Category: Talks and Events

The society’s first talk of the 2021/22 season was held in the Village Hall – our first opportunity to meet socially since early 2020 and the beginning of the Covid restrictions. An attendance of 25+ made for an enjoyable gathering. The speaker was David Young on the subject of the founding and development of Primitive Methodism in the 19th Century.  The success of the evening was demonstrated by the fact that we ran out of time before we ran out of questions – a sure sign that the group had been fully engaged.

Though David’s focus was on the growth of the movement in Northern Hampshire, the story is one which certainly influenced life in villages throughout the country. In our case, the Primitive Methodists established a firm foothold in the Wychwoods area from the 1830s onwards, their main local chapel being built in Milton in 1834, followed by the new chapel of 1860, still standing in The Square. In 1851 their regular weekly attendance was reported to be 110 people. For nearly 100 years they were a significant feature of life in our area; there were also Primitive Methodist Chapels locally in Lyneham, Fifield, Chilson, Churchill, Burford, Charlbury and Chipping Norton.

David’s talk charted the character of the Primitive Methodist movement, summarising the influence of leading preachers – male and female – as he did so. We learned that Primitive Methodism broke out from within Wesleyan Methodism. Its birthplace was in an area on the Staffordshire and Cheshire borders. A day-long open-air meeting of prayer and preaching took place on Sunday 31st May on a hill called Mow Cop, and it is generally accepted that this was the starting point from which all else followed. Dramatic and charismatic in style, the effects of such “camp meetings” as they were called disturbed the Wesleyan authorities. When such meetings proliferated in other locations, the movement was disowned and so became separated from the parent body.

Additionally, we learned that government authorities were wary of such gatherings and their effects – this after all was an age which had seen uprisings and the politics of revolution at home and abroad, and such large and impassioned gatherings were looked on with concern. Leading preachers, we learned, were John Ride, Thomas Russell, Edward Bishop, all of whom were imprisoned for their preaching.

This was evangelical Methodism and true revival, with many conversions especially (in Hampshire) among agricultural labourers, the word ‘primitive’ denoting their intention to be loyal to the original (that is primitive) Methodism of John Wesley.

The revival movement spread from Mow Cop to Wiltshire and Berkshire into Hampshire, first in the Bourne Valley, then to Micheldever, near Winchester and (from Reading) the Silchester area.

Progress into Hampshire developed from the establishment of “Circuits”. These were focal points of evangelical activity, exemplified on the Berkshire/Hampshire border by the Great Shefford Circuit in 1831 which was the centre of 60 “preaching places” – often homes or barns – and could count almost 1300 followers by 1833. A major highlight of the expansion Eastwards and Southwards was an 1834 camp meeting at Micheldever, which attracted 5-6,000 people and which was a beacon which established the Basingstoke Circuit, a circuit in which Elizabeth Smith was firmly involved, one of many named female preachers of the times.

David’s talk took us through images of the many chapels which were built to house the growing congregations in villages he had personally visited, and demonstrated often with good humour, the character of the work carried out in these places.

Much more of the history of Primitive Methodism can be found in the links below, and we are grateful to David for making the trip from Wrexham to present us with an interesting and absorbing history of 19th century non-conformism.

Further Information

David Young’s Website on Primitive Methodism

Youtube Video example here

The society’s final talk of the season was by Carol Anderson, who is a County Museums Officer in Oxfordshire’s County Council Cultural Service. Her talk on glove making in the west of Oxfordshire was attended by over 50 participants, the numbers including guests from the Charlbury History group.

Carol’s talk began with a reminder that gloves of all descriptions and functions have been with us throughout history. Silk gloves were found in the pyramids of ancient Egypt. They have been found in military tomb effigies and were a feature of medieval jousting and courtly life. Gloves have had diverse functions during the ages, from acting as statements of wealth and high fashion (especially for example in Elizabethan times) through to the obvious function of hand protection for hard labour.

Carol focused on the heyday of glove production in our region, which developed gradually from the 13th Century where production was developing strongly in London, Worcester, and Oxford. Early manufacture of leather gloves was a major activity in Woodstock in the early 15th century and well established in the whole region a century later, drawing on the deerskins in abundance in the Wychwood forest and of course drawing also on the burgeoning sheepskin and wool production of the Cotswolds.

During the Napoleonic Wars, production of gloves for military use was protected by tariffs and taxes on imports, but by the 1820/30s these regulations started to change and the story of supply became more complex. Imports from Europe, mainly France stared to affect home production. However, by the mid-19th Century things improved once again, and these years and into the 20th Century were the real heyday for production in the west Oxfordshire region.

