As well as making 1000 years’ worth of historical documents available to present day researchers, Essex Record Office also has a role in preserving current information for researchers of the future to access. As it is World Digital Preservation Day, we thought we would share some of the work we have been doing on the latter, preserving digital records for future generations.
Types of media in the archive: clockwise from top left – minidisc, CD-R, floppy disk and mini-DV tape
Essex Record Office does not have many digitised records, but we do have a considerable number of digital surrogates and a growing number of born-digital records in our collections. Put together, we have over 83 terabytes of digital records, up from 64 terabytes in 2021. 97% of these are digital surrogates e.g. images of parish registers and wills. Only 3% are born-digital, but these include Word-processed documents, images, and sound and video recordings that form part of the Essex Sound and Video Archive.
Looking after digital records poses some challenges that are very different to looking after paper and parchment. Risks to the survival of digital records come from the fact that software is needed to view them, which can become obsolete; and hardware is sometimes needed to view them, which has the same problem. For example, we have quite a number of floppy disks in our collections. How many people have computers that still have floppy disk drives? Some risks are however similar to those faced with physical documents. Just as paper can decay through high acidity levels or the effect of moist environments, digital records can decay electronically, often when being copied from one file location to another.
We have been looking at the risks our digital holdings face and how we can mitigate against them, and have been benchmarking our activities against various digital preservation standards that have been devised by the National Digital Stewardship Alliance and the Digital Preservation Coalition. The risk to the holdings has been assessed against a framework provided by the UK National Archives. This was first done in 2022, and revisiting the framework this year has shown that we have made significant progress in lowering the risk of the records becoming inaccessible. This is largely owing to the fact that in 2022, our digital holdings were not particularly well documented, particularly in terms of technical information. We now have a lot more information about the digital records that we hold, which means that it is easier to establish where vulnerabilities exist. This means for example that we can transfer the content kept on file types most at risk of obsolescence onto file types with more longevity.
We are also making progress against the standards, partly through the extra information we now have, but also because we have been busy copying all the files kept on CDs, floppy disks and other portable media onto the cloud. This reduces the risk that this information will become inaccessible because the hardware can no longer be read, either because readers are not kept or maintained, or because the CDs or floppy disks themselves have degraded.
We have also invested in a dedicated computer to carry out digital preservation work, and with it, some specialist software to help. When we have any digital records deposited, we now check it to see what file formats are included and what size they are. File formats are also checked against the National Archive’s PRONOM directory, which helps us see how much longevity they have and if we therefore need to move anything to a new format. If we move records from one file location to another, we now always use a piece of software to check that the transfer has completed successfully and not caused any damage to the files.
We are additionally trying to plan for the types of records that we are likely to receive in the future to make sure we can take them when offered them. Two examples of this are websites and emails. We have a system that can capture copies of websites and present them offline as they would have looked. Consequently, if anyone runs a website of Essex interest that they feel should be preserved, please contact us on ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk to discuss giving to us to look after. This is particularly pertinent if it can no longer be maintained, but a copy of it is wanted for posterity. Emails are particularly complicated as there can be replies from multiple people, they can include attachments and links and they are littered with personal information. We now have software that allows quite a sophisticated search function for email collections. Names of people and keywords can be searched for as well as labels that we can allocate to an email or groups of emails. It also allows personal information to be identified and redacted and access restrictions to be put on emails where necessary. We can currently only accept email mailboxes in mbox format, which limits it to people with Hotmail or Gmail email addresses, but we would certainly welcome deposits of email mailboxes from these accounts.
More media: clockwise from top left – VHS tape, reel-to-reel tape, cassette tape and cartridge
Much more work needs to be done here in the area of digital preservation, particularly relating to how we provide access to these records. Furthermore, even the cloud is not infallible and back-up copies need to made of the information kept on it in case of disaster. We also need to develop our email preservation to include outlook mailboxes. Importantly, we are beginning to work on a long-term plan for digital preservation activities alongside how our records are presented online generally.
Digital Preservation is going to become ever more relevant with increasing quantities of information now being digital only. It is incredibly likely for example that people will now have collections of digital rather than printed photographs, and we have done a lot of preparation to make sure that we are ready to accept these types of collections. This is a rapidly developing area and one with many future uncertainties, but it is one we feel we can tackle and advise on.
The Digital Preservation Coalition are launching a toolkit for community archives today, so if this article has prompted questions about how you safeguard your own digital records for the future or those of an organisation you are part of, please feel free to make use of this, or ask us for guidance. More details can be found at https://www.dpconline.org/.
Archives are a rich source of inspiration for many creatives interested in the histories of people and place – artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians, designers and producers. But it can be difficult to know where to start.
To help, we’ve put together a new guide to the Essex Record Office for creatives. The guide covers how to search, access, and use the archives, what we can offer, case studies, and inspiration from the collections.
If you haven’t come across us before, the Essex Record Office is the county archive for Essex. We’re based on Wharf Road in Chelmsford, where we preserve nearly 1,000 years of Essex history. That includes all sorts of records, from medieval charters to twenty-first century digital files. You can search the archives on our catalogue, Essex Archives Online, and access them either online or in-person in our searchroom.
The Search Room at Essex Record Office, Robert Priseman
As visual, material, textual objects, the archives preserved at the Essex Record Office can tell many different stories. We hope that this guide will help you find something that inspires you in your creative practice.
In turn, creative interpretations of the archives can give us new ways of understanding them. They also help to share them with a wider audience and open up a conversation about what has been preserved from our past – and what we should preserve for the future.
We’re thinking of the guide as a work in progress – let us know if you think we’ve missed anything that would be useful to know!
