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Amersham ---- News, Views & Information |
There are many other places in Britain which had a more
notable time during World War II, but the War obviously had an impact on
Amersham, perhaps the most lasting impacts being the expansion of the hospital
and the creation of the Radiochemical Centre.
The growth of
Amersham-on-the-Hill during the 1930s meant there were many new houses for
people to move into. A lot of the people that moved into the houses came from
London. During the 1930s some moved just to leave the crowded city, but others
decided that with the possibility of war a move from Central London would be a
wise move. When World War II broke out, more people moved out to towns like
Amersham, either buying property or staying with relatives. A number of
children were also evacuated either officially or unofficially to relatives.
Local schools gained extra pupils transferred out from London
schools.
Dr. Challoners school would have been one of
the many local schools to gain extra children from families moving out of
London
Doris Lediard, now from Oregon recalls "I was one of many school children who were evacuated from London at the beginning of the War. We were billeted in Chesham and I rode the bus to classes at the Amersham (Challoners ed?) Grammar School. Us girls from the Chiswick County School shared the school with the Grammar School pupils, they attended in the mornings and we went in the afternoons and I think on Saturday mornings also. During the mornings our school packed into a Scout Hut in the woods to do our "prep". It stands out as one of my vivid memories, as to get to the hut we had to go by a soldier who checked our identities. Also the hut did not have any heat and many mornings the ink was frozen in the ink wells, we were so cold that we worked in our overcoats and hats. I especially remember a restaurant in the town whose kind owner allowed us "evacuees" to sit in the warm and eat our sandwiches, (it felt like heaven to us frozen girls)."
An interesting story concerns the creation of the Henry
Allen Nursery School. In the early 1940s, there became a need for the provision
of nursery places for the pre-school age children of Amersham and the
surrounding area. Many local women were employed in war work (Amersham Prints
in The Maltings, had been taken over to manufacture barrage balloons and The
Cartwheel in London Road made radios). In 1941, before the bombing of Pearl
Harbour which resulted in America entering the Second World War, Californian
subscribers to the American Save the Children Federation provided the money
required to build a Nursery as a way of aiding the British war effort without
becoming involved militarily. The President of the Federation was Governor
Henry J Allen of Wichita, Kansas. In 1941 he travelled to Amersham to turn the
first spadeful of earth that marked the beginnings of the Nursery. The site
chosen was a piece of farmland adjoining Mitchell Walk, which at that time was
an unmade road (remaining so until 1960) with only one house. On 9 February
1942 Henry Allen Nursery opened its doors for the first time with places for
forty children aged two to five, although occasionally babies as young as
eighteen months were admitted if their mothers’ work was essential to the
war. The two classrooms were named after the Royal princesses; the old children
were in Elizabeth Room (now Purple Class) and the younger ones in Margaret Room
(now Red Class). (This information has been kindly supplied by the Henry Allen
Nursery School, for further information see the School's web site
here
Henry Allen Nursery School (Picture Courtesy
of Henry Allen Nursery School)
Just like other places in Britain, defence preparations
were put in place. Sand bags arrived along with gas masks. Homes installed air
raid shelters in their gardens, evidence of these can still be found in some
gardens in Amersham where the lawn rises to go over an abandoned shelter. Other
houses installed blast walls in front of the "french windows" which were a
feature of many of the 1930s houses.
Pete Wood,
now from Southern California, recalls his memories of Amersham
during the war -
"My father was mobilised on September 1st 1939 so my
mother and her 2 children (I was 5) went to her parents home in Amersham. The
address was then 47 Woodside Road which was later re-numbered to 115 and we
lived there until Dad returned in 1945.
Woodside Road in the 1930s - Picture Courtesy
of Pete Wood
"We then bought a little house at 46 Orchard
Lane and I lived there until I was married in 1957. We moved in 1960 to
California where we still reside. I still remember the incendiary raid of 1941.
The little bombs were popping all around us and I found a live one next morning
in King George V Playing Fields, which backed onto my garden. The night sky was
as bright as day but fortunately no house fires were started.
