Newspaper Stories 1920-1924 - Hartley-Kent: The Website for Hartley

Go to content

Newspaper Stories 1920-1924

History > Newspaper Stores 1900 - 1939


24 Jan 1920 Ladies Club Gravesend Reporter
Ladies club meeting with much success


27 Feb 1920 Hartley Primary School Sevenoaks Chronicle
Favourable report on fabric of Hartley School by KCC architect (details)


13 Mar 1920 Glenhome for Sale Maidstone Telegraph
"For sale by private treaty.  A very charming smallholding situate on the Fairby Farm Estate, Fawkham, Hartley, Kent, comprising a convenient and well built dwelling house, known as Glenhome and nearly 5 acres of first class arable land, fully developed as a market garden and planted with the choicest fruit trees in full bearing.  This most desirable property adjoins the main road, and is within easy distance of London, Gravesend, Rochester and chatham.  To view apply to the tenant, Mr Mark Webb, and for selling price and all further particulars to Stilling, Ker & Duckworth, Surveyors, The Mart, Bridgwater."


27 Mar 1920 Old Downs for Sale Times
Old Downs for sale with 22½ acres, description


03 Apr 1920 Poultry House for Sale Maidstone Telegraph
"Poultry House 30ft by 12ft by 9?ft high in front, ¾in boarding; rubberoid covered £10, purchaser to take down and clear - Weston, Irene House, Hartley, Longfield, Kent."


17 Apr 1920 Local News in Brief Gravesend Reporter
(1) Dartford RDC - improvements to Ash-Longfield Road; (2) Advert for sale of building land at Merton Avenue & Woodland Avenue


24 Apr 1920 Longfield Tennis Club Gravesend Reporter
Hedley Symons hon sec. of Longfield Tennis Club


24 Apr 1920 Daily Help Maidstone Telegraph
"Daily girl from about 8.30 till 3pm, small cottage, two gentlemen, apply Cherry Orchard Farm, Hartley, Longfield."


05 Jun 1920 Plots for sale at Hartley Maidstone Telegraph
"Land Freehold.  £50 per acre, in 2 acre plots for sale; 25 per cent deposit; balance 5 years, one mile Fawkham Station.  Apply Small Owners Ltd, Fairby Farm, Longfield, Kent"


15 Jul 1920 Beauty Products for Sale Daily Mirror
Advert for Beauty Products - Fletcher, Timber Cottage


03 Aug 1920 Derilict farms reclaimed - Kent Committee's success Times
"… At Hartley land, Fawkham, the committee have taken over a derilict building site of 55½ acres of arable land.  Of this 9½ acres are sown with winter oats after wheat last season.  This does not look promising, although some improvement is shown since they have been top dressed with 1½ cwt of sulphate of ammonia per acre.  Of 15 acres of Arran Chief Potatoes, 10 acres are after barley and the remainder after wheat.  Considering the nature of the land the crops here are exceptionally promising"


(Woodland Avenue, Gresham Avenue, Larksfield, Wellfield Estate)



14 Aug 1920 Hartley Cricket Club Gravesend Reporter
Cricket - Hartley beat APCM by 47 runs; C Ellerby made 21


14 Aug 1920 Fruit Cultivation Maidstone Telegraph
Visit of Hartley Agricultural Cooperative Society to Experimental Fruit Station at East Malling


20 Aug 1920 Harding v Symons Kent & Sussex Courier
Harding v Symons (of Heort Lea), plaintiff awarded £6 for delays in delivery of wood


21 Aug 1920 Hartley and District Horticultural Show Maidstone Telegraph
Long description and list of winners.  Held at Old Downs.


17 Sep 1920 Enemy Children Daily Herald
Little  8 year old Anton Marsidoechek had fallen into the flower-bed.  How,  nobody could exactly discover, although there was evidence that Anton  Plattensteiner had pushed him in.  As with the war, there were  dissentient opinions over causes, but concerning the consequetn material  disaster there could be no argument.  Five bright geraniums lay crushed  and broken, and obviously it would be weeks before that side of he bed  could regain its normal beauty.  This Mr Rose, the gardener, sorrowfuly  explained in words of which Anton understood the meaning.   Tears of  utter misery flowed over on to his cheeks.  He took the gardener's big  brown hand, and chokingly affirmed that he was sehr, sehr traurig.  Mr  Rose is a true and tender hearted man, and he remembers that it is for  something more than military victory that his own boy sleeps beneath the  flowers in France.