Please note that the charges given in the guide are accurate for 2024-25, and may change in future.
If you are part of a creative network or studio and would like a physical copy of the guide, please get in touch.
In his latest blog on fruits and vegetables, ERO Archive Assistant and Orchard Authority Neil Wiffen, considers quinces.
Cydonia Oblonga – the Quince
The autumn is when the English apple and pear season really gets in its stride. What a delight that the D’Arcy Spice is soon to be back in season, the Ribston Pippin on the shelves, a Doyenné du Comice pear slowly ripening in the fruit bowl. A poor relation to these well-known orchard fruits is the quince. Such a jolly, good-looking fruit, glowing all gold and yellow among the foliage but as hard as iron!
Yellow quinces in a wicker basket.
The quince is not native to Britain, it probably originated far to the east, in Turkestan and Transcaucasia. It was known on Crete at an early stage, and it was from here that it derives its name, Cydonia, from the city of Cydonea, now known as Canea. It appears that it was not introduced into Britian until after the Norman Conquest, and it is recorded that Edward I had some in 1275. (F.A. Roach, Cultivated Fruits of Britain: Their Origin and History (1985), pp.221-223).
Possibly the quince was generally a fruit of the gentry and aristocracy as being hard and gritty it must be cooked, often with wine, sugar and honey. Quince jelly and quince cheese perhaps have their origins here. Philip Miller, in The Gardener’s Dictionary (1731), goes as far as to say that ‘the fruit is sour and astringent’ (ERO, D/DU 588/1). The recipe ‘To p[re]serve Quinces’ (ERO, D/DBy Z1) uses a lot of sugar along with rose water and cinnamon – all expensive ingredients in early modern England.
Extract from D/DBy Z1 a recipe for preserving quinces.
It can also be used in savoury dishes, so perhaps this is where it would have found a role in most households. However, in the first half of the eighteenth century, someone decided to note down a recipe for quince wine (ERO, D/DRe Z5, c.1725), another way to make use of them, although with you still needed ‘3 pound of sugar’ to ‘every gallon of licker’.
Extract from D/DRe Z5 a recipe for quince wine
It is generally a very good ‘keeper’; it would have found a welcome shelf in the fruit store to help provide a supply over winter in an age before refrigeration and imports from around the globe. Mixed in with apples, it makes a wonderful crumble, bringing a lovely, distinctive taste and colour. I can imagine that it was ‘valued’, as an addition to the diet, but possibly not loved.
Quince Hall in Blackmore 1st ed 25 inch OS 1873-4
The quince has left little in the way of records, the odd place-name, such as Quince Hall in Blackmore, and Quince Tree Farm in South Ockendon – perhaps both named after a distinctive and unusual quince tree in their gardens? The quince as a landscape feature.
Back in August, we were delighted to welcome the Care Contractors to the ERO Searchroom to explore the records of the Basildon Development Corporation. In this guest post, they tell us about their work and how the archives have helped them.
We are a newly formed art collective called Care Contractors, interested in public art, its maintenance, commissioning, and fabrication. Our members are Emma Edmondson (sculptor, educator and organiser), Lu Williams (artist, publisher), Shaun C. Badham (sculpture, artist, technician) and Laura Whiting (designer, researcher). Our first project commissioned by Creative Basildon is to develop a pilot cultural trail and community engagement for public art in Basildon that will take place this autumn.
Publicity photograph, opening ceremony of Wendy Taylor’s Armillary Sundial (1989) part of the Roundacre Improvement Scheme. Wendy Taylor is shown standing in front of the stainless steel sculpture with Harry Bacon and Gordon Roberts from the Commission for New Towns (catalogue ref: A8287 box 4)
As part of our research we want to understand how early public artworks were commissioned by the Basildon Development Corporation, what funds were allocated and how conversations between artists and government officers unfolded. To prepare for our visit to Essex Record Office, we were introduced by Alina Congreve of New Jerusalems to archivist Victoria West for an initial video call. This helped to plan our research day, as the collection features an enormous 1,065 boxes of Basildon Development Corporation material.
One box (from accession A8287 box 4) containing letters, papers and publicity material from the administrative department proved really useful for our research: photos of the iconic Mother and Child (1962) fountain being built in Maurice Lambert’s studio (that for a time was also the Basildon logo); photographs of the bronze Homer (1961) by Frederick Edward William in Brooke House, now sadly missing; along with photos of the opening ceremony of Wendy Taylors’ Armillary Sundial (1989) attended proudly by the Commission for New Towns officials Harry Bacon and Gordon Roberts. As we looked through the materials some common questions arrived – what plans were put in place for maintenance? Who is responsible for this work? And what might be a sustainable vehicle to undertake this today?
From looking through promotional brochures in A8389 box 3 the role public art played in attracting new business, residents and shoppers was very apparent. Basildon produced its own district guides, commonly featuring well-loved artworks such as Pussiewillow III (1981) by Rowland Emett outside Savacentre (now ASDA) on its cover. We wondered what would be the equivalent today? And the contemporary role public art plays in promoting the town.