"It was also quite common to see Spitfires flying low over
Amersham chasing Nazi aircraft - truly memorable events in the life of a young
boy growing up in wartime. The air raid siren outside Dr. Farquarson's house at
Sycamore Corner always seemed to go off after the aircraft were long
gone!
"The citizens of Amersham did their bit too and purchased a
submarine for the Royal Navy. There was a huge "thermometer" outside the bank
at Oakfield Corner showing the weekly totals of peoples' donations.
"On the night of VE day someone "found" 20 or 30 military signal
rockets and let them off on the vacant lot that later became the post office on
Hill Avenue - an awesome sight for a 10 year old boy! Even after all this time
there is a part of me which never left Amersham and I have a lot of fond
memories."
(The air raid siren Pete refers to above was used after
the War to call out the retained firemen. The siren brought back many memories
for the residents and continued in use into the 1970s. If the wind was blowing
in the right direction you could also here the siren in Chesham).
Frank Phillipson has
researched an incident that occurred in Little Chalfont. In the book "Raiders
Overhead" by Stephen Flower (about air raids on the Walton and Weybridge area
of Surrey) reference is made to a Halifax bomber being accidentally shot down
by British anti- aircraft guns sited near Weybridge and Slough on 24th March
1944. The aircraft crashed at Lodge Farm, south-east of Little Chalfont (the
farm is south of the railway and east of Lodge Lane). A database of bomber
losses reveals the following details :-
Type:- Handley Page Halifax II
(Merlin engines) Serial No.JD317
Unit:- 1659 HCU (Heavy Conversion Unit
i.e. training crews to fly four engine heavy bombers).
Operation:-
Diversionary attack on occupied France west of Paris.
Date:- 24th March
1944
Airborne at 19:22hrs from RAF Topcliffe the Halifax was part of a
diversionary force made up of 147 older bombers from training units. The
diversion was in support of the Main Force bomber operation against Berlin of
811 aircraft.
Halifax JD317 steered for an area west of Paris but, on
the return leg to base, the aircraft strayed into the London Defence Zone and
was shot down at 23:00hrs by AA fire. It crashed in flames at Lodge Farm,
Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire killing the pilot F/O MS Little RCAF who is
buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery. Three injured members of crew were
admitted to hospitals at Amersham and Watford suffering from sprains and
shock:- P/O J.S.Beresford RCAF, Sgt J.Mackenzie RCAF, Sgt N.E.Cowan RCAF.
Further research reveals there was an unusually strong northerly wind
which blew the Halifax over 100 miles off course over the London Zone. The
pilot was praised for staying at the controls of his aircraft steering it away
from "a village" and saving his crew. It appears the Halifax did not identify
itself to the London Defence Zone, hence the error in shooting it down.
Malcolm Flack from Amersham
remembers "I recall seeing some sort of plane (I have no idea what type etc.)
stuck in the trees in Lodge Lane Little Chalfont. The exact location was after
you go under the railway bridge in Lodge Lane from the Amersham-Rickmansworth
Road and at the bend in the road after the dip, it was on the left just before
Long Walk turning."
Pete Wood recalls
- "In 1943 (I think), a Lancaster bomber crash landed at night in
a field bordering Stony Lane. The next morning, I furiously cycled over there
and sure enough there was the Lancaster with its wheels in mud up to the axles
and missing the left wing-tip. The pilot had done an amazing job in landing it,
but two oak trees at the edge of the field were a little closer together than
the wing span. When I got there, the aircrew had already been picked up and the
aircraft was being guarded by an RAF corporal. I found the left landing light
some distance away and persuaded the corporal to let me have it. The reflector
was crushed by the impact but the bulb with a filament that looked like a gate
spring still worked and I kept it for many years.
David Hawley writes "I wonder if any of
your site visitors were in the the Black Horse Primary
School sports field the day that a two engined German plane flew over it
with an airman on its wing. It crash landed in a field at Raans Farm and after
school we went and saw it and by this time the Home Guard were there with
the German airmen."
