15 May - Phil Lobley: Geraldine Elizabeth Batt: " 'Our Lady' to London Thieves"
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 19 September 2025: A Story of WW2 featuring 10 people and 5 objects from Thurrock by Michelle Savage
At our first meeting of the season, we welcomed back museum curator Michelle Savage, who gave us an insight into WW2 through the eyes of Thurrock people, acknowledging the work done by various museum volunteers, who are still doing further research. Her talk was based on a diary and stories from members of the public and objects donated, also Thurrock Goes to War by Roger Reynolds and Jonathan Catton.
Michelle began with a diary kept by Barbara Halls, a teenager at the start of the war, writing about preparations for war, including the issue of gas masks. Grays swimming pool and the beach were closed, with blackout regulations enforced. Some children were evacuated from Tilbury to Great Yarmouth. She described air battles as 'thrilling' and children searched wreckage for 'finds'. Women also searched for parachute silk, turning it into nightdresses and wedding dresses. Some even struck up friendships with German prisoners of war. Barbara was an avid cinema-goer - a bomb fell behind the cinema and her house windows were shattered.
Germany targeted large towns and cities, Thames Haven was hit, Thurrock being a target using the Thames as a guide. There was much destruction of homes, buildings and factories across Thurrock.
Michelle told us about several local men and women who served in the war, some of whom are included in this report.
Chadwell born Peter Tunstall joined the RAF, was captured in the Netherlands after a forced landing and eventually interred at Colditz. He was told that your first duty is to try to escape, which he did. He sent secret notes written on tracing paper, hidden between two photographs and was court martialled five times. He became an actor and published his memoirs in 2014.
In April 1941 the ss Lunula hit a mine at Thames Haven Wharf and was on fire for five days. Coalhouse Fort was resurrected. Wrens were situated there, doing degaussing work (electrical current cancelling out a ship's magnetic field, thus avoiding mines) using semaphore or morse code to attract ships for degaussing. They were billeted in the Old Vicarage. When one held a birthday celebration there the landlord was in his coffin! Leading Wren Christine Lamb was awarded with the Legion D'Honneur on the 80th Anniversary commemoration in 2025.
Bert Lee was in Egypt in 1941, serving with the Dessert Rats. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, America joined the war and were involved in the Far East. George Croft was sent to Singapore, forced to surrender and sent to Thailand for work in the infamous Thai Burma Railway. Sadly he died of cholera in 1943. Lucy Butter studied at Palmers, became a nurse and served in Hong Kong. She was sent to a crowded prison camp and formed a committee. It was not until 1944 that her parents received their first news of her.
On 4 February 1944 the Blitz ended and Thurrock morale was high. The Tilbury Hotel was bombed, but only one person died - the bell was salvaged. Thurrock played a pivotal part in D-Day preparations (Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944). Parts of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) were constructed at Tilbury before being deployed. It supplied fuel for military vehicles in France, also fresh water for the troops. Pre-fabricated Mulberry Harbours were also assembled at Tilbury and towed across the channel.
War on the Western front was over on 8 May 1945, but not in the Far East. After the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japan they surrendered on 15 August 1945 - VJ Day. However, there were many men still in prison camps, awaiting reunion with their families.
Michelle gave us a very informative and well-researched talk, bringing back sad memories for many of our members.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 17 October 2025: The History of Gunpowder and the Purfleet Royal Gunpowder Magazines by Paul Hounsell and Julia Finnan
Invented by the Chinese in the 9th century gunpowder spread around the world, helped by Crusades to the Middle East and the Silk Road. It was first used in anger at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. Gunpowder is a mixture of charcoal, sulphur and 75% saltpetre (potassium nitrate). In 1561 Queen Elizabeth I paid £300 to German engineer Gerard Honrick for the secret - manure and urine being the main ingredient. Manure was built up in beds and soaked with urine, turned each week, adding more urine or sewer water. It was collected from the land and taken to nitrate fields and could be identified by taste! Petremen had the right to go anywhere - farms, inns, theatres, etc and even churches. If you objected, you would be arrested.