Booklet: Welcome to the District, published by Basildon Council, No date, estimate 1982, cover featuring a crowd admiring the newly installed Pussywillow III sculpture (catalogue ref: A9389 Box 3)
Booklet: Welcome to the District, published by Basildon Council, No date, estimate 1982, aspirational quote set against photograph of Mother and Child Fountain (1962) Maurice Lambert, and Keay House (now Southgate House) in the Background before remodelling (catalogue ref: A9389 Box 3)
With our project we had already decided to focus on the work of Wendy Taylor for its hybrid approach to public realm design. Still innovative today, Taylor’s approach was feminist, pedestrian and cycle focused; her designs wove together a series of roundabouts and underpasses at the Eastern and Western gateways to the town centre. Commissioned by the Development Corporation, The Roundacre Improvement Scheme Underpasses (1985-90) were designed to increase safety with curved walls that prevented attackers from pressing their victims up against the sides, and coloured patterned tiles specified for their light reflective qualities, as seen with The Avenue of Trees underpasses. Since 2013, these underpasses have been left with half the tiles removed after the installation of new lighting. Now under the care of Essex County Highways, since the disbanding of the Development Corporation, advocating for their repair is a more complex task.
Amongst the archive photos, we rediscovered the currently overgrown sculptural letters of Taylor’s Compass Bowl (1980) at Southernhay / Long Riding. Understanding the original intention of these environmental works could, for example, inform instructions given to gardening teams today, and reinject the meaning to this unique outdoor sunken ‘room for contemplation’. We also found photos of another currently underloved artwork – Taylor’s Animal Fesco Underpass, completed in Phase II of the Roundacre improvement works connecting Gloucester Park and what was previously a boating lake and public swimming pool. Its sloped sides are just steep enough to climb if you have good shoes, it encourages you to scramble over the silhouettes of life size animals cast with dyed concrete. Common across public art in New Towns is its availability to be climbed and played on, and intentionally or not, concrete of all textures has proved useful over time, which might not be the most ecological material choice today, but is nonetheless easy to maintain.
As Basildon reaches its 75th year, we can reflect on the generosity, co-ordination and ambition of the late stages of the Development Corporation projects. With new redevelopment plans afoot, what opportunities may arise for thoughtful and sensitive new infrastructure? How will public art be integrated, and most importantly who will care for, clean and curate it? Through our project we will be establishing conversations with residents, council officers, shoppers, festival goers, artists and commissioners with what new forms of artworks are relevant today, and who does the work of care in a time and cash poor society?
Photograph, year unknown, Wendy Taylor’s Compass Bowl (1980) at Southernhay / Long Riding roundabout showing directional floor paving and angular raised planters and stylised compass letters (catalogue ref: A8287)
Colour photograph showing present day Compass Bowl conditions, resurfaced floor, and abundant vegetation that obscures stylized lettering. Members of Care Contractors Art Collective Lu Williams, Poly (dog) and Shaun C. Badham in the mouth of the tunnel (credit Emma Edmonsdson, 2024)
Customer Service Team Lead, Edward Harris, looks at the highs and lows of research using our manuscript map collection.
We may have said before that we love maps here at ERO. But some of our manuscript maps can leave you scratching your head.
We have often ordered up something titled “Map of the Parish of…”, hopeful that it will give us an extensive view of the parish in question, only to get something like D/DWe P5 below. A map of Bagg Wood belonging to Thomas White Esq surveyed in 1703.
Map of Bagg Wood in Aldham (D/DWe P5)
These maps may show one or more field with very little context and no real clue of where it is. We do at least know that it is in Aldham and which part of the ditch it was measured to!
Examining a Google maps satellite images leaves us with scant help. While many of the woodlands do reveal a name when clicked on, none of them are named Bagg Wood. A perusal of the National Library of Scotland’s excellent Geo-referenced map resource (https://maps.nls.uk/) reveals only one candidate that is roughly the right shape, but called Hoe Wood on the 2nd Edition 25” to the mile Ordnance Survey. I suppress a little frustration that the surveyors in the late 1880s didn’t include an acreage as they had done in the 1870’s.
The perfect next step was our collection of copy Tithe Maps. Listing the owner, occupier, acreage and cultivation of every plot of land in the parish, but often also the names of houses, fields and woodland.
The Tithe Map of Aldham, surveyed in around 1839 (D/CT 2B) and it’s accompanying Award (D/CT 2A) is wonderfully clear and easy to consult, but it is also clear that there is no Bagg Wood. What is however, is a vast array of land owned by a Thomas Western, the major landowner in Aldham. One plot of land is the aforementioned Hoe Wood with an Acreage of 21 Acres 2 Roods and 21 Perches. Close enough?
Tithe map of Aldham 1843 (D/CT 2B)
Then I realised that I had fallen for yet another pitfall of a manuscript map, North is not always at the top of the page. A quick 90 degree counter-clockwise rotation of the parchment revealed the North is actually to the right hand edge of the map, and Bagg Wood and Hoe Wood are one and the same.
To add to the clues, the “DWe” part of the maps reference, tells me that it is part of the papers of the Western family.
Manuscript maps are often less clear even than this one, half the fun is in trying to locate their features on a modern map. Manuscript maps can be beautiful. Having a set of maps beautifully crafted for your estate was the status symbol of its day.
By way of example, here is another estate map for the estate of Thomas Western. D/DCm P29 dating to 1809 and surveyed by Robert Baker meticulously records all of the estate over several membranes and is beautifully decorated.
The value of this volume of estate maps can be seen in the gold leaf and beautiful colours used. It has also been separated from the other family papers at some point which can be seen by the different reference. Was this because it was sold off at some point to raise some vital funds? Can you spot Bagg Wood? Also, bonus points if you spotted the route of the railway marked across the estate.
We are lucky to have a team of amazing Essex Sound and Video Archive volunteers, who give their time and expertise to help make the recordings more accessible. In this blog post, Lilly highlights some of her favourite clips from Ted Haley’s collection of recordings (ERO reference SA 20). You can read transcripts for all the clips in this blog post here.