It was surprising to many of us that the scale of the activity around glove making was as large as it was in these years, when the fortunes of the industry revived. Carol presented a map of the area with graphics to show the percentages of the female population in each village employed as home workers. Every village was represented in some way, including Leafield and Wootton as worthy of mention. We learned for example that 75% of the women in Stonesfield were home based “Gloveresses” working around family commitments and supporting the household budget, especially during times of hardship caused by changes in work patterns in agriculture.

We learned about the process of manufacture, divided squarely between the heavy “men’s work” and the more delicate tasks carried out by women folk. Men worked in factories as tanners, cutters, dyers and sorters. Many of these roles required a long apprenticeship of up to 5 years. Charlbury and Woodstock were important centres for this activity.

In the second half of the 19th century with the development of the railways, more organised factory patterns of activity were emerging. By 1852 for example we learned that projects in Charlbury had a thousand people engaged in the trade. In passing we learned half of the Ascott Martyrs women were “Gloveresses”. And into the 20th Century with growing external investment and the development of machinery, the work of the women became more and more focussed into factories. A more centralised logistics for production and distribution had emerged.

The arrival of World War Two and the social changes afterwards spelt the beginning of a decline in the industry which had sadly disappeared completely by 1980. Wartime requisition of factories for armament efforts did not help. Neither did cheap imports from Italy (as an example) help the industry. The reduced interest in gloves as a fashion statement or “Sunday best” at a time of declining church attendance for example, and even the impact of the improvements in motor vehicles which obviated the need for driving gloves to combat the cold, was chipping away at the market. The writing was clearly on the wall when the famous manufacturer Dents employed local skills to set up a factory in Malta.

This was an entertaining and wide-ranging survey of an important part of local social history, and was well received by an enthusiastic audience, with many questions raised in the discussion afterwards.

On April 15th 2021 the society hosted a talk by Brigadier David Innes, who spoke movingly and with vivid detail on the life and times of Captain Ralph Kite M.C. of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. The story of this young soldier of the Great War is told in Dr Simon Harris’ book “RBK a Very Parfit Gentil Knight”, and David’s talk drew on that resource.

We learnt of Ralph Kite’s early life as the son of a clergyman, posted to Hobart, Tasmania, and of some surprising contemporaries. These included individuals as diverse as Bernard Montgomery (later of course “Monty” of El Alamein fame) and Errol Flynn, Hollywood icon. We followed Ralph Kite through prep school, public school education and Keble College, and then immediately on to the outbreak of the Great War, where he and so many contemporaries signed up to service.

The core of David’s talk covered the several engagements in which Ralph Kite distinguished himself, especially during Somme battles. We learned through maps and images, some real insights into those battles, and their costs, which only a military expert such as Brigadier Innes can describe dispassionately and sympathetically in equal measure. It was sobering to understand how soon and how quickly such natural leaders as Captain Kite could find themselves promoted to command at such a tender age. Captain Kite was all of 21 years old in 1916.

Without sensationalism, we had many insights into the practicalities of war and training for war, including the use of telescopic sights in sniper warfare, and the need to train up troops in the art of handling grenades. The grenades of the time were rudimentary and often more dangerous to the handler than the enemy.

Amidst it all of course, were the stories of friends and colleagues lost in battle. These stories were moving indeed. The circumstances of Ralph Kite’s injury and subsequent decline is a story not necessarily of neglect, but certainly from a 21st Century perspective, avoidable. His death from wounds in December 1916 at a base hospital in Le Treport was described with great reverence by David Innes’ wife, reading from the diary – discovered many years later – of the nurse who witnessed Ralph Kite’s passing.

This was a memorable and information-rich evening.

About David Innes
Brigadier David Innes was the first commanding officer of the 5th Battalion Royal Green Jackets, a new Territorial Army battalion raised in the mid-1980s and based in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Away from work and following his earlier military career, David held the honorary position of Lieutenant of The Queen’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard. This saw him take part in several state occasions a year, including searching the cellars of Parliament for any latter-day Guy Fawkes! David is also a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Hampshire. He is also a director of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock.

The society’s third Zoom talk – and its first of the new year programme – was well-attended and was another enjoyable evening. 35 members were present, with a good number of additional guests.

