The Rothschilds and the RAF Connection

Halton House - The Seat of Alfred Charles de Rothschild

In the 19th century the Rothschild family family settled in the Vale of Aylesbury - extending into Hertfordshire in the Tring area. One of their slpendid houses, built by Alfred Charles de Rothschild was at Halton, just over the county boundary into Buckinghamshire.

When the First World War broke out Alfred made his couse and grounds available to the army. The initial army camp was used to train soldiers in Kitchiner's new army, but soon became a base for what was to become the Royal Air Force.

Halton Army Camp in 1914

There will be an open days on Sunday 10th September between 10 am and 4 pm. Halton House (now the Officers Mess, RAF Halton)  will be open  providing a rare opportunity to see the interior of Halton House, built by Alfred de Rothschild in 1883, a lasting reminder of Victorian decorative taste.In addition a  shuttle bus will run between Halton House, the Trenchard Museum, (where more can be learnt about the history of the RAF Station and RAF’s Apprentice Scheme), and the James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre.  Transport will be provided between Halton House and the reconstructed First World War trenches.

Further details about the house can be found at http://www.haltonhouse.org.uk 

Halton update - with Army Camp Photographs.

While Halton is in Buckinghamshire there was a major army camp there during the First World War and there were strong connections with Tring. I recently acquired this card and in adding it to the web site I discovered other cards of the camp and the war which had not yet been posted online. I have therefore used the opportunity to restructure the Halton page - so there are now three linked pages - one deals with Halton House and the Church, the second with the canal, and the third had pictures of the army camp.

Tring News on 20th March, 1915

Military

While there were a large number of troops billeted in and around Tring the main military news in the local section of the paper was that there had been two concerts for their entertainment. One was put on by Mrs Williams at Pendley Manor and the other was arranged by the Soldiers' Entertainment Fund and held in the  Medical Inspection Hall (now the Victoria Hall). However in the main part of the paper, covering Aylesbury, there are indications that billeting is to end in April, and the soldiers will be moving on.

Old News

One of the soldiers, based in nearby Aston Clinton was before the court for driving a car with no lights and one can only wonder if the police were tightening up after the accident in which two soldiers had been killed a week or so earlier. One may also wonder if some of the road repairs deemed necessary were due to the wear and tear due to the number of troop movements in the area, and the construction of the camp at Halton.

Tring

In normal years local gardeners would be able to compete for prizes in events such as the Tring Agricultural Show, but many had been cancelled, However the Daily Mail had announced a grand show of vegetables in London in September, and Arthur Dye, of Tring Park Gardens, was co-ordinating entries for the area.

On the religious front the Baptist Church at New Mill had meetings supporting the Baptist Missionary Society while the Baptist Chapel at  Wigginton celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Sunday school.  There was also the usual order of services for the Parish Church.

Easter was being celebrated in a different was by W. Brown & Co, auctioneers - who were inviting entries to the Tring Easter Fat Stock Show and Sale - and they were also to sell off a baker's tools and trade utensils - including a dough mixer, a cake making machine, and a waggonette and a useful tradesman's horse.

Surnames: Ariston, Bagnall, Baker, Birch, Brooks, Brown, Clark, Curtis, Dell, Downes, Dye, Eggleton, Fulks, Gomme, Groome, Hazell, Heading, Hemmens, Hutton, Kirby, Kirk, Lang, Locke, Longman, Mather, Mullins, Page, Rothschild, Rowe, Sait-Knight, Swann, Taylor, Thorne, Ward, West, White, Wilding, Williams, Winterton

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 20th March, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive

Tring News 23rd January 1915 - Wartime activities and killing sparrows.

