Subject: The Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Reflections
The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November was themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett recounted the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.
We were delighted to welcome members and guests in record numbers, reflecting the importance of the Cospatrick story to Wychwood villagers old and new.
John covered the background to the history of New Zealand emigration, focussing of course on the Wychwoods. In particular, he focussed on the role of Julius Vogel, Treasury Minister for the newly formed colony of New Zealand, who implemented a major drive for immigrant workers to build the country’s infrastructure.
He touched on the appointment of immigration agents such as Charles Carter who operated in the Wychwoods area. John mentioned key names such as Christopher Holloway and Joseph Leggett. These men were appointed by Carter as emigration agents for the area. They worked in tandem with Joseph Arch, Methodist firebrand and key player in promoting the interests of agricultural labourers at a time of extreme difficulty and hardship.
In giving illustrated insights into the types and styles of the vessels which carried emigrant to their new lives, John also covered the story of the Cospatrick’s fate, and the memorial on Shipton Green to the members of the Hedges and Townsend families. And finally he offered some insights into the hardships of the voyages and their aftermath during quarantine. These were illustrated also by an audio clip of the fate of one particular child Mary Jane Johnson [ shown here on our Cospatrick Resources area ].
Carol’s talk followed on with the theme of expectations and realities of immigrant life in New Zealand, offering contrasting views and anecdotes from correspondence of the time.
Carol focussed particularly on the story of Eli Pratley, who had suffered misfortune on his first migration attempt to Canada. He finally, with a second family, made the journey to New Zealand to eventually become a landowner and successful family man. Carol contrasted this tale with words from a letter of 1875 “I shall never make my fortune… This country is not what the agents represented it to be.”
These reflections were rounded off in good spirits by Jim Pearse’s delivery of his poem “Emigration” which he had also recited at the society’s 1990 Victorian Evening, with audience participation on good form.
We are grateful to Jim for offering to reprise this poem for us. It was a perfect note on which to end a memorable evening.
Members were able to collect their copies of the society’s new booklet “The Cospatrick Tragedy- 150th Anniversary reflections on a Wychwoods story of hope and loss”. This booklet, sponsored by Shipton Parish Council and compiled and researched by John, Carol and other society members, covers the full story. It especially looks deeper into the Hedges and Townsend families, researched by Diane Melvin.
Here are the introductory pages to the booklet, copies of which remain available and free to members.
In November the Wychwoods Local History Society are organising and participating in a number of events to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Cospatrick Tragedy.
Look out for the following:
• An exhibition of historic photographs, posters and newscuttings relating to the Cospatrick story in the Wychwoods Library, Milton, open from 4th November until mid December.
• The Society website has a new “Cospatrick Resources” page here with information about the Cospatrick story and links to many other sources of information relating to the Cospatrick and emigration from 19th Century Britain.
• The Society have compiled a new booklet giving an account of the Cospatrick story, and its place in Wychwoods history. This booklet has been generously sponsored by Simon Randall and Shipton Parish Council. The booklet will be available from 9th November.
• The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November is themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett will recount the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.
The evening will include a short audio recording of a dramatic emigration episode by former Society stalwart Duncan Waugh, and Jim Pearse will perform a poem on emigration that he first gave for the Society in 1990.
• Members of the Society are also contributing to the Oxfordshire Local History Society’s Study Day on emigration, This will be held at Burford Baptist chapel on 9th November, booking essential, further information here: [PDF Download in new window]
• There will be a memorial service at the Cospatrick Memorial on Sunday 17th November, at 11.15am, led by the vicar Sarah Sharp. The 17th November is the actual 150th Anniversary of the Cospatrick fire. This will be followed by a service at Shipton Parish Church.
Speaker: Julie Ann Godson: Subject: Our Boys 1914 – 1918 Julie read history at the University of Oxford under Dr Rowena E Archer. She made so many good friends at Oxford that, after 25 years as a Kent girl, she moved in 2010 to rural West Oxfordshire and now lives in a converted piggery and loves it.
Julie is also a good friend to WLHS and has given us many talks over the years and it was a pleasure to welcome her here again.
Julie’s book “Our Boys 1914–1918: who were the fallen of one Oxfordshire valley? “ traces the often-surprising lives of 48 of the men and boys from Oxfordshire who fell in the First World War. From the workhouse boy who became an early submariner to the officer who proved to be not quite a gentleman, all of life is here.
