1912 News
History > Newspaper Stories 1900 - 2000 > 1910-1919
19 Jan 1912 Poultry World
Small Owners Advert
Smallowners ad "A new calling - if you are sick of town. If you dislike office work. Get back to nature" (p543)
27 Jan 1912 Kent Messenger
Gravesend West Street Railway
TJ Symons of Mile End Green writes to support northfleet UDC's request for railbus between Fawkham and Gravesend, would like halt at Mile End Green Bridge
03 Feb 1912 Kent Messenger
Miss Baker Cresswell
Death of Miss Baker Cresswell of Old Downs after long illness. Funeral at All Saints followed by burial in Northumberland. She was well esteemed in district
Ash Primary School
Mr and Mrs Meyers teachers at Ash school dismissed for allegedly striking Florrie Webb (5) with a cane and rubbing salt in her mouth. They put different interpretation on events. Florrie had been placed with her sister Jessie (main witness) by Dartford Guardians with Mrs Jenkins of Turners Oak. They called Jessie later in front of all the class and told them she was a liar. At that point she retracted her statement. Couple had worked there 30 years, NUT supports their case.
09 Feb 1912 Gravesend Standard
Longfield Halt Station
Northfleet District Council: "The clerk read the following letter from the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company which he had received in reply to the council's request for additional railway service:- 'Dear Sir - I am in receipt of your letter of the 24th January suggesting the establishment of a railcar service between Fawkham Junction and Gravesend West Street Station, with halts at Dover Road and Fawkham Junction, and in reply, I have to say that the question has already been fully considered, but having regard to all the circumstances, I regret being unable to recommend that the outlay required to give effect to the proposal should be incurred by the managing committee, at least, at the present time - Yours faithfully, F H Dent, general manager.'
The following letter on the subject was also read:- 'Dear Sir - The inhabitants of the parish of Hartley desire to support the efforts of your council to obtain greater facilities of railway transit between Gravesend and Fawkham, and a letter has been forwarded to the South-Eastern Railway Company to that effect - Faithfully yours, Major M Hildebrand (chairman, Hartley Parish Meeting).'
Councillor Symons said he had received several letters from people who welcomed the idea.
The chairman said a refusal was qualified by the last sentence of the company's letter."
10 Feb 1912 Kent Messenger
Fire at West Yoke Farm
Fire at West Yoke Farm, home of J Haygreen, barn, lodge, stable and straw stack destroyed. Workers from neighbouring farm saved hay stacks. Horton Kirby Fire Brigade arrived after 25 mins.
Miss Baker Cresswell
Funeral of Mrs Baker Cresswell, widow (77), at All Saints. Pall bearers were her personal servants Messrs Keen, Elliott, Remington, Atkins and G Elliott.
23 Feb 1912 Poultry World
Win a farm at Hartley
Greatest ever prize competition for poultry keepers announced. Details fo comptetion on p771 to win 4 roomed cottage and 2½a farm.
05 Mar 1912 Gravesend Standard
Stock Sale at Fairby
"Hartley, near Fawkham - Within a few minutes' walk of Fawkham Station, on the main line of the SE&C Railway. Messrs Cobb will sell by auction on the premises, on Wednesday March 6th, 1912 at 11am precisely (by order of T Morton esq, who has sold the farm), the whole of the live and dead farming stock on Fairby Farm comprising 9 young and powerful cart horses, pony, 10 dairy cows and heiffers, 9 fat beasts, 2 calves, 174 Kent ewe and wether lambs, 3 spring market vans, waggon, 7 dung carts, bullock cart, milk and hay floats, liquid manure cart, 2 iron water barrels on wheels, 9 ploughs, 2 self binders by Massey Harris, 3 mowers by Hornsby, 2 hay sweeps by Cottis, hay elevator and horse gear by Innes, potato sprayer, potato digger, 3 hay rakes, horse hoe, 8 brakes, rolls and harrows, tree sprayer by Drake and Fletcher, troughs, gates etc and other agricultural implements and effects, including harness and office furniture. Luncheon will be provided by ticket, at 1 shilling per head. Catalogues may be obtained at the place of sale; at the Lion Inn Hartley; of D L Pattullo esq, Orpington; and of Messrs Cobb, Land Agents and Surveyors, 61 and 62 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC and Higham near Rochester."
09 Mar 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Meyers v Hennell and other school managers for injunction in high court against sacking. G Day only manager who did not sign dismissal notice
16 Mar 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Meyers v Hennell no injunciton granted but school managers allowed them to stay there until case decided. Plaintiff claimed bruises to Florrie, who was deaf, were made by foster parents, also that 625 out of 630 parishioners had signed petition in their support (pointed out Ash's population was only 600!)
Conservative Meeting
Mr Foot Mitchell at Conservative meeting held at Longfield School
Ash Telephone Exchange
Ash telephone exchange open always now
05 Apr 1912 Poultry World
Win a farm at Hartley
Circulation up thousands thanks to Fairby competition
06 Apr 1912 Kent Messenger
Dartford Board of Guardians
Dartford Board of Guardians election - Longfield - Fortunatus Lynds 64, James Martin 51
12 Apr 1912 Gravesend Standard
Gravesend Hospital
Acknowledgements include Mrs Alice Lawson, Old Downs, Hartley, for books and papers for the patients at the infirmary and toys for the children.
