The following was written by Revd E H L Reeve, Rector of Stondon Massey (1893 - 1935) and local historian. (Source: Essex Record Office T/P 188/3 f97).
28th January 1915
When travelling by train to London from Ongar on Jan 25th I had for a fellow passenger for part of the way a Lancashire man who had returned wounded and frost-bitten from the front, and was now sufficiently convalescent to be going for a short spell to his native county before returning to France.
His first-hand report of the conditions of things abroad was very interesting. He had often been for days together standing in water in the trenches, and the plight of the soldiers in the cold, wet, and filth was, he said indescribable. The Germans were in as bad or worse plight. During an interval on Christmas-day some of the enemy had approached our trenches and joined in conversation with our men. One German soldier had given his cigarettes and offered him brandy.
In reply to the German invitation to drink with him the British soldier declined, until by way of assuring him took a pull himself at the flask he was offering! Lancashire shyness was then overcome, and the soldier accepted a draught of the “Cognac” for such it proved to be. The time was soon over for these pleasantries, and the two dropped back again into their several positions, having apparently no special desire to kill one another, save at the call of duty! I wished my fellow passenger a safe return to England at the close of war.
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Stondon Massey: Through Changing Scenes 19.4.08
Through Changing Scenes
A history of Stondon Massey in words and music
St Peter & St Paul Church
Stondon Massey, Essex
Saturday 19th April 2008
7.30pm
An opportunity to hear the history of Stondon in words and music will be given on 19 April.
‘Through Changing Scenes’, an event run by church members in association with ‘Tuneful Accord Ensemble’, a Choir directed by Christine Gwynn, is a lively and thought provoking evening reviewing a thousand years of history in an engaging way. It should appeal to anybody with an interest in local history. It’s an event not to miss!
The script is being prepared by amateur local historian, Andrew Smith. He admits to being given a head start thanks to a former Rector of the parish. “Edward Reeve was the priest here from 1893 until 1935 but in his spare time researched and published from 1900 what many regard as a model parish history. His last volume was published in 1914, on the eve of the First World War.
“Reeve died as a bachelor in 1936. I understand that his father forbade him and his sisters to marry – quite why I don’t know”, Andrew adds. “One hundred and fifty years after his birth it seems appropriate to bring Reeve’s work back to life in an edited and updated form. As well as the ‘Through Changing Scenes’ production we will be producing a book containing an extended version of the script and bringing Stondon’s history forward a further century.
Andrew is looking for old postcards and photographs to illustrate the book. He would also love to hear from those who have memories to Stondon.
“Most of the text comes from Reeve’s original work so on the night one of the current members of the congregation will play the part of the Rector and stand in the pulpit where he preached Sunday by Sunday for 42 years. It should be a great evening in this small church. Tickets are limited so get them early to avoid disappointment!”
A history of Stondon Massey in words and music
St Peter & St Paul Church
Stondon Massey, Essex
Saturday 19th April 2008
7.30pm
An opportunity to hear the history of Stondon in words and music will be given on 19 April.
‘Through Changing Scenes’, an event run by church members in association with ‘Tuneful Accord Ensemble’, a Choir directed by Christine Gwynn, is a lively and thought provoking evening reviewing a thousand years of history in an engaging way. It should appeal to anybody with an interest in local history. It’s an event not to miss!
The script is being prepared by amateur local historian, Andrew Smith. He admits to being given a head start thanks to a former Rector of the parish. “Edward Reeve was the priest here from 1893 until 1935 but in his spare time researched and published from 1900 what many regard as a model parish history. His last volume was published in 1914, on the eve of the First World War.
“Reeve died as a bachelor in 1936. I understand that his father forbade him and his sisters to marry – quite why I don’t know”, Andrew adds. “One hundred and fifty years after his birth it seems appropriate to bring Reeve’s work back to life in an edited and updated form. As well as the ‘Through Changing Scenes’ production we will be producing a book containing an extended version of the script and bringing Stondon’s history forward a further century.
Andrew is looking for old postcards and photographs to illustrate the book. He would also love to hear from those who have memories to Stondon.
