High Country History Group

SEVENTY-FIVE years ago this week two tradesman looked into the Upminster sky and saw what appeared to be a couple of packages falling from a passing aeroplane. They were two gas-fitter, George Watling and Tom Collins, working on a new bungalow on Upminster’s Springfeld Estate. In February 1935 commercial airliners were rare and they had spotted one, flying at a height they later estimated as 5,000 feet. As it passed them, according to their statements, "suddenly, what looked like two packages fell away from it and fluttered to the ground like sheets of paper." They gathered speed and struck the ground with a terrific thud a little distance away. The fitters rushed to the spot to find the bodies of two girls, lying close together, face down and with their arms about each other. One had a watch that was still going. The plane flew on.
Later that morning, Thursday 21st February, John Kirton, a pilot of Hillman Airways, was flying over the Channel coast en-route to France. Captain Kirton had boarded two girls as his only passengers. He knew them as two days previously he had flown them and other passengers from Le Bourget to Essex. There was minor air turbulence as the plane flew south. Alone in the cockpit and unable to leave his seat he turned to open the communicating door which separated the cockpit from the main cabin of his De Havilland DH84 Dragon, identification number G-ACEV. About to ask his passengers if they were comfortable, Kirton found, to his horror, that the main cabin was empty.
His wireless alerted the nearest airfield at Croydon, then he banked and headed for Essex Airport. Nowadays this light airfield is known as Stapleford Tawney, but in 1935 it had all the status of international flights with Customs and Immigration. On landing Kirton found that the passenger entry door was insecure and had apparently only been held in place by the slipstream. All that remained in the cabin was a lady’s shoe, a whisky bottle and sealed letters addressed to Mr and Mrs Du Bois. These were passed to the Romford Coroner, Mr C E Lewis.