Including the two Antons  there are 20 Viennese children at Fairby Grange, where this incident  occurred the other day.  In age they range from 8 to 13, and they are  now domiciled in England for a stay of at least 6 months, perhaps a  year.  All were memebers of the first installment of 500, brought to  this country from the wreck of Austria by the Fight the Famine Council,  and they are now being cared for under the general relief programme of  the Society of Friends.


Fairby Grange itself,  situated but 25 miles from London, is such a spot as one would like to  see available to disinherited children the world over.  20 acres of  garden, orchard, and pasture surround the old oak-timbered homestead.   There is a fern-ringed pond where tadpoles and lizards lurk, and there  is also a barn which is readily adaptable for theatrical purposes on  rainy days. In the barnyards is found almost every type of domestic  animal, while a croquet lawn is hidden in the heart of the garden.   Further away from the house is a field, now marked out for football and  sports, and more woods where wild flowers and many berries grow.


To  this children's paradise came, ten weeks ago, the score of ragged  little waifs who form its present happy tenants.  Let it be said right  away that they do not resemble the ghastly specimens of skin and bone  one reads about and sees depicted as typical of Austria's youth today.   Those who are chosen to come to England ar eall of pre-war birth, and  are also, I believe, selected on the stern but perhaps merciful  principle that only such as can be brought back to complete health are  woth the trouble of saving.  Now, after their regimen of wholesome food  and country air, the children here would be a normal group were not  several so pale and undersized.


The attitude of  the older boys towards the war is interesting.  All are lads of  spirit, and of just that age when a childish patriotism might be  expected to rule their thoughts on this subject.  Furthermore, there is  not one of them without close relatives on the long list of his  country's killed.  Yet one finds in these litte scions of a ruined  empire a breath of viewpoint sometimes lacking in the victors.  'Austria  didn't want the war,' they assert.  'Franz Joseph signed the  mobilisation decree against his will.  Aber Kaiser Wilhelm war  blutduratig.  He forced us in.  He wanted Germany to rule the world.'   And one boy added - 'Besides we had to fight because Serbia wanted to  destroy our empire.  Serbia was to us like Ireland is to England, you  know.'


Of more present concern are the stories  of the ghastly conditions in Vienna in the closing days of war and  since.  One boy tells of a street scene in front of his home a week  before the armistice was signed.  A military automobile knocked down and  killed a mongrel dog.  Passers-by fought for the possession of the  carcass, literally tearing the animal to pieces in their anxiety to  obtain 'fresh meat' for the family table.  A girl lost her Persian cat  to the same end, and no pets, it seems, were safe from 'the men who went  about the streets with sacks.'  Every child at Fairby today is familar  with the taste of horse and dog and cat.


One  could dwell at length on details of the present reconstructive life  these children.  I would like to tell of the sweet old German songs they  sing in chorus on their walks; of the painstaking picture of Fairby  Grange Walter has drawn and painted in order that his mother may have an  idea of his English home; of the zeal with which many apply themselves  to learning English and French (which last half-a-dozen studied during  the war and insist on continuing); of their interest in chess, which  several play remarkably well, and football, in which they are also  proficient; of the dainty theatre they have fitted up in the barn, where  they improvise their own plays.


Just children -  sometimes a little mischievous, a little tiresome, a little naughty,  but always interesting and appealing - such must be one's final  judgement on the quaint community now living on the charity of their  conquerors at Fairby Grange.  Just children, but also embryo directors  of the fate of Europe, who will never forget the kindness shown the by  the English during a crucial formative period of their lives.  Aveerage  little mortals they are, and concerning the like of them it was said  nearly 2,000 years ago, that 'whosover shall receive this child in My  name receiveth Me.'


Even after WW1 ended the British did not stop the blockade of Germany and Austria, which led to famine.  Dr Salter made over his home at Fairby to help starving children recover.  The Charity Save the Children was set up by  Eglantine Jebb as part of the same effort. She was a true modern saint who was arrested for her efforts to tell the truth about what British foreign policy was doing to the children of Austria.  The judge in her case paid her fine because he was so impressed with her.