20 Apr 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Ash Vestry - 30 attend - protests in favour of Meyers
Titanic Sinking
Titanic - list of Kentish people affected
21 Apr 1912 Gravesend Reporter
Old Downs Sale
Sale of furniture at Old Downs by executors of Mrs E D Baker-Cresswell
27 Apr 1912 Kent Messenger
Titanic Sinking
Titanic - bandmaster Mr Hartley was a member of Mr Scoma's band at Rosherville about 4 or 5 years ago, conducted in Mr Scoma's absence
Unfit Horse
George Day of Longfield fined 6s and his employer Albert High of Longfield fined £1 for working a gelding in unfit state
Items for Sale
"For sale, horse and harness, pony and harness, waggonette, covered van, landau; all in good working order; no reasonable offer refused; owner giving up - Apply F C Brown, Whitehill, Longfield" [1 Main Road]
03 May 1912 Gravesend Standard
Houses for sale at Kent Road
Alfred Spain and Son of Gravesend announce auction sale on 6 June 1912. Includes "Two freehold brick built houses, nos 1 & 2 Armstrong Cottages, Kent Road, Longfield, Kent, near Fawkham Railway Station, let to weekly tenants, and producing £28 12s 0d yearly."
04 May 1912 Kent Messenger
Titanic Sinking
Longfield to hold Titanic relief concert, led by Doris Cowlrick
10 May 1912 Poultry World
A Triumph of Cooperative Organisation
"Quite recently I had the pleasure of visiting the Fairby Farm Estate at Fawkham, Kent, and viewing the site of the Poultry World's Model Farm. Old sol was on his best behaviour for once in a way, and catching the 11.27 from st Paul's, I arrived at Fawkham at 12.29. I was met at the station by Mr Humphreys, the managing director of Small Owners Ltd, and after a refreshing lunch, we made a tour of the Fairby Small holdings Colony. It is a charming piece of country, and we trotted along quite merrily over ploughed land and pasture meadows, through woods, and along typical country lanes. Everything looked as cheerful. All raround seemed to be hustle and bustle. The woodman was busy chopping down trees for fencing posts for the Small Owners. The Small Owners too, were busy out on the land, some digging, some spraying fruit trees, whilst others were erecting poultry runs, attending to their stock or turning their land to the betterment of thier plots of land. The builders were also there putting up dwelling houses for the Small owners.
Occasionally we stopped to look back on the picturesque landscapes, for the estate is some 350 feet above sea level, thus commanding extensive views over the surrounding country. During our round of inspection we passed Small Holdings of evry description. A goat farm called for our attention, whilst the Small Holdings that combined the production of fruit and market vegetables were innumerable. We finally came to the site of the Poultry World's Model Farm. Lucky, indeed, will be the winner of this. No better spot could be found anywhere. Situated in the very heart of the Fairby Estate, it has ever good point to recommend it. The land is a ixture of chalk and gravel, thus ensuring perfect and quick drainage. The land has a gentle slope - another point that goes hand in hand wiht perfect drainage It is well sheltered on the north and east sides by woodland, thus making hte site ideal for poultry farming. Bitter an disagreeable north and east winds will not affect the fowls, which will have the much desired south winds to help along their egg production. As stated above, we should have to go many miles to find a more ideal spot for a poultry venture, with a full souther aspect, a gentle slope, a high elevation and the best of soil.
The fruit and poultry farming combined go hand in hand - with success - no-one can deny. The time is not far distant when the small holder will realise the profit derived from poultry and from an orchard the can be fertilised and ade productive by fowls, whose manure is one of the best fertilisers we have. A good flock of fowls is to the small owner what a good herd of cows is to the large farmer, and I think it is a great mistake that the British agriculturalist has not throoughly realised the importance of pultry keeping as a valuable adjunct to his orchard or other work. No two branches go as well as poultry and fruit culture, they can be worked on the same ground with decided advantage to each other.
Kent is undoubetedly a happy hunting ground for poultry farmers, and those interested in fruit culture. Was it not at Orpington (which is quite close to Fawkham, that that most useful breed, the Orpington, was produced? Fawkham too, is no exception to the general rule, as appleid to Kentish ground. On the Fairby Estate the soil is very adaptable to the requirements of poultry keeping an the culture of fruit and vegetables. Under the cirucmstances, Small Owners Ltd have reserved a large portion of Fairby Farm Estaet for would be poultry farmers, and those who think of going in for the poultry industry cannot do better than bespeak some of the land. If the land is not wanted yet, Small Owners Ltd, may be commissioned to prepare the land and keep it in readiness for the purchaser until the latter is finally ready to take the farm over.
A few words are here necessary concerning the wonderful business scheme now being carried out on the Fairby Farm Estate at Fawkham. Small Owners Ltd of Temple Chambers, Temple Avenue, London EC exists fo rth epurpsose of organising on business lines the small holdings movement in the United Kingdom. As a first essential, a small holder must have good land. Low price land for small holdings is generally a bad investment. Small Owners Ltd very wisely weighed up this argument before selecting The Fairby Farm Estate at Fawkham, which is bieng subdivided into small holdings.
