Great Wyrley (Cheslyn Hay) in the Great War: 1918 (Part 2)

1918: A Scare – Then the End, at Last.

This is the second part of the 1918 story; it looks at the increasing control of the population, the problems with the food supply and making the best use of what was available, the continuing support for the war effort and the day-to-day administration of the township.

The Controlling of the People

There were further changes that need to be focussed on here regarding the control of the population, however, the major one of rationing shall be left to the section on ‘feeling the pinch.’ Before concentrating on some of the legislation that opened out the population further for military or national service work further, we shall look at a case study that contravened DORA and dealt with a little discussed topic up until now – food hoarding.

We know from the Cannock Advertiser (12 January) that homes in the Cannock Rural Area were raided, however, this case, used as it is extensively reported on, takes place in Walsall over late 1917 and early 1918. The case encompasses not only the period where rationing was being discussed, but introduced (sugar, being prevalent in this case, and one of the commodities first rationed); it is bizarre in the fact there was much humour involved and the verdict changed, due to the people involved in the appeal, and the accused was, in such a period of thrift, cheered from the court although clearly guilty.

It is the tale of John Thomas, whose house had been raided by the Walsall Police on 14 December. Victor Crooke (you just can’t make it up), from the Walsall Food Control Committee, decided, on the evidence, to prosecute on 17 December 1917. Found guilty, this small case went to appeal where Thomas, a tuppeny-ha’penny food hoarder from the back of beyond, was defended at the Quarter Sessions by Sir Edward Marshall Hall. Marshall Hall, known as the ‘Great Defender,’ was arguably the greatest barrister in the country at that time.

John was born in Bangor, Wales, in mid-1880, staying there while schooled. In 1901, John would be in Walsall (behind 12 Day Street) in the home of his father’s brother, Frederick. Frederick was a curb chain forger (a curb chain is found on a horses’ headgear), his wife a curb chain filer, and John had become a curb chain forger, which in all likelihood was his introduction to the metal trade and where in the future he would make his money. It is also important to appreciate that John’s family in North Wales had gone on to be involved in sugar, confectionary, baking and butchery, as this may have assisted him in getting a hold of these foodstuffs later.

John’s life in Walsall was to change beyond recognition over the next decade. John moved into scrap metal sometime prior to 1911, as he is described as a buyer of metallic waste and an employer on the census – he had, or later, formed, and was sole proprietor of, the Willenhall Refining and Smelting Company which operated from Summer Street in Willenhall (now Somerford Place).

While he operated from Willenhall, John actually lived in Walsall. He attended St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church and it was here, on 28 June 1909, he married Annie Slater. The couple went on to have four children. John’s business was sufficiently lucrative for the family to live in the mock-Georgian town houses on Victoria Terrace, overlooking the Arboretum lakes. By 1916 the family had moved to 3 St. Pauls Terrace, Walsall, another respectable town house.

We know that his business was thriving, as at some stage John Thomas became at least an agent for, and even possibly a director of, a ‘large metal concern in London,’ which shipped metal and refined copper according to Thomas. Thomas’ connection to this larger, un-named company, likely saw the calling-in of Marshall Hall to protect its name and not that of the Willenhall Refining and Smelting Company.

Things were going so well until 14 December 1917, when Chief Inspector Ballance, with other officers, raided Thomas’ home. A lot of what they found was later described in court: 364 lbs of tea, 125 lbs of sugar, 96 tins of condensed milk, 5 bottles of milk, 71 tins and a barrel (84 lbs) of biscuits, 20 quarters and one half sack of flour, 72 lbs of Quaker oats, 1 hundred weight and 60 packets of peas, 1 hundred weight of lentils, 39 packets of beans, 36 packets of mixed peas and beans, 56 lbs of cheese, 22 bottles of sauce, 112 lbs of syrup and treacle, 14 hams, 4 flitches of bacon (half a pig cut lengthwise), 144 lbs of corned beef, 67 tins of salmon, 21 tins of ox tongue, 96 tins of crab, 12 bottles of meat paste, 12 bottles of fish paste, 160 lbs of nuts, 48 tins of tomatoes, 9 and a half sacks of potatoes, a hundred weight of onions and other items referred to but not mentioned. The Counsel for the prosecution later stated that Thomas was as well stocked as a ‘good-sized grocer’s shop.’

