A PENN soldier who lay in an unmarked grave for over 100 years after he was killed in hand-to-hand fighting in the First World War has been officially identified after painstaking work by a team known as the War Detectives.
Now Captain Gordon Cuthbert’s grave in the Tyne Cot cemetery in Belgium has been rededicated at a special ceremony organised by the Ministry of Defence.
His headstone, previously inscribed as an unknown soldier, now includes his name and rank.
Capt Cuthbert was 39 when he died near Ypres on 25 April, 1915, leaving a wife Eleanor and three young children. He was leading a group of soldiers which retook a trench near Ypres but the chaos of war meant he could not be buried at the scene.
In 1920, two years after the war ended and five years after his death, his body was discovered but the authorities were only able to identify his rank and his regiment from his uniform. He was buried at Tyne Cot with a headstone marked “An unknown Captain from the Middlesex Regiment,” and his name was inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ypres.
Then, a few years ago, a team from the MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, known as the War Detectives, made a detailed and determined effort to see if they could identify this unknown soldier.
With researchers from the National Army Museum and with the help of a local expert in Ypres they examined regiment records and documents in Belgium, pin-pointing who was where at the time of Capt Cuthbert’s death.
This year they were able to confirm with absolute certainty that the unknown soldier was Penn’s Captain Cuthbert.
* The hero who didn’t have to go to war – see story further down this blog.
Local news
Vicar’s brave testimony – The 33 year old vicar of Penn and Tylers Green, the Rev Samuel S. Thorp, has spoken bravely and openly in the latest parish magazine about his deafness and his increasing sight restriction. He is now using a white cane. The worst thing, he says, is “giving the unfortunate appearance of seeming rude by not seeing people’s offer of a handshake” but he hopes, by being open, people will understand him and his faith better. You can read his testimony on https://holytrinityandstmargarets.co.uk/parish-newsletter/
Students left in the lurch – Sir William Ramsay School in Rose Avenue announced last month it will not be taking new sixth form students from September, leaving students expecting to go there scrambling to find alternative places. The two nearest schools with sixth forms – Holmer Green and the Royal Grammar School – had already closed sixth form applications when the Ramsay school made its move. The Insignis Academy Trust, which runs the school, is thought to have ruled the sixth form financially unviable.
Closure reports – A spokeswoman for Buckinghamshire Girlguiding said its Kingswood division, which includes Penn and Tylers Green, continues to operate and would welcome volunteers but was unable to comment on reports that the guides, brownies and rainbow units in the village have ceased to function.
Homes for wildlife – Developers and the council have agreed an ecology plan for the Ashwells Fields development off Cock Lane, Tylers Green, where construction of 109 homes is due to begin later this year. It’s accepted there will be disruption to birdlife and bats but in mitigation 106 bird boxes will be fitted to the homes and 40 bat boxes for roosting will be installed across the site. Eight hedgehog domes and three bug hotels will also be included.
Going solar – Earl Howe has applied for planning permission to install eight ground-based solar panels on an old tennis court at his home, Penn House in Penn Street.
Cock Lane chaos – Buckinghamshire Highways has told a local resident that it has applied to install “Access Only” signs at either end of Cock Lane in Tylers Green in an attempt to discourage through traffic. There was traffic chaos on the lane last month when the adjacent Hammersley Lane was closed for various infrastructure works. The council said Cock Lane was not listed as an official diversion route but, even though the One Network satellite navigation system informed its users not to use it, many did.
Timely reflection – Roger Bennett, aged 94, who owns the In Time gift shop at Hazlemere’s Cosy Corner shopping precinct – which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year – has written a book about his life as a furniture designer working with, among others, G Plan and Evans of High Wycombe. Called Chair Man, it’s for sale in the shop with all proceeds donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Surgery changes – Highfield Surgery in Hazlemere is switching to a triage system next month for urgent appointments and general requests, meaning patients will need to send in requests online via the surgery’s Klinik system. Routine appointments can continue to be made via phone. For details see its website: https://www.highfieldsurgeryhazlemere.co.uk
Bus stop search – A site for a new bus stop on Witheridge Lane, within walking distance of Penn Church and Alde House old people’s home, is being sought by councillors and council highways officials.