It is an acknowledged fact that the foundation of success in agriculture is the ownership of land. Tehre is a vast difference between the small holder and the small owner. In fact, there is just the difference as between tnenat and landlord Unde rthe Small Owners Ltd's system every holde rof a plot of land becomes his own master, and in consequence the hard work putin to the holding for its improvement is not wasted, for who benefits in the long run, but the small owner himself? That well known agriculturalist Mr Arthur Young, once wrote: 'Give a man the secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will thurn it into a garden; give him 9 years' lease of a garden, and he will turn it into a desert.' These words are as true today as ever they were. If a small holder rents a piece of land he may meet with failure, as his heart and soul are not in the concern; but place the same man on his own freehold plot, and he will labour night and day to improve it, and in addition take the pains to secure a better knowledge of the industry he is occupied in. that the Small Owners Ltd are on the right track in solving the 'Back to the land' question, no-one can deny. Money spent in buying land is undoubtedly capitally invested, whilst money spent in rent cannot but be irrecoverable expense. Under the Small Owners' system, as the land increased in value, that value belongs to the owner. With leased land it belongs to the landlord.
The whole system mentioned above amounts to this: To enable cultivators with small capital to own their land, Small Owners Ltd have inaugurated a plan by which you can pay down a deposit, and at once start working the land, and thereby pay in instalments (seldom more than the rent asked for such land), an din a few years the land is absolutely your own Freehold property. You can useit, resell it, or borrow oney on it, and you can proudly realise that for you and your family this land can be held for evr free of rent.
This gives the reader a general idea of what Small Owners Ltd are doing at the Fariby Farm Estate at Fawkham. It is the small man with the small capital that Small Owners Ltd wish to help, and the system under discussion will stand a through scrutiny. Fairby Estate is situated in one of the most attractive districts in Kent, and the Small holdings are situated within a few minutes' walk of Fawkham Station, on the SE & C Railway main line. Almost every branch of small hustbandry is represented on the estate - market gardening, fruit growing, poultry rearing and chicken fattening being successfully carried on in conjuction wiht the more usual work of a modern and scientifically managed agricultural estate. The farm is in a high state of cultivation, and being situated from 300 to 350 feet above sea level, it is natually in a remarkably healthy district, commanding extensive views over the surrounding country. The Fairby Farm Estate, some 315 acres in extent, is divided into holdings of from 2 to 20 acres each for sale, freehold for cash, or by instalments spread over 12 years.
The Small Holder has come on the scene at the most opportune time, ans although Small Holding establishments are only in their infancy, there is no doubt that vast improvements with surprising results will take place within a very short time. As authorities tell us, it is absolutely necessary that the Small Holding should be situated near to a station on a main line since the produce must be taken to the station, and other goods will have to be carried to and fro. In this respect, the Fairby Estate is ideal. Situated, as stated above, within 2 minutes walk of Fawkham Station (on the main line) the Fairby Colony is well blessed as regards its location. Fawkham Station is only 23 miles from London (Holborn, St Pauls and Victoria Stations) and is supplied with a capital train service, the journey occupying from 37 minutes. Being situated in mid-Kent, it is within easy distance of several good markets, such as Margate, Folkestone, Dover and Canterbury, whilst other markets for its Small Holdings' produce would be London, Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester and Chatham. All seems so simple.
Even with Small Holdings, the difficulty of disposing of produce is often freely discussed, but Small Owners at Fawkham need never be alarmed concerning the immediate disposal of their produce. A great scheme like the one outlined above would not be complete there was a cooperative system adopted to the disposal of market produce etc. Co-operative orgaisation is the thing of the day, even where Small Holders are concered, and details as to the market side of the question have been well thought out by Small Owners Ltd. One of the excellent existing farm buildings at Fawkham has been arraged as collecting depot where anything produced by the Small Owner will be taken and disposed of by the Company's Produce Department in the best market, thus securing direct communication between producer and consumer. All worries of the market side can be handed over to the Company, i.e., if the Small Owner wishes the company to be his agent. Fruit and produce trains start early in the morning to reach London before breakfast, and the arrangements are fixed up between the railway company as regards tariff and transit are perfect and in every way beneficial to the Small Owner.
Small Owners Ltd place themselves at your service. There are excellent farm buildings and appliances at hand, and if the small owner requires the use of horse and cart, a labourer, a pigsty, cow shed, bull, appliance or storehouse, his requirements will be gratified by Small Owners Ltd, at very nominal rates. Everything required by the small owner is there almost for the asking. Lectures on the various branches of husbandry will be gien from time to time, meetings of small owners will also be held, so that any suggestions will be entertained by Small Owners Ltd. Experts in the several branches of husbandry etc, will be resident at Fawkham, and give free advice to the Small Owners. The Company will, if desired, arrange for the preparation of plans and the erection of houses on any of the small holdings, and will endeavour to meet the requirements of the purchasers with regard to mortgages or methods of deferred payments. By means of whoesale buying, appliances of all descriptions required by the small owners may be purchased at rock bottom prices.