02 Oct 1920 Hoselands Hill Gravesend Reporter
Landowner at Hoselands Hill giving up land for road improvements


09 Oct 1920 New phone line Maidstone Telegraph
"Post Office Telegraphs: Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the Telegraph Acts 1863 to 1916, that His Majesty's Postmaster General, having obtained the consent in that behalf of the body having the control of the public road described below, intends to place a telegraphic line over and along the said public road, adn for that purpose to erect and maintain posts in and upon the same under the powers conferred on him by the said Telegraph Acts.  By command of the Postmaster General - From the existing route near Stocks Farm to a point near Hartley Manor, Hartley"


30 Oct 1920 Local News in Brief (1) Gravesend Reporter; (2) Maidstone Telegraph
(1) Post Office agrees to move telegraph pole 12' at Hoselands Hill; (2) Home Counties Laying Meal chicken food, stocked by English Bros, Hartley.


13 Nov 1920 Land for Sale Gravesend Reporter
Auction of 6 building plots at Merton Ave & Woodlands Ave


20 Nov 1920 Local News in Brief (1) Evesham Standard; (2-3) Maidstone Telegraph
(1) Costen (of the Homestead [now The Old Orchard], Church Road) - 1,200 apple and pear trees for sale, 1-3 foot circumference; (2) "Young lady seeks situation as shorthand typist; slight knowledge business training; age 16 - Owaissa, Hartley Green, Longfield."; (3) Wanted Wire haired terrier puppy (male), must be clean, Dunster, Hartley Green, Longfield."


20 Nov 1920 Adverts Maidstone Telegraph
(1) "Young lady seeks situation as shorthand typist; slight knowledge business training; age 16 - Owaissa, Hartley Green, Longfield."; (2) Wanted Wire haired terrier puppy (male), must be clean, Dunster, Hartley Green, Longfield."


27 Nov 1920 Local News in Brief (1) Gravesend Reporter; (2) Maidstone Telegraph
(1) Requests from parish meeting for Ash Road improvements; (2) Harmonium for Sale: Five stops, just overhauled.  Harris, Hartley, Longfield


18 Dec 1920 Fruit trees for sale Maidstone Telegraph
"1,200 apple trees, Bramleys, Newtons, Derbys, Lanes, Annie Elizabeth, Charles Ross, Worcesters, Cox's Orange, Beauty Bath, James Grieve.  1 to 3ft.  Conference, Fertility, William Pears, 2 and 3 years - Costen, Hartley, Longfield, Kent." [similar advert the previous week also mentions 520 redcurrants].


25 Dec 1920 Ash Road Widening Gravesend Reporter
Dartford RDC reccommends widening Fairby-Black Lion section of Ash Rd


01 Jan 1921 Rev Bancks New Book Daily Express
Review of Bancks - Harvest of Hives


18 Jan 1921 Wilfred Mansfield, Actor Western Daily Press
Favourable review of Wilfred Mansfield [of Castle Hill], appearing in Remembrance at Theatre Royal, Bristol


19 Feb 1921 Road Improvements Gravesend Reporter
Dartford RDC - road improvements at Hartley


23 Apr 1921 Coal Shortage Gravesend Reporter
Coal Shortage - permits from Mr Sutch of Hextable


23 Apr 1921 Hartley House for Sale Times
Hartley House for sale; hall, 3r, billiard rm; 6 beds, stabling, garage with servant's quarters above (also in Reporter 12.3.21)


07 May 1921 Coal Shortage Gravesend Reporter
Coal Emergency - drastic changes to rail service from Gravesend


14 May 1921 Council Housing Gravesend Reporter
W Braybrook of Hartley lowest tender for 6 houses in village for RDC


28 May 1921 Hartley Cricket Club Gravesend Reporter
Cricket - Hartley all out for 17 against Horton Kirby.


02 Jun 1921 Small Owners Plots for Sale Times
Fairby Estates - 1 acre plots for sale, 1 minute from station.


07 Jun 1921 Miners' children at Fairby Daily Herald
"The Fellowship of Reconciliation has now 15 miners' children from the Kent coalfields at Fairby Grange, Longfield, Kent, waiting to be allocated to private homes.  The delay is caused by many of the offeres for hospitality already received being for one child only, whereas these children have specially requested that they might go in pairs.  Can anyone who has already kindly offered hospitality to one child possibly take two?  Please communicate at once with C Paul Glidon, 17 Red Lion Square, WC."


