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Dorothy Thomson, Hathaways and Mrs Wiggins

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dorothy thomson as a child in Scotland
Dorothy Thomson as a child in Scotland

Here is another in a series of extracts from our many Oral History audio files. In it, former 1920s Shipton Court resident Dorothy “Dor” Thomson tells of her meeting in later life of Mrs Wiggins (nee Coombes), whom she remembers from Mrs Wiggins’ days at Hathaways Stores.

Listen Here

Dorothy Thomson, interviewed with Mary McNeill: 2004

Transcript

“I can also remember, thinking of recollections of the village, that what I believe is now called the Village Store was at that time Hathaways, because it was run by a gentleman who had been Captain Hathaway in the First War. And you had to call him very carefully ‘Captain Hathaway’, because he was very proud of having been a captain, and he ran the shop, and it was a splendid shop and everybody used it.

And also I can remember Miss Coombes who was the dragon in the Post Office, and she used to terrify the children – we were really quite frightened to go in. She was quite harmless really, I suppose, but we were a bit frightened of her. And then some years after that- I mean, we thought she was quite old then- and then suddenly to everybody’s astonishment she got married. And she married Mr Wiggins, and became Mrs Wiggins which was very difficult for us to remember to call her Mrs Wiggins.

Since I came to live in Bampton I read a number of years ago in the Witney Gazette that she had just retired, and I happened to be in Shipton and I went to see her. And I was so delighted because she remembered me and remembered the family, and we had quite a good chat. Her husband I think was still alive then. And I was so glad I’d been because I think it was three or four years after that she in fact died, and it was very nice for me that we’d made this contact late in both our lives”.


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Hathaway’s shop High Street Shipton 1930s. Originally Dees stores, the shop was built in 1919 when Mr Dee moved from his premises opposite Shipton Lodge. The drapery section was upstairs with the groceries below. Deliveries were made to surrounding villages by Stanley Gorton seen here with Mary Barnes and the Model A Ford van. The railings around the shop went in the war effort in 1940

The Full Interview – and Additional Reminiscences

There are two separate audio files of Dorothy “Dor” Thomson’s memories in the WLHS archive.

Find them here and here

She is interviewed by Mary McNeill at her home in Bampton, where she talks of the arrival of her family in 1919 at Shipton Court, where her family lived until 1934. She recalls the Wild Garden, and reference is made to the lack of motor traffic – but there is an amusing anecdote about Mr Samuda of Bruern Abbey and his Model T Ford. There are especially detailed descriptions of the stables – which were prominent in the lives of the Thomson family. Some interesting details of the main gate into Plum Lane are also recalled.

Inspired by this interview, Dorothy recorded her own set of additional memories for the society, creating rich and varied insights into Shipton and Milton life over several decades from the 1920s, as well as stories of her father’s gambling and interest in horse racing.

More Extracts

… and a couple of clips from Duncan Waugh’s 1991 talk on emigration to New Zealand

Dulcie Arundell and the Tale of the American Soldier at Shipton Station

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Here is a snippet from one of our many Oral History audio files. In it, Dulcie Arundell tells the story of a night-time meeting at Shipton Station.

Here is a photo of Dulcie in later life (2007): The Society invited Wychwood senior citizens to view archive photographs. Left to Right: Dorothy Shepherd (Dulcie Arundell’s sister) , Dulcie Arundell, Kath Cooper

Listen Here

Dulcie Arundell with Trudy Yates: 2nd April 1993

Transcript

“There was a lot of work. I met an American serviceman, working late one night, and I shan’t ever forget him. I was in the office. We had one office staff, one outside staff, always on late duty. And he’d come from a convalescent home somewhere, and he was going to RAF Lyneham. 

At least the American Air Force was at RAF Lyneham. And he’d been sent to Shipton, as we had such a lot of both goods and people come to Shipton station for Lyneham.. But it wasn’t our Lyneham.. It was Lyneham in Wiltshire, you see. 

And at that time of night there was no possibility of getting out of the village really. And I felt so sorry for him. I said, “Right, well, I’ll ring through and I’ll see what I can do”, and I was itching to get home. 

