Hugh Trenchard: "Father of the RAF"

Hugh Montague Trenchard is regarded as the "Father of the Royal Air Force".  He was born at Windsor Lodge, Haines Hill, Taunton on 3rd February 1873.  When he was two years old, his family moved to Courtlands near Norton Fitzwarren and he spent the rest of his childhood there.

Hugh Trenchard didn't do well at school but was granted a commission as second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers in September 1893 and was posted to India.  He served in the Boer War 1899-1902 and was promoted to the rank of Captain in February 1900.  He was severely injured at Dwarsvlei in the Transvaal in October 1900 and was invalided back to Britain.  He recovered and returned to South Africa in May 1901.  He then served in Nigeria 1903-1910. He was promoted to major and later to lieutenant colonel. He became seriously ill in 1910 and was sent back to the UK.  After recovering, he served in Ulster until 1912.  

He learnt to fly aircraft in July 1912 at the Sopwith School of Flying at Brooklands in Surrey and was immediately seconded to the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.  In 1913 he was appointed Assistant Commander of the Central Flying School at Upavon in Wiltshire. In August 1915 he was put in charge of the Royal Flying Corps in France.  His policy was to launch persistent attacks in order to establish air supremacy. 

In January 1918 Hugh Trenchard was appointed as the first Chief of the Air Staff, although he resigned from that post in April of the same year.  He was also knighted (KCB).  In May 1918 he returned to France as the head of a small force that was intended to bomb targets in Germany, although only a few raids were carried out.  

In 1919 Winston Churchill, who was Minister of War and Air, persuaded him to resume his post of Chief of the Air Staff.  Hugh Trenchard was created a baronet in October 1919. During the 1920s he founded an apprentice school for ground crews at Halton in Buckinghamshire, a cadet college for career officers at Cranwell in Lincolnshire and a staff college at Andover in Hampshire. He set up University Air Squadrons at Cambridge, Oxford and London in 1925 and introduced short-service commissions.  He was knighted again (GCB) in January 1924 and he became the first Marshal of the RAF in 1927.

In 1920 Hugh Trenchard married Katherine Boyle.  They had two sons together: Hugh (born 1921 and died in North Africa in 1943) and Thomas (1923-1987).

Hugh Trenchard retired from the RAF on 31st December 1929 and was made a baron the following day.  He was Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police 1931-1935, during which time he founded the police college and forensic laboratory at Hendon. He was made a viscount in January 1936.  He was then Chairman of the United Africa Company 1936-1953.

Hugh Trenchard died in London on 10th February 1956 and his funeral took place in Westminster Abbey.  In July 1961 prime minister Harold Macmillan unveiled a bronze statue of of him by William McMillan outside the Ministry of Defence in Embankment Gardens.  A 7-foot high cast bronze statue of him by Vivien Mallock was unveiled at RAF College Cranwell in October 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of the college.

In 2018 Taunton's new Northern Inner Distributor Road was named Trenchard Way in memory of him.  In June 2018 his grandson, Hugh Trenchard, 3rd Viscount Trenchard, unveiled a memorial on Trenchard Way close to Taunton Station.

Windsor Lodge, Haines Hill, Taunton

Memorial stone on Trenchard Way

Plaque on the memorial stone

Unusual War Memorials

There is a war memorial in virtually every town and village in Somerset.  However there are a few memorials, which stand out because they are a bit different.  Here are some of them:

Burrow Mump

 

Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump is an outcrop of Mercia mudstone.  In medieval times a chapel, belonging to Athelney Abbey and dedicated to St Michael, was built on top of it.  The chapel was rebuilt several times and was still standing in the mid-17th century.  By the mid-18th century it was in ruins.  In 1793 rebuilding commenced, but the church was never completed.  The church is built of lias with Ham stone and red brick dressings.  In 1836-8 a church (also dedicated to St Michael) was built at the foot of the hill in the village of Burrowbridge instead. Burrow Mump and the unfinished church were given to the National Trust by Major Alexander Gould Barrett in 1946, as a memorial to the Somerset men and women who lost their lives during the Second World War.

 

Burrow Mump

Burrow Mump Memorial Plaque

 

Holford & Kilve's Memorial Copse

Holford and Kilve's Second World War memorial is a copse of Scots pine trees on Longstone Hill on the Quantocks.  The memorial says "These trees were planted to commemorate the men and women of Holford and Kilve who served in the war 1939-45."

 

Holford & Kilve's Memorial Copse

Holford and Kilve's Memorial Copse

Blagdon Green, Blagdon Hill

"Lest we Forget.  In Memory of the Fallen"

 

Baltonsborough

This war memorial is made from a 15" Howitzer shell case.