11 Jun 1921 War Memorial Gravesend Reporter
War Memorial - Dartford RDC approval


25 Jun 1921 Hartley Cricket Club Gravesend Reporter
Cricket - A Humphrey scores 21 and takes 8-17 in victory over L/field


09 Jul 1921 Coal Shortage Gravesend Reporter
Trains - improved service after end of coal strike


13 Jul 1921 Holidays in Hartley Times
"Barrister offers holiday quarters for men; 3 guineas inclusive - Mrs Dashwood, The Gun Hut, Hartley"


23 Jul 1921 Hartley Cricket Club Gravesend Reporter
Cricket - Hartley dismiss Westwood Star for just 6


13 Aug 1921 Inquest on Lewis Roots Gravesend Reporter
Inquest at Mission Hall, Longfield on Lewis Rootes (address not given)


03 Sep 1921 Receiving Stolen Goods Gravesend Reporter
Harold Green of Hartley Green fined £10 for receiving stolen leather


18 Sep 1921 Imprisoned Councillors' Children to stay at Fairby Daily Herald
Picture of children of imprisoned Poplar councillors going to stay at Fairby


[For more on the Poplar Rates Rebellion where the councillors went to prison but won changes to the system of rates that favoured rich boroughs, see Wikipedia article]



20 Oct 1921 Fairby Reformatory School Guardian
Miss Grace Costin to be headmistress of new Fairby Reformatory School, opening next month


12 Nov 1921 Fairby Reformatory School Times
Fairby given certificate to become a reformatory school for up to 20 (see article)


21 Jan 1922 Laundry Collections Gravesend Reporter
Shaws Laundries to resume collections in Hartley (Thursdays)


27 Jan 1922 Problems of Juvenile Offenders - meeting at Tunbridge Wells Kent & Sussex Courier
A demand for a proper Children's Court was made at a public meeting, held at the Town Hall, Tunbridge Wells, on Saturday, under the auspices of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, to discuss the problems of juvenile delinquncy.


Councillor Miss A Scott who presided, remarked that the meeting was opportunely held, for a Tunbridge Wells they now had a policewoman and a woman probation officer, while upon the county bench they had Miss Alice Puckle.  In the new Chief Constable (Captain Hector) they had one who realised that the glory of the police force was not so much in catching criminals and putting them under lock and key, but rather the prevention of crime and the extension of a helping hand to men and women to becoe good citizens.  Tehre was a avery real need, however, for a real Juvenile Court, quite apart fro the ordinary court, with special magistrates who would take a personal interest in the cases they might have to deal with and to whom the excellent Probation Officers (Mr G H Rogers and Miss Florence Owen) could frequently report.  There was also a need for a special home for juvenile offenders, and one such had just been established in Kent at Fairby Grange, which should do a work of tremendous usefulness.  The National Council of Women Workers was urging the Home Secretary to set up a special committee to consider anew the question of the treatment of juvenile delinquents along new reformative lines.


Miss Grace Costin, Warden of Fairby Grange School, said the best description of a juvenile delinquent was that of "a kid that had been found out", given by a young offender.  There were a very large number of uncaught juvenile delinquents, and very few people could say they had never taken anything which did not belong to them.  She confessed that he had - and stuck to it!  In the minds of youngsters there were very good reasons for theft, gnerally to satisfy the craving for amusements.  Few stole for the love of stealing.  She did not feel that those cases could be dealt with in reformatory schools on present lines, and she thought the sentences were too long.  The juveniles sent to a reformatory fo a lengthy period had a deep seated idea that it was unadulterated punishment and not an effort to reform them.  She wuld suggest sentences of 6 months to a year, certainly never more than 2 years.  Ultimately she felt they would not want reformatories, but would substitute them with a system whereby child offenders would be taken away from a bad environment and placedout among decent families.  It was no good putting juveniles who had done about the same thing together.  Miss Costin proceeded to detail the ideals and methods at Fairby Grnage School, which was a new experiment in penal reform.  Here they endeavoured to create the family spirit, giving to the girls trust and responsibility.  If the venture was ultimately found not to prove a financial success she hoped it would be a spiritual and moral success, which would make it well worth while.  Love was the great power, and without the love of God there could be no permanent good done.


