A year ago, I told the story of the Willett family of Great Dunmow, and how local photographer and newsagent, Arthur Willett, often took photographs of the town’s happenings, including the photo below, which he captioned as “Military Funeral 1/12/14”

At the time of my post, I puzzled over whose funeral it was, as it appeared to be a funeral of a soldier from the First World War, but the date of the funeral did not match any man on the Commonwealth War Graves’ Debt of Honour for 1914.  An eagle-eyed reader of my blog spotted the answer in a book written by Great Dunmow’s local historian from the 1970s, Dorothy Dowsett.   In her book Through all the changing seasons, hidden amongst Miss Dowsett’s considerable writings about the town and its inhabitants, is the answer to my conundrum.

The Military Funeral shown in the postcard was not that of a First World War casualty, but the funeral of a war veteran from the Second Boer War (1899-1902),  Private William Gibson of the First Grenadier Regiment of the Foot Guards.

Private William Gibson, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was the first soldier to be give a funeral with military honours in the town.  He died at the age of forty-six in 1914, and was buried at the parish church.  During his service he gained the Khartoum Medal, the South African Medal (1901), the Transvaal/Cape Colony Medal and the Sudan Medal.  William Gibson served in the London expedition of 1898 under Major-General Lord Kitchener.

Dorothy Dowsett, Through all the changing seasons, p171

Harry Payne’s postcard of the Grenadier Guards

1911 Census – Star Lane, Great Dunmow
William Gibson, Head, Married, aged 39, born 1872 Essex Stebbing, occupation Gas Stoker.
Sarah Gibson, Wife, Married, aged 42, born 1869 Essex Dunmow.
Charles Chevallier, Stepson, Single, aged 15, born 1896 Essex Dunmow
Ivy Chevallier, Stepdaughter, aged 11, born 1900 London Lambeth.

Sarah Gibson (nee Sarah Mead, b1871-d1955) married William Gibson in 1910.  Prior to her marriage, she had been married to a man with the wonderful name of Temple Edgecombe Chevaillier, who according to this website about the Mead family of Great Dunmow, either divorced or abandoned her by 1899/1901.  If you are interested in seeing a picture of Sarah Gibson, wife of the Boer War hero, the first man to be given a military funeral with full honours in the Essex town of Great Dunmow, do take a look at the Mead family website.

Star Lane, Great Dunmow.  Home of William and Sarah Gibson.  If you know Great Dunmow, you will know that the lane is very much the same as it was in the early 1900s.  The houses on the left are still there, but the tree has long since been cut down.

Follow-up December 2013:  Shortly after publishing this post, I bought at auction a series of postcards of Great Dunmow.  Amongst the postcards was another (different) photo of the 1914 Military Funeral.  My post Great Dunmow’s 1914 Military Funeral – A follow-up tells the story.

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You may also be interested in
– War and Remembrance: Great Dunmow’s Emergency Committee
– Postcard home from the front – The Camera never lies
– Postcards from the Front – from your loving son
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour
– For the Fallan
– Aftermath

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

When I first starting writing this post, I thought I was writing about how three postcards showing Great Dunmow’s High Street, depict that the town did not change in a 25 year period between 1908 and 1932.  However, as I was writing my story, a mystery started to emerge, and, in unravelling this mystery, I realised that my postcards held the key to poignant story.  Instead of writing about an unchanging High Street, I was, to my great surprise, writing the story of an unknown soldier who had carried into the carnage of the Great War, a treasured photo of his home-town.

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Original post
Below are three postcards of Great Dunmow’s High Street – photos all taken from the location of roughly where the War Memorial is today.  Because the photos are so similar  you would be forgiven for thinking that these 3 photos were all taken at roughly the same time.

High Street, Great Dunmow, 1908.

High Street, Great Dunmow, 1918.

High Street, Great Dunmow, 1932.

Look again.  There are horse drawn carriages in the first two, but cars in the last.  These three postcards show Great Dunmow’s unchanging High Street over a 25 year period – 1908 to 1932. Fortunately, all these cards have been postally used or dates written on the back so this information can be used to date them.

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Stop! The camera never lies! My rewritten post…
Can postmarks or dates on backs of postcards be used to date a photograph?  Look closely at the first two postcards – the first was postally used in 1908 and the second was written on the back in 1918.  They are almost identical – including the street sign left of the centre of the card and the extent to which the foilage has grown on all the trees and bushes.  Modern technology has meant that by digitally scanning both these postcards the sign has been revealed and it reads