Thomas was hauled before the Court of Summary Justice at the Guildhall. If things didn’t look that great for Thomas before his appearance, they looked even worse when Ballance explained where the goods were located: ‘the articles were found in strange positions – some hidden behind a curtain, some behind bottles of wine, some in bedrooms, some in iron dustbins in the attic, and some in rooms in the cellar which had been bricked-up and whitewashed over.’

The sheer quantities of foodstuffs, along with the fact that some had been bricked-up and whitewashed over, led the court to find Thomas guilty and the seizure of the goods. He was sentenced ‘contrary to the Food Hoarding Order 1917… [to be] imprisoned in His Majesties’ Prison at Birmingham [Winson Green] and there kept to hard labour for the term of six months and that the appellant should pay a fine of £50 forthwith.’ If Thomas failed to pay the £50, his term was to be increased to seven months. Thomas appealed the conviction and the case went to the Walsall Quarter Sessions – the next level of justice – on 18 February 1918.

Both sides called out the big guns: J.J. Powell K.C. appeared on behalf of the Food Control Committee, whereas Edward Marshall Hall K.C. appeared on behalf of Thomas. He opened the proper defence with a general summing-up: he pointed out the Thomas had made no secret of his purchases or what his intentions for them had been, indeed, the barrister pointed out that Thomas had often made a point of telling people about it (for example, Father McDonnell of St Patrick’s Church, that he intended to give the nuts away at the Church’s children’s Christmas party, as he had done before, and announced to the congregation that he intended to dole out the tea, for which he had purchased a quantity of small paper bags for distribution, to the poor if needed). The sugar was intended for jam making.

Marshall Hall then paraded through the witness box what the Recorder (Judge) called a ‘perfect queue’ of character witnesses, from all walks of local society: John Shinton had been the manager of Her Majesty’s Theatre in Walsall, and corroborated the tea story; Thomas Buxton was a lieutenant in the VTC, and testified of Thomas’ intention to make soup for the poor at Christmas; F. Gegg, a bank manager, testified that he had known Thomas for a number of years ‘as a man of great generosity;’ Frederick Hill, a stonemason, responded to Marshall Hall’s question on Thomas’ generosity with ‘he is a bit too generous;’ George Atkinson, a tradesman who had supplied Thomas with goods, said of him that he was ‘eccentrically generous;’ Joseph Ditchfield, the baker who sold Thomas flour, said he ‘never knew anyone like him’ and finally, even Inspector Ballance, who did not know Thomas personally, believed him to be a man of ‘profuse generosity.’

Marshall Hall then called Thomas to the stand in order to answer the accusations of both hoarding and of hiding some of the food. Thomas said he fully expected that food shortages were on the horizon, although he thought they would come in the 1916/1917 period, and as such, he lay a quantity of bully beef aside for soup making, but as the soup wasn’t needed the foodstuffs so far attained just remained in his house. Regarding bulk-buying, Thomas looked after the housekeeping and simply stated that it was a matter of economics, in that it was cheaper to buy in bulk than not, and that what he had obtained was all for charitable distribution when needed.

Finally, on the issue of hiding the food, there was an instance of food found inside a locked safe. Thomas countered by saying that the safe was on his property as the person that purchased it found it too large and so he had taken it. Yes, some food items were inside it, as it was a space to use, but more items were simply on top of it and in the passage way in which it lay than were actually inside it. There was no attempt at concealment.

