The Wallis Archive

By Heather Evernden

One of the pleasures for local historians is the unexpected arrival of archive material from people, often strangers, who have cherished family mementoes with links to Southborough. Recently the Society was contacted by Wendy Wallis, now resident in Rugby. Wendy asked if we would like to see the collection of items she had in safekeeping, commemorating the Wallis family.

The archive included the school exercise book of Horace Wallis from 1841 and two of his son William’s books, dated 1866 and 1868. The men were Southborough residents, father and son, born in the nineteenth century, and both educated at what was referred to at the time as “Southborough Free School”. Intriguingly the school address is given as “Southborough, Tonbridge, Kent”.

Horace’s exercise book was used for arithmetic problems. The problems seem to focus on skills useful for book-keeping: Percentages, Profit and Loss, Discounts and Duodecimals. “What is the interest of £257.5s. 1d at 4 per cent per annum for one year and three quarters?” This was a problem Horace tackled which made my head spin, especially as he would not have had access to a calculator. But his working out is calm and measured, beautifully written in ink, now faded to brown, and coming to the correct answer every time.

William Wallis was as skilful with his pen as his father. His copy books are meticulous, recording line after line of handwriting practice. The choice of aphorisms to be lettered is very sobering: “A sinful life is offensive to God;” “Want ever attends sloth”; “No moment is to be lost”; “Kings must all soon die”; “Command you may your mind from play”. Let’s hope William and his peers were not too subdued by these weighty thoughts.

William also had to study practical arithmetic, as his father had done. There are examples in his books of sums calculating weights and measures and also of the wording and layout of model receipts, such as a tradesman might issue. There is also a more playful element to William’s schoolbooks. Page after page is covered with elaborate and beautiful lettering. He experimented with different fonts and styles; some letters are decorated, some shaded or filled with cross- hatching.

Aged 12, William completed what looks like a test piece or maybe a competition entry. He used a sheet of card, about A2 in size, and drew an elaborate pattern of lettering on it, demonstrating a wide variety of different formats. The text reads “Happy is the Youth that findeth Wisdom and the Youth that getteth Understanding”. This impressive piece of work is countersigned by William’s teacher: “July 3rd 1866. W. Spilsbury, Master of Southboro (sic) Free School”.

Lettering ‘sampler’ by William Wallis, aged 12 years, dated the 3rd of July, 1866.

Detail from bottom left hand side.

It was no surprise to read in his obituary that William Wallis grew up to work in a creative trade. He was a builder working with Gallards, who clearly had a talent for design. In addition, he was a chorister and then organist at St.Thomas’ Church. He had been linked with the church since its dedication in 1860. I had already been delighted to find that this talented man had lived in Vale Road, very close to my own home. I was even more delighted to discover that William Wallis had carved the oak choir stalls in St. Thomas’ Church, when they were installed by Gallards, the builders. Sunday, by Sunday I sing from those Choir Stalls, my music resting on the shelf William shaped and carved!

William Wallis out the front of Gallards, presumably in 1912 when the Almshouses was opened to its first occupants. Wallis is the gentleman with the white beard just right of centre.

Civic minded: William was also the Hon. Secretary of the Southborough War Savings Committee during World War 1.

William Wallis’ obituary, 1934.

We would like to thank Wendy Wallis and her family for loaning these fascinating items to the Society and contributing to our understanding of Southborough’s history.

Hazel Dormice Project

Some of the images used by the Brownies to inspire their messages to the dormice.

The Southborough Society are working hard on increasing the biodiversity on our land ‘Doctor’s Meadow’ which adjoins Southborough Common. Aside from all the work Kent High Weald Partnership and its volunteers have done on clearing willow, bracken, holly and other species that had overwhelmed the area, we are keen to improve the local fauna too.

After commissioning the Kent Wildlife Trust in 2017 to undertake a survey of the site, it suggested that endangered Hazel Dormice could inhabit the site and that this should be encouraged. Britain’s dormice population has declined a huge 51% since 2000 and are now predominantly confined to Southern England and Wales.

So to help these little guys out we have initiated a project in collaboration with Southborough Brownies and Cubs to construct nest boxes for the dormice to use in the Spring/Summer. The Brownies and Cubs have created poems that will be inscribed on the base of the nest boxes they make that will be installed soon on Doctor’s Meadow.

The nest box the Brownies and Cubs will be constructing.

We’d like to thank Alsford Timber, Tonbridge for donating the materials to support this project.

Here are a couple of examples of the poems from Southborough Brownies. We look forward to making the boxes together!