Staceys Noted Home Grown Tomatoes ? per lb

Stacey’s sign from 1918 postcard

Stacey’s sign from 1908 postcard

Whilst the 1908 photo is very fuzzy and almost undecipherable, it can (just) be made out that the sign has five lines (as does the 1918 sign) and the width of each line of text exactly matches each line on the 1918 sign. The fourth line down could quite easily be “TOMATOES”. It is possible that Great Dunmow’s nurseryman, Stacey, had the same sign in the same location 10 years apart.  But identical foliage and vegetation? Is this too much of a coincidence?  In all respects, the two postcards seem almost identical but supposedly photographed 10 years apart.   This seemed very curious and so I investigated further…

The 1918 postcard was from the lens of Willett of Great Dunmow and is numbered 511.  The military photos on my post here, were clearly taken by Willett during the Great War and dated 1914, but have higher numbers – 830 & 853.  Our street scene postcard, written on in 1918, has a much lower number.  Therefore, our 1918 postcard certainly pre-dates the Great War and must have been written on some years after the photo taken.  This intrigued me, so, for the first time since I purchased this card, I read the back of the 1918 card:

Back of 1918 postcard

France June 10/6/18
This places [sic] is where Mrs L?y?e lives.
Please take care of these for me, all is well at present.
Much love to all
From Robert
By the time you receive this we shall be in action again.

Could the unreadable name be ‘Mrs Lyle’? In which case, Robert’s female friend was one of the Lyle’s of Great Dunmow, whose son, Hayden Stratton Lyle M.C. of the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, although alive and well at the time of this message, was killed in action just 5 days before the Armistice.

Robert’s message, written possibly in the trenches during the slow days before battle, is so tantalising and raises so many questions which can never be answered…  Who was he writing to? What did he want the recipient to ‘take care of’? Why did Robert have a pre-war postcard of Great Dunmow?  The style in which his message is written gives very strong unwitting testimony that Great Dunmow was not his, Robert’s, home town.  If it was his home town, Robert would surely have said something similar to ‘This place is where I live’ – not his message ‘This places is where Mrs L?y?e lives.‘  So who had given him a postcard of Great Dunmow? Was it one of Mrs Lyle’s sons – Hayden, Robert or William – all of whom were in France/Flanders in 1918?

Had this postcard come from another unknown soldier, possibly a Lyle, who
carried a photo of his much-loved home town into battle?

Whoever you were, Robert, and whatever happened to you, I salute you, and want you to know your postcard reached its home.  95 years to the day after you sent this postcard home from the battlefields of France, I am retelling the story of you and your unknown friend from Great Dunmow.

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If you want to read more from my blog, please do subscribe either by using the Subscribe via Email button top right of my blog, or the button at the very bottom.  If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, then please do Like it with the Facebook button and/or leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading this post.

You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

Mrs H Spurgeon, The Avenue, Great Dunmow, Essex, England

My dear wife and sonny
Received card this morning, Monday. Please to hear you received order. Thank you very much for it and it is very nice. I have sent you one of the Sherwood Foresters I thought perhaps you would like one. Please to hear you are both quite well. I am also. Have you received my letter about Xmas. We saw the New Year in and enjoyed our selves. Do you remember last year how we all enjoyed our selves. Did you hear from any of them this Xmas. Kindly remember me to them and all of them. Will write later. Wishing you a happy New Year from Harry

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Harry’s younger brother, Lance Corporal Victor Spurgeon, the baby of the Spurgeon family,  of the 11th Battalion of the Essex Regiment died aged 28 in France on 8th October 1918 and is commemorated on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial in Pas de Calais.    The memorial has the names of over 9,000 men who fell in battle from 8 August 1918 to 11 November 1918 who have no known grave.

Victor is commemorated on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial.

Great Dunmow’s War Memorial
Victor’s name is immediately underneath the first join

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

1891 Cenus – High Street, Great Dunmow
Spurgeon, Herbert J, Head, aged 42, born 1849 Stambourne, occupation Corn Factors Assistant
Spurgeon, Ann M, Wife, aged 40, born 1851, Great Dunmow
Spurgeon, Grace A, Daughter, aged 16, born 1875 Warboys, Huntingdonshire
Spurgeon, Kate G, Daughter, aged 14, born 1877 Warboys, occupation Dressmakers Apprentice
Spurgeon, Harry B, Son, aged 12, born 1879 Warboys, occupation Scholar
Spurgeon, Ernest H, Son, aged 10, born 1881 Warboys, occupation Scholar
Spurgeon, Mabel J, Daughter, aged 7, born 1884 Broxted, occupation Scholar
Spurgeon, William G, Son aged 3, born 1888 Great Dunmow
Spurgeon, Victor, Son, aged 0 (9mths), born 1891, Great Dunmow

1901 Census – New Street, Great Dunmow
Spurgeon, Herbt, Head Widower, aged 52, born 1849 Stambourne, occupation Late Coal Agent
Spurgeon, Harry, Son, aged 22, born 1879 Warboys, occupation Printer
Spurgeon, Ernest, Son, aged 20, born 1881 Warboys, occupation Clothier’s Assistant
Spurgeon, Mabel, Daughter, aged 17, born 1884 Broxted, occupation Housekeeper
Spurgeon, Wm, Son, aged 13, born 1888 Great Dunmow, occupation Butcher’s Apprentice
Spurgeon, Victor, Son, aged 11, born 1890 Great Dunmow

1911 census
Household of Herbert Spurgeon is not in the 1911 Census – perhaps he was dead by 1911.