With the bricked-up and whitewashed walls, Marshall Hall would draw his rapier and dispatch the issue with guile. Marshall Hall attacked it head on – claiming it was very much in Thomas’ character. Clearly, the Recorder found this amusing, as Marshall Hall even said that while ‘the Recorder may smile, he would prove it beyond all question of doubt.’ Marshall Hall fell back on an age-old escape route and, on Thomas’ behalf, did what any self-respecting married man would do – he blamed the wife.  Thomas, he said, returned home from work one day to find Annie ‘entertaining some friends’ using some of the tins of salmon that John had set aside. Thomas was so angry that he went outside, where his handyman/gardener was fixing his greenhouse, and got him to brick it up at once.

The Recorder, swayed by the ‘unshakably credible witnesses’ found for Thomas and this was received with an outburst of applause in the courtroom. Thomas’ prison term was quashed, however, as Marshall Hall had acknowledged, Thomas had, for altruistic purposes or not, breached the Food Order and so his £50 fine stood. He also had to pay the considerable costs of the appeal. As he left the court, he was cheered, during a period where hoarding would have really been looked down upon.

The final score was about right, John Thomas did have altruistic intentions for most of his stashed goods, however, he hedged his bets. Thomas was a God-fearing man and the witnesses do attest to his generosity, but one thing still stands out – if you accept Marshall Hall’s account of the bricking-up up the cellar, why whitewash a wall that was destined to be smashed down again in a short time? Annie clearly knew of the food and the bricking-up of parts of the cellar, so to me there was a clear intent to conceal the food from other prying eyes here. Still, whether he should have avoided jail or not, Thomas did incur a financial loss – including all the food – which was seized and presumably distributed elsewhere.

DORA invaded every person’s life – the Lighting Orders continued throughout the rest of the war as the Cannock area remained subsumed in darkness. Early in 1918, the local population were reminded in the local press that under regulation 41a: ‘all employers… should have sent their monthly return of Form 17 to the Assistant Director of Recruiting, Town Hall, Walsall. The regulation applies to every person who employs one or more male persons of 16 years or over… The detailed statements of all employed persons, if complete, supplies an excellent register of manpower available, not for military service alone, but for every branch of National Service.’ Big Brother, in the form of the government, were watching.

In April, the new Military Service Bill became law: the Bill effectively turned every man under the age of 51-years into a potential soldier, indeed, it gave provision to extend this, if necessary (although it would need a further government vote, except for doctors), to the age of 56. The reason given for such an age, when their own understanding was that men over 40-years were of little use as soldiers, was that the government did not want to produce any more conscription legislation. In truth, what the Bill was probably aiming for was to comb out those younger men in reserved occupations and replace them with men exempted from the new military age. Saying that as the Advertiser said on 27 April, ‘every man who can hold a rifle may be called upon to defend the country.’ Further, those reprieved with exemptions, like John Hart, would be expected to train with the VTC.

Feeling the Pinch

There are two areas that need to be looked at in this section that follow on from both 1917 and 1918 sections on controlling the population: these are the continuation of the communal kitchen idea and, even more importantly, and where we will start, rationing. Food economy had become far more acute in late 1917, with Food Committees being formed to fix local prices (under DORA) and examine availability and distribution of foodstuffs. This was done at a local level and sugar became the first major target.

Over the tail end of 1917 a ‘Sugar Redistribution Scheme’ was devised – which would come into effect on 1 January 1918. First there was the need for public education, and so the scheme was explained in the local press and on posters Cannock district wide. The scheme involved picking up a form from the local Post Office, completing it and handing it in to the Local Food Office where a Sugar Registration Card would be issued that would cover all members of the household. It became an offence to hold two cards – indeed, Rosie Smith, of Cheslyn Hay, was fined over £4 for doing so. This card would then be lodged with a retailer that was required to accept it. This then helped to organise the correct levels of local distribution. As notices in local newspapers began to appear warning of national rationing, the sugar scheme in came into force on 1 January 1918, with ½lb per person, per week.