The talk this time was on “Ellen Hinde and the Prebendal“, and was given by Simon Batten of Bloxham School, and prolific writer of books and articles. These include his latest book which covers the British Army’s preparations for the First World War. This won the Arthur Goodzeit Award for 2018 from the New York Military Affairs Symposium. Simon studied Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford and has taught History at Bloxham since 1985. He also coaches rugby and fives and is the school historian and archivist.

A full transcript of the talk is available as a PDF to download here.

For those of us who expected perhaps a focus on the development of the Prebendal from its early days to its current incarnation as a care home, the talk took a surprising and fascinating detour. Yes, we had the outline history, but the focus on the particular story of the redoubtable Ellen Hinde’s brush with the law became the focus of the evening.

The subtitle to the talk “A storm in a teacup” gave the hint. With it, Simon’s talk pulled together – inter alia – themes of food shortages in World War One and emergency legislation by the Government under pressure. It showed social norms being challenged when otherwise upstanding figures find themselves on the wrong side of peer approval. We learned of a court case which moved from Chadlington Magistrates to the Court of Appeal – a case which hinged more or less on the definition of “food”.

We are grateful to Simon Batten for a lively presentation of a singularly interesting time in the long history of the Prebendal.

The Prebendal Featured by WLHS

The following links cover some references to the Prebendal on our website:

The society is pleased to report on the success of its second online presentation and talk for its 2020/21 series. The session took place on November 19th. In a new initiative for us, we were joined by members of the Charlbury group as part of a reciprocal exchange. This swelled our numbers to make a pleasant and and enjoyable gathering.

The talk this time was on the battle of Edgehill, given by the battlefield expert David Beaumont, who has been part of the Kineton local history group for 30 years. He was involved in the comprehensive survey of the Edgehill battlefield for over 2 years and has surveyed other battle sites. His in-depth knowledge was illustrated by maps of the surveyed area, showing the meticulous detail of the research carried out.

Meantime, David has spent 18 months with a group translating the Parliamentary Loss Accounts for Warwickshire. This work has given him a great insight into how the battle and the movement of troops through the countryside had a deep and often traumatic effect on village life. The focus on the effects of the battle was sobering, with stories of wholesale plunder of village livelihoods.

A free and interactive visitor exhibition adjacent to the Battle of Edgehill battlefield is permanently installed within the beautiful surroundings of St Peter’s Church in the village of Radway. Details here.

“I was delighted to give the Wychwoods Local History Society’s first zoom talk. Good preparation on the part of the hosts meant that everything went smoothly, and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did”.

Liz Woolley, Oxfordshire Local Historian

The society made its own piece of history on October 15th, with its first venture into the world of video-conferencing – a move towards Zoom technology which for many of us is a new, or relatively new, experience.

This is a short report which we hope will encourage members to join us for future events.

Constrained as we all are these days by the restrictions around social gatherings, the society has deftly re-organised its events schedule for 2020/2021. This has been an interesting and progressive experience, with a great deal of understanding from our speaker line-up. Though it is certainly a compromise solution to current difficulties, we are delighted to be settling into a new pattern for the immediate future. We are certainly delighted too, with the outcome of our very first online Zoom session, which attracted a group of around 25 members to a fascinating and beautifully-constructed talk by local historian Liz Woolley.

Liz has in previous years given us fascinating talks in the comfort of the Village Hall, and her experience both as an expert in her field and her encouragement to us in the use of Zoom made her a perfect choice. Aware as we all are of the changes we have to address, Liz tells us: “Zoom talks are no substitute for the ‘real thing’ but until we can all meet again, lots of Oxfordshire history societies are finding that they are a good way for members to keep in touch and still be able to hear some interesting talks”.

And this of course is quite right – the technology clearly demonstrated its benefits during the online arrivals of individual visitors, many of whom had not seen friends’ faces for months on end. There was certainly plenty of “hubbub” in the lead up to the start of Liz’s talk, and people seemed more and more at ease with it all.

Liz’s talk featured the life and work of Olive Gibbs, the Oxford politician and peace campaigner whose life was a demonstration of a commitment to fairness for all, often at personal cost but always with extraordinary courage and energy. More about the talk is available here >> Olive Gibbs, Oxford politician and peace campaigner

With plenty of Q & A at the end, the evening was lively and entertaining as well as informative. We are grateful to Liz for making this a memorable start to our time with this new format – and of course to all who attended and made the experience so worthwhile.

Please look out for updated details of forthcoming talks on our events page, and please do make contact with the society (members or non-members ) should you have any questions or would like more information about how to join future events. All are welcome!