“Most of the text comes from Reeve’s original work so on the night one of the current members of the congregation will play the part of the Rector and stand in the pulpit where he preached Sunday by Sunday for 42 years. It should be a great evening in this small church. Tickets are limited so get them early to avoid disappointment!”
Essex: Samuel Pepys' Diary
Looking around second-hand bookshops is something that I enjoy very much. Recently I came across a copy of “Everybody’s Pepys” (1927), an abridged version of the diary. It is illustrated by E. H. Shepard, better known for drawing ‘Winnie The Pooh’. For £2 it proved a very interesting read.
Samuel Pepys wrote his famous diary in London between 1660 (aged 27) and 1669. He was a senior civil servant. It was written in shorthand and never intended for publication. Pepys expresses personal opinions about individuals, the quality of sermons and his eye for women. We learn also of the Plays he attended, the plate he purchased and the food he ate, not to mention the quantity of drink consumed.
The diary contains important eye-witness accounts of the Restoration of the Monarchy (1660), the Plague (1665) and Great Fire of London (1666).
There is also mention of places in Essex. For example, “This day comes news from Harwich that the Dutch fleete are all in sight …” (21 June 1667). In another, “I went home with Sir G Smith to dinner sending for one of my barrels of oysters, which was good, though come from Colchester where the plague hath been so much” (24 November 1665).
Pepys stayed in Epping overnight (27 / 28 February 1660) having accompanied his brother to Cambridge University. He wrote:
“… and so that night, the road being pretty good but the weather rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after supper, and some merry talk with a plain bold maid of the house, we went to bed.
“Up in the morning, and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending; by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before. Then to horse, and for London through the forest”.
Samuel Pepys wrote his famous diary in London between 1660 (aged 27) and 1669. He was a senior civil servant. It was written in shorthand and never intended for publication. Pepys expresses personal opinions about individuals, the quality of sermons and his eye for women. We learn also of the Plays he attended, the plate he purchased and the food he ate, not to mention the quantity of drink consumed.
The diary contains important eye-witness accounts of the Restoration of the Monarchy (1660), the Plague (1665) and Great Fire of London (1666).
There is also mention of places in Essex. For example, “This day comes news from Harwich that the Dutch fleete are all in sight …” (21 June 1667). In another, “I went home with Sir G Smith to dinner sending for one of my barrels of oysters, which was good, though come from Colchester where the plague hath been so much” (24 November 1665).
Pepys stayed in Epping overnight (27 / 28 February 1660) having accompanied his brother to Cambridge University. He wrote:
“… and so that night, the road being pretty good but the weather rainy, to Epping, where we sat and played a game at cards, and after supper, and some merry talk with a plain bold maid of the house, we went to bed.
“Up in the morning, and had some red herrings to our breakfast, while my boot-heel was a-mending; by the same token the boy left the hole as big as it was before. Then to horse, and for London through the forest”.
North Weald: Stepping Back Into History
In October 2005 I took a train ride from Ongar on the “newly-formed” Epping and Ongar Railway and, alighting at North Weald for the first time, stepped back into history. It was here that my great grandfather, John Dawes, son of a tradesman in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, became a railway porter in 1877. This was only a few years after the branch line from Epping to Ongar had opened. John spent the remainder of his working life working on the railway - but that’s a different story for another time.
The Eastern Counties Railway opened a line out of Shoreditch, from Stratford to Loughton in 1856, with the intention of reaching Epping. Later the company was taken over by the Great Eastern Railway (1862) who planned an extension to Ongar with ambitions to reach either Chelmsford or Great Dunmow.
The route opened in 1865, but the addition from Epping to Ongar remained only a branch line. When through trains ran from Liverpool Street, carriages were often left off at Epping. Had Ongar been the original objective, the line would have been easier to build up the Roding valley rather than over high ground. But Epping was a more attractive destination.