And it took me almost, I think, an hour and a half before I could get anybody to do anything about it. And I said, “Something’s got to be done. He’s just come from a convalescent home. He can’t stay here on the station all night.”. 

And eventually, they agreed to send a truck out for him. And I’ll never forget him. He opened out his wallet, and he said, “Now, I want you to have all this.” And I said, “Well, don’t be silly.”

And he said, “I know my number’s up.” he said, “I’d like you to have it, because wherever they send me, I know my number’s up.” And I said, “No, on no account.” I said, “You take the chance like anybody else.” I said, “And we shall all pray for you.” And I said, “I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll take one of these $1 notes.” And I’ve still got that $1 note.

I’ll always remember then, because I felt so sorry for him, because he didn’t look well. Anyway, they sent the truck out for him. What happened to him? I don’t know. But I’ve never forgot that fellow.”

The Full Interview

Dulcie’s grandparents were from an agricultural background, grandfather was cowman to the Hartley family in Shipton. Mother, Winifred Emma Powell married father Leonard Hill Shepherd – he came from Stonesfield, a butcher’s roundsman.

Descriptions of family life and growing families, and of school attendance- especially the opportunities for social mobility for pupils showing ability – Dulcie was one such beneficiary.

A lively and in-depth interview with references to many Wychwoods family names, village and community activities, shops, postal services, the telephone exchange, her sister’s shocking accident, and with special reference to Dr Scott and his paternal care for village families in need.

Among many anecdotes is this touching story of a GI soldier who arrived late night at Shipton station, looking for Lyneham in Wiltshire. Many such stories and anecdotes pepper this extensive interview.

The audio file of the interview is available on request from our offline archive: please contact us for details.

More Extracts

… and a couple of clips from Duncan Waugh’s 1991 talk on emigration to New Zealand

George Bradley and his London Wartime Deliveries

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In this extract from the WLHS Oral History archive, we find George Bradley telling the story of his one single failed delivery during World War II.

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George Bradley’s Bedford lorry used in his haulage business. Note the masked headlights as used for wartime service

Listen Here

George Bradley with John Rawlins: March 17th 1988

The Transcript

Before and during the war, I was delivering products for the  wood-working company and that took me about 100-mile radius around the country, as far as Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham and London.

At that time of day. That was before the war. Well then, when the war came, this work got more restricted you see and they did a lot of sub-contracting to shopfitters, you see, across here. And I delivered their products to the various shopfitters round the cities, London, Birmingham and the like.

Well that dropped off of course during the war very much and I was delivering some of their products during the war when the aircraft were coming over, when they were bombing London. That was sometime around 1940.

Well then that went on and only on one occasion I had to bring some stuff back. And we put the load on over the weekend. On the Sunday, that was a Sunday when the Germans came over and plastered the Dock area of London.

On one weekend in particular. On the Sunday night that was their one point was to plaster the Dock area of London. Which they did in some order and the Dock area was knocked about bad on that occasion. Including parts of East London, you see, that was where we used to deliver.

One of the places we went to deliver was still on fire. We went in the morning and I never saw such a thing. The road was absolutely covered with hoses. Fire engines and hoses all over the place. That was in Snow Hill just behind the Old Bailey. That was the only delivery I wasn’t able to do and I had to bring that back.

The Full Interview

George and Megan Bradley lived in Station Road, Shipton. George had a haulage business and brother Reg ran a garage business. Originally in Station Road, they then moved to centre of Shipton to new premises used by the Americans during the war. This informal conversation with John Rawlins was recorded on March 17th 1988 . This is a single conversation in two parts, divided simply because of the arrival of Megan Bradley halfway through.

Find the full interview here

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Wright family haymaking 1938. George Bradley in white hat

More Extracts

… and a couple of clips from Duncan Waugh’s 1991 talk on emigration to New Zealand

Megan Bradley and the Canadian Soldiers in World War II

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Here is an extract from an Oral History audio file of Megan Bradley’ s March 1988 conversation with John Rawlins

George and Megan Bradley: 50th Wedding Anniversary 1987

Among memories of evacuees, low-flying Spitfires, and requisitioned land for aircraft maintenance, Megan has several anecdotes, and a particularly touching one about the arrival at her house of three big men “asking for potatoes”… These turned out to be three exhausted Canadian soldiers looking for a place to rest up and get a wash!