The Rev F G Knott, in proposing a vote of thanks, said the speaker had held up a glorious vision of women's work, while Miss Hughes MA in seconding, remarked that there would be great hope for the future of all children if they were brought under similar kindly influence as as Fairby Grange.


The motion was carried and Miss Scott was also thanked for presiding.


[Miss Costin also spoke in similar terms at the National Union for Equal Citizenship at Oxford (Yorkshire Post 2.9.1922)]



28 Jan 1922 Local News in Brief Gravesend Reporter
(1) Concert in Club Room by Eric Robillard's Company; (2) St Dunstans National Whist Drive - qualifying round at Old Downs; (3) Buses - new Gravesend - Dartford service via Longfield


16 Feb 1922 Robert Hamilton Edwards Freemans Journal
Dublin court makes Robert Hamilton Edwards bankrupt [he had lent Small Owners' Ltd money]


25 Feb 1922 Woodcroft, Ash Road for sale Gravesend Reporter
For sale: Woodcroft, Ash Road


17 Mar 1922 House for Sale Bromley & West Kent Mercury
"Kent: ¾ hour  Victoria, 7 minutes walk Fawkham Station - solidly built attractively designed modern house of 8 rooms with bath; one acre, freehold; commanding magnificent views; immediate possession; price £1,500; mortgage can be arranged.  Full plans and specification, Room 75, 175 Piccadilly W, or appointment to view, write C Nairn, Hartley, Longfield, Kent."


[Probably Monksilver or Westfield Lodge, Ash Road both of which were sold by Mr Nairn]



07 Apr 1922 Hartley Football Club Sevenoaks Chronicle
West Kingsdown beat Hartley 4-1 in Ash and District Football cup


15 Apr 1922 Council Housing Gravesend Reporter
Dartford RDC - no progress about planned 6 houses in Hartley


06 May 1922 Plots for sale at Hartley Gravesend Reporter
Auction of plots 114-123, 332-338 on Fawkham Park Estate (Wellfield &c)


20 May 1922 Fawkham Manor Estate Gravesend Reporter
Auction of outlying parts of Mr Hohler's Fawkham Manor Estate


03 Jun 1922 Hartley RC Church Gravesend Reporter
Catholic Feast and Procession at Hartley


21 Jun 1922 Information Wanted Sydney Evening News
Solicitors looking for Thomas Martin, formerly of Hartley, last heard of at Sydney, Australia


24 Jun 1922 War Memorial Gravesend Reporter
War Memorial: contractor begins work


01 Jul 1922 Local News in Brief Gravesend Reporter
(1) County Court: alleged damage to Mr Bassano's fence by horse; (2) For sale: Coppice Lea, Church Road


29 Aug 1922 Fairby Grange for Sale Times
Fairby Grange for sale, description


30 Aug 1922 Hillside, Grange Lane for Sale Times
Kent - modern house, redecorated, brick and rough cast, 6 rooms, box and bath; 2 acres, 300 fruit trees, poultry houses for 300, goathouse, brooder house, 4 sties; company's water; 2 miles Fawkham Station.  Would sell furniture.  Lovely secluded spot, £200 can remain.  Freehold £1,150 only - owner occupier, Irene House, Hartley, Longfield.


02 Sep 1922 Grafton House, Ash Road for Sale Gravesend Reporter
For sale: Grafton House, Ash Road


02 Sep 1922 Fairby Reformatory School Yorkshire Post
Miss Costin of Fairby Reformatory School speaks at National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship


19 Oct 1922 House for Sale Times
13 acre poultry farm 1 mile from Longfield Station for sale


24 Oct 1922 Fairby Grange for Sale Times
"Kent: About 1 mile from Fawkham Station on the SE&C Railway.  The comfortable and attractive c17th residence "Fairby Grange" in the parish of Hartley, Fawkham.


Equipped with modern conveniences, yet still retaining the fine old characteristics of the period, and enjoying a quiet and rural position.  Containing 11 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 staircases, lounge, handsome billiard room, 3 reception rooms, complete offices; garage and 3 cottages, glasshouses, other outbuildings; well established gardens, meadowland, orchard and spinney, in all over 19 acres.  Own electric light, company's water.  Telephone.  Possession of house.