In 1935, the line became part of the London Transport Modernisation Plan and after the Second World War was “attached” to the Central Line. Tube trains began to operate as far as Epping in 1949 but it was to be a further eight years before the branch to Ongar was electrified. Push – pull steam trains worked the route. Never having high passenger numbers, its fate seems to have been doomed by a decision not to build an electricity sub-station at Blake Hall. This meant insufficient power so longer trains from the metropolis could not be used over the full distance. Passengers had to change at Epping. From then the branch was the only single-track section on the underground network, and at North Weald, the only place where there was a level crossing. With dwindling patronage the branch finally succumbed to closure on 30 September 1994, but not without several fights from rail users. Blake Hall Station, the most rural on the entire London Transport network, had closed some ten years before.
The architecture of the line is not without interest. The stations - Ongar, Blake Hall, North Weald and Epping – are all of the same style. Blake Hall is the most decorative country station in red and white brick. North Weald is the same as its neighbour but plainer. Ongar is a modest terminus and Epping has additional building on the east side, or London-bound platform. Just outside Ongar, a viaduct spans Cripsey brook.
Whether there was, and remains, anything romantic about this branch is a matter individuals’ will decide, but it forms part of my Essex roots. If the Eastern Countries Railway preferred Ongar as a destination to Epping, the High Country parishes would not have been so rural. Had the post war Abercrombie Plan for a new town at Ongar been approved – rather than Basildon – the line may have remained open today with fast electric trains to Chelmsford.
Bibliography:
Newens, Arthur Stanley. A History of North Weald Bassett and Its People (Nuclear Printing and Publishing Co Ltd, 1985)
Various writers. Aspects of the History of Ongar (Ongar Millennium History Project, 1999)
Letter to ‘Essex Countryside’. January 1962
The Eastern Counties Railway opened a line out of Shoreditch, from Stratford to Loughton in 1856, with the intention of reaching Epping. Later the company was taken over by the Great Eastern Railway (1862) who planned an extension to Ongar with ambitions to reach either Chelmsford or Great Dunmow.
The route opened in 1865, but the addition from Epping to Ongar remained only a branch line. When through trains ran from Liverpool Street, carriages were often left off at Epping. Had Ongar been the original objective, the line would have been easier to build up the Roding valley rather than over high ground. But Epping was a more attractive destination.
In 1935, the line became part of the London Transport Modernisation Plan and after the Second World War was “attached” to the Central Line. Tube trains began to operate as far as Epping in 1949 but it was to be a further eight years before the branch to Ongar was electrified. Push – pull steam trains worked the route. Never having high passenger numbers, its fate seems to have been doomed by a decision not to build an electricity sub-station at Blake Hall. This meant insufficient power so longer trains from the metropolis could not be used over the full distance. Passengers had to change at Epping. From then the branch was the only single-track section on the underground network, and at North Weald, the only place where there was a level crossing. With dwindling patronage the branch finally succumbed to closure on 30 September 1994, but not without several fights from rail users. Blake Hall Station, the most rural on the entire London Transport network, had closed some ten years before.
The architecture of the line is not without interest. The stations - Ongar, Blake Hall, North Weald and Epping – are all of the same style. Blake Hall is the most decorative country station in red and white brick. North Weald is the same as its neighbour but plainer. Ongar is a modest terminus and Epping has additional building on the east side, or London-bound platform. Just outside Ongar, a viaduct spans Cripsey brook.
Whether there was, and remains, anything romantic about this branch is a matter individuals’ will decide, but it forms part of my Essex roots. If the Eastern Countries Railway preferred Ongar as a destination to Epping, the High Country parishes would not have been so rural. Had the post war Abercrombie Plan for a new town at Ongar been approved – rather than Basildon – the line may have remained open today with fast electric trains to Chelmsford.
Bibliography:
Newens, Arthur Stanley. A History of North Weald Bassett and Its People (Nuclear Printing and Publishing Co Ltd, 1985)
Various writers. Aspects of the History of Ongar (Ongar Millennium History Project, 1999)
Letter to ‘Essex Countryside’. January 1962
Blackmore: Churchwardens' List
I have been researching the history of the Priory Church of St Laurence since 2003. It has become an interesting and absorbing hobby. During the course of my visits to Record Offices, I noted the names of Churchwardens. This might seem tedious to some readers but could be invaluable to those researching family history in Blackmore.