Between the mid 1960s and the late 1980s, Edward ‘Ted’ Haley conducted a series of audio recordings and interviews in the south Essex area, focusing on Basildon and Southend-on-Sea. Over the course of the interviews, Ted met a variety of people with an even bigger variety of experiences and stories to tell, with folks such as Harold Whitely – also known as Rainbow the clown – and talented silent film organist Ena Barga, to name but a few. All these recordings, preserved at the Essex Record Office, give a unique perspective of late twentieth century Essex and unlock a door into the past of the town centres and high streets that we now walk around decades later.
Postcard showing boats at Marine Parade Beach, Southend, c.1955 (I/Mb 321/1/57)
The Second World War
The interviews Ted conducted in the Basildon area include many interesting anecdotes from those who experienced the Second World War, though the perspectives of the interviewees vary entirely from ex-soldiers and RAF veterans all the way to a member of the Norwegian Resistance.
In 1980, Ted interviewed a man named Alan Mitchell who was a volunteer during the war on the Royal Navy’s submarines. He describes his experiences during the war, including the medical examinations they experienced upon arrival at Gosport, Hampshire.
In this clip, Alan discusses the claustrophobia test they were put through (SA 20/1126/1)
He also interviewed another veteran, Robert Ramsey, who served with the RAF (SA 20/1140/1). In the interview, Robert tells the story of when he was shot down by a night fighter over Louvain on the night of 10 May 1944. He details how he ran to a French farmhouse and was given food, water and radio access by a peasant family who risked their lives aiding him and hiding him in a haybale on their farm.
Ted also interviewed Mike Karslake, who recalled his experiences of being a child during the Blitz in Acton, London. He begins with a story of how he was evacuated, with the help of his father’s quick talking, to his Nan’s house in North Devon. However, after a year, he returned home and experienced the Blitz with his mum and grandfather. Mike also recounts his schooldays during the war and how air raid sirens would even occur in school hours.
Mike describes how his grandfather handled the air raid warnings and how he was eating during an air raid warning in school (SA 20/1131/1)
In 1981, Ted interviewed a Norwegian woman, Borghild Mitchell (nee Gulbransen), pictured below. She describes her experiences during the war, watching her country being taken over by German artillery and the changes that meant for Norwegian society – for example, the curfews that citizens had to follow and the passes they had to carry when walking through the streets after the curfew. She also describes being part of the Norwegian Resistance and how this led to her being interrogated and her fiancé being killed by German soldiers. When Ted asks her about the interrogations, and she answers with a story filled with pain, yet a sense of loyalty and determination to stay true to the resistance is heard throughout her recount.
Borghild describes being interrogated and feigning a lack of understanding to give her more time (SA 20/1141/1)
Photograph of Borghild Mitchell aged 18, taken in 1942 (SA 20/1141/4)
Events in South Essex
As well as interviews with people living in south Essex, Ted also recorded important moments and events. On 10 September 1981, Essex Radio aired its first ever radio broadcast. Over the opening weekend, team members were introduced and in person interviews took place across Essex, including with the American singer and bassist, Suzi Quatro. Listening to this recording is very interesting as not only are you hearing how excited people were for Essex Radio to air, but you also get a snippet of adverts that were popular at the time – in some ways, even more telling about the time period than the interviews with 1980s Essex folk are.
An advert for Laylor’s car dealership in Brentwood and for Banks American Restaurant in Westcliff-on-Sea (SA 20/1127/1)
In 1985, Ted recorded a concert at Rochford Hospital. As part of the recording he interviewed Ena Barga, a musician who specialised in the organ and played for silent films throughout her career.
Ena discusses her dislike for modern music, followed by a recording of her playing the organ at the concert (SA 20/1148/1)
‘Royal’ date, a newspaper clipping showing Ena Barga and her sister Florence De’jong on the renovated Compton theatre organ at the State cinema at Grays (SA 20/1148/4)
The novelties of Southend-on-Sea
Some of Ted’s interviews in Southend and the surrounding areas, including Westcliff and Leigh, touched upon some of the novelties of these seaside towns, such as Rossi’s ice cream, rock candy and the fishing industry. The interviews he conducted delve into the fascinating history surrounding these seaside stereotypes.
His interview with George ‘Pie’ Osborne and Cecil Osborne covers the history of cockling that was a main source of income for many Southend folk in the early 1900s. Whilst the history of cockling, fishing and shrimping are key parts of this interview, a notable part of the interview is the accents of the two men, which they describe to be ‘local accents’. The dialect that they use in addition to this is compelling with one of which being the word ‘sawney’ being slang for the word simple.
George and Cecil talk to Ted about their accents – listen to how they pronounce words like ‘coat’ and ‘rope’ (SA 20/1557/1)
Photograph of Cecil Osborne, undated (SA 20/1557/4)
A sweet treat that many love about seaside towns such as Southend is a hard stick of rock. In one interview Ted talks to Mr. S Knatchbull who owned Grosvenor Confectionery and worked making handmade regular and lettered rock in 1979 (SA 20/1566/1). He discusses the rock making process, listing the ingredients and flavourings he used when ensuring a variety of tasty sticks of rock. He also talks about the largest piece of rock he ever made being 6 foot 6 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter. The humungous stick of peppermint rock travelled all the way into London, by train, to a charity fundraiser event in the 1950s.
In 1983, Ted interviewed Ugo Rossi, whose father – Augustino ‘Gus’ Rossi – partnered with Peter Rossi to establish the famous frozen treat throughout the Southend high street and waterfront. They talk about this partnership dissolving and how the waterfront shops were owned by Peter and the high street shops were owned by Gus. What’s most surprising about the interview is the price a Rossi’s ice cream used to be … 1 penny for a regular cone and 2 pence for a larger cone!