To be sold by auction at the St James' Estate Rooms, 20 St James Square, SW1 on Tuesday November 21st, at 2.30pm (unless previously sold).  Solicitor H N Pholcox esq, 7 Trinity Street, Borough SE1....."


[Reports of the auction in the Times for 22/23 November suggest it was not sold, which is probably why Dr Salter gifted it to the Borough of Bermondsey]



02 Jan 1923 Letter to the Editor Daily Mirror
Frederick Welch writes about suicide in Roman times


16 Feb 1923 Barlow v Symons Dartford Chronicle
Barlow v Symons, 30 shillings damages for trespass by defendant's horses.  Plaintiff said to be squatter.


29 Jun 1923 House for Sale Bromley & West Kent Mercury
"Kent.  Freehold 5 roomed bungalow, bathroom and scullery, company's water, nearly ¾ acre, 150 fruit trees, vacant possession, £975 or near offer.  Owner - Malva, Hartley, Near Longfield, Kent".


18 Jul 1923 Fairby Grange Mother and Baby Home N/A
Fairby Grange given to Bermondsey Council as home for mothers and babies, Neville Chamberlain, health secretary approves scheme provided no government money is used


18 Aug 1923 Land for Sale Yorkshire Post
"Freehold - 4 acres well matured orchard, suitable for anyone about to retire, and wishing to build in a beauty spot of Kent, 23 miles from London; present crop will return good portion of purchase money; price £160 per acre.  Also house, with possession, and 5 acres of land, £1,650.  Several 1 acre plots at £80 per acre, and 5 acres of orchard £110 per acre - Gray, Bank Buildings, Hartley, Longfield, Kent."


21 Aug 1923 Beautified Bermondsey Pall Mall Gazette
"Floral supplied from own estate: Bermondsey Borough Council has acquired Fairby Grange, Fawkham, Kent, as a convalescent home for mothers, and the Beautification Committee of the Council will draw from the property supplies of trees, shrubs, plants and cut flowers to adorn the streets, open spaces, and buildings in the borough.  Fields of about 8 acres are available for cultivation, and there is also a kitchen garden of 1½ acres, a large orchard, and a spinney."
"

23 Aug 1923 Sale at Manor Drive Sussex Agricultural Express
To poultry farmers - The Poultry Farm Hartley
1½ miles from Fawkham Station


1,000 pure-bred leghorns, including 600 April and May hatch pullets and 50 selected cockerels (Cam, Barron and Collinson strains).


Bay, cob gelding

Seven 150 egg incubators
28 poultry houses (The majority built by J Halsall, Kirkham, Lancs)
Brooder House (60 feet by 15 feet), 17 foster mothers, chaff cutter, harness, market cart, light trap, hen coops, egg boxes, iron corn bins, large quantity wire netting, timber etc.


Mr E J Parker is instructed by Mr J W Harwood to sell the above by auction, on Friday, September 7th, 1923 at 12 o'clock.....


[James Harwood lived at Highfields, Manor Drive.]"



01 Sep 1923 Fairby Lane, Land for Sale Folkestone Herald
"4 acres planted orchard land; about 900 trees; part of gentleman's smallholding; mile Fawkham Station; in charming village abutting on main road; frontage 340 ft on private road; water supply; most suitable erection bungalow; only wants seeing; low price; including crop apples if sold immediately - Apply, The Limit, Hartley, Kent."


[The Limit was a smallholding sold by Small Owners Limited, the house is now called Ambleside.  The road referred to is probably Fairby Lane.]



10 Sep 1923 Land for Sale in Longfield Times
Sale of The Retreat, Longfield and 1-6 Mabel Cottages (let at £130.12 pa) and 4 Court Villas


28 Sep 1923 Letter to the Editor Daily Mirror
Frederick Welch writes to say birdsong is best when heard in the wild


04 Oct 1923 Theatrical Agent Advertisement The Stage
"Edward W Wemyss, having mutually relinquished his position as General Manager of Messrs Heslop & Sons Ltd, is starting business on his own account as Variety, Concert Party and Theatrical Agent, will be pleased to hear from all concert artists and proprietors with their full date sheet at the undermentioned address pending an office in the West End.


