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Altar arrangements in Penn Church, Part 4

1865 – The Victorian ‘restoration’ to remake a Gothic chancel

Major changes were made in 1865. The Oxford Movement was the dominant influence in Anglican church life and they were intent on restoring appearance and ritual to what they saw as the perfection of the 13th and early 14th centuries, removing all trace of any intervening work as far as possible. The intention was to return the focus of the church to the altar at the east end. Fortunately, Penn’s nave and aisle belonged to the correct period and so survived apart from the removal of two galleries, but the chancel was a different matter. Penn’s 18th century east window was unacceptable in itself and was in an unsuitable brick setting (because it was not stone), and so the whole of the east wall was replaced in alien knapped flint containing a new Gothic window. A much larger wooden altar replaced the low table, and a cross and candlesticks were put in place. The 3-tier pulpit was removed and the wainscot taken out. The photograph of c.1925 below, shows the resultant arrangement.

The Victorian east Window from 1865 to 1931, before the riddel posts, curtain and high altar table requred a new, shorter window (reconstruction by Michael Hardy)

Much of what is now familiar to us was reintroduced at that time. Surpliced choirs, crosses, candlesticks, lecterns altar frontals and organs, were all seen again for the first time since the Reformation and in some places were greeted with anti-Popery riots. The 1851 census shows 102 people at morning service and 140 at the afternoon service at Penn, with over 100 in Sunday school. They represented a quarter of the parish. Half the parish was non-conformist, mostly Wesleyan, and a quarter did not go to any church.

1931 – Riddel posts & a new east window

East Window, installed 1931

In 1931, it was an energetic new Vicar (Ernest Smith, 1922-1937. Ed.), of Oxford Movement, High Anglican persuasion who first introduced the riddel posts and curtains that we have become familiar with. He must have felt they were very important because they obscured the bottom of the 1865 east window and so he commissioned new glass, using the unchanged stone tracery and putting plain green glass at the bottom of the window. The designer has inscribed a note on glass, which says that if the dossal should ever be removed, there is a design prepared for the bottom of the window. A faculty was granted for the new window design in 1931, but not for the riddel posts and curtains. There is no note of these latter changes in the minutes of the PCC or in their annual reports, but there is reference, on 25th June 1930, to a communion service to commemorate the Oxford Movement – probably their centenary.

(See Herbert Druce’s memories of Penn Church between the wars).

Today

The removal of the riddel posts and curtain has restored the full length of the window

(More information at http://buckschurches.uk/glass/window.php?windowid=911)

The position of the altar and the priest nowadays varies greatly from church to church, in part dictated by how much room there is and whether the altar is a fixed part of the fabric. Evangelicals still often stand to one side, but in Roman Catholic and many higher Anglican churches, the priest generally stands behind the table facing the congregation in order to enable them to see and participate in what they are doing.

Comment

Two major themes come out of this brief review. The first is the truly astonishing extent and frequency of the radical changes that have been identified over the centuries. There is almost nothing in common between the medieval chancel arrangements; those revealed by the 1637 visitation; the 1736 chancel and window shown in H.B.Ziegler’s early 19th C painting; and those of the present day. There have been at least six different east windows and the altar has varied continuously in size, material and position. The second theme is the religious bigotry, which has so readily vandalised the work of earlier generations – of which the happier consequence is that the church has become a living historical record in which the discerning eye can catch a glimpse of the fashions and beliefs of so many of our predecessors.

© Miles Green, December 2003 (revised 2021)

Continued in ‘Interesting Vicars of Penn‘.

Continued in ‘Monuments and Memorials‘.

Vicar: Revd Mike Bisset, 2003-2022

Mike Bisset has lived in the village since his appointment as Vicar to Holy Trinity & St Margaret’s Churches in 2003) and now 19 years later; we must say Goodbye as he retires. Mike has been an enthusiastic contributor to) and supporter of community life.

