By Paul Draper and Haydon Luke, for Fairlight History Group (previously appeared in Fairlight News)

We in Fairlight are fortunate in having more than our fair share of celebrities and worthies buried in our graveyard. Most of us know about the better known people, including Richard D’Oyly Carte, Sir James Roberts, Sir Woodbine Parish, the 8^th Earl Waldegrave, the parents and sister of Cecil Rhodes, etc. However, we have continued to investigate the graveyard and have found many more interesting stories. We outline below, one such new story, the story of Captain Charles Picknell who lived from 1810 to 1886. His family have many elaborate stones close to the south west corner of the church, including the well-known obelisk with the finger pointing to heaven.

Recently we were made aware of a story that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia in 1930 concerning our Charles Picknell. (nb. The Sydney Morning Herald has been published continuously since 1831 and is still produced today). It seems that after spending twenty years growing up in and around Hastings, he undertook a monumental journey, a journey that he seemed to regret. Luckily for us, he kept a diary, at least for some of his adventure.

On 8^th July 1830, Charles set sail from England as a crew member onboard the convict ship Kains, bound for Australia. This was no ordinary convict ship, being the second ever all female sailing. Although women had been deported as part of mixed sailings before, the Roslin Castle in March 1830 had been the first all female sailing and the Kains was the second. He kept a careful diary, complete with the predictable number of spelling mistakes, some of which needed careful thought to interpret. Unfortunately, his diary only lasts as far as The Cape of Good Hope, but the diary contains enough information for us to understand the nature of his time and the conditions onboard. The diary stops on 31^st December 1830, two days after they sat sail from the Cape, bound for Australia.

All sailings recorded details of the Master, the Surgeon, the number of passengers and crew, plus the ship’s tonnage. The Kains was 353 tons with a crew of 26 and passengers 120. The Master was named as Captain William Lushington Goodwin, whereas the Surgeon had the wonderful name of Thrasycles Clarke. The journey took 246 days.

The ship was loaded with convicts from several prisons, named as Horsemonger, Newgate, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham plus ‘Scottish’ and ‘Irish’ women. Additionally there were 3 ‘free’ women. The loading started on 29^th June but the Kains did not sail until 8^th July.

Clearly these women were a surprise to the crew because the first entry from the Surgeon, Thrasycles, read as follows:

“The general character and conduct of the prisoners were such as might be expected from the lowest class of society – from persons whom all the wise and salutary laws of England had failed to reclaim, most immoral and abandoned, if there ever was a Hell afloat it must have been in the shape of a female convict ship, quarrelling, fighting, thieving, destroying in private each others property for a mean spirit of devilishness – conversation with each other most abandoned without feeling or shame. As regarded the personal cleanliness of the prisoners that in some measure depended on their natural disposition, education and attitude, some of them by nature and habit were cleanly while others were filthy to the 90th degree.”

The final entry from Thrasycles was:

“After a protracted and disagreeable voyage we arrived at Sydney on 11 March 1831 in as healthy a state as was possible having no case of serious illness on board. Two or three days after arrival several complained of severe griping and purging which was no doubt occasioned by change of diet as immediately on our arrival fresh provisions and vegetables were given to the prisoners. They also had means of procuring fruit, especially peaches. This bowel complaint passed to every female in the ship, not one woman escaped the illness, although it was not serious.” [Curiously he fails to mention that 2 women died!].

Charles’ diary is full of observations, too numerous to list in a short article, but here are some of his early entries:-

“August 1 steard s. for warmer climate. I have for a long time before and since afflicted with growing pains all over me. (grog duff for 1 week)

2. heavy sea a.m. three east indiamen 1 dean brig showed collours. homeward bound, England.

3am calm heavy sea. captain. me. tryed current if not N.E. 2 hundred fathoms water, no sound. bay biscay. in lowering the boat struck my head. nocked my teath to peases.

P.M. spoke to bark silvia of London bound to riogenary (Rio de Janeiro), sun hotter than ever in England, steard sw P.M. 6 o’clock.

Child dyed a little girl 3 years old. evening captain gave larbert watch bottle rum for singing to cheer the women up

4am fair wind. steard ssw 12 o’clock. launch child overboard after prayers. crying. PM saw 5 spanish schoners. 5 Italian schoners bound to windward.

5 fair wind. seard SSW AM saw one dutch gale yct. 1 grecian brig. PM all hands at work

6. fair wind. steard SSW 8 nots 21 sails on us all is well.

7. fair wind steard SSW 10 nots. I got the guns ready for a pirate and holey stone the quarter deck first, all is well PM captain confined the chief mate for getting drunk and encouraging his watch to sing saucy songs. drunk 24 glasses.

On August 8 the Kains reached the island of Porto Santo, of which event Picknell wrote:

‘Inhabited with portugese. mountains in the clouds, larbert watch saw it 50 nots before we got to it. rejoicing”. The chief mate was still under guard so the boatswain took charge of the larboard watch. On the 10th Picknell wrote AM made sandwich islands, saw immence sight of dolphins flying fish and mother careys chickens flying about. 6 nots going. made peak of tenreef hundred fifty miles off. going 11 half nots.

His detail of the Kains visit to Teneriffe is so good that it must be given as he wrote it.

11 Went into tenreef. let go our anchor then we let loose the chief mate. bumboats alongside. boco fruit (N.B. coco is an old Sussex word meaning fine, said to be from the French beaucoup). I went on shore with the captain in a boat. the first time I was on foreign land. first step was an unlucky one. I slip down. I had a glass of wine upon strength of it. spanyards inhabitants.

12 Thursday I went on shore. took in board 50 tons of wauter. washing day. bark integirty of London. experiment gernsy schooner. 11 spanish sconers in harbour then and hundreds of boats belonging to tenreef. I lost a collour over board penant flying.

13 took in 10 tons of wauter. I went on shore and swam along with the black boys. I went on shore 8 times at tenreef with the captain.

On August 14 the Kains voyage to Botany Bay was resumed but Picknell had uncomfortable reason to recall his stay at Teneriffe during the next few days. “I hurt myself eating fruit at tenreef. I sold my hankerchief for a hat full of grapes” he wrote.

“16 Flying fish like sholes of birds the first that flew on board. no land. no ship. all is well. lowanced gallon of wauter a man- half a gallon each pit. pint each goose, half a gallon dosen ducks. pint a dosen chickens. every day all the voige.