Wanted Concert Parties, South, October 22 on.   Musical Comedies and Revues playing smalls.  Artists for Panto and Revue.


Hartley Court Cottage, Longfield, Kent."



01 Nov 1923 Singer Advert The Stage
"Edward Wemyss, Baritone, Hartley Court Cottage, Longfield, Kent."


28 Dec 1923 Poultry Show Success Bucks Examiner
Ernest Gee of Hartley Grange - success in local poultry show (see article)


15 May 1924 Adverts The Stage
Advert by Jimmie Gordon of the Croft, Ash Road [Called himself baritone singer, character actor and entertainer]


25 May 1924 Burglary in Ash Road Dartford Chronicle
Two youths named Henry George Payne and George Thomas Cracknell, said to have no fixed abode, were charged at Dartford Police Court on Saturday before Alderman J Lawrence Mitchell (in the chair), Messrs F S Putland and A J Penney, with shop breaking at the Hartley Co-operative Stores on the night of April 15th-16th, and stealing tubes of soap, boot polish, tooth brushes, knife polish, candles and an attache case etc.


Superintendent Fowle said the prisoners were only arrested at Gravesend the previous night, and he had not completed the case.  He asked for a remand till Tuesday.


Detective-Sergeant Stutchfield said he arrested the two at Gravesend the previous day, and Payne made a lengthy statement.  He went to a house in Queen Street and recovered articles produced in court.


The two were remanded as requested by the police.


When the pair were brought up on Tuesday, Mr A M Fleet was in the chair.  It was stated that the stolen property was valued at 30 shillings.


William Charles Wise of Melba, Hartley, secretary to the Hartley Co-operative Society, which is registered under the Friendly Societies Act, said he closed he stores about 4.30 on the night of April 15th.  On the following morning he found things lying on the floor of the shop, and then noticed that other things had been taken away.  He subsequently discovered that a window at the side of the store had been broken and a pane of glass removed.  He reported the matter to the police, and on the morning of the 19th he was shown an attache case and a number of other articles by Superintendent Fowle, which he identified as having been stolen.


Albert Alfred Holder, of 53 and 54 Stonebridge Hill, Northfleet, a restaurant keeper, said at 5 o'clock on the morning of April 16th, the two prisoners came into his shop and asked for tea and bread and dripping.  The attache case (produced) was beside them while they ate, and Cracknell asked him if he would buy some candles and matches, and showed him the contents of the case, offering to sell the whole for 9 shillings.  Witness became suspicious at this, and sent for the police.  Nobody came, however, and with a view of holding the prisoners, witness bought 3 or 4 candles.  He kept them about three quarters of an hour, and in the course of conversation they said they were waiting for someone to open in Northfleet so that they could sell the things.  Ultimately the two left his shop.


Cracknell: Do you mean to say you sent for the police and they did not come? You did not send for them.  You might as well tell the truth.  Why did they not come?


Witness: That is their business not mine.


It was explained that a messenger sent by witness for the police went to the wrong house, and as a result the police never got the message.


Edward Adams, 41 Queen Street, Gravesend, said on the night of April 14th Cracknell came into his shop with another man, a local shopkeeper, to buy goods.  The other man bought a razor, and gave it to Cracknell.  On the 15th they came to the shop again, and the tradesman made further purchases.  On the 16th both the prisoners came to the shop with the attache case produced.  Cracknell said he was going away, and asked him to buy the case and contents.  Witness looked at the contents and said, "It is a funny collection for you to have," adding that he already had plenty of stock of that kind, and Cracknell said they wanted 10 shillings for the things, and witness asked where they came from.  Cracknell said they had been bought from time to time from men in public houses.  Witness ulitmately bought all that was offered for 5 shillings.  On the evening of the 18th a detective of the Gravesend police came to his shop, and he gave up the articles.


At the conclusion of witness's evidence Cracknell said he would like to see witness after the court.  The clerk remarked that he dare say the police would allow him an opportunity.


