15 May - Phil Lobley: Geraldine Elizabeth Batt: " 'Our Lady' to London Thieves"
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 19 September 2025: A Story of WW2 featuring 10 people and 5 objects from Thurrock by Michelle Savage
At our first meeting of the season, we welcomed back museum curator Michelle Savage, who gave us an insight into WW2 through the eyes of Thurrock people, acknowledging the work done by various museum volunteers, who are still doing further research. Her talk was based on a diary and stories from members of the public and objects donated, also Thurrock Goes to War by Roger Reynolds and Jonathan Catton.
Michelle began with a diary kept by Barbara Halls, a teenager at the start of the war, writing about preparations for war, including the issue of gas masks. Grays swimming pool and the beach were closed, with blackout regulations enforced. Some children were evacuated from Tilbury to Great Yarmouth. She described air battles as 'thrilling' and children searched wreckage for 'finds'. Women also searched for parachute silk, turning it into nightdresses and wedding dresses. Some even struck up friendships with German prisoners of war. Barbara was an avid cinema-goer - a bomb fell behind the cinema and her house windows were shattered.
Germany targeted large towns and cities, Thames Haven was hit, Thurrock being a target using the Thames as a guide. There was much destruction of homes, buildings and factories across Thurrock.
Michelle told us about several local men and women who served in the war, some of whom are included in this report.
Chadwell born Peter Tunstall joined the RAF, was captured in the Netherlands after a forced landing and eventually interred at Colditz. He was told that your first duty is to try to escape, which he did. He sent secret notes written on tracing paper, hidden between two photographs and was court martialled five times. He became an actor and published his memoirs in 2014.
In April 1941 the ss Lunula hit a mine at Thames Haven Wharf and was on fire for five days. Coalhouse Fort was resurrected. Wrens were situated there, doing degaussing work (electrical current cancelling out a ship's magnetic field, thus avoiding mines) using semaphore or morse code to attract ships for degaussing. They were billeted in the Old Vicarage. When one held a birthday celebration there the landlord was in his coffin! Leading Wren Christine Lamb was awarded with the Legion D'Honneur on the 80th Anniversary commemoration in 2025.
Bert Lee was in Egypt in 1941, serving with the Dessert Rats. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, America joined the war and were involved in the Far East. George Croft was sent to Singapore, forced to surrender and sent to Thailand for work in the infamous Thai Burma Railway. Sadly he died of cholera in 1943. Lucy Butter studied at Palmers, became a nurse and served in Hong Kong. She was sent to a crowded prison camp and formed a committee. It was not until 1944 that her parents received their first news of her.
On 4 February 1944 the Blitz ended and Thurrock morale was high. The Tilbury Hotel was bombed, but only one person died - the bell was salvaged. Thurrock played a pivotal part in D-Day preparations (Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944). Parts of PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) were constructed at Tilbury before being deployed. It supplied fuel for military vehicles in France, also fresh water for the troops. Pre-fabricated Mulberry Harbours were also assembled at Tilbury and towed across the channel.
War on the Western front was over on 8 May 1945, but not in the Far East. After the USA dropped two atomic bombs on Japan they surrendered on 15 August 1945 - VJ Day. However, there were many men still in prison camps, awaiting reunion with their families.
Michelle gave us a very informative and well-researched talk, bringing back sad memories for many of our members.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 17 October 2025: The History of Gunpowder and the Purfleet Royal Gunpowder Magazines by Paul Hounsell and Julia Finnan
Invented by the Chinese in the 9th century gunpowder spread around the world, helped by Crusades to the Middle East and the Silk Road. It was first used in anger at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. Gunpowder is a mixture of charcoal, sulphur and 75% saltpetre (potassium nitrate). In 1561 Queen Elizabeth I paid £300 to German engineer Gerard Honrick for the secret - manure and urine being the main ingredient. Manure was built up in beds and soaked with urine, turned each week, adding more urine or sewer water. It was collected from the land and taken to nitrate fields and could be identified by taste! Petremen had the right to go anywhere - farms, inns, theatres, etc and even churches. If you objected, you would be arrested.
It was first stored 1346 in the Tower of London. The Great Fire of London in 1666 came too close and Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty, suggested a firebreak and saved the day. Gunpowder was eventually moved in 1698 to a purpose built place at Greenwich, away from centre of the capital. Over the years Kings petitioned to have it moved, with George III having surveys done in 1759. Purfleet was chosen and building work on five magazines started in 1761. They were 151ft x 52ft, with walls 5ft 3in thick and a ceiling 3ft thick, plus sand, which has been there since 1763. Costs nearly tripled from £36,000 to £60,000. It is very cold inside, even in summer. Air conditioning was by air taken by ducts from the roof to underfloor. No.5 Magazine now has the only overhead working cranes in the world. There is no metal in the building, wooden beams supporting the four cranes.