On 10 January, the Food Committees for Walsall, Walsall Rural, Lichfield, Brownhills, Cannock Urban, Cannock Rural and Short Heath areas held a conference regarding rationing as a whole, which was hosted by Walsall: ‘The Mayor of Walsall presided, and urged the necessity for the Walsall scheme being adopted by surrounding areas. Although they could not guarantee supplies, he said, if a rationing scheme was put into operation there would at least be a fair distribution, and a possibility of obtaining supplies when an actual shortage was known,’ and a lengthy discussion ensued after which Cannock Rural, taking in our locality, proposed ‘to put into operation a scheme for rationing tea, butter and margarine… and that representation be made to the Ministry of Food… as to the urgent nature to put into effect the same scheme [nationally] or at least in the Midlands area’ (Advertiser, 12 January).

The following week (Advertiser, 19 January), at a meeting of the Cannock Rural Food Committee, frustrations were showing. Accusations were being made, at the time of Thomas’ conviction and appeal, though were not followed up, of food hoarding and, worse, there was unequal distribution of the food stuffs with the Rural District itself. F.W. Hawkins of Cheslyn Hay, with Frank Cowern from Great Wyrley in attendance, stated: ‘It was hoarding for one person to have a sack of flour [contrast that with the Thomas case], while other people could get none at all. The miners of the Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley district had not been allowed their food commodities and he, for one, was determined to get better supplies for them.’ The Committee changed their distribution scheme as it was reported that men were going to work with only bread for breakfast as they were not getting the full 4oz of margarine.

The Committee also adopted the resolution proposed at the Walsall conference and reiterated the need for a wider, if not national system, as distribution is hampered by its lacking. The rationing system for tea, butter and margarine went live in the Cannock areas on Monday 28 January (using the same system as the sugar card), with most of the other local Food Committees doing the same; the two Lichfield and the Rugeley committees followed on 11 February. The explanation of the scheme in the press came with the patriotic message that this was supporting the war effort and that ‘we can and must win.’ The distribution programme helped some, at the expense of others – so in the opening weeks Cannock Rural could have supplied its residents with 4oz of margarine per week, however, they had to settle for 3oz as Walsall and Lichfield could only supply 2½oz and so needed help.

In February, meat became the next worry as Hawkins again talked of a shortage in Cheslyn Hay and Mr. Hawthorne stated that in Essington things were so serious that, ‘many miners and their families were entirely without meat.’ A local rationing scheme started in March, but disparities could be seen when Cannock adults were restricted to 1/- of meat per week and Cannock Rural to 1/4d, and complaints that the meat ration should be the same as the Rural one soon followed.

Eventually, formal rationing came in April and in July, due to ever falling production due to dilution in the skill and overall manpower reduction, coal was rationed – fortunately it was the summer months, but winter would come and Cannock Rural District Council had to form another committee to deal with it. Finally, the local rationing and the card system that allowed it to function would be replaced by a national system and the more well-known ration books that controlled it. The books would arrive in July, however, there needed to a period of public education and in June the ration book system was explained on a tour that took in, amongst other places, Cheslyn Hay (the Salem Sunday School, 3 June, 6-8pm), Great Wyrley (Council School, 4 June, 6-8pm) and Essington (Council School, 6 June, 6.30-8pm).

Although never rationed, other commodities became in short supply at times: March would also see the great cheese shortage reported through the Cannock Urban District, which missed the eight to ten tons of non-imported cheese they used to procure, and a shortage in Great Wyrley was written about in the press in September. A report in the Cannock Courier on 30 March claimed that there was a deficit of 38,600 tons of potatoes consumed compared to grown in Staffordshire, presumably over the year, and so new allotments were being sought. In the September, there was even a shortage of pig feed in the Cannock Rural District.