It was first stored 1346 in the Tower of London. The Great Fire of London in 1666 came too close and Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty, suggested a firebreak and saved the day. Gunpowder was eventually moved in 1698 to a purpose built place at Greenwich, away from centre of the capital. Over the years Kings petitioned to have it moved, with George III having surveys done in 1759. Purfleet was chosen and building work on five magazines started in 1761. They were 151ft x 52ft, with walls 5ft 3in thick and a ceiling 3ft thick, plus sand, which has been there since 1763. Costs nearly tripled from £36,000 to £60,000. It is very cold inside, even in summer. Air conditioning was by air taken by ducts from the roof to underfloor. No.5 Magazine now has the only overhead working cranes in the world. There is no metal in the building, wooden beams supporting the four cranes.
It was first stored in 1346 at the Tower of London. The Great Fire of London in 1666 came too close and Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty, suggested a firebreak and saved the day. Gunpowder was eventually moved in 1698 to a purpose built place at Greenwich, away from centre of the capital. Over the years Kings petitioned to have it moved, with George III having surveys done in 1759. Purfleet was chosen and building work on five magazines started in 1761. They were 151ft x 52ft, with walls 5ft 3in thick and a ceiling 3ft thick, plus sand, which has been there since 1763. Costs nearly tripled from £36,000 to £60,000. It is very cold inside, even in summer. Air conditioning was by air taken by ducts from the roof to underfloor. No.5 Magazine now has the only overhead working cranes of the type in the world. There is no metal in the building, wooden beams supporting the four cranes.
In 1605 there were only 36 barrels stored in England, but the magazines stored 10,800 barrels with up to 50,000 in times of war. If it had gone up it would have had devastating consequences and taken out London. The Proof House of 1765 carried out testing and by 1862 Purfleet Garrison was a massive concern. The 1769 clock tower is still there but by 1973 it was all in disrepair.
In 1760 each magazine had 25 civilian staff. They had to remove their shoes, wearing moccasins instead, with no zips or metal buttons on clothing. It was almost total darkness with candles. Doors were coated with highly polished copper sheeting, providing some light. Apprentices had highly polished hand mirrors for light. Waltham Abbey and Faversham off-loaded barrels in warehouses. 10% went to the proof house for testing before storage.
The gunpowder arrived by water - no motor or sails - moved by women to the River Lee, offloaded into Thames, up to Purfleet. Safety was not regulated, shown by the 1874 Macclesfield Bridge disaster on the Regent's Canal when a captain decided to light his pipe! New regulations were then enforced for these vessels.
Many famous visitors came to Purfleet, including Captain Cook, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Queen Victoria, Churchill, Darwin and Benjamin Franklin who experimented with electricity and brought about a lightning conductor. In the past, one man's job was to listen for thunder, at which point the doors would be locked. Purfleet supplied many ships, including the Great Eastern, HMSs Endeavour, Beagle, Bounty and Enterprise moored at Long Reach, always a military presence.
Gunpowder was profit-making for the Crown and sold to anyone. In the American Civil War, ships from both sides were loaded. The magazines were never bombed in WW2. Hitler wanted our arsenal of weaponry. There is even a ghost - Morriss, a drunken worker, fell off a crane and was crushed by a falling barrel - the story told on wall graffiti. He apparently only appears before women!
In 1962 the doors were finally shut. Nos 1-4 were demolished, having ironically had to be blown up. No.5 Magazine is a scheduled ancient monument, now in a poor state of repair. It is far too expensive to rebuild using like-for-like. Maybe funds could come from National Heritage. It is open to visitors several days a week and events are held to raise money.
This was a comprehensive talk, something to think about when lighting our bonfires on November 5th.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 21 November 2025: "What the Poor Lacketh, the flame will catcheth": The Swing Riots in Essex 1830-1831 by Michael Holland
At our very well attended November meeting, Dr Michael Holland told us of the agricultural uprising in Essex in the 19th century, known as the Swing Riots, which had started in Kent. In 1795, at the time of high grain prices and low wages, the Berkshire Speenhamland system came into being, relating the cost of bread to wages. If a farmer could not afford to pay this the parish made up the difference. However, this encouraged employers to reduce wages, resulting in even more people on poor relief. In 1819 the Select Vestries Act provided relief with a loan, failure of repayment resulting in imprisonment. There were many protests - incendiarism, threats by anonymous letters, animal maiming and machine breaking. These felonies could result in the death penalty. Other protests such as riots and strikes were classed as misdemeanours, penalties being whipping, community service or imprisonment.
