Newbury Inspection Bond

[Phil Wood]

My efforts at researching the contribution made to the war effort in my local town of Newbury have been severely hampered by the apparent lack of documentation.  I stress the 'apparent' because I still hold out the hope of finding something more concrete somewhere - hence this posting.

 

In late October 1917 an event was held at Newbury Racecourse to mark the departure of Mr C W Seagrave from his post of Senior Stores Officer at the 'Newbury Inspection Bond'. He appears to have been top man at this establishment and went off to a new post in Shepherd's Bush.  While it seems to have been a notable event I don't think they hired a room at the Racecourse for the event, instead I believe that this 'Inspection Bond' was located on the Racecourse site. The newspaper report of the event notes that Mr Seagrove had been in charge 'from its inception, and had seen it grow from a canvas tent to its present dimensions'.

 

A photograph in the IWM collection shows workers at 'Newbury Depot 1605' and several others show work processing shells at Newbury. I am guessing that these relate to the same establishment, which appears to have had extensive premises alongside a railway (the Racecourse is alongside the London - Newbury - Exeter line).

 

Does the presence of an inspection bond imply manufacturing facilities close by, or would shells be brought in from manufacturers over a wide area?  I suspect the latter, Newbury is not exactly the hub of a great engineering industry, but it was conveniently placed on the way from the northern and midland engineering companies to Southampton Docks.  Or, perhaps, it was a regional centre assessing product from numerous small engineering firms in the area?

 

In 1918 an expansion of the facilties at the Racecourse to incoporate tank testing was started, but this seems to have been overtaken by events in France and the armistice. I have some information on this from the National Archives thanks to pointers from Gwyn (Sidearm).

 

There was a military presence at the racecourse throughout the war. After the initial use by the yeomanry and as an internment/POW camp in 1914 it the troops were ASC until April 1918 when the RNAS arrive with their tanks.

 

In addition to these government establishments several local manufacturers were clearly doing war work, notably Elliott's (a joinery firm reputed to have made ammunition boxes), Plenty & Sons (foundry and engineering - 18 pdr shell casings) and Plenty & Stradling (engineering, seemingly involved in the manufacture of Stokes mortar rounds or parts thereof). I have to admit to looking through the Elliott's and Plenty's archives in years gone by (before my interest in WW1) and cannot recollect references to war work, needless to say I shall be revisiting these, which are now held by the Berkshire Record Office.

 

If anyone can shed any more light on any of these enterprises I would love to hear from you.

[Knotty]

Hi Phil

Just out of curiosity were Opperman Gears in Newbury during the Great War?, I know they were there during WW2 as they used to make gun-mountings and parts for searchlights, it’s where my father was an apprentice at the time.

 

There used to to be a gunsmiths in Northbrook street named Turners,  they used to make shotguns and turn out shotgun cartridges, but I believe that during the war they turned to small arms ammunition supply - anecdotal evidence from within my family but no longer with us to confirm.

 

John

[helpjpl]

In August 1916 the Ministry of Munitions requisitioned the entire racecourse as an inspection depot and tank repair park.

http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MWB15973&resourceID=1030

 

JP

 

 

[Phil Wood]

9 hours ago, Knotty said:

Hi Phil

Just out of curiosity were Opperman Gears in Newbury during the Great War?, I know they were there during WW2 as they used to make gun-mountings and parts for searchlights, it’s where my father was an apprentice at the time.

 

There used to to be a gunsmiths in Northbrook street named Turners,  they used to make shotguns and turn out shotgun cartridges, but I believe that during the war they turned to small arms ammunition supply - anecdotal evidence from within my family but no longer with us to confirm.

 

John

 

Hi John,

Opperman moved to Newbury in WW2 (1940?) to get away from the blitz. They weren't there in WW1.

 

Phil

[Phil Wood]

6 hours ago, helpjpl said:

In August 1916 the Ministry of Munitions requisitioned the entire racecourse as an inspection depot and tank repair park.

http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MWB15973&resourceID=1030

 

JP

 

 

 

Thanks. 

 

This is part of the planning for the development of a large chunk of the racecourse (15000 homes etc). I can't find the environmental statement - I think it will be easier to call the Heritage Environment Record Officer and hope that she can let me have a pdf. Not that there will be much in it - the hope is for a reference to a real data source but I'll bet they got it from "The Story of Newbury Racecourse" , an unreferenced work. But I guess I should approach the racecourse to see if they have any archive material. 

 

I should, of course, have checked the book myself - though there is no more than the statement you have found and that the racecourse company got it back in 1919.

 

 

[Phil Wood]

7 hours ago, helpjpl said:

In August 1916 the Ministry of Munitions requisitioned the entire racecourse as an inspection depot and tank repair park.

http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MWB15973&resourceID=1030

 

JP

 

 

I should, perhaps, also note that the stuff in the heritage record contains at least one glaring error - the POW camp was 1914, not 1916.  I shall see if I can get it changed.