A fine attendance of 50+ members and guests enjoyed Julie’s focus on the background of a few of these individuals, looking at their lives before the war rather than focussing on the business of battles and warfare.
We learned of individuals working with their families at various trades, practicing their crafts and toiling in fields and indeed signing up pre-war for army and navy adventures.
Remembrance of the First World War often brings to mind stone monuments, quiet churchyards, and endless rows of gravestones in distant fields.
Julie Ann’s talk told a different story of the lives of men in their familiar villages and farms, and encouraged a different way of remembering them. And she also showed reasons why names appeared on village monuments, of individuals not necessarily domiciled in that village. The reasons were intriguing.
The first in our 2024/5 season of talks was by Edward Caswell, who presented with great enthusiasm his work with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).
Edward started as the Finds Liaison Officer for Oxfordshire in 2020 following volunteering with the PAS in Durham during his undergraduate studies and working as a Finds Liaison Assistant for Devon and Somerset.
Edward loves studying and writing reports for artefacts of all time periods. He is particularly passionate about analysing the patterns we can see in big datasets such as the PAS database.
Edward’s wide ranging presentation demonstrated how the PAS database can be instrumental in developing our understanding of the nature, scale and effects of the large social transformations occurring in Britain over time. This is achieved by integrating burial, settlement information, artefacts and landscape evidence – creating narratives previously hidden from view to researchers.
About the Portable Antiquities Scheme
The Portable Antiquities Scheme is run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales to encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of archaeological objects are discovered, many of these by metal detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work.
The Database
The Portable Antiquities Database can be found here. The database is easy to search, and your search results can be filtered to find just the data you want. Tips on searching the database.
This link is especially interesting for Wychwoods-related queries
Committee members enjoyed a successful afternoon at the fete in Milton on July 13th, where our stall attracted a steady stream of visitors.
Once again, as is a feature for us at these events, our photo displays generated lots of conversations. Most of these start with the regular refrain along a theme: “Look, that’s my uncle/sister/ grandad/…” and the stories emerge.
We were pleased this year to include in our display, the model by the late Arthur Ashton of the sailing ship “Cospatrick”. This attracted much interest: a puzzle for some, moments of recognition for others.
We were grateful to the organisers of the fete for the ease of set-up, and pre-event publicity which ensured a good attendance and festive atmosphere.
After the AGM, our final talk of the season included 3 presentations from WLHS Committee members, featuring stories from our archive using newly-discovered historic photographs, letters and oral history recordings
First we had a short review of the society’s work on audio recordings and oral histories by David Betterton. He played a few sample clips which typified the variety and human interest found in this archive. [ Overview here ]
John Bennett gave a review of a recently-acquired album of photographs of Milton under Wychwood dating from 1891. This album – we call it the “Marshall Album” is a treasure trove of historic images of Milton houses, from which John selected several individual properties and compared them to their appearance today. The Album itself was a gift from the guest of a prominent Baptist family in the village.
In the final presentation, Carol Anderson took us on a fascinating audit trail of the Baughan family in Milton, derived from her research around an intriguing box containing apparently random notes, receipts and letters – a box she titled “A Box of Baughans”. Her work on this revealed fascinating insights, for example, on the role of women in business administration.
Wychwoods Local History Archive Room
Further research is planned for the Marshall Album and the “Box of Baughans”, and work continues on creating extracts from the society’s oral history files.
Subject: “Down in the Dumps” – How Oxford Helped Win World War Two
Another fine evening was enjoyed by 40+ members and guests, with plenty of response at the Q&A from many of us who had family connections with the Cowley works. Maurice is a speaker who is clearly passionate about Cowley’s role over time, and his talk was full of surprises, only a few which we illustrate here.
Introduction
Maurice started the evening with a discussion of the role of Oxford in the nation’s consciousness and the myths around its contribution or otherwise to the war effort in World War Two.
He played a BBC excerpt from the programme “Rogue Heroes” which exemplified the usual idea of war heroes. However, as he pointed out, all their equipment and weaponry was actually manufactured by equally committed individuals who are far less lionised.
And so, the theme of the evening was how the contribution of the Cowley Motor Works became instrumental in the war effort in a way which is often underestimated.
William Morris and Morris Motors at Cowley
Maurice covered the development of the Cowley works through the story of William Morris and his creation of a major manufacturing business from early beginnings. [ A story also told here : Morris Metropolis ] . With the advent of World War One, William Morris’ enterprise engaged in war work. This included the making of mine sinkers for the Royal Navy in large quantities.
