Queen Victoria PH, Maldon (Essex)

[stephen p nunn]

Our local - the 'Queen Victoria' always puts on an excellent show for Remembrance.....

But then it has a heritage closely linked to the Great War.....

THE POSTER IN THE WINDOW

Pub’s “Regulars” Answer the Call

 

by

Stephen P. Nunn

 

Every so often, I am sent an old picture of Maldon that is not immediately identifiable. That happened recently, when I received a really enduring composition of some men standing outside what seemed to be a frustratingly familiar looking building. Pouring over an enlargement, I could make out some kind of poster in the window. I studied the photo for hours and initially thought it could be The Warwick Arms at the bottom of Maldon’s High Street, but something didn’t quite match. In desperation I turned to someone who has one of the largest collections of Maldon views, my good friend, Kevin Fuller. It didn’t take Kevin long as his email reply came back within the hour. “It’s definitely not the Warwick Arms”, he said. “I believe it's the Queen Victoria, in Spital Road. The roofline is identical, the bay windows and the gutter downpipe are the best giveaway. Have a look”. So I did. I dashed up the road and discovered that he was quite right. So having identified the definite location, I turned to that blurry poster in the window. With a bit more effort I could just make out the words; “General Mobilization”. More research revealed this to be an official notification that all those in the Army Reserve needed to report for duty at once and join the regulars. The ominous date was August 1914 - the start of the Great War. Britain entered the devastating world conflict on the 4^th of that month, when, following the expiration of an ultimatum on Germany, the King made the official declaration.

            Here in Maldon the Reserve consisted of three companies, commanded by really formidable, larger than life characters. Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, Bart., of ‘Champion Lodge’, Great Totham (now Totham Lodge Residential Nursing Home), described as “a fine old fighting man”, was the overall Commanding Officer of the Maldon and Dengie Companies. His deputies were; Captain F.W. Grantham, of Beeleigh Abbey, in charge of the Dengie Company and; Captain H.A. Krohn, Maldon’s one time Mayor, who headed up the Maldon Company. Captain Krohn’s town volunteers were engaged in a variety of day time jobs, many of them agricultural workers. What must they have felt when they called in to their “local” after a hard day’s work on the fields and stopped at the threshold to read the poster? In those days The Queen Victoria (located today at 86 Spital Road) was then in a rural location, part of just a cluster of buildings surrounded by fields, cherry gardens and orchards (hence the latter road names). It was part of an almost separate hamlet, right on the outskirts of town. The men in the picture look like they are beaters, or rat catchers, as some have sticks and the bottom of their trousers are tied round with string. The Queen Victoria had first started as a beer house in 1845 and was bought by the Gray’s empire forty years later, in 1885. William Scott was their first tenant and he was still there in 1914. The landlord of the “Queen Vic” would have served beer to the lads of the Reserve and, later on, to the same soldiers at home on leave from the front. It is highly likely that amongst them would have been members of; the Barbrook family who lived nearby at 18 Spital Road; the Reads (who were at number 30); the Quantrills (at number 100); the Spurgeons (at ‘Sligoville’); the Hitchens from Wycke Hill; and the Lincolns; Markhams, and Moss families, who were also residents of the road. All of those families had sons who may well have read the poster, who then went on to serve and who would not return from the killing grounds of the trenches.

One particular family, the Meads, lived really close to The Queen Victoria, next door but one in fact, at the original (now long gone) number 82. Their son, William Henry Cecil Mead, was born in 1888. Prior to the war he was an Assistant Engineer at the Maldon Corporation Water Works, but he was also an active member of the Reserve. He clearly responded to the poster, as he transferred to the 2^nd Essex Regiment, first serving abroad on the 22^nd August 1914. That Christmas, Acting-Sergeant Mead (8254) of ‘B’ Company was dug in at Ploegsteert Wood, in the trenches near Le Bizet, Belgium.  As such, he would have been part of the famous Christmas Truce. Having survived the festive season, William was then tragically shot and killed by a sniper's bullet at 2am on 26^th February 1915. He was only 27 and was due ten days home leave from 5am that same day, doubtless looking forward to returning to Spital Road for a pint or two at the Queen Victoria. So next time you are at the bar there, think of him and all of those other lads who responded to the poster in the window.

[GROBBY]

Thank you for sharing that .I have enjoyed having a meal and drink in the Vic a few times and this is the first time I have seen the photo. Thank you for the storys

[stephen p nunn]

My pleasure GROBBY.

Regards.

Stephen (Maldon)

[John(txic)]

Have you come across any photos/postcards of the men of the 7th Worcesters at the pub?  Maldon was their war station upon mobilisation in 1914.