During the winter, the elderly, young and women worked as threshers, using flails. A threshing machine was invented, turned by hand, reducing the labour force. During the Swing Riots 1830-31 'Captain Swing' signed protest letters, perhaps named after the swinging stick of the flail used in hand threshing. Several machines were broken, with arson and riots widespread. Incendiary was far worse, when haystacks were fired, using combustible material, likely live coals, put in after a section of rick was removed. Fire engines took an hour to arrive, tackling the blaze with bucket chains. There was a report of the Bradwell fire in September 1830 in the Chelmsford Chronicle, and a further one at Layer da la Haye.
Dr Holland gave several examples of rioting and arson. At Rayleigh on 5 November 1830 there was a farm on fire, with a reward of £1000 offered (1.5m in today's money) leading to an arrest. James Ewen was accused, sent for trial at Chelmsford and sentenced to death, being hanged on Christmas Eve. Some men were in possession of gunpowder, used for rick burning, claiming it was for lighting a pipe!
One anonymous letter was traced through a watermark on the paper, resulting in six months' hard labour for the culprit. Other letters were sent, also threatening behaviour demanding higher wages. Various villages were involved, the farmers saying they couldn't afford it.
Rioters used hammers, with threshing machines the main target, but also other machines were attacked.
Questionnaires were sent out, asking for the cause of unrest, restlessness being blamed. Incendiarism had been the biggest problem; machine breaking did not occur again.
However, Dr Holland failed to find any riots in the Thurrock area
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 16 January 2026: "Using AI for Local and Family History" by John Matthews
At our January meeting John Matthews enlightened us on his experience in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Local and Family History. He said it does not always tell the truth. This is known as an hallucination! ChatGPT4.0 said Thurrock was a Saxon hundred, which was nonsense. Thurrock is made up of two hundreds, Barstable and Chafford. The results are sometimes outrageous and can be discounted.
There is a need to recognise the subject and its truths. AI transcribed newspaper articles well, even providing a summary. It can also produce pictures, using direct quotes from articles. So how does it do this? Prediction. It picks a suggested word at random and converts words to tokens, represented to a multi-direction vector space. There are thousands of dimensions, different meanings of words being given a separate token, and AI looks at content to decide, getting put into a neural network, Large Language Model (LLM). AI has analysed millions of documents and has now advanced rapidly. It can turn a picture into words to understand the picture and turn text to speech. Once trained on documents, AI now goes into the internet.
You can ask anything, although there are filters, e.g. How to rob a bank. AI stores previous sessions. An LLM is an assistant, not an expert. You must check, if publishing, say. It is fairly accurate and can transcribe handwriting. If you find a mistake you can tell it what it should have written.
John used an example of an account of a flood in Louth, exploring the background. AI is not good with maps and showed incorrect parish distribution for Thurrock. Some pages are incorrect but is good using catalogues etc. Some websites use AI, Ancestry for instance, where you can ask a direct question. An LLM can return results in seconds, quicker than Google. There are specialist LLMs, including photo analyser which gives information and dates, using fashions etc. All this is free, but you can pay for special sites.
However, is it intelligent? In 1950 Alan Turing said if it sounded human, it was okay. There is no point arguing with AI and it could not pass for human. But what is intelligence? John asked AI to summarise an article about Grays, compared to human summaries. It was just as good, but better if the two were combined. John asked whether Panorama could be written by AI. The answer was no, as it only used published information and many sources have not been published yet.
In conclusion, results were varied; prompts help, using exact wording, instead of a general question. It is best to keep conversations short, with no diversions, maybe using a custom GPT for better results. So, do not dismiss AI, it has come to stay.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 20 February 2026: "'By the Dome it is known' - The history of Southend Kursaal 1894-1939" by Emma Cannell
At our February meeting we saw a welcome return of Emma Cannell, this time illustrating the history of the Kursaal. It was somewhere where people went to to be entertained, an essential part of Southend's history. Families went for sea bathing, the Kursaal being a short walk from the pier and Royal Hotel. Key businessmen wanted people to visit, the coming of the railway in 1856 making access easier. Bank Holidays in 1871 brought day trippers from London, lured by the winter gardens etc.