A national newspaper report from 1935

The deceased
The national press swiftly discovered that the victims were the Du Bois sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, daughters of Coert Du Bois, American Consul in Naples. It was reported that the only passengers on the 10 am flight were the beautiful, expensively fur-coated American girls. Headlines blaring "Bright young things" and "Sisters" round of gay parties" were the reporters’ response to the tragedy.
Born in San Francisco, the girls were well known to, and their bodies identified by, London’s American Embassy staff. Du Bois was 53 and he and his Bostonian wife Margaret had only two children: Jane aged 20 and Elizabeth aged 23. Jane had suffered from chronic asthma for 10 years and was pessimistic about recovery. The papers went on: "Years of living abroad in an eternal atmosphere of gaiety; a constant round of artificial excitement, with dances and parties, produced adult minds in these two girls." They were well known in Paris and in London associated with a crowd "renowned for the hectic measure of their pleasures." Both girls drank whisky, sometimes a good deal of it and a good deal too much, especially considering their youth.
There was mystery surrounding their sojourn in London where rooms had been booked form them at the American Women’s Club. A woman telephoned the club from the hotel where the sisters were staying in Mayfair and reported that they were indisposed and neither intended visiting the club. At the hotel the girls kept closely to their rooms and they had a good deal of alcohol to drink. On one occasion they were found crying bitterly. During their stay not a single friend was aware of their presence, as they seemed determined to keep away from everyone they knew and appeared afraid that questions might be asked which perhaps they did not want to answer.
On a previous occasion in London the younger had worn a wedding ring and a hotel employee stated "I remember the ring because she always used the name Du Bois but she never spoke of her husband." When a sister was involved in a car collision in which a cyclist was injured, the investigation policeman was referred to the Embassy.
The motive
A report from Naples suggested the sisters Du Bois had been close friends of two Royal Air Force officers, Flying Officer John A C Forbes and Flight Lieutenant Henry L Beatty (a half brother of Earl Beatty). Both were part of the nine-man crew killed in a flying-boat disaster on 15th February 1935.
Four new flying-boats were being ferried to Singapore by 210 Squadron RAF, but had stopped off in Italy for maintenance and to allow some of the drew to recover from influenza. Two aircraft had then taken off for Malta, shortly after which a Short "Singapore" crashed into a mountainside near Messina in Sicily. During the enforced ten day stay in Naples the two offices had got to know the girls well and subsequently all four were seen together at dances, parties and outings. The night before Forbes and Beatty left for Malta they took the girls out to dinner, then said farewell, as they were to leave early next day. They never saw each other again. British newspapers reported "unofficial engagements," a suggestion refuted by the daughter of a Bedford doctor, who became engaged to Forbes in September and was planning to marry him in April 1935. Beatty’s mother only knew of the girls from a mention in a letter home. A friend allowed that it was conceivable that, if there were any sentimental attachments, they could have become grief stricken at the airmen’s fate. At this stage many of their friends vehemently discounted the flying-boat incident as the trigger for their fall. The sisters were so devoted that it was again conceivable that Elizabeth agreed to join her suffering sister in ending her life. It was also reported that, as they walked to the plane, Jane said "Darling, would not John love to be with us?"
The booking
The girls arrived at Essex Airport from Kings Cross Coach station with but a single item of luggage. One of the heavily smoking young ladies paid over four £5 notes and a £1 note to secure all available seats. The craft had no flight attendant, planes were small and no need was, at that time, seen for them. The scheduled flight had by now, to all intents and purposes, became a charter flight. The tragedy might still have been averted. A man desperately wanted to travel to Paris, having received news that his mother was gravely ill there. He telephoned the aerodrome and begged for a seat on the 10 am flight, but was told that all seats had been taken. It was suggested that he go to the field on the off-chance, but he did not turn up. The airline had believed that named "friends" would be flying with them and one sister offered to ring and find out where they were. She told Kirton that she could not contact them and it was imperative they leave, though it was later established that no telephone call was made.
Elizabeth and Jane sat in the two rear seats and, to Kirton, everything seemed normal. After take off he refused them permission to smoke, but agreed to close both the intervening door and ventilation windows through which he could see into the cabin. This was allegedly against draughts. He crossed the south coast then opened the internal door. He could not see the girls, just a suitcase.
His opinion was that it was improbable that the door could have opened accidentally, so great was the pressure of the slipstream from the propeller, and suggested that it must have needed the combined strength of the two girls to have forced it. The sisters appeared or have taken a last drink together, then (clasped hand in hand) their weight was thrown against the door, which gave slowly under their combined strength. As they plunged out one lost a shoe.
The verdict
An inquest was held on Monday 25th February 1935 in front of Coroner Lewis. Major H Cooper the Air Ministry’s investigator, concluded that the "Dragon door mechanism was not faulty. Mr Lewis had the letters found in the cabin, read to the jury, despite protest from Du Bois family solicitor. Fully reproduced in contemporary newspapers, they are not a suitable part of the text, but justified the supposition that the Sicilian plane crash triggered a period of severe depression for both girls. The jury did not hesitate to bring in a verdict of "suicide whilst the balance of their minds was disturbed." They were cremated in London later that day.
Hillman Airways was a successful firm formed for charter flights by Edward Hillman in 1931. By 1935 regular flights took place from Abridge where its blue and white livery was well known. Just a week previously a cargo of gold had been lost from the same aircraft. Resulting from the fatal incidents fears were expressed that either the pilot of such aircraft would require a central locking system of that a flight attendant would have to be employed. The growing size of aircraft made these innovations come about naturally. Within a short time after the inquest there were changes in the board of Hillman Airways and their pilot John Kirton left. Despite speculation the company announced that there was no connection between the twin deaths, the previous loss of gold bullion and his resignation. Within a year the successful family airline was taken over by another company. The rapidly developing size of commercial aircraft soon brought a curtailment to the international status of Essex Airport.

The way in which Essex people speak has changed over the years, none more so than in the last generation. This is true even in Yorkshire where the hardened localised accent has become more cosmopolitan, more homogeneous.

As someone who has always lived in this area and interested in history I am fascinated by the way people speak and in words which have now fallen out of common usage. Researching a history of life as an agricultural labourer I came across many terms which I found unrecognisable: weights and measures was one example, and local farming terms another. My father was extremely helpful.

The Essex Record Office has a large sound archive and has inadvertently collected many examples of local speech. A compact disc, ‘How to Speak Essex’, was published last year (2009).

The illustration shows thraves (or traves) of wheat standing in a field to dry after being cut. Wet corn could not be threshed (or thrashed). Thraves were six to eight sheaves arranged together. In Suffolk this was called a ‘shock’. In the Midlands it was called a ‘stook’. A sheaf was a bundle of corn tied together. Thraves were collected from the field and built into ‘stacks’ or ‘ricks’, hence the term ‘stack-yard’ or ‘rick-yard’ for the open space beside a barn in farmyards. Both stacks and ricks were words used in this part of Essex, but the former more commonly applied.

It took some while for me to find the word thrave recorded anywhere. Fortunately Canon Gepp’s Essex dialect dictionary of 1927 came to the rescue.

Miss G. M. Baker recalls agricultural life at the end of the nineteenth century in ‘Margaretting. The village with a beautiful name’ (Volume II) (1983). “Besides binding the sheaves, the women and children also stood them up, around six or eight, in stooks or traves. It was necessary for workers to perform this operation in pairs”

We read that the First World War marked the demise of dialect but even as early as 1887 a local writer, Miller Christy, suggests that the School Board was responsible for “rapidly sweeping away local peculiarities”.

