s Service Record is that he was paid War Gratuity. This was a payment introduced in December 1918 that was made to those men who had served in World War I for a period of 6 months or more home service or for any length of service if a man had served overseas.
Stephen survived World War I and returned home to Horley where he married Edith Annie Pelham at St Bartholomew’s Church on 14th January 1925. Edith had been born in Horley on 17th January 1897, the daughter of Walter Pelham, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Annie née Chantler. At the time of their marriage Stephen was living in Cranleigh, Surrey, working as a grocer. Stephen and Edith appear to have had just one daughter, Jean M born in 1928, her birth registered in Hambledon, Surrey. Stephen died aged 64 in 1963 and Edith died aged 72 in 1969.
Lt. Ivan Donald Margary
Ivan Margary, like his father before him, was a great benefactor of Felbridge and it’s community. Ivan Donald Margary was born at KensingtonPalaceGardens, London, on 23rd November 1896, the son of Colonel Alfred Robert Margary and his wife Elizabeth Walker née Larnach. In 1900 the family moved to the Margary family home of Chartham Park, East Grinstead [for further information see Handout, Ivan D Margary FSA, His legacy to Roman History, SJC 11/01]. In 1913, Ivan Margary went to Exeter College, Oxford, to study chemistry but this was interrupted by the declaration of World War I. Not having reached the age of 18 in August 1914, his education continued until he enlisted with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment attaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant in April 1915 and taking a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion Royal Sussex before attaining the rank of Lieutenant in July 1917.
Throughout his life Ivan Margary kept a pocket diary, including the war years, and his entries made in 1916 make it obvious that he, like so many others, were completely oblivious of what they had entered into: ‘On a lovely summer day, June 20th, 1916, Father and Mother accompanied me to London to see me off after spending a few very pleasant days of ‘overseas leave’ together’. He writes that on arriving at Folkestone they sailed to Boulogne on the SS Princess Henriette, fortunately they had ‘Fine weather and good crossing’. They arrived at 5pm when he ‘explored the town and dined at the Louvre Hotel’. The next five days was spent marching to and from No. 1 Training Camp commenting: ‘Five days of marching to do hours of drill, PT, bayonet fighting, bombing, gas, all on the softest of dry shifting sand. The Camp was known as the Bull-Ring on account of the position and the bullying nature of some of the instructors’. On the 21st July 1916, Ivan Margary was diagnosed with influenza and was taken to the Duchess of Westminster Hospital at Etaples and after a couple of weeks he was considered fit enough to return to No. 40 Infantry Base Depot and from the 20th August 1916 he was in the trenches, resulting in him suffering an attack of trench fever (a clinical syndrome caused by infection of Bartonella Quintana, spread by lice) between the 13th and 18th September 1916.
Ivan Margary gives little away regarding conditions and feelings except on the 4th October 1916 when he wrote of being ‘shelled day and night very accurately with HE (high explosive) shells’. After the war he wrote a book in which he gave more details, writing that the shells were close to and in the trench, that men were constantly being buried and dug out and that it was continuous through the day and night. However, he mentions nothing of fatalities and injuries but does remark that when they were finally relieved, even those not suffering from shellshock could not control the trembling of their hands.
On 12th November 1916, Ivan Margary was given leave and returned to Chartham Park although he had to return to France and re-joined his Battalion on 23rd December 1916. In mid January 1917 he broke his ankle and was sent back to England, first to the King Edward VII Hospital, 9, Grosvenor Gardens, Westminster, then to the hospital at 19, Belgrave Square and then home to Chartham Park on the 7th February 1917. Between the 12th March and the 7th June 1917, Ivan Margary was on home service, travelling between Chartham and Newhaven, he then sailed to Boulogne, again on board the HMS Princess Henriette, staying in the Hotel de Paris before travelling to the 40th Infantry Depot on 9th June 1917 and rejoining A Company on 15th June 1917. For the next couple of months he again experienced more periods in the trenches, alternating with rest periods (described below). On the 17th August 1917 he was hit by two bullets, one in the back close to the top of the spine whilst the other glanced off his helmet at the neck, leaving a large dent. Ivan Margary kept the helmet to always remind himself of just how lucky he had been that day. Not only was he fortunate that the helmet saved his life, the other bullet although near the spine, had not seriously disabled him, although he suffered restricted movement for the rest of his life. As a result of his injuries he returned to England on the hospital ship HMHS Grantully Castle and was taken to Lady Radnor’s Hospital at Longford Castle, Salisbury. Despite the War having ended, he returned to France on the 16th November 1918.
Ivan Margary was demobilised in January 1919 and returned home to CharthamPark where he set about constructing a two-acre WildGarden within the grounds, perhaps as a means of coming to terms with effects of the War. In April 1919, he returned to Exeter College to resume and complete his chemistry studies but he had still not come to terms with the effects of the War and on a long vacation wrote down his recollections in a book called Some Experiences of the Great War Whilst Serving with the 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in France by Lieutenant Ivan Margary, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment. He wrote: ‘To ease this burden and make way for other matters I decided to write it down in narrative form. I had always kept a diary of my movements and had continued to do so in France …….. It must be kept in mind how different were the conditions in that War. References to battalion transport imply horses and mules with their vehicles. Marching on foot was the normal progress except where motor lorries were provided by the French Army for special long journeys. The aeroplane was still in its infancy……Troops camped in masses in the open fully exposed. At home, we had no telephone and only horse carriages so that contact with home was very slow and difficult.’ He also included a description of the pattern of trench life in a quiet sector of the Somme battlefield in 1916 where each Battalion did the following tour: six days at Dainville, six days in the trenches, six days in support at Agny, six days in the trenches, then at Dainville again, and so on. The companies in the Battalion went into the reserve line trenches in rotation and thus had their rest every fourth spell.