Churchwardens List
Blackmore, Essex
Year: Names: Source document
1581
John Reve
William Holden
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f69
1582
William Bradye
John Ronde
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f90
1583
John Hogge
Richard Bradchie
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f98
1585
John Barnard
John Grove
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f104
1586
Thomas Samon
Galifridus Wiat
GLM 9537/6
1586
Richard Pasfield
John Reve
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f109
1588
Richard Pasfield
John Reve
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f117
1589
John Peache
George Tinge
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f122
1590
John Rond
Thomas Reve
ERO D/AZ/1/11 f125
1680
Ignatious Glasscock
William Baker
GLM 9583/5
1692
Robert Petchey
ERO D/AE/V15
1697
… Baker
Arthur Toogood
ERO D/AE/V8A
1706
Ashley Barrett
John Evans
GLM 9583/11
1715
Johannes Pond
Lewis Priestland
GLM 9583/12
1720
Lewis Presland
Janny Fowler
GLM 9583/13
1724
Ashley Barrett
George Judd
GLM 9583/14
1727
John Pond
Thomas Barrett
GLM 9583/15
1731
John Graves
John Pond
GLM 9583/16
1735
Henry Blincoe
George Eve
GLM 9583/17
1738
James Gardiner
Benjamin Blincoe
GLM 9583/18
1742
Robert Vale
Jeremiah Bush
GLM 9583/21
1750
Charles Alexander Esq
Issac Perry
GLM 9583/22
1753
Charles Alexander Esq
GLM 9583/23
1759
Issac Perry
Jeremiah Bush
GLM 9583/24
1763
Michael Wood
Henry Eve
GLM 9583/25
1767
John Staple
John Judd
GLM 9583/26
1770
Michael Wood
Henry Eve
GLM 9583/27
1774
Michael Wood
William Savage
GLM 9583/28
1778
Michael Wood
William Sitch
GLM 9583/29
1782
Michael Wood
GLM 9583/30
1786
Michael Wood
GLM 9583/31
1790
Michael Wood
Henry Caton
GLM 9583/32
1799
Ashley Barrett
Stephen Roach
GLM 9583/34
1803
Matthew Flack
Abraham Wilson
GLM 9583/35
1810
Abraham Willson
John Seach
GLM 9583/36
1810
Abraham Wilson
John Sache
GLM 11549
1814
Edward Gray
GLM 9583/37
1817
John Alderton
ERO D/CR 38
1818
Edward Gray
John Alderton
GLM 9583/38
1822
John Turner
GLM 9583/39
1826
T Lane ?
GLM 9583/40
1826
Taylor Sach ?
GLM 9539/1
1830
W Bentall
GLM 9583/42
1830
William Archer Bentall
GLM 9539/2
1834
H Bentall
Benjamin Stearn
GLM 9583/44
1834
William Archer Bentall
Benjamin Stearn
GLM 9539/3
1836
W Bentall
William Caton
ERO D/P 266/11
1838
Henry Caton
George Fournier
GLM 9583/46
1838
Henry Caton
George Francis
GLM 9539/4
1840
Henry Caton
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1841
Henry Caton
George Francis
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1842
Henry Caton
George Fournier
GLM 9583/48
1842
Henry Caton
George Francis
GLM 9539/6
1842
Henry Caton
George Francis
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1843
Henry Caton
Jas. Hailes
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1844
Henry Caton
Jas. Hailes
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1845
Henry Caton
Jas. Hailes
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1847
William Caton
Jas. Hailes
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1848
William Thomas Longbourne
Jas. Hailes (farmer)
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1849
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1850
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1851
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1852
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1853
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1854
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1855
James Thomas Hailes
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1856
William Thomas Longbourne
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1857
William Thomas Longbourne
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1858
Joseph Turner
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1859
Frederick Pearce
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1860
Frederick Pearce
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1861
Frederick Pearce
William Caton
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1862
Charles Bloomfield
William Caton
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1863
William Caton
William Hart
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1865
William Caton
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1866
William Caton
James Eve
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1867
James Eve
Samuel Edward Hayhill
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1868