In recent months a blue plaque has appeared on No. 10 Castle Street, Ongar, which reads:-

Jane Taylor
1783 – 1824
Author of
Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star
Lived here.

Jane was the second daughter of Isaac Taylor and his wife Ann. She was born on 23rd September 1783 at 54 Red Lion Street, Holborn. (Her elder sister, Ann, had been born in Islington on January 30th 1782). Isaac and his brothers Charles and Josiah were skilled engravers. In 1787 they produced a much admired set of illustrations for an edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Eventually, Isaac broke away from his brothers and set up his own business.

In June 1786 the Taylor family moved from London to what was described as a “spacious but out of the way domain”-Cooke’s House in Shilling Street, Lavenham. In 1793 their landlord, Mr. Cooke, required the use of his property and Isaac with his growing family moved to nearby Arundel House. The family lived in Lavenham until January 1796. During this time six more children were born of whom only three survived childhood (Isaac, Martin and Jeffreys). Whilst Isaac developed his engraving business Ann and Jane received their education from their parents. Their mother taught them to read and sew and their father taught them all other subjects.

The two sisters, only 18 months apart in age, were inseparable and created a world of their own, inhabited by mythical characters including (amongst others) two imaginary daughters of George III. From a young age they started to write short stories and poems - something they would continue to do throughout their lives.

Whilst in Lavenham, Issac became an energetic member of the Independent Church of which he became a Deacon and taught at the Sunday school which he helped to found. At one stage it looked as though Isaac might take over as the minister but there was opposition from within the congregation. However, a member of the Lavenham congregation, who had moved to Colchester, invited Isaac to take over a dysfunctional Presbyterian chapel in Bucklersbury Lane, Colchester. Isaac preached his first sermon there on November 1st 1795 and on January 20 1796 he and his family moved to a house in Angel Lane, next door to St. Martin’s Church. During their time in Colchester two further children were born; Decimus, in 1796 (he died from Scarlet Fever at the age of 5) and Jemima who survived into her sixties.

In April 1796 Isaac was ordained and his new life as a minister began. Times were hard and earning very little from his ministry Isaac was forced to continue his work as an engraver. But in the aftermath of the war with France demand for works of art dried up and Isaac was reduced to engraving dog collars. All the children became involved with the engraving business and enough money came in to feed and clothe the family. Ann and Jane’s literary works began to sell well which helped the family finances.

In 1810 Isaac became fed up with his bickering and apathetic congregation and resigned his ministry. The family remained based in Colchester for a while and Isaac became an itinerant preacher. One of his trips took him to Ongar with which he was much taken. It was to become his home until his death in 1829. The family moved to Ongar on August 31st 1811 to Castle House, now and for many years the home of the Buxton family.
In a letter dated September 23rd to her friend Luck Conder, Ann gives a description of the family’s arrival in Ongar and of their delight with Castle House with ample space for the whole family and a beautiful location. She assured her friend that despite its historic site the house was not haunted.

Ann and Jane spent the Winter of 1811in Clapton with the Conder family preparing themselves for a joint teaching career. This never came to anything in part because their younger brother, Isaac, fell ill and the family doctor recommended that he should move to the West Country. Ann and Jane accompanied him and spent from October 1812 to July 1813 in Ilfracombe before returning to Ongar. With the onset of another Essex winter Isaac returned to the West Country this time accompanied only by Jane. They did not return to Ongar until June 1816.

Whilst they were away the owner of Castle House gave the family notice to quit and in June 1814 they moved to The Peaked Farm - an Elizabethan farmhouse on the Stondon road in Marden Ash. The house (now much smaller) still stands. In a letter which she wrote in December 1816, shortly after her return from the West Country, Jane described the Peaked Farm :- “Our house stands alone in a pretty country: it is an old farmhouse - more picturesque than splendid-and therefore it suits both our tastes and our fortunes.”

In December 1813 Ann had married the Rev. Joseph Gilbert and had moved to Rotherham but visited her family in Ongar as often as she could. Ann’s son, Josiah Gilbert, who spent some time living with his grandparents at Peaked Farm wrote that “…the old house and its inhabitants offered a remarkable spectacle-a literary and artistic workshop.” Isaac, helped by his children, continued with his work as an engraver.

