Special Constable Gripper - History Notebook

My account of the work of Special Constable Herbert Gripper has just been published by the Essex Police Museum as History Notebook 60 and can be downloaded.

It is based on the journal and papers held by the Essex Records Office ((D/Z 137/1).

Essex Book Festival

I will be talking about my book, Chelmsford in the Great War, at the Essex Book Festival at 11 am on Saturday 14th March, at the Essex Records Office.

Tickets are £6 each. I hope to see you there!

Alick Horsnell Street

I've nominated Alick Horsnell to have a street named after him in the new Beaulieu Park development in Chelmsford.

From humble origins in South Primrose Hill, Alick was a gifted young architect who studied at the Chelmsford School of Arts and Sciences and trained under Frederick Chancellor. As a RIBA-prize winning architect he was widely seen as a rising stars of his generation. He joined up at the outbreak of the Great War and, as a 33 year old second lieutenant in the 7th Royal Suffolk Regiment, he was tragically killed on 3rd July 1916.

Email the campaign at snn@chelmsford.gov.uk to support my nomination!

Final draft, part 2

That's it - final manuscript revisions completed and sent off. Now we wait for the proofs...

Final draft

Just received the editor's mark up of the manuscript. I do wish I had paid attention to the Pen & Sword style guide!

Other than that, it's full steam ahead...

In Flanders Fields

Exploring my Great War interests outside Chelmsford, my article on the Essex Farm advanced dressing station outside Ypres has just been published in the Wellcome History journal In Flanders Fields (page 9)

Chelmsford School of Science and Arts War Memorial

I had the honour of unveiling the beautifully restored Chelmsford School of Science and Arts war memorial at Anglia Ruskin University yesterday.

This plaque was designed and produced by staff and students of the Chelmsford School of Science and Art as a memorial to their ten fellows who gave their lives in the First World War.

The plaque was unveiled on 10th December 1923 and it was originally mounted in the entrance to the School in the Frederick Chancellor Building on Victoria Road South. In 2008 it was removed and following restoration by Richard Rogers Conservation it was installed and re-dedicated here on the 4^th November 2014.

It was designed by Frank Isom and executed by his fellow students, under the direction of the School principal, Charles Henry Baskett RE. The centre panel is of copper and is flanked by silver strips. The County and Borough arms are mounted below the enamel of St George and the Dragon on the White Cliffs of Dover. Clockwise from the top right the regimental badges are interpretations of those of the Royal Fusiliers, Royal Field Artillery, London Irish, Royal Regiment of Artillery, Royal Flying Corps, Border Regiment, Civil Service Rifles, and the Suffolk Regiment.

The Chelmsford School of Science and Art was a precursor of Anglia Ruskin University. The Art School was heavily influenced by the Arts & Crafts Movement and it produced many successful artists. Newell was a National Competition prize-winning art student and assistant teacher and he left a number of etchings and engravings.

The architecture course drew on both the Art School and the Science Department and Horsnell was a nationally regarded architect, exhibiting at the Royal Academy. Turnell and Mann were student architects and the three of them dominated the annual pre-war prize giving ceremonies. 

The Science Department offered courses in mechanical and electrical engineering for the apprentices of the large industrial concerns in the town, such as Hoffmann’s Manufacturing Company, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, Crompton’s Arc Works, and Clarkson’s National Steam Car Company. Bainbridge, Brown, Hodgson and F. Thompson were all engineering students.

C. Thompson, the son of the proprietor of the Essex Chronicle, briefly attended the School to earn himself a shorthand certificate. Unfortunately no records of Taylor can be found.