In 1895 the ownership changed and George Sherrin built an entrance building with the Warwick Tower, in the south-west corner, affording panoramic views. In August 1899 people got stuck up there for five hours during a 'mother off all thunderstorms' and had to be rescued by ladder. Some climbed down, but a piano was brought out for entertainment!
The Kursaal was designed by George Sherring in 1898-1901, with a dome like the Brompton Oratory. It was one of the first purpose built amusement parks, costing £2.5 million pounds in today's money. It was a massive attraction for day trippers with palm trees, shops and a ballroom/theatre which seated 8000 people. The dining room could seat 1000 at one sitting. There were music hall acts and wrestling. There were 26 acres of parkland and people were charged 6d entrance fee. There was once even a circus there.
In 1903 Buffalo Bill came. People lined the street to see the procession from the station. The Marine Park opened 11am. Cheap seats cost 1 shilling, the most expensive 7s/6d. There were side shows, etc. By this time the Kursaal had been taken over by the Council, the largest fairground in the country. It was resold, including a miniature railway and cricket ground. It was still a financial problem, but the town was heaving with cycling clubs etc. By 1909 there were 10,000 visitors each day.
In 1915 there were new owners. In WW1 the Kursaal name was removed, being known as The Dome. 15,000 troops were billeted there, the grounds still being open to the public. In June 1916 the zoo was opened, with 100 animals, ending at the beginning of WW2. From 1919-1934 it was the home of Southend United football. The site became more popular in the 1920-1930s with the introduction of the water chute and Mont Blanc ride by the Locorgne family. Other rides offered were dodge-ems, the whip and the auto drome. The rollercoaster was constructed on the site of the football ground in 1937. There were other attractions including the wall of death where Tornado Smith performed, complete with his pet lion. Al Capone's car was also on display. There was something going on all the time.
In WW2 the Kursaal closed, the cinema building being used as a factory. It re-opened in 1946 with a charity ball. In 1973 the park closed, with amusement entrepreneurs managing the site. The ballroom, with its famous sprung floor closed in 1977. The outdoor amusement area was later redeveloped for housing. For a short time in the 1990s the Kursaal reopened, with a bowling alley, restaurant and arcades. Now it on the Buildings at Risk register, awaiting funds to bring it back to life.
This was a journey into the past by Emma, bringing back nostalgic memories for some.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 20 March 2026: "Ellen Willmott and Warley Place" by Sandra Lawrence
At our March meeting we welcomed author and journalist Sandra Lawrence when she gave us an illustrated talk on Ellen Willmott, telling the extraordinary tale of her life and gardens, a forgotten genius. She went about sprinkling seeds and there were outrageous stories about her. She was once one of the most famous people in the world. She was born in 1858, dying in 1934 and came from a very wealthy family. She was spoilt by her godmother who gave her a cheque for £1000 on her birthdays (now £20,000). She was not told how to deal with money and ended up bankrupt. She created a garden at Warley Place, where she lived, transforming the grounds. Aged 21 she became really interested in alpine gardens, importing several tons of Derbyshire stone for a grotto and pond. There were formal lawns, a wild garden, walled garden and hothouses, always changing the vista. Warley is on a steep hill with woodland, lake and roses, her love. She also bought homes and created gardens in France and Italy.
Sandra had visited Warley as a child and was enchanted by how overgrown it was, like a secret garden. Ellen Willmott was single, childless, with no-one to hand her gardens to when she died. Involving the National Trust and the RHS proved not to be possible. They went to her nephew who owned Spetchley Park and Berkeley Castle. Warley was sold by auction over ten days, the house demolished in 1939. Captain Berkeley took over and all her paperwork, photographs etc. were put in the cellar, followed by furniture in WW2 when the American Air Force took over Spetchley Park.
In 1978 Audrey le Lievre, an historian interested in women's history, tracked Ellen Willmott's work and wrote her biography. For her book (Miss Willmott's Ghosts), Sandra Lawrence invited stories from those who knew her. She wrote letters and received replies. More trunks turned up at Berkeley Castle but some were not initially logged and not available to search. Sandra has contacted all and sundry for any connection, Warley Place volunteers helping with some information. When Sandra was given access to the trunks, some of the material was in shreds and mouldy - too much to photograph in the time allotted. Much paperwork had disintegrated, a mess. There were diaries, music, letters from famous people, including one from Empress Maria Theresa dated 1771, also watercolours and catalogues.