Tell us a bit about your early life
I was born in West London and grew up there very happily with my parents and sister. After A levels I would have studied Physics and Sheffield, but decided that I had had enough of education and wanted to earn some money. So I joined the Ministry of Defence as a Civil Servant and commenced my career working in various London Offices. I enjoyed my time in the MoD and worked with some excellent people and loved working in London. I met and married my wife Alison and we moved to Harrow where we stayed for 18 very happy years as our family grew. God, however, had plans for me and after 22 years in the Ministry of Defence, three years at Theological College and four years as a curate in Ickenham, Ali and I and our three teenage children arrived in the Vicarage in Penn in July 2003. Our two sons, Chris and James, started at Dr Challoner’s Boys School and our daughter, Suzy, at Dr Challoner’s Girls school in the September.

Clerical attire
My involvement in church life in many ways since a teenager and then four years’ curacy had prepared me for the functions of a Vicar. You have ~ image of yourself, tucked away in a dimly lit study, late at night, surrounded by thick dusty books, crafting your latest sermon. A comforting image for an introvert. So, it is a shock when you find yourself, as I did the other week, shouting over 30 excitable children from the First School asking them what they think a vicar does. Being a vicar is nothing like what you expect. Services and sermons occupy a small proportion of my time. Managing an organisation (which is what the church is) through the huge volume of administration (via email) are the things that are essential but, for me, time consuming and draining. Visiting people, helping folk through the trauma of death and a funeral, working through marriage prep with a young couple, taking school assemblies, working with others to set up for ‘one off’ events are the things that energise me.

‘Structures’
In the MoD, life is nicely structured with clear job boundaries, set times and structures. Those boundaries and structures all disappear when ‘working from home’. It is important for me to have some structure and so I attempt to put this into the week by setting times for dealing with emails, afternoons for visiting, certain days for preparing for Sundays, and administration. Of course, inevitably, a phone call will disrupt those nicely-laid plans.
The work is extremely varied and does defy job descriptions and time sheets. I have frequently been heard to utter the words ‘they do not tell you about that in Theological College’. One not untypical experience was in the second year of my curacy when one Saturday I took the funeral of an 18 month old child in the morning, a wedding in the afternoon and ran an event for the youth in the evening.

What excites me?
Of the things that I have done here in the Parishes it is work with children and teenagers that I have enjoyed the most. It almost feels as though one absorbs energy from the children. It is also the hardest thing I do. With adults one can be vague and waffly, hoping to pass it off as being profound, but with children you have to be short, clear and visual (little of that at Theological College).

I have probably taken the most satisfaction from the ‘Songs of Praise on the Common’ services that we have run. They signify the church escaping the building and singing God’s praises, in the open air, in the heart of the Community. That has been something special. I am grateful to Her Majesty for providing me with the opportunity for my last public act to be the service on the Common on 5th June.

When I arrived, both Holy Trinity and St Margaret’s were recovering from some traumatic times and it has been lovely to see the grace of God at work in healing within the churches and also bringing them together.

One word to describe your time here?
Privilege. It has been a huge privilege to be permitted to be in the midst of families and alongside individuals at those most profound moments in life of birth, marriage and bereavement. Listening to people’s stories is always a profound and humbling experience as they open their hearts, often with tears, in sharing themselves. They are sacred moments.

The Church and the World
I have been most grateful for the work of the P&TG Residents’ Society here. I remember at Theological College hearing Rowan Williams (then Archbishop of Canterbury) speaking about community itself being a divine thing; just the act of diverse people getting together was pleasing to God. The Residents’ Society does an amazing job in generating and maintaining community and wherever possible I have sought to support that. It is a very hard thing to create and we must not lose it here.

What next?
Our children have now all left home and so Ali and I will initially move to our house in Ealing. We have got used to village life and plan to head out this way in due course. I am very much looking forward to more boating, more quality ‘garage time’ and catching up with mends and relatives. We also have a few holidays lined up.