Ugo talks about his father’s desire for a Rossi’s ice cream to not be too sickly a treat (SA 20/1540/1)
Interesting folk
Ted’s interviews show how each person has fascinating stories waiting to be told. One interview with Harold Whitely – also known as ‘Rainbow the Clown’ – particularly stands out. Speaking in 1981, Mr Whiteley talks about starting his career as a clown aged six, and his joy in performing as a youth and love for the intricate face paints and costumes of the clowns he saw growing up in a travelling circus. He also talks about the history of his family and circuses. His grandmother, Lorrina, worked in America in the circus under Barnum and Bailey’s circuses in America, a name most recognised from one of the owners P. T. Barnum. Furthermore, his grandfather’s circus performed for Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh (Queen Victoria’s son).
Harold describes his pleasure in being a performer as a child and also how he performed in front of smaller audiences as a clown (SA 20/1123/1)
An interview previously mentioned, with Alan Mitchell, was not only compelling due to its discussions on Navy training during the Second World War, but also due to the fact that Alan was a hairdresser before and after the war, making him knowledgeable on male hair trends of the mid to late 1900s. He and Ted discuss the era of the Beatles leading to a trend of long hair for boys and also the up-and-coming punk style of hair and fashion. Hearing their detached discussion in the punk style is particularly funny due to their lack of awareness of the style.
Ted and Alan discuss fashionable hairstyles for men and their opinions of the punk style (SA 20/1126/1)
A selection of Ted Haley’s open reel tapes.
Overall, the Ted Haley recordings are incredibly fascinating and a worthwhile listen. They delve into the people of the period and allow us to now look back onto that period with nostalgia or discovery, keeping that part of south Essex history in an audible time capsule, ready for your listening.
You can browse the full catalogue of Ted Haley’s recordings on Essex Archives Online and listen to them in our Playback Room in Chelmsford. You don’t need to make an appointment – all you need is an Archives Card. Find out more information about visiting us on our website. You can also find some of Ted’s recordings on Essex Sounds, our map of sounds from across the county:
Back in April, we held an event to commemorate the 80th anniversary of when the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) reached peak strength in Essex in the run-up to D-Day, Welcome to Essex. We were delighted that Dr Catherine Pearson gave a fascinating talk based on the diary entries of E.J. Rudsdale, about relations between the Americans and the Essex locals. We are even more delighted that Dr Pearson has kindly taken the time to turn her talk into a blog post. To mark the anniversary of D-Day, we have also recorded an edited version of Rudsdale’s entry for that momentous day.
Eighty years ago, in the midst of the Second World War, Essex had become home to thousands of US service personnel in readiness for the allied invasion and liberation of occupied Europe. Essex Record Office holds a contemporary diary account by Colchester Museum curator, E.J. Rudsdale (1910-1951), which records the impact of the arrival of the USAAF in Colchester and the nearby USAAF airfields of Boxted and Wormingford.
Rudsdale was seconded from Colchester Museum in 1941 to become Secretary of the Lexden and Winstree District Committee of the Essex War Agricultural Committee for the duration of the war. This gave him a valuable insight into the development of the American airfields because the USAAF commandeered agricultural land from the Essex War Agricultural Committee for the construction of the airfields at Boxted and Wormingford.
Owing to the drive to increase agricultural production for the war effort, the Essex War Agricultural Committee viewed the takeover of farmland for airfields with some trepidation and a degree of antagonism. This is evident from Rudsdale’s first official encounter with USAAF personnel:
April 29 1943
Went to the Office of the Clerk of the Works [at Wormingford Aerodrome], … and found to my surprise that it was not Air Ministry men whom I was to meet but United States Air Force Officers. Two of them I had seen [in Colchester], a Major Miller and a Lieutenant Walters. … Miller … looks the typical “small-town” American one sees in so many films, his worn, lined face surmounted by rimless glasses. … Walters was dark and dapper … The arrangement was that we all went off in two cars, driven by English girls in pseudo-American uniform, to inspect sites for a shooting butt. I was supposed to say whether the site was suitable from an agricultural point of view.
As we moved off along the concrete perimeter road, through a desert of derelict farm land, I remarked “Well, there has certainly been a change since I was here last. Why, you’ve changed the whole landscape.” I said this quite innocently, but at once Major Miller turned on me and snapped out “Well, wouldn’t you rather have us here than the Germans?” … He went on “We can’t bother about the convenience of a few British farmers, you know.” It was obvious from his manner that he had already had a good deal of criticism since he came to England.
(D/DU 888/26/3 pp.568-571)
It was clear that greater accommodation on both sides was necessary for establishing more harmonious relations and Rudsdale’s next encounter with American personnel was of a warmer nature. On 1 July 1943, he was called to Boxted Airfield to discuss the USAAF’s further plans for the site and wrote:
… Major Anderson of the USAAF … was very affable. … [He] looked at the lay-out plan, and said: “This is a mean site, I guess this is the meanest site I’ve ever seen.” Then we went into various details, and their final requirements were not unreasonable. …
We rode all over the site in two jeeps – old [Gardiner] Church [a member of the Lexden and Winstree District War Agricultural Committee] was very tickled, and said “These are the things for farming, boy! I’m going to have one o’they after the war!”