Ellen had travelled extensively. About 10,000 photographic glass plates were found initially, now 20,000 have been found, including a lantern slide collection. Boxes are still being checked, some remaining locked. There were also medals, a rose bowl and a dressing case. It was discovered that Miss Willmott was involved in founding the women's land army and was part of the committee to save Hampton Court Palace gardens. Her input was also key to landscaping the garden at Ann Hathaway's cottage at Stratford on Avon.
Work is still ongoing, to rescue and catalogue the contents of the trunks, some of her personal possessions are still turning up. This is an exciting project, not knowing what will turn up next - a journey.
Sandra brought us the story of a wonderful life, encouraging us to visit Warley Place, now a nature reserve run by Essex Wildlife Trust, to see what the volunteers are doing.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 17 April 2026: "The history of the Bata Shoe Company in Zlin and East Tilbury" by Mick Pinion
At our April meeting we were treated to a talk by Mick Pinion on the history of the Bata Shoe Company in Zlin and East Tilbury. Mick had been an engineer at Tilbury, living and working on the estate. He said the employees were known as Bata children, a happy place to be.
The founder Tomas Bata was born in 1876 in Zlin in the Austrian-Hungarian empire, to a family of shoemakers, he being the seventh generation. Their showroom and shop were small, employing 20 people. In Zlin many people could not afford shoes and people used felt sacks instead. Tomas wanted to make them more affordable. He started business with his siblings and when they moved on he was on his own aged 18. In the early 1900s he went to America and worked with new machines there. A visit to the Ford factory showed the conveyor belt system and he adapted this for shoes. In Zlin, output increased, prices down, only having to train people to do one job. Firstly he made leather and canvas shoes.
He built a new factory and expanded, the conveyor system dramatically improving output. Bata made Wellington boots where the last changed position on the belt as it went along for each process. His outlook was to make things easier and faster. He said a contented worker was a more productive one. Amenities were built including football stands, a swimming pool and 2200 houses. Tomas also had his own aircraft. In 1914 he had a contract to make army boots, passing on profit to his workers. Tomas built his own shops and by 1932 employed 20,000 people, making millions of shoes a year. His estate was laid out well, including a medical centre. He was one of the first people to use air travel for business. In 1932 he died in an aircraft accident in Switzerland. His son, also Tomas, was too young to take over, so his half-brother Jan helped. They formed a 10 year plan, expanded dramatically throughout the world.
Bata came to the UK in June 1932. Northants shoemakers complained about their low prices, made possible by having their own shops. A tax on imported shoes was proposed, so they had plans to build a factory at East Tilbury. There was depression and unemployment, the government did not want a factory built and wanted potatoes planted instead! They were eventually allowed to build, employing 200 people making leather shoes. They built a one-storey building, then five storeys, added rubber and leather factories and started building houses. The estate was up-market and modern. Tomas wanted staff to have things to do outside work, so built a community house in 1934. A ballroom for 600 followed, also shops and a workers' canteen. In 1937 plans were drawn up for the Bata Estate. In WW2 they had their own home guard and fire brigade (helping London in the Blitz). There were street parties after the war.
In 1936 a swimming pool, tennis courts and a football field were laid out, followed by a cinema in 1939. They played an annual football match against West Ham, In 1953 Bata actually won. Later, Bobby Moore played in matches. They also built a school and technical college and took on apprentices who had to cover all jobs in the factory, learning every skill. However, in 1946 things drastically changed. Communism arrived in Zlin and businesses were nationalised, losing 70% of their organisation. Tomas Bata scaled back plans due to austerity, exporting to Asia and South America, not Europe.
By 1964 Bata were making 12 million pairs of shoes, exporting 5 million. Wayfinder shoes were made for schools and scouts, with animal tracks on the sole. They made football boots too and for all other sports.
For security Bata used retired warrant officers and ran the factory like an army. Employees had to clock in by 7.30 when the gates were locked, losing 15 minutes' pay if you were late. Staff worked on the conveyor system, wages being paid according to output.
