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Canterley Publishing Ltd

Publishers of local-interest and heritage books for Kent and Sussex.
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19/07/2024

We've loved the annual Stone-cum-Ebony Fete for years, and (thanks to the generosity of Oxney Local History Group) will be there tomorrow from 1.30pm - with all our latest books. Come and say hello.

www.canterley.co.uk/shop

19/07/2024

We'd like to thank everyone who came to our book launch at Cranbrook Museum last Saturday - it was great to meet all of you, and we hope you're enjoying the book.

If you didn't manage to pick up a copy of 'Cranbrook at War' then, they'll also be available from the Museum's stall at Cranbrook on the Green this Sunday, 11am-5pm on the Ball Field. There is also stock at Pages Newsagents and in the Museum itself.

www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

12/07/2024

We're launching our latest book 'Cranbrook at War' at Cranbrook Museum tomorrow, Saturday 13th July, 10am-4pm.

The book tells the story of life in Cranbrook and Sissinghurst during the Second World War, and is priced £11.99.

Come and buy a copy from author Ed Adams, browse our collection of similar books, and take a look around this wonderful museum.

www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

08/07/2024

The new school year began on Monday 29th September [1941] and a new batch of pupils arrived; among them was four-year-old Jean Jewell, from East London but classed as a ‘home’ pupil because she lived with her grandparents Richard and Lucy Harrold at Hartley while her father served in the RAF and her mother worked in the capital. Each day the Church of England schoolchildren who lived outside the town would be conveyed in the back of a truck to their homes; on this day, Friday 3rd October, it stopped outside the house of Jean’s grandparents on the Hawkhurst road. Her cousin Colin Denman, the son of Jean’s mother’s sister, happened to be there and takes up the story:

'Jean jumped down from the lorry, ran round the back of it and out into the road to cross to where my grandparents were waiting for her.
The army motorbike dispatch rider didn’t see her until it was too late. She was lifted into the air on his handlebars and fell to the ground. My sister and I were in the garden, which had a high hedge. We heard the screech and the crash, and the screams from the other children. One of Jean’s shoes came flying over the hedge and landed at my feet.'

Little Jean Jewell lived for only a matter of minutes after the crash, dying in her aunt’s arms. Mr Croucher, Miss Porter and the chairman of the school managers all attended her inquest, at which a verdict of accidental death was returned. It is not known how much support was given to the children who witnessed the collision, but the effects on Jean’s relatives were long-lasting, as Colin Denman relates:

'I think it is true to say that none of the family was ever quite the same again. She was pretty, sweet natured and lively and she was only four years and ten months old.'

She is also a member of the sad but unrecorded group of fatalities whose deaths were occasioned not by enemy action but through the conditions of war. Under normal circumstances there wouldn’t have been a dispatch rider on the road. Under normal circumstances Jean wouldn’t have been in Cranbrook at all.

From 'Cranbrook at War', published 13th July 2024, priced £11.99. Get your copy at Cranbrook Museum that day from 10am-4pm, or order online and use the checkout code CRANBROOK1 for FREE UK DELIVERY.
www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

05/07/2024

Come and see us at the Spirit of Tenterden Festival, starting today (Friday 5th) on the Recreation Ground. We'll be selling all our local titles, so drop by for a browse and a chat.

www.canterley.co.uk

04/07/2024

[In 1940] the Nicolsons had settled upon their own way of cheating the invader, as first revealed in a letter from Harold to Vita on Tuesday 4th June:

'I force myself to see what will happen if they land at Hastings and Faversham and make a pincer movement to cut off our forces in Kent. This will mean that there will be fighting at Ashford. It means that you will be in danger… You are a brave person and you have a sense of responsibility. It would not be you to run away and leave your people behind. If you are told to do it, then you must go. But I see, and you see, that you must stick it out if you are allowed to. And finally there is the bare bodkin. That is a real comfort.'

The penultimate sentence requires explanation. It is taken from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, Act III, Scene 1: ‘he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin’, referring to su***de by knife. Harold and Vita’s ‘bare bodkin’ was a euphemism for a su***de pill each had managed to obtain and made a pact to use. Harold expanded upon the idea in other letters to friends:

'I shall kill myself and Vita will kill herself if the worst comes. Thus there will come a point where Hi**er will cease to trouble either of us…
I am lucidly aware… that the probability is that we shall be bombed and invaded… [and] in three weeks from now Sissinghurst may be a waste and Vita and I both dead.'