1911 Census – High Street Great Dunmow
Spurgeon, Harry Burton, Head, aged 32, born 1879 Warboys, occupation Printer
Spurgeon, Mary, Wife married 5 years, aged 28, born 1883 Great Dunmow

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You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

If you know the town and shops of Great Dunmow, then you will know of the newsagents, A Willett & Sons, next to The Saracens Head. Even today, the signage and frontage of the shop is old fashioned and harks back to a more distant time in Great Dunmow’s past. Many of the real photo postcards of the high ways and by-ways of Great Dunmow’s Edwardian past have the name ‘Willett Dunmow’ printed on the bottom left corner.

The Edwardian shop of A Willett and Son (on the left) – on the right, the road leads onto Market Hill and then out towards Church-end.  

During the Great War, Arthur Willett often ‘popped’ out of his shop, took a few steps to the junction of the High Street and Market Hill and took photos of soldiers marching through his town.  Below are two photos from his camera – from the serial numbers on the cards and the date of the second card, the first card would have been taken in the Summer of 1914 (note the leaves on the trees and the straw boater hats worn by some of the crowd).

I did wonder if these were the Sherwood Foresters (the Notts & Derby) who are known to have marched into Great Dunmow from Harlow in 1914.  However, from the Notts & Derby’s accounts, the Sherwood Foresters first came through Great Dunmow between  16 t0 18 November 1914 but looking at the trees and straw boater hats, this photo had to have been taken during the Summer months. Update March 2014: I am now convinced that these are the Staffordshire Yeomanry, who had, for some reason, marched from Bishop’s Stortford to Great Dunmow – see the bottom of this page for more detail.

The soldiers playing their flutes are turning left and so are about to head down Market Hill, so were probably marching onto St Mary’s Church nearly 1 mile away.  I have not been able to trace whose funeral this is.  There is not a casualty buried in Great Dunmow’s church on the Commonwealth War Grave’s Debt of Honour who would match with the date of death of November 1914.  It could possibly be a Sherwood Forester, as they had marched into Great Dunmow 16-18 November and only left the area on 28 December 1914.  However, whoever it is, they are not on either Great Dunmow’s War Memorial or the Commonwealth War Grave’s Debt of Honour as the dates don’t match any casualty buried in St Mary’s churchyard.

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1916 was a terrible year for the newsagent Arthur Willett and his wife Sarah, for they lost two sons to the Great War.  Arthur Albert Willett, aged 25, of the 6th Battalion Essex Regiment died of wounds in a military hospital on 25 February 1916, and was buried in his parish church, St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow.  Younger brother, Frank Willett, aged 20, of the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment was killed in action on the Western Front and died on 23 October 1916.  Frank has has no known grave and so is commemorated on the vast and overwhelming Thiepval Memorial.

Both brothers are commemorated on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial – their inscriptions on the memorial facing down the High Street and towards their father’s shop.

Great Dunmow’s War Memorial with the names of the Willett brothers

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

Updates to this story
Update November 2013: There is an update to the story of Military Funeral postcard here: – War and Remembrance: Military Funeral 1914

Update December 2013: There is another update to the Military Funeral postcard here  1914 Military Funeral – a follow-up

Update March 2014: The 2nd postcard down (Willett’s number 830) has been the subject of much debate between myself and another local historian as to which regiment this was.  I am of the firm believe that it is not the Notts & Derby (the Sherwood Foresters) who arrived in Great Dunmow later on in 1914 (I have a postcard of them parading in the Market in November 1914).  A copy of Willett’s #830 postcard exists with the postmark of August 1914.  That well known auction site a few years ago had a Willett postcard showing troops in Great Dunmow, with the postcard labelled by Willett as being the “Staffs. Yeomanry in Dunmow, Aug 31st, 1914”.  The Staffordshire Yeomanry spent 1914 billeted in Bishop’s Stortford.  I have another postcard from a soldier billeted in Bishop’s Stortford in 1915, possibly a soldier of the Staffordshire Yeomanry (he was writing home to his folks in Staffordshire) about his duties whilst he was billeted in Stortford.  Is my mystery card of soldiers marching through Great Dunmow, the Staffs Yeomanry?  They are certainly coming from the direction of Bishop’s Stortford and are marching in the direction of Church End.  If so, what were the Staffs Yeomanry doing in Great Dunmow when they should have been in Bishop’s Stortford?

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.