They had 430 houses with cheaper rent than the Council. In 1946 they had full central heating. Bata had 400 shops, including one in London's Oxford Street. In 1980 most of them disappeared; they had started in the 1920s/30s on 50 year leases which ran out, it being much more expensive to sign new ones, so they were sold off to Sears Groups. Factory output was unaffected, making shoes for the British Shoe Corporation and others. Tilbury had 620 acres, 150 of them for factories. A dairy farm, orchard and market garden were set up, farming 400 acres. hey had their own fleet of lorries. In 1959 an Espresso Bar was built with juke box, open to 10pm, proving very popular. The community house became a hotel. There was a recreation block for employees - snooker, darts etc. It was a Free house, so beer was cheaper. There were Annual Gala Days with a fun fair - free tickets given to children, including one for ice cream. Also a children's Christmas party.
The decline started with the rubber factory, India and Pakistan setting up their own factories. By 1970 imports were cheaper than goods Bata could make. They went over to plastic production with children's boots and high end industrial footwear, They also had a hosiery department making stockings and socks.
In 1955 two monuments were unveiled - one for Tomas Bata and one for those killed in WW2. Sadly some vandalism occurred and bronze plaques were stolen, later replaced with plastic ones. The factory closed in 2005/06 and is now an industrial site with 80% occupancy. The Bata Estate is still thriving.
With many of Thurrock's inhabitants working or knowing someone who worked at Bata's this was a pleasurable journey, illustrated and told so well by Mike.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 15 May 2026: "Geraldine Elizabeth Batt, 'Our Lady' to London Thieves" by Phil Lobley
At our May meeting Phil Lobley's lecture posed questions - why was Geraldine Elizabeth Batt buried at North Ockendon? She neither lived nor died in the area. It is a double grave, as she was buried with her sister Margaret nearly 100 years ago. The elaborate headstone at St Mary Magdalene features a swan and above Geraldine's grave are the words 'Our Lady to London Thieves'. So who were the Batts?
Geraldine was born in Purdysburn, County Down, Ireland in 1851, one of eight children born to Robert Batt (1795-1864), of the Belfast Banking Company. He had married twice, his first wife dying in Madeira in 1833. His second wife, Charlotte Wood, with whom he had eight children, died of cholera in France whilst on holiday in 1857.
Geraldine's only brother Robert Narcissus Batt inherited the house at Purdysburn and left it to Belfast General Hospital. It was part of an extensive mental hospital which has now been demolished, although some gardens remain. Her father left £1,000 to each of his daughters. Geraldine and Margaret were brought up by their guardian, their uncle a canon of Worcester Cathedral. By 1869 Geraldine and her sister were having a whale of a time with dances, archery etc. in both Purdysburn and Worcester. Margaret married Colonel, later Major Thomas Thompson Simpson in 1879 but they had no children.
Geraldine had moved to London by 1881, first living in Bloomsbury Gardens and then in a new apartment block just off Southampton Row. By 1891, still single and aged about 40, she may have known her near neighbour Margaret Bateson who was involved in the suffragette movement. From 1891 onwards, still in Bloomsbury, she made payments to St John the Evangelist Church, including nurseries, soup kitchens etc, until 1905. In 1899 she had moved to Red Lion Square. She was not short of money and could have afforded better accommodation but clearly wanted to be near the church. Geraldine gave money to several church run groups, the Temperance Society and Band of Hope etc. Red Lion Square had a poor reputation which had improved over the years, but there was much poverty nearby.
Charles Booth a British shipowner and philanthropist, was concerned about the poverty in London. He wrote several books, also creating maps showing various levels of the London poor. He visited Red Lion Square, describing the population as the poorest working class, but not criminal. He mentions Geraldine in his notebooks, describing her as a very masterful lady who ran a Boys' Club in the square.
In their later years, the two sisters lived near each other in West Kensington where they died, Geraldine in 1931 and Margaret in 1932. In 1876 their sister Emily Charlotte (an accomplished artist) had married Commander John Lewis Way, Geraldine being one of 18 bridesmaids. This then was the North Ockendon connection - Stubbers. John Way's sister, Emily Augusta married Champion Russell and their son Champion Branfill Russell was born in North Ockendon 1860. In 1889 Champion Branfill Russell's sister Mary married. Those present included local figures Ellen Willmott and her sister of Warley Place, the Reverend Luard of Aveley and his daughters. Both Ellen Willmott and Kate Luard have been the subjects of talks at the Thurrock Local History Society.