Secrets of Southborough Common

Yesterday was the opening of the ‘Secrets of Southborough Common’ exhibition; an exciting showcase of the work funded by the National Heritage Lottery and undertaken by Kent High Weald Partnership, Southborough and High Brooms Archaeological Society and the Southborough Society.

The ongoing work of the Kent High Weald Partnership on the Common has made a huge impact on both the environmental sustainability of the site and for the enjoyment of visitors to our ‘cherished green space’. As part of their work Ian Johnstone and his team have been able to produce detailed mapping of the Common and have published three Southborough Common Circular Walk maps. Along with major clearing and path resurfacing tasks they have also led wildlife, bat and fungi walks and facilitated a Forest School for youngsters to engage with the local environment.

SHAAS has been working on excavating the former ‘Brokes Mill’ site near Powdermill Lane and have unearthed some revealing finds which were on display. They have encouraged children to get involved by hosting some well-supported Archaeology taster days and welcoming visitors as part of the recent Heritage Open Days weekends.

The Southborough Society has sent off the first and most significant part of our archive to be digitised and are in the design stages of a new website that will display our photographs, postcards, maps and articles for the public to have access to for the first time. There was a preview at some of these rarely seen images and artefacts that link to Southborough Common as part of this group show.

Southborough Society’s sixteen panels detailing the Society and what it does, our Digitisation Project, The Common, St Peter’s Church and School and Cricket in Southborough.

At 1pm some fifty people gathered for a guided circular walk led by Ian Johnstone around the Common. Ian was taken back by just how well attended the walk was; testament to how grateful local residents are of this beautiful area and how interested they were to find out more about the history of the Common.

Ian Johnstone, Kent High Weald Partnership, about to start the Circular Walk yesterday.

The walk was based on ‘Walk One’ of the series of Southborough Common walks which featured ten points of interest, including the veteran oak and beech trees, the gravel pit, charcoal platform, former windmill site and the horse ring. Listening to the conversations, many people commented about how, although the regularly walk in the Common they didn't know about its fascinating history and rarely stopped to really look at the flora and fauna.

A really warm and friendly atmosphere amongst the walkers . Here they are heading up along the Wortleberry Wood Bank.

‘On the Boundary of Whortleberry Wood, 1892’. A photograph printed from a glass plate negative in the Southborough Society archive collection.

The boundary of Whortleberry Wood is a distinctive man made bank that was built up to enclose the wood from the ‘adjacent wood pasture and to prevent grazing animals from browsing the coppiced woodland’. Ian informed the walkers that evidence still remained towards the top of the bank of the iron fence that can be seen in the above photograph.

In the area known as the ‘Pineys’.

Heading towards one of the veteran oaks.

The exhibition was buzzing throughout the day and we would like to thank all the visitors for coming along and also Ian Johnstone (KHWP) and Tony Palmer and Di Drummond (SHAAS). Last but not least, we would like to thank the National Heritage Lottery Fund who has enabled us all to participate in such a wide-ranging and beneficial project for the local community.

If you are interested in finding our more about Southborough Common and volunteering and local archaeology, check out the links below:

https://khwp.org.uk/

http://southboroughcommon.co.uk/

https://www.southborougharchaeology.org/

Southborough Peace Day Celebration – July 19th, 1919.

Original programme cover printed by Arthur Dee’s Printers, based on London Road.

A century ago, on July 19th, Southborough joined the rest of the nation, in celebrating the peace, which had been inaugurated by the signing of the Armistice, in 1918. After the sacrifices of the First World War, made by so many families, communities must surely have felt the need to come together, to celebrate that “the war to end all wars” was finally over. A hundred years later, we know that there was another World War to come, only twenty years on from the celebrations of Peace Day. But that, of course, is to anticipate. Anyone on Southborough Common on July 19th 1919 was more likely to be worried about the looming dark clouds (it did rain) or the intimidating appearance of the High Brooms tug-of war-team (they won!).

The programme for the Southborough Peace Day celebrations could be bought for 1d and you would certainly want buy one, to ensure you knew what was going on. The cover of the programme shows a female figure, looking rather like a Greek goddess, her elegant draperies, coloured a dusty pink, falling to her feet. Is she a symbol of Peace? She is certainly far removed from the doughty figure of Britannia which featured in First World War propaganda. Flowers and leaves twine around the figure, who seems to be looking wistfully into the distance.