In the same week occurred an episode that highlighted the anxieties arising from the fact that the enemy was now facing Kent across a narrow stretch of water. Exact details are not entirely clear, but it seems that Rev. Ashley-Brown, as de facto chairman of the managers of Cranbrook Church of England school, received letters from perhaps two concerned residents (probably parents) drawing attention to perceived inadequacies of the air-raid protection scheme in place at the school. Reports suggest the writers were either connected to the local branch of the British Legion, or the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, or both. Either way their concern was serious enough for the Kent Education Committee to investigate, and subsequently find that ‘the complaint was ill-founded, and that the school staff were carrying out the Committee’s advice and instructions with regard to ARP’. The only things to come of this affair were the provision of more wire netting and anti-blast tape over the classroom windows, and an indication that stirrup-pumps would be provided.

From 'Cranbrook at War', published 13th July 2024, priced £11.99. Get your copy at Cranbrook Museum that day from 10am-4pm, or order online and use the checkout code CRANBROOK1 for FREE UK DELIVERY.
www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

01/07/2024

Major Robathan was invited to join the Joint ARP Committee in May [1939], and was therefore compelled to give up his day-to-day tasks as Head Warden. In his place – the fourth such appointment in a little over a year – came 36-year-old Anthony Congreve. Born in London and raised in Carmarthenshire, Wales, Congreve was educated at Repton School and University College, Oxford, and had been teaching history at Cranbrook School since 1934. Finally Cranbrook had a Head Warden capable of seeing the job through – diligent, resourceful, with a keen eye on proper documentation and a knowing twinkle gained through much experience in the classroom. Congreve would be at the forefront of events over the next six years and his many personal efforts would not go unnoticed in the struggle that was now imminent. It was perhaps just as well that his father, a colonel of the Indian Army, had changed his surname to Congreve (taken from Restoration playwright William Congreve, an ancestor through the female line) just before the Great War – the true family name was, in fact, Schneider.

So diligent was Congreve that one of first duties as Head Warden was to give his employer a stern reprimand. He wrote to the Cranbrook School governors on Wednesday 10th May to condemn the seemingly half-hearted efforts made to protect the pupils and staff from air raids. These consisted of ‘a waterlogged trench behind School House’ and a few planks balanced on concrete in the Crane stream – the purpose of which can only be guessed at. Shortly afterwards the school obtained government funding to strengthen the ground floors in the boarding houses, the idea being that refuge might be taken in the basements underneath.

From 'Cranbrook at War', published 13th July 2024. Get your copy at Cranbrook Museum that day from 10am-4pm, or order online and use the checkout code CRANBROOK1 for FREE UK DELIVERY.
www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

28/06/2024

Cranbrook received its first flying bomb at lunchtime on Wednesday 28th June [1944], and it was a terrifying experience. Shot at by a Meteor fighter at 1.10pm, the device lost a wing, wobbled out of control and first appeared to be coming down directly in the vicinity of Cranbrook School. At the start of the V-1 menace this summer [Cranbrook School headmaster] Charles Scott had initiated a rather desperate and hopeful warning system: he would keep watch himself, and blow a bugle at the sight of any imminent danger. This lunchtime, he stood helplessly as the bomb came down just as his pupils were streaming out of the school buildings and caught in the open:

'I was watching as usual when there was aerial activity and this one brought my heart to my mouth. The boys were quick to take cover as I blew the bugle, though if the bomb had continued on its course only extreme good fortune would have saved casualties. As it was, when it was half way down, it curved gracefully away from us…'

The bomb instead struck the Tomlin cricket field, blowing a crater 15 feet wide. The explosion sent a blast wave all along the Angley road, causing extensive damage to 45 houses, three of which had to be evacuated. In addition five people received slight injuries and were treated at Kingswear’s First Aid Point: Mary Westecott of Courtstile suffered an injury to her arm; Jennie Gambrill (57) of The Hill received a slight scratch and was sedated for shock; 82-year-old William Penfold and his wife Emily (72) were also treated for shock, as was 8-year-old James Tilly of 3 Wilsley Green. As those few evacuated from their homes were taken in by friends and neighbours, there was no need to open the Rest Centre at the Church of England school. In addition, local anecdote tells that a nearby horse was killed, though that was not recorded. And 16-year-old Cranbrook School pupil John Nye, on his way home to lunch, dived into a ditch on Waterloo Road in which the Home Guard had placed barbed wire. 50 years later, he recalled that un******ng that night, he found:

'… a minute tear in the ankle of my sock and the tiniest scratch showing blood… perhaps I can claim to have suffered the slightest injury from a V-1 incident?'