Richard Ayres now
from Staffordshire recalls that one of the gliders from the force
that set out for Arnhem in 1944 came down in Rogers Wood Field, to the south of
the River Misbourne.
David Hawley adds
"I also remember the glider incident as myself, plus the Brackley
brothers went to see it. I remember the soldiers were not very happy, they did
not know then how lucky they had been. I also witnessed from the top of Stanley
Hill the recovery of the Glider by a Wellington aircraft from a hook line
that had been erected."
Pete Wood continues - "I also recall a Sunday morning in the spring of 1944, a flying bomb (Doodle Bug) landed in Chestnut Close (this may have been Chestnut Lane - see below - Ed.) and demolished two houses and killed several people. I still remember my stark terror as I stood in my grandparents house in Woodside Road hearing the pulse jet cut out and the swishing sound as the bomb plummeted to earth not knowing if it was the last few seconds of my life. The massive explosion shook the house but fortunately no windows were broken. Perhaps some more of your readers have recollections of these events."
Pete Wood has supplied the following pictures
-
1411
Squadron at Dr. Challoners, Officers of 1411 Squadron,
Dried Milk display
and VE Day Parade in Chesham
See here for all of
Pete's pictures with full descriptions
Malcolm Flack from
Amersham also remembers "Being born in Amersham in White Lion
Road a year before the commencement of the War, I can recall as a child seeing
what I now understand was a "Doodle Bug" flying in a westerly direction towards
the Chesham Bois area and subsequently hearing a loud explosion. My family
decided later that day (a Sunday, I believe) to take a stroll in that
direction. We went along Parkfield Avenue to the end at the junction with
Chestnut Lane, where straight in front of us behind the hedgerows were the
remains of what was a fair sized detached property which had been destroyed by
that deadly object. Nothing stood more than a metre high as far as we could
see."
Since receiving the above information, I have been advised
that the first "Doodle Bugs" were not launched until June 1944, spring could be
described as June, but memories of over 60 years ago should allow for this.
There has also been a suggesting that no flying bombs landed north of London.
My research on this matter definitely reveals there was a large explosion which
destroyed a house in Chestnut Lane. Whether it was a V1 is less clear, it
appears they did land north of London and it also appears much dis information
was given out to try and confuse the Germans on the success or otherwise of
their attacks. If anyone can provide any more details on this incident, I would
be very grateful. I am indebted to Frank Phillipson
who has contacted me and writes "... I have found from "The
Defence of the UK" by Basil Collier IWM 1957, that 27 flying bombs (V1s) landed
in Bucks and that 2 V2s landed in Bucks during February 1945. This is backed up
from information from the Centre for Bucks Studies in
Aylesbury."
Mike Smith from Chesham
Bois has supplied further information about the bombings in
Amersham. "Inspired by your website I have been looking up the records (ARP
reports) at the Centre for Buckinghamshire studies.
"I believe there
were probably four flying bombs in the Amersham area, including the following
three specific incidents:
"The first of these was the one in Chestnut
Lane, which fell at 10.52 or 10.54 am on 2nd July 1944. The report
says 'Red Lodge and Bungalow (part of the same property?) completely
demolished. Northcott partly demolished. The Leys severely
damaged. Two other houses badly damaged. Many houses and shops in
Bois Lane, Chestnut Lane, Woodside Avenue and Sycamore Road suffered severe
damage.'
"Another report says '1 house completely demolished (5 yds away
from Flying Bomb) 4 houses partly demolished (10 and 55 yds away)
135 houses damaged (ceilings, roofs, windows) (within 200 yds
radius)'.
"Casualties were 'Killed 1 male 1 female. Admitted
to Amersham Emergency Hospital 3 males 10 females 1 child. Other minor
casualties, chiefly cuts from glass'.
"The next was at 17.55 on 5 July
1944 at Windmill Plantation, Weedon Hill Wood, Amersham. The report
says '12 houses within a radius of 400 yds (badly damaged?). Damage
to ceilings, tiles and glazing to other houses within a 1/2 mile
radius'.
"The third was on 16 August 1944, 1/2 mile SE of Ley Hill
Common. This seems to have been on open ground as no damage was
reported."