Dowlish Wake

This memorial is carved onto a Ham stone boulder

"Remember those who died for this country"

Thatched war memorial in Drayton

"We Will Remember Them" mural painted on a wall in Haydon Road, Taunton

Dunster

The walled garden located at the back of St George's Church in Dunster is a war memorial garden.  It is dedicated to the men of Dunster who died for their country in both world wars. It can be accessed through a gate in the wall on Priory Green just opposite the dovecote. 

Dunster's War Memorial Garden

Royal British Legion Poppy Memorial, Weston-super-Mare

This colourful war memorial was installed at the front of Somerset Legion House on Weston-super-Mare seafront, when it opened in 2007 as a hotel offering holidays for ex-servicemen and women and their families.  The hotel closed in January 2020 and the memorial has now been moved to Grove Park.

Royal British Legion Memorial Bench, Collett Park, Shepton Mallet

This was put in place for the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in November 2018.

Corfe's memorial to those who died in the First World War but who lie in unmarked graves or have no grave at all.

Martock

Martock has a horse water trough, which is now filled with flowers, as a memorial to the 450,000 horses that were killed in the South African War 1899-1902

Porlock's Second World War Memorial Trees & Garden

First World War memorial bench, Somerton

Second World War memorial bench, Somerton

War Memorial bench, Somerton

War Memorial clock tower, Worle

This clock tower was paid for by local subscription in 1919 and was designed by local architect T. Bradford Ball.  It was built by local builders overseen by William Huish, who had proposed the idea of a clock tower as a war memorial.  It was dedicated on 14th September 1922. The original clock mechanism was a double three-legged gravity escapement.  The clock was restored in 2010 and a new electric movement was installed by Smith of Derby.

War memorial shelter, Williton Recreation Ground

The plaque on the wall of the shelter says:

Erected by 

the Parish of Williton

 in memory of those men

 of the parish who fell

 in the Second World War 

1939-45

Stained glass window

St Laurence's Church, East Harptree

This war memorial window was designed by Karl Parsons (1884-1934) in the Arts & Crafts style in 1919.  Three saints are depicted: St George in the centre, flanked by St Laurence and St Agnes.  Below the harp and tree are a woman and a child waving goodbye and a soldier going off to war.

Woman and a child waving to a soldier marching off to war

Edith Cavell

Edith Louisa Cavell was born on December 4th 1865 in the village of Swardeston in Norfolk, where her father Frederick was the vicar for 45 years. After being educated at home for several years, Edith boarded at Belgrave House School in Elton Road, Clevedon from 1883-84. She then attended schools in London and Peterborough. In 1889 she became governess to a family in Brussels and she remained in this post for six years. She returned to England in 1895 to nurse her seriously ill father and she then decided to train as a nurse. She trained at the Royal London Hospital and then worked at various hospitals in London and Manchester.

In 1907 Edith was appointed as director of a new nurses’ training school in Brussels, which had just been set up by Dr Antoine De Page. She successfully persuaded potential recruits and members of her committee that nursing was a respectable profession and one which required professional training.

After the German occupation of Belgium in late 1914, Edith became involved in an underground group formed to help British, French, and Belgian soldiers reach the Netherlands, which was a neutral country. The soldiers were sheltered at the Berkendael Institute, which had become a Red Cross hospital.  They were provided with money and guides by a Belgian called Philippe Baucq.  About 200 men had been helped before Edith and several others were arrested by the Germans on 5th August 1915.

The group of nine people was brought before a court martial on October 7th, 1915, accused of assisting the enemy and of trying to damage the German war effort. Edith Cavell made a full confession and was sentenced to death on October 9th, along with four others. The remaining four were sentenced to hard labour.  Edith Cavell and Philippe Baucq were executed by a firing squad on October 12th 1915 in Brussels, despite the efforts of the American and Spanish ministers to secure a reprieve. Edith’s execution on a charge, which did not include espionage, was considered outrageous and was widely publicised by the Allies.

After the war there was a funeral service for Edith Cavell at Westminster Abbey and on 15th May 1919 her body was reburied on the outside of the south east corner of Norwich Cathedral.  She is commemorated on the Swardeston village sign and by a statue in St Martin’s Place in London. There are busts of her at the London Hospital Museum; in Brussels; Melbourne in Australia and Norwich.  She also has many streets in the UK and across the world named after her and a bar in Tombland, Norwich There is a blue plaque on 1 Elton Road, Clevedon, commemorating the time she spent at school in Clevedon.

There is another Somerset connection to Edith Cavell - Sister Elizabeth Bastable Wilkins worked with her at the Red Cross Hospital in Brussels.  On one occasion the Germans raided the hospital looking for British soldiers.  Sister Wilkins warned the ward nurse and 4 British soldiers were hidden away, while Sister Wilkins hid their documents.  She was arrested, but released after 3 hours.  On 5th August 1915 she was arrested again, at the same time as Edith Cavell.  However, she was released.  She visited Edith Cavell while she was in prison and looked after her dog.  Elizabeth Wilkins later became Matron of Chard Hospital, a position she held for over 30 years.  