Listen Here

Megan Bradley with John Rawlins: March 17th 1988
Megan Bradley with John Rawlins: March 17th 1988 ( Audio Enhanced )

Transcript

I can tell you a story about the war.

One morning I was bathing Ralph, what was he, about two, and a knock come at my kitchen door, and down Meadow Lane you knocked at the door, and you walked into the kitchen. There was no porch or anything. There were three of the biggest men I saw, I think.

They were in uniform, and they looked dreadful.  And they asked me if I’d got any potatoes to sell. I said, “Oh no”, I said,” I’ve got no potatoes to sell”, I said. “Why?”, I said, “What do you want to buy potatoes for? Where have you been on manoeuvres? “.

I could see by their uniforms they were Canadians. And they’d been on these manoeuvres anyway.  And so, I said “Well I can cook you some breakfast”. “Oh, we’d rather have a wash ma’am”.

And so, I said:” Right, would you come inside?”.  And I thought to myself then, there’s these three men there and there’s me by myself, my husband gone out. Anyway, in they come and I started pumping water, because you only had a pump.

And so, they said: “Oh no we won’t wash in here. If you let us have a towel and some soap, we’ll wash in the river” – which was at the side of our house. Which they did. They took the towels. I give them towels and soap.

And while they were doing that, I had a pig on the wall. A ham, a bacon side, and off come some of this ham and I cooked slices of ham. We had chickens, no end of chicken’s eggs and bacon I cooked for them.

And they sat there, and they ate that breakfast and one of them looked up on the wall and he said “It’s a long time since I’ve seen that”, he said. “We used to have one hanging at home”, he said, “but I hope I’ll be able to go home and see it”. I often wonder whether the poor fellow did.

But you know, they went out of the house. They were, they couldn’t thank me enough. They asked me what I wanted in money. I said,” No thank you”, I said, “You go away, you’re not supposed to have eaten that”.  But do you know what they done? They put their hands in their pockets and pulled out money out of their pockets and dropped it on the table and they said:” If you don’t want it, give it to your little boy”. It was only a matter of shillings and pence. That was for the baby. They had a good wash and I lent them father’s razor.

(John Rawlins comments: “It’s amazing now when you think that in this day and age this wouldn’t happen. But in 1940 or 1941, whenever that was, there were a lot of strange children about, there were a lot of strange men about, all different nationalities and yet you felt entirely safe. When we were children, we went with these soldiers all over the place, rode in their vehicles sometimes, against the rules mind you, but you never felt in any danger. Even in the black out. Half of them were strangers. You felt entirely safe”.)

The complete audio file appears here:

https://wlhs.cr8vctrl.co.uk/audio-recordings-wartime-memories-with-george-and-megan-bradley

More Extracts

… and a couple of clips from Duncan Waugh’s 1991 talk on emigration to New Zealand

Their Finest Hour Project – WWII Memorabilia Digital Collections Day

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We invite Wychwoods Local History Society members and friends to consider contributing their own WWII memorabilia to an important OU and Heritage Lottery funded initiative.

Bring your stories and objects relating to the Second World War to the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. The Collections Day is part of a nationwide campaign organised by Their Finest Hour.

Objects will be digitised and recorded: the items themselves will remain with you and your family.

About “Their Finest Hour“

Their Finest Hour is a University of Oxford project that aims to collect and digitally archive the everyday stories and objects of the Second World War.

  • Share your family’s Second World War stories and objects for an online archive
  • Opening from 11am – 3pm, Saturday 1st April 2023
  • Museum Open Day – free admission to the museum throughout the day
  • See Second World War living history displays, kit displays and art exhibitions in the museum galleries

World War II stories are fast fading from living memory, so we believe it is vital that they – and the wartime objects that often accompany them – are preserved for future generations.

Here are some ideas:

  • Stories about your family’s wartime experience
  • Diaries
  • Letters
  • Medals
  • Journals
  • Ration books
Page from the POW Diary of A J Wallis (Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry)

All these and more will be recorded, digitised and then uploaded to the Their Finest Hour online archive, which will be free-to-use and will launch in June 2024.