Faced with the stark reality of rationing, poor food distribution and accusations of food hoarding over a sack of flour, the question of communal kitchens was thrust ever further into the spotlight. Whatever the level of support given by Great Wyrley, it was in Cheslyn Hay that programme commenced not only locally, but within Staffordshire. Cheslyn Hay, despite some initial local opposition, provided meals not only to the wider local area, but advice and assistance to those areas that were interested in the idea to reduce waste, reduce malnourishment and provide the best food economy. Cheslyn Hay, under brilliant people like Mrs Allan from the Girl’s School, had helped establish a Landywood kitchen later the same year and, according to the Courier on 9 February, there was also one in Great Wyrley.

All of this, and more, is demonstrated in a report in the Courier on 2 February, when F.W. Hawkins spoke at the Cheslyn Hay Parish Council meeting as to how: ‘2000 meals were being provided for children each week. Cheslyn Hay Communal Kitchen, he added, had been spoken of at many meetings throughout the country, even in Birmingham, Portsmouth and also in the north of England… he had been speaking at many places over the past three months on the establishment of communal kitchens and Cheslyn Hay was considered a model of these institutions and he was really proud of the success which had been achieved.’

It is difficult to stress enough just how important Cheslyn Hay, and to some degree Landywood and Great Wyrley – Hawkins had even said in the Courier 9 February that ‘much of the success of the local kitchen was due to the efforts of Mr. Cowern’ [Great Wyrley] – were in the fight on the home front for food economy. In the same report, a discussion on kitchens at the Rural Food Committee, Hawkins expressed the view that 80% of food could be saved and the children better fed if more used kitchens. Hawkins added Hereford, Worcester and Lye to the list of recent visitors and added that Shareshill had a kitchen, which may have come under their umbrella, and Essington had, or were devising, their own. It is an interesting note that Cowern suggested that opposition to a scheme at Coven was due to the clergy, and should that be overcome the public were quite keen and that may influence Brewood to establish one as well.

With the help, more the experience of visiting Cheslyn Hay, a kitchen opened in Chadsmoor in the March, and by April there was one finally at Coven – feeding adults and children. April also saw the opening of a communal kitchen at Norton Canes; the Bridge Bakery was used and it was started by members of the public who guaranteed the costs – with the intention for it to become self-sufficient. In mid-June, the Essington kitchen finally opened; the kitchen fed adults and children and sold 512 meals (although it is not clear what the time-frame was).

While the subject slowly slipped from the papers as the Hundred Days Offensive started, the kitchens proved that they were still needed, as that at Cheslyn Hay served out the war and it is highly likely that at Landywood also did. A small write-up in the Cannock Courier on 19 October, less than a month before the armistice, stated: ‘The Communal Kitchen [Cheslyn Hay] is proceeding satisfactory, notwithstanding that there are many vegetables obtained in the allotments and gardens. Also, that at Landywood has been most successful from every point of view.’

Supporting the War Effort

In this section, for 1918, we shall be mainly looking at those in national service locally. The vast majority of men and women that went into national service work would receive little historical attention as individuals, unlike the soldiers would do (especially the fallen ones). We will concentrate on the women here and we know locally that many went into munitions work; a number also went in the Women’s Land Army, general farm and agricultural jobs to replace men. While individuals are lost, we can, albeit on a general scale, give some glimpses into how hard a life these women had; we can also see how those women that worked in munitions and on the land were received, as it is no secret that there was an element of scepticism from men over women having the physical strength to carry out the gruelling industrial and agricultural work needed (despite women in rural communities helping at harvest time and Black Country women carrying out chain and nail making).

Let us start with the munition women. The following article was printed in the Courier on 7 September, under a line referring to ‘fine femininity’ and ‘Female Munition Workers In Council,’ and describes a meeting of female munition workers that had recently taken place in Cannock. Nearly 200 had assembled from several different companies, and they were ‘enthusiastic’ not angry over conditions and pay; their main gripe was the transport system, bus and train, by which they left ‘Hednesford, Cannock and Wyrley,’ as it took so long to get to places of work that started at 7.30 or 8am.

