from M. Pierre Descamps of the Cercle Historique d’Aubers via
the Wadhurst Twinning Association
‘Lady Pamela Fitzgerald (fille naturelle de Philippe-Égalité
et de Madame de Genlis), épouse d’Edward Fitzgerald (fils du Duc de Leinster),
décédée le 8 novembre 1831, fut inhumée au Cimetière
Montmartre à Paris
A la fin du 19e siècle, les Fitzgerald réclamèrent
la dépouille de leur aïeule, qu’on transporta en Angleterre. Depuis
le 24 août 1880, Pamela repose au bord de la Tamise, sous l’herbe de l’ombreux
cimetière du petit village de Thames Ditton.
Dans l’enclos funèbre de la noble famille, sa tombe est placée
entre celles de ses deux filles: Pamela, qui fut Lady Campbell, et Lucy, née
au temps de la proscription, qui devint Madame Lyon.’
Lady Pamela Fitzgerald (natural daughter of Philippe Égalité [=
Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc d’Orléans] and of Madame de Genlis), wife
of Edward Fitzgerald (son of the Duke of Leinster) who died on 8th November
1831, was buried in Montmartre Cemetery, Paris.
At the end of the 19th Century, the Fitzgeralds asked for the return of the
mortal remains of their grandmother which were brought back to England. Since
24th August 1880, Pamela has lain on the banks of the Thames under the grass
of the shady cemetery of the little village of Thames Ditton.
In the family mausoleum of the noble family, her tomb is placed between those
of her two daughters: Pamela, Lady Campbell and Lucy, born during the French
Revolution, who became Mrs. Lyon.
Extract from "Paris révolutionnaire: 'Vieilles maisons, vieux papiers'"
by G. Lenôtre.
The Cercle historique d’Aubers celebrated
its 20th anniversary this year and, on Sunday 16 October, Aubers will be hosting
the 13th Forum of local historians of the Weppes in the Aubers foyer rural.
There will be sessions on the Great War, on prisoners of war, and on the local
dialect - including ‘un chansonnier patoisant du Pays du Weppes’. If anyone
is in the area that weekend, I am sure they will be made most welcome at the
foyer.
Q & A
This should be a regular feature of the Newsletter - the opportunity to resolve
problems that have been bothering you for ages: so send in your queries and
the answers to earlier problems.
Information Wanted
More enquirers about the Fryerning Finishing School - now the FTA Management
Centre: the latest from Israel.
Ann Godden writes: “A relative of mine, Duncan Godden, is on both the 1891 and
1901 censuses running the Balaclava Inn, Pell Green, Wadhurst. I would be grateful
for any information about him or about the pub.”
All answers to the Editor as usual.
Information Received
More on Godden of Goddensfield
[courtesy of the Courier Aug 1978 and Rosemary Pope]
“MR ARTHUR James Godden of Durgates, Wadhurst, died at his home on Sunday
after a long illness. He was 76.
For 41 years, until his retirement in 1967, he was in business as the
local undertaker, and will be remembered for the reverent way he carried
out these duties, and his kindness to the bereaved.
A native of Ham Street, near Ashford, he was apprenticed to the carpentry
trade, and came to live in Wadhurst in 1922, working for the late Mr Ashby,
with whom he learnt the trade of undertaker. In 1926 he started on his
own as a carpenter and undertaker, and was married in the following year.
Apart from his business, his main interest was sport. In earlier days,
ice hockey, racing, point-to-point meetings, and football all attracted
him, but his greatest love was cricket. For many years, he had been a
member of both Kent and Sussex County Clubs and was frequently to be seen
at the main grounds right up to last season.
Up to the end of the last war, he was a regular supporter of Charlton
Athletic FC often working all night to get to a game on the Saturday.
He was also president and a trustee of Wadhurst United FC and a vice-president
of Wadhurst Cricket Club.
In his younger days a fine snooker player, he regularly went until recently
with the Wadhurst snooker team to matches.
He leaves a widow, a son, a daughter, and seven grandchildren.
A service was held at Wadhurst Parish Church yesterday, followed by cremation
at Tunbridge Wells. The Rev F. Law (former Vicar of Ticehurst), and The
Rev A. N. H. Roscamp (formerly Vicar of Wadhurst) officiated.”
Whispers—an earlier query answered [thanks to Paula Yates]:-
the school was in Old Snape
“During the second world war the army used Snape as a base, as it did almost
the whole of the South of England, and after that it became a school until 1952.
David Allberry remembers, as a boy of nine, walking a long way from Wadhurst
Station to a boarding school called Whispers. ‘There were just 40 boys. There
was quite a stern regime - we all ran up the drive to the entrance gate each
morning and cold showered after breakfast! In the main hall there was a large
cupboard with a drawer at the bottom where all our tuck was kept, doled out
on Sundays. We used to roller skate in a disused squash court which had a concrete
floor which became very dusty from the steel wheels of the skates. There was
a theatre with a gallery. There was a gym where we used to do horse and mat
work, climbing ropes and swing on trapezes. That sort of thing. I recall there
was a chapel (or a room used as such) that may have been a separate building
off the drive. There was a girls' school in the vicinity also called Whispers
or had Whispers in the name, which might have confused the postman.’
The Snape Estate was put up for auction in 1955. Divided into twelve lots:
half of which were land and woodland. Lot 9 was the Farm and farm buildings
and Lot 5 the Market Garden became part of the Clockhouse. Behind twenty-foot
high laurel bushes and a large Victorian barn was Old Snape. It was still inter-connected:
a serving hatch went through from Snape to Snape House. The top and bottom corridors
ran through the two houses. The gate from Old Snape garden led through to the
Barn garden.
In Old Snape, the enormous kitchen beam rested entirely on a wooden block
on the welsh dresser (which was then along the south wall of the kitchen). Signs
of the school were still evident: the tennis balls in the roof valleys blocking
the down pipes and causing flooding to the inside of the house; the boys’ name-labels
on shoe cupboards and coat hooks, initials carved on the 17th century cupboard
in the library next to a large blackboard which had been screwed onto the cupboard.
A Beeston Boiler stood in the corner of the farmhouse kitchen which had produced
hot water for the 20 roomed school, fed from a massive store of coke in a 19th
century barn.”
Note from the Editor
The December newsletter will be available at the AGM on Dec 7. Articles and
material for inclusion should be given to any Committee member, or to The Editor
at Greenman Farm, Wadhurst TN5 6LE or e-mail whs@greenman.demon.co.uk by 14
November please.
Visit the Society’s website—www.wadhurst.info/whs for updates and reports on
what has been achieved by Task Groups before the next Newsletter.