In early 1822 their landlord, Capel Cure Esq. of Blake Hall, served a notice to quit Peaked Farm as he wished to let the farm land with the farmhouse. Isaac set about looking for somewhere to live and eventually found and purchased a suitable house at no. 10 Win Lane (now Castle Street). The younger Isaac Taylor described the house as “on the outskirts of the town” and as being “altogether more commodious” (by which he must have meant more convenient as the house was modest in size). Isaac set about improving the house which had been built by Nobles of Ongar in 1809. He added a study for himself (signs of which can still be seen on the west wall of the house) and created a garden on the “sadly small plot”.

Jane moved into 10 Castle Street with the family but by now she was suffering from cancer. Her younger sister, Jemima, writing some years later about life in Castle Street wrote:- “From 1822 we lived in that more compact house in Ongar - far better suited to my parents in their declining years but beside that the garden was small and the situation, comparatively townified - a feeling of melancholy attaches to it, for Aunt Jane’s health declined from the time we entered it.”

On April 13th 1824 Jane died at the age of 40 in her bedroom overlooking Castle Street. Her body was buried in the cemetery of the Chapel in Ongar “…close by a tall poplar near the vestry door,…” and within sight of the house which now bears the blue plaque - her home for such a short and sad part of her life.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,-
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "the upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...

And that's the truth - whoever said History was boring ! !
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~ Share these facts with a friend like I just did! ! !

Our journey takes us to Lambourne.
LAMBOURNE parish comprises several scattered houses near the church, but the chief part of its population is a mile to the west, in the improving village of ABRIDGE, on the south side of the river Roding, 4 miles South by East of Epping, and on the London and Ongar road, 13 miles North East of the former, and 7 miles South West by South of the latter town. The parish contains 2415 acres of fertile land, and increased its population from 515 souls in 1801, to 904 in 1841; - many good houses, etc., having been built, during the last thirty years, at Abridge, which has its name from the bridge over the Roding, and has a modern chapel of ease, an Independent chapel, a brewery, and a fair for cattle, etc., on the 2nd of June. In 1050, the manor of Lambourne belonged to Leffi, a Saxon, but at the Conquest it was given to Eustace, Earl of Boulogne. It was afterwards held by the Lambourne, Lampet, Hatfield, Barfoot, Aland, and Fortescue families. In 1782, it was purchased of the latter by the Rev. Edward Lockwood, and it now belongs to Wm. Joseph Lockwood, Esq., who has a pleasant seat here, called Bishop’s Hall, but part of the parish belongs to Sir Charles C. Smith, Bart., Mr. Samuel Crane, Mr. John Jones, and a few smaller freeholders. Lambourne Hall is an old farm house, which has been a large mansion, and near it was a handsome house, built by the first Lord Fortescue, but it was pulled down many years ago. A small manor or estate, called Shepes Hall, was long held by the Bishops or Norwich, among whom, the earliest who occasionally resided here, was the warlike Bishop Spencer, who held the estate of Richard II. in capite, as of the manor of Havering, by the service of making sixty perches of the royal park-pale with his own timber.

This martial ecclesiastic bred to arms in Italy, in the service of Pope Adrian (Nicholas Breakspear,) in his wars against the Duke of Milan, obtained from his holiness the bishopric of Norwich, as a reward for his services, in 1370. During Wat Tyler's rebellion, in 1381, Bishop Spencer put himself at the head of a small body of loyal subjects, and attacking the rebels, by dint of valour, aided by stratagem, made a terrible slaughter, "beheading some, killing others, and capturing their leader, Littster, a dyer of Norwich, whom sent to London, and who was there condemned and executed." The Bishops of Norwich held this estate till 1536, when it was given by Henry VIII. to Lord Chancellor Audley. It was afterwards the seat and property of the Walkers, Waylets, and Balls. In 1826, it was sold by E.H. Ball, Esq., to the Rev. Edward Dowdeswell, who gave it to Miss Lockwood Percival. It now belongs to W.J. Lockwood, Esq., of Bishop's Hall, which stands on the crown of a bold eminence, commanding fine views of Epping and Hainault Forests, and the surrounding country, as far as the Thames and Kentish Hills. The site of the ancient castellated mansion, which was occasionally occupied by the bishops, is surrounded by a moat, enclosing an area 200 yards square. Patch Park, or Hunts, now a farm in the parish, belongs to Sir C.C. Smith, and was formerly held by the Vere, Luther and other families. Arneway, or Arnolds, a farm now held by Mr. Samuel Crane, was formerly held by the Fitzwilliam, Carpenter, Draper and Scott families. The house is a large old timber building, 1½ mile North East of the church. Dews Hall, a little south of the church, gives name to a manor now belonging to W.J. Lockwood, Esq., and formerly to the Dukes of Buckingham, and the Sulyard family. The other estates, or reputed manors, in the Lambourne parish are, Lambourne-Abridge, or St.John's (now a small farm,) Affebruge, or Abridge, formerly held by a family of its own name; Priors, which belonged to some