Also in 1927, Ivan Margary joined the Sussex Archaeological Society and in 1932 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Ivan became a specialist on the Roman period in Britain, especially in the local area. One of the greatest single features of the work of Ivan Margary was the study of Roman roads. He devised a system of road numbering, in order of importance, somewhat like our modern A, B and C roads. Single figures were used for main roads, double figures for secondary roads and three figures for minor roads, eg. Watling Street, the Dover to London Way, No.1, the London to Lewes Way, No.14, the London to Brighton Way, No.150, and so on. In 1929 Ivan made a chance discovery of a potential Roman road system across Ashdown Forest and in the early 1930’s he excavated a stretch of the London to Lewes Way, near Holtye Common, and in 1939 he bought a piece of the land where the line of the Roman road came through and left 40 yards (36.5m) of the excavations exposed for people to view. In his opinion the road at Holtye Common served two purposes, to link London with the rich corn-growing area of the South Downs and to open up the iron district for trade with London and the Continent. Through his work he found that there was a number of track-ways leading over the downs, South West to Brighton, South to Seaford and South East to Eastbourne, where there is evidence of Roman settlements and possible port facilities to Gaul. Margary then went on to establish the routes of many other roads in the Weald including the London to Brighton Way that passes through Felbridge. Eventually his work took in the entire Roman road system and he became the modern authority on Roman roads in Britain [for further information see Handouts, Roman Legacy of Ivan Margary FSA, SJC 11/01 and Roman Legacy of Felbridge, SHC 11/01i]. However, Ivan Margary is probably best known for his involvement with the Roman Palace of Fishbourne near Chichester in West Sussex, which was found in 1962 and after excavation and the replanting of the Roman gardens was opened to the public in 1968.
Unfortunately, Ivan Margary was of the age that he could serve in both World Wars, and during the World War II he re-enlisted with the Royal Sussex Regiment and was consequently sent to the unit at the Lingfield short-stay Internment Camp set up on Lingfield Racecourse where male, so-called ‘Enemy Aliens’ (mostly German Jewish refugees over the age of 16 who were not employed in war-work) were sent. In 1941, after the relaxation of the British Government’s policy towards these so-called ‘Aliens’ they were gradually released and a POW Camp (known as The Lingfield Cage) was constructed at the Lingfield Racecourse. In 1943, with the lead up to the D-Day invasion of 1944, POW’s captured in Europe were transferred to Britain in order to interrogate them with regards to gaining useful information that could help with the proposed D-Day invasion. Ivan Margary was then involved with interrogating these prisoners at Lingfield and other POW Camps around the country for the combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC). The Camp at Ligfield closed in April 1945.
During his life, Ivan Margary was President of the Sussex Records Society and the East Grinstead Society. He was a generous man, but having no family, much of his inheritance was donated as gifts to the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Archaeological Institute and Archaeological Societies of Sussex, Surrey and Kent. He also underwrote the Antiquity Trust, a fund set up to enable the continued publication of Antiquity. It was also largely due to him that the Margary Room at Barbican House, Lewes, was reconstructed and refurbished and the quadrangle at Exeter College, Oxford was built. Ivan Margary (like his family before) was a great benefactor of Felbridge, securing land for the North End and Felbridge Cricket Club ground, donating to the village the Felbridge (St John’s) Institute [for further information see Handout, Felbridge Village Halls, SJC 01/12] and land off Crawley Down Road to the St John Ambulance Brigade on which they built their hall in 1951. He, like his father before him, also held the Patronage of St John’s Church for many years after the sale and break up of the Felbridge Place estate in 1911 [for further information see Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11].
Ivan Donald Margary died on the 18th February 1976 aged 79; the service was held in St John the Divine Church, Felbridge, where there is a memorial to him. Dorothy Margary died on the 22nd May 1978, aged 85, leaving no family.
The MacNeill Brothers
The MacNeill brothers both held an interest in Newchapel House, Felbridge, in the run up to and the first two years of World War I. They were the sons of Duncan MacNeill, an East India Merchant (born in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, in 1836 and who died in Wimbledon, Surrey, in 1892) and his wife Louisa Lucia née Agnew, daughter of Sir Andrew Agnew, Bart., of Lochnaw (born in Leswalt, Wigtownshire, Scotland, in 1852 and died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in 1912). Besides the two sons, Duncan and Louisa had six daughters: Alma Louisa who was born on 16th May 1878 in Paddington, Elizabeth Evelyn who was born on 31st May 1879 in Kensington, Mary Theodosia who was born on 22nd August 1883 in Westminster but who sadly died in 1884, twins Janet Mackinnon and Cecilia Christian who were born on 19th May 1888 and Constance Isabella who was born on 7th February 1891, the last three girls born at Tyndale House Wimbledon. On the death of Duncan MacNeill in 1892 he left his widow Louisa with a number of young children to bring up on her own, plus effects totalling £248,938 5s 5d.
Capt. Andrew Duncan MacNeill
Andrew was the MacNeill’s third child and eldest son, born at Tynsdale House, Wimbledon, on 17th July 1881. At the age of 10, Andrew was living with his sister Elizabeth in the household of their governess and teacher Maria Praouse, at 21, Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, Sussex. Andrew was educated at Eaton and on 25th June 1900 was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1901, Andrew was living at home with his now widowed mother and siblings Elizabeth and William at 81, London Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. On 2nd April 1902, Andrew MacNeill became a 2nd Lieutenant of the Carmarthen Artillery rising to the rank of Lieutenant on 6th May 1903. In 1904, he purchased Malling Deanery and embarked on a spending spree erecting the Deanery Cottage, a number of farm buildings including a small dairy and by 1908 had constructed a new garden in the Riverdale meadow, a walled kitchen garden that was divided into two sections that contained four large hot-houses and two brick and tile potting and tool sheds. The 1911 census indicates that Andrew MacNeill knew some influential people as he can be found visiting Edward Stafford Howard (Liberal politician and JP) and his family residing at ThornburyCastle, Thornbury, Gloucestershire.