From 'Cranbrook at War', published 13th July 2024. Get your copy at Cranbrook Museum that day from 10am-4pm, or order online and use the checkout code CRANBROOK1 for FREE UK DELIVERY.
www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

10/05/2024

Canterley Publishing is delighted to announce the forthcoming book 'Cranbrook at War', to be released on 13th July 2024.

www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

'Cranbrook at War' is a year-by-year account of the Home Front in Cranbrook and Sissinghurst, Kent, during the Second World War, and includes never-before-seen details of:

- the lives of those in the parish prior to the war;
- the emerging civil defence efforts, including ARP and the Home Guard;
- the reception of London evacuees to a place of greater safety;
- the victory of the Battle of Britain;
- the preparations for invasion and the underground British resistance;
- the movement towards post-war social reform;

as well as detailed recollections of the bombs that fell, the planes that crashed and those who lost their lives, at home and abroad.

A tale of intrigue, devastation, loss, resolve, bravery and humour, 'Cranbrook at War' is the complete and untold story of the local people who lived through the most desperate struggle of modern times.

224pp; illustrated with maps and an 8-page photo plate section.

The book is released on 13th July. Customers who order online may obtain FREE UK DELIVERY with the checkout code CRANBROOK1.

By kind permission of Cranbrook Museum, author Ed Adams will be available to sign books at the Museum on Saturday 13th July from 10am.

Follow Canterley Publishing Ltd for further updates!

www.canterley.co.uk/cranbrook-at-war

30/03/2024

Author Ed Adams will be speaking to the Woodchurch Local History Society this Monday, 1st April, on 'Ashford's Worst Day: the 'Great Raid' of 24th March 1943'.

The talk begins at Woodchurch Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. Visitors are welcome to attend on payment of £3 on the door.

www.canterley.co.uk/ashford-at-war

29/03/2024

We're really grateful to Tenterden and District Museum for stocking our range of books local to the area. They're open again today (Friday 29th March) with more stock and a wonderful new display, so why not call in and take a look?

19/03/2024

82 years ago...

(for the first part of this story see here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=881145504021104&id=100063769885838 )

Cyril Johnson’s trial for murder began at the Old Bailey on Thursday 19th March [1942], and continued into the following day. Much was made of Johnson’s statement to the police, detailing the last moments of Maggie Smail’s life which were known only to him. By his account, at 7.15am on the morning of 6th February he had gone into her bedroom to ask the time. He then asked if she would like him to get into bed with her. She refused:

‘I then lost my temper. I knocked her down on the bed. She started to struggle, and I put my hands round her neck with the intention of frightening her. I must have squeezed her too hard and held on too long, because she lost consciousness.
I think I lost my head altogether then, and I tied a scarf round her neck that was hanging on the bedrail.
I then went into the sitting room and took up a poker that was lying there and went back and hit her on the head with it.’

A full and clear confession, one might think. An open-and-shut case. But there were a number of problems with Johnson’s statement which the prosecution were determined to expose.

They derived from the forensic examination that had been carried out on the afternoon of the crime by Dr Norman Ashton at the mortuary of Ashford Hospital. There was no evidence of strangulation by the hands; the kind that would leave extensive bruising on the neck. Instead, Maggie had likely been rendered unconscious by blows from the poker, as the head wounds had been inflicted while she was still alive. The actual cause of death was asphyxiation from the scarf, which had been tied so tightly that the hyoid bone under the jaw had been dislocated. Swabs were taken and hairs collected, and these were sent to the police laboratory at Hendon; the results strongly suggested that Maggie had been r***d while unconscious or even dead.

Johnson’s statement gave no mention of this last revelation and he did not testify in court on his own behalf. The only defence open to his counsel, Hector Hughes KC, was that of insanity. To this end Johnson’s father testified that his mother had suffered a great shock late into her pregnancy when a chimney had fallen into the lower room she was in, causing her to have a nervous collapse. Cyril was subsequently born back-to-front, and had hysterical crying fits in his first three years. Mr Johnson gave the opinion that his son was a fantasist, once falsely confessing to the police that he had broken into a shop to steal ci******es, and a recent letter was produced in which he claimed he had nearly drowned on an exercise in the Channel, which his father did not believe.