David Hawley, now from Aylesbury
has contacted me and writes "I was born in 1935 at 26 The Meadows
and have a few memories of events I witnessed during World War 2. I can confirm
that a Doodle Bug did in fact land in Chestnut Lane. I was standing on a
footpath opposite No. 20 The Meadows where the Brackley family lived and was
with an evacuee named Louis Kerner who lived at No 20. We both heard the noise
of the Bug as it passed over The Meadows and saw it just before its engine
stopped then saw it start to fall, at this Louis ran into his house and I ran
to tell my Father and as I was going through our Back door there was a loud
explosion. My Father and I could see a plume of smoke, he then took hold of my
hand and we went to the end of our garden and over the fence into his railway
allotment, up the bank and over the railway and through a hole in the fence and
then along the edge of the cricket ground down to, and over, Woodside Road up
Mitchell Walk into Plantation road into New Road and then into Chestnut Lane.
The first thing we saw was the side of one house which had been damaged and a
couple standing by a cooker outside the house. All they said to my Father was
'we've lost our Sunday Dinner'. We carried on until we saw the house or
bungalow that had been virtually flattened, other houses were damaged but my
Father said 'this is where it landed' "
Nigel Woof from Chalfont St.
Giles writes "two houses in Pollards Wood - Pollards Park House
and Pollardswood Grange - (near the site of the Amersham plc site today) were
requisitioned in 1941 and became 'Special Training School XX' (i.e. number 20)
of the Special Operations Executive, better known as SOE and recently
popularised by the Sebastian Faulks novel 'Charlotte Gray' and the film of the
same name.
STS20 was apparently used to train Polish section SOE
agents in clandestine operations. The Polish SOEs activities included operation
WILDHORN in 1944 and '45 in which British / Polish aircraft were covertly
landed to bring out key Polish underground / resistance leaders and return them
to England. In one of these missions in July 1944 a captured V2 rocket was also
apparently brought out.
I know of no accounts by local residents of the
goings-on in Pollards Wood during the war, but presumably many suspected there
was something 'hush-hush' happening there! Would be fascinating to know if
anyone remembers."
Lola Richards (nee Matto) now
from Canada remembers on her web site here (which
includes pictures) her memories of the War in Chesham Bois. "The worst part
were the Air Raids. My Dad constructed an Air Raid shelter in the house, made
from a heavy carpentry bench, with sheets of metal encasing the sides. We
crawled into the shelter from one end and had blankets and pillows in there as
we often had to hide for quite a while. The only problem was, as soon as the
siren sounded, our 3 large Airedales would dash for the shelter and get in
before us! We would listen to the planes going overhead and got to know by the
sound of them whether they were 'Ours' or 'Theirs'. Then we would hear the
'buzzbombs' going over, and pray that the noise would continue. For when it cut
off, that was when the bomb would fall. Even now, when I hear the E.M.O. siren,
I get a sinking in my stomach, as it sounds just like the Air Raid sirens used
to. You never forget something like that. For light, we had a lantern covered
with green baize, and I can still recall the smell of the warm cloth. Of course
black-outs were in effect so we couldn't have much light, even tucked away in
the shelter. As a child I was only aware of feeling safe and protected in our
hide-away. When the All Clear siren sounded, it felt so wonderful! We would all
pile out and my Mum would go and put the kettle on to make a cup of
tea!.
"However, one night it was different. Shortly after an especially
scary raid, my Mum was alarmed by the Bomb Disposal Squad leader pounding on
our door and telling us to evacuate the house quickly. Evidently, they knew
that one bomb had dropped but had not exploded yet! My Mum always remembered
wrapping me up (I guess I was about 3 years old then) and taking me outside to
go to a neighbour's house, Mrs. Honour who lived on Woodside Avenue. Our house
was situated right across the Chess Valley from Bovingdon Aerodrome and that
was a prime target for bombs. A German bomber had dropped a 'stick' of six
bombs aimed at Bovingdon, but unfortunately for us, his aim was a little off -
and they came across the valley dropping in a line up our side. One was a
direct hit on the goat shed at the far end of our property - the poor goat
never knew what hit him! The next one fell in our back lawn - only yards away
from where my Mum and I were hiding in our home-made shelter. Not only did it
land there, but it turned underground and tunnelled beneath the house......but
did not explode!