On 15th April 1913, Andrew Duncan MacNeill married Eleanor Jean Beaston at St Mary’s Church, Slaugham in Sussex. Eleanor (known as Jean) was born in Jodpur, Rajasthan, India, on 4th March 1893, the daughter of Major General Sir Stuart Brownlow Beaston KCB, KCSI, KCVO and his wife Edith Cecil née Elles, daughter of Sir William Kidston Elles KCB. The couple began their married life at Malling Deanery but did not have a family.
On the declaration of World War I, Andrew was aged 33 and served as a Captain with the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), 21st Heavy Battery. The 21st Heavy Battery was raised as divisional artillery for 21st Division in September 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third New Army [K3]. They left the Division in July 1915 and proceeded to France on the 21st August 1915 with the 23rd Heavy Artillery Brigade. Heavy Batteries RGA were equipped with heavy guns, sending large calibre high explosive shells in fairly flat trajectory fire. The usual armaments were 60 pounder (5 inch/12.75cm) guns, although some had obsolescent 5 inch howitzers. As British artillery tactics developed, the Heavy Batteries were most often employed in destroying or neutralising the enemy artillery, as well as putting destructive fire down on strong points, dumps, store, roads and railways behind enemy lines.
It would appear that by October 1915, Andrew MacNeill was back in England as he is recorded as living at Newchapel House, Felbridge, which he later sold to Henry Willis Rudd (see below) [for further information see Handouts, Newchapel House, SJC 11/02, Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 11/02, Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 2, SJC 09/16]. Andrew rejoined his unit and was part of the Third Battle of Ypres, Belgium. In June 1917, an attempt was made to dislodge the Germans from the Messines Ridge, which was a complete success. However, the main assault for Passchendaele (also spelt Passendale), began towards the end of July and quickly became a struggle against the German opposition and rapidly deteriorating weather. The campaign finally came to a close in November 1917 with the capture of Passchendaele. Sadly Capt. Andrew Duncan MacNeill was killed in action on 29th July 1917, aged 36; his body was buried at the HospitalFarmCemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
At the time of his death, Andrew’s address was given as Broadfield Road, Folkestone, Kent, his widow Jean was later to move to 37A, Great Cumberland Place, London.
Lt. William Mackinnon MacNeill
William was the MacNeill’s seventh child and second and youngest son, born at Tynsdale House, Wimbledon, on 7th March 1890. In 1891 William was living with his sister Constance at the family home in Wimbledon being cared for by family servants whilst his parents and older siblings were staying at the Cavendish Hotel in Grande Parade, Eastbourne. In 1901, William was living with his widowed mother and siblings Elizabeth and Andrew at 81, London Road, Tunbridge Wells. He was educated at Repton School, Derbyshire, received his commission in 1907 and became a 2nd Lieutenant to the 16th Lancers (Special Reserve) from the Carmarthenshire Militia on 22nd June 1909. It was said of him that he was a promising young soldier jockey, ‘a resolute and plucky rider’ who rode his own horse, Foolhardy, into 4th place of the Grand National in 1911.
In 1911, William MacNeill was living with his mother and sister Constance at Park House, Tunbridge Wells and on 28th February 1912 purchased Newchapel House, together with outbuildings, the Keeper’s Cottage and 90 acres of land in Felbridge. Although he had purchased Newchapel House in 1912, he was listed as residing at 76, Jermyn Street, London when he was awarded the Royal Aero Club Aviator’s certificate to fly the Blériot Monoplane in January 1913. With his Pilot’s License, William MacNeill was qualified to serve as a flying officer with the fledgling Royal Flying Corps. However, with the declaration of World War I, William MacNeill, aged 24, enlisted with the 16th (Queen’s) Lancers. This was a distinguished British cavalry regiment that served on the Western Front for the duration of the War.
The 16th (Queen’s) Lancers landed at Le Havre, France, on 18th August 1914. Initially they didn’t see much action, but on 12th October 1914 the 3rd Cavalry Brigade were ordered to dislodge the enemy from Mont de Cats that they had recently occupied. The 4th Hussars and 5th Lancers undertook a dismounted attack, assisted by the 16th Lancers and reclaimed the hill. Amongst the casualties were the German Prince Maximillian von Hesse, nephew of the Kaiser, and sadly Lt. William Mackinnon MacNeill who was killed in action north of Caestre, at Mont de Cats, France, aged 24. William was buried in the grounds of the Abbey at Mont de Cats.
William never married and when he died, his brother Andrew inherited Newchapel House thus enabling him to sell the property to Henry Willis Rudd on 25th October 1915 for the sum of £7,500. As established in Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 2, Newchapel House was operating as FelbridgeParkHospital in 1914, a convalescent hospital administered by the British Red Cross and the Order of St John of Jerusalem whilst under the ownership of William MacNeill and then his brother Andrew MacNeill.
Major Thomas Stewart Inglis DSO
Thomas Stewart Inglis (pronounced Ingls) made a considerable impact on Felbridge with the early development of Rowplatt Lane and the construction of the Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel (now the CrownePlaza, Felbridge). Thomas Stewart Inglis (known as T Stewart Inglis) was born in St Pancras, London in 1872, the son of Thomas Stewart Inglis and his wife Cassandra née Copping. Besides Thomas Stewart junior, Thomas and Cassandra had four other children: Cassandra Stewart born in 1861, Louisa Ann Stewart born in 1867, Beatrice Stewart born 1869 and Leopold James Stewart born in 1874 [for further information see Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt.1, SJC 05/07]. By 1891, T Stewart Inglis was working as an architect and living with his parents at 27, Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill, Hampstead.
T Stewart Inglis married Ellen Mary Ann (known as Ann) Austen at St George’s, Bloomsbury, London, on 15th July 1897; Ellen having been born on 19th April 1869, the daughter of Edward Austen a corn merchant and his wife Martha. At the time of their marriage, T Stewart Inglis was living at 24, Little Russell Street, London, working as an architect, and Ann was living at 80, Queen’s Crescent, London. T Stewart Inglis and Ann had two children: Robert Stewart (registered as Robert Stuart) who was born in Hampstead on 13th August 1898 and Gwendoline Marjorie who was born in St Pancras on 16th March 1905.