The Parish Church (St. Mary and All Saints,) is a neat ancient structure, with a nave and chancel of one pace and tiled, and at the west end is a wooden tower, containing three bells, and crowned by a leaded spire. In the interior are many handsome monuments, one of which has a long inscription in memory of Dr. Wynnyffe, bishop of Lincoln. In the chancel are three beautiful stained glass windows, one containing five pieces of valuable old painting brought from Basle, in Switzerland, in 1817. Under a square tomb in the churchyard, are deposited the remains of Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, who served in the Navy more than half a century, and died at Luxborough House, in Chigwell, in 1794, aged 77 years. The church was appropriated about 1200, by Robert de Lambourne. to the canons of Waltham Holy Cross. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £14, and in 1831 at £500, is in the patronage of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and incumbency of the Rev. James Goodwin, B.D., who has 35A.1R. of glebe, and a good residence, with tasteful pleasure grounds. The tithes were commuted, in 1840, for £610 per annum. In the village of Abridge, is a neat Chapel of Ease, built by subscription, in 1836, at the cost of about £52O; and another place of worship built by Wes1eyans in 1833, but now belonging to Independents. Here is a National School, built about seven years ago; and the parish sends, three children to the Free Grammar School at Chigwell, and 20 to the Charity School at Stapleford Abbots, The poor parishioners have a yearly rent charge of lOs. out of Priors farm, left by one Broomfield. The churchwardens hold a house and 4A. of land, and the former is occupied by paupers, and the latter let for £14, which is appled to the service of the church, as also is a yearly rent-charge of 6s.8d., left by one Barfoot, out of Sym's croft; and the rent of 2A., in Thoydon parish, now let for £5.

List of Inhabitants 1848:

John Morgan Adlam, tailor
Francis Brown, tailor and grocer
John Brown, schoolmaster
Richard Bryand, shoemaker
James Cavill, wheelwright
Thomas Champness, auctioneer, surveyor, and estate agent
William Clark, victualler, Blue Boar
Stephen Clements, pork butcher
Charles Davenport, surgeon
James Eastwood, maltster
Rev. James Goodwin B.D., Rectory
William Hanchett, carrier
Charles Higgs, carpenter and grocer
Richard Jeffrey, baker and corn dealer
John Jones, carpenter and builder
William Joseph Lockwood Esq., Bishop's Hall
John Mead, draper, grocer, and insurance agent
Edwin Morgan, ale and porter brewer
Jeremiah Noble, smith and farrier
Isaac Rayner, tailor
John Skikelthorpe, plumber and glazier
William Styles, brickmaker
William Wilson, saddler, etc.

Farmers.
James Clark, St. John's Farm
Richard Clark, Great Dews
Samuel Crane, Arnolds
Edward Elliott, Patch Farm
William Charles Lewis
John Andrews
Philip Taylor
Catherine Taylor
Richard Wilson

Fyffe William George Christie was born on the 2nd February 1918, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, where he spent his early childhood. His mother Ethel was English but his father was a Scot, commercial artist George Fyffe Christie. After the death of his mother in 1930 he returned to Glasgow, Scotland were his father had some success with his creation of a popular sketch character 'Scottikins' in the local Bulletin newspaper. Fyffe Christie suffered from severe dyslexia and was unable to read until the age of twelve. He showed an early interest in drawing and painting, as well as in music, playing the bagpipes. Father George Christie's income remained uncertain however and because of this he sent his son Fyffe to work in the more secure legal profession. After two years Fyffe left the lawyers office he worked in and began an apprenticeship as a lithographic draughtsman but this too proved unsatisfactory.

On the outset of The Second World War Fyffe Christie joined the British Army as a attending a course at the Army School of Piping in Edinburgh Castle. He was then posted to the 9th battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The battalion was in continuous action after D-Day, 6 June 1944 and suffered heavy casualties as they fought for eleven months from Normandy into Northern Germany. During rest periods Christie began to sketch the scenes and landscapes around him in ink and watercolours (he was ambidextrous and drew with both hands). Many of these sketches are now held in the Regimental Museum in Edinburgh, the Imperial War Museum, London and the Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds. Many of the Glasgow men he served with could not read and, having overcome his childhood dyslexia, Christie often helped his comrades by reading their letters from home and writing their replies for them. He spoke little of his wartime experiences but it was during the war that he resolved that he would become an artist.