As the article puts it: ‘Rising at 4.30am in the summertime isn’t always cheery, is it? But rising at 4.30 and a cheerless tramp through the snow in winter; to join a bus or train and then again a walk to the munition works, and then return home at 9.30pm, is not all “strawberries and cream.” Or as one of the smart munition workers… put it, “there is no opportunity for enjoyment.” When asked if it was not a pleasure to work and earn fair wages, she said it was, but the long hours were worse than being a domestic servant and there was less of an opportunity for an evening off, except Saturday, when there were no gatherings at home, [or] where they could amuse themselves and find friends.’

A speaker from the Trades Council, Mr. Croft, paid tribute to the women ‘who were to be the mothers of the future,’ and agreed that the hours worked, exacerbated by the poor transport, were just ‘too many.’ He went on: ‘It is difficult to time trains and busses, but when over 300 are to be accommodated it may be prudent, if not profitable, to run a train. While… the munitioneer may be ever so anxious to “do their bit,” they may damage their health and… necessitate compensation, while the boys at the front maybe without munitions if the health of the workers is not looked after.

A deputation was formed to initially approach Cannock Urban District Council on the matter, then, if necessary, to approach the Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay parish councils to solicit their support. The deputation was not named, but two delegates from the women themselves were appointed to go as a part of it – one being a Mrs Mellor of Bridgtown. A hat was passed around to raised money for expenses. A train was forthcoming a few weeks later, and the munition workers did post a thank you in the one of the local papers.

The land workers also received praise. A meeting of the Cannock Rural Tribunal heard an appeal from Alfred Green, a 48-year-old man, employed at Rodbaston Hall as an assistant gardener. Green stated that much of the hall’s gardens were given over to cultivation while the family were not in residence. The food grown was first for the people that were growing it, with the surplus – around ‘5cwts of vegetables,’ being sent to the Fleet each week. The hall’s manager, Mr. Scholey, had never sought female labour as he was ‘of the opinion that the work of turning over the soil properly was too heavy for them.’

Lord Hatherton, of the tribunal, retorted ‘those that had not tried women labour on the land could not possibly appreciate its value. Personally, he had not a single able-bodied man left and the three girls whom he had at work were doing splendidly. There was as much food being produced in his gardens as there ever was.’ The clerk followed-up in that: ‘he could give local proof of the excellent work done by girls on the land. A piece of land, that had previously been like a desert, and that men could not be induced to cultivate, had been dug over and cultivated by several WAAC’s [Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps].’ Scholey asked to see ‘how deep they put the spade,’ and the clerk reposted with: ‘the condition of the land testifies to the value of the girls’ work, for it is full of fine produce.’ The last word was from Hatherton – Green had two months to find a substitute.

Supporting the war effort was not just confined to supporting local funds when something devastating happened; concerts were organised to raise funds after the Minnie Pit disaster claimed the lives of 155 men and boys in North Staffordshire, in the January. At home, Great Wyrley would raise over £286 for the Red Cross during the war and contributed £2000 towards war bonds during War Weapons Week – although Cheslyn Hay dwarfed that amount. The POW funds would, as soldiers came home, be converted to War Distinction Funds or ‘welcome home’ funds. Mrs Wynn continued her egg collecting crusade and football tournaments were still used as a fundraiser – with one in Cheslyn Hay attracting 13 teams, and Huntington Swifts raising the trophy. Finally, in what could be termed as supporting the war effort, as Scouts have been mentioned, a Troop was formed in Cheslyn Hay in 1918, and it went on its first successful camp around the Nook colliery area in the August.

Business as Usual

January opened with the Parish Council discussing that usual mix of serious issues that impacted on the community to the slightly, almost comical, ones. The January meeting opened with acknowledgements of bereavements and optimistic expressions on the new year. The serious issues were regarding food production, in that the Council had secured managed to secure four tons of seed potatoes if ordered early enough – although the cautious Council wanted clarification on the prices and carriage of the said potatoes – as well as the usual problems over rent arrears for allotments (a decision on which was shelved until March, the end of the financial year).