In 1901, T Stewart Inglis and his family were living at 7, Oppidans Road, Primrose Hill, Hampstead, a short distance from his widowed father Thomas who was still residing as 27, Oppidans Road. However, by 1911 T Stewart Inglis and his young family had moved to 42, Strathbrook Road, Streatham, then moving to 9, Oakdale Road, Streatham, before settling at 15, CopleyPark, Streatham.
Prior to World War I, the UK Army List records that in 1908 T Stewart Inglis was a Lieutenant in 1st City of London Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (Territorial Force), thus it is possible that he saw action in the Boer War between 1899 and 1902. By 1913 T Stewart Inglis was recorded as Captain in the UK Army List, whilst holding down the job of an architect. Before the outbreak of World War I, T Stewart Inglis had embarked upon the development of west side of Rowplatt Lane, the first houses ready for occupation by 1915. At the start of World War I, T Stewart Inglis was aged 42 yet this did not stop him seeing active service as Temporary Major, rising to the rank of Major with the 9th Battalion Royal Field Artillery (RFA) in France. Fortunately the Medal Card survives for T Stewart Inglis and shows he was awarded the 1914-15 Star Medal on 25th June 1915 and other surviving documents record that he was mentioned in Despatches in 1917 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918 for meritorious and distinguished service in the Field in September 1917.
Throughout the war years, the Inglis family lived at 15, CopleyPark, Streatham, which is where T Stewart Inglis returned to in 1918. It is known that he had an architect’s office in Streatham and by the 1920’s he also had an architect’s office at 58, London Road in East Grinstead (now the site of Abbey National) and the Royal Institute of British Architects lists him as flourishing between 1916 and 1926, being made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1925. He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Institute of Structural Engineers.
Besides the development of Rowplatt Lane in Felbridge, which continued throughout World War I, T Stewart Inglis was also responsible for the construction of Ye Old Felbridge Hotel [for further information see Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt.1, SJC 05/07] built on part of the former Felbridge Place estate that was put up for auction in 1919. On the hotel’s completion in 1922, T Stewart Inglis became ‘Resident Proprietor’ of Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel, along with Miss Emily Brown as the manageress who also resided at the hotel. However, by 1928, T Stewart Inglis taken on the Roebuck Hotel at Wych Cross, Forest Row, Sussex, which he had had extended and refurbished. In 1937, T Stewart Inglis moved his residency to the Roebuck Hotel leaving the Felbridge Hotel under the management of Miss Emily Brown. T Stewart Inglis remained at The Roebuck until 1944 when he sold it to Captain Ralph Lowther Jolliffe, having already sold Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel to Harry Gatward in 1943.
Until 1938, T Stewart Inglis is also recorded in the electoral rolls at 15, CopleyPark, Streatham, along with his wife Ann, although by then there is some evidence to suggest they had divorced or that divorce was imminent around this date as T Stewart Inglis married Emily Louisa Brown at Westminster in the spring of 1939. Unfortunately the production of electoral rolls ceased during World War II so it has not been possible to track T Stewart Inglis electoral address during the war years but it is most likely that he was living at the Roebuck Hotel, at least until 1944. However, it is known that his former wife Ann died during the war years on 2nd October 1941 at the SouthLondonHospital, Clapham Common, and that she had been living at 15, CopleyPark; probate was granted to her un-married daughter, Gwendoline, with no mention of her former husband T Stewart Inglis.
It is not until 1953 that T Stewart Inglis re-emerges in the public records when his death is recorded. Thomas Stewart Inglis died aged 81, on 27th July 1953 at Ely Hospital, a large psychiatric institution near Cardiff in South Wales, his home address given as 16, Agincourt Road, Cardiff; probate was granted to his widow, Emily Louisa Inglis. From her death records, Emily Louisa Inglis was born on 22nd June 1889 in Cardiff and the only Emily Louisa born on this date in Cardiff was the daughter of Christopher and Louisa Brown. In 1911, Emily Louisa Brown was working as a confectioner’s shop assistant so it is possible that by 1922 she could have moved to Felbridge as the Miss Emily Brown, manageress of Ye Olde Felbridge Hotel. The only public records for Emily Louisa Inglis are a shipping list dated 28th April 1954 detailing her arrival at London on board SS Warwick Castle from South Africa, her home address given as 16, Agincourt Road, Cardiff, and her death and probates records recording that she died, aged 95, on 10th May 1984 at Oaklands Nursing Home, Vicars Cross, Chester, Cheshire, the person to whom probate was issued was not listed.
Major Douglas Carter Stern MC
Major Douglas Carter Stern moved to Felbridge in 1928 when he bought the area of land that had been known as Stream Farm [for further information see Handout, Old Felbridge House & The Feld, SJC 02/01] and remained here until his death in 1977. Douglas Carter Stern was born in Leytonstone, London, on 3rd July 1894, the son of Edmund Stern (the son of a teacher/professor of languages born in Baden, Germany) and his second wife Katherine Elizabeth née Carter, a New Zealander. Edmund Stern (silk merchant and later whiskey merchant) married his first wife, Florence Harding, in 1888 and they had one daughter, Florence in 1890 but sadly Florence senior died around the birth of their daughter and Edmund married his second wife Katherine, in 1890. Besides Douglas, Edmund and Katherine had three other children: Cyril Edmund who was born on 2nd November 1895 in Leytonstone, Léonie (after her paternal grandmother) Mary who was born in 1898 and Reginald Carter who was born on 22nd September 1899, the last two children born in Shortlands, Kent.