Who will replace you as Vicar?
The job here will be advertised in the press, applicants shortlisted and interviewed. All of that takes the best part of a year. The parishes here will attract good candidates. And if my successor comes to know the love and grace that I have come to know here, they will be truly blessed. Being a vicar is not a job, it is a life. The amazing people of Penn & Tylers Green are a part of me and I will remember you always, tell stories about you at dinner parties and pray for you. Thank you, thank you.

Village Voice June/July 2022

Herbert Druce’s memories
– A secret passage from the Old Vicarage to Penn Church

I went to see Herbert Druce, a few weeks after his 100th birthday, with the thought of recording his long memories of Holy Trinity, Penn, which start in 1922 when he was a 7 year-old choir boy and there was no electricity or water in the church. It will take two or three articles to recount all his memories and I will start with the secret passage. When the Penn and Tylers Green Society started, in about 1980, to collect information about local houses of interest, the then owners of the Old Vicarage next door to the church said that when they first came to the house there was an underground passageway to the church from their cellar which they had blocked up.

This account is confirmed by Herbert Druce, who was told about the underground passage before the last War, by Bert Randall who was Captain of the Tower. Herbert doesn’t know the line of the tunnel, but assumes it had been revealed when Bert Randall was involved in putting a boiler house at the back of the tower. There was no west door in the tower at that time. Herbert himself had been in the Old Vicarage cellar. He was locked in there as a joke when a boy and remembered it was always flooded. He didn’t know anything about an entrance at the time and doesn’t remember seeing one there.

The present Old Vicarage we see today was built in 1825, but stands on the same ground as its many predecessors so the passageway could have been built at any time. Of course, it could have been simply to give a warm, dry passage to the church rather than to allow a Catholic priest secret entry to the church, but we do have to remember that the Reformation was a dangerous time for churchmen. We should also have in mind that the manorial Penn family remained Catholic in sympathy for nearly a century after the Reformation.

On 30 August 1539, Thomas Cromwell was sent a letter reporting that Thomas Grove and William Culverhouse had accused the Vicar of Penn of ‘the utterance by him of certain opprobrious words’. The Vicar’s own confession was enclosed and he had been committed to gaol in Aylesbury. Both the Vicar’s accusers were from well established Penn families and may well have been the two churchwardens. It was an extraordinary event and allows us just a glimpse of the conflict and turmoil that the process of reformation had stirred up in a country parish. One wonders how the confession had been encouraged.

Finally, I was intrigued by a comment from a map dowser, who without any prior briefing, reported that he had found a 3 ft wide passageway entering the Vestry, which is indeed where you would expect it to go to.

© Miles Green March 2015

Herbert Druce’s memories
– Penn Church between the wars

Herbert, who was born in 1915, followed his father’s example and was in the choir for 70 years from the age of 7 and a bellringer from the age of 12. He loved singing and used to sing all day when working at Slades Garage. There was no electricity in the church until 1938 and he was a candle boy responsible for the nine candles on the candelabra over the chancel step and on the altar, lighting them with a taper on a long arm and putting them out after the service. Oil lamps were lit by Mr Busby. The organ was between the Lady Chapel and the choir stalls and was powered by bellows which were pumped manually by a handle behind the organ with a floating indicator to tell you whether more air was needed. Heating was a tortoise stove. Earl Howe’s pew was still in the chancel with red cushions.

Rev. Ernest Smith

He just remembers Mr Kerby, who was the Vicar from 1898 to 1922. He had a nanny goat beard, and, so he was told, used to bash the pulpit if people slept during his sermon. He remembers a sixth bell being installed in the tower to mark the signing of the Peace Treaty in 1919. Herbert was there for the licensing of the next Vicar in 1922, the Rev. Ernest Smith, a nice man, he remembered, but he didn’t go down too well with many of the parishioners because he was so High Church, replacing the communion table with an altar and using incense. The congregation dropped off. (See Altar Arrangements, Part 4)