Christie attended the Glasgow School of Art from 1946 to 1951 studying mural painting under Walter Pritchard. Pritchard was a respected figure in mural painting and Christie worked with him in the painting of a large mural for St. Francis-in-the-East, at Bridgeton in Glasgow. He won the Newbery Medal in 1950 for the most distinguished student of his year. In 1951 he took a postgraduate's study year and a six month travelling scholarship to France, Germany and Italy. He had also begun teaching evening classes at the School of Art and there met his wife, Eleanor Munro, the couple marrying on Fyffe's return to Scotland in 1952.

In 1950-1 Christie executed his first major commission, the mural of Christ Feeding the People for the Iona Community. The work was commissioned by the charismatic founder and leader of the community the Reverend George MacLeod who had been responsible for the reconstruction of the Abbey on the Island of Iona off Scotland's west coast. The mural was painted on the walls of the community centre canteen on Clyde Street, Glasgow which was open to the public as a cafe and served as a soup kitchen for the homeless. Christie depicted the huge scene of an interior with ordinary folk, men returning from work and women baking and bathing children, while at the centre Jesus serves to a table of people begging to be fed. The portrayal of ordinary folk would seem to lend dignity to their humble work and domestic life, while their depiction in contemporary working dress and the inclusion of Glasgow's Clyde Street in the scene which can be seen through the doors and windows of the mural might also be considered to have brought a sense of immediacy and relevance to the work. Shortly after completion of the work the newspaper The Glasgow Herald ran an article on mural art in Scotland and the work of the muralists Walter Pritchard, William Crosbie and Christie. The 'powerful simplicity' of Christie's Iona Community mural was praised. Christie preferred to paint directly onto the wall but the Iona Community specified that the commission was completed on panels. Fortunately this allowed the work to be saved following the closure of the centre. After disappearing for several years the work was rediscovered and put on exhibition at the Glasgow Museum of Religious Art. Despite enthusiastic coverage in The Scotsman and Herald newspapers the work was sold by a private dealer to an unknown buyer in England in 1998.

Fyffe and Eleanor Christie worked as art teachers in Glasgow (Eleanor studying sculpture) until 1957 when they left for better job prospects in England. Christie taught at the Gurney School for Disadvantaged Children in Ilford before moving to the Park Modern School (later the Barking Abbey School) were he taught until retirement. The couple lived in the Ilford suburb of Seven Kings before moving to a smaller flat in Blackheath. During his career at the school he produced around 200 drawings of his pupils mostly executed between 1964 and 1974. A solo exhibition was held at Foley's Gallery in Charing Cross Road in London in 1958 which attracted favourable reviews in the Glasgow Herald. Christie was not however a self-publicist and the ascendancy of abstract art in the latter 20th century led to increasingly fewer commissions for figurative artists such as Christie. Christie was also a landscape painter, painting with his wife Eleanor on holidays in Scotland (particularly the Ayrshire coast), England, France and Italy. In 1973 he began a series of around 40 large figure compositions of nudes, oil on canvas. Other works included still lives.
Fyffe Christie died on the 6th March 1979, the same year in which he and Eleanor held a joint show locally at Woodlands Art Gallery.
The reason why Christie painted the mural in St Margaret’s church is currently unknown, although it has been suggested that his sister married the Rector.

A very ordinary chest in the vestry of this church, is upon examination found to be of remarkable interest. It is a thirteenth century chest which has undergone so great a metamorphosis that its original form is lost, hidden under modern changes and additions.

The stiles 7 ½ inches and 8 inches respectively are cut into the top of the front, and a plank inserted from side to side. The front slab of oak is slightly recessed from the surface of the stiles and the lower part is overlaid by a piece of wood flush with them. The extend stiles which formed feet to the chest have a plank nailed across them, covering the hollow place beneath the actual box.; the same is done at the back and the ends, and at one end the wood is hinged, thus a space is enclosed beneath the chest with a door, providing a receptacle for brushes and dust shovel. All these alterations, are made with care and for utility, not in a destructive spirit, but rather with the idea of preservation.

The lid formerly worked on a pin-hinge, and the heads of the nails by which the rail was held remain. The upper part of the back stiles in which the pin worked is broken, and carefully mended with a solid block. The side walls are battened, slanting inwardly as the ascend to the lid, to give room for the rail of the hinge.

According to order this chest has three locks, but the insertion of the top plank necessitated the removal of the original lock-plates,a nd the present keyholes are surrounded by small brass protections.

A money-slot pierces the left side of the lid.

The chest is no longer in the church, its wherabouts unknown.

Richard Cobden Earle was born in 1867 at Blackheath. Educated at London University he became a priest in 1896. He married Ethel Leader in 1898.

He had been Rector of Quendon (Essex) from 1909 to 1934, and Vicar of Rickling (in plurality) from 1917 to 1934.