Yet the Medical Officer at HMP Brixton, where Johnson had been sent for continual observation in the two weeks prior to the trial, confirmed that he was:

‘… rational in conduct and conversation… and at no time has he exhibited signs of insanity… Examination shows him to be far from backward and in fact above the average in intelligence.’

He was at least literate enough to read Daisy Smail’s book ‘A Question of Proof’, which was seen as probative since its plot concerned the murder of a boarding-school pupil by both manual and then ligature strangulation – could this have inspired Johnson’s false claim that he had first reacted with his hands in a fit of anger, and later finished the job with the scarf? The police also demonstrated that his first act after the crime was to use Daisy’s writing-pad in the sitting room to produce letters to two former girlfriends. One was to Vera Ward:

‘I did it because I hate women, it seems q***r doesn’t it after being so friendly with you. But, all I can say is, thank you for being so good to me, for you are the only one I don’t hate.’

The other was to Muriel Golding, the fiancée who had broken off their engagement:

‘All I want to say is this. I’m in love with you, and for the last 4 months since you jilted me I’ve lived in hell, you made me hate females.
The girl I’ve killed was teasing me, just like you did. That’s why I did it, and because I hate women.’

Johnson then made himself a cup of tea before leaving the flat, affixing stamps and posting the letters. These were not, it was argued, the actions of a man who was either permanently or temporarily insane. Neither Miss Ward nor Miss Golding had seen any signs of true insanity in their relationships with him; the most that could be said was that he was emotionally immature, rather immodest, and sometimes spiteful. The judge, Reginald Croom-Johnson, gave precise direction on the insanity question the following day, Friday 20th March, during his summing-up to the jury who, after an hour and a half’s deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty with a recommendation to mercy on account of Johnson’s youth. Even if Justice Croom-Johnson felt minded to endorse the jury’s suggestion, which he didn’t, his duty as prescribed by law for a murder conviction was to pass a death sentence, which he did.

An appeal was immediately sent to the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, who postponed the ex*****on indefinitely in order to consider the matter – it had been fixed for Wednesday 8th April. Johnson wrote:

‘I deeply regret this awful tragedy, and beg of you, Sir, to recommend to His Majesty the King a reprieve.
I can sincerely promise that the whole of my life will be an honest effort to make amends for this crime.’

Canon Frederick Addison and Rev. Robert Worsley, present and past vicars of Horwich in Lancashire, at whose Mission Church the Johnson family were active workers, wrote in support. Worsley wrote that Johnson’s parents ‘have battled constantly with poor health and straitened means’, and Addison revealed that the mother was very ill, and ‘is not expected to live more than a few months’. Then on Tuesday 31st March, Johnson abandoned his appeal against the verdict and appears to have accepted his guilt. The ex*****on was rescheduled for a fortnight hence.

Letters continued to come in to the Home Secretary, including from the padre of Johnson’s unit, the members of Horwich Council and the MP for Westhoughton Rhys Davies. One of the more creative ones came from an old curate of Horwich who had known the family, and who disclosed that Johnson’s development before birth had been impeded by his mother ‘falling down the steps of the Town Hall’, and that the cancer from which she was now dying was caused by

‘… a man who is unknown, but in the scramble of pushing his way on to a tram car, gave her a blow with his elbow. I mention this because there are those with full mentality [who] give way to fits of rage and in an unfortunate moment do things which cause the death – slowly – of another.’

There was also a handful of correspondence from concerned citizens who (from press reports of the case) found fault in the direction of the judge, thought the nature of the crime did not merit the severity of the sentence, or who habitually wrote in to protest against any instance of capital punishment. One old soldier of the last war, and now conscientious objector, Henry Briggs of Chingford, offered the ultimate sacrifice:

‘Surely the law, not infallible in itself, does not demand that, when manpower is so vital and youth the great standby of the nation, that [sic] the lad’s life should be taken?
I am 45 years, single, an apparent failure. I am willing if it is possible to give my life instead of this lad’s. I would willingly pay the full penalty of the law to save the lad – can it be possible? I mean it.’

All correspondents received a near-identical reply that the Home Secretary had considered the case but ‘failed to discover any sufficient ground to justify him in advising His Majesty to interfere with the due course of law’. Cyril Johnson was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Thomas Pierrepoint, uncle of the more famous Albert, at 9am on Wednesday 15th April, and was buried in the prison grounds.

