Slide 1 MARGARETTING C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL
MARGARETTING – “SOMEWHERE in England” WORLD WAR 2 1939-1945 & THROUGH TO TODAY
Talk given by Robert Fletcher on Monday 1 April 2019 at Margaretting Church of England Primary School for Year 5/6 as part of their class studies of World War 2. With acknowledgement to Eastern Angles Theatre Group Ipswich for part of the title of this talk which refers to their 2016 touring production. I must also mention Miss G M Baker and the third volume of her history of the village of Margaretting. (The extract map showing Margaretting and the surrounding area is from Bart’s Half-inch Map of Essex: 1946)
Slide 2
A joint Ingatestone & Fryerning CC & Margaretting CC team (at Margaretting?) in the summer of 1939. E C “Bob” Malyon of IFCC, back row third from the left, was an army reservist having been in the army in the Far East in the early 1930s. He was called up on the outbreak of war, 5 September 1939, and was to die in Belgium in May 1940 on the retreat to Dunkirk. (Photograph IFCC archive)
Slide 3
Child evacuees 1939 (Express Newspapers). After the initial evacuations, and there appear to have been some children moved out to Margaretting, many went home again only to be evacuated when the Blitz started in 1940. Further movement of civilians from London started after June 1944 when the V1 and V2 campaigns started.
Slide 4
Geographia Ramblers’ Map of 1940 showing footpath network at the beginning of the war including the Margaretting area (Cox Family Archives/R W Fletcher)
Slide 5
The ARP and Home Guard was started in 1939. The photograph shows some of the Stock Home Guard on parade in Chelmsford, the cathedral can be seen in the background. (Courtesy Mrs Maureen Bassom). The certificate is that my Grandfather received for his service when the Home Guard was stood down in December 1944. (R W Fletcher Collection). Where was the air-raid shelter at Margaretting Primary School?
Slide 6
Barclays Bank map of the County of Essex early 1960s showing Battle of Britain base at Hornchurch. The other local RAF Station was at North Weald between Ongar and Epping. One pilot from this station was killed in 1940 near Little Hyde Farm, Ingatestone when his parachute failed to open after he had baled out near Killigrews (Collection R W Fletcher)
Slide 7
The footpath and Margaretting Brook tunnel under the railway line at Brook Farm Cottages which was used by some residents to shelter from air raids. Miss Baker in the third volume of her history of Margaretting, describes that bedding was taken down here and the ends of the tunnel were covered up with sheets to stop draughts! It is quite a low tunnel and must have been unpleasant. (“MARGARETTING “The village with a beautiful name” Volume III: Miss G M Baker. Acors Press, Billericay-1984). (Photo R W Fletcher December 2018)
Slide 8
Margaretting Church – June 2006 (R W Fletcher)
Slide 9
Tree of Jesse window in Margaretting Church (Dated c1422), which was removed for safe-keeping in July 1941. But where was it stored? (December 2016-R W Fletcher on an Ingatestone Pedallers Boxing Day Walk to the White hart at The Tye)
Slide 10
Tree of Jesse window again. Busy “Mr Men� figures and the Virgin and Child at the apex of the frame. (December 2016-R W Fletcher)
Slide 11
Two USAAF men enjoying a drink in Willingale, being based at nearby RAF Chipping Ongar. Note the Eastern National bus timetable on the wall behind them. Miss Baker records that during the war there was a bus (in both directions one presumes) each 15 minutes! (Eighth in the East website which has numerous fascinating photos of airfields in East Anglia and crews)
Slide 12
The site of RAF Chipping Ongar between Norton Mandeville and Willingale on the Bart's 1946 map and the unit insignia (RWF collection and the Eighth in the East website)
Slide 13
The B26 Marauder aircraft flown at Chipping Ongar from 1943-1944, a light medium bomber. (Wikapedia) Below is “Bunny”/”Suzie” the aircraft involved in the test flight accident at Margaretting (Alan Crouchman)
Slide 14
An engine of a B26 being repaired by ground crew at Chipping Ongar. It was a faulty engine that was being tested on Suzie on that day in April 1944 (“Eighth in the East” website)
Slide 15
Pilot of Suzie on 27 April 1944, Henry C Patrick III (known as Pat) and the site of the crash just beyond Ivy Barn Lane in the area now covered by the A12 and the slip road leading up to Writtle Road. All three on board were killed. Alan Crouchman who provided the photos of “Suzie”, Pat and the crash site in April 1944 said that he spent Christmas 1943 with his grandmother who thought her his English mother. She kept the photo of him on her mantelpiece to the day she died.