It was first stored in 1346 at the Tower of London. The Great Fire of London in 1666 came too close and Samuel Pepys, secretary to the Admiralty, suggested a firebreak and saved the day. Gunpowder was eventually moved in 1698 to a purpose built place at Greenwich, away from centre of the capital. Over the years Kings petitioned to have it moved, with George III having surveys done in 1759. Purfleet was chosen and building work on five magazines started in 1761. They were 151ft x 52ft, with walls 5ft 3in thick and a ceiling 3ft thick, plus sand, which has been there since 1763. Costs nearly tripled from £36,000 to £60,000. It is very cold inside, even in summer. Air conditioning was by air taken by ducts from the roof to underfloor. No.5 Magazine now has the only overhead working cranes of the type in the world. There is no metal in the building, wooden beams supporting the four cranes.
In 1605 there were only 36 barrels stored in England, but the magazines stored 10,800 barrels with up to 50,000 in times of war. If it had gone up it would have had devastating consequences and taken out London. The Proof House of 1765 carried out testing and by 1862 Purfleet Garrison was a massive concern. The 1769 clock tower is still there but by 1973 it was all in disrepair.
In 1760 each magazine had 25 civilian staff. They had to remove their shoes, wearing moccasins instead, with no zips or metal buttons on clothing. It was almost total darkness with candles. Doors were coated with highly polished copper sheeting, providing some light. Apprentices had highly polished hand mirrors for light. Waltham Abbey and Faversham off-loaded barrels in warehouses. 10% went to the proof house for testing before storage.
The gunpowder arrived by water - no motor or sails - moved by women to the River Lee, offloaded into Thames, up to Purfleet. Safety was not regulated, shown by the 1874 Macclesfield Bridge disaster on the Regent's Canal when a captain decided to light his pipe! New regulations were then enforced for these vessels.
Many famous visitors came to Purfleet, including Captain Cook, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Queen Victoria, Churchill, Darwin and Benjamin Franklin who experimented with electricity and brought about a lightning conductor. In the past, one man's job was to listen for thunder, at which point the doors would be locked. Purfleet supplied many ships, including the Great Eastern, HMSs Endeavour, Beagle, Bounty and Enterprise moored at Long Reach, always a military presence.
Gunpowder was profit-making for the Crown and sold to anyone. In the American Civil War, ships from both sides were loaded. The magazines were never bombed in WW2. Hitler wanted our arsenal of weaponry. There is even a ghost - Morriss, a drunken worker, fell off a crane and was crushed by a falling barrel - the story told on wall graffiti. He apparently only appears before women!
In 1962 the doors were finally shut. Nos 1-4 were demolished, having ironically had to be blown up. No.5 Magazine is a scheduled ancient monument, now in a poor state of repair. It is far too expensive to rebuild using like-for-like. Maybe funds could come from National Heritage. It is open to visitors several days a week and events are held to raise money.
This was a comprehensive talk, something to think about when lighting our bonfires on November 5th.
Thurrock Local History Society Meeting: 21 November 2025: "What the Poor Lacketh, the flame will catcheth": The Swing Riots in Essex 1830-1831 by Michael Holland
At our very well attended November meeting, Dr Michael Holland told us of the agricultural uprising in Essex in the 19th century, known as the Swing Riots, which had started in Kent. In 1795, at the time of high grain prices and low wages, the Berkshire Speenhamland system came into being, relating the cost of bread to wages. If a farmer could not afford to pay this the parish made up the difference. However, this encouraged employers to reduce wages, resulting in even more people on poor relief. In 1819 the Select Vestries Act provided relief with a loan, failure of repayment resulting in imprisonment. There were many protests - incendiarism, threats by anonymous letters, animal maiming and machine breaking. These felonies could result in the death penalty. Other protests such as riots and strikes were classed as misdemeanours, penalties being whipping, community service or imprisonment.
During the winter, the elderly, young and women worked as threshers, using flails. A threshing machine was invented, turned by hand, reducing the labour force. During the Swing Riots 1830-31 'Captain Swing' signed protest letters, perhaps named after the swinging stick of the flail used in hand threshing. Several machines were broken, with arson and riots widespread. Incendiary was far worse, when haystacks were fired, using combustible material, likely live coals, put in after a section of rick was removed. Fire engines took an hour to arrive, tackling the blaze with bucket chains. There was a report of the Bradwell fire in September 1830 in the Chelmsford Chronicle, and a further one at Layer da la Haye.