Sign outside
Lola's Chesham Bois house
picture courtesy of Lola Richards
"After
evacuating us, the Bomb Disposal Squad dug down to defuse and extricate the
bomb. I have the greatest admiration for those brave men! We were not allowed
back home officially, but my Mum sneaked back to feed the rabbits and chickens,
and managed to get some photos of the crew working. After the crisis was over
she made them all a cup of tea, of course!" The above episode may be the one referred to below in the second extract from the Surrey history Centre.
Referring to the bombs landing on King George V playing field mentioned above David Hawley adds "I note that the description of the Incendiary bombs was accurate except that a house did get hit, our house, and if it was not for the bravery of my brother Ray who was ahead of us going up the stairs to bed, our house would have caught fire. The bomb when it came through our roof landed on the floor of our large bedroom on its fin [the mark was on the lino for many years] and it bounced onto a marble topped dressing table. Ray entered the room and using my eldest brothers best grey flannels, scooped up the flaming bomb and ran down the stairs shouting 'open the door' and he threw it into our front garden. His photo appeared in a national paper I think it was The Sketch but I am not sure."
Frank Phillipson has passed me details of some research he has doe at the National Archives. He has found records which details some of the bombing in the Amersham area. Some of the details are as follows
27 September 1940 - 6 bombs landed in Amersham Common, 5 of the bombs
were 50kg, covering an area of about half a mile. The assumed target was the
railway station. Most landed on open ground, some in fields and one damaged a
footpath and sewer cover. Apart from craters, no other property was
damaged.
18 October 1940 - 1 bomb landed in Chesham Bois. No casualties, the
bomb landed 14 feet from a bungalow which was "badly shaken".
15 November
1940 - 10 50kg bombs landed in the Coleshill area. No casualties and open land
or farm land hit
The detail shown on the Archive records is quite
extensive, with each bomb location noted with details of impact and damage
caused.
 Report from 18th October 1940
Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre
|
 Report from 29th October 1940
Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
 Report from 24th November 1940 Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
 Report from 11th December 1940
Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
 Report from 30th January 1941 Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
 Report from 17th February 1941
Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
 Report from 26th February 1941 Reproduced with permission from The Surrey History Centre |
Shardeloes
Picture Courtesy of Bridget Clarke
During World War II Shardeloes, on the outskirts of the Old Town, was converted into a maternity hospital for people from London to come out to the countryside to have their children, over 5200 children were born there by the time it closed in 1948. I receive quite a few mails from people born at Shardeloes. Some have posted on the Amersham Forum asking for others to contact them.
By the outbreak of War, The Work House in Whielden Street had divided into The Amersham Public Assistance Institute and St. Mary's Hospital. Part of the site was then commandeered to become an "Emergency Services Hospital" serving the military and civilians. "Temporary" buildings were erected to form wards and operating theatres in 1939/40. They were built by Canadian Forces and these temporary buildings remained in use until the end of the 1990s. There were 280 beds in the temporary hospital and 138 in the old work house part. St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington assisted in the running of the hospital. (Thanks to the Amersham Society for information) See the Amersham Hospital page here for more details
In the book "Yesterday's Town: Amersham" by Nicholas
Salmon & Clive Birch - Copyright 1991, ISBN 0 86023 486 X it states that
the Amersham section of the territorial Army joined with other sections to form
the 1st Bucks Battalion. Amersham had first aid posts set up at the ARP Centre,
Sycamore Road, While Lion Road. Elmodesham House in the High Street became the
area head quarters for defence.
Hervines Park / Hervines
Woods
Hervines Park and Shardeloes Park were converted for
farm use and the new "greens" in the newly built Woodside and Highfield Closes
were turned into allotments. As well as the purchase of the submarine which
Pete Wood mentions above (which unfortunately was never named "Amersham", the
town's residents during the War raised funds to help purchase aircraft and
tanks.