After the First World War, in the 1920s there was a major expansion. This included, in 1926, the building of the Pressed Steel factory which created a huge demand for labour. Men came from all over the UK and especially from South Wales, building the centre of gravity of the population of Oxford eastwards around the villages of Barton, Headington and Iffley amongst others.
By the outbreak of World War Two it was clear that the country was ill-prepared and short of arms and equipment, especially of aircraft for the Battle of Britain. At the nation’s low ebb, Dunkirk, things looked bleak.
Wartime Production at Cowley
But as these concerns grew, William Morris (Now Lord Nuffield) acted. In the late 1930s, his company began developing tanks and aircraft engines. When war erupted, the vast Cowley factory transformed once again, this time into an armaments and military equipment production hub.
The output ranged from army trucks, utility vehicles and light reconnaissance vehicles to Cruiser and Crusader tanks. Additionally, the factory produced aircraft components such as engines for the Lancaster bomber, as well as wings and tail units for the Horsa glider. By 1940, Cowley was also making complete Tiger Moth training aircraft for the RAF.
Everyday military essentials, such as wireless communication devices and searchlights, also rolled off the assembly lines – not least, millions of helmets and field canteens for the army. Extraordinarily also, in the field of neurosurgery, the production of metal plates used in surgery for head injuries pioneered by surgeon Hugh Cairns.
Beyond “Production” at Cowley
However, the Cowley factory’s role extended beyond production, and this was a key theme of Maurice’s talk, with extraordinary and copious illustrations of recycling and re-purposing materials from crashed aircraft, both allied and German.
Given the chronic shortage of planes, restoring damaged aircraft was crucial, allowing them to return to the front lines. To manage repairs across the country, the government established the Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO) in secrecy, coordinating repairs in a network of factories and workshops. Lord Nuffield was invited to lead the CRO, initially based at Cowley but later relocated to Merton College in 1940. Repaired sections of aircraft, and sometimes entire planes, were transported to airfields for reassembly and test flights
The Cowley factory specialised in repairing crucial Hurricane and Spitfire fighter planes, along with trainers produced by Miles Aircraft and the Tiger Moths they manufactured. During the intense three months of the Battle of Britain in 1940, the Cowley Unit restored up to 150 planes to active service.
To improve efficiencies and expediate repairs, Cowley Airfield was constructed adjacent to the factory. We even learned that damaged planes were occasionally flown directly to the airfield for “while you wait” repairs, swiftly returning to battle.
We also learned that Cowley served as the hub for a civilian salvage group (50MU), operating seven days a week to collect and transport damaged aircraft and parts for firms participating in the CRO network. Over the course of the war, this unit handled upwards of 12,000 aircraft. Maurice showed us extraordinary pictures of the transporter vehicles used for this work.
However, not all recovered planes could be repaired. The Morris factory housed a “Metal and Produce Recovery Depot” (MPRD), which salvaged badly damaged aircraft from various nationalities for parts and raw materials. For this work, the extraordinary “Cowley Dump,” a sprawling area of mangled wreckage from severely damaged planes, covered 100 acres of adjacent farmland.
Paul Nash “Totes Meer” c. Tate Gallery
Note the wheel of the Dornier plane, replicated in Paul Nash’s painting
These twisted metal piles, organised in blocks and “roads” for easy access, were immortalised in Paul Nash’s 1941 painting titled Totes Meer (Dead Sea), displayed today in the Tate Gallery. Thousands of tons of high-grade aluminium, rubber, steel, and plastics were reclaimed and reused as part of this programme.
By the end of the war, Cowley had more than twice as many employees as it had before the war. Most of these workers were women because of course most of the men in the regular workforce had been drafted into the armed forces.
It was a great blessing that Oxford and the Cowley area was never damaged by bombs. But clearly the workforce at Cowley were instrumental in the eventual victory for the Allies, risking its own set of dangers with commitment, imagination and effort. Maurice’s talk was an eye-opener and indeed pointed to another – and very important – definition of wartime heroism.
About Maurice East
Maurice East was born and raised in Headington Quarry at a time when everyone you met seemed to have a connection to the car factory. His father, grandfather and uncles all worked ‘on the line’. After living in London for many years he returned to Oxford in 2013 and found a city much changed by de-industrialisation.