In 1937, the Rev. Smith retired and a new Vicar, Kenneth Mumford, arrived. Herbert had already met him as a boy when, as Vicar of Coleshill, he was their religious studies teacher at the Penn Church school. He remembers a biggish man who drove a little Austin 7, and recalls, ‘he was a remarkable man. You could hear a pin drop when he stood on the chancel steps to give a sermon. No notes’. He energised the congregation, started the Parish Magazine which has continued to this day, raised large sums for much-needed repairs, installed electric light and water and played an important part in the discovery of the Doom painting. Herbert told me that a good many pieces were found in the dell used as a parish rubbish dump in the field off Gravelly Way, opposite what is now known as Lions Farm.

Unhappily, Kenneth Mumford died of lung trouble after only 15 months. He was always very short of breath, which Herbert attributes to a result of gassing in the First War, and is buried with his wife, a former ballet dancer, at Coleshill.

It is extraordinary to have a first-hand witness to these events of nearly 100 years ago and I am very grateful that Herbert Druce is still with us to provide them.

© Miles Green, May 2015

Penn Church School Part 2: The pre-war 1930s

This is the second part of the story of Penn Church School, as seen through the eyes of former pupils. We now enter the 1930s. Huge thanks to Joy Feast (née Allen) for hosting a reunion with Dorothy Bates, Wendy Howard (Jackson), Barbara Higgs (Baker) and Peggy Walker (Pusey). I was generously welcomed into the home of Jeff & Sylvia Adams – and met older brother John. I chatted to Roy Allen by phone. Thanks to those who shared personal photos from their own collections.

An outdoor life

What is really striking is the enjoyment found by all contributors in their natural environment. As a group, the children of Forty Green would walk up to school and Sunday Church activities and “knew where every bird’s nest was.” It was a childhood of “amazing times” where people could leave their doors open and their bikes outside, where there were “no worries about money.” Occasionally the laundry man would come past and give the children a lift to school in his van. Other children walked from Crown Lane, Knotty Green, Tylers Green and Penn Street.

During the school day there were sometimes games on the field down by the Crown public house. “You would go through a kitchen gate to the wood for nature walks where you would learn about birds and flowers.” Girls and boys enjoyed gardening (with each child having their own strip around the playground). Dorothy Bates had blue irises in her patch. Roy Allen told me he had no problems when he moved on to school in Beaconsfield, except that he was punished with a caning when he tried to set up an allotment there!

Church Family

So, to most, school was “like a happy family.” Two of the contributors’ said that their parents attended before them. The opportunities for involvement in the life of Holy Trinity Church were extensive, expected and aided a sense of belonging. On Sundays, the children would go up and down to church 2 or 3 times for Sunday School, the 11 o’clock service and Evensong, or for bell ringing and choir. Each child would have a Churchyard grave to look after and would collect wild flowers to decorate the Church Porch.

There was an afternoon walk with some fraternising with members of the opposite sex! All Christian festivals were celebrated. The nativity play was quite an occasion (see several well-lit photographs reproduced here).

There were annual prizes and awards including a Bishop’s Prize and a prize for Scripture as well as a prize for perseverance; contributor Joy’s name appears more than once against these accolades.

Daily life

In this period the Head was Miss Mitchell who was “always very strict”, and never ill! She used to drive a car and was respected by the children. Miss Davis was the “lovely” junior teacher. The school day ran from 8.45 – 3.30, starting with the register, a hymn and a prayer. Desks were in pairs, with lids that lifted to store books. “At morning break there was milk, coming by horse and cart, frozen in the winter and half sour in the summer!” and “The outside toilets left a great deal to be desired… there were ashes in the bottom…” Boys and girls had separate playgrounds – with the girls at the front and the boys to the side where the car park is now and where the alms-houses were. The Walls ice-cream van might sometimes stop outside after school.

Practical skills were encouraged. In early 1938 five senior girls attended a domestic science course whilst, on Fridays, three senior boys attend the handicraft course at Beaconsfield Senior School. Dressmaking was offered as a subject. A party of girls attended the Folk Dance Festival at the Town Hall, High Wycombe in July 1939, the same month as a trip to Whipsnade – and, of course, very shortly before the outbreak of war.