Military

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 23rd January, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive
Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index 

Tring The training of the men in the 21st Division continued, and they remained in local billets while the construction of the Halton Camp (described in detail) continued. The Y.M.C.A. facilities for the troops billeted in Tring continued with an evening of entertainment in the Museum annex. The Bucks Herald also reported details of the concert organised by the Aldbury Choral Society. One of the singers was Captain Vivian D. Williams of the 5th Dragoons, who was back in England recovering from wounds he had sustained in France. Two soldiers from the 13th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (who were billeted in the village) also preformed. At the Parish Church the Rev. Rainbow gave a talk describing the Church Army's contribution to the war effort. There was a recruiting advertisement showing the Royal Field Artillery in action, and it may well be that the number of men joining up explains why Herbert Grange and James Honour of Grove, Tring, were both trying to recruit grooms. The St John Ambulance Association was planning to set up a local Ambulance Division and the paper lists 13 local men who recently qualified for a first aid certificate, carefully failing to name the one in the class who failed. The Tring and district Sparrow Club held their annual meeting at the Rose and Crown and it was reported that during the year bounty had been paid for 9,302 sparrows heads. There was a big wedding at All Saint's Church, Long Marston when  Miss Edith Ives, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Roberts, married Mr. A. Proctor, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. John Proctor - and there is a long list of those who gave presents. Mrs J Batchelor died and was buried only a week after the death of her husband. Another death was that of Alice Osborn of 70 Akeman-street, Tring. A new organist was appointed at Tring Parish Church, and there was a fund-raising talk on the  Baptist Missionary Society at the High Street Baptist Church.

Tring at War: Latest News 2nd January, 1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald

Tring

The section headed "TRING in 1914" starts with the words "The most memorable year which this generation has known or is likely know. has just come to an end. Tring at the beginning of 1914, was an obscure little country town, pursuing its quiet, uneventful way. To-day it is a centre of military activity." and much of the current week's news is typical what one might expect of an obscure little country town. The Churches did what churches do at Christmas, the local Slate Clubs paid up, three girls passed their music exams. Lord Rothschild distributed hampers to the children in nearby Marsworth (just over the county boundary into Bucks). Hunting was still continuing as normal, S.C.Holdaway was selling a full range of Horrockses striped and plain flannelettes and you could buy Harrison's Hair Colour Restorer from A. G. Wright. And of course there was a funeral to report, Mrs Percy Mead having died at her home in Gubblecote.

Military

While the soldiers were still in town, and are mentioned in the review of 1914, the only current events described are the Christmas gifts of cigarettes to the soldiers in the two military hospitals, and the concert in the Tennis Court at Pendley Manor. Some of the soldiers seemed to have missed out on parcels from the mining towns in Northumberland - but to learn of this Tring problem you needed to read the Newcastle Journal.

While the military camp at Halton was in Bucks, the 21st Division H.Q. was in Tring, but for the latest news relating to the poor state of the roads to the camp one has to look under the High Wycombe News.

Because the newspaper straddles the county boundary it is weak of more general news relating to Hertfordshire and the Bucks Herald did not mention the following report which appeared in a number of papers, such as the Liverpool Daily News:

HERTFORDSHIRE CASUALTIES Official communication was received yesterday at the headquarters of the First Hertfordshire Regiment (Territorials), at Hertford announcing that Lance-SergeantT. E. Gregory, of Watford, and Private Percy Suggins, ofWare, were killed in action on Christmas Day. The fighting took place at a point where only twenty yards separated the British and German trenches. This is the second time the Herts Territorials have been under fire.

Extracted from the Bucks Herald, 2nd January, 1915

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Tring at War - Latest News 19th December, 1914

Christmas in Tring is looking good, as the the decision to based the headquarters of the 21st Division in the town, and the billeting of some 3,000 men now means that the shops are busy, although they would be even busier if local people shopped locally rather than in London. The paper was full of Xmas adverts and Tring Consolidated Charities distributed tickets for bread and coal. Over £25 was raised at the Tring Stock Sale for the Belgium Relief Fund and the big local news was the death of Dr Brown. There are brief mentions of the success of  Evelyn A. Freeman and Norah Jeffery in music exams, the vocalists at the Gem cinema, a lecture by the Rev. E. J. Whitman at the Baptist Chapel at Wigginton,  and the fact that Mr. H. W. Bishop, of Pendley, was a judge at the Smithfield Show.