Douglas C Stern was educated at Cranbrook Grammar School, Kent, and was a keen cricketer. In 1911, he was living with his family at Cintra, Cumberland Road, Bromley, Kent, studying to become an electrical engineer, being admitted onto the Electrical Engineer’s List in 1912. At the time of the declaration of World War I, Douglas C Stern, aged 20, enlisted with the 5th Battalion (Territorial) West Kent Regiment. On 3rd November 1914, Douglas C Stern was recorded as 2nd Lieutenant rising to the rank of Lieutenant later that year. In September 1915, Douglas C Stern was reported as wounded but recovered and in September 1916 rose to the rank of Captain. For his service in World War I, Douglas C Stern was awarded the 1914-15 Star Medal, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal and in 1918 received the Military Cross (MC), the third level military decoration awarded to Officers, the announcement being made in the 1919 Birthday Honours List; (Douglas C Stern is listed as Major Douglas C Stern in the Sevenoaks Chronicle & Kentish Advertiser in 1932).
Douglas C Stern survived World War I and returned home and in 1921 was living at 8, Fredericks Place, London, moving to 44, WestminsterPlaceGardens, Artillery Row, London, by 1924. It is known that around this time Douglas C Stern was in partnership with Marian Charlotte Louis Lewis carrying on a portrait photography business called Marian Lewis Portrait Photographer operating from 50, Queen Ann’s Gate, St James’ Park, London. The company was active from the early 1920’s, however, it is not known in what capacity he worked, whether he was a photographer, lighting specialist or was concerned with the business side. The early work appears to be society and celebrity portraiture including: Mary Bessie Brough (English actress of the theatre and silent movies and early talkies), Cecil Beaton (British photographer), children of minor royals and nobility and society functions. Many of these photographs appear in either The Sketch or The Bystander. Besides portraits, the company also appear to be interested in the use of photography as Art, eg. posing 6-year old Miss Ursula Mynors in a tutu and ribboned ballet shoes on top of a plinth creating the image of an ornament, much like the posed images of children that appear in the work of photographer Ann Geddes today. There is also a large portfolio of posed nudes that appear in both of the afore mentioned publications and which were also frequently exhibited at the London Salon of Photography. The Stern/Lewis association ended mutually in 1931, Douglas C Stern having been working as a merchant since at least 1928. Marian Lewis continued with her photography and died on 20th October 1942, living at 108, Westbourne Grove, London.
In 1927, Douglas C Stern married Elsie Louise Elliott at St Georges, Hanover Square, London. Elsie had been born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on 13th April 1900, the daughter of Thomas James Cathcart Elliott (former Quarter Master Sergeant turned building contractor) and his wife Annie née Effield, living in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Felbridge tradition has always been that ‘Mrs Stern was a model or something’ and whilst researching her, an article was found in the Portsmouth Evening News that talks about a Miss Elsie Elliott ‘a native of Southsea’ who was one of the mannequins of the ‘fashions of the season’ evening that were paraded in Southsea in September 1926. Southsea is a seaside resort in the geographic area of Portsmouth, the last recorded area in which Elise was living in 1911. Whilst today a mannequin generally refers to a life-size doll used to display fashion, in the 1920’s and 30’s the term mannequin was also used to refer to women dressed in or modelling fashion, what we today would call models. In the portfolio of work of Marian Lewis Portrait Photographer there are pictures of women as mannequins so it is possible that Douglas C Stern could have met Elsie Elliott through his association with the company and it is possible that the ‘Miss Elsie Elliott’ in the newspaper article was the woman he married in 1927. An abridged version of the newspaper article follows:
Mannequin Parade at Southsea.
…… The parade was a complete guide to the fashions of the season. The mannequins wore afternoon dresses with the pouched back that is the latest of fashion’s decrees. It was seen that lengths are to be shorter for young people and longer for the matron, while evening dresses tend to be fringed in the same way as Spanish shawls. Trailing draperies on the back of silk and crepe-de-Chine struck and original note and impacted a fairytale effect, which was in pleasant contrast to the extreme simplicity of the gowns worn last season. Sequin creations attracted much attention, and one particularly striking model was of very large black sequins, the back having a very low V-shape neck.
It would be impossible to describe one tenth of the exhibits, so diversified was their nature, but a tendency to capes on afternoon frocks was a noticeable feature.
The mannequins walked along a raised platform, which was a great advantage from the spectator’s point of view, and a London orchestra added charm to the proceedings. The evening dresses and cloaks were seen under artificial light, so that their effect in conditions they were intended for could be estimated. A pretty climax was reached by the appearance of a mannequin in a lovely bridal gown, followed by a bridesmaid and the rest of the mannequins. The orchestra played the “Bridal March”, and a delightful effect was obtained.
Miss Elsie Elliott of Nightingale Road, Southsea, brought the mannequins from London, and wore many of the beautiful garments. She and her colleagues put on some Paris models and also many that had come from the foremost of British designers. A great attraction, however, was the large number of inexpensive garments designed on most artistic lines, which ladies will find a great boon.
Miss Elsie Elliott, who is a native of Southsea, has done mannequin work for leading London houses and in the provinces, while she has also done film work.
In 1928, Douglas and Elsie Stern moved out of London to Stream Farm, renaming it The Stream (now Old Felbridge House, The Feld) in Felbridge [for further information see Handout, Old Felbridge House & The Feld, SJC 02/01]. In about 1937/8, Douglas C Stern purchased land (now the site of Felwater Court) from Major T Stewart Inglis (see above). This plot had housed a greenhouse belonging to the Olde Felbridge Hotel (now the CrownePlaza, Felbridge); purchase of this land gave the Sterns access to the grounds of The Stream from the recently constructed StreamPark roadway. Around this time Douglas C Stern also had a bungalow built called Little Stream to the north of his dwelling (now the site of the Scanda Hus on the right in Standen Close). Originally Little Stream built to house the chauffeur/gardener, but this bungalow became the Stern’s home during World War II when most of their staff were called up for war duty and The Stream was turned over to evacuees from Croydon. After World War II, the Stern’s decided to stay in the bungalow, the big house now being too large for them then.