I was told by separate contributors of light-hearted teasing of the younger children with talk of the ghost of Daddy Carstairs, living on the upper floor of the school! There was also an incident where a snowball was thrown and the window of the North Room broken which resulted in a “bit of a telling off.” Overall, behaviour was good and discipline firm. There were “a handful of rulers” in the head teacher’s drawer for those that didn’t toe the line! One male contributor remembered how walnuts, collected on the way to school at Penbury Grove, stained their hands. This led to accusation of smoking and was punished with a caning.

School Inspection

In the old bindings of this bulletin, formerly the “Penn Parish Magazine,” there are consistent reports of praise for the “good work” of the Penn Church School in the regular Diocesan Inspections. In April 1938, at Prize-Giving and Open Day, a local council official speaks of the value of small schools in the “development of character”, with the “most valuable asset being the close contact between teacher and pupil.” Penn Church School roll was at most 70 children, and towards its final years much smaller. This was despite the fact public subscription had raised £1250 to double the size of the school in 1910. (This investment was not matched in provision of local housing for young families.)

The 1918 Education Act, as well as raising the school leaving age from 12 to 14, brought medical inspection into schools. “Nitty Nora” the nurse and the doctor and the dentist would see Penn School pupils on the upper floor of the school building (now the Parish Office). One female contributor recalled that after her dental treatment her mum had to bring the pushchair to take her home! Another told me that she was supposed to have one tooth out and they took out about six! The school attendance officer would visit. There were absences for measles and mumps.

The School in wartime

Wartime brought different opportunities and challenges – including refugee children joining the school. When attendance fell off at Sunday School in early 1940 the May Parish Magazine exhorted parents that it was their “duty” to continue to send their children. A write-up of the school from 1939 until its closure in 1949 will feature in the next newsletter edition. Thank you for reading.

Parish Newsletter, April/May 2019. Zoë Clark

Penn WW1 War Memorial

On 11th January 1919, a public meeting was held in Penn to discuss a suitable memorial to the men of the village who had died in the Great War. Penn had lost 22 of its sons out of a village population of around 1000, slightly higher than average for Britain. A war memorial was an important focus for mourning, as most of those who had died were buried overseas, in Nigeria, Salonika and Gallipoli as well as France and Belgium. A committee was formed, including at least three bereaved parents; one, Mr Busby (Penn Parish Clerk), had lost three sons, Fred, Willie and George. The memorial was to be funded by public subscription, and the substantial sum of £371 8s 8d was quickly raised, with donations ranging from 2d to £20.

At the meeting, Lord Howe promised to donate the piece of land adjacent to Holy Trinity church (formerly the site of the village stocks), on the condition that the memorial take the form of a cross. The committee engaged an architect from London, Mr Eden, and embarked on a lengthy deliberation of designs before settling on a simple cross on an octagonal plinth, with the inscription ‘1914 1918 REMEMBER’. The committee took care that ‘the wishes of Penn Village should have first consideration in the choice of the Memorial as most of the men in whose memory it was to be erected came from Penn Village itself.’ The memorial was unveiled at an opening ceremony on 10th April 1921 by Field Marshall Sir William Robertson.

The erection of the memorial is a telling indication of the village hierarchy that existed at the time. Not only was the committee led by the village gentry, but this class consciousness was preserved in the inscribed roll of names around the plinth. The Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission had decided that names on their memorials would be inscribed alphabetically, regardless of rank, but names on the Penn memorial are listed in order of rank, from a Lieutenant-Colonel down to the Privates. What the memorial does not show, of course, is those who returned home disabled, scarred physically or mentally by their experiences of war.

Amy Lim, September 2015

Unveiling of Penn war Memorial

A photograph of the unveiling of the Penn War Memorial by Field Marshall Sir William Robertson on 10th April 1921 has recently been found in The Sphere magazine of April 23rd 1921.