Dr Holland gave several examples of rioting and arson. At Rayleigh on 5 November 1830 there was a farm on fire, with a reward of £1000 offered (1.5m in today's money) leading to an arrest. James Ewen was accused, sent for trial at Chelmsford and sentenced to death, being hanged on Christmas Eve. Some men were in possession of gunpowder, used for rick burning, claiming it was for lighting a pipe!
One anonymous letter was traced through a watermark on the paper, resulting in six months' hard labour for the culprit. Other letters were sent, also threatening behaviour demanding higher wages. Various villages were involved, the farmers saying they couldn't afford it.
Rioters used hammers, with threshing machines the main target, but also other machines were attacked.
Questionnaires were sent out, asking for the cause of unrest, restlessness being blamed. Incendiarism had been the biggest problem; machine breaking did not occur again.
However, Dr Holland failed to find any riots in the Thurrock area
Information about previous years
society meetings: 2024-2025, 2023-2024, 2022-2023, 2021-2022 2018-2019, 2017-2018 2016-2017 2015-2016, 2014-2015, 2013-2014, 2012-2013, 2011-2012, 2010-2011, 2009-2010, 2008-2009, 2007-2008, 2006-2007, 2005-2006, 2004-2005, 2003-2004, 2002-2003, 2001-2002
We held three outings in the summer of
2016 - details here. Previous outings - to the Globe Theatre in April 2010, Cambridge in June 2010 and to Portsmouth. Bletchley Park, Dover, Waltham Abbey and Eltham Palace.
See the society at the Orsett Show and learn about our 50th
Anniversary celebrations.
The society supported the Essex
History Fair - see us in 2004.
YourThurrock filmed us at the Orsett Show in
2018.
COALHOUSE FORT:
Currently closed.
ALL SAINTS CHURCH - EAST HORNDON
The church of All Saints stands on
rising ground overlooking the Thames plain at the
junction of the London to Southend and Brentwood to
Tilbury roads. The chancel, nave, tower, north and south
transepts and north chapel date from the last quarter of
the 15th century built almost entirely of red brick. The
south chapel and porch were added during the first
quarter of the succeeding century. An interesting and
possibly unique feature of the church is the pair of two-storeyed
transepts supposed to have been the living quarters of
chantry priests. The church has been associated with the
Tyrell family since the 14th century.
The All Saints Society was
dissolved on 31st December 2009. The church is in the
care of a national charity, The Churches Conservation
Trust, who are assisted locally by the Friends of East
Horndon Church. Volunteers are always needed to help look
after this unique structure.
The church is open every Saturday
from May to September inclusive from 1030-1530.
More information may be obtained
from
www.all-saints-east-horndon.co.uk
TILBURY FORT
Tilbury Fort is open daily, 10 am-5
pm 1st April to 31st October.
Thursday to Monday, 10.00 am - 4 pm through the winter.
Admission: Adults £3.50, Concessions: £2.60, Child £1.80,
Family £8.80.
For more information ring 01375
858489
DAVY DOWN INFORMATION CENTRE &
COUNTRY PARK
Davy Down is situated in Pilgrims
Lane, North Stifford. Grid Ref. 803588 - OS Landranger
sheet 177
The information centre is housed in
the Pumping Station Buildings built in 1928 to house
large diesel engines which provided the power to extract
water from a 150 ft borehole in the chalk below.
Davy Down acts as the gateway to
the Mardyke Way, part of the Thames Chase Community
Forest.
The Mardyke Way is a10 km multi-user path that runs from
Ship Lane Aveley up to Bulphan.
For more information click here:
Davy Down
PURFLEET HERITAGE & MILITARY
CENTRE -
Car Park – Tea Bar – Shop –
Wheelchair Friendly - Picnic by The River of Thames
Opening times are:
1st November to 31st March: Thursdays and Sundays 10.00
am – 3.00pm.
1st April to 31st October: Thursdays and Sundays and Bank
Holiday Mondays 10.00 am – 4.30pm
Telephone number during opening
times 01708 890874
For group bookings and out of hours 07751099352 –
07933099961 – 017080523409 email: alan.gosling@rocketmail.com
Admissions: Adult �3.00 – Child �1.50 –
Concession's �2.50
Web site: www.purfleet-heritage.com