James Eve
Frederick Wheatley
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1870
Joseph Wyatt
Charles Pratt
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1871
Alfred Shipworth
Thomas Green
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1874
Peter Fry
Richard G Westhorpe
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1877
John Bean
John Seamon Jeffries
ERO D/AZ/6/1
1879
John Reeve
John Seamon Jeffreys
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1881
William Jackson
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1882
William Jackson
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1883
Peter Fry
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1884
William Edgar Disney
Peter Fry
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1885
Peter Fry
HALS DSA 1/15/3 f395
1885
Peter Fry
E J Disney
HALS DSA 1/15/3 f418
1885
Sidney John Pratt
J Henry Arthy
HALS DSA 1/15/8 f400
1885
William Edgar Disney
John Henry Arthy
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1888
Thomas Reed Hull
John Henry Arthy
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1892
Sidney John Pratt
John Henry Arthy
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1893
Sidney Pratt
ERO A10631
1894
Sidney John Pratt
Harry Raby
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1895
John Henry Arthy
Harry Raby
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1896
John Henry Arthy
Henry William Mihill
ERO D/F 8/W333
1897
H Raby
H Arthy
ERO D/P 266/11
1898
Sidney John Pratt
John Henry Arthy
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1899
Dr Jas Robt White B Med
John Henry Arthy
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1901
James Robert White
Capt Wellesley Pigott
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1902
Frederick Scrutton
Capt Wellesley George Pigott
ERO D/AZ/6/5
1902
Frederick Scrutton
Captain Wellesley Pigott JP
ERO T/P 181/2/11
1903
Wellesley George Pigott
Frederick Scrutton
HALS DSA 1/15/9 f622
1907
Rowland Richard Pratt
Frederick Carver Scrutton
HALS DSA 1/15/10 f502
Key
ERO: Essex Record Office
GLS: Guildhall Library Manuscripts
HALS: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
Is your relative on this list?
Area: The Essex Storm of 1897
The following is an extract from the book ‘Black Thursday: The Essex Storm of 1897’, available from the church bookstall or Megarrys Antique Shop, priced £1.50. Or by post, priced £2.00 (UK only).
Although some may have heard of the Colchester Earthquake of 1884, fewer may know about the devastating hail storm which swept Essex in 1897.
Thursday 24th June 1897 was a hot day with temperatures reaching 31C (86F) in Chelmsford by 2.00pm. In the fields of Essex, there was the prospect of a good harvest. The greenhouses of nurserymen in the Chelmsford area were filling with ripening fruit and vegetables. Labourers were out in the fields across the county, cursing the heat, hay making or pea picking.
Soon after 2.00pm the weather changed dramatically. A cold front had arrived accompanied by dark clouds “with lurid lights”. The day became known as “Black Thursday” or “the Essex tornado”.
Reginald Becket later (1901) described the scene: “Ingatestone … was the centre of the hundred square miles of Essex which was devastated in a quarter of an hour by a hailstorm on that black Midsummer Day. When I passed through it at harvest-time in that same year, the crops seemed to have been cut off a few inches above the ground, though no harvest had been reaped”.
The Mill Green area of Ingatestone bore the brunt of the storm. Mrs Wilde (1913) records, “the force of the wind was so immense that great trees bowed almost flat before it. … A stack of chimneys at Lightoaks had come down without the inmates being aware of its fall, so great was the noise of the storm”. The Times reported that all down one side of Ingatestone High Street, window fronts “were smashed to atoms”. It comments that the only cheerful men must have been glaziers.
Hailstones fell as big as hens’ eggs. At Ingatestone one, “picked up by Mr S Horsenell of Ingatestone Post-office”, measured 5½ inches (14cms) in circumference and weighed 3½ ounces (almost 100g).
“Never within living memory had so much damage been caused within so short space of time”, wrote Rev E H L Reeve of Stondon Massey (1900). “Some of the hail stones were swept up the following morning, so large and solid had they been”.