During the intervening war years, Douglas C Stern worked as a merchant and he and his wife travelled a fair amount but by 1945 and until at least the early 1950’s Douglas C Stern is recorded as being the manager of the Riverhead quarry and director of Messrs’ Walter Smith (Brasted) Ltd. in Riverhead, Kent.
Whilst living in Felbridge the Sterns involved themselves in the community and Elsie Stern was a great benefactor of St John’sChurch. One financial contribution she made was to have the church carpeted throughout with blue carpet, greatly reducing the drafts felt through the cold tiled floor and iron grills. She was also one of a small working party of ladies (and one man) who worked a set of needlepoint Communion Rail Kneelers for the church. One design depicts a gold coloured cross, flanked by grapes and vine leaves, in assorted greens on a royal blue background and the other design depicts the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God carrying the St George banner within a circular landscape, flanked by vine leaves, in pale greens, again on a royal blue background [for further information see Handout, Needlework & Hangings of St. John the Divine, 09/02]. As for Douglas C Stern, he had a close association with the 1st Felbridge Scouts, procuring them a piece of land off Stream Park roadway on which to build their Scout Hut (now the site of a Scanda Hus bungalow), which they used until the mid 1980’s when they amalgamated with an East Grinstead Scout troop and the hut was eventually demolished. Douglas C Stern was also elected chairman of the QueenVictoriaHospital in East Grinstead, succeeding William Guthrie Kirkhope in 1956 [for further information see Handout, Felmere, JIC/SJC 03/07].
Elsie Louise Stern died aged 76, on 2nd March 1977 and Douglas Carter Stern died aged 83, on 17th September 1977.
Alfred John Pattenden
Alfred John Pattenden was another relation of the old Felbridge resident Dora Wheeler of the Felbridge Pattenden family (see above). Alfred John Pattenden was born at Little Hedgecourt Farm (now known as Hedgecourt House off Copthorne Road in Felbridge), on 21st January 1877, the third child and first son of Amos Pattenden and his wife (and niece) Jane née Pattenden, thus first cousin, once removed of the Kenward brothers (see above) by virtue of sharing the same grandparents (Henry Pattenden and his wife Sophia née Prevett) [for further information see Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01]. Besides Alfred, Amos and Jane had at least five other children including; Annie Sophia born on 19th October 1873, Alice born on 22nd March 1875 but who also sadly died in 1875, Arthur Ernest born on 4th July 1879 (see below), Agnes Mary born on 18th February 1882 and Dora Jane (later Mrs Wheeler) born on 16th March 1893; Annie Sophia was born in Charlwood, Surrey, whilst the reminder of the children were all born at Little Hedgecourt Farm.
Alfred John Pattenden worked as an agricultural labourer all his life and married Edith Ellen Howell at St John’sChurch, Felbridge, on 18th February 1911. Edith had been born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on 20th December 1879, the daughter of William Howell, a baker, and his wife Ann née Scriven. Edith had moved to Sussex by 1901 taking up the position of cook at Northwood House, Horsted Keynes, Sussex, before moving to Felbridge to take up a domestic position (exact position not listed) at Felbridge Mansion for Charles Henry Gatty [for further information see Handout, Dr Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 09/03]. Alfred and Edith spent the early part of their married life at Tilkhurst Farm, East Grinstead, Sussex, and had six children including; Henry John who was born on 6th February 1912, William James who was born on 24th February 1914, Fredrick George who was born on 21st January 1916, Edith Annie who was born on 18th January 1918, Amos Edward who was born on 6th March 1920 and Thomas Arthur who was born on 30th April 1925. All except Thomas were born at Tilkhurst, Thomas being born at Gravetye Cottage, Gravetye, West Hoathly, Sussex.
As can be seen from the birth dates of Alfred’s children, he did not see action in World War I, this is because when World War I was declared he was aged 37 and therefore was not obliged to volunteer, especially as he had a young family. However, in January 1916 the Military Service Bill was introduced that brought in the conscription of single or widowed men between the ages of 18 and 41 years. It was hoped that this would elevate the shortage of volunteers the forces were experiencing as World War I dragged on. In May 1916 the bill was extended to married men and in April 1918 the upper age was raised to 50 (or to 56 if the need arose). On all accounts, Alfred J Pattenden should have enlisted but he was granted exemption from service because of his agricultural status as reported in the local newspaper in 1916:
Mr T Pentecost, bailiff to Mr Edward Blount of Imberhorne, East Grinstead, applied for exemption of Alfred Pattenden (39) married, the farm foreman of Tilkhurst Farm, East Grinstead. The only man left on the farm of 550 acres who could thatch, and he was urgently required for the hay and corn harvest and for thatching. Mr Leggat found the application reasonable: it would not be a serious matter to let a man off at the age of 39.
Alfred J Pattenden was fortunate not to have to suffer or witness the horrors of World War I but he and his family were not left unaffected by war as he lost his son Amos Edward Pattenden on 25th December 1942 whilst fighting in World War II.
Alfred John Pattenden died aged 71, on 23rd August 1948 and his wife Edith died aged 72, on 8th May 1951, both had been living at Gravetye Cottage prior to their deaths and both were buried at St Margaret’s Church, West Hoathly.
Arthur Ernest Pattenden
Arthur Ernest Pattenden was another relation of the old Felbridge resident Dora Wheeler of the Felbridge Pattenden family. Like the Kenward brothers (see above) his photograph also appears in Mrs Wheeler’s Scrapbook but, apart from his name nothing was known about him. However in researching Alfred John Pattenden, Arthur’s position in the Pattenden family has become known and thus his story can now be told. Arthur Ernest Pattenden was born at Little Hedgecourt Farm, off Copthorne Road, Felbridge, on 4th July 1879, the fourth child and second son of Amos Pattenden and his wife Jane née Pattenden. Arthur was the brother of Alfred John (see above) and Dora Jane (Mrs Wheeler, owner of the Wheeler Scrapbook), and thus first cousins, once removed, of the Kenward brothers (see above) by virtue of sharing the same grandparents (Henry Pattenden and his wife Sophia née Prevett) [for further information see Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01].