He was made an Honorary Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral in 1930.

He became Rector of Stanford Rivers in 1934.

According to Crockford (1936) the population of Stanford Rivers was 758 souls. The living was worth £1047 per annum.

He was replaced in 1941 by the Reverend Percy Sowerby.

Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser,
Dublin, October 16th, 1865.

Her Majesty’s Privy Council have now ordered an official enquiry to be made into the nature of the pestilence now raging at Thoydon, near Epping.

The medical gentlemen who have given attention to the subject are divided in opinion as to whether or not it is the Asiatic cholera, the black fever of the West Indies, or the Russian rinderpest, that is now attacking the human system. The reason for thinking that it is a form of rinderpest is because a large quantity of manure from a London dairy was purchased and brought upon the premises.

Since the report which appeared on Thursday, we have been able to obtain fuller and more authentic particulars relative to the persons who have been attacked and died by the disease, and we are sorry to state that the death of the medical gentleman who attended the family is corroborated.

The following may be relied upon:

The house where the pestilence has raged is situated at Thoydon, upon a high hill, and is half a mile distant from any other house, and before the disease made such a frightening havoc was inhabited by a family named Groombridge, who farmed a considerable estate. In the early part of last week Mrs Groombridge returned from Weymouth but was shortly taken very ill. Her daughter very soon after was seized with similar symptoms, and the medical attendant, Dr McNab, was sent for, and immediately attended them. Mrs Groombridge recovered, but the daughter died in six hours, viz., on Tuesday evening, the 3rd instant. The next morning, Dr McNab was seized and died within a few hours. The following day Mr Groombridge was attacked and died, but his death was kept a secret from his wife. Friday passed over and no death, but on Saturday last, the groom was seized and died within a few hours, though he himself it is said had not been in the house. The woman who laid his body out was shortly afterwards attacked and died the following day. Mrs Groombridge was again seized with the disease and died on Tuesday night.

There is a strong prevailing opinion that the disease was not brought by Mrs Groombridge from the watering town, as was first supposed; but that was the bad smell of the manure brought form the London dairy. The neighbouring farmers, especially those who have lost cattle, have taken great alarm, and instead of the wagons that go to London with cabbages and other green produce, returning as usual with manure, they are going along the streets of Stratford in numbers loaded with quicklime, which is being thrown upon the dung fresh brought.

The subject was brought before the West Ham Board of Guardians on Thursday, when Mr Meeson called the attention of the board to the subject, and strongly pressed upon certain members the positive necessity of removing several nuisances in East Ham – several members of the board being a committee for that purpose.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT

The Asiatic cholera in a very virulent form has made its appearance in the neighbourhood of Epping, and up to the present time there have been twelve cases, out of which six deaths have occurred, but one of which is not attributed to the epidemic. The remaining cases have either recovered or are progressing favourably.

The disease appears to have been imported into the neighbourhood, and, up to the present time, not to have extended beyond the house into which it was brought and those directly connected with it, or with those who were connected with the parties who belonged to the house.

The circumstances leading to this sad occurrence are remarkable. Mr Groombridge, a farmer, residing at Thoydon, a village about two miles west of Epping, had been to Weymoth for change of air, and whilst there he had a severe attack of cholera. He, however, got better from it, and returned to his home on Sunday 24th of September. On Tuesday, the 26th, Mrs Groombridge was attacked, but recovered from it, although left in a very delicate state after it. On Saturday, the 30th, a little daughter of Mr Groombridge’s was attacked and died in about eight hours. The same night a boy who used to sleep in a room in one of the outbuildings was taken ill but recovered.

These patients had been attended by Dr McNab, sen., Dr. McNab, jun., and Dr. Clegg, all of whom were unremitting in their attention to the patients, but they were not long destined to work together. On Monday, Dr McNab, sen., was seized with cholera and was attended by his son and Dr Clegg, but all their exertions could not save him for he died on Tuesday morning, about ten hours after he was first attacked. On Tuesday another daughter of Mr Groombridge was taken ill, but under the treatment of the medical man above named has recovered. The next day the housemaid was attacked, but has also got over it.

The disease however, had not left the house; for on Friday last Mr Groombridge was again attacked by it and died after an illness of ten hours. A man named Riley, a farm labourer at work on the premises, was attacked by it on Friday night, and died early on Saturday morning. The mother of Mrs Groombridge, a lady of eighty-seven years of age, also caught the disease on the same day, but is at present alive. Mrs Groombridge has got over the attack of cholera, and was doing very well until she heard that her husband was dead, and then she said she had nothing more to live for. She refused to take food or anything that was proper for her in her then state of health, and the consequence was that she soon sank and died, but her death cannot be attributed to cholera. The next and last victim of this fearful malady up to the present time is Mrs Saville, a poor woman who went to lay Riley out. She was attacked a day or two after, and died o Tuesday, the 10th.