Recounting then the innumerable benefits offered by Small Owners Ltd, can we wonder that most of the land at Fairby has been so eagerly booked up? There is yet time, however, to secure plots, but readers should act promptly. Those of our readers who are desiring ideal plots for poultry ventures cannot do better than take a few acres at Fawkham. The land is ideal, and several plots adjacent to the Poultry World's Model Poultry Farm still to be had. If you are not yet ready to take over the Farm, Small Owners Ltd will reserve you the land, cultivating and managing it as requested, and then, say in 2 years' time, or earlier if required, it will be in thorough working order. After you have owned a holding for a few years, even although it is only partly paid for, you can borrow on the security of the money you have invested in the land. Surely there can be no better security than freehold land. After my visit, I was amply convinced that the Small Owners Ltd have completely solved the small holdings or 'back to the land' question and those of my readers who are in any way interested in the above scheme, should write for fullest particulars to Small Owners Ltd, Temple Chambers, Temple Avenue, London EC., but WRITE TODAY. W Powell-Owen."
Illustrations: (1) "Attending to the Fruit Trees. A small owner at Fawkham Kent, attending to his fruit trees. That fruit and poultry farming go hand in hand no-one can deny and the land on the Fairby Estate is ideal for these two branches of husbandry."; (2) "Preparing Poultry Fences. The woodman at Fawkham busy preparing poultry etc fences for the Fairby Small Owners."
11 May 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Ash School case before Mr Justice Eve in Chancery Division, argument over appointment of school managers
17 May 1912 Eltham Times
Fairby Goat Farm
"Goats' milk for sale, 6d per pint, sterilised; 4d unsterilised; carriage paid on 6 pints. Fairby Goat Farm, Fawkham, Kent." [Also in Paddington Times of same date]
18 May 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Ash School case - judge finds for defendants. County council upholds the dismissal. Doctor said Florrie was "timid and sensitive". The intimidation of her sister and mother by the plaintiffs was an aggrievating circumstance. They dismissed petition by 196 parishioners asking for leniency whatever "technical" offence committed, saying it was way more serious than that and that the school had received poor reports for years. Letter from Rev Hennell read out.
25 May 1912 Kent Messenger
Ash Primary School
Ash School Case - motion of censure of managers passed 41-0 at vestry. Mr Meyers writes to defend himself
31 May 1912 Eltham Times
No Dog Licences
The following were fined by Dartford Magistrartes 7s 6d each and costs - Rev Winstanley Bancks of Hartley, Henry Tomlin of Longfield. The following week, Charles Eve of the Gables, Hartley fined for having 2 dogs but only one licence.
01 Jun 1912 Kent Messenger
Property Sale Longfield
1&2 Station Road, Longfield (occupiers J Sexton, W Heaver) sold for £320
08 Jun 1912 Gravesend Reporter
The Telegraph Wires (poem)
Poem "The Telegraph Wires" by W.A.P of Gravesend, last verse "They traverse the earth and the ocean / Embracing Commercial Pursuit / And binding our friendships together / Are bearing practical fruit"
Housing in Dartford Rural District
Poor state of housing in DRDC mentioned, especially Swanley and Sutton at Hone, by Arthur Mee.
11 Jun 1912 Gravesend and Northfleet Standard
For sale small van
"in good condition £5; also landau, suit small jobmaster £6; a bargain to quick purchaser - Apply Brown, Whitehill, Longfield [He owned the shop at 1 Main Road]
20 Jun 1912 Daily Mirror
Cooperative Strawberries
"Cooperative Strawberries - Wonderful success of Small Ownership Fruit Growing - Peer's Holding: Fawkham (Kent), June 19 - Tomorrow will be Strawberry Day, and the smallholders on the Fawkham Estate of Smallowners Limited, have arranged a special display of strawberries in the windows of Messrs Fairby's Ltd,. at Knightsbridge and Kensington, consisting of 4lb baskets of selected fruit picked by the holders of land on the estate. // They will be sold at 4d a lb, which is below their market value, to all comers. Fairby's Ltd are the exclusive distributors for the estate.
Fawkham is in Kent, between Swanley and Chatham, and the fruit to be displayed will undoubtedly demonstrate the remarkable success of the cultivators, many of whom have never been fruit-growers till this year.
The aim of the company is to develop the estate of 315 acres on a '5 per cent philanthropy" basis, and as an experiment in cooperative small ownership the success has been outstanding. // There are 3,000 people on the waiting list, the Daily Mirror was assured yesterday by the secretary and other estates are being acquired for similar sub-division.
Small capitalists or men of business capacity with accessory permanent employment, to which they can travel daily, are the best material.
The speical feature of this scheme is that there is a central farm depot with £5,000 worth of machinery and implements, from which, for instance, a seed drill may be hired, with a man to operate it, at 12s 6d per day, with it 2 acres can be sown in a day.
An isolated smallholder would have to work many days to obtain the same result, or hire at great espense.
A Fruit foreman advises growers about their crops. One man was warned the other day that there was blight coming on his trees, and was shown how to deal with it. He did not recognise the signs himself.