The storm tracked from west to east: from Epping, through Ongar and Chelmsford, finally dying our near Colchester.
At Quince Hall in Blackmore, the whole crop, about 22 acres, was ruined and eight chickens killed. A barn was blown over at Spriggs Farm. “A man was mowing grass at Blackmore, his horses ran away and smashed the mowing machine, one of the knives of which entered the man’s chest and arms. If the knife had caught him lower down death would have been inevitable”. Dozens of labourers were seen standing in their own gardens sobbing at the devastation that has occurred: “The case of the labourers is an exceedingly sad one”.
George Woods, of Cooksmill Green, wrote to The Essex Herald: “The workmen have no harvest, and women no gleaning, little pea-picking and all their garden fruit destroyed. Threshing machines are idle, and there will be no employment for many during the winter months. I only know of a few who have their seed corn left”.
A meeting was called at the Shire Hall in Chelmsford on the afternoon of Friday 2nd July. Over 600 people attended. Speakers included Lord Rayleigh, who presided at the meeting, and Thomas Usborne, MP for the Mid Essex Division. A Committee was formed to administer The Essex Storm Relief Fund and all eight Essex MP’s supported calls to the Lord Mayor of London to open a Fund. Over £3,000 was promised that afternoon.
The Mansion House Fund was opened by the Lord Mayor on 5th July. The Editor of The Essex Herald reflected: “We must also express a hope … that in any distribution which is made, the case of the labouring classes will be well remembered. They have been accustomed to look to the harvest as a time wherein to earn extra money for the payment of their cottage rents, for the purchase of fuel for the winter, and for setting themselves up in clothing and boots. For such as will be unable to get harvest work this autumn the outlook must be extremely dismal”.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday 6th July a spokesman said: “Competent observers have stated that the loss would not be covered by £200,000 … I do not think that the Government could safely intervene even in the most unfortunate circumstances of this particular case”.
It was decided to cancel the Ingatestone and Fryerning Horticultural Society show. Ongar was a similar casualty of the storm and “the show usually held in November may likewise be abandoned because so many chrysanthemums were ruined”. The shooting season would be badly affected by the number of killed birds.
The work of the Committee, the correspondence, visits and distribution of money is unfortunately not preserved. This would have shed light on the plight of individuals. The Essex Review reported in July 1898 that “[the Essex Tornado Relief Fund] account shows receipts amounting to £45,753.15s.4., and the sums granted in relief reached a total of £45,147.4s.4d.”.
Writing a commentary to his transcript of the Blackmore Parish Registers (1602 to 1812) in 1897, R H Browne concluded:
“I must content myself with just mentioning that this year [1897] has been a remarkable one in several respects. The Queen’s [Diamond] Jubilee celebrations causing universal rejoicing. There is an abundant harvest both of hay and corn despite the great storm of June last, which devastated about seventy square miles in the County between Epping and Chelmsford. Large sums are being subscribed locally and at the Mansion House for the relief of the sufferers”.
The year 1897 was certainly remarkable and memorable for those who witnessed these events.
Bibliography
Beckett, Reginald A. Romantic Essex (Dent, 1901)
Currie, Ian; Davison, Mark; Ogley, Bob. The Essex Weather Book (Froglets Publications, 1992)
Hope-Moncriff, A R. Essex (A&C Black, 1909)
Reeve, Rev E H L. Stondon Massey (Wiles & Son, Colchester, 1900)
Wilde, Mrs E E. Ingatestone and the Great Essex Road, with Fryerning (Oxford University Press, 1913)
Essex County Chronicle. 2 July 1897
Essex Countryside.
Essex Review. July 1897, July 1898
Also, thanks to Essex Record Office.
Andrew Smith
Although some may have heard of the Colchester Earthquake of 1884, fewer may know about the devastating hail storm which swept Essex in 1897.
Thursday 24th June 1897 was a hot day with temperatures reaching 31C (86F) in Chelmsford by 2.00pm. In the fields of Essex, there was the prospect of a good harvest. The greenhouses of nurserymen in the Chelmsford area were filling with ripening fruit and vegetables. Labourers were out in the fields across the county, cursing the heat, hay making or pea picking.
