Romsley & Hunnington History Society -

Meeting Report - May 2017

Fifty people attended the Annual General Meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society on Tuesday 23rd May. Paul Share, the Chairman, thanked Julian Hunt for all his enthusiasm, energy and financial support he has given to the Society. He said that the Society had had a very busy and successful year, the highlight being the Exhibition in the Church Hall, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Society. The Court Rolls Group had held regular meetings and hoped to publish their findings this year. Jean Cockin was thanked for all her hard work recording the reminiscences of the older villagers.

Koviljka Riley, the Secretary, said that they hoped to upgrade the Society's website and Ruth Harper, the Treasurer, said that financially, the Society was healthy and the subscriptions would remain at £6.00. Robert Andrews, who books the speakers, said that they had a very interesting programme of talks for the coming year.

After the formal business, Julian Hunt, our President, gave a fascinating talk on "Romsley and Hunnington in 1939." 78 years ago, at the beginning of the Second World War, the Government ordered that a Register of all the men, women and children should be made, a sort of inventory of the people. This was to help with the war work and the distribution of National Identity Cards.

These records have been preserved and Julian took us on a journey, with the aid of his computer, looking at the 1939 Register for Romsley and Hunnington. He began at the Toll House, going up the hill, around the village, over the hill and as far as the Manchester Inn. The records noted the address, names, members of each household, their ages, date of birth, their occupation, and the place where they worked. In some cases it recorded the dates of marriage of single women and their maiden name.

This is a rich resource for historians and gives us a vivid picture of life in our villages in 1939. Many of the people were born in the late 19th Century. Their occupations and places of work vary, some were near and some further away. In September 1939, many of the married women did not go out to work but stayed at home to look after the children and the house. Their occupations were recorded, rather ambiguously, as having, "Unpaid domestic duties"! The records might have shown a marked difference at the end of the war, when women undertook the men's work, as they were fighting overseas. The Register also showed that people had extra jobs. The Rector was a reserve Ambulance Driver and A.R.P. Wardens were also recorded.

We saw from Julian's photographs that almost all of the houses, known by their names and not their numbers, are still standing today and are now our homes. I wonder if in 78 years time, members of the Society will be looking up in the records, all the details of our lives in 2017! We had a very interesting evening.

There will be a meeting of the Court Rolls Group on Wednesday 14th June at 2.30pm, in the Church Hall. The next meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday, June 27th, at 7.30pm, in the Church Hall, when Tim Bridges will be giving a talk on, "Victorian and Edwardian Buildings of Birmingham and the Black Country." We then have a break until September 26th when Paul Harding and Helen Lee give a talk on, "Medieval Medicine and Surgery." Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Meeting Report - April 2017

There were 54 members and visitors present at the meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society on Tuesday, 25th April. Our speaker's reputation had gone before him and we were delighted to welcome, once again, Max Keen, who gave a talk on "Richard III".

Max made his dramatic entrance dressed in armour, with threatening weapons, and declared himself a supporter of Richard III. Richard, who has always been a bit of an enigma, was in the news recently when his body was found, buried beneath a car park in Leicester. We could see from Max's photograph of his skeleton that he did have a deformity as depicted by Shakespeare, but Max put forward the idea that not all that has been written about his life was necessarily true and many assumptions were certainly false! Perhaps he was one of the first victims of "Fake News"!

As Max explained, England in the 15th Century was in a state of unrest. The War of the Roses was in full force and there was brotherly rivalry within the Royal Family, with hints of illegitimacy. There was also the unexplained mystery of the "Princes in the Tower" and consequently the ultimate prize, the Crown of England, was at stake! However, Max has a knack of making all the characters and intrigues of history come alive and his tales are full of the unexpected. Only he could demonstrate the tactics of a battle by using his arms and elbows!

Richard's reign, which lasted only two years, ended in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth, which Henry Tudor won, together with the Crown. Two years is not long, but Richard set in motion several policies such as the granting of bail and preventing the intimidation of juries, which are still in place today. Max gave a dramatic and fascinating talk and we all look forward to his next visit to the History Society.

Future events for your diary:

• The next meeting of the History Society will be the Annual General Meeting on 23 May, when Julian Hunt will give a talk on "Romsley and Hunnington in 1939."
• The Annual Dinner will take place on 2nd June at Churchill and Blakedown Golf Club and on the 19th July there will be a visit to and guided tour of Croome Park.
• The next meeting of the Court Rolls Group will be on Wednesday 14th June at 2.30pm in the Church Hall.
• The last meeting of the season will be on Tuesday 27th June at 7.30pm in the Church Hall when Tim Bridges will give a talk on, "Victorian and Edwardian Buildings of Birmingham and the Black Country." Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Meeting Report - March 2017

Forty-nine people attended the meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society held on Tuesday 28th March, when Michael Pearson gave an interesting talk, illustrated with slides, taken from his book, "The Black Country in the Great War." Although most of the 1914 to 1918 War took place in Europe, it had an enormous effect on the lives of the people in the Black Country.

In 1914 many of the young men were called up to fight and they were drafted into the South Staffordshire or Worcestershire Regiments. This was probably the first time they had left their homes and certainly the first time they had travelled abroad, many of them never to return.