From 'Ashford at War':
www.canterley.co.uk/ashford-at-war

17/03/2024

84 years ago...

On the morning of Saturday 17th March [1940] was held the most extensive, largest-scale ARP exercise Ashford had seen yet, involving all branches of the civil defence service. The narrative of the ‘incident’ was that an enemy aircraft had dropped 30 high explosive bombs in the northern part of Ashford and into Kennington. The siren sounded at 10am and all services went into action: they had no prior knowledge of how events would play out, and were directed by umpires brought in from other areas. ARP groups A and D were the active units on duty, with personnel from Groups B, C and E playing the part of casualties. The duty wardens assessed the situation on the ground (according to what the umpires told them) and wrote out report forms which were dispatched with messengers to the various response units such as decontamination squads, road repair groups, rescue parties, ambulances and fire services. The 30 ‘bombs’ were of all known types, and placed in locations designed to test the participants’ ingenuity and resourcefulness as much as possible.

An awful lot went wrong. On the wardens’ reports, incomplete addresses and inaccurate summaries of damage and casualties were given. The weather was wet, and a drop of rain on the paper obliterated many an important point. Often the wrong service was summoned at the wrong time, such as a decontamination squad to deal with an ongoing mustard gas attack (their role came later). Overenthusiastic wardens reported damage that was not there, and the ‘walking wounded’ casualties were reported as stretcher cases, creating unwarranted demand that the ambulances found impossible to meet. Vehicle drivers stopped to help at the first incident they saw on their journey, rather than continuing to where they had been asked to go, and stayed put even when told they were not needed. Parking was nigh impossible and roads were blocked by trailing fire hoses. More than one person reported the same incident, duplicating effort by producing three or four reports that pointed to the same thing. Arguments broke out as to whether a wounded victim should have their injury treated before or after being removed from a gas-filled area. One lady casualty was told with regret that she had been widowed by a bomb blast, only to be told later that first-aid workers had restored her husband to full health. Even the umpires painted an incorrect picture at times.

From one point of view, it sounded like an utter disaster. From Major Cole’s, it was assuredly not:

‘Mistakes are inevitable and almost welcome. We want to find out our shortcomings and to remedy them… to ensure that they do not happen again in some other incident or in a raid, and not in order to blame the individual.
The Exercise must be considered as most successful; there were no major catastrophes, and the various facts emerging should keep us busy training and arguing until the next one.’

And the last word went to participant D.G. Shelward, who offered an ironic comment in response to criticisms:

‘Dear Hi**er, – When dropping bombs in Ashford would you kindly arrange that they are dropped in places which provide ample room for parking vehicles and for setting up Mobile Units?’

From 'Ashford at War':
www.canterley.co.uk/ashford-at-war

24/02/2024

80 years ago...

Ashford’s Food Office continued to keep a tight rein on the system and clamped down hard on any abuses. They weren’t above employing a ‘sting’ to catch out dishonest traders, on occasion. One controversial case that made the courts this spring was that of butcher Lewis Palmer, of 46 Park Street. On 24th February [1944] a Food Office employee, Norah Pledge, entered Palmer’s shop and asked for a rabbit. According to later testimony, Palmer sold her one for 4s 6½d and skinned it; she then left the shop and handed it to the Enforcement Officer waiting outside. The pair took it into two other shops for weighing, and it was found to be underweight for the price: Palmer had charged roughly twice the amount allowed by law for its weight of 2lbs 1oz. He was tried and convicted of the Rabbits (Control and Maximum Prices) Order 1944, and received a fine of £25 and term of three months’ imprisonment. A few weeks later he appealed the verdict, claiming that it was a set-up job: Miss Pledge had brought him a rabbit, purchased elsewhere, to be skinned by him. A customer just leaving the shop, George Brooker, testified to seeing her bring it in, and when the Enforcement Officer challenged Palmer, he used the words ‘the trick has worked’. But Palmer had previous convictions for similar offences, and this weighed heavily against him. His term of imprisonment was quashed but 20 guineas’ costs were added to the fine.

From 'Ashford at War'
www.canterley.co.uk/ashford-at-war

06/02/2024

On Wednesday 7th February, the Wye Historical Society talk
is 'Ashford's Worst Day. The Great Raid of 24th March 1943' given by Ed Adams.

He will talk about the bombing of Ashford during the Second World War with commentaries and photographs many of us will not have seen. Copies of his book will be available to buy. Further details in the poster below.