The slightly bizarre came in the form of a reply from Walsall Corporation on their bus service: the overcrowding goes without saying, however, the busses had been converted to gas, which was stored in a bag on the roof, and the Council had written to the Corporation saying that the white bags that were ‘blowing around’ were ‘frightening horses.’ The Corporation replied that they could not find anything to ‘darken the material.’

While the year opened with services of prayer and intercession everywhere, a serious incident, although no life was lost, was also reported on that month by the Advertiser (6 January). It took place at the Great Wyrley Colliery, presumably the Plant pit, in late December: ‘engineman, William Smith, discovered that the wood frame of the upcast shaft was ablaze. He at once sounded the colliery hooter and within a few minutes there were many willing helpers assisting to subdue the flames. A considerable portion of the pit frame was destroyed, with some of the debris falling down the shaft. No definite cause can be assigned, but it is thought that a spark from a passing locomotive may have started the fire.’ Clearly the fear of spies and saboteurs had now passed.

February saw little at the Great Wyrley Parish Council meeting other than a self-congratulation on the Roll of Honour unveiling ceremony, a discussion on the postal problems and a sympathy note, as he was currently unwell, for the implacable Councillor Goodwin. In Great Wyrley, in general, another whist drive was held for the St. Mark’s heating fund and it appears, by that stage, £150 of the £250 needed had been raised. Elsewhere, the Royal Exchange in Cross Street, Bridgtown, was hosting a gardening lecture, and in Cheslyn Hay William Thacker received a licence for the Palace Cinema.

March would show that Councillor Goodwin was on the mend. The Parish meeting opened with allotments, and that there were a ‘score of parishioners’ in Upper Landywood that desired to obtain an allotment, presumably as the food crisis deepened, but as there were none available the Council approved the decision to speak to Mr Blore [Bloor?] regarding a field they thought suitable. Also on the food question, Great Wyrley Colliery agreed to sell manure to non-work staff, at the same price, if they went through the Parish Council. In a busy meeting that month, the Post Office had been requested to drop the mail for Great Wyrley off at its own post office and not incur delays by sending it up to Cheslyn Hay first. Further, after recent frosts, the state of the Walsall Road was discussed and the County Council approached to at least make the road safer for horses; the County Council claimed they were doing all they could – a reply considered ‘most unsatisfactory.’

There were two Parish meetings in April, with the normal meeting early in the month. The main issue was that the allotments were all taken, but Mr Blower [different spelling] was not disposed to sell the land in question. This may be the field that Blowers Club later emerged on. The Council then referred the matter for finding land locally to the county Agriculture Committee. The latter meeting was the annual meeting for the election of offices. All were re-elected, effectively in a block vote, with Henshall being returned as chairman – and with councillor Goodwin fit again. Henshall was also appointed head of the Roll of Honour, with other positions being: Allotments, Burials, Fire Brigade, Library and ‘Sites for Factories.’

April saw a number of clergymen visiting to St. Mark’s in order to preach the sermons, as the stalwart Reverend Edalji had become indisposed through illness and age. A couple of distressing incidents also happened. The first saw a locum postman, serving Cheslyn Hay, arrested and sentenced to six months hard labour on account of stealing a parcel; either a random test, or more likely a deliberate lure, was provided for him – a parcel containing a purse of monies was sent from Cheslyn Hay post office to an address in Landywood and when it failed to arrive, and he was challenged, he confessed. Finally, there was the tragedy of Sidney Edwards, a 7-year-old boy from Walsall Road, Landywood, which reminds us that broken hearts were not just for the loved ones of fallen soldiers. A verdict of accidental death was passed after he chased his ball into the road and was struck by a lorry.

The grave of Shapurji Edalji at St. Marks’ Church. He had been vicar for 42 years, passing in May 1918. P. Ford

The May meeting Council meeting saw further allotment frustration and the near abandoning the attempt to gain more land for plots – in the end they decided to approach Mr. Snape for assistance. On 23 May, the sad news of the death of the Reverend Edalji would filter through. He had been Curate at Great Wyrley for 42 years and preached until incapacitated by a seizure and despite his being almost blind. The Courier offered a nice write-up on 25 May, nostalgically talking of him wandering around the dark roads carrying a lantern on his ‘errands of mercy,’ while the animal maiming and poison letter incidents were tactfully dealt with: ‘About twenty years ago something akin to practical joking occurred, which ended up causing the late Vicar and his family considerable trouble.’ He was buried in the corner of St. Mark’s graveyard, presumably in a reserved space as the graveyard had been closed for twenty years, on 27 May; it would be the last time George Edalji set foot in Great Wyrley.

June would see the Pat Collins fair visit Cannock, but here let us turn back to the problems of Landywood School over the first half of the year to put further context to Great Wyrley’s business as usual. The year had opened with terrible snow and pupils either didn’t turn up or had to be sent home. Communications were as such that when Mrs. Marshall was absent for the day, she informed the school by postcard. Measles struck again in March, resulting in a closure into the April. Staffing issues were legion, often resulting in temporary switches with Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay schools; by June, this had become so acute that the timetable could not be fulfilled and Miss Thomas, Ernest’s sister, once had a class of 70 pupils. July saw the first wave of influenza, leaving a 70% attendance, before school closed for the academic year until August. The new year, from September, was dogged by the same issues.

July arrived, and the Parish Council was rocked by the intention of the relentless Albert Henshall to resign as chair of the Council after six years. Henshall had worked tirelessly not just for the local parish but on other committees, such as the Cannock Chase Trades and Labour Council, and had now accepted the position of the secretary to the Staffordshire County Teacher’s Association. Henshall ended up remaining in post and so the status quo was restored. A storm hit the area in mid-July, leaving roads in Wyrley flooded, and the Primitive Methodists had raised £50 towards the erection of a chapel on the piece of land they had purchased on the corner of Walsall Road and Jacobs Hall Road.

August saw the Parish Council decide to take a quote, just over £27, from Wynn and Son of Great Wyrley for repairs to the cemetery chapel. The Council also reaffirmed they believed the parish needed 200 houses immediately and then 100 more after the War, and they also voted to co-operate with Cheslyn Hay with the usual 4 August anniversary commemorations – not that they were onerous in 1918. August saw a new electoral roll produced for the Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay areas, after the electorate had effectively tripled under the 1918 Representation of the Peoples Act.

Little was discussed at the Parish Council meeting, just the usual mutterings on improvements to the fire station and, and for once better news, the arrears owed by allottees. With regarded to matters outside of the Parish Council, the Rural District Council announced their desire to recruit two new nurses and that one of these would be for the Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay area. The annual Hospital Parade took place, raising £57 from the pubs alone! There was also another whist drive at the Institution for St. Marks Church. Another man that worked tirelessly for Great Wyrley, indeed Cheslyn Hay and the wider area as well, was Norton Lane grocer Frank Cowern; he had to report to the Food Committee that there was another cheese shortage in Great Wyrley.

October also saw harvest festivals locally, with Albert Henshall actually preaching at the United Methodist Church in Bridgtown. John Wesley Thomas was left annoyed at the instruction to pull down a ‘house’ he had constructed without permission on Watery Lane [Hilton Lane, today]; the house, with no damp course, and between old pit heaps, was partly an old powder magazine for the Quinton Colliery – it was described by Thomas as a cottage and by the District as ‘not fit to be a cow shed.’ The Wyrley Wakes were celebrated, with what was reported in the Cannock Courier as ‘a huge number from the township and surround’ attending. The Reverend Lanfear, from St. Jude’s, Wolverhampton, seemed set to take over at St. Mark’s.

November would see Albert Henshall step down from the Council, to be replaced by Major Christopher Hatton, who had served with the Harrison’s Engineers. Other than the outbreak of influenza that was being reported, the rest of November will be left until the next section.