17. trades wind NE steard s west. chief mate confined again for sending from tenreef to London and other misconduct. I was verry sick and in the doctors hands. took a medick, verry light headed, soar throat eat nothing for 4 days.

18. verry bad and light head. doctor paid me verry great attention every our. chief mate let loos to walk the decks. he broke, to have no command nor say whatever no more on board:

On August 19 the Kains entered the tropics. Picknells fever continued. He had scurvy in the teeth, but said that he was well attended and by the 22nd he was able to record

“I got myself out of the doctors list, thank god for it. I was ordered to clear of the sun and moon always and ware a broad brimed hat”

One of the woman convicts died. “she twenty five years of age, two sisters. other one 15 years old belong to hull. 12 o’clock sowed up. prayers and then throwed her overboard, crying all over the ship. they was boath for life.”

Clearly life onboard was tough and most if not all the crew had to endure hardship, illness and poor nutrition.

The fate of some of the women is listed by later research. It seems that they were ‘assigned’ as follows:-

“The colonists should have held no high hopes for the usefulness of the women after their experiences with the women of the Roslin Castle, however there was a shortage of female servants in the colony; the Sydney Gazette reported that there were five or six hundred applicants to have the women assigned as servants and the factory at this time was almost full, so most of the women were privately assigned.

In the Hunter region they were assigned to William Ogilvie, William Dumaresq, Rev. Lancelot Threlkeld,  William Harper , Thomas V. Bloomfield, Emanuel Hungerford, Henry Hewitt, Major Benjamin Sullivan, John Gaggin, Peter Rapsey, Rev. Wilton and James Mudie.

Anne Groyne was assigned to Surveyor-General Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell; Jane Holmes was assigned to Lighthouse keeper Richard Siddons; Mary McPherson to Superintendent of Convicts F.A. Hely.”

There is far too much information to list in this article, but if anyone wants to learn more, can they contact us, or any member of Fairlight History Group.

The family graves at St. Andrew’s. The grave of Charles and his wife Charlotte is in the oreground showing the broken headstone lying on the main family stone. (to be added)

After enduring his big adventure, Charles settled down to a more normal life. However, many years ago, his very large gravestone broke at its base and had been lying facedown on the main family grave with the inscriptions hidden. After learning of his story, we were anxious to read the inscriptions but being a particularly large and heavy stone we thought we could not easily solve this situation. That remained the case until one day earlier this year some younger and stronger volunteers were working in the graveyard and after explaining the situation to them they somehow managed to turn the stone over. The inscription read as follows:-

In Memory of/Captain Charles Picknell/Who died February 18^th 1886/

Aged 75 years/For 30 years Pier Warden of the/Town and Port of Hastings

His end was peace

Also of/Charlotte Picknell/Wife of the above

Who died on June 8^th 1885/In her 81^st year

Thy will be done.

So it seems he did not repeat his journey of 1830/31 and it is not mentioned on the stone. However, we were curious to know what a ‘Pier Warden’ did. Subsequent research revealed that he was responsible for collecting harbour dues from fishermen and any other duties payable. Surprisingly, other stories reveal that he was not very popular.

We completed our basic research on him by finding all the census returns between 1841 and 1881. He is initially listed as a “Mariner” and then later as the “Pier Warden”. We do not have details of his later adventures on the High Seas but surely none could match his 246 days onboard a ship containing 10 female convicts!

As usual, if anyone wants to know more about this adventure or, indeed has more to tell, please let us know.

Paul Draper and Haydon Luke

By Paul Draper – previously published in Fairlight News

“It’s fun – enjoy it”. If I never hear that expression again I will be very happy!

A few months ago we learned that the Antiques Roadshow would be coming to Battle on the 9^th July 2019. We had not been able to attend the show when it visited Bexhill, the last time they came anywhere near Fairlight, so we thought we could not miss this opportunity to have a nose. So, we started to plan. What could we take, where could we park in Battle, how long would we be prepared to queue, how much would it cost and could we go just to look at the spectacle? Additionally, we had been examining the painting from Fairlight Village Hall by Spencer Roberts, entitled ‘Mute Swans at Pett Level’. Could we, with the necessary permissions, take the painting for an assessment? We decided it would be too big and cumbersome to cart about all day, with the real possibility of damaging it, so we said no.

Most of the above questions were answered – let’s take a watch and a couple of rings – parking was in the large fields off Powdermill Lane, south of the Abbey, and was free – we made arrangements for our dog to be looked after, so we could stay – the whole event, including parking is free – yes anyone can visit the show as a spectator, with no objects.

So, Karen and I decided to give it a go and take our neighbours Steve and Liz. We set out just before 9am and arrived at the parking area in the fields and that’s when the queuing started! Although you could walk to the event, an approximate time of twenty minutes, minibuses were running a shuttle service from the car parking field to the front of the Abbey. We queued and duly arrived at the entrance with lots of other people and wandered through the main gates where we were met by two Norman soldiers! Once inside it was a question of what do we do, where do we go and where are the experts?

We were greeted by the sight of a sea of people clutching bags, pulling suitcases and boxes on wheels and all looking somewhat lost. The system involved queuing at a small marquee located in the first field, headed ‘Reception’ where an initial assessment was made by a handful of staff. However, before joining these queues, this was where we all had to make a very important decision – do you have one item or more? There was a separate queue for each. The queue for one item was relatively short but the other one was already very long and starting to snake around the field! Volunteers from English Heritage were keeping a watchful eye on things. Steve and I decided to consolidate and go for the one item option, whereas Karen and Liz made the fateful decision to join the multiple items queue.

Steve and I were both seen at Reception within ten minutes whereas Karen and Liz ultimately took two hours twenty minutes to reach the Reception desk!! We will come back to that. My object, a watch, was looked at and I was given a small card, headed ‘Clocks and Watches’ and Steve, who took a small painting, was given a similar card, headed ‘Prints and paintings’.

We were told to leave the first field and ‘go behind the hedge’ into the second field where the experts were waiting for us. We decided to tell the girls and head off behind the hedge to find the experts!