The day of festivities began with a Royal Salute fired on the Common, followed by the pealing of the bells of St. Peter’s Church. At 1.30 pm singing “by the children”, launched the afternoon Sports. The prizes for adults must have tempted some to take part: 1st, 7/6; 2nd, 5/-; 3rd, 2/6. We know that some 250 children also received prizes. Twenty races are advertised in the programme. The familiar three-legged race, the egg and spoon, the potato race and the sack race all feature as well as the Veterans Race, for 50 years and over! There was also a Firemen’s Race.

Sack race in front of St Peter’s Church on the Common.

And then there was the mysterious “Tilting the Bucket”. Luckily, a postcard of the event has survived which shows what must surely be that event. The picture depicts someone riding on a kind of barrow, pushed by a partner, under a framework, from which a bucket is suspended. It’s hard to see quite how it all works, but it looks as if the bucket is set to pour water on to the head of the luckless victim below. The gleeful stance of schoolboy spectators suggests they would enjoy that very much indeed. And the Courier reports that “no competitor succeeded in getting through without being somewhat damp”!

‘Tilting the Bucket’

There was, fortuitously, an interval for Tea at 4.00 pm. The report in the Kent and Sussex Courier describes 1,400 children sitting down to tea on the Common in front of St. Peter’s; that was quite a picnic! The provisions seem to have consisted of bread and butter and cake.

The plan was to conclude the days’ events with a bonfire and fireworks at 9.45pm and before that, Mrs Edward Hutchings would give out prizes. It must have been a poignant occasion for Mrs Hutchings, as she perhaps thought of her son, Kenneth. He had died in 1916, aged 33, during the Battle of the Somme, bringing to a brutal end his future career as an England cricketer.

The events of the day were planned by a sizeable committee: 17 (all men!) organising the sports and 30 in charge of the tea. One might expect the tea committee to have been the ladies’ domain but, intriguingly, the subcommittee is chaired by a Mr. Draper and a good number of men joined the ladies in this group. There were also six clergymen, who were part of the tea committee; perhaps participation in sports was considered unseemly for a cleric! The Hon. Secretary for the Sports events was a Mr. Muggridge from 13, Edward Street, while the Tea Committee Secretary was a Mr Cox, whose address is simply given as “The Common”!

For some of those in charge of the celebration, the day must have been coloured by memories of lost sons, brothers and cousins. There were committee members from families whose lost ones are commemorated on Southborough’s War Memorial: Messrs Emery, Muggridge, Miller, Brown, Moore, Malpass, Luxton, Fletcher, Cooke. However, it’s clear that the Peace Day was meant for sheer enjoyment. “All inhabitants are respectfully asked to decorate their houses” is the request printed on the programme.

Not far away, Tunbridge Wells was also enjoying its own Peace Day celebrations. Large decorated arches spanned the roads at various points, and a huge procession marched through the town, led by bands and “decorated motors” carrying wounded soldiers. Following them were Police Cadets, VAD nurses, Scouts, The Life Brigade, the Fire Brigade, the Salvation Army, the Friendly Societies, many tradesmen’s decorated carts, the Mayor, Mayoress and Councillors and many, many, more.

There were Sports, as in Southborough, although strangely, in Tunbridge Wells, some races were reserved for “married men” and “married women”. Perhaps the cares of married life were thought to be a handicap for competitors in races? We were more liberal in Southborough, simply categorising races either for “Adults”, “Boys” and “Girls”, with the exception of a special 100 Yards race for Ladies.

By the time Mrs Hutchings was giving out prizes on Southborough Common the rain had begun to set in, so the ceremony was held under the trees. In Tunbridge Wells, the children’s entertainments in Calverley Grounds (conjurors, clowns and Punch and Judy) had been a great success but the steady rain, which began after tea, led to the postponement of the Festival of Song.

Decisions had to be made about how to proceed with the programme for the evening. Southborough had hoped for dancing on the Common, concluding with a bonfire and fireworks. In the event, it was too wet for both fireworks and dancing, but the bonfire went ahead on the Lower Cricket Ground. It was “lit at 10 o’clock, a large crowd being present, in spite of the rain. The bonfire burned brightly, and an effigy of the Kaiser was burned, greatly to the delight of the younger element. This brought the day’s celebration to a close”.

We can imagine Mr Muggridge and Mr Cox, the two Hon Secs, going home, pleased with their day’s work. And let’s hope that Mr E B Usherwood, so nearly winner of the quarter-mile flat race, retiring within twenty yards of the tape because of “overstrain”, felt much better the next day.

By Heather Evernden