Woodside Close
Toady
On the corner of Woodside Road and Sycamore Road (where
Hopper & Babb is now) the War Food Office issued ration books. The Maltings
in the Old Town was used to make barrage balloons and The Cartwheel on London
Road made radios.
Around Amersham in Rectory and Pipers Woods and at
Hodgemore army camps were set up. The camp at Pipers Wood was occupied by the
Americans and was used after the war as a reception centre for returning
prisoners of war. The camp at Hodgemore became the home to a large contingent
of Polish servicemen. The camp remained in existence well into the 1950s with
its own shop and post office.
The Radio Chemicals centre /
Amersham plc now part of GE Health Care
In 1940 a company was
set up on White Lion Road to make luminous paint based on radium. This site
grew and after the war formed the basis of the Radiochemical Centre, which in
turn became Amersham plc, now part of GE Health Care. The complex along with
other sites in the area is now one of the areas largest employers. Although
having been created during the War, the centre has moved its focus into the
medical industry.
In parts of Amersham, there are still traces of World War
II. Richard Ayres now from Staffordshire
writes "if one walks up the footpath from the church through
Tenters Field one enters Rectory Wood: turn right on entering the wood and
adjacent to the footpath there are the remains of trenches dug by Amersham Home
Guard (Brazil's Division) in 1940 - my father was one of those who helped dig
them.
View from Rectory Woods, probably the view
from the trenches
"There is also a footpath leading from
the bottom of Station Road through Ruccles Field (part has now been
hard-surfaced to provide access to Tescos). Before reaching Tescos, on the left
and most of the year hidden by grass and nettles, is a concrete machine-gun
emplacement, again dating from 1940."
I have also been advised that
there is evidence of trenches to be found in Hervines Woods, near Longfield
Drive.
David Woodridge now from Perth,
Australia write "There is some mention of dugouts in Rectory
Wood, it must have been just prior to "D" Day because at one stage Rectory Wood
was bursting at the seams with English soldiers and, mostly on the south side,
there were many dugouts and slit trenches. The old bus station at the eastern
end of the Broadway was used as a transport depot, lots of army lorries and
also tanks and I can remember these tanks tearing up the road surface as they
went up and down the streets, quite terrifying as a little lad. The soldiers
were made to swim at the old Cygnet swimming pool amongst other things and I
remember the poor soldiers being made to swim in the freezing conditions and
they were absolutely blue with the cold. Then all of a sudden all the soldiers
disappeared so that must have been "D" Day time."
Round by Pond
Wicks next to the Rec. was "Amersham Prints" and they amongst other things made
balloon barrages and parachutes."
Picture Courtesy of
David Woodridge
The rope/splicing workshop at Amersham Prints,
off School Lane, taken at 3. 56 pm some time during WW 2. They made parachutes,
inflatable boats and barrage balloons. There would be a need for all sorts of
roping. David can remember his father coming home and practicing different
knots and splices.
Picture Courtesy of
David Woodridge
A more general view of Amersham prints show
David's father, Bert Woodbridge in his cap, top left. David writes "I'm
afraid that although some of the others look familiar I can't put a name to
them, I tried to enlarge the work bench and it is a little out of focus but I
noticed, with interest, that hanging on the wall at the back, some very thick
ropes that I would think would be for the barrage balloons, those ropes on the
work bench could be anything."
Picture Courtesy of Ian
Halley
Finally, whether it is an urban myth or not I'm not
sure, but I have been told that the High and Over house, off Station Road
(above), during World War II it had to be camouflaged, because it was built in
the shape of a letter "Y" . The reason being that the distinctive shape of the
house gave directions to German bombers on their routes to their targets in
Britain.
You may find a dissertation by Bob Stonnel about life as a school boy in Amersham during World War II of interest, see here
If anyone has any memories or further information about
Amersham during World War II, I would be delighted to hear from you. I believe
it is important to record these memories so we can appreciate what life was
like during the War. Please email the
web master
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