06/02/2024

82 years ago...

Among the servicemen who travelled in to Ashford from their surrounding billets was 20-year-old Private Cyril Johnson of the 2/5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment. Their current headquarters were at Wye but Johnson’s unit, ‘B’ Company, moved to Camber in January [1942]. Either way, he had been on the outskirts of Ashford for several weeks and was a regular attender of the Corn Exchange dances. At one in November 1941 he met sisters Maggie (30) and Daisy (28) Smail, and befriended them. He got on particularly well with Daisy, who felt sorry for him as his fiancée had recently broken off their engagement, and they went to several more dances together.

The two sisters shared the one-bedroom first floor flat above an empty shop at 59 Beaver Road and it was here that Private Johnson turned up unannounced on the afternoon of Thursday 5th February [1942]. He asked if Daisy would go to the Corn Exchange dance that evening; she agreed, but had to go out for a couple of hours, and told him to make himself at home until she returned. She did so at ten to seven that evening; Johnson had been reading her book, 'A Question of Proof' – a best-seller on its release in 1935 – written by poet Cecil Day-Lewis under the assumed name Nicholas Blake. After a glass of port, they went out together and enjoyed the Corn Exchange dance with nothing untoward happening. Mindful of the time, Daisy reminded Johnson that he had to catch the last train back to his unit. Johnson was undecided, but finally said he would ‘chance it’ and get an early train back to Rye, and thence to Camber, in the morning. Daisy agreed to him staying over in the flat, as long as he slept on the sofa. On the way back, at 11pm, they called in at the station to ask about the earliest train in the morning, which was at 8am.

Daisy rose the next day at 5.45am, made breakfast and went out to work at a nearby newsagent’s shop, leaving Maggie and Johnson both sleeping. When she returned at 9.15am Johnson was gone, though only one of the breakfasts she prepared had been eaten; Maggie should, by then, have left for her job as a clerk at Lloyd’s Bank. Instead Daisy found her still in the bed they shared, completely covered with a blanket. Drawing it back a little, she saw the top of her sister’s head covered in blood. Terrified, Daisy ran downstairs and out to Guttridge’s chemist at number 61, next door, where she found 29-year-old pharmacist Edward Brotherton:

‘Miss Daisy Smail ran into the shop. She was very upset and said, ‘Can you come and look at my sister? Something’s happened to her.’ I immediately went with her to the flat next door, 59 Beaver Road…
I there saw Miss Maggie Smail lying on the bed. She was covered by a sheet up to her shoulders, only her head being visible. Her head was turned to the left and there was a deep wound over the eye across the right side of the forehead. There was blood on her head. Her face was bluish and she was obviously dead, so I did not touch her…
I saw a poker lying by the side of the bed and behind the door. I did not touch anything, but brought Miss Daisy Smail to my shop and telephoned immediately to Ashford Police Station.’

Police-Sergeant Arthur Bones arrived by car with Police-Constable Gamble, and they pulled back the bedclothes to expose the body. Maggie’s clothes had been disarranged and a scarf was tied around her neck. Two wounds were apparent over her right eyebrow, and blood had flowed from the mouth and nostril. The body was still warm; Bones tried artificial respiration for a while but it was clearly hopeless. Dr Reginald Jones was summoned from his home nearby at 21 Christchurch Road; he confirmed that Maggie was dead and that, from the warmth of the body and the lack of rigor mortis, she had died only an hour or so previously. The time was now 9.55am.

There was only ever one suspect in the case. Police searched Johnson’s kit at his Camber billet and found his home address of Horwich, near Bolton, Lancashire. An express alert was circulated throughout the northern districts to look out for him. In the meantime local enquiries around Ashford revealed that he had since been seen in Wye, and he was traced to the Officers’ Mess of his unit headquarters. When formally arrested on suspicion of the murder of Maggie Smail, a dance tune was heard coming from a nearby wireless set. Johnson commented, ‘I don’t suppose I’ll ever dance to one of those again’. After giving a statement at Ashford, he was detained at Maidstone prison until his trial, which was set to take place at the Old Bailey in the third week of March.

From 'Ashford at War':
www.canterley.co.uk/ashford-at-war

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'Rolvenden School: a history' is here! All UK preorders should arrive early next week - if yours isn't with you by publication day on Thursday 29th April, let us know at [email protected] There's still time to preorder and enjoy FREE UK DELIVERY before then. www.canterley.co.uk/rolvenden-school-a-history