Arthur Ernest Pattenden spent much of his life working as a gardener, first at Fen Place, Turner’s Hill, Sussex, and later at Courtlands, Sharpthorne, Sussex. Arthur married Edith Annie Pollard at St Margaret’s Church, West Hoathly, Sussex, on 6th November 1907. Edith had been born in West Hoathly on 25th July 1880, the daughter (with a twin brother Thomas) of James Pollard, a carpenter, and his wife Betsy née Day. Arthur and Edith Pattenden had at least two children: Edith May who was born on 14th September 1908 and Annie Rose who was born on 25th December 1910, both born in West Hoathly.
With the declaration of World War I, Arthur Pattenden was aged 35 and with two small daughters did not automatically volunteer. However, after the introduction of conscription for married men in May 1916, Arthur, by then approaching his 37th birthday, joined the Royal Navy on 14th June 1916. Arthur’s Royal Navy Seaman’s Records survive and record that he was 5ft 5½ins (1.65m) tall, he must have been quite slight with a 37ins (94cms) chest and had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. Distinguishing marks were listed a mole on his stomach. On 14th June 1916, Seaman Arthur E Pattenden, K34005, was shipped off to HMS Victory II, which had been the Crystal Palace/Sydenham training depot for the Royal Naval Division from 1914, where he remained until 31st December 1917 when he was assigned to HMS Hercules. The Hercules was a Colossus-class dreadnought battleship and although the ship saw action in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 (before Arthur’s assignment), her service during World War I generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. Although the armistice was signed to end World War I on 11th November 1918, Arthur E Pattenden was not demobilised until 21st December 1919, and like Stephen Kenward (see above), he too was paid War Gratuity.
Arthur E Pattenden returned home and lived to the ripe old age of 90, dying on 7th March 1970. Edith outlived Arthur by just over a year and died aged 89 on 24th May 1971, both buried at St Margaret’s Church, West Hoathly.
Women’s Farm and Garden Union
The Women’s Farm and Garden Union (WFGU) began life as the Agricultural and Horticultural International Union (AHIU), changing its name in 1910 to the Women’s Farm and Garden Union. The voluntary organisation had been founded in 1899 by women who were concerned with the lack of education and employment opportunities for women working on the land. It was open to any woman who had connections with the land, be it farming, gardening or allied industries, or any female who was interested in such activities. Many of the founder members were professional women who worked in education, gardening, farming and small holdings and the AHIU set about establishing training courses and examinations that enabled an Employment Bureau to offer a service for employers and placement of female employees.
With the declaration of World War I in 1914, Louisa Wilkins, a founder member of the AHIU (by then re-named the WFGU), realised that with the number of men volunteering to fight there would soon be a shortage of labour on the land. As a result of this foresight, the Women’s National Land Service Corps was launched that offered women work placements, both in rural and urban positions. The voluntary organisation was so successful that it was eventually taken over by the Government and in 1915 the Board of Agriculture established the Women’s Land Army (WLA) [for further information see Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.2, SJC 09/16]. Thus throughout the war years, with some 3 million men away fighting, the government needed women to become more involved with food production as part of the war effort. As a result, by 1917 there were over 23,000 WLA women employed in agricultural production that included dairying, poultry and horticulture.
With the end of World War I, life in the countryside began to return to normality and men began to drift back from service. This inevitably created a ‘redundant’ female workforce, a workforce of empowered women who had enjoyed an alternative area of employment to that which had been open to them prior to the War, for example ‘service’ for the lower class women and ‘staying at home’ for the middle and upper class women. In 1919, the Land Settlement (Facilities) Act was passed that allowed County Councils to purchase (with government assistance) land that was to be leased to ex-servicemen wishing to set up a smallholding. This was quickly amended to include ex-Land Army women who had served on the land for more than six months. By 1922, some 16,500 ex-servicemen had taken up the offer but very few women. However, there had been a few independent experiments and as early as 1917 the WFGU had been looking into the feasibility of women’s smallholding colonies and in 1919/20 this idea was brought to fruition in the Felbridge area with the purchase of the Wiremill estate, part of the Felbridge Place estate that was put up for auction in 1919 [for further information see Handout, Wiremill, SJC 03/06].
It had been our intention to discuss the ‘Lingfield Colony’ (as the Wiremill establishments of women smallholders was known) within this document as it was created as a direct result of the opportunities that had been afforded women during World War I through the necessity to use women in agricultural roles that had previously been the domain of male only workers. However, it is felt that the story of the Lingfield Colony of women smallholders and the women involved, together with many other single women that moved to the Felbridge area to pursue their interest in agriculture after World War I would provide more than enough material for a future handout in its own right.
The next Handout will cover some of those who served in World War I, remembered by those moving into the growing community of Felbridge, including: Francis Case, husband of Ethel Case née Furneaux of Rowplatt Lane and later Penlee, The Crescent off Copthorne Road; Percy Curtis, an uncle of Doris Trefine of Park Cottages, Copthorne Road; John Benjamin Patrick Geary, father of Pat Mayer of Tangle Oak off Mill Lane; Albert Edward Samuel Giles, father of Diane Giles of Whittington College; L. Corp. Charles Seymour Harris, grandfather of Charles Booth of Tangle Oak, off Mill Lane; L. Corporal Albert Mills, brother of Minnie Vestey née Mills of Copthorne Road; and Frank Murrell, husband of Edith Mary Murrell née Mills of Halsford Croft, North End.
Post Script
There are probably many more men and possibly women who served in World War I from the Felbridge area but with the expansion of Felbridge as a village and the demise of old Felbridge residents their names have become a distant or lost memory. Also without surviving military records their services have faded into irretrievable history, so apologies for those who have not been included in this series of Handouts.