The whole of the above cases are most decided cases of cholera, amounting to twelve in number, and resulting in five deaths. There are besides several cases of severe diarrhoea, in which men go out to their work in the morning and return about noon scarcely able to stand, but they are not cases of cholera.

When Dr Clegg was called in to see the family of the Groombridges he discovered that there was a communication between the water-closet and the well from which the household drank, and he at once put a stop to their using it. He also examined the neighbourhood, and from what her saw he though it necessary to write to the Privy Council. In consequence of his communication, a sanitary inspector was sent down on Wednesday, and after an examination of the neighbourhood he left to draw up his report to the Board of Health.

When the epidemic appeared and proved so fatal the neighbourhood was greatly alarmed, and very vigorous efforts were made to meet and check the evil. Mr Smee, a gentleman of independent property has at his own expense supplied the poor people twice a day with pure water, by means of water barrels or carts, free of expense,

The Magistrates on the 7th of this month issued the following notice to the public:-

“Notice – in consequence of the cholera having caused the death of several persons in and near Epping, the inhabitants are warned to disinfect, by application of quicklime or other substance, any place in their occupation producing bad smells. A sanitary inspector is expected from London, and all parties are notified that they will incur the full penalties of the law by neglecting to disinfect premises.

By order of the Magistrates
Epping, Oct 7, 1865.”

Dr Clegg, who visits the neighbourhood once or twice daily, admits that there is a great deficiency in the supply of water, and the drainage sadly wants replacing.

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The Glasgow Herald 25th October

CAUSE OF THE CHOLERA AT EPPING

Mr Thomas Forshall, consulting surgeon has written a letter to the London papers on the subject of the recent outbreak of cholera at Epping. He says:- “Having read this morning an announcement of the death of the late Mr Groombridge’s mother at Thoydon, near Epping, I am induced to send you the following statement, as it may in some measure tend to lessen the alarm and relieve Weymouth of the suspicion of having been tainted with Asiatic cholera during the period of the late Mr Groombridge’s stay there. Very early in June last the late Mr Groombridge consulted me and he told me he had felt unwell fir the last two years; that he had been troubled with indigestion and great depression of spirits, which he said he could not all account for, as his circumstances were comfortable, and that he had made money not only by farming, but also by brickmaking. I found that he had been under medical treatment frequently for a year or two past, but that he had only found very temporary relief. As the medicines I prescribed did not produce so much benefit as I expected, I inquired particularly as to the locality of his residence, the drainage and water supply. He told me that, with the exception of a little rain water occasionally, their sole supply was from a deep well and that the water was very hard, and made the tea very disagreeable. I requested him to bring me a bottle of water on the next visit, which he did on the 17th June last. I found that, although the water was perfectly limpid, it had an unpleasant odour and nauseous taste, amply accepted for by recent disclosures as to the leakage from the cesspool into the well. I handed the bottle of water to Mr. Goff, the well known operative chemist of Kingsland, who after examination of the contents, stated to me that he had detected sulpheretted hydrogen gas, with a considerable quantity of organic matter. Mr Groombridge got me to prescribe fir his wife, her mother, both of whom had been, to his own expression, out of sorts for a long time. Comment upon the forgoing statement is needless. I advised change to the sea coast; they went to Weymouth, came back to Thoydon to drink impure water – their constitutions enfeebled by long continued functional disorder of the digestive organs, and speedily succumbed to the cholera when attacked.”

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The 1861 Census shows William Groombridge (45 years), living with his wife Elizabeth (also 45 years) at Little Gregories Farm, Theydon Bois. William is described as a farmer, employing 2 men and 2 boys.

William’s mother-in-law, Alice Parsell (82 years) is also living with them. A daughter Sarah Groombridge (16 years) and son Charles (14 years) are also shown.

The Bishop of Rochester has instituted the Rev. Daniel Race Godfrey, D. D., to the united Rectories of Stapleford Tawney and Mount Theydon, Essex, on the nomination of Sir William Bowyer Smijth.

We have to announce the awfully sudden death of Mr W. Gibson, of Greensted Hall. He was in Ongar market on Saturday, to all appearance quite well, and on Sunday night he went to bed in the same apparent good health. On Monday morning he woke at half-past-six; and before seven was dead. An inquest was held on Tuesday morning and a verdict returned that he died of diseased heart. Mr Gibson was fifty-seven years of age and much respected in the neighbourhood – Essex Standard.