We walked into the second field and surveyed the scene before us. Scattered all around the field were tables shaded by red umbrellas, with signs announcing each specialist subject. Each table had its own medium length queue so we went to our respective table and shuffled forwards. I was seen after about twenty minutes, by an expert I did not recognise. After a cursory look, he told me it was not the best period for Garrard watches, “it’s fun – enjoy it!” Suitably underwhelmed I went off to find Steve and he was at the front of his queue. He received a similar short appraisal and was told “it’s fun – enjoy it”.

We decided to buy some drinks and some cake from the catering marquee and sat down in the field to review matters. First however, I walked off back to the first field to find the girls, give them each a drink and look at the lie of the land. They were nowhere near Reception! Soul searching was required but Liz wanted her collection of family papers and artefacts to be seen so it was decided to see it through. Ultimately they reached the head of the their queue and were handed their pieces of paper for the respective tables in the next field. By this time the ‘more than one item queue was probably three times as long and the snake filled the entire field.

Liz split her cards with Steve and went off to join another long queue for ‘collectables’, whilst Steve and Karen lined up together for ‘jewellery’. It all took a long time and once again the expression was used….  “it’s fun – enjoy it”.

The whole process took so long that I was able to leave the others, take the shuttle back to the car, drive back to Fairlight, feed and walk our dog and then return to Battle Abbey in time to meet up again.

All in all it was a very long day and we were away from Fairlight for nearly seven hours. Was it worth it? – in retrospect it was an interesting experience and it was all free (apart from the drinks and cakes). Would we do it again? – probably not. Are there ways to beat the system? – yes, do one item at a time and go back and queue for a second, single item. Additionally, it occurred to us afterwards that not one of us had actually been asked for our ticket or card at any time, even when we reached our respective expert. It seemed that we could have all gone behind the hedge straight away and simply queued for the right expert. Anyway, we didn’t.

We saw most of the familiar faces from our TV screens, including Fiona performing her ‘Basic, better, best’ piece in the middle and certain items being filmed in front of a hastily assembled section of the crowd. It was fun – we enjoyed it!

By Paul Draper.

By Haydon Luke

Callers to the old Visitor Centre and visitors approaching the Country Park from Coastguard Lane cannot fail to have noticed the prominent memorial plaque to Grey Owl and will have read the brief account it gives of Archie Belaney’s life. The reason it is there is because of the influence that the area of the Country Park had on this interesting and sometimes controversial local figure who later attained international significance as a conservationist and, it must be said, some notoriety as a person.
Archie had an unsettled childhood. Though born in Hastings and educated at Hastings Grammar School, after his father and mother returned to the United States, he was largely looked after by his father’s mother Juliana Belaney and his father’s two younger sisters, Julia Caroline Belaney and Janet Adelaide Belaney. So, at 36 St Mary’s Terrace, in the care of these two ladies, whom the boy knew as Aunt Carry and Aunt Ada, (who was particularly strict – though tolerant of his various pets) Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (18 Sept 1888 – 13 April 1938) grew up in East Sussex fascinated with, and by, animals and adventure.
Archie Belaney’s association with Fairlight derives from his early life when he would range widely over the cliffs, glens and farms of the area taking a close interest in all aspects of the wildlife he came across. Something of a loaner at school, he did well in many subjects such as English, French and Chemistry but his real passion was the outdoors. Mainly alone, but occasionally with his one close friend, Henry Hopkin, he would climb the East Hill and make his way to the glens to look for plants and wild animals. Snakes were a particular interest. On one occasion he took a snake he had caught in Fairlight Glen back to school. From an early age he also became captivated by the life and cultures of north American indigenous peoples.
No surprise then when, schooling over, as an eighteen-year-old he emigrated to Canada in 1906 with the intention of studying agriculture. After a brief period in Toronto he quickly moved north where he lived among the indigenous Ojibwa people of northern Ontario and learned to hunt, trap and survive in the wilderness.
It was also in his early days around Fairlight that he encountered others with, as he saw it, insufficient respect for the natural world. Donald Smith in his biography of Grey Owl explains:
“On these walks, Archie… crossed much of the same territory covered by the East Sussex Foxhounds. As Grey Owl, he bitterly wrote that “under no circumstances could I make peace with a mediaeval custom which I had always abhorred.” Two or three days every week, from November to March, the local gentry, led by the future Lord Brassey, rode to hounds. Two of their principal meeting places were Guestling and Fairlight, both favourite locales of Archie. 

On occasion he must have encountered the scores of scarlet-dressed riders, with their pack of yelping hounds, pursuing a single terrified fox. Years later he wrote: “Sportsmen claim that an animal which is to be killed for fun – can you imagine it? – should be given an even chance. Is that an even chance, a hundred to one, I ask you?” (Smith, Donald B, From the Land of Shadows; the Making of Grey Owl, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1990, p.21)
One of the locations where the Hunt assembled was Fairlight Hall which, after the conversion of local squire William Lucas-Shadwell to Catholicism in 1902, was little used by the family. William became Private Chamberlain to Pope Pius X and thereafter was seen infrequently in Fairlight. He lived instead mainly in Rome, letting out The Hall to various tenants, although in fact he died in Pett in 1915.
In 1900, for instance, The Hall was let to Philip Mael, a ship owner, of Cardiff and London. Then the Hastings Mail noted the arrival in August 1907 of Mr and Mrs James Kirkley and family of Cleadon Park, South Shields, Co Durham. Kirkley, who had recently come into a fortune, was described as “one of the largest colliery owners in the North of England,” who would “divide his attentions between his new country seat at Fairlight and Cleadon Park.”

SPORT AND RECREATION

HUNTING

THE EAST SUSSEX FOXHOUNDS

will meet on

Monday, December 23^rd – Robin Hood, Icklesham, 11

Thursday, December 26^th – Battle, 11

Monday, December 30^th – Westfield Place, 11

——–

THE BEXHILL HARRIERS

will meet on

Tuesday, December 24^th – Red Lion, Hooe, 11

Friday, December 27^th (a cap will be taken for the Hunt Servants). – Sackville Hotel, 11

——–

THE HAILSHAM HARRIERS

(Subscription Pack)

will meet

Saturday, December 21^st – Castle Inn, Westham, 11.15

*Monday, December 23^rd – Willingdon, 11.15

Thursday, December 26^th– Horse Eye, 11.15

Saturday, December 28^th – Royal Oak, Pevensey (a Cap for Hunt Servants will be taken).