There were 12 owners diligently picking strawberries at 3 o'clock this morning for the London market. Picking continued all day.
One man sells 80lb of strawberries daily at 6d a pound at the office at which he works in the city.
Another man paid £400 for his holding in January. He has just sold half of his gooseberry crop for £35, and will make £200 this year out of his fruit.
Two great jam makin gfirms have taken respectiely 3 tons of gooseberries and 5 tons of strawberries from the estate since the beginning of this week. The sales made by the company for holders yesterday totalled £165 - a typical day.
One holder is a bootmaker, and lives upon the profits of his land, combined with his earnings as a bootmaker on the estate. Another is a chimney sweep, a third is a peer, a fourth a retired marine captain.
A fitth man is a farm labourer, and cultivatees an acre and a half of his own, besides giving help where required to other holders, of course for wages. His land cost him only £60. He bought it outright, but need not have done so, and is buying his cottage by instalments.
"Only a very exceptional man can prosper as a smallholder by himself," said the secretary to me today. "We believe we have solved the 'back to the land' problem by combining the Irish Government land purchase scheme principles with perfect organisation and collective effort."
"A man can pay the whole or part of his purchase money by instalments. Suppose he has £250 capital. He can pay £100 down towards the purchase of 5 acres worth £400, and the balance of £300 he will pay off monthly or annually at the rate of £33 a year for 12 years, which includes interest. He will want £100 to live on for the first year and can stock his land for £50."
"After the first year it will support him. I know a man who makes not less than £220 a year profit from 5 acres, but he works very long hours, from 6am to 8pm."
"We are not a land development company. We buy estates which are actually working farm or orchard land, and purchasers have no pioneer work to do. Any extra labour required is obtainable in the district - there is no 'foreign' labour. A very nice house we can put up for £195, which can be paid for by instalments."
"One man here has come back after 24 years in Ontario, and thinks he can do better here. Another man is sure of making £28 a year out of a single rood by fowls alone."
"Take a man with only £100. He can have 2 acres of strawberry land and half an acre of arable, which woud cost £146, paying £36 down and the rest in quarterly instalments of 3 guineas each. He rents a cottage for 4s a week. The second year he should get £75 in 3 weeks from strawberries alone. The cost of strawberry farming is under a penny a lb, and any price obtained over 1¼d is certainly clear profit."
Mr Green, a working man owner, told me his 150 fowls had already paid all their cost and were bringing in 10s a week. He grows strawberries and vegetables also. His little daughter Hilda, aged 7, and an infant daughter, who were in the Great Ormond Street Hopital last autumn, are now bonny and healthy. He paid down one-fourth of the cost of his holding of 4½ acres, £375, when he came in January."
22 Jun 1912 Gravesend Reporter
Housing in Dartford Rural District
"Dartford Housing Condition - Expert's Amazing Report" (photocopy)
Housing in Dartford Rural District
National press takes up case of DRDC housing. Report by Mr Poplar in Daily Chronicle. Extracts mention Hextable, Swanscombe and Stone.
28 Jun 1912 West Kent Advertiser
Housing in Dartford Rural District
Arthur Mee produces schedule of proeprties which he says exemplifies need for enquiry into council's neglect for health. One in Hartley "Black Lion Cottages - 4 cottages dependent on 1 well, 6 feet from the main water supply. These houses have privies".
06 Jul 1912 Kent Messenger
Longfield Cricket Club
Cricket - Longfield beat Westwood by 42 runs (details)
Rev E Smith of Longfield
Accident to Rev E Smith of Longfield at Green Street Green when he fell off tricycle (photocopy)
{Also mentioned in Kent Messenger of 7.8.1912]
Rev G Bancks of Hartley
Hartley's Talented Rector (photocopy), Rev Bancks has sold 40,000 ol Harvest of Hives.
[Another article about him in Kent Messenger of 7.8.1912]
26 Jul 1912 Chelmsford Chronicle
Parson Publisher
"Mr H Hamilton Fyfe contributes to the 'Daily Mail' an interesting description of 'A Day with the Parson-Publisher,' the Rev Gerard Bancks, rector of Hartley, near Longfield, Kent, formerly curate of Braintree. He was curate of Braintree when the Rev JW Kenworthy came to the parish, and went from there to the parish church of Windsor to Canon Gee. Mr Fyfe, travelling in the train, found a farmer engrossed in a small green coloured book called 'The Harvest of the Hives', both written and published by Mr Bancks. Asked about the book in which he was so interested, the farmer passed it over, 'Wonderful, true and right', he said. 'I lay he knows a thing or two about bees, and I know a bit myself as well. Kept 'em thirty year. But there's strange notions in that as is new to me. Strange that is to get fresh notions my time o'life, but it's so.'
The object of the booklet is to persuade people to keep bees and to show what can be done with honey. Gathering from the advertisement at the beginning of the book that this was not the rector's only publication, but that he had other works in various edition - one in its fourth, another in its fifth, and a third sold in a 'revised' form to the number of 30,000 - Mr Fyfe began to feel very curious about Mr Bancks, and wrote to 'a most unusual phenomenon' - as author who had reached a large public without the assistance of a publisher - and asked if he might go and see him. The result was that he spent with him a most pleasant and interesting day. He found that Mr Bancks's little books have gone all over the world. He get letters about them from all the corners of the earth, and orders as well. 'Of Honey and its Uses' he has sold 40,000; of 'Mead and How to Make It' and of 'The Production of Vinegar from Honey', 20,000 each. The vinegar he makes from honey, calling it melegar.
