1939 News
History > Newspaper Stories 1900 - 2000 > 1930-1939
03 Feb 1939 Tonbridge Free Press (KM)
Poultry House for Sale (Advert)
"Large poultry house 60 x 30 feet, sectional, £40 or near offer. Webster, [Chelsworth] Church Road, Hartley, Dartford."
10 Feb 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Dartford RDC - census for rural billeting completed
10 Mar 1939 Birmingham Daily Gazette
Auxilary Firemen on Strike
"Auxiliary firemen at Hartley, near Dartford, Kent have gone on strike as a protest against the long delay in supplying them with trailer pumps and other fire fighting equipment. There are 16 members of the Hartley section, inlcuding company directors, chauffeurs, gardeners and several clerks."
17 Mar 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Hartley and Fawkham by "A Modern Chronicler"
(Norris Willatt) Whole page article with large photo of Fawkham Church. Among the people interviewed and pictured were: (1) F Crowhurst, owner of the Fawkham Village store. (2) Mrs L Summers of Fawkham, daughter of William Young the blacksmith and granddaughter of Thomas Young, farmer of Green Farm. (3) F Mills of 4 Fairview, Fawkham who told of a flood there 50 years ago. (4) Bob Hoadley of Hartley, a farm labourer who came here 50 years ago. (5) F L Cox, landlord of the Black Lion. (6) A Watson of Wayside, Ash Road, Hartley, one of the founders of the Constitutional Club. The article also covers Hartley Players and Fawkham and Hartley cricket clubs. [My photocopy breaks off here]
25 Mar 1939 Rockhampton (Queensland) Evening News
Hint to Law Society
"After a jury at the Old Bailey, London, had acquitted Peter Gordon Holloway, 21, a solicitor's articled clerk, of Longfield, Kent, charged with the manslaughter of William Henry Wilkinson, road sweeper, Mr Justice Graves-Lord said he thought they had acted rightly.
Wilkinson was fatally injured by a car in Peckham High Street on November 4.
Holloway, who was found guilty of dangerous driving, was stated to be of the highest character. Mr Justice Graves-Lord: 'The evidence of character is one to which I ought to pay attention. I hope this will be acase where the Law Society will not think it necessary to add any other burden to what I have to do. I would not dream of sending you to prison,' he added, 'but one's sense of the offence must be marked, and that will be done by a fine of £25 and a suspension for 2 years of your driving license.'
Holloway had stated that his car collided with Wilkinson's barrow as the result of a skid."
[Daily Mirror 20.1.1939 has shorter article, says he was convicted of dangerous driving and had not stopped after accident, he said he had no idea he'd hit anyone.]
31 Mar 1939 Kentish Gazette
West Kent WI Annual Meeting
Annual report notes closure of Fawkham branch in the previous year.
14 Apr 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Wedding
Wedding of Nora Mary Gayes [1913-2002] to Hartley Cricket club member
21 Apr 1939 Chatham News
Meopham Ambulance
Meopham has recently been presented with a motor ambulance, and the parish council has written to local vicars to see if their parishes would be interested in joining in. Cobham and Longfield gave supportive replies and had referred the matter to their local Nursing Associations.
12 May 1939 Tonbridge Free Press (KM)
Servant Wanted (Advert)
"General required; woman not objected to; sleep in - Doctor's House [presumably Grafton House, Ash Road], Hartley, Longfield."
02 Jun 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Dartford Rural ARP - local arrangements for Hartley
03 Jun 1939 KM (Maidstone Telegraph)
Edwards of Longfield
(Advert) "Clinkers, ashes, unlimited supply. Edwards, Longfield. Phone 3120 Longfield"
10 Jun 1939 KM (Maidstone Telegraph)
The Old Forge of Longfield Hill
(part of article on Blacksmiths) "Mr George T Lynds keeps a forge at Longfield Hill. In other words, the forge doesn't keep him. 'But I have owned it now these past 50 years,' he told the KM, 'and I'm darned if I'm going to close it. When it passes to my sons they can please themselves' Mr Lynds is not a blacksmith himself. He is a builder.
Work in the forge is done by Mr Clifton Oliver, who comes from a well known Wealden family of blacksmiths. 'And a jolly good craftsman he is,' said Mr Lynds. 'Bet him he couldn't make a razor out of a horseshoe, and I'll guarantee you'll lose. It's a pity there is not more for him to do. We get a fair number of horses at the forge, but there is not much to be gained from this class of trade. We do not get the implements to repair that we used to. But I have taken a voew to myself that I will not close down the forge, and I shall keep it. It would be too great a wrench not to hear the anvil ringing in the mornings. When I was doing a lot of building in this district there was plenty of ironwork for the forge, but things have slackened off.'