Lest We Forget
Bibliography
Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.1, SJC 01/15, FHWS
Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.2, SJC 09/16, FHWS
Handout, 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11, FHWS
General
Census Records 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, www.ancestry.co.uk
Birth, Marriage and Death Index, www.freebmd.org.uk
Military Records, www.findmypast.co.uk
Military Records, www.forces-war-records.co.uk
L. Corp. William Howard Roberts, MM
Documented memories of S Martin, FHA
Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.2, SJC 09/16, FHWS
Global Grainger’s and Colin Hansford’s Roberts family trees, www.ancestry.co.uk
2nd Suffolk Regiment, www.news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people_and_places/history
Handout, Felbridge at War 1939-1945, SP 06/05, FWWS
The Kenward Brothers
The Dora Wheeler Scrapbook, FHA
Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01, FHWS
Handout, The Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 11/02, FHWS
Handout, Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 1, JIC/SJC 01/15, FHWS
West Surrey Regiment (Queens) in the Great War, www.wartimememoriesproject.com
1st World War Diaries - Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk
Lt. Ivan Donald Margary
Handout, Ivan D Margary FSA, His legacy to Roman History, SJC 11/01, FHWS
Ivan D Margary by Mavis Priestly for the RH7 History Society
Some Experiences of the Great War Whilst Serving with the 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment in France by Lieutenant Ivan Margary, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment, Ref: SAC 152, ESRO
Handout, Yew Lodge, SJC 01/04, FHWS
Roman Legacy of Felbridge, SHC 11/01i, FHWS
Roman Ways in the Weald by Ivan D Margary
Lingfield Racecourse: life behind the barbed wire fence 1940-1945, by Janet Bateson, FHA
Handout, Felbridge Village Halls, SJC 01/12, FHWS
Handout, Yew Lodge, SJC 01/04, FHWS
The MacNeill Brothers
A D MacNeill article, The London Gazette, 4th April 1902, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
A D MacNeill, Hart’s Army List 1839 – 1915, www.forces-war-records.co.uk
MacNeill/Elles marriage, Mid Sussex Times, 22nd April 1913, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Beaston of Glassmonth, www.edbookofscotland.co.uk
21st Heavy Brigade, www.longlongtrail.co.uk/...royal-artillery.../the-heavy-batteries-of-the-royal-garrison-
MacNeill, 1915, Electoral Roll, www.ancestry.co.uk
Handouts, Newchapel House, SJC 11/02, FHWS
Downfall of Henry Willis Rudd, SJC 11/02, FHWS
Felbridge Remembers their World War I Heroes, Pt. 2, SJC 09/16, FHWS
WM MacNeill, obituary 1914, Kent & Sussex Courier, 30th October 1914, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
16th (Queen’s) Lancers in WWI, www.researchingww1.co.uk/16th-queens-lancers
MacNeill/Rudd conveyance of Newchapel House, 1915, FHA
Major Thomas Stewart Inglis DSO
Handout, Eating and Drinking Establishments of Felbridge, Pt.1, SJC 05/07, FHWS
Colquhoun/Inglis Family tree, www.ancestry.co.uk
Electoral Rolls 1875-1938, www.ancestry.co.uk
PO Directory, 1938, www.ancestry.co.uk
UK Army Lists, 1911 and 1913, www.forces-war-records.co.uk
Major Douglas Carter Stern MC
Methven family tree, www.ancestry.co.uk
Handout, Old Felbridge House & The Feld, SJC 02/0, FHWS
Newspaper article, Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, Friday 15th July 1910, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
DC Stern, Electrical Engineer’s List in 1912, www.ancestry.co.uk
DC Stern, wounded, report in the article in Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Friday 3rd September 1915, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
DC Stern wounded, report in the Army and Navy Gazette 30th October 1915, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Captain, Douglas C Stern, article in Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 22nd September 1916, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
5th Battalion (Territorial) West Kent Regiment, www.1914-1918.net/rwk
DC Stern Medal Card, www.ancestry.co.uk
DC Stern Forces Records, www.forces-war-records.co.uk
Electoral rolls, 1911-1928, www.ancestry.co.uk
Major Douglas C Stern, newspaper article, Sevenoaks Chronicle & Kentish Advertiser, Friday 23rd December 1932, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Lewis/Stern Notice of Dissolvement, The London Gazette, 16th June 1931
The Sketch, 1920’s and 30’s, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
The Bystander, 1920’s and 30’s, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Handley Stage a Wedding Scene, Portsmouth Evening News, Wednesday 15th September 1926, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Newspaper article, Sevenoaks Chronicle & Kentish Advertiser, Friday 27th April 1945, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Handout, Needlework & Hangings of St. John the Divine, 09/02, FHWS
Handout, Felmere, JIC/SJC 03/07, FHWS
Alfred John Pattenden
Pattenden family tree, FHA
Mrs Wheeler’s Scrapbook, FHA
Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01, FHWS
Handout, Dr Charles Henry Gatty, SJC 09/03, FHWS
Announcement of exemption, EG Observer, 17th June 1916, FHA
Seaman Arthur Ernest Pattenden
Pattenden family tree, FHA
Mrs Wheeler’s Scrapbook, FHA
Handout, Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 07/01, FHWS
Burial Register of At Margaret’s Church, West Hoathly, www.brian-dwh.demonweb.co.uk
Royal Navy Register of Seaman’s List, www.ancestry.co.uk
Women’s Farm and Garden Association
Women’s Farm and Garden Association, www.wfga.org.uk
Handout, Felbridge WWI Heroes, Pt.2, SJC 09/16, FHWS
Holding the Home Front: The Women's Land Army in The First World War, by Caroline Scott
Handout, Wiremill, SJC 03/06, FHWS
From ideals to reality: the Women’s smallholding colony of Lingfield, 1920-39 by Anne Meredith
Texts of all Handouts referred to in this document can be found on FHG website: www.felbridge.org.uk
JIC/SJC 07/17