Monday, December 30^th – Hampden Park Station, 11.15.

Subscriptions are due, and are to be paid to the Master, Alexander Campbell, Priesthaus, Hankham, Sussex.

*Riding Days. – All persons riding with these Hounds are expected to subscribe.  Anyone over-riding Hounds, after being once cautioned, will be requested to withdraw.

———-

ROMNEY MARSH FOXHOUNDS

will meet at Eleven o’clock on

Tuesday, December 24^th – Plough Inn, Udimore

Tuesday December 31^st – Royal Oak, Beckley, 11.

———

ROMNEY MARSH HARRIERS

will meet on

Thursday, December 26^th – Lydd, 11.

Saturday, December 28^th – Rye Railway Station, 11.

Friday, January 3^rd – Appledore Bridge, 11.

Captain Fiennes, Hon. Secretary, Rye

———–

The paper further noted that “The Hall had for some time past been in course of preparation to receive the newcomers, and the charming and extensive grounds, as well as Pett Shoot, which had also been taken, had been occupied since April by four gamekeepers, as it was intended to revive the preserves so noted when Mr and Mrs Lucas-Shadwell were in tenancy at the Hall. Mr Kirkley had brought with him a large number of capital hunters, as well as hounds.” (Source: Hastings Chronicle website, 2012).
In the Edwardian period field sports were very popular. Gentlemen and others wishing to hunt over the Christmas and New Year period in December 1912 for example (see above) would be spoiled for choice, the local paper listing no less than 5 options. So for several years hunting and shooting figured prominently in estate life – for the well-to-do – and it was witnessing those activities at first hand in the local countryside that helped shape Archie’s sympathetic attitude to the natural world.       
In Canada, encouraged and tutored by Anahareo, his Iroquois wife, he became convinced of the need for conservation, and that became the central theme of his writings. Belaney became obsessed by the culture of the indigenous people, took the name Grey Owl and created a new identity for himself maintaining he was the son of a Scot and an Apache. He wrote extensively about conservation and the natural world, featured in films about the wilderness and made two very popular lecture tours in England in the 1930s. It was during his appearance at such a lecture in Hastings in 1935 that his aunts recognised him. Thereafter his supposed Canadian First Nation ancestry started to be questioned.
In retrospect he is seen as a controversial character, admired still, especially in Canada, and recognised for his writing and for his highly effective conservationist work by some, including novelist John Buchan who as Lord Tweedsmuir was then Governor-General of Canada. However, by others he was regarded as a fraud, drunk, bigamist and liar.Donald Smith’s judgement, after the most detailed study of all the evidence, is that he was “one of the most effective champions of the Canadian wilderness in this [i.e. the 20th] century.” For all his flaws and the complexity of his relationships, he was “a conservationist visionary”.

 ”Portrait of the real Grey Owl in 1936 by the celebrated Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh”                           

His life was the subject of a 1999 film starring Pierce Brosnan and directed by Richard Attenborough. Although admired by many, the film was not a box office success.

By Haydon Luke

By Haydon Luke – previously published in The Pett Parish Monthly News

Just over 100 years ago, on 21^st August 1920, a child was born in a London house – a child destined to become one of the best-known children in English Literature.

Christopher Robin Milne was born at 11 Mallord Street, Chelsea, London, on 21 August 1920, to author Alan Alexander Milne and Daphne (née de Sélincourt). Christopher Milne speculated that he was an only child because “he had been a long time coming.”

Most people are familiar with the Winnie the Pooh books, Christopher Robin, Ashdown Forest and the outline of the lives of the real people. Some will have seen the 2017 film “Goodbye Christopher Robin” which explored his relationship with his father. But few know of the more local Hastings and Guestling connection. I only found out recently when a local acquaintance sent me an enquiry. My acquaintance had been reading the poem (Buckingham Palace) and wondering about the Alice who features in it. You’ll remember it begins:

They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace –

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

Alice is marrying one of the guard.

“A soldier’s life is terrible hard,”

                                                                    Says Alice.

My acquaintance thought at first that Alice must be another child and that she might be buried in Guestling churchyard. Did I know? He initially thought she might be the same Alice as in Alice in Wonderland but I knew that wasn’t true. He then wondered whether Alice was perhaps Christopher Robin’s sister but that wasn’t a goer either since A A Milne and his wife only had the one child.  Also, Alice is clearly not a child if she “is marrying one of the guard” and her view that “A soldier’s life is terrible hard,” is clearly the voice of adult experience. So who is she?

Alice was in fact Christopher Robin’s nanny. When he wrote his memoirs (The Enchanted Places, Methuen, 1974) as an adult, Christopher dedicated them to his nanny, saying how he had “adored” her. He wrote, “Alice to millions, but Nou to me”.

From a very early age, Milne was cared for by his young nanny, Olive Rand, until May 1930, when he entered boarding school. Milne called her Nou, and stated “Apart from her fortnight’s holiday every September, we had not been out of each other’s sight for more than a few hours at a time“, and “we lived together in a large nursery on the top floor.”

So, having established that Alice and Olive are one and the same person, where now?

During the time Olive was Christopher’s nanny the family’s time was split between London and Sussex and another thread from the poem becomes clear. Christopher’s biographer tells us that at Mallord Street Olive’s ‘young man’ would come calling. His name was Alf Brockwell, he was good fun and, no doubt with more than half an eye on Olive, enjoyed playing with Christopher and other visiting children. He would sometimes come in uniform since he was in the Territorial Army and had served in WW1 (“A soldier’s life is terrible hard, Says Alice”). And, yes reader, after Christopher’s departure to boarding school in 1930, Olive and Alf were married.  At first they lived in Croydon but then moved to Three Oaks and to a cottage they named Vespers – an echo of Milne’s poem about Christopher Robin saying his prayers. The Milnes furnished it for them as a wedding present.

And that is where they lived out their lives. Alf was a Post Office electrical engineer and Olive kept house. They offered bed and breakfast holidays to visitors, grew fruit and veg and, according to Shirley Harrison, “filled the garden with statues of the children they were too late to have themselves.” (Harrison, Shirley, The Life and Times of the Real Winnie-the-Pooh, Pelican Publishing Co., USA, 2011).