Geraldine died in 1931, leaving £7692 (worth £680,000 today), with various bequests. Her sister Margaret was left £500 and a trust fund. Margaret died 19 months later in 1932, leaving £9200. Her executor was Champion Branfill Russell, who was left a trust fund. It is not certain who paid for her burial, or why she and Geraldine were buried in North Ockendon, but it is likely that it was paid for by the Branfill family. The image of swan on the grave means purity. Why 'Our Lady to London Thieves'? Nothing has been found as to why this inscription was used - it is possible that it was a reference to the help she provided to the poor and criminal classes in her work with the church Mission. She was a benefactor, giving money for shelter, food and other support. This was a very interesting lecture, showing a story behind a grave, well researched.
Information about previous years
society meetings: 2024-2025, 2023-2024, 2022-2023, 2021-2022 2018-2019, 2017-2018 2016-2017 2015-2016, 2014-2015, 2013-2014, 2012-2013, 2011-2012, 2010-2011, 2009-2010, 2008-2009, 2007-2008, 2006-2007, 2005-2006, 2004-2005, 2003-2004, 2002-2003, 2001-2002
We held three outings in the summer of
2016 - details here. Previous outings - to the Globe Theatre in April 2010, Cambridge in June 2010 and to Portsmouth. Bletchley Park, Dover, Waltham Abbey and Eltham Palace.
See the society at the Orsett Show and learn about our 50th
Anniversary celebrations.
The society supported the Essex
History Fair - see us in 2004.
YourThurrock filmed us at the Orsett Show in
2018.
COALHOUSE FORT:
Currently closed.
ALL SAINTS CHURCH - EAST HORNDON
The church of All Saints stands on
rising ground overlooking the Thames plain at the
junction of the London to Southend and Brentwood to
Tilbury roads. The chancel, nave, tower, north and south
transepts and north chapel date from the last quarter of
the 15th century built almost entirely of red brick. The
south chapel and porch were added during the first
quarter of the succeeding century. An interesting and
possibly unique feature of the church is the pair of two-storeyed
transepts supposed to have been the living quarters of
chantry priests. The church has been associated with the
Tyrell family since the 14th century.
The All Saints Society was
dissolved on 31st December 2009. The church is in the
care of a national charity, The Churches Conservation
Trust, who are assisted locally by the Friends of East
Horndon Church. Volunteers are always needed to help look
after this unique structure.
The church is open every Saturday
from May to September inclusive from 1030-1530.
More information may be obtained
from
www.all-saints-east-horndon.co.uk
TILBURY FORT
Tilbury Fort is open daily, 10 am-5
pm 1st April to 31st October.
Thursday to Monday, 10.00 am - 4 pm through the winter.
Admission: Adults £3.50, Concessions: £2.60, Child £1.80,
Family £8.80.
For more information ring 01375
858489
DAVY DOWN INFORMATION CENTRE &
COUNTRY PARK
Davy Down is situated in Pilgrims
Lane, North Stifford. Grid Ref. 803588 - OS Landranger
sheet 177
The information centre is housed in
the Pumping Station Buildings built in 1928 to house
large diesel engines which provided the power to extract
water from a 150 ft borehole in the chalk below.
Davy Down acts as the gateway to
the Mardyke Way, part of the Thames Chase Community
Forest.
The Mardyke Way is a10 km multi-user path that runs from
Ship Lane Aveley up to Bulphan.
For more information click here:
Davy Down
PURFLEET HERITAGE & MILITARY
CENTRE -
Car Park – Tea Bar – Shop –
Wheelchair Friendly - Picnic by The River of Thames
Opening times are:
1st November to 31st March: Thursdays and Sundays 10.00
am – 3.00pm.
1st April to 31st October: Thursdays and Sundays and Bank
Holiday Mondays 10.00 am – 4.30pm
Telephone number during opening
times 01708 890874
For group bookings and out of hours 07751099352 –
07933099961 – 017080523409 email: alan.gosling@rocketmail.com
Admissions: Adult �3.00 – Child �1.50 –
Concession's �2.50
Web site: www.purfleet-heritage.com