Detective Sergeant Stutchfield said on the afternoon of the 18th he went with Superintendent Fowle to Gravesend , and later in the day he arrested Cracknell and told him he would be charged with shopbreaking.  He replied, "I am innocent."  A little later he saw Payne in the Market Place, Gravesend, and questioned him.  He replied, "I will tell you the truth," and went on to say that he met Cracknell, who said he knew where he could lay his hands on some ready money.  He was hard up at the time, and had no tea, and said, "All right.  Where is it?"  Cracknell said where it was, and about 9.45pm they set out to walk to Longfield, and then to the Hartley Stores, where Cracknell took a window out and they got in.  He also said where the stuff had been sold.  About 10.30 on the same evening witness went to 41a Queen Street, the residence of the witness Adams, and was handed the case and articles (produced).  He charged both prisoners at Dartford Police Station, and they made no reply. On the morning of April 19th he served Cracknell with a copy of the statement made by Payne and Cracknell made a statement (produced), in which he said Payne agreed to go to Hartley to "do a job".  They broke the window together, adn Payne went in and handed the stuff out to him.  They shared the proceeds.  The statement continued, "I should not have done it, but I was down and out.  I was waiting for a ship, and should have got it on Wednesday, but I could not go on till then on nothing."


Prisoners were committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions.


Cracknell said he was the oldest and would "take the job on his own and let this boy go free."  He added, "It can be done."


The younger prisoner (Payne) was admitted to bail on the application of his stepfather, who is an employee of the Gravesend Corporation.



30 Jun 1924 Miss Davies-Cooke Times
Miss Davies-Cooke secretary of Association for Perpetual Adoration RC mission charity


25 Jul 1924 Obituary of Amy Allchin N/A
Obituary in Canadian paper of Amy Cathcart (nee Alchin), born Hartley 1870


26 Jul 1924 Katherine Waley Cohen Times
Estate of Mrs Katherine Waley Cohen of Old Downs - £14,663


28 Jul 1924 Fairby Grange Mother and Baby Home Times
Opening of Fairby Grange Convalescent Home


02 Aug 1924 Fairby Grange Mother and Baby Home British Medical Journal
"The first municipal convalescent home for mothers and babies in this country was officially opened on July 26th by Mr Wheatley, Minister of Health.  Fairby Grange which is at Fawkham, Kent, was given to Bermondsey Borough Council a year ago by Dr Alfred Salter, at that time MP for Bermondsey.  The Minister, in his opening speech, spoke of the cooperative spirit which is beginning to characterise public life today.  The fact that the ratepayers of Bermondsey had realised that a farthing rate was being well spent in providing convalescence for mothers who would not otherwise be able to take a holiday showed that they had realised it was the business of the community to attend to the affairs of its weaker members.  The attitude of the Ministry of Health was sympathetic towards all schemes likely to further maternity and child welfare, which he considered to be the cornerstone of public health work today.  In welcoming Mr Wheatley, Mrs Salter, the chairman of the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, said that Bermondsey was proud of the fact that the maternal mortality per 1,000 births for last year was 1.37.  Although the infantile mortality was still very high, 76, yet it was the lowest Bermondsey had reached.  Ten years ago, before the first health visitor was appointed, it was 159.  The home is a comfortable 16th century manor house standing in 23 acres of ground; it has all modern conveniences, and is well adapted to accommodate 16 mothers and babies."


23 Aug 1924 New phone line Folkestone Herald
New subscriber to Longfield telephone exchange: Small Owners Ltd, Hartley Manor, Longfield 37.


02 Oct 1924 House for Sale in Hartley Times
9 room freehold house for sale £1,550.  Apply Nairn


24 Nov 1924 NSPCC - Work of the Bromley Branch Bromley & West Kent Mercury
"The annual meeting of the Bromley, Beckenham, Chislehurst and district branch of the NSPCC was held at St John's Hall, Sidcup, yesterday, when Canon Spurgin presided, and an address was given by Miss Aylmer of the society's central office..... A large area is covered by the branch, there being ladies' committees at Bromley, Beckenham, Bexley and Bexleyheath, Bickley, Chislehurst, Farnborough, Farnngham, Keston and Hayes, Orpington, St Mary Cray, Shortlands, Sidcup, Sutton at Hone, Darenth and District and Swanley.  During the year committees were formed at Farningham and Hartley....The total number of complaints received was 108.  Of these 104 were found to be true, affecting the welfare of 271 children and involving 161 offenders.  There was only one prosecution...."


© Content P Mayer 2000-2018.  Created with WebSite X5
Back to content