Olive died in 1978 at the age of 83 and she and Alf are buried in the Churchyard of St Lawrence at Guestling tucked away in the far corner adjacent to the carpark.

By Haydon Luke

By Haydon Luke, with additional material researched by Martin King – previously published in The Pett Parish Monthly News

In 1943 the bombing campaign against Germany was at its height with RAF Bomber Command flying missions at night and the 8th USAAF by day in an attempt to destroy the enemy’s industrial capability. Losses were enormous.

                           The Coastal Defence Battery Command Post can still be seen at Toot Rock, Pett Level

Earlier in the year we told the story of one of those aircraft, the USAAF B17 Flying Fortress Connecticut Yankee which crash landed on the marsh within sight of the Command Post at Toot Rock on 6th September 1943. But she was not the only Flying Fortress to end up in our parish that fateful late summer day.

This is the story of the second of those two aircraft both of which had been involved in a mission to attack the Bosch engineering works at Stuttgart, an operation which went badly wrong.

B17 similar to Shooting Star on the runway at an East Anglian airbase in 1943. (Images from website of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Airforce, Georgia, USA)

The name given by the crew to that second aircraft (42-29540) was Shooting Star. She was part of the same 91st Bomb Group (The Ragged Irregulars) based at Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, and involved in the same disastrous raid on Stuttgart. The images show the Bomb Group and Squadron logos.

                                           
This mission was planned as massive attack of 338 B-17s on the industrial areas of Stuttgart, supported by a formation of 69 B-24s flying a diversion. The bomber formations would be escorted as far as possible by 176 P-47 fighters.
As an operation it was very ambitious. The round-trip distance from the East Anglian bases of the 8th Air Force to Stuttgart would be approaching to 1,300 miles – close to the maximum range for those B-17s that had not been equipped with the long-range fuel tanks. This fact would have disastrous consequences for the mission. It was a dangerous gamble.
The map below shows the route the force would have followed, taking the short sea route across the English Channel to minimise time spent over enemy territory.

The first element from 1st Bomb Wing was a formation of 181 B-17s from various Bomb Groups). This was the force of which Shooting Star was a part and, as indicated earlier, the aircraft in this formation would be “pushing” their maximum range and requiring all to go smoothly if problems were to be avoided.

But that is not how matters played out. The major problem was heavy cloud cover over most of NW France and Germany that day. The formation became disorganized and separated and the 151 that did manage to reach the target area never actually made it to Stuttgart and so were forced to bomb various ‘Targets of Opportunity’ wherever they could find them. This made them extremely vulnerable to fighter attack and difficult for the P-47s to cover.
In the event, 27 aircraft were lost from this formation; 20 because they ran out of fuel on the return and were forced (as Shooting Star was) to ditch in the English Channel or make forced landings in the fields of England; 3 others managed to make it to Switzerland and were interned with their crews. Out of those crews 16 men were killed in action, 64 became Prisoners of War, 44 evaded capture, 116 returned to duty (many of whom, as was the case with some of Shooting Star’s crew, were rescued from the Channel by Air-Sea Rescue – a magnificent accomplishment), 30 were interned. 13 airmen were Wounded in Action and 47 aircraft were damaged. The mission was a fiasco. Losses from the other elements of the attack were equally heavy.
The official de-briefing Missing Air Crew Report of Shooting Star’s last moments is detailed and painful.
“A/C 29540 ditched in ocean off Hastings at 12.45 hours, due to lack of fuel. A/C had all four engines going after leaving French Coast, but lack of fuel in two engines caused A/C to land in sea. Crew was unable to get dinghies from A/C before it went down and floated in sea for 20 minutes before being picked up by Air-Sea Rescue Service. Two men got out of A/C, but soon afterwards the crew became separated due to high waves. When crew were picked up 3 men were missing and their whereabouts remains unknown. One man, S/Sgt E J Minehan, seemed to be dazed by ditching, and was helped from A/C. Pilot saw T/Sgt W F Migut and spoke to him but [he] wasn’t seen again. S/Sgt B D Ray was not seen again after ditching, though crew members insist 10 men were counted after crew got out of A/C which sank in about 45 seconds.” So near and yet so far.
It is particularly tragic that, having virtually reached the safety of the English coast and having exited the stricken plane, three crew members nevertheless perished within sight of the shore. Their bodies were later recovered.
The pressure of active service in the USAAF was relentless. The seven surviving crew members returned to their base and were soon in the air again in other B17s.
What happened to them? How many survived the war? In practice, tracing the subsequent service histories of the aircrew members is difficult. It is not even possible to say for sure who survived the war and who did not because 80% of the centralised US military personnel records from WW2 were destroyed by a fire in the 1970s. It is possible to pick up details of some individuals from unit history websites and from the War Cemetery records at Madingley, near Cambridge, but it is something of a hit and miss process.
What is certain is that the 10 men comprising the crew of Shooting Star were young men from all parts of the United States. They were part of a massive air armada and flew, in daylight, in conditions of extreme peril and danger to help defeat Nazi Germany. Some, when the European war was winding down, were reassigned to the Far East putting their lives once more in jeopardy to help defeat Japan. They touched our part of Sussex briefly and were gone again almost in an instant. But we hope that our account of that fatal mission is in some measure an acknowledgement of their courage and the thanks we owe them, and many thousands like them, for their part in the final victory.

By Haydon Luke with additional material researched by Martin King

By Haydon Luke, with additional material researched by Martin King – previously published in Pett Parish Monthly News

With the tide of the war turning, in the summer of 1943, the bombing campaign against Germany was at its height. It was a two-pronged assault. RAF Bomber Command flew missions at night and the 8th USAAF by day in a coordinated attempt to destroy the enemy’s industrial capability. On the allied side their industrial capacity had been harnessed into a formidable machine for manufacturing all sorts of weapons and war materials. Aircraft of increasing power and sophistication rolled off production lines in ever larger numbers. Losses however were enormous.

For the skies over Europe were still dominated by the Luftwaffe whose powerful aircraft and experienced pilots were determined that they would exact a high price from the USAAF for their attacks on German cities.  Despite the big formations, defensive armaments and fighter escorts, the American bomber crews sustained heavy casualties. Losses of 30 or more aircraft [per mission flown]—300 men—were not uncommon throughout that summer. John Luckadoo, a pilot in the 100th Bomb Group recalled that he “calculated a 400 percent turnover in the first 90 days” of combat. In 1943, bomber crews were tasked with a 25-mission tour of duty. Most crews never made it past their fifth.” 