During lockdown he used his love of local history to develop walking tours which deliberately avoid the typical tales of dreaming spires and instead seek to reflect the overlooked experiences of ordinary Oxonians. This is history from below, less grand but no less exciting. The story of how Cowley helped win World War Two is one of those hidden stories of Oxford.
Subject: ‘Known unto God’: a great War Detective Story
Around 50+ members and guests enjoyed the latest in our season of evening talks, which this time covered the intriguing story of a search for the identity of a particular soldier of the Great War, one of many whose unidentified remains, until the solution was found, made up the over 50% of the fallen whose resting place remains unknown.
Ingram introduced his talk with a quick introduction to the work of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, and the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. He reminded us that Commission has been responsible over the years for the continued task of identification and reburial of the fallen.
Ingram then outlined the full story of his work with the late Tom Shannon, on one soldier, an officer of the Oxfordshire and Buckingham Light Infantry
On May 3, 1917, during World War I, the 5th Battalion of the regiment launched an attack against the enemy, who held a fortified trench. Tragically, over 300 officers and men were either killed, wounded, or went missing that day. Among the missing were two young Second Lieutenants who were never found.
Fast forward ninety-six years, and a local farmer stumbled upon the remains of a body. Artefacts found alongside the body, including a button, whistle, pocket watch, and uniform fragments, indicated that the deceased was an officer from the 5th Battalion. However, the officer’s identity remained a mystery at that time.
Ingram and Tom dedicated many years on the research. After navigating through numerous false leads, they finally succeeded in identifying the young officer. His name: Osmond Bartle Wordsworth, a great nephew of the renowned poet Wordsworth. In recognition of his sacrifice, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have carried out the reburial.
Ingram Murray grew up in various police states due to his father’s work as a BBC foreign correspondent and involvement in the Political Warfare Executive during World War II.
In 1956, Ingram joined the Royal Engineers, serving in the Middle East during National Service. At Oxford University, he became part of the Airborne Engineer Regiment, eventually commanding the Parachute Engineer Squadron.
His military career took him to Aden, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Germany. Simultaneously, he consulted for the British Railways Board across Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
After retiring, Murray volunteered at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, deeply involved in many of the museum’s important projects. As a trustee of the Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust, he remains active in preserving and sharing historical narratives.
Subject: ‘Common right : private property and how enclosures shaped the Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire landscape’
There was a hectic period of enclosure by Parliamentary Act in the late 18th century which drastically changed the surroundings of many local villages which were still farming using the medieval open fields.
The Enclosure Map in Milton Village Hall
We were pleased to welcome 9 visitors to a gathering of 50+ to hear Deborah’s talk, which attracted some interesting audience questions, as well as a chance to socialise. Members and guests also enjoyed the opportunity to view the Enclosure Map archived in Milton Village Hall.
Viewing the Enclosure Map of Milton under Wychwood
Definition of Terms
Deborah was able to explain that common land is land owned by the general public and to which everyone has unrestricted right of access. However,all common land is private property, whether the owner is an individual or a corporation. Although generally in the past, the owner of the common could have been for example, the lord of the manor, today many commons are owned by local authorities, the National Trust and other bodies for the public benefit. However not all commons offer total access to all comers.
In detail, common right included the following, although there were others:
of pasture: the right to graze livestock; the animals permitted, whether sheep, horses, cattle and such, were specified in each case.
of estovers: the right to cut and take wood (but not timber), reeds, heather, bracken and the like.
of turbary: the right to dig turf or peat for fuel.
in the soil: the right to take sand, gravel, stone, coal and other minerals.
of piscary: the right to take fish from ponds, streams and so on.
These rights related to natural produce, not to crops or commercial exploitation of the land.
Common Land Over Time
In her talk, Deborah demonstrated how the landscape changed over the course of 300 years. She showed the contrast in the total area of common land over time. In the late 17th century, perhaps 25-30% of the land in England was Common (or 8-9 million acres). By the mid-20th century only 4000 commons were recorded. These had an acreage of 1 – 1.3 million acres, much of which is to be found in Scotland and Wales, and the English North West.
We learned some of the key reasons over time which drove these massive changes. We started in the Middle Ages, when benign 12th century weather patterns morphed into harsher climate conditions in the next 100 years. This was a time which also included the massive depopulation of the country due to the Black Death, which caused de facto changes in land use as villages depopulated or disappeared altogether.