The "Black Country" was already an important centre for industry and never more so, now that the country was at war. The new weapon of destruction, the Tank, was made and tested for the first time in Wednesbury and Oldbury. Many of the factories began making shells and ammunition. The men had all gone to war and so the women, who up until then had worked in domestic service, had to work in the factories, as bank clerks, and even had to drive the trams, which was considered highly dangerous! This gave the ladies a new sense of independence, which resulted in them being allowed to vote.

The production of food became a priority, and everyone was encouraged to grow vegetables and produce more eggs for the Troops, as they realised that good nutrition was essential.

In 1915 the Black Country was subjected to German Zeppelin airship raids, and many lives were lost. Even in those hard times, there was a great deal of fundraising to support the troops, and the great spirit of the Black Country people rose above all the devastation and deprivation, until the war ended in 1918.

Paul Share, our Chairman, sadly announced the death of Barbara Lay, who together with her husband, Edmund, were two of the first members of the History Society.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 25th, at 7.30pm in the Church Hall, when Max Keen will give a talk on, "Richard III." The Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday, 23rd May when the speaker will be our President, Julian Hunt. Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Meeting Report - Nov 2016

Over 50 members attended the meeting of the Romsley & Hunnington History Society on Tuesday 22nd November. The speaker was Max Hunt who gave a talk on, "Herbert Austin and the Longbridge Story". Most of the audience knew of the Austin Motor Works and its role as one of the largest employers of the local workforce, but Max gave us an insight into how the works began and the amazing range of products manufactured over the years.

Max and his brother, Julian, grew up in Romsley and he remembers the male population of the area catching the train at Hunnington Station to go to work at the car factory at Longbridge. The instigator of that factory was Herbert Austin. Herbert was born in England in 1866 and from an early age he was interested in mechanical things. After a short spell in Australia where he got married, he designed a sheep shearer. He came back to England to live in Birmingham and developed an interest in designing cars, working for the Wolseley Company for a time.

In 1905 he decided to branch out on his own and bought an old factory site at Longbridge. Before long he had 270 employees and was producing Austin Cars. The 1914 war intervened and the factory took on many women workers and began to make aeroplanes and armoured cars as part of the war effort.

Herbert Austin always looked after his workforce and in order to encourage more workers, he had houses built in Austin Village. After the war he employed Stanley Howard Edge, a young designer, to produce a small family car and in 1923 the Austin 7 was born. This car became very popular and the basic car appeared in many disguises, as vans, London Taxis and even a racing car! The range of cars grew as cars became more popular as a means of transport and Italian designers were brought into the factory. Herbert Austin was knighted in 1938 and became known for his support of Cancer Research.

The Second World War saw Hurricane and Lancaster planes being made at Longbridge but sadly Herbert died in 1941. From then on the factory had a very chequered history. It had many different owners and some success. By 1965 it had produced a million Austin Minis. Gradually the factory fell into decline and one wonders what Herbert Austin would have made of all the changes. Max, an obvious car enthusiast himself, illustrated his talk with photographs which showed the development of the Motor Car over the years.

Everyone enjoyed the talk and discovered so much more about the factory which had given so much employment to local people.

There will be no meeting in December or January. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 28th at 7.30 in the Church Hall, when Derek Clarke will be giving a talk on, "Repair Work at the old Naval College in Greenwich." Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans

Meeting Report - Oct 2016

There were about 40 members of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society present at the meeting on Tuesday 25th October. The speaker was Diana Clutterbuck, who gave a talk on "The Young Diarist of Hartlebury."

Diaries are fascinating as they reveal the innermost thoughts and feelings of the writer. Perhaps the most famous diarist was Samuel Pepys, and the subject of the talk was a 10 years old girl, Emily Pepys, a distant relative.

Emily was born in 1833 and her father was the Bishop of Worcester. The family came to live in Hartlebury Castle, the Bishop's Palace. Emily and her three brothers and sisters were privileged, upper class children. Her family socialised with the local aristocracy and balls, parties and dancing played a large part in her life. The whole family had a love of music and her father supported the Worcester Music Festival.

Emily was educated at home by her mother. She kept her diary, in beautiful handwriting, for 6 months between 1844 and 1845. She wrote about every day games with her brothers and sister and the dread thought of the new French Mistress her mother thought might be good for her!

She also gives us an insight into the lives of how the other half of the people lived. She writes of a visit she took with her mother to a Mrs Clarke, who lived in a poky cottage with her six children, at a rent of £5.00 a year. They had taken some baby clothes for the latest baby and she seems to have enjoyed giving to the poor as she says she would like to be a clergyman's wife, when she grew up.

In fact she did marry a clergyman, the Hon. Rev. William. H. Lyttelton, in 1854. He was the Rector of Hagley, and they lived there until her death in 1877, but sadly they didn't have any children. The Diary is now back in Hartlebury Museum, giving us a glimpse of Victorian life of both rich and poor, through the eyes of a child.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 22nd November at 7.30pm, in the Church Hall, when Max Hunt will give a talk on, "Herbert Austin and the Story of Longbridge." There will be no meeting in December or January and then on Tuesday 28th February 2017, Derek Clarke will give a talk on, "Repair Work at the Old Naval College in Greenwich." Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans