The village of Stoke St. Gregory in Somerset, its parish church, and final resting place of a notable tennis player.

Stoke St. Gregory, like its neighbouring village of North Curry, straggles along a low ridge which rises from the Somerset Levels and runs south-west to north-east with West Sedge Moor to one side and Curry Moor and Stan Moor on the other.

The Somerset Village Book, Somerset Federation Of Women’s Institutes (Countryside Books, 1988) has this to say of the village:

“The village, one of the largest in Somerset, covers an area of 3,967 acres and took its name from the church dedicated to St. Gregory the Great.

It is situated on the Somerset Levels, which for centuries has been the centre of withy growing and basket making.  The willow tree flourishes naturally on the wetlands of Somerset and it was discovered that the young straight shoots could be twisted, plaited and woven into many useful articles.

Present day Stoke St. Gregory is a study in contrasts – the rattle of the tractors – the rumble of the occasional bus and also the piercing shriek of a jet plane passing overhead.”

In 1988 the jet planes were almost certainly Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers from RNAS Yeovilton, but sadly, in a short sighted move by the Labour government, they were retired from service in 2006.  However, we may hear the sound of jets over Somerset again in the not too distant future as the F35B Lightning is to enter service with the Fleet Air Arm – it is already at sea with an RAF squadron operating from the carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH.

As Wimbledon is upon us again, at this time of year I thought I would wend my way along the narrow undulating road to the village and pay my respects at the grave of the noted tennis player “Bunny” Austin.  He is at rest in the churchyard at the parish church of St. Gregory.

Henry Wilfred “Bunny” Austin was the last British man to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament until Andy Murray in 2012.

In the years 1933-1936 he helped Fred Perry win the Davis Cup for Britain.  In 1938 he reached the final at Wimbledon only to be soundly beaten by the American Don Budge, one of the finest players of the era.  Budge was the son of a Scottish immigrant to the USA named John “Jack” Budge who had played several times in Rangers reserve team before emigrating. 

In 1939 Austin was made top seed at Wimbledon, but was eliminated early in the competition – it was his last appearance on court there.

Bunny Austin married English actress Phyllis Konstam in 1931.  They met on a trans-Atlantic liner in 1929 when Austin was travelling to play in the US Open. 

The grave of Bunny Austin and his wife Phyllis in the churchyard of the parish church of St. Gregory in the Somerset village of Stoke St. Gregory.

Arthur Mee, when writing of Stoke St Gregory, beautifully describes its parish church in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968).

“It has a noble church, with a handsome pierced parapet, glorious windows, and a central octagonal tower built in the thirteenth century fashion before such towers were ousted  by the stately towers of 200 years later, for which Somerset is renowned throughout the land.  The tower has eight sides cunningly fitted on four arches, with smaller arches joining the corners.  Niches and statues are everywhere – nineteenth century apostles round the tower, a mediaeval St. Gregory in the south porch with a dove in his hands, and the statues round the pulpit.  We have seen pulpits like this at Thurloxton and North Newton, but nowhere else in Somerset.”

The parish church of St. Gregory in the Somerset village of Stoke St. Gregory.

The octagonal tower of St. Gregory's with its apostles in the Somerset village of  Stoke St. Gregory.

The tower and clock of the parish church of St. Gregory in the village of Stoke St. Gregory.

Morley Havelock Neale C.B.E. Trawler owner, naturalist and “guerrilla” of Chaffcombe, South Somerset.

In my last blogpost I wrote of Sgt Richard Morley Neale whose epitaph included a poignant verse which starts with the line saying “Now every bird he loved by wood and wave”. 

I could understand the meaning of “by wood”, but was intrigued by “and wave”.  Sgt Neale’s grave is close by that of his father, Morley Havelock Neale, and, following a little research into the Neale family the significance of “and wave “becomes clear.

The Neales were a family of prominent trawler owners based in South Wales.  Morley Neale was made 62nd President of The Cardiff Naturalists’ Society in 1934/35.  His father, Joshua John Neale had been the Society’s 28th and 45th president. 

J. J. Neale leased Grassholm and Skomer, islands off the south-west coast of Pembroke shire, for ten years in order to protect and conserve them as habitats for sea birds.  Grassholm is now known for its huge colony of northern gannets, while Skomer is home to Puffins, Manx Shearwaters, Razorbills, Gannets and Fulmars.  The two islands are now in the care of the R.S.P.B.

The words “by wood and wave” on Sgt Richard Neale’s grave are thus explained.

Morley Neale was made a C.B.E. in 1952 and is listed as Member, Scientific Fishery Research Committees of The Development Commission.  The Development Commission was a permanent Royal commission set-up under the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act 1909 to advise and administer the Development Fund voted annually by Parliament to benefit the rural economy of England.  The Development Commission and its successors are now part of Natural England.

He was also a member of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.  Its council report for 1965/66 reported his death stating: “Morley Neale had been a member of the Council on a number of occasions, a Vice-President of the Association since 1951, and by a gift he made in 1958, founded the Morley Neale Fund for “the benefit of the Plymouth Laboratory staff and ship’s crews”.

Sometime before the start of the Second World War, Morley Neale moved with his family from South Wales to Chaffcombe House in the South Somerset village of Chaffcombe. 

In the late summer of 1940 it looked as if a German invasion of southern England was imminent with the British Army racing against time to reorganise and rebuild its forces.  Desperate measures were undertaken including the formation of local civilian Auxiliary Units whose task it would be to cause mayhem and destruction in the rear of German forces which had broken through British defences following an invasion.  The idea for these Auxiliary Units came from the great difficulty the British military had in dealing with Boer guerrilla units during the Boer War and Irish Republican Army methods in the years before the Irish Free State came into being.  In both cases armed civilians with local knowledge using guerrilla tactics proved hard to combat.

Wearing the uniform of the Home Guard, Auxiliary Units were made up of 6 or 8 man patrols based in an underground bunker usually concealed in woods.  The men would ideally be farm workers, gamekeepers, woodsmen or gardeners who knew their locality well and were comfortable in a rural environment.  They were expected to do as much damage to the Germans as possible, but their life expectancy was measured in days rather than weeks.

As a naturalist Morley Neale was an ideal candidate to be such a “guerrilla”, and so joined the 8 strong Chard Patrol of the Auxiliary Unit based on Snowdon Hill just west of the town.  He was a member of the patrol from September 1940, when the Auxiliary Units began forming, until 1944 when they were stood down.

Morley Havelock Neale died aged 82 on 28th May 1965 and is buried alongside others of his family in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels in Chaffcombe.

 

Sources:

Cardiff Naturalists’ Society.

British Resistance Archive.

A stroll around St. Michael and All Angels Church in the South Somerset village of Chaffcombe.

The village of Chaffcombe and its Church of St. Michael and All Angels is north east of the South Somerset town of Chard.  I approached it from the A358, driving past Chard Reservoir and on along ever narrowing country lanes until the road took me down into a sheltered valley where it seems most of the village houses have found a haven.

In the last century Arthur Mee in his The King’s England, Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 1968) writes of Chaffcombe: “It hides its charms among hills wooded with oak and larch, with a paved way up one of them through a tiny orchard to the church. We found it in apple-blossom time, and saw the creeper-covered tower between pink trees, a lovely memory.”

Today, the creeper has gone from the tower and the orchard on the approach to the church is no more, but standing beside the church gate, as if on guard, is an intriguing totem-pole-like wood carving – an awful lot of care must have gone into its making.  The churchyard has been left overgrown and meadow-like in places, something the blackbirds seem to appreciate as there were several busily scurrying around and hopping on and off the gravestones.

Approaching the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in the village of Chaffcombe, Somerset.

The Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Chaffcombe, Somerset.  Note the blackbird on the path!

Pevsner has very little to say about St. Michael and All Angels.  In his day it was just St. Michael’s.  He describes the exterior of the church as having a “West tower with set-back buttresses and two pinnacles above them on the corner of the battlements.  Higher stair-turret.  The church was rebuilt in 1860 by F. M. Allen.”

The tower of S. Michael and All Angels in the South Somerset village of Chaffcombe.

I came across some interesting, and poignant, gravestones in the churchyard.  On the headstone of Major Edward Noel "Teddy" Clist R.A. were the noble words “Always a Soldier”.  Major Clist was born in Dulverton, Somerset and died in Malvern, Worcestershire.

The grave of Major Edward Noel "Teddy" Clist R.A. and his wife Beatrice "Betty".

A tall square simple stone column marks the grave of Emanuel Vincent Harris, often more simply known as E. Vincent Harris.  He was a distinguished architect and Royal Academician who was born in Devonport in 1876 and died in Bath in 1971.  He was thought of as a classicist and his buildings suggest the influence of Sir Edwin Lutyens.  Many prominent public buildings were designed by him, before and after World War Two, including: Bristol Council House, County Hall Taunton, Sheffield City Hall, Nottingham County Hall, Leeds Civic Hall, Kensington Central Library in London, and the Ministry of Defence Main Building in Whitehall.

The headstone of Emanuel Vincent Harris. Architect and Royal Academician.

Just to the west of the church tower is the headstone of Sgt Richard Morley Neale RAFVR.  Although the commemoration states that Sgt Neale was killed in action he did, in fact, die as a result of an accident.  He was serving in No. 15 Operational Training Unit at RAF Harwell in Berkshire while under training as an observer/air bomber.

On March 26 1941 Sgt Neale and the 5 other crew members of a twin engine Wellington Mk1c (serial number R1243) took off from RAF Harwell on a 4 hour training mission which included the dropping of munitions in Cardigan Bay.  At 1130 observers on the Welsh coast saw the Wellington approach from the east and fly out over Cardigan Bay where it entered sea fog.  The aircraft was then seen to crash about one and a half miles from the coast.  Rescue boats were despatched, but just 2 members of the crew were found; only one, Sgt Neale, was alive, but sadly he died later that day.

Richard Morley Neale was the only son of Mr Morley Havelock Neale and his wife Ida Walker Neale.  He attended Chard Grammar School, and then Sherborne School (Abbeylands) in Dorsetshire from 1933 until December 1937.*

Sgt Neale’s headstone also has the following touching verse included in his epitaph:

NOW EVERY BIRD HE LOVED BY WOOD OR WAVE

SING SWEET THE REQUIEM ABOVE HIS GRAVE

KINDEST OF HEARTS GENTLEST OF GENTLEMEN

*Source aircrewremembered.com

The headstone of Sgt Richard Morley Neale, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

There should be an HMS Duke of Edinburgh!

I had the letter below published in the Western Daily Press on June 3.

Name frigate after Duke of Edinburgh.

The Royal Navy’s new Type 31 frigates will be known as the Inspiration Class.

The Duke of Edinburgh was an inspiration in peace and war. I suggest it would be especially appropriate to name one of these vessels after him.

Steve Wright, Somerset.

I was flattered to see that my letter brought forth this interesting response from Chris Cope, published in the Western Daily Press on June 8.

Navy has already chosen frigate names.

Whereas I agree with Steve Wright (June 3) that one of the type 31 frigates should be named after Prince Philip, unfortunately, the Navy has already selected the names, which have been approved by the Queen.

And apart from the last two, a very uninspiring selection of names they are: Active, Venturer, Cambeltown, Bulldog and Formidable.

However, seeing that these £400million frigates will be lightly armed – not much reassurance if you are serving on board and find you have been despatched to the Persian Gulf – even Bulldog and Formidable hardly seem appropriate.  As for HMS Duke of Edinburgh, the 7 type 26 frigate will be HMS Edinburgh.

Chris Cope, Political Correspondent, Warship World Magazine.

 

I did know that the type 31 frigates had already been named, and that a type 26 frigate is to be named HMS Edinburgh, but it is not unknown for the RN to change the name of a ship before, and sometimes after, launch.

Be that as it may, Mr Cope’s comments on their names and designed armament are interesting – and illuminating!

Incidentally, both these letters were also published in the Western Morning News.