Open Field System
The open field system grew from these changes, through which common right became established. An example of the open field system still extant today is at Laxton in Nottinghamshire, but we do also see in the landscape in parts of the country, the visible signs of that system in the ridge-and-furrow in fields which have seen little of the plough.
Copy of part of the original Mark Pierce map of the Laxton Estate 1635
Enclosure thus was not always problematic. On the whole, agreements between land owners and a parish about enclosure were not by any means acrimonious, and in the 16th and 17th centuries we can find documents in the Chancery which show positive and settled working agreements.
But we learned that by the 18th century changes in agricultural practices – as improved crop rotation, additional land requirements for growing populations, and improved drainage systems, all conspired to create a drive to top-down efficiencies and so a commensurate diminution of common rights.
A key event was the ‘Inclosure Consolidation Act’ of 1801 which really spelt massive compromises to common rights. Much parliamentary enclosure took place throughout the first half of the 19th century, and so for example counties such as Oxfordshire found themselves at an epicentre of enclosing activity. Curtailment of rights and rural depopulation became watchwords.
Deborah took us though examples and exceptions to this general flow of history, with many maps and illustrations around field and road definitions which gave insights into the reasons for the look our landscapes today.
Included in her examples was the eventual loss of much of the Wychwood Forest, and intriguingly, the fact that Milton (1848) and Shipton (1852) came late in the cycle of enclosure activity. Why so late? she asked. Why indeed, Historians!
About Deborah Hayter
Deborah has an MA from Leicester University’s Department of English Local History, and has been teaching Local and Landscape History in Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education for some 20 years.
She is first and foremost a landscape historian, looking to answer the question ‘Why do places look like they do?’, but she has also taught courses on village history and on the history of poor relief, which is a particular interest.
Subject: ‘Cemeteries of Oxford : more than a Century of History’
26 members with 4 guests attended our first talk of the year, a fair attendance for a cold January evening.
Our speaker was Trevor Jackson, who had previously given us a talk on the history of RAF Brize Norton. This time his subject took us through the history and development of the cemeteries in Oxford.
Background
Between 2005 and 2017 Trevor was the Registrar and Manager of Oxford City’s cemeteries at Wolvercote, Botley, Rose Hill and Headington. He and his team were also responsible for maintaining the grounds of 11 closed Anglican churches in the city. Trevor came to the work after 30 years with the RAF, which included work around the repatriation of war dead from overseas operations, and the attendant management of service funerals.
Trevor Jackson’s Team
Nineteenth Century Developments
Trevor’s talk took us through the reasons for the establishment and development of the cemeteries at Osney and St Sepulchre (Jericho) in the mid 19th century. In addition to the effects of regular cholera outbreaks, there were other capacity issues in existing cemeteries, where the practice of “continuous burials “ was no longer sustainable. However, both new cemeteries filled rapidly, with continuing cholera outbreaks, and so were closed to new burials from 1855.
New Capacity
For new capacity, land was sequestered in the late 1880s to create the three cemeteries of Rose Hill, Botley and Wolvercote, with a further cemetery established at Headington in 1928.
Retaining Wall Examples
Using these examples, we learned something of the structural maintenance of cemeteries, using retaining walls and careful monitoring of underground subsidence and the attendant danger of falling monuments, and also the layouts to include specific areas for children and victims of sudden infant mortality.
Some Highlights
Sobering subjects indeed, but intermixed with these realities, we had insights into the use of the cemeteries as filming locations – including the filming of “Any Human Heart” which transformed Rose Hill cemetery to a New York location, and also an episode of the TV series “Endeavour” at Headington.
“Any Human Heart”- at Rose Hill
We looked at the chapel architecture for each of the four cemeteries, including gate lodges which have now become private dwellings, as well as some biodiversity initiatives amongst the necessary ground maintenance work.
War Graves at Botley
A Remembrance Sunday at Botley
Grave of Edward Brooks VC at Rose Hill
Trevor’s talk also took in stories of individual WW2 service personnel, and something of the Commonwealth War Graves, particularly at Botley. We also learned of some famous names whose resting place is at the large Wolvercote Cemetery, which has the graves of JRR Tolkien, Sir Roger Bannister and Isaiah Berlin.
Grave of JRR Tolkein at Wolvercote
The evening was a fair mixture indeed, with no small amount of dark humour to make for an educational and entertaining time.
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