Mr Fyfe tried, too, some home made British wine from Mr Bancks's cellar. He found the damson wine, in the 11th year of its age, a clear, dry wine, in colour like a generous sherry, most refreshing and pleasant of flavour - far better for him than fortified continental clarets and sherries and hocks; and, of course, far cheaper. Mr Bancks makes a gooseberry wine too, which in its fizzy state (bottled before the fermentation is over) is declared by ladies to be as good as 'real champagne'.
Thus the writer is led to ask: Why have we neglected for so long the wholesome liquors that can be made from the produce of our own land? Once they were in common use. So they might be now. Every farmer might have his stock of home made wine, as farmers do in wine bearing countries. It only needs care in the making to supply the table all the year round with a healthful, enjoyable drink, aiding digestion and making glad the heart at the same time.
It is this keeping up of the practice of our great-grandfathers and grandmothers wich partly accounts for the delightful leisurely, yet busy, active but unhasting atmosphere of Mr Bancks's life. Writing and publishing only represent one side of his activities. In the garden is a studio where he both paints and photographs. He is a collector of prints, of china, of old furniture. He has a good collection, too, of flint arrow heads, sling stones, and other weapons and implements worked by the patient hands of our ancestors in the dim childhood of the human race. His latest publication deals with 'Man in the Old Stone Age', and gives a lucid summary of the great additions to our knowledge made during the last 60 years.
Mr Bancks began his publishing with a story for children called 'A World Beneath the Waters'. It was very kindly reviewed, but, as he says, it wanted advertising. Then it might have had a really big sale. One cannot get at the big public without advertisement. The honey pamphlets are different. They appeal to a special class. Here is the balance sheet for the first.
(Debit) 40,000 copies at 15s a thousand - £30
(Credit) Sale of 40,000 at 1d each less discounts on large quantities - £150
Profit £120
The Mead and Vinegar booklets cost him £18 each to print, and in either case he cleared about £40. He does all his own business. There are no office expenses, nothing whatever but the cost of the books themselves."
30 Jul 1912 Times
Robert Emmett of Fairby
Birth of son to Robert W Emmett and his wife Lady Alexandra of Fairby
02 Aug 1912 Eltham Times
Rev Gerard W Bancks - His Interest in Bee Keeping - The Harvest of the Hives
"The Rev Gerard W Bancks, the Rector of Hartley near Longfield, Kent, is the son of the late James Bancks and Marianne, daughter of the late Timothy Yate, of Madeley Hall, Salop, and was born at the Prebendal House, Thame, Oxon. He was educated at King's College School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he took his MA degree in 1882. He received a title from the late Lord Forester, and subseqently held Curacies at WAlhamstow and Windsor.
In earlier days Mr Bancks was much interested in Natural History, and it was thus he was attracted to the study of bees and beekeeping. Then for some years he gave his chief attention to Science, Chemistry, Physics. Archaeology also greatly attracted him, and in those days he began his collection of flint instruments. Later on he spent 5 or 6 years reading Philosophy, and joined the Aristoltelian Socieyt. But as the final result of his studies in all directions Mr Bancks has come to the conclusion that the deepest and most abiding interest lies in Art. 'In Art it seems to me,' he says, 'we have probably the key to the solution of hte profound enigma of our Being, and of the explanation of the ultimate end of the great scheme of the universe.'
Mr Bancks has been markedly successful in his literary efforts, and his fairy tale for children, 'A World Beneath the Waters,' published in 1895, at once made his name well known. The late Mr W T Stead was much taken with the book. He wrote to Mr Bancks at the time it was first published tha this own children were enchanted with it, and that he considered it 'quite delightful'. Another series of stories which Mr Bancks has in view present various phenomena of Nature in the guise of Fairy Tales, and are intended to teach the children that even the minutest atoms of the world around us are really 'worlds in themselves.' The truth of heredity, too, is asserting itself in Mr Bancks' family, for he has a little daughter, aged 11, who has already begun to write tales which have been pronounced by very competent authorities to be 'very good indeed'.
Mr Bancks has always had a penchant for literary research, and is an habitue of the Record Office and the British Museum Library. He has also made a collectio of palaeolithic flint implements from the Kent gravel beds. One of his latest booklets is on 'Man in the Old Stone Age'. It gives a lucid summary of the graet additions to our knowledge made during the last 60 years.
But Mr Bancks has also written several brochures on subjects connected with apiculture, and it is his work in connection with beekeeping and the popularising of the use of honey that has more particularly attracted our notice. He is himself a successful bee keeper, and has exhibited at all the principal shows, taken a large number of medals and prizes. He has especially exerted himself in this connection to encourage the utilisation, in various ways, of the products of the hive, with a view to promoting the interests of the industry, and has made good use of his pen in this cause. Three pamphlets he has issued are 'Honey and its Uses', 'Mead, and how to make it', and 'The production of Vinegar from Honey', and now there comes to hand a 4th pamphlet of peculiar usefulness, entitled alluringly 'The Harvest of the Hives'.