(D/DU 888/26/4 pp.819-822)
In 1944, Rudsdale visited Wormingford Airfield in order to rescue historic timbers from Harvey’s Farmhouse, which was demolished in the course of the aerodrome’s expansion, and his diary entry recorded:
January 15 1944
Thick fog this morning, and bitterly cold. … we got busy loading the moulded ceiling timbers, with the help of three Land Girls. The driver ventured onto the mud, against my advice, and soon the lorry was stuck fast, so that no amount of tugging could release it. Took one of the Land Girls … and went off to see if we could get any help. It was very strange to wander about among planes and lorries in the thick fog, hearing the accents of America and Ireland intermingled as we passed groups of mechanics or labourers.
Found the big hanger, which thrilled the Land Girl a good deal – “Well,” she said, “I never thought I should see the inside of a hanger.” Neither did I.
… The sergeant could not do enough for us, and within a matter of minutes [an] enormous tractor, … was ploughing through the mud towards us. … [a] wire was attached to the lorry’s front axle, the motor raced, and out she came, … leaving behind four pits almost as big as graves, where the wheels had been.
By this time … we … set off back to Colchester… first collecting one of the Land Girls from the pilot’s seat of a nearby ‘plane, where a sergeant was showing her the controls. …
(D/DU 888/27/1 pp.48-51)
Rudsdale also discussed the black servicemen and women who formed part of the American Forces and were regularly seen in Colchester. African-American service personnel were employed as drivers or military policemen or worked in supplies or in the construction of aerodromes. Under American segregation orders, black troops had their own club in Priory Street in Colchester, and white troops had a club in Culver Street. However, Rudsdale and his fellow curator, Harold Poulter (1880-1962), regularly talked to the black service personnel. On 10 June 1944, Rudsdale wrote that he had ‘called at the American Red Cross Club in Priory Street’ to deliver a message from Poulter to a Miss Marie Wall, who Rudsdale described as a ‘delightful’ black servicewoman ‘of about 25’ and went on to record that they ‘Talked for an hour or so’. (D/DU 888/27/3 p.491).
Colcestrians do not appear to have been in favour of American segregation orders. Rudsdale noted black and white Americans troops sitting in the same café in Colchester in February 1944, albeit at separate tables (D/DU 888/27/1: 25/2/1944 p.182). He also recorded that black service personnel staged a week’s theatre performance at Colchester Repertory Theatre in December 1944 (D/DU 888/27/5: 30/11/1944, p.820).
American servicemen on the Castle Walls, Colchester Castle, 1944. Harold Poulter, Curator of Hollytrees Museum, is in the centre of the photograph and Lieutenant Stich, Public Relations Officer at Wormingford Airfield, is on the left (D/DU 888/27/4 p.590)
The positive developments in Anglo-American relations in Colchester were made apparent in late 1944, when the Americans were invited to stage an exhibition at Colchester Castle. The display was the brainchild of Lieutenant Stich, Public Relations Officer at Wormingford Airfield and Harold Poulter, the Curator of Hollytrees Museum. The exhibition, entitled The England that America Loves, featured paintings and photographs of English scenes that had appealed to the American troops during their time in the UK (Colchester Museum and Muniment Committee Report 1948, pp.5-6).
An American serviceman and a woman visitor at The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
Visitors to The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
The shared experience of war was a further factor in bringing the allies closer together. One of those who participated in the Castle exhibition, Lieutenant-Colonel Elwyn G. Righetti, a pilot at Wormingford, lost his life on 17 April 1944 when his plane went down over Germany. A party to celebrate his 30th birthday had been prepared for him back at the airbase to which he never returned (Benham 1945, p.57). Such tragic incidents increased the local community’s gratitude for the sacrifices being made by the Americans.
Pilots of the 55th Fighter Group, Wormingford Airfield, meeting the Mayor of Colchester at The England that America Loves exhibition at Colchester Castle Museum, 1944 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums). Left to right: Lt-Col Elwyn G. Righetti (who lost his life on 17/4/45 over Germany, aged 30); Col George T. Crowell; Arthur W. Piper, Mayor of Colchester; Col Joe Huddleston; unknown.
With the arrival of VE Day on 8 May 1945 and the close of hostilities in Europe, there were opportunities for the troops to relax and local people were invited to visit the US airbases. As the USAAF prepared to leave Colchester in July 1945, they presented Colchester Corporation with a silver rose bowl to thank the town for its hospitality and this remains part of the City’s regalia today.
The presentation of a silver rose bowl to Colchester Corporation to thank Colchester’s inhabitants for their hospitality towards American service personnel, 1945 (Courtesy of Colchester and Ipswich Museums)
After the war, American veterans made regular visits to the UK to remember their time in Essex and to pay homage to fallen comrades. One ex-serviceman wrote to the curator of Colchester Castle in 1988, that the veterans ‘would like to see a museum exhibition depicting their life as it was here in Colchester from 1943-1945 … with its bitter sweet memories’. (Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Historic Displays & Exhibitions file, Lewis to Davies, 22/11/1988). Colchester and the Castle Museum, therefore, remained as touchstones for the veterans’ wartime experiences in Essex.
Colchester Castle Museum, 1944, a photograph by Lieutenant Stich, USAAF. Note the air raid shelter sign in the rose bed (D/DU 888/27/4 p.586)
In this excerpt from Rudsdale’s diaries, read by the ERO’s Neil Wiffen, he recalls 6 June 1944 – D-Day – from being woken up by planes warming up at Wormingford Airfield at 2am to hearing the King’s speech on the radio at the end of the day. You can read a transcript here.
Dr Catherine Pearson will be speaking to us about E.J. Rudsdale at ERO Presents on Tuesday 3rd September. Book your tickets on our Eventbrite page.
References
Primary sources:
Rudsdale, E.J., (1939-1945). ‘Colchester Journals’, Essex Record Office, ERO D/DU 888.
Colchester and Ipswich Museums, ‘Historic Displays and Exhibitions’ archives.