Just how high that price was can be understood from these statistics. A total of 350,000 airmen served with the United States Eighth Air Force in England, and of this number, 26,000 were killed, or 7.42 percent. Compared to the percentages of other military branches – U.S. Marines 3.29%, U.S. Army 2.25%, and U.S. Navy 0.41% – the Air Corps sustained the heaviest losses.

The Coastal Defence Battery Command Post can still be seen at Toot Rock, Pett

The story of one aircraft, a B17 Flying Fortress, which crashed at Pett Level illustrates the reality and the horror behind those statistics. The conclusion of the incident, on 6th September 1943, was recorded in the War Diary of the Coast Defence Battery based on Toot Rock as follows:
“Two Flying Fortress Aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Pett Battery. One crashed in the marshes at 12.33 hrs. on a bearing of 035, range approx. 2000 yards. 9 men were observed to parachute from the plane and land safely. The pilot of the machine crash-landed his plane, was uninjured, and a rescue party was despatched. The second Fortress crashed in the Channel at 12.40 hrs. on a bearing of 110, range approx. 2500 yds. Three trawlers came to the rescue. No.1 Searchlight was exposed to assist in the rescue.”
This is the story of the first of those aircraft. The B17 which made it home was 42-2970, named Connecticut Yankee, led by Bill Pegram flying as part of the 324 Bomb Squadron in the 91st Bomb Group, USAAF, from Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire. She must have been a lucky aircraft because she had completed 25 missions by April of 1943. That made her a contender for a return to the USA and a triumphal tour of US cities to drum up support for War Bonds. But instead, she and her crew continued to fly in combat across the hostile European skies. The final trip which concluded in the mud of Romney Marsh was her 38th mission – a remarkable survival rate.
Connecticut Yankee’s luck ran out on the 6th of September on the ill-fated mission to Stuttgart. Ill-fated because almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the 181 aircraft from the first Bomb Wing flying from their bases in Cambridgeshire. For a start the primary target, the Bosch factories in Stuttgart, was at the limit of the maximum range for B17s. Ideally the raid would have been a quick ‘in and out’ to the target, drop bombs and return to base.

If that had been the case, relatively speaking, everything would have been fine but it was not to be. The weather intervened, with heavy cloud cover over most of NW France and Germany. The poor visibility interfered with the outward flight. The squadrons became disorganized and separated with many aircraft becoming detached from the main formations leaving them vulnerable to being picked off by German fighters. Thus the initial 181 aircraft were reduced to 151 and not all of those even found the primary target but were reduced to lone attacks on various ‘targets of opportunity’ as best they could before attempting the journey home, isolated and without escorts, to run the gauntlet of rampaging enemy fighters.
For the aircraft still together in the main force, things were no better. As usual, as the flying fortresses approached German territory, fighters attacked with their experienced pilots using well tried tactics. The assaults were violent, head-on passes that resulted in high casualties among the lead crews. Yet, despite the fierce opposition, the bombers continued toward the Bosch factory. Once over the target, however, the mission unravelled even further. A cloud front had unexpectedly moved in, obscuring any view of the target from the bombardiers perched in the noses of their B-17s 25,000 feet above the city.
General Robert Travis, aerial commander of the mission, made the fateful decision to circle the target and wait for the clouds to move. As the bomber formation circled the target, the tight combat boxes of B-17s became easy targets for enemy fighters. In all, three passes were made and still the clouds had not broken, whilst all the while precious fuel was being burned and B-17s were being picked off by fighters and anti-aircraft artillery.
The B-17s had been over the target for nearly thirty minutes when the bombs in the lead aircraft finally dropped. The bombs missed the target almost completely. Forty-five B-17s failed to return to England that night.
The obvious confusion in the air over Stuttgart and the heavy casualties sustained yet again caused many men to begin to doubt the leadership of the air campaign. A survivor of the Stuttgart mission recalled, “We began to wonder if they were trying to kill all of us. There were fewer and fewer guys returning every day.”

Among the aircraft that made it to the target was Connecticut Yankee. Piloted by 2nd Lt William G Pegram he and his crew were flying only their second mission in the aircraft, as No. 3 of the Lead Element of the Low Squadron. The aircraft took flak damage over the target, knocking out an inboard engine before the aircraft turned for home hoping to avoid further attention from enemy fighters.
The safety of the English coast was a long way away. Worse, fuel consumption was high in the remaining engines, causing two to run dry while over the Channel. Eventually Connecticut Yankee made landfall on one good engine but was losing altitude. As its tank emptied the final engine cut out. But, even though the Sussex coast was below, the drama of the flight was still playing out.
Since there was still enough altitude to do so, 2nd Lt Pegram ordered the crew to bail out. However, the chute of the navigator, 2nd Lt Robert S Cosgrove, would not open when he pulled the ripcord. He had to tear off the canvas cover as he fell through the air to get the canopy released. The chute of the left waist gunner, Sgt Frederick E Hutchinson, opened inside the fuselage as he jumped, leaving him dangling outside the plane. The ball turret gunner, S/Sgt Hans W Wobst, gathered up the chute and pushed it out, saving Sgt Hutchinson’s life. The rest of the crew, except for Lt. Pegram, bailed out safely.
In the final act of that eventful day Lt Pegram put Connecticut Yankee down in a wheels-up, dead-stick, belly landing in the partially flooded fields of Romney Marsh near Pett Level. Although the muddy soil acted like grease, allowing a relatively smooth landing, she was badly damaged structurally.