Like many another distinguished author, the bee and the industry and thriftiness of its tiny life are a constant source of attraction and wonder to Mr Bancks. It is probably because of its fascination for him that he finds himself - a busy man, with many literary interests - yet writing a 4th pamphlet devoted to the bee. 'The Harvest of the Hives' aims ast setting forth concisely, simply, and yet conclusively, the value of bee keeping not only for the mere pleasure of it, but from the utilitarian standpoint. In 'The Harvest of the Hives' Mr Bancks reveals a pretty considerable research into bee literature, old and new. He has evidently read up all available literature on the subject. He has found that bee keeping was pracitised by the ancient Egyptians. In the works of Greek and Latin writers, from Homer downwards, he has found numerious allusions to bees and the taking of honey for food. He attributes the decadence of bee keeping in more modern times to the introduction of can sugar into this country, which minimised the use of honey. But Mr Bancks rightly insists on the superiority of pur honey - 'The spirit of the flowers', as Maeterlinck has called it - over mere sugar. For honey, in addition to being wholesome and nutritious, contains very valuable properties which it is impossible to replace. It is estimated that if there were a sufficient number of skilled bee keepers in this country, something like 20,000 tons of honey, valued at upwards of a million pounds, might be gathered annually in the British Isles, whereas scarsely a tenth of this amount is actually secured. Moreover, they honey bee is valuable for the fertilisation of fruid and seed crops - a point which is not sufficiently regarded by farmers and fruit growers.
Mr Bancks analyses and describes in a very clear manner the constituents of honey, and hte process by which it is gathered and stored, and why it is that the product varies in quality, flavour and aroma, according to the source from which it is gathered. Then, too, in this useful little brochure is the practical side - recipes for the use of honey; how it may be substituted for sugar in fruit pies, puddings etc; howe it will improve the making of cakes; how honey vinegar may be made, and how the old fashioned and wholesome mead may be brewed. Altogether as we have said, this is a practical little booklet, and reveals Mr Bancks as one who not only makes a pleasant hobby of bee keeping, but desires us to see also the utilitarian side. Of the wonderful philosophy of the bee, no author can surpass Maurice Maeterlinck, whose thoughtful exegisis 'The Life of the Bee', should be read by all who would love their bees; fo rthe delights of bee keeping and its fragrant, sunny side we can revel in the writings of Tickner Edwardes; than consult Cheshire or Cowan or Webster; but for some new side lights on bee keeping and the uses of honey we must procure Mr Bancks' informative booklets."
10 Aug 1912 Gravesend Reporter
Crime - obscene words
Albert Rimmington of Longfield fined 10 shillings for obscene words in Dartford Road, Dartford on 15 Jul
17 Aug 1912 Kent Messenger
Southwark Rubbish Tip
Dartford RDC - proposal that London boroughs should burn rubbish rather than bring it to district - lost
24 Aug 1912 Kent Messenger
Meopham Cricket Club
Meopham beat Chatham Dockyard by 100 runs
Ada Louisa Bancks
Death of Mrs Ada Bancks after undergoing an operation in London
{Times of 19.8.1912 mentions "Death of Ada Louisa Bancks on 17th, dau of Robert Nisbett, Gravesend vet"]
31 Aug 1912 Kent Messenger
Longfield Football Club
Longfield Village Club to form football team, first captain FA Fuller
Longfield Fire Brigade
Longfield Fire Brigade Ambulance members win 3rd prizes for 4 man drill and artificial respiration at the National Fire Brigade Tournament at Crystal Palace
06 Sep 1912 Gravesend Standard
The Late Mrs A L Bancks
"The funeral took place at All Saints' Church, Hartley, last week, or Mrs Ada Louisa Bancks, daughter of the late Dr Innes Nisbett of Gravesend, and wife of the Rev Gerard W Bancks, the Rector, amid many evidences of deep regret. The service was conducted by the Rev C H Gibbens of Green Street Green.
The chief mourners, in addition to the bereaved rector, were Miss Bancks, Mr and Mrs Nisbett, Mr Suggate, and Miss Alice Deane. Among others present, who included nearly all the parishioners, were the Rev F W Warland, the Rev H B Hennell, the Rev F B Alcock, Viscount Mountmorres, Mr Hare, Mr Priestman, Mr Jesse Garratt, Miss Hassell and Mrs Eade. Psalm xc was sung to a chant in a minor key, and after the lesson, the hymn, 'On the resurrection morning', was sung to Turpin's setting, immediately before the coffin was born from the church. Before the service the organist, Mr Curtis, played 'Blest are the departed', from Spohr's 'Last Judgement'. There was a full attendance of the choir, and the music throughout was rendered with marked and reverent expression.