Slide 16
Report of Pat’s death and the details of S/Sgt Shanks and 1/Lt Grunder who were also killed. Pat was buried at Cambridge American Cemetery, Grunder back home in Texas. The burial details for Shanks are unknown. (ETVMA.org website)
Slide 17
Pat’s record and awards (ETVMA.org)
Slide 18
Pat’s grave at Cambridge American Cemetery (American Cemetery Cambridge)
Slide 19
Thought to be the approximate site of the crash of “Suzie” on 27 April 1944 which shows the edge of the A12 bypass and the slip road from London. This was taken at the top of Ivy Barn Lane looking towards Handley Green/Osbornes Wood – April 2016 (R W Fletcher)
Slide 20
A A “Bert” Holmes in uniform, probably at RAF Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire with 514 Squadron and the report of his death in the Essex Weekly News, 20 October 1944 (he had been killed in Northern France in June 1944). (From the archives of Ingatestone Boys’ Own Club these papers are now in the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford)
Slide 21
Miss E V Pemberton’s record in the papers of IBOC of Morrison’s escape from the Lancaster and photographs of the funeral in occupied France at Croisilles near Arras which was attended by some 2800 people (IBOC archives now with ERO Chelmsford)
Slide 22
The 6 coffins before burial in Croisilles (These copies of photographs provided by the Marie of Croisilles, France and the Mayor. The WW2 photograph album of IBOC is now in ERO Chelmsford which has these photographs and those of Bert and Dudley and the other club members killed during the war. Another photograph shows the graves in June 1944 with flowers.
Slide 23
“Skipper” Potts letter to Miss Pemberton about Bert’s death which reveal he talked to the Cubs/Scouts in Margaretting about the events in France (IBOC archives, now in ERO Chelmsford)
Slide 24
Scouts in Margaretting in the early 1920s which show Bert or “Tich” Holmes as he was known (From Miss Baker’s book, the third and final volume)
Slide 25
“Skipper” Potts memorial plaque in Margaretting Church - 2006 (R W Fletcher)
Slide 26
Bert’s headstone and a view of the cemetery which is a WW1 site with these additional 6 RAF graves from 1944 (CWGC)
Slide 27
The six RAF graves relating to the 16 June 1944 crash (514 Squadron Facebook site/Andrew Porelli)
Slide 28
D W Holmes in uniform with RAF 76 Squadron and a Christmas card sent to Miss Pemberton of IBOC in December 1944 (the plane shown is a Halifax bomber of the type Dudley flew in). He was to be killed on 30 December 1944 (IBOC archives now with ERO Chelmsford)
Slide 29
Essex Weekly News report of Dudley’s death (Early 1945). Another loss for the Holmes/Bartrop family in Margaretting (IBOC archives/ERO)
Slide 30
Dudley’s grave at Rheinberg Cemetery Germany and a view of the site. Originally he and others killed in the crash were buried in a site near Cologne where they died. One crewman survived (CWGC)
Slide 31
Hylands House in the park in July 2016. Site of the SAS training camp during the later part of WW2 and a German POW camp up to c1947 – July 2016 (Photo: R W Fletcher)
Slide 32
1. “Save Europe Now” report in the Essex Chronicle 7 December 1945 2. IBOC Re-Union in the Essex Chronicle 7 February 1947. Help for defeated Germany (Sourced at Essex Libraries Chelmsford/Photos of Chelmsford Cathedral (2017) and Ingatestone Church (2012): R W Fletcher)
Slide 33
Wedding photo of Bert Holmes and his bride in New Delhi c late 1941 (Courtesy Bryce and Judy Holmes)
Slide 34
Cutting the cake! Bryce and my Aunty Jane are shown next to each other on Miss Pemberton’s record of the children of IBOC members for 1942. My aunt and uncle now live in Margaretting Tye (B & J Holmes/IBOC archives)
Slide 35
Bryce and his mother left India in the early 1950s and moved to the West Midlands where Bryce excelled at football and cricket, a sportsman like his father. (Front row, third from the left in the cricket team and centre in the footballing presentation photo). When he contacted me in the summer of 2014 he and Judy were living in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. (B & J Holmes)
Slide 36
Bryce is his semi-pro footballing days with Halesowen Town FC, front row far left (B & J Holmes)
Slide 37
Bryce and Judy Holmes after their marriage in Sutton Coldfield (B & J Holmes)
Slide 38
Maps showing Essex, the Margaretting/Ingatestone area and Margaretting. I remember the crossroad of Penny’s Lane/Wantz Road/Ivy Barn Lane/Writtle Road as a melancholy spot totally changed by the A12 bypass (Taken from “Barnett’s Rural District Map of Chelmsford” – c 1961: R W Fletcher Archive)
Slide 39
OS 1:25000 map showing the area around Margaretting in 1989
Slide 40
Slide 41
Photos showing The Square and the war memorial at Margaretting, Essex in June 2014 - (R W Fletcher)
Post War In 1943 my father dropped bombs on the continent I remember my mother talking about bananas in 1944 when it rained, creeping alone to the windowsill, I stared up the hill watching, watching, watching without a blink for the Mighty Bananas to stride through the blitz they came in paper bags in neighbours’ hands when they came, and took their time over the coming
Libby Houston’s poem about a lost RAF father and bananas! The plane is a Lancaster of the that Bert flew in bombing missions and in which he was killed
and still I don’t know where my father flying home took a wrong turning
Libby Houston (b. 1941) 1961/Collected 1967
Slide 42
Poster for the Eastern Angles production at Margaretting Village Hall on Tuesday 12 April 2016 SOMEWHERE in England , which is really could have been Margaretting. (R W Fletcher Collection)