Because of the combined damage from flak and the rough landing, Connecticut Yankee was declared salvage and never flew again. Not so the crew. The pressure of active service in the USAAF was relentless. The surviving crew members returned to their base and within days they were back in combat. Sadly, Lt Pegram’s life had less than 3 weeks more to run. He was killed in action in another B17 on 27 September.
But what happened to the rest of the crew thereafter I cannot recount. In practice, tracing the subsequent service histories of the crew members from the aircraft is difficult. It is not even possible to say for sure who survived the war and who did not because 80% of the centralised US military personnel records from WW2 were destroyed by a fire in the 1970s. It is possible to pick up details of some individuals from unit history websites and from the War Cemetery records at Madingley (above) but it is something of a hit and miss process.
What is certain is that they were young men from all parts of the United States. They came, quite literally, ‘from sea to shining sea’ – from Massachusetts to California, from Montana to Florida. They were part of a massive air armada and flew, in daylight, in conditions of extreme peril and danger to help defeat Nazi Germany. Some, when the European war was winding down, were reassigned to the Far East putting their lives once more in jeopardy to help defeat Japan. They touched our part of Sussex briefly and were gone again almost in an instant.
But I hope this account of that brief acquaintance is in some measure an acknowledgement of the thanks we owe them, and many thousands like them, for their part in the final victory.

By Haydon Luke and additional material researched by Martin King

Following on from the talk given by Keith Foord on Wednesday, 15th September 2021, he has recommended the following two links with more information about the Battle of Hastings. We are sure you will find them interesting.

All About the Battle of Hastings! – YouTube

The Battle of Hastings 1066

By Paul Draper

If we look at early maps of Fairlight, we see the name “Straw’s Castle” shown somewhere in the region of The Haddocks. The name continues well into the 20^th century but so far we have been unable to find out anything about it. Do you have any information to help us?

I attach an extract of a map from 1813 to show the location:

I also attach a copy from Pike’s Directory of 1885, showing a James Harvey as living at “Straws Castle”. This suggests it was habitable and not just a geographical feature:

I attach another extract, from a Kelly’s Directory in the 1930s. Clearly it was a recognised local address. The other locations are still in existence and well known to us all. The stated measurements are from St. Andrew’s Church:

The only other recent reference to Straw’s Castle features in 1989 when the name features in the FRA-prepared village directory – Straws Castle was to open at The Barn, Waites Lane. However, we suspect that this was simply the re-use of an old local name:

There are no photographs and, so far, no-one has come forward with any evidence or story of this place. Can anyone help? Do you know anything about it or possibly an older friend or relative might have an anecdote or recollection.

Please contact us if you can.

By Paul Draper.

By Paul Draper, for Fairlight History Group and Fairlight Residents’ Association (previously published in Fairlight News)

Whenever you drive out of Fairlight Cove you can see the existing Fairlight Village sign in the grass verge opposite our Post Office. It first appeared in 1998 and has been there ever since but sadly it is now looking very tired.

We have all agreed that something must be done to the sign. So, last year our Parish Council started investigating a replacement but subsequently agreed to the Residents’ Association overseeing the best way forward. However, we at Fairlight History Group decided that before the village decides exactly what to do, we should look into the story behind our existing sign.

So why did Fairlight erect a sign and how was the location chosen? The location opposite the Post Office was undoubtedly the position most likely to be seen by the greatest number of residents and indeed non-residents. We have investigated the overall situation and cannot see that before 1998 we ever had any previous sign. To look at the earlier position we have to look back at the earlier Parish of Fairlight as the size and shape of the Parish has changed many times over the years. Indeed before 1921 there was no Fairlight Cove and no local Post Office. What is now Fairlight Cove was once Waites Farm and the entire estate was simply a farm with Waites Farm House located at the end of Waites Lane, where it is today. Village signs tend to be at the centre of a village by the village green, so where was the previous centre? Well the answer is probably by St. Andrew’s church. No examination of old photographs and postcards has revealed any indication of such a sign.

We have looked into our records and have discovered that the idea started in 1996 with the FRA. The present FRA was founded in 1947 and in 1996 their committee decided that they needed to do something to commemorate their forthcoming 50^th anniversary. They agreed on a Village Sign and to make it more interesting they put the idea to all residents. A competition was organised for people to submit designs with a stated prize of £25.

The process was slow to get going but after some months, a total of six designs were received. No records exist showing the names or designs of the five losing submissions, but the winning entry was from the late Norman Dengate, a well-known local resident.

The full process was somewhat involved because of the location, cost and organisation and so the judging panel comprised members of both the FRA and the Parish Council. The total original cost was £446.50 and we were very fortunate to obtain full sponsorship from our local Estate Agents, Halifax Property Services.

Finally after a period of two years, the sign was unveiled on 10^th October 1998. The unveiling committee comprised, Peter Jones (FRA Chairman), Ian Galbraith (Parish Council Chairman), John Lutman, Paul Gates (Halifax) and Norman Dengate.

The sign has remained in place since that date, but as mentioned above, we now need to do something about its condition. The FRA has circulated emails asking for ideas for the sign. New designs are welcomed, but if wanted, we can continue with the existing design. So we ask you all to consider the best options for the future of the Fairlight Village sign. Kindly let the FRA, the Parish Council or Fairlight History Group know your thoughts and the village will collate ideas and decide the best way forward.

Additionally, a small plaque is screwed to the side of the support pole of the existing sign. It refers to Fairlight’s previous successes in previous ‘Village of the year, East Sussex’ competitions. Further details of these competitions can be found on the walls on the smaller hall at Fairlight Village Hall. When you are able, please have a look at the certificates and photographs. They are all an important part of our history.

As usual, if you know anything further about any of the above story please contact us..

By Paul Draper.

By Haydon Luke

Two distinctive features of the Fairlight landscape are the names Firehills and Battery Hill. Over time there has been speculation as to their etymology. It has been suggested, for example, that the Firehills were so called because of the proliferation of gorse which, when in yellow/gold bloom in the spring, gave the cliffs the appearance of being on fire. It is a nice idea but the truth is probably more prosaic.

The origin of the names is almost certainly military and can be found in the history of Fairlight, more specifically in the activities in the mid-19^th century of local rifle and artillery volunteers. These men were the precursors of the Territorial Army of modern times – local part-time soldiers who gave some of their leisure time to learn the skills that might be needed to defend their homeland should French invasion again threaten as it had in Napoleonic times.

In 1859 the First Company of the Cinque Ports Rifle Volunteers was set up, drawing men from Hastings and the villages such as Pett, Guestling and Fairlight. Initially they met at Rock-a-Nore, firing at targets at the base of the cliffs. A little later, Lady Waldegrave, of Fairlight Place, then the local landowner, gave permission for the volunteers to train on her land which included the cliffs and glens. The remains of the rifle butts set up for training and practice at that time can still just about be seen in Ecclesbourne Glen.