Secondary sources:
Beale, A., (2019). Bures at War: A Hidden History of the United States Army Air Force Station 526.
Benham, H., (1945). Essex at War, Essex County Standard: Colchester.
Pearson, C., (2010). E.J. Rudsdale’s Journals of Wartime Colchester, The History Press: Stroud.
Archive of the American Air Museum in Britain, Imperial War Museum Duxford, including the Roger Freeman Collection of USAAF images: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive Accessed 16 April 2024.
SA 8/14/1/6/1 (Colchester Recalled reference 2141): Interview with Harry Finch, 1990; involvement in the D-Day invasion, including movements of warships
SA779 (Colchester Recalled reference 1532): Interview with Arthur Parsonson, 1988; NCO with 431st Bty, 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regt, Royal Artillery, 8th Armoured Bde during D-Day (see also Imperial War Museum interview)
SA 20/1138/1: Interview with Geoff Barsby, 1983; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day, covering the Canadian landings, escorting the battleship Nelson, and being based off Normandy
SA 20/1533/1: Interview with Jack Nelson Wise, 1981; serving in the Royal Navy, operations in preparation for D-Day, MTBs
SA 20/1/47/1: Interview with Howard Stone, 1984; serving as a Telegrapher Air Gunner in the Fleet Air Arm during D-Day
SA 20/1/22/1: Interview with Sylvia Ebel, 1983; serving in the ATS during D-Day, D-Day preparations at Eastleigh, near Southampton
SA 79/1/1/1: Interview with Alec Hall, 2016; serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during D-Day; stationed along the east coast of England, then travelling to Arnhem by glider
SA 79/1/3/1: Interview with Alfred Smith, 2016; serving in the Royal Army Service Corps during D-Day, driving his lorry onto Gold Beach, Normandy
SA 79/1/4/1: Interview with Ken ‘Paddy’ French, 2016; serving in the RAF during D-Day, flying over American troops at Omaha Beach
SA 79/1/5/1: Interview with Alfred Fowler, 2016; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day; being involved in the dummy convoy to Norway
SA 86/1/3/1: Interview with Ron, 2017; serving in the Royal Navy during D-Day, escorting HMS Belfast on HMS Ulster at Gold Beach
SA634: Interview with Olive Redfarn, 2012; working on HMS Leigh, printing instructions for D-Day in the weeks beforehand [including her own diary entry of the 6 June 1944]
Feeling inspired by our recent conference on the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) in Essex?
In the Essex Sound and Video Archive, we preserve dozens of interviews with American servicemen and those who worked and lived alongside them during the Second World War. Take a listen below.
You can also browse the conference programme with links to further resources here.
Radio programmes
The BBC Essex documentary ‘Essex Airfields at War – I Remember Them With Affection’ (SA 1/643/1), broadcast in 1990, is a substantial account of the history and role played by airfields in Essex during the Second World War. The BBC Essex archive also includes the original, unedited interviews recorded for the documentary, including interviews with an American soldier who helped build Willingale Airfield in 1942 and British RAF and WAAF operators who recall the Americans well.
“We just worked constantly in mud, mostly up to our knees… Concrete flying all over the place, and lorries running up and down runways which are partly built.”
Excerpt from interview with Ken Arnold, a US Engineering Battalion soldier who built Willingale airfield in 1942 (SA 1/635/1). Ken met his English wife in the Forces canteen in Epping. Read a transcript here.
In 1992, BBC Essex celebrated the 50th anniversary visit of USAAF veterans with another documentary, ‘Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over Here’ (SA 1/1927/1). The anniversary also saw reports on a reception for the veterans at Silver End (SA 1/888/1) and a tea and dance at Cressing Barns (SA 1/889/1).
“We don’t have enough words in the English language we use over in America to tell you how we feel about your welcome… It’s wonderful, and we sure appreciate it.”
Excerpt from a BBC Essex report on the 50th reunion event in Silver End (SA 1/888/1). Read a transcript here.
Other relevant BBC Essex programmes include the 1989 documentary ‘Wartime in Essex’ (SA 1/463/1) and interviews with American pilots Clifford Pontbriand and Julian Woods, who were both stationed at Stansted (SA 1/1183/1 and SA 1/1740/1).
On Essex Radio, the 1989 documentary ‘World War Two in Essex’ (SA 11/503/1) also features interviews with people about the American air bases in the county.
Oral histories
The Colchester Recalled oral history group also recorded many returning American airmen at the 50th anniversary visit in 1992, alongside BBC Essex. The archive (SA 8/8) includes 59 recordings at reunion events in Essex and beyond – at Black Notley, Chelmsford, Stansted, Wormingford, Debden, Great Saling, Earls Colne, Rivenhall, Boreham, Braintree, and Boxted as well as Madingley and Duxford.
Excerpt from an interview with David E. Hubler about his memories of Boxted Airfield at the reunion of the 394 Bomber Group and Eagle Squadron, Black Notley, 1992 (SA 8/8/4/1). Read a transcript here.
Saffron Walden-born, Pennsylvania-based Mona Johnston talks about meeting her American husband during the war (SA 8/8/25/1). Read a transcript here.
We also preserve a number of interviews about specific airfields: in 1994, Wethersfield Local History Group recorded their discussion of the airfield there that had closed the previous year (SA 24/866/1); and in 2003, the Essex Record Office interviewed four members of the 394th Bomb Group Association about their memories of Boreham Airfield during the war (SA268).
“So I haven’t liked orange marmalade since…”
One member of the 394th recalls the things he was most surprised by at Boreham Airfield (SA268). Read a transcript here.
