A tribute to Doris Messinger 1918-2014

Doris Messinger (nee Padfield) was a member of the High Country History Group from the outset and until her death. She died on the 12th June 2014. Her family have given permission for the following story of her life to be included in the Journal.

Doris was born on the 18th March 1918, the eldest daughter of John and Laura Padfield, who resided at Little Tawney Hall Farm, Stapleford Tawney. John (also known as Jack to his many farming friends) and Laura Phelps were married in April 1916. Both hailed from long established dairy-farming families in the Mendip Hills and on the Somerset Levels – families that were proud to trace their farming ancestry back to the early 18th century, and probably before. In 1894, Doris’s paternal grandfather, Hamilton Padfield, had hired a train from Bridgewater in Somerset to Buckhurst Hill in Essex in order to transport his family, animals and implements to a farm that was in easy reach of London - where a pint of milk on a doorstep before breakfast, could provide a good livelihood for a hard-working Somersetshire dairy farmer.
John and Laura Padfield

Doris was joined by her young brother, Ralph Padfield, on the 15th July 1920 and the two spent their childhood in Stapleford Tawney, attending school at the little village schoolhouse next to the church.

As a teenager Doris attended Writtle Agricultural College in Chelmsford. There, when being told to kill malformed day-old chicks, Doris refused. When she was rebuked and told that she would never be a poultry farmer’s wife, Doris exclaimed, “I’m only here for the dairy stuff – butter and cheese-making!”

The idyll of Essex farming life was soon to be completely overturned by the horrors of World War Two, which started just five months after Doris’s 21st birthday. Doris’s memories of this period were particularly vivid. During the War Doris’s first task was to distribute gas masks to farms, houses and cottages between Stapleford Tawney and Ongar. As an Air Raid Precautions Warden, one of her duties was to patrol the lanes at night, making sure that no lights could be spotted by German aircraft. Due to its location to the North of London, Stapleford Tawney was on the route taken by German bombers as they headed home, and therefore a dumping ground for bombs that had not been dropped on London. During the course of the War a large number of bombs were jettisoned over the Essex countryside, with some even landing on the farm.

There were RAF fighter aerodromes at Stapleford Tawney and North Weald, and these were frequent targets for the German bombers. Doris never forgot the sight of two Spitfires colliding shortly after taking off from Stapleford Tawney, bursting into flames and crashing to the ground. The pilots were young Polish men - they had escaped Poland, only to lose their lives in the skies over England.

Doris was a highly proficient driver, from driving the tractors on the family farm to ambulance driving and later speeding along the Essex lanes in her beloved black classic Austin Allegro. Doris drove for over 67 years without mishap. She did however incur the odd scandalous speeding ticket which she tried her best to keep a secret from the family! Doris was also a skilled car mechanic – hence she had a second Austin Allegro stored in her shed for spare parts. Doris used to say that she had to drive the Allegro as “no one will recognise me otherwise.”
The War had seen the arrival of a searchlight battery at the farm operated by handsome young men eager to chat up the farmer’s daughter. However, whilst Doris had some fun memories of this, she was not at all interested. Doris’ heart had already been won by a sailor. One afternoon, when Doris was driving home with her father after a visit to Romford Market, they gave a lift to a young man in naval uniform, weighed down by a heavy kit bag. His name was William Messinger and his parents and siblings lived in the cottages, just up the lane from this Church. Doris used to see Will's younger siblings quite a lot before they started "courting" and she couldn't understand why sometimes they'd run away when they saw her. Later, when she and Will became engaged the children said to her "oh no, now we won't get any more money" and Doris found out that Will used to pay them to run and tell him when she was walking down the lane - so he could casually appear, raise his hat and say "Good morning Miss Padfield, may I walk with you?".
oris and Will were married in July 1942, at St Marys Church. Their wedding banns were called no less than four times, but with Will away at sea during the War it proved difficult, even for Doris, to pin him down! Will was serving in the Royal Navy, in the thick of it, on the staff of Admiral Sir James Somerville, aboard the Force ‘H’ flagships, HMS Nelson, Renown and Ark Royal.

They had three sons, Nicholas Richard, Phillip and Robert and Doris was very proud of them. Tragically Will was diagnosed with cancer and died at home on the 15th March 1993.