Findon Village Antiquities www.findonvillage.com

This website, created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, UK.

Edwin Douglas — from a portrait by his father, James Douglas, a portrait painter of some celebrity.

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

I think that the year 1898 started inauspiciously in Findon but soon one or two events occurred in the community to capture the villagers' attention.

At the end of March, after a winter that had hardly existed, I can reveal there was snow. This resulted in high drifts that were impassable and the howling northern gales were the bitterest. The temperature fell to 33 degrees and for three consecutive days and nights did not rise above 43 degrees. Many tracks, such as the one to Fox Down, were blocked. Trees, window shutters and chimney pots were torn down in the village before the Spring arrived.

During the ensuing months in 1898, I understand that Magdalen College acquired the Rectory in the High Street (now the Findon Manor Hotel) and the property was altered to its present layout. The grounds at this time reached to Cross Lane and contained a magnificent collection of specimen trees, including fine cedars fronting on to the High Street.

I have found that no cricket was played in the village in 1898. This was due to the lack of Findon menfolk owing to the Boer War in South Africa. The Kennel Bottom Cricket Ground was abandoned to the flocks of sheep.

Edwin James Douglas, the renowned animal painter lived at Fox Down. This was a property amidst Scots pines to the North of Cissbury Ring and miles from anywhere. The exact site could be given in longitude and latitude but it is far easier to describe it as the area where Josh Gifford now deposits the waste straw from his racing stables. The boundary fence surrounding this dumping ground is the perimeter of the area that was once Edwin Douglas's garden.

"Frost and Fog" painted by Edwin Douglas in 1905.

At this time it was fashionable to have paintings of sheep and highland cattle hanging in one's drawing room. A large number of these began life in Findon with the artist, Edwin Douglas.

Painted by Edwin Douglas in 1910 and engraved and reproduced as postcards.

Military manoeuvres were a regular feature of Edwin Douglas' late-Victorian age. Unfortunately, the military encampment at Cissbury Ring was too close to comfort for him. Two detachments, each sixty strong, came marching to Cissbury in May 1897 to take up their quarters.

The soldiers belonged to the 1st Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, with one detachment having come from Brighton and the other from Chichester.

The men of this advanced body were making ready for the arrival of the main troops which were to arrive at the end of May 1897.

The Brighton contingent had left Preston Barracks on foot at 4 a.m. on the Saturday and were followed four hours later by the main body under the command of Major Thompson with his drum and fife band smartly playing his troops out of the town.

Arriving at North Lancing en route, the soldiers encountered an unexpected pleasure awaiting them. Mr. W. Armitage of Lancing Manor invited them to partake of his hospitality. Bread and cheese and beer, (or milk and mineral water for those who preferred weaker beverages) were served to the men beneath the shady trees at the manor.

The march was resumed after about half an hour's rest, and the camping ground at Broadwater was reached by 12.30 p.m. The fatigue party (which had arrived earlier) had prepared dinner, with the result that the midday meal was ready for the soldiers shortly after they arrived.

The Chichester detachment under Lieutenant Goldsmith arrived at Broadwater at about 2.15 p.m. and were none the worse for wear after their dusty march of twenty-one miles.

After dinner both detachments united to pitch their tents immediately to the south of the reservoir of the waterworks, sheltered on the south by a most commodious barn. The twelve tents for the men were arranged in four lines, two on each side of the field with the officers' mess and quarters on the right.

Although the duty upon which the detachment had been sent (an extension of the firing range at Cissbury Ring) was to involve a considerable amount of hard work, it was considered that there was no reason why the men should not enjoy their stay under canvas. In the enclosure, a number of soldiers while off-duty, enjoyed cricket practice — encouraged on by a small knot of local civilian spectators to complete the rural picture.

Meanwhile, on the range at the foot of the Cissbury mound, some one hundred men were engaged in preparing earthworks for targets. When completed, a four-section range with a shooting distance of 1,000 yards was available. The two existing ranges were moved about 100 yards nearer the foot of the hill. Musketry practice was to be an important new feature at these encampments. While engaged in this laborious task of target mounting, the men received extra pay, but the amount per man was so infinitesimally small that it would raise a smile nowadays. But then in those days it was hoped that they carried out their duties for Queen and country with perhaps the thought that they would receive some rewards at the close of their military career.

The first and second weeks of the encampment were devoted to squad, company, battalion and brigade exercises. A dashing series of operations were particularly appreciated by the small boys who were proving to be camp followers. The official plan of campaign being that the 1st Brigade at Broadwater were to make a strategic retreat to Washington, followed up by the 2nd Brigade from Worthing and the Volunteers from Arundel.

Up and down the Findon downland and valleys the fight was conducted, with a brisk artillery duel at one time taking place — with the infantry coming prominently into action and some exciting cavalry charges being carried out.