A magnificent wreath of magnolias, from the garden of Hartley Rectory, was placed on the coffin, inscribed 'In loving memory, from Gerard and Lulu', and other floral tributes were received from the following: Mr and Mrs Nisbett, the Misses Yate, Mrs and Miss Bancks, the Rev F W Warland, Mr and Mrs Hare, Mrs Trewby and family, Mr and Mrs Wright, the Misses Myer, Mr and Mrs Hatton, Mr and Mrs Webb, Capt and Mrs Lawrence, Mr and Mrs Crook (Gravesend), Miss Lawson, the Misses Bragger, White and Summers, Capt and Mrs Copus, Mrs Alchin, Mrs Thomas and Mr A E Thomas, Miss Marian Thomas, Mr and Mrs Elliott, the Whitcombe family, Miss Whitcombe, Major and Mrs Hildebrand, the members of the Mother's Meeting, the Viscountess Mountmorres, the Rev E and Mrs Smith, Hartley School, Lady Alexandra Emmett, Mr, Mrs and Miss D Cowlrick, Miss Cowlrick, Mrs Osborne and daughters, Mr and Mrs Forsyth, Mrs Mabe, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Wansbury, Mrs and the Misses Andrus, Mr and Mrs F Cowlrick, Miss Crook, Mrs Thornton, Mr and Mrs Kluht, Miss Harman, Mr and Mrs Eade, Mrs Dunkin, the Hadlow family, Mr and Mrs Auld and others."
21 Sep 1912 Gravesend Reporter
Old Downs Sale
By order of executors of Mrs E D Baker-Cresswell. Auction of surplus furniture at Old Downs. 2 rosewood 'Empire' cabinets, ormalou and other clocks, 2 writing tables, one excellent boudoir grand pianoforte by Collard and Collards, 2 settees in leather
09 Oct 1912 South Eastern Gazette
George Monk
Swallowed Fruit Stones - Schoolboy's death at Longfield - Jury and the Doctor
At the Gravesend Town Hall, on Thursday, the Borough Coroner held an inquiry into the death of George Arthur Wiliam Monk, aged 10, who died on Tuesday. Mr W Lowe was chosen foreman of the jury.
Emma Monk, of Hartley Hole, Longfield, identified the body as that of her son, who was taken ill on Friday evening. He had been to school all that day and then complained of pain. He slpt all day Saturday and the following night. On Monday she sent for Dr Lace, of Sutton at Hone, who came on Tuesday, having meanwhie sent medicine and a powder. When he came he ordered the child's removal to the hospital. The boy had been eating damsons and blackberries before being taken ill. Witness expressed the opinion that had the doctor attended when summoned he might have been able to save the child's life. The doctor lived 5 miles away.
Dr Herbert Temple Williams, house surgeon at the hospital, said the child was brought in early on Tuesday afternoon, in a very collapsed condition, and died about 6 o'clock. He was too ill on arrival for anything to be done. Witness made a post mortem and found obstruction of the intestines. There were some damson stones in the intestines, and the only remedy was an operation. Had deceased been operated upon on Monday, he might have been saved.
George Monk, a bricklayer's labourer, father of deceased, said when he went for the doctor he explained his son's condition. Dr Lace told him he had several cases of persons eating sour fruit to attend, and he would come in the morning.
"He has got a motor car and it would not have taken him ten minutes", witness added.
The Coroner, addressing the jury, said it might be difficult for them to understand the action of Dr Lace, but had a proper explanation of the case been given him, he would no doubt have endeavoured to attend the child. As it was, directly he saw the boy, he appreciated the seriousness of the case.
Eventually, after a long deliberation, the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony, and added a rider to the effect that had Dr Lace been in a position to attend immediately he was notified, the child's life would probably have been saved.
19 Oct 1912 Kent Messenger
Crime - Longfield Hill
William Joyce of Bean fined £1 or 14 days for stealing 10s from George Miles of the Green Man from a basin on the counter
Hartley Social Club
Founding of Hartley Social Club (photocopy)
Longfield Football Club
Longfield Football team named for match against Wrotham at Longfield - Goal - E Letchford; Backs - H Robson & A Smith; Half Backs - C Simes, F A Fuller & E Stammers; Forwards - P Pennis, F Oxley, L Coleman, F L Hickmot and E G Grant
25 Oct 1912 Harrow Observer
Cox's Orange Pippins
"The flavour of English Cox's Orange Pippin wants a lot of beating, and the foreign apples, although very fine in flavour and appearance, do not quite equal them. And an apple that comes a very good second is the Allington, in fact, some connoisseurs even prefer it to a Cox's Orange. At Fawkham, Kent, some very choice fruit is grown upon the Small Holders' estates, and is carefully graded and packed. Messrs Harvey and Shillingford have taken a good part of their apples, and are offering Cox's Orange at 6d per pound, and Allingtons at 4d per pound. An apple at night and first thing in the morning is a very pleasant way of keeping oneself fit."
19 Nov 1912 South Eastern Gazette
Exedown Reservoir
Mid Kent Water apply to have powers to extend Exedown Reservoir (serving Hartley)
20 Dec 1912 Poultry World
Longfield Property Sale
For sale - FH bungalow, 7 rooms, bathroom, 1a + land £410 cash or £90 cash plus mortgage; bungalow erected with land £50 cash and mortgage. Parker, Longfield