Soon after 2.00pm the weather changed dramatically. A cold front had arrived accompanied by dark clouds “with lurid lights”. The day became known as “Black Thursday” or “the Essex tornado”.
Reginald Becket later (1901) described the scene: “Ingatestone … was the centre of the hundred square miles of Essex which was devastated in a quarter of an hour by a hailstorm on that black Midsummer Day. When I passed through it at harvest-time in that same year, the crops seemed to have been cut off a few inches above the ground, though no harvest had been reaped”.
The Mill Green area of Ingatestone bore the brunt of the storm. Mrs Wilde (1913) records, “the force of the wind was so immense that great trees bowed almost flat before it. … A stack of chimneys at Lightoaks had come down without the inmates being aware of its fall, so great was the noise of the storm”. The Times reported that all down one side of Ingatestone High Street, window fronts “were smashed to atoms”. It comments that the only cheerful men must have been glaziers.
Hailstones fell as big as hens’ eggs. At Ingatestone one, “picked up by Mr S Horsenell of Ingatestone Post-office”, measured 5½ inches (14cms) in circumference and weighed 3½ ounces (almost 100g).
“Never within living memory had so much damage been caused within so short space of time”, wrote Rev E H L Reeve of Stondon Massey (1900). “Some of the hail stones were swept up the following morning, so large and solid had they been”.
The storm tracked from west to east: from Epping, through Ongar and Chelmsford, finally dying our near Colchester.
At Quince Hall in Blackmore, the whole crop, about 22 acres, was ruined and eight chickens killed. A barn was blown over at Spriggs Farm. “A man was mowing grass at Blackmore, his horses ran away and smashed the mowing machine, one of the knives of which entered the man’s chest and arms. If the knife had caught him lower down death would have been inevitable”. Dozens of labourers were seen standing in their own gardens sobbing at the devastation that has occurred: “The case of the labourers is an exceedingly sad one”.
George Woods, of Cooksmill Green, wrote to The Essex Herald: “The workmen have no harvest, and women no gleaning, little pea-picking and all their garden fruit destroyed. Threshing machines are idle, and there will be no employment for many during the winter months. I only know of a few who have their seed corn left”.
A meeting was called at the Shire Hall in Chelmsford on the afternoon of Friday 2nd July. Over 600 people attended. Speakers included Lord Rayleigh, who presided at the meeting, and Thomas Usborne, MP for the Mid Essex Division. A Committee was formed to administer The Essex Storm Relief Fund and all eight Essex MP’s supported calls to the Lord Mayor of London to open a Fund. Over £3,000 was promised that afternoon.
The Mansion House Fund was opened by the Lord Mayor on 5th July. The Editor of The Essex Herald reflected: “We must also express a hope … that in any distribution which is made, the case of the labouring classes will be well remembered. They have been accustomed to look to the harvest as a time wherein to earn extra money for the payment of their cottage rents, for the purchase of fuel for the winter, and for setting themselves up in clothing and boots. For such as will be unable to get harvest work this autumn the outlook must be extremely dismal”.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday 6th July a spokesman said: “Competent observers have stated that the loss would not be covered by £200,000 … I do not think that the Government could safely intervene even in the most unfortunate circumstances of this particular case”.
It was decided to cancel the Ingatestone and Fryerning Horticultural Society show. Ongar was a similar casualty of the storm and “the show usually held in November may likewise be abandoned because so many chrysanthemums were ruined”. The shooting season would be badly affected by the number of killed birds.
The work of the Committee, the correspondence, visits and distribution of money is unfortunately not preserved. This would have shed light on the plight of individuals. The Essex Review reported in July 1898 that “[the Essex Tornado Relief Fund] account shows receipts amounting to £45,753.15s.4., and the sums granted in relief reached a total of £45,147.4s.4d.”.