And as he chatted Mr Lynds continued laying the bricks of a garden wall he was constructing in New Barn. He looked considerably younger than his 73 years. For 24 years Mr Lynds was Chairman of Longfield Parish Council, an dfor 12 years captain of the Village Fire Brigade. He was in charge of the team that won the National Fire Brigade Union ambulance cup in 1913 - the first time the trophy came south. Villagers always speak of the determination which characterised his work as a parish councillor. It is with the same determination that he is keeping his vow not to close the old forge at Longfield Hill."
17 Jun 1939 KM (Maidstone Telegraph)
Missed car by matter of inches
"On a dangerous driving charge a 19 years old machinist Thomas John Nelms of Glenelm, Castle Hill, Hartley, Longfield, was fined £2, had his licence suspended for 3 months and was ordered to pay £1 expenses at Chatham Police Court on Friday last week. .... PC S Russell (Gillingham) stated that at about 4.55pm on May 7th he was on cycle patrol on Watling Street Gillingham, proceeding towards Gillingham. As he neared the junction of South Avenue three motor cars overtook him on the near side at a speed of about 30mph. 'A few seconds later,' he added, 'another car overtook me at a speed of about 45mph. It was travelling squarely in the middel of the offside traffic lane. Coming towards me was another car on its nearside. Defendant made no attempt to get to his nearside and he missed the approaching car by a matter of inches.' John Easton of Nadine Street, London, who was the driver of the car proceeding towards Rainham, stated that to avoid an accident he had to pull up.
Nelms told the court he had been folloiwng a big powerful car for about 3 miles at a speed of 15-25 mph. As he wanted to overtake he pulled out to ascertain that the road was clear. He had actually started to overtake when the big car increased its speed. He then saw an approaching car. 'I braked as I found I could not overtake,' he added, 'I am sure I left the approaching car driver sufficient room in which to get by.'
'We don't thing that what you did was done deliberately but carelessly,' said the chairman (Mr W Cobbett Barker) announcing the decision of the bench."
20 Jun 1939 Times
Living at Old Downs
Letter about Indian States from Kumar Kamleshwar Das of Nandgaon State of Old Downs School
30 Jun 1939 Kentish Express
Country Wives Know all about Homecraft
West Kent WI Show had 4,000 entries from 86 branches. Hartley had the highest overall score of 352, Longfield Hill scored 90. In the Cooperative Classes, Hartley was 3rd for vegetables with 78, 2nd in Home Cupboard with 393¾, and 2nd in expert preservers with 48¾ out of 50. Red stars for 100% marks in a class were awarded to 16 entries, including Miss [Eveline] Robertson of Hartley for Sweet Peas and Mrs Goodwin of Hartley for duck eggs.
30 Jun 1939 Chatham News
A ramble round Southfleet and Longfield
With the Rochester and District Naturalists. Met at Gravesend outskirts, led across market gardens mostly devoted to artichokes to Southlfeet Church. "….Leaving the church, the company continued their ambling to the village of Longfield where a 'merrythought' helped them in deciding that a good tea and a little gossip would be as balm to a tired heart..... On resuming the walk a peep at the village church is their first thought. The church of St Mary Magdalene is a building of flint and brick, chiefly in the Gothic style with traces of Norman work. Some ancient glass is in evidence, also a moulded piscina and aumbry. The old oak pulpit and beams, and an ancient buttress reinforced with bricks are equally interesting. The original bell is cracked and now hangs in the vestry. A notice informs us that in the ocunty of Kent there are 1,000 church bells of which only 36 are 14th century work. Teh bell is dated 1360 and was cast by William Revell, of London, a bell founder of the 14th century....."
07 Jul 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Church Rd - part to be widened; passing places at St Johns Lane
19 Jul 1939 Daily Mirror
Claimed £300,000 - Leaves £5
"Captain Bede John Francis Bentley, of New Barn House, Longfield, Kent, who claimed to have invented the tank - his claim for £300,000 from the Crown for the invention was dismissed, died on May 6 last, aged 60, leaving £5."