Cigar Case – example of a WW2 Object brought to the museum in Woodstock
‘Villa Patricia’ an object donated to the museum by a Woodstock resident, a dolls house made by a Prisoner of War during World War Two

Why Else Visit on April 1st?

The museum will waive its normal admission fee on the day – entry will be free to all on 1st April.

SOFO will also be hosting a range of other Second World War-themed events and exhibitions on the day. Visitors will be able to enjoy displays from 1940s living historians inside the museum and view a recently installed replica Anderson Shelter, as well as a number of exhibitions.

With often limited parking in Woodstock, Blenheim Palace will also be kindly supporting this event, offering free parking to those attending to share their stories. The museum is just a short walk into town through the palace’s Woodstock Town gate.

Attending Living History Groups Will Include:

  • Winston (Churchill)
  • Doing Their Bit (Home Front)
  • Oxfordshire Home Guard
  • Ham & Jam (Second World War British Airborne troops).

Collector John Noott’s expansive exhibition, The Art of World War II, will showcase a diverse range of perspectives of the era all produced during the conflict, while the Aces High gallery will have a range of impressive prints – including many signed by veterans – up for sale.

Visitors can talk to museum staff on the day about donating items to the museum’s own collection if they wish, but the focus will be on digitisation – photographing objects, recording stories and scanning documents – so original items can remain with their families.

The project team is especially interested in collecting contributions from people from under-represented backgrounds in order to increase the diversity of people benefiting from Second World War heritage.

Find out more at www.theirfinesthour.org

About the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum:

Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock, OX20 1SN

Registered Charity No. 1145408

The Parish Room Mystery: Can You Help?

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As our website visitors know, the Wychwoods Local History Society have recently acquired a long-term home for the Society’s archive thanks to Alfred Groves & Sons. In the process of cataloguing this material we are unearthing several little-known snippets of Wychwoods history.

Poster of a 1902 Auction in Milton under Wychwood

One example came to light recently. This poster advertises the sale of a property on the Shipton Road in 1902. It was once apparently the “Parish Room”. We are mystified as to exactly which property this was.

There are not so many properties on Shipton Road facing the Village Green (which was more extensive in 1902 than it is today), and we can exclude some buildings such as Hillborough House, the former Primitive Methodist Chapel, and The Elms and Elm Cottage (Groves Yard).

Here we have an extract from an OS map dating from 1881 which shows the buildings opposite the Green that were in existence at that time, (highlighted with a red dot). But which was the parish room?

Any ideas or handed down memories would be much appreciated. Please contact us, or visit “Memories of the Wychwoods” on Facebook.

The Society’s Archive and Study Centre

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Photographic Archive
AUdio Recordings
Video Recordings

Over the past 40+ years the Society has become home to a variety of material relating to all aspects of the unique history of the Wychwood villages. This archive includes over 2000 historic photographs, as well as a wide variety of documents, maps, charts, census material and research records . Providing access and opportunities to engage with this information has been difficult.

Over the years, it has been stored in a variety of locations. We have been grateful for the support of Chipping Norton Museum, who held a fair proportion of the archive after its removal from the arrangements at New Beaconsfield Hall. But much of the material has been held in under-stair cupboards, garages and lofts, and never all in one place. Although some of the collection has been carefully catalogued, and some is digitised here on our website, other material remains in the bags, boxes and suitcases in which it was handed over.

For some time, the Society has been determined to catalogue and give full access to this unique collection. The first step towards achieving this aim came earlier this year when we were able to take a three-year lease on an office above Groves shop in Milton under Wychwood. For the first time, we have been able to bring everything together in one place to begin the process of organisation and indexing.

The society has sought professional advice on best practice in storing and cataloguing the contents of this archive. The process has begun. Eventually the Society hopes to build a fully itemised catalogue of the archive and begin the process of publishing key elements of it on our website.

Additionally, once this task is complete, we will look forward to assisting individual enquiries from members and non-members alike, by arranging personal visits to the archive Study Centre. For further information on the Archive and its availability for researchers please contact the Society Secretary, John Bennett by using our Contact Form.