Not long after the rifle volunteers, a Volunteer Artillery Corps (the Second Sussex Artillery Volunteer Corps) was set up on 13 March 1860, with a battery near the cliff edge at the foot of Warren Glen.

A local newspaper, The News of 23^rd May 1862, gives a detailed account of how it was set up under the headline “New Battery at Fairlight”.

“Very few inhabitants of Hastings are probably aware of the steps taken by the zealous captain of the 2^nd Sussex Volunteer Artillery for the defence of the shores of this neighbourhood. Those who have traversed the coast between East Well and Pett Levels are aware that, while the levels are protected by the martello towers, there are several small valleys at which an enemy could land unmolested. In one of these, at the bottom of the eminence on which Fairlight Coastguard Station is situated, Captain Shadwell has recently erected a very effective 2-gun masked battery. This little fortification is built of earth, 10ft. to 15ft. in thickness. A quantity of underwood is used to strengthen and retain the “walls,” and the whole is covered with turf. On the fourth side of the quadrangle is built a gun shed and store house.

The War Office having granted two 18-pounder pieces as an armament for the new battery, they arrived by the Brighton railway last week. On Friday morning a fatigue party, consisting of members of the corps from Ore, Fairlight and Pett, under the command of Lieut. Hunt (of Ore House), marched to the Hastings terminus, to escort the guns to the battery. Captain Shadwell and Mr. Cook both sent their teams to draw the guns. Adjutant Paisley, from Brighton, was present during the day. The non-commissioned officers in attendance were – Sergeant-Major A. Thorpe, Sergeant C. Thorpe, Corporals Phillips, Abbot, and Skinner; and the gunnery instructors, Sergeants Ledgerwood and Samways, RA. The difficulty of getting the cannon from the roadway near Fairlight Church, over the rough waggon track to their station at the foot of the hill, was something formidable. It was, however, accomplished without accident. The guns having been placed in position, the party partook of some welcome refreshment, provided by Captain Shadwell and Lieut. Hunt. The day was terminated with a course of gun drill. – Before the adjutant left the ground, a site was selected as a carbine range, running up the valley from 350 to 400 yards. As permission has been given for carbine-firing, arrangements will, it is expected, shortly be made for this purpose.”

The site of Captain Shadwell’s battery is clearly marked on the 1^st edition Ordnance Survey map but it now no longer exists having collapsed in one of the many landslides to affect the bottom part of Warren Glen over the years. The remains of rifle butts can still be found close to the present cliff edge part way up the west side of the glen but these date from WW2. Firing was from inland towards the sea. There are also traces in Warren Glen of the butts for carbine firing referred to in the newspaper account above, the first constructed later in 1862, others in 1901. Firing at these was towards inland, up and across the valley. Local historian Steve Peak recalls as a child finding spent bullets in profusion at the sites.

An account in the Sussex Advertiser of 28 July 1866 tells of the Artillery Corps’ annual prize meeting firing “with their great guns at the Battery near Fairlight Coastguard Station”. Each detachment consisted of ten men and the competition evidently began at 3.00 p.m., taking all afternoon and lasting well into the evening. “The target was anchored off at sea, at a distance of about 1,500 yards from the battery.”

Although these militia activities had a serious purpose, their main attraction was undoubtedly social, with their competitions and recreational activities reported in the local newspapers and attended by interested spectators.                                                                                

Considerable importance was attached to the activities of these volunteers, their practices and competitions were widely reported in the local press, and leading positions were taken up by prominent local men in support of the companies. Material in the East Sussex Records office includes papers such as the Annual Statements of Accounts of  the 2^nd Sussex Volunteer Artillery Corps.

That for 1872 (see right) shows that the Chairman is William Lucas-Shadwell of Fairlight Hall and the committee is comprised mainly of local men of influence and standing in the civilian community. For example, the Honorary Chaplain to the Corps is the Rev Henry Stent, long-serving Vicar of Fairlight and related by marriage to the Lucas-Shadwell family.

Although most of the men provided their own rifles, their uniforms (in smart red and grey) were supplied by the company itself which organised fund raising events to cover the costs. In the case of the artillery, the War Office provided the ordnance but the transport, siting and accommodation for the guns was for the company to arrange. Something of a challenge, as the extract above revealed.

But we still have a difficulty with the names. The base of Warren Glen and the rifle range in Ecclesbourne Glen are not where the area we call the Firehills is today; that lies further east. Battery Hill itself is a little way away and would it be called Battery Hill unless it had a close connection with gunnery? Was there, then, another battery?

John Taylor, Pett historian, is in no doubt that there was also a Pett company of the Artillery Volunteers as well as the one at Fairlight and identifies the remains of the building that housed their gun as being “in the scrub land opposite Fairlight End, and in front of the Village Hall.” Taylor says that the volunteers at Pett served under Colonel Dennet and were successful participants in several National Artillery Association competitions held on the firing ranges at Shoeburyness, even on one occasion winning a shield and billiard table for their proficiency. Sadly “they had to sell the billiard table as they couldn’t get it back home”.

Since it seems unlikely that the Pett gun would be taken all the way to the bottom of Warren Glen for firing practice, where was it fired? An intriguing picture found on the internet by village archivist Paul Draper may provide a clue.

The picture evidently shows a training session with a heavy gun which has been identified by the Royal Artillery Museum as an Armstrong 40 pounder, a type which first came into service in the 1860s. The picture shows 10 men plus an instructor and a patch of open ground with what appear to be gorse bushes beyond the fence with the land beyond falling away. The period of the photo, based on the evidence of the uniforms, is later – maybe around 1900. Unfortunately there is not enough detail in the picture positively to identify the location but the picture caption says Battery Hill and the general orientation suggests that the area by the modern beacon or slightly nearer the sea are possible. We know that practice firing was at targets out at sea.

So if the location is as I believe, it would be readily accessible from the shed in Pett where we know the gun was kept, probably via Rosemary Lane. Farm horses would no doubt have been used to drag the gun up the length of Battery Hill to the firing location whether that was to the left or right of the road.

The names Firehills and Battery Hill therefore are, almost certainly, reminders of the part-time soldiers of the 19^th century and the training exercises they conducted in and around the glens and cliff tops of Fairlight.

By Haydon Luke