Writing a commentary to his transcript of the Blackmore Parish Registers (1602 to 1812) in 1897, R H Browne concluded:
“I must content myself with just mentioning that this year [1897] has been a remarkable one in several respects. The Queen’s [Diamond] Jubilee celebrations causing universal rejoicing. There is an abundant harvest both of hay and corn despite the great storm of June last, which devastated about seventy square miles in the County between Epping and Chelmsford. Large sums are being subscribed locally and at the Mansion House for the relief of the sufferers”.
The year 1897 was certainly remarkable and memorable for those who witnessed these events.
Bibliography
Beckett, Reginald A. Romantic Essex (Dent, 1901)
Currie, Ian; Davison, Mark; Ogley, Bob. The Essex Weather Book (Froglets Publications, 1992)
Hope-Moncriff, A R. Essex (A&C Black, 1909)
Reeve, Rev E H L. Stondon Massey (Wiles & Son, Colchester, 1900)
Wilde, Mrs E E. Ingatestone and the Great Essex Road, with Fryerning (Oxford University Press, 1913)
Essex County Chronicle. 2 July 1897
Essex Countryside.
Essex Review. July 1897, July 1898
Also, thanks to Essex Record Office.
Andrew Smith
Blackmore: Revd. Montague Knott
Fifty years ago (in 1957), Revd Montague Knott moved into the new Vicarage in Church Street becoming Vicar of Blackmore (Essex). He stayed for 28 years. When he died in 2006, aged 100, his funeral service was held at the Priory Church of St Laurence. His tribute is given on the church website: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/pcslblackmore/monty.htm
Blackmore: Mothers' Union
The closing of the local branch of the Mothers’ Union at the end of 2006 marked the end of an era of meetings which took place, perhaps continuously for over 100 years. This is a report from the Essex Weekly News, 4 January 1907, discovered whilst looking for information on the church organ.
NEW YEAR’S PARTY – The members of the Mothers’ Union were entertained at the Church Hall on New Year’s Day by Miss Hull, of the Priory, and Mrs Petrie. A large and happy party sat down to tea, and afterwards much homely fun was indulged in. A fine Christmas tree was laden with gifts. Each member of the Mothers’ Union was the recipient of a gaily decorated canister of tea, while all visitors received boxes of chocolates. The fathers were each presented with a packet of tobacco. The surprise of the evening took the form of presentations of the three ladies who take the keenest interest in the mothers – viz. Miss Hull, Mrs Petrie and Miss Janet Hull. The first-named lady was presented with a morocco writing case beautifully fitted: Mrs Petrie with a very pretty Prussian leather lady’s companion and purse: and Miss Janet Hull received a Swede purse. Mrs Woollard, Mrs Wiltshire, and Messrs C Pagram and C Speller sang some of the good old songs: and hearty cheers were given to Miss Hull and Miss Janet Hull, the Rev. W. L. Petrie, Mrs Petrie, and the Mothers’ Union. Miss Hull, who is never happier then when doing some kindness to her neighbours, thanked the mothers and Mrs Petrie most heartily for her present.
NEW YEAR’S PARTY – The members of the Mothers’ Union were entertained at the Church Hall on New Year’s Day by Miss Hull, of the Priory, and Mrs Petrie. A large and happy party sat down to tea, and afterwards much homely fun was indulged in. A fine Christmas tree was laden with gifts. Each member of the Mothers’ Union was the recipient of a gaily decorated canister of tea, while all visitors received boxes of chocolates. The fathers were each presented with a packet of tobacco. The surprise of the evening took the form of presentations of the three ladies who take the keenest interest in the mothers – viz. Miss Hull, Mrs Petrie and Miss Janet Hull. The first-named lady was presented with a morocco writing case beautifully fitted: Mrs Petrie with a very pretty Prussian leather lady’s companion and purse: and Miss Janet Hull received a Swede purse. Mrs Woollard, Mrs Wiltshire, and Messrs C Pagram and C Speller sang some of the good old songs: and hearty cheers were given to Miss Hull and Miss Janet Hull, the Rev. W. L. Petrie, Mrs Petrie, and the Mothers’ Union. Miss Hull, who is never happier then when doing some kindness to her neighbours, thanked the mothers and Mrs Petrie most heartily for her present.
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