The following men are remembered on the Penn WWI War Memorial

Private Albert ALLEN, TF3464, Middlesex Regiment 1/8th Battalion
Died of wounds France, 02 Jul 1916, Aged 22, Occupation; Gardener
Etretat Churchyard, Seine-Maritime, France, Memorial Reference II.E.18
Born c1894 Beaconsfield or Penn, Baptism, 10 Jun 1894, Penn HT
Parents George Arthur & Ellen Allen, Gardener, Knotty Green.

Private Norman Lionel ATKINS, Rifleman 9668
City of London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade) 1/5th Battalion
Died of wounds, received in Flanders (Ypres), 7 December 1914, Aged 19
Bailleul Communal Cemetery (Nord), A.21, France, 14.5 Km SW of Ieper, Belgium.
Born: 29 Jan 1895, Penn, Occupation: Clerk, Western Telegraph Co
Parents: Arthur Harris Atkins (dec’d 1901) & Fannie Alice Atkins, Yew Tree House, Penn

Major Richard Spencer BRITTEN, Deputy Asst. Director Remounts
Enlisted, Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, Remounts 5th Army HQ.
Died of Diptheria, 18 Aug 1918, in France, Aged 40.
Buried: Aire Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, IV.B.30
Born c1878, Great Billing, Northants. Served in the Boer war.
Son of Arthur Britten, farmer, & Ellen Brain Britten nee Wells
Wife: Gladys N Britten née Grove, of ‘Watercroft’, Penn.
More in ‘P&TG in the Great War & the men who did not return’
Photograph, Northampton Independent, 24-8-1918

Private Frederick (Fred) BUSBY, 16009
Wiltshire Regiment 10th Entrenching Bn.
Killed in action Salonika, 24 Apr 1917, Aged 24.
Doiran Military Cemetery, Greece, III.A.30
Occupation: Gardener; Chorister and bell-ringer at Penn;
Second son of Alfred & Emma Busby, brother of Willie and George.
His father Alfred was Penn parish clerk for over 50 years.

Private William Albert (Willie) BUSBY 38420
Gloucestershire Regiment 2/6th Battalion
Killed in an accident, 26 Sep 1917, Aged 21,
Sunken Road Cemetery, Fampoux, France, I.B.17
Worked as a gardener at Troutwells, chorister at Penn.
Third son of Alfred & Emma Busby, brother of Fred and George.

Private George Alfred BUSBY, 20720
Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry 5th Battalion
Killed in action, Battle for Langemark, 19 Aug 1917, Aged 19,
His grave was lost. Commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial,
Panel 96 to 98, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
The plaque in the church erroneously shows France, not Belgium
Fourth son of Alfred & Emma Busby, brother of Fred and Willie

Private William John CHANNER, S/33857
City of London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade) 4th Battalion
Died at sea, on HMMS Wandilla between Beirut and Alexandria, 17 Nov 1918, Aged 30. Born June 1888, Kennington, Pre-war occupation: Cab Proprietor.
Parents Ambrose & Harriet Eliz Channer née Johnson.
Ambrose was born in Penn.
Parent’s address: 1911: 4 Wigton Place, Kennington, London. Cab Proprietor.

Captain Gordon CUTHBERT
Middlesex Regiment 1st/8th Battalion
Born 14 Aug 1876, Charlton near Sunbury, Middx.
Educated Clifton College, Bristol. Occupation – Oil & Tallow broker. Husband of Eleanor Bruce Ankertell Cuthbert, Drews, Knotty Green.
Parents – Henry Westell & Rose Isabell Douglas Cuthbert
Killed in action, 25 Apr 1915, Ypres, Aged 38.
Ypres Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium, Panel 49 & 51.
There is a memorial plaque in Penn Church, On the South Aisle wall.
(Photograph, Ron Saunders, Western Front Association Journal, Stand To, Issue 57)