[the Case in 1925, where Winston Churchill appeared for the Crown against him, bankrupted Captain Bentley]
01 Sep 1939 Kentish Express
Child Killed at Sellinge
"The danger of young children playing on or near main roads was stressed by the deputy coroner, Mr A K Mowll, at the inquest at Swan Inn, Sellinge, yesterday on Frederick William Shelton, of 104 Ashmore Grove, Welling, the 5 years old son of the late Mr F W Shelton and of Mrs Shelton, staying at Glantowy, Sellinge. The boy ran into the road after a ball and was knocked down by a car. Mr Maurice Slackman, who is staying at 30 Somerset Road, Ashford, said he was standing on the opposite side of the road to Shelton, who was with another boy about the same age. He saw him run out into the road in front of the car. Slackman shouted and the driver swerved. He saw the rear wheel pass over the boy. In his statement to Police Sergeant Stockens, the driver, Mr James R Webster of Church Road, Hartley, Dartford said, 'The child ran across the road in front of me, he was then about 8 to 9 feet from the front of the car.' A verdict of death by misadventure was returned."
06 Oct 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Lectures on Home Nursing to form Red Cross Detachment
13 Oct 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
(1) Plaque, gift of Miss Robertson, attached to war memorial. (2) Education - complaints that not all evacuated children attend school
20 Oct 1939 Tonbridge Free Press (KM)
Hodges Father and family seek positions
(Advert) "Waggoner seeks situation; married; good horse and plough man, life experience. Also son, head cowman, well vered in production of Grade A TT Milk; able to drive if necessary; single. Daughter, dairy, good milker, excellent references. Leaving through farm being sold - [George J] Hodges, Bayonne [Marsworth], Church Road, Hartley, Longfield, Kent"
Tonbridge Free Press 3.11.1939
"Head cowman seeks situation for an accredited TT herd; married, excellent references; leaving through farm being sold - Hodges, 2 Church Road, Hartley, Longfield, Kent"
The farm being sold was probably Hartley Manor which was sold by the Grooms in 1939]
20 Oct 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Cub Pack formed; Congregational Church Boys Club reformed
23 Oct 1939 Evening News
1 Killed, 4 Hurt in Crash
"Kenneth Jackson, aged 20, of Chase Green Avenue, Enfield, was killed when his motorcycle and a car collided in Edmonton in the blackout. His pillion passenger, Miss Eileen Gurne, aged 25, of The Parade, Ash Road, Hartley, Kent, and the car driver, John Leaman of Brookfield Gardens, Cheshunt, his wife and their 6 year old son were injured." [Actually her name was Eileen Veronica Gurner and she was 19 not 25. She joined the Women's Land Army in October 1939]
27 Oct 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
(1) Dr Archibald George of Grafton House attends rail accident; (2) Eileen Gurne, land army girl of 3 The Parade, Ash Rd, in accident
10 Nov 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Air Raid Shelter planned for school; canteen for evacuated children at school planned
17 Nov 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Film Production "Brick Fields" being filmed at Hartley
08 Dec 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Obituary of John Claxton (73) of Valley Wood; (2) Hartley School - Concert by junior pupils for canteen fund
15 Dec 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
(1) George S Mainprize (47) [1893-1963] of Blue Cottage, Gorse Way - accused of stealing coal from Hartley Cooperative Society. (2) Peter A Mainprize of Blue Cottage - no bicycle lights. (3) Allotments - ½ acre available near church
18 Dec 1939 Evening News
Local News in Brief
"Evacuee children at Hartley Kent, who have taken over an allotment, are appealing for gardening tools."
22 Dec 1939 Dartford Chronicle
Local News in Brief
Harold Stevens of New Hayes Cottages - no bicycle lights
22 Dec 1939 Chatham News
'Something to be proud of' says the judge
"A man of 76 was told by Judge Clements at Rochester County Court, on Wednesday, that he should be proud of what he had achieved. The judge had been told that this man - Charles House May, residing at The Oak [Elwine], Ash Road, Hartley, near Longfield - had paid his creditors in full, with interest, after being adjudicated bankrupt in 1935. Supported by the Official Receiver (Mr F C Wells), Mr May was successful in his application to the judge to have the receiving order rescinded and the bankruptcy adjudication annulled. // He was in business as a music dealer at Manor Road, Gravesend, and was adjudicated bankrupt on August 14th 1935. Three dividents were paid, totalling 20s in the pound and 4 per cent interest. 'I wish you prosperity for the remainder of your life,' said the Judge."