[stephen p nunn]

Hi John(txic) - not at the pub, but there are other pictures of soldiers in town. Following the arrival of billeting officers in town in September 1914, Maldon was stationed by the 7^th and 8^th Worcesters. The 2/7^th Battalion occupied the lower half of town, whilst the 2/8^th had the top half. For example, Privates Beckett and Pearson billeted at Miss Everard’s house in Wellington Road, whilst Privates Green and Hardwick stayed with Mrs. Sewell, in the same road. The 1/8^th remained throughout the winter months of 1914 and finally entrained “after dusk” at East Station in the spring of 1915 to make their way to the Western Front. Men of the Royal Warwicks, including George Jenkins, Harold Dyson and Philip Ward, were stationed in Maldon from the October of 1915 – some with the Goodey family of Fambridge Road. By 1916 the 2^nd Line, 6^th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry was also in town, with an orderly room at 27 London Road and field kitchen in the adjacent yard. They had relocated from Dunfermline, Fife, and during the move 85 pairs of boots, some tools and 3 stable barrows had gone missing. Maldon’s Inspector of Police offered a £5 reward for any information! Many buildings were requisitioned for the duration, including, in 1917, the newly constructed school hall at the Baptist Church (as a temporary hospital extension for 25 beds), the Wesleyan Church schoolroom (as a soldiers’ rest) and the Congregational Church Hall. A private house at Fullbridge, called ‘Rivercourt’, also became a Red Cross auxiliary hospital. Thirty new patients were admitted on 23/12/1915 straight from the trenches and by 1916 the number increased to 483. But the main soldiers billet was the Workhouse! 

Regards.

Stephen (Maldon).

[John(txic)]

Would you be interested in any news clippings of the Worcesters at Maldon?  Several stories appeared in the local press.

[stephen p nunn]

Amongst the 40 or so trophies still competed for by members of Maldon’s Golf Club are some truly historic cups. It is not surprising that they have such a fine array of silverware as the Beeleigh course was founded back in 1891. The Mayor’s Cup was presented by Herman Krohn in 1903 and he also donated the Krohn Cup in 1912. Then there is the Bentall Cup, a name synonymous with our early industry and key to the success of the local economy. But the most curious of them all must surely be the Challenge Bowl called the Worcester Cup. It is particularly odd because Maldon is a good 180 miles from Worcester, so why is it here? Look at the club archives and we discover that it was donated by a Lieutenant-Colonel A.R. Harman and Officers of the 1/7 Worcester Regiment. The date was March 1915, at the height of the Great War. Further research reveals that Alexander Ramsay Harman, CMG, DSO, was the commanding officer of the 7^th Battalion of the Regiment from 1914 to 1917. Born in 1877, he was educated at Oxford and Sandhurst, saw service with the Rifle Brigade in Sudan and the South African War and was mentioned-in-despatches. In 1913 he retired as a Captain and married a widow, Sarah Gage-Brown, in London. However, with the outbreak of the First World War he was recalled for service and took over command of the 1/7 Worcesters. But what has any of that got to do with Maldon?

Following the arrival of billeting officers in town in September 1914, Maldon was stationed by both the 7^th and 8^th Worcesters. The 7^th Battalion had been formed in August 1914 in Kidderminster as part of the Gloucester and Worcester Brigade, South Midland Division. They moved on mobilisation to Swindon but very quickly came to Maldon. They occupied the lower half of town, whilst the 8^th had the top half. For example, in Wellington Road Privates Beckett and Pearson billeted at Miss Everard’s house, whilst Privates Green and Hardwick stayed with Mrs. Sewell. The men of the Worcesters quickly integrated into the life of the local community and became involved in a number of local clubs and sporting activities – not least golf over at the Beeleigh Links. Both the 7^th and 8^th remained throughout the winter months of 1914 and finally entrained “after dusk” at East Station in the spring of 1915 to make their way to the Western Front. They landed at Boulogne on the 31^st. March 1915, however, some of them must have stayed behind because during the evening of the 15^th April 1915 soldiers from the 2/8^th Worcesters were at the cinema when they heard “a great roaring noise”. They rushed out into the street and saw a huge Zeppelin drop incendiary bombs on a workshop and iron shed in Spital Road and on their own Battalion Headquarters. Maldon residents were keen to keep in touch with the progress of their adopted battalions and there were regular (relatively uncensored) reports of their battle activities in the local newspaper, the ‘Maldon Advertiser’. Of the 1/7^th the edition of 23^rd July 1915 informed readers that Privates Chance and Fellows had been wounded, that Second-Lieutenant Simes was in Boulogne Hospital, Second-Lieutenant Burcher was also on the sick list and that Private Cole had tragically died of wounds from a poisonous bomb. There had also been promotions - Lieutenant Gough to temporary Captain and Second-Lieutenant Wallace to temporary Lieutenant. On the 6^th August 1915 the Rector of St. Mary’s, the Reverend E.L.B. Kevill-Davies, reported that he had sent things out to the men of the Worcesters who had previously been billeted with him but reminded parishioners that they shouldn’t forget the Maldon men who were also serving abroad.

Meanwhile, the commanding officer, keen amateur golfer, Alexander Harman, was invalided home sick on the 19^th January 1916, but rejoined his battalion from hospital and resumed command on the 10^th May 1916. He was later awarded the DSO for gallantry at Ovillers, France in July 1916. His citation read; "For the excellent handling of his battalion, notably when clearing the enemy's trenches with great determination during several consecutive days”. He was also mention-in-despatches no less than four times – on the 1^st January and 15^th June 1916, on the 4^th January 1917 and the 20^th May 1918. By September 1917 he had been promoted to temporary Brigadier-General and attached to Headquarters. A CMG (the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George) was granted by the King in the 1918 New Years honours and in February 1919 the honorary rank of Brigadier-General. Alexander Ramsay Harman died in London on the 12^th April 1954, aged 76. The first recipient of the Worcester Cup was the club secretary and treasurer, H.F. Bawtree, in 1919, but I wonder how many subsequent winners know the story behind this unique piece of our Great War local heritage.

Regards.

Stephen (Maldon).