Private Jesse DENNIS, 24844 Grenadier Guards 4th Battalion
Killed in action, Ypres, 21 Jul 1917, Aged 33.
Bleuet Farm Cemetery, I.G.10, Ieper, Belgium.
Born, June 1884 Penn, Occupation: Bricklayer.
Parents Frederick & Jane Dennis, Carpenter, Old Reading Room Cottage, Penn

Private Arthur DRUCE, T/20885
Royal Warwickshire Regiment 8th Battalion.
Died, aged 18, 29th November 1916, Chatham hospital,
of wounds received in the Somme.
Born 12^th March 1897.
Son of Charles Druce, Coal Merchant, and Ellen Dennis
Worked as cowman at Puttenham Farm, Penn
and carter to Mr Jefkins of Lude Farm Wooburn.
Given a full military funeral at Penn (Holy Trinity),
Buried in Churchyard, north of chancel.

In the churchyard, near the North boundary wall, there is a headstone to:
Driver Frederick John GIBBS,
T/277540 Royal Army Service Corps, 2 Company
CWGC grave stone reads: ‘Died 7th January 1919 age 27‘
Death Certificate reads: ‘7th January 1920, Age 35.
Tubercular Laryngitis, Mary Gibbs present at death, Beacon Hill, Penn. Certified by the local Doctor G. Smith Wynne‘.
Son of Henry James Gibbs (Dec.d) & Mary Gibbs née Cannon, of Penn. Frederick’s wife, Ada Kate Stickland, & 3 children, were living in Southampton, 1911.
(Thanks to Ron Saunders for death certificate, and this information)

Private Harry HILL
No Information.

Major Arthur F. HENDERSON,
Indian Light Cavalry / 27th Battalion
Educated: Haileybury and sandhurst. GSO2 to Gen Gough.
He fell attempting to save a wounded officer near the Conde Bridge at the Battle of the Aisne Sept. 12th 1914. Aged 39
His grave was lost, Indian Memorial, Neuve-Chapelle, France, Panel 2
More about Major Henderson in: Western Front Association
Born: 21 Nov 1874, Shanghai, China
Son of Doctor Edward & Mrs Henderson, Lexham Gardens, London W
Husband of Muriel Henderson, née Hanbury, ‘The Knoll’, Paul’s Hill.
More in ‘P&TG in the Great War & the men who did not return’
There is a memorial plaque in Penn Church, above the pulpit.

Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Hugh HILL M.V.O. D.S.O
Royal Welch Fusiliers, General Staff. Born May 16th 1875.
Killed in action in France, Sept 10th 1916, aged 41.
Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, III.K.40
Only son of the late James Eardley Hill, Barrister at law,
and Katharine Shepperson (re-married) of Penn parish.
Grand-son of the late Sir Hugh Hill, Knt, a judge of the Queen’s bench, of Graig, Doneraile, Co. Cork, formerly of Pipe Staffordshire. Educated Lockers Park, Rugby and Sandhurst, and served in the South African War, 19001-1901.
More information in ‘P&TG in the Great War’ & Buckinghamshire Remembers
There is a memorial Window in Penn Church to Lt. Col. Hugh HILL

Private William H. (Willie) JAMES, 17051,
Northamptonshire Regiment 1st Battalion
Killed in Action, Somme, No known grave, 17 Aug 1916, Aged 19
Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 11A & 11D, Somme, France
Born, c1897 Beaconsfield,
Parents: William Alfred & Sarah Elizabeth James, Carter, Forty Green, Beaconsfield

