THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

WHO WAS LEFT IN FINDON DURING THE GREAT WAR?

Copyright Valerie Martin 2004

Originally printed in Along the Furlong in June 2004

Findon, lying on the Downs, although within sight of the sea, attempted to practise business as usual during the First World War but obviously some parishioners were "called up" to serve in the armed forces.  Every able-bodied man was needed to replace the horrifying losses reported from "the front".  There were also many fears concerning spies in Findon and subsequent scare mongering from jittery villagers.  Anti-German feelings ran high and anyone unfortunate enough to have a foreign sounding surname was treated with suspicion and sideward glances.   Men with Germanic names aged between 19 and 45 were arrested and marched off to the police station and sent to a Aldershot prison compound.  Being born with a German-sounding name was enough justification for arrest and protesting that you were born in Britain and completely loyal to the Crown, was ignored in those days.

At this time, a Welshman, Oliver Thomas, lived in the house named "Homewood".  He was headmaster of the village school, which educated around one hundred of the local children. He was called away to serve in the army and a formidable lady, Miss Smith, stood in for him at the school during his absence. She advocated discipline and was nicknamed by the children "Granny Smith" — which was not meant to be an endearment by any means.

Another Findon military man, Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne of Muntham Court, received promotion and departed from the village to command the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry.

The threat of Zeppelin or ship attack on the coastline was a possibility and there was constant fear in Findon of bombardment.  Plans were made in the community for the action to take in the event of a German landing. Each agricultural worker was responsible for a particular duty on the land in the event of such an emergency. Their tasks were to assist in driving the sheep, cows and horses, (if any were left from being sent to the front), inland and out of reach of the enemy. The Parishes of Findon and Sompting were placed under the superintendence of Hugh Richard Penfold Wyatt of the Cissbury Estate at Nepcote.

It was hard to stock the shelves in the Findon food shops as enemy submarines took a heavy toll on the merchant shipping in the Atlantic.  Allotments sprang up. Shopkeepers were even urged to close early to allow their employees to spend more time growing vegetables to eat.  It was a time for local beachcombers along the coast to keep their eyes open — on the ground as well as the far horizon. Often it paid off and proved lucrative when cans of food were periodically washed up with the tide from wrecked vessels at sea. If the metal tins were not too encrusted with rust, their contents were considered edible enough to be consumed. As the labels were missing, it was a problem to ascertain what each can contained without opening it first.

The civilian population of Findon bravely attempted to carry on life under the dark shadow of the war. The average weekly wage in the community would have been only around £1. Nevertheless, income tax was only 9d in the pound (about 3p by today's value).

Frederick Blann, the tenant landlord at the Gun Inn for Steyning Breweries was pulling pints and charging a mere 2d for each glass. The same goes for William Kennard who was also employed by the same brewery to manage the Black Horse at the southern end of the High Street. 

There were certain food shortages and licensing restrictions that added pressure to the Findon home front and the cost of living did rise in the community during the years of hostilities.  Rationing and food shortages were a fact of Findon life as the Germans launched their U-boat offensive in an endeavour to bring Britain to her knees.   Vessels were torpedoed off Worthing, an area known as "U-boat alley" by sailors.

Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne of Muntham Court devised a useful plan to help out with the food shortages in Findon.   In his absence, he instructed his gamekeepers on his estate to catch rabbits to be sold to the poor of the community.

The Reverend William Dennis Allen was the vicar of the parish and the village boasted a number of trades at its centre at this time, most of which are no longer with us. From this list a picture can be drawn of the village in 1914. Near the forge in Nepcote Lane, Ernest Walter Brown owned his cycle making business. Across the lane, Christopher Curtis ran the bakery trade. The bootmaker in the High Street was George Churchill and John Elliott made a business as the village basket maker. Harry Gawn continued to traverse the road to Worthing on a daily basis from his coal yard in Cross Lane.

Albert Short Junior had by now taken over the operation of Findon Farm in the Horsham Road from his father. Horace Hale farmed the Tolmare land owned by Major Evelyn Margesson and Robert Gore trained racehorses at Stable Lane. Thomas Young also trained racehorses south of the parish at The Vale.  Nepcote Lodge Stables in Steep Lane continued to be owned by Dennis Thirlwell but it was now Edward Craven who trained racehorses from the premises. A horse breeder in the village was Mrs. Emma Hunt and she operated from The Grey Stud.  W. & H. Tyler were saddlers and it would seem they had a plethora of customers on the doorstep with the racing and horse breeding fraternity.

Reginald Ripler ran the butchery trade and Harris Richardson at "Cherry Croft" was the local builder.  Hermit Terrace was the home of George Mills whose profession was that of tailor. Wheelwrighting and smithing continued to be carried out at Nepcote by William Ockenden. Thomas Winton, the Parish Clerk was also the sub-postmaster and owner of the shop in The Square.

An old lady who resided in the Toll House at the bottom of Bost Hill continued to sell tempting sweets to travellers from her tiny home. The jars of goodies were displayed on her windowsill overlooking the road. The village was, in fact, not too badly off in the days of the First World War.

Doctors Lee and Fulton were operating as physicians and surgeons at Elm Cottage and they held surgeries for patients on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 noon. Doctors Wiggins and Brown were also physicians and surgeons and they were in attendance at their rooms on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It appears that a local medical man was always on hand to serve the small population of the village in those days.

When the wind was in the right direction, the barrage of firing from the big guns in Flanders could often be discerned in Findon. The booming was far too close for comfort for the villagers.

A lady was fined ten shillings by the nearby Worthing magistrates during the First World War for lighting a fire in her back yard in Montague Street.   The reason being in 1916 that she might have been using the fire as a signal to enemy aircraft.

Continue if you would like to read about Alec Boulton of Grey Point and his part in forming the Findon Scout movement — before going for active service with the 129th Baluchi in France.   I have called this article Bob A Job In Findon.

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