     The military plans to use the High Street Schools as a military hospital were  progressing, which will allow them to vacate the Victoria Hall. Several Councillors launch an appeal for Xmas gifts for the soldiers in the hospital. Meanwhile military training carries on in the area. The nearby village of Marsworth provides a list of men from the parish serving in the armed forces. The very rainy weather was causing problems in the construction of the large army camp just over the county boundary at Halton, where "The continual heavy rains have, if anything, added to the wretched conditions that prevail, and the roads in the vicinity of the camp are almost impassable to anything but heavy motor vehicles." These problems may be why James Putnam was offering 30/- a week, plus lodgings, for "Pair and Single Horse Drivers" to work at the camp. Elsewhere in the paper there is a mention of the problems farmers are having with preparing the fields for the crops because so many farm workers have volunteered for the forces. [Later in the war a single track narrow gauge line was built between Wendover Station and the camp]

     Bombardier P. Seabrook, 35th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, son of Mr. Edwin Seabrook, of Albert-street, wrote home and while such letters do not normally mention the location or the fighting he can report that "Yon can read of my Battery in the Daily Mail of Nov. 26th. The heading 'Sticking to the Guns.' and 'The Heroic Defence of --- by a Single Battery commanded Major Christie.'" [Has anyone got a copy???]

Extracted from the Bucks Herald, 19th December, 1914

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Tring at War - 28th November, 1914

Old News

Military

All Tring Public Houses are to be close at 8.30 pm. The 21st Division H.Q. is in the town and the Northumberland Fusiliers have had their leave cancelled! A mortuary, has been erected at the Boys' School to equip it as a military hospital. Troops have been moved out of the Halton camp because of the mud. News of some men from Wigginton who have been fighting at the front.

See Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

And if you want to forget the war why not hire a really up-to-date car

I have also added 1911 census data on all the people mentioned in the news.

Low Water at Startops Reservoir - Picture of the Day on Geograph

Low Water at Startops Reservoir, near Tring, in 2012

It seems somewhat ironic that on January 23rd Geograph selected one of my pictures of the effects of drought on the Tring Reservoirs to be  "Picture of the Day" when a visit I made a few days earlier had shown that all the reservoirs in the area were filled to capacity, much as I reported in a Rural Relaxation note in April last year. This picture shows (not very clearly) part of the medieval ridge and furrow area I reported here on December 3rd 2011 and March 11th 2012.

One of the frustrating things about Geograph's "Picture of the Day" is that the photographer is not told when one of his pictures has been selected and it sometimes appears years after the picture had been added to the web site. (I posted the above picture on January 24th 2012)  I know two other pictures of mine have been selected in the past - but there may have been others.

The first was this picture of tulips round a war grave in the churchyard at Halton, Bucks, near Tring, which I took in 2009, together with other pictures of the church and village.

The other was this view of  barges moored on the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth on a frosty winter morning in December 2012.

Some more about Halton

Halton is just over the county boundary into Buckinghamshire, and paid an important role in the First World War as it hosted a military camp which trained pilots - and the camp is now RAF Halton. I have now added two new post cards. The first shows the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal  at Halton which records the fact that Lord Kitchener's New Army is based on Alfred Rothschild's estate - so must have been published circa 1915. 

The same view in 2009

The second is a view of part of Wendover Woods (where I regularly used to take my dog Franci for a walk) in which some of the camp huts can be seen between the trees.

Halton and the Northumberland Fusiliers, WW1

I have posted a new view of Halton House from a post card from 1914. While the date is not clear the card was sent to Northumberland and in August 1914 the Northumberland Fusiliers were based in Berkhamsted but after a couple of weeks moved to Halton. Later in the war it became a flying school - and part of the Royal Air Force.

In addition to the card I have also added to the Halton page thumbnail links to a number of modern pictures of modern Halton.