The Hartley Family: Sporting Siblings and Brothers in Arms

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2022 marks 100 years since the Hartley brothers from Shipton under Wychwood arrived together on the international sporting stage. Their their lives – as well as the sporting lives their sisters – are celebrated in a recent article published online on the Playing Pasts sporting history website.

The article is written by Bill Williams, former Head of Physical Education and sport at Burford school. Bill writes in fascinating detail of the careers of this illustrious sporting family, from early Burford schooldays and onwards. Burford was a pioneer in the promotion of Association Rules Football, and the boys excelled. But cricket were also played to high standard, and the Hartley boys were firmly in the mix, setting themselves up for successful sporting careers in their chosen disciplines. In addition to the boys playing football and cricket, the elder brother Ernest was selected to play for England at field hockey. 

The brothers, on horseback as part of The Oxfordshire Yeomanry in 1914

Bill’s article covers the sporting achievements of each family member, and at the same time takes us through the challenges facing each of them through two world wars. We learn a great deal about the life and times of those pursuing a sporting career in the face of historical changes.

For example , we read “As war broke out in 1914, Tom, Ernest and Frank joined the Army, while William joined the Merchant Navy; Richard stayed at home to run the family farm, which during times of conflict, was a reserved occupation and vital to the war effort. The three brothers joined The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, which formed part of The Oxfordshire Yeomanry and by the start of the twentieth century, had reached regimental strength. As a reserve regiment, the Hussars were often granted permission to conduct drills and exercises on the extensive grounds at Blenheim Palace. Thus, as a young boy, Winston Churchill often witnessed the summer cavalry training camps in which he would later take part in as a grown man, rising to the rank of Major and commanding the Henley squadron, the rank he maintained until 1924”.

Richard, Ernest and Frank in later life

The society is pleased to been able to contribute in some small way to Bill’s extensive research, and we recommend members and visitors to visit Bill’s article here.

More on the Hartley Heritage can be discovered in our 2001 Journal here

About Bill Williams
Bill was Head of Physical Education and sport at Burford school in Oxfordshire, from 1987- 2019. Since retiring in 2019, he has spent time researching the sporting history of the school and beyond.

A Magic Lantern Splutters Back into Life

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The society has had access to a set of scans from recently-discovered glass plate slides owned by the late Ellis Groves 1872-1914. Here, I describe a small selection of these slides, and also include them with 40 more of the better preserved in a slideshow.

“Would I like to look at a box of old black and white transparencies?” This was the offer made to me by Peter Rathbone a few weeks ago. Peter brought them round and I settled down to go through them. The simple wooden box contained about five dozen old glass transparencies. Not your familiar, modern 35mm slides but 3¼” x 3¼” magic lantern glass plates, many in the form of glass sandwiches.

Ellis Groves’ Box of Magic Lantern Glass Plate Slides

A label in the top of the box indicated that they had been put together by the “late Ellis Groves 1872-1914”. Most were very dark and dusty and not always sharply focused. A few had begun to peel off the glass substrate. Not surprising as they had been kept in one of Grove’s sheds for thirty years and had been saved from going to the tip by Peter.

Going by the rare labels, the collection appeared to date from the first decade of the 20th century. A few slides had been coloured by hand. Several I recognised having seen them already in the archives of the History Society. My first reaction was that it was unlikely there would be any treasure here – perhaps just half a dozen images could be salvaged? I was wrong.

In the end more than 40 interesting and usable images emerged, after scanning, from the collection. A few were very surprising and these are the images seen here, in most cases probably for the first time in 125 years.

Slide 1
Slide 2

Slides 1 and 2 – These depict an old three wheeled car with the single passenger seat facing forward at the front.

The second slide probably shows the garage where the car was kept. Was this the first internal combustion vehicle in the Wychwoods? Could the driver have been Fred Pepper who had bought Shipton Court in 1901? It does look like him although he is not known to have owned such a vehicle. His first car was in fact a larger French Gobion Brillé but perhaps this three wheeler was a precursor.