There are other references to the Americans scattered across the oral history collections – people who lived near the airfields during the war often recall the novelty of the newcomers, and the dances, candy and nylons that came with them. Many of those interviewed in the Silver End oral history project (SA733) talk about their childhood memories of the American soldiers at the nearby Rivenhall Airfield.
“This American serviceman came along and he talked to me, you know, and he more or less said, ‘Are you watching the planes?’ … and he said, ‘Would you like to go in one?'”
Silver End resident Derek Gilder talks about playing in one of the bombers on Rivenhall Airfield when he was 8 or 9 years old. Read a transcript here.
In April 2024, we were fortunate to find the real Geraldine who the 322nd Bomb Group at Andrewsfield had named a B-26 Marauder after. Last week our very own Neil Wiffen visited Geraldine to talk to her about the experience.
“Once they’d got the name on, and that, I said to them, I don’t want you making any holes in my plane, okay?”
Geraldine talking about the Marauder being named after her (SA966). Read a transcript here.
To see what Marauder squadrons looked like at the time, see ‘Pioneers, Wolfpacks, and Widow-makers: The Story of Boxted Airfield’ (SA811). You can also watch the East Anglian Film Archive’s documentary ‘GI Airmen in East Anglia’ (VA 1/47/1) in our Searchroom.
To explore more recordings, search Essex Archives Online, or take a look at the Essex Sound and Video research guide on the Second World War.
Among a recent deposit of postcards is this one showing a man and woman on a motorcycle with sidecar. But who are they?
A postcard showing a man and woman on a motorcycle with sidecar from the Dowsett Collection (catalogue ref: A15840)
The licence plate is clearly visible which means that we can look it up in our Vehicle Licensing Registers (C/DF 11). An Enfield with the licence HK3016 was registered to Frederick Jay, High Street, Mountnessing on 8 June 1917. Is this an image of Frederick Jay on his new Enfield motorcycle? Or is it another person with aspirations of one day owning such a machine?
Register of motor vehicles ‘M2’: motor cycles showing entry for Frederick Jay (catalogue ref: C/DF 11/17)
The photograph was taken by Geo. Francis Quilter, a photographer in Ingatestone, who’s listed in the Kelly’s Directory for 1917. In the same Directory is Harry Raven, dairyman, whose shop can be seen in the background of the postcard, and Mark Wells, cycle agent, who operated from Ingatestone High Street. At this time motorcycles were often called “cycles”, so it is likely that this cycle agent sold motorcycles, perhaps even the one shown?
Mountnessing is about 2 miles south-east of Ingatestone and was home to two people named Frederick Jay – a father and son. The 1911 Census tells us that the younger Frederick, then aged 21, was a boarder at 3 Redcliffe Road, Moulsham Street, Chelmsford while working as an “Engineer Journeyman [ball bearing works]”. By 1921, he was back at his parents’ house in Mountnessing and working at the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company.
Marriage Register from St Giles Church, Mountnessing showing the marriage of Frederick Jay and Kate Everett on 3 Jun 1922 (catalogue ref: D/P 73/1/10)
On 3 June 1922, Frederick Jay married Kate Everett at St Giles’ Church, Mountnessing. Is the woman in the sidecar Kate or one of Frederick’s sisters? Sadly, we will probably never know for sure, but it’s nice to imagine that this is an image of Frederick Jay, the proud new owner of a motorcycle which he used to commute from his home in Mountnessing to work at the Hoffmann’s premises in Chelmsford.
In this blog post Archive Assistant and B-26 Marauder fan, Neil Wiffen, seeks assistance with some research.
For years I have known a story about Geraldine and Martin who lived in the vicinity of Great Sailing. ‘And who were they?’ I hear you ask. Well, in Roger Freeman’s B-26 Marauder at War (Shepperton, 1978 – copy in ERO Library) there’s a picture (p. 109) of a crashed B-26 Marauder named Geraldine, with some of the crew that flew it, and the following caption: ‘Wake over Geraldine … Parents of the real Geraldine returned the naming gesture by having their baby son christened Martin!’ This marauder was part of the 322nd bomb Group based at Andrewsfield near Braintree.
‘Interesting’ I thought, and I stored that piece of information away. Fast forward almost 40 years (really!) and in preparing for the forthcoming Welcome to Essex: remembering the USAAF mini-conference, I was looking through the picture resources at the National Archives of America (National Archives NextGen Catalog) and I came across the photo mentioned above, along with another of the actual Geraldine which, with information from it, enlarges on the story of the naming.
Geraldine examining “her” B-26 (US National Archives reference 342-FH-3A45703-52864AC)
Text that accompanies the photograph:
Little Miss Geraldine, pretty British youngster who lives next door to a 9th Air Force base in rural England, watches a ground crew Sgt. [Sergeant] paint the 80th bomb on the fuselage of “her” B-26 Marauder. Geraldine almost daily inspects the bomber bearing her name, watches from her bedroom window each time it takes off on missions. Geraldine’s baby brother carries out the bombing motif – he was christened “Martin”, for the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, M[arylan]d., builders of B-26 Marauder medium bombers.
Now, a couple of us at the Record Office have had a look to see if we can find a relevant birth for a Geraldine (not at all a common name in the 1940s) with a brother Martin, who lived in the vicinity of Andrewfield, and failed! Not having a surname doesn’t help but, knowing how many of you are out there working away on family trees and research across the county, can you help? We’d love to hear from you if you have any further information.
And not only on this, if you would like to share any memories you may have of when the Americans were over ‘ere then please do get in contact. And, perhaps we’ll see you on the 27th April as well – tickets are selling fast.