Sir William Butler expressed himself well satisfied with the manoeuvres and operations. The retiring column attained their object and the work of the opposing forces was splendidly executed. It was said at the time that the guns could not have been handled better and the marching of the men was very creditable.

At the end of the week, the detachments paraded for drill at Broadwater Green (after the 3rd Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and the 4th Somersetshire Light Infantry had enjoyed a dip in the sea before breakfast). The three battalions at South Fields (a field immediately north of the railway at South Farm Lane) were paraded separately.

By 1898, the troops were entrenched on the waterless tract of Cissbury Ring. During the summer months, the parched soldiers were permitted to help themselves to Edwin Douglas's supply of water conserved at Fox Down.

Blow, Blow Though Winter Wind. Painted by Edwin Douglas four years before his death in 1914. Engraved and reproduced in postcard form.

It was on 6th July 1898 that Edwin Douglas had reason to put pen to paper and complain to the Musketry Office in Dover because of the danger of bullets reaching Fox Down from the military's Cissbury Range. It seemed to him at times that the property was in the line of fire. A major at the Musketry Office at Archcliff Fort in Dover wrote him a reply —

Dear Mr. Douglas,

General Sir William Butler has forwarded me your letter of 6th July and desired me to take the necessary steps to stop the danger you complain of with regard to bullets reaching your house from Cissbury Range. I was informed you had written on the subject to Captain Frazer on 27th June and as I was at Worthing on 29th June I had one section of the Range closed. I took every other possible step to prevent ricochets.

I therefore trust that you have had no further cause of complaint since that date and that your letter to Sir William Butler refers to the previous period. The regular troops have finished their course for this year; and there will be little if any firing going on this autumn.

Following this prompt action, and the closing of one section of the range, it is assumed that all was quiet and Fox Down was no longer in the line of fire. No doubt the thirsty troops marching passed still continued to avail themselves of Edwin Douglas' conserved water until the end of 1898. In later years the rifle range was transferred to the deep coombe on the south side of Cissbury.

Painted by Edwin Douglas in 1910 and entitled "Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind". Engraved and reproduced in postcards.

In days gone by, the Findon villagers had no telephones, let alone mobile telephones, or television but many still spent a pleasurable time communicating with friends, relations and trades people in the neighbourhood. This was done with picture postcards. One of the popular postcard themes of the Edwardian age was that of horses and cattle executed by Edwin Douglas. Well-groomed and doe eyed cattle provided the ideal colourful picture for those who bought and received cards. These were posted, and delivered, with surprising speed for such mundane purposes as requesting the piano tuner to call, or maybe to order some coal for the following day.

Sunshine and Snow painted by Edwin Douglas in 1904.

The public were delighted with the scenes of handsome animals and the cards were real money-spinners for the manufacturers. They were printed many times over, thus proving how much they were appreciated by everyone.

Edwin Douglas kept his "models" — horned sheep and a few Highland cattle, in small enclosures off the track leading towards Chanctonbury. Unfortunately, the footpath ran through these enclosures and there were times when it was a little hazardous coming across a shaggy beast sporting enormous horns.

Painted by Edwin Douglas.

It was during the year when the First World War broke out that Edwin Douglas died in his 67th year at Fox Down on 22nd October 1914.

War Memorial at St. John the Baptist Church, January 2000.

Inside St. John the Baptist Church can be seen a plaque to the memory of his son, Cedric Christian Douglas, born 1888. Cedric was a gunner with the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery. He was, unfortunately, one of the soldiers to fall during the last action of the war at Cambrai. The Times newspaper, late war edition on 24th September 1918 announced....

Died of wounds, 18th September 1918, at a casualty clearing station, Cedric Christian Douglas, aged 30, R.F.A., youngest son of the late Edwin Douglas of "Fox Down", Findon, Sussex.

Cedric Christian Douglas had been born 20th November 1888, the youngest child of Edwin and Christiana Douglas. Before the war he was working with his brothers in the grape fruit growing business in Durrington.

He was the first man in Durrington to join up after the outbreak of war, being attached to the ammunition column of the first Home Counties Brigade of the RFA at Worthing on 5th August 1914.

Later he was transferred to another brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and in his 20 months service on the Western Front attached to a flying battery he took part in most of the important engagements as a gunner.

He was hit in the right arm and both legs and although every effort was made to save him he died of his wounds on 18th September 1918 at a Canadian casualty clearing station aged 29. He was buried in the military cemetery at Varennes.

News of his death was given to his older brother by six years, James Sholto Douglas, at Salvington Grange by the Chaplain.

Cedric Douglas was another who was in the line of fire.

Continue if you would like to read more of Edwin Douglas in Margot and Nancy.

Back to Edwin James Douglas Index

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This is Findon — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com