Slide 3

Slide 3 – This shows a mix of two cricket teams in front of the Shipton Court cricket pavilion. The label refers to the Shipton Court team and a team from Monk Bretton. Monk Bretton colliery in Yorkshire was owned by the Pepper family. It is known that twenty of the long service employees were invited down for the day to Shipton to play the team from Fred Pepper’s new village in 1908. This photograph marks the event.

The bearded gentleman on the left is Thomas Alfred Groves who owned and managed Groves and was the Captain of Shipton Court and Milton cricket teams. He was the son of Alfred Groves and his first wife, Ann Shepard. Ellis Groves, who assembled the lantern transparencies was the eighth child of Alfred’s second wife Mary Reynolds.

Slide 4 – This shows a young girl holding a poster advertising a magic lantern lecture in Milton for the Mutual Improvement Society. It was included more than thirty years ago in the Second Wychwoods Album. The photo was apparently taken by Ellis Groves who also operated the magic lantern. Did the Mutual Improvement Society meet its aim? As a Shiptonian I could not possibly hazard a guess.

Slide 4

Slide 5- shows the bottom of Burford Hill in around 1905. In the background, behind the assorted Burford urchins, is Hambidge’s Delicatessen. Ellis Groves married one of the Hambidge daughters and his younger brother, Samuel, married her sister.

Slide 6 – A distant view of Green Lane Milton. Older by at least ten years than the view shown in the first Wychwood’s Album. The building on the right was the Quaker Meeting House which was sold in 1925 and divided into two cottages.

Slide 5: Burford Hill c.1905
Slide 6: Green Lane, Milton under Wychwood
Slide 7: c 1903 Milton under WYchwood Sunday School Project

Slide 7 – Milton Sunday School built this large life boat and took it to a Sunday School Festival at Moreton in 1903.

Slide 8: Shipton under Wychwood Station Master’s House

Slide 8 – This shows the erection of the Shipton Station Master’s house. It is not clear whether this was the original building or the subsequent demolishing and re-erection as the last house on the right as one one leaves Shipton for Milton.

Slideshow of all 47 Slides

A Magic Lantern Splutters Back into Life » Ellis Groves Glass Plate Slides » Ellis Groves Glass Plate Slides
   
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AWV Feb 2022

Joan Howard-Drake and her contribution to local history in the Wychwoods

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The death occurred on 31 October of Joan Howard-Drake following a long struggle after she suffered a severe stroke about a year earlier.

Joan and her husband, Jack, were founder members of the Wychwood Local History Society (WLHS) in 1981.They remained stalwarts of the Society for the remainder of their long lives. Joan and Jack were very computer literate into their 90s and spent many hours beavering away in their book lined study in Shipton largely for the benefit of history research in the Wychwoods and the WLHS in particular.

Both were on the Society’s committee following the first Annual General Meeting 1982. Jack became the Chairman in 1984 until 1992. He died in 2013 at the age of 94. Joan was on the committee for 35 years, until 2016.

Under the auspices of the Family History Society, the Howard-Drakes started the long task of transcribing the Shipton parish registers from 1538-1899. They also worked together on significant projects such as the transcription of the Oxfordshire Tudor Church Court Rolls.

Joan became the guardian of the Society’s archives in 1995. She managed them until she stepped down from the Committee by which time they had grown from one box file to more than five. Joan herself added much material to the archives through her research on local family histories.

Joan was involved with the planning, writing and production of the Society’s well respected annual Journal for thirty years and was joint editor with Trudy Yates from 2012 to 2015. She indexed all the first 27 volumes of the Journal.

She was an active member of the Wills Group – associated with and partly funded by the WLHS – which transcribed 17th century wills in the Wychwoods.

Apart from researching and publishing with other members of the WLHS on team projects, Joan also wrote separately on:

  • The Poor of Shipton under Wychwood Parish 1740
  • The Burford to Banbury Turnpike Road
  • Care in the Community 18th Century Style
  • Bruern Abbey (with Joy Timms)
  • The Reade Family
  • The Crown Inn Charity
  • The Old Beaconsfield Hall Shipton
  • The Brookes Family of Shipton
  • Brasenose Leases

She was always ready to give real and generous help to younger local historians working on various projects and for that alone she will be sorely missed.

AWV November 2021