2nd Lieutenant Richard Bartlett MELLARD,
North Staffordshire Regiment 1/5th Battalion
Killed in action leading his bombing platoon at Gommecourt July 1st 1916 aged 22. No known grave. Memorial Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery, Foncquevillers, France
Born c1894 Newcastle under Lyme, Staffs, he emigrated to Winnipeg to farm and enlisted as private in the Fort Garry Horse in Canada, returned to UK with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Promoted Lt. in British Army in August 1915.
Parents Richard Bartlett Mellard, (4 times Mayor of Newcastle u Lyme.)
& Annie Beatrice Mellard, née Mosley, who moved to Nottingham, and later
‘Grass Side’, Church Rd, Penn, after the death of her husband in 1907.
Richard is listed as an old boy of Newcastle & Nottingham High Schools.
More details: Nottinghamshire CC, Roll of Honour
(Photograph, The Old Boys of Nottingham High School)

Private Albert PARKER, G/8083, Middlesex Regiment 4th Battalion
Killed in action, Bellewaarde Wood, Ypres, 29 Sep 1915, Aged 31
No known grave, Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium, Panel 49 & 51
Born, c1883 High Wycombe, Occupation: Butcher
Parents William & Jane Parker, French polisher, 55 Richardson St, High Wycombe
Wife Mary Parker, Forty Green, Beaconsfield.
Brother of Bernard Parker (High Wycombe War Memorial)

Lieut. Derek Weatherall PAWLE, Captain 2nd Batt: Border Regiment
attached to the Northern Nigeria Regiment.
killed in action 2nd April 1915, aged 27,
defending Fort Gurin Cameroons.
Buried at Yola Station Cemetery, Adamawa State, Nigeria.
Son of Lewis Shepheard Pawle and Angelina Burgess Pawle,
of Hutchins Barn, Knotty Green.
There is a memorial Window in Penn Church to Lieut. Derek PAWLE

Private Arthur Henry PERFECT, 17287, Hampshire Regiment 2nd Battalion
Killed in action Gallipoli, 06 Aug 1915, Aged 20
No known grave, Helles Memorial, Turkey, Panel 125-134.
Born: c1895 High Wycombe, Baptised Penn, 2 June 1895
Parents: Frank & Harriett Perfect, Gardener, Penn

Private Alfred Hedley SIMMONDS, 8331,
Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry 2nd Battalion
Killed in action, Langemarck trenches, Ypres, 01 Nov 1914, Aged 22
Born c1892 Penn, One of eight children, Occupation: Farm labourer.
No known grave, Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium, Panel 37 & 39
Parents: John & Charlotte Simmonds, Farm labourer, Beacon Hill, Penn

Private Henry John (Harry) SIMMONDS, 633438
London Regiment 20th Battalion
Killed in Action, Somme, 01 October 1916, Aged 22
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France,
Pier & Face 9D,9C,13C,12C
Born c1894 Penn? Occupation: ?
Younger brother of Alfred Simmonds, Penn.
Parents John Henry & Charlotte Simmonds, Farm labourer, Beacon Hill, Penn

Private Albert SMITH, CH610(S)
Royal Marine Light Infantry Chatham Bn RN Division
Killed in action Gallipoli, 6 June 1915, Aged 17
Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Turkey, B.65
Born: 24 Jan 1898, Penn, Occupation: Furniture factory apprentice.
John & Sarah Annie Smith, Wood labourer, Pennleigh, Penn
Half brother of Arthur Smith on Haddenham War Memorial.
Apprentice with Randall Bros, High Wycombe.

Lieutenant Harold WILLIAMS,
Royal Fusiliers (London Regiment) 1st Battalion
Killed in action France, 7/8 Oct 1916, Aged 30,
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, 9D & 16B
Born c1886 Sutton, Surrey, Pre-war occupation Standard Bank, Rhodesia
Parents: Edwin & Florence M Williams, Latimers, Beaconsfield
Volunteered for service in S Africa 1914 but rejected. Paid passage home in 1916 & enlisted.

The information above is from June and Peter Underwood’s comprehensive website Buckinghamshire Remembers, and the detailed ‘Penn & Tylers Green in the Great War and the Men Who Did Not Return‘, by Ron Saunders, published by the Penn & Tylers Green Residents Society.

History, Monuments and Memorials of Penn

History, Monuments and Memorials of Holy Trinity, Penn, Buckinghamshire