Further Reading:

Edith Cavell: Faith before the Firing Squad: Catherine Butcher.  Monarch Books, 2015

Edith Cavell: Nurse, Martyr, Heroine: Diana Souhami.  Quercus Publishing, 2015

Blue plaque outside 1 Elton Road, Clevedon

1 Elton Road, Clevedon

Edith Cavell's memorial outside Norwich Cathedral

Bust of Edith Cavell, Norwich

Cavell’s Bar with a stained glass window of Edith, Tombland, Norwich

Edith Cavell's grave, Norwich Cathedral

Plaque adjacent to Edith Cavell's grave, Norwich Cathedral

Swardeston war memorial

Edith Cavell's name is at the top.

Edith Cavell on the Swardeston village sign

Edith Cavell stained glass window in St Mary's Church, Swardeston

Portrait of Edith Cavell in St Mary's Church, Swardeston

Iron silhouette of Edith Cavell close to Norwich Railway Station

V - Blast

14 paintings of the Passion of Edith Cavell by Brian Whelan were commissioned by Norwich Cathedral in 2015. 

IX - Trust

Alfred Leete, graphic artist

Alfred Ambrose Chew Leete was born in Thorpe Achurch in Northamptonshire on 28^th August 1882.  His parents, John and Harriet, were farmers.  John Leete gave up farming, due to ill health, in 1893 and the family moved to Weston-super-Mare, where Harriet ran a series of boarding houses/hotels, including Claremont House in Claremont Crescent and the Addington Hotel in Madeira Road.  

Alfred attended Kingsholme School and the School of Science and Art (now Weston College).  At the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a surveyor in Bristol.  He loved drawing and was a self-taught artist.  In 1897 the Daily Graphic paid him for a drawing and he went on to make regular contributions to the Bristol Magpie.

In 1899 Alfred Leete moved to London to work as an artist for a printer.  He went freelance in 1905, when the magazine Punch published one of his drawings.  Over the next few years he contributed cartoons and drawings to the comic Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, the Pall Mall Gazette, Strand Magazine, Tatler, Sketch, The Bystander, Punch and the London Opinion.  He specialised in comic illustration, cartoons, posters and advertisements. 

In November 1909 Alfred married Edith Jane Webb.  Their first child, a daughter called Betty, was born in 1910 but died a few weeks later. Their son Alfred John was born in 1914. 

Britain declared war on Germany on 4^th August 1914.  On 5^th September 1914 Alfred’s drawing of the Secretary of State for War, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, pointing his finger, featured on the front cover of the London Opinion, with the words “Your Country Needs YOU” beneath the picture.  The image was later used by the magazine as an unofficial recruitment poster with the words “Britons [Kitchener] “Wants YOU”, Join Your Country’s Army!”.  The magazine also had this image displayed on advertising hoardings in London in the autumn of 1914. 

Alfred Leete's iconic drawing of Lord Kitchener

In 1917 the American artist James Montgomery Flagg adapted Alfred’s drawing by substituting Uncle Sam for Lord Kitchener and using the slogan “I Want YOU for U.S. Army”.  It also inspired similar posters, which were produced in Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, Italy, Austria, Germany and Russia.  In the Second World War Kitchener’s face was replaced by Churchill’s on a recruitment poster for the Australian Imperial Force.  Although Alfred Leete’s drawing of Lord Kitchener was never used as an official recruitment poster, it has become one of the most iconic and enduring images of the First World War.

During the First World War Alfred produced several comic cartoons, which made fun of the Germans. In 1916 he joined the Artists’ Rifles. He served with them on the Western Front in France and produced a series of drawings of his experiences there.

In the 1920s Alfred produced illustrations for successful advertising campaigns for companies such as Guinness, Bovril, London Underground, Younger’s Ales and Rowntree’s.  He often visited Weston-super-Mare and produced advertisements for local businesses and cartoons about local issues. In 1925 he designed the cover for the Weston-super-Mare Official Guide, which was entitled “Atlantic Breezes”.

“Atlantic Breezes” by Alfred Leete, 

cover of the 1925 Official Guide to Weston-super-Mare

Alfred Leete was taken ill on a trip to Italy and he died of a brain haemorrhage at his home in Kensington, London on 17^th June 1933.  He was buried in Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare.

Alfred Leete's grave in Milton Road Cemetery, Weston-super-Mare

Blue plaque, Addington Court, Madeira Road

Addington Court, Madeira Road

Alfred's brother, Sidney Tebbutt Leete (1889-1924), who was an architect, designed the Central Picture House in Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare in partnership with R.I. Smith.  This opened in 1921, was renamed the Central Cinema in the mid-1950s and was demolished in 1964.