164 not out – Hazlemere Fete, one of Britain’s longest running continuous village fetes, will be held in the grounds of Sir William Ramsay School on August Bank Holiday, marking its 164th year.
Young champs – Tylers Green Middle School’s Year 5/6 mixed cricket team were crowned Wycombe district champions for the third year in succession. They will represent Wycombe at the Buckinghamshire championships this month.
One for posterity – When the owners of The Squirrel pub in Penn Street saw this watercolour of their pub last month by local artist Paul Chappell they liked it so much they bought it and hung it in the bar. The pub hosts Penn Street Cricket Club’s home games, played on Penn Street common opposite. Paul has been illustrating Buckinghamshire scenes for 35 years and you can see his work on his Instagram page paulchappellart.
Victory for residents as Taylor Wimpey drops plans to drive construction lorries through Tylers Green
BUILDING firm Taylor Wimpey has dropped its plans to send construction traffic for the first phase of the Gomm Valley development through the centre of Tylers Green (see last blog).
When work starts this month all construction traffic will enter and leave the site at the bottom end of Hammersley Lane via the A40 nearby.
The U-turn follows a furious reaction from residents, councillors and the two parish councils in Penn and Tylers Green. They all said that to bring construction traffic through the centre of the village’s conservation area and along the whole length of the narrow Hammersley Lane would be highly undesirable and potentially dangerous.
The company has also bowed to a demand from Lucy Molloy, Buckinghamshire Council’s senior highways officer, that a banksman – a trained traffic marshal – will be on hand to ensure safe vehicle movements.
The work that starts this month involves ground preparation and is anticipated to take six months. Construction of the 83 homes on that part of the valley will begin in the new year and aims to be completed by June 2029.
The company has outline planning permission to build 544 homes in the whole of the valley plus other facilities, but a detailed scheme is yet to be submitted.
You can see Taylor Wimpey’s detailed plans on construction traffic and environmental issues on this link (under the section ‘additional information’) https://publicaccess.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=TCV2JXESFKU00
After nine years deliberation, a decision at last on whether a Penn path should become a public right of way
A NINE year wrangle between a land owner and dog walkers over whether the public has a legal right to walk over a field in Penn has been resolved in favour of the land owner.
There’s a general rule in this country that if it can be proved that walkers have regularly used a path over open countryside without hindrance or obstruction for at least 20 years they can apply to have the path deemed a public right of way, giving them legal protection to use it for evermore.
That’s precisely what walkers Vanessa Lewis and Amanda Brown did back in 2017 when they said they and other walkers had used a path across a field in Forty Green for at least 20 years without any objection and therefore it should be protected for future use. They produced 14 other walkers to verify their claim.
The path provides a short cut between two existing rights of way – Penn pubic footpath 36 between Penury Grove and Forty Green and Penn public footpath 44 between Forty Green and Knotty Green – both of which skirt round the field in question.
However the current landowners, Frank and Linda Lord and the previous landowner begged to differ.
They said there were gates to the field entrances, even though they weren’t always locked. They also said they had erected signs asking walkers to keep to the public footpaths and that whenever they or their families had spotted walkers on the field they had been told they were trespassing.
Under questioning four of the 14 witnesses agreed they had been stopped by the landowner.
Last month, after pouring over previous legal judgements, studying the intricacies of Common Law, ploughing through reams of parliamentary acts on the subject and looking at 20 years worth of aerial photographs, Buckinghamshire Council’s grandly named Definitive Map Officer and her boss came down on the landowners’ side.
The claimants could appeal to the Government, but as that could take up to another decade because the courts are so clogged, you wonder if they’ve got the energy!
The heat is on in Penn and Tylers Green this summer, but the 1976 summer was much drier
THERE’S been some likely record breaking heat in Penn and Tylers Green this summer bringing inevitable comparisons with the infamous summer of 50 years ago.
According to the weather forecasting service Netweather the “feels like” temperature in Penn reached 38 degrees centigrade on the afternoon of Thursday June 25 – that’s 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, probably the highest ever recorded in the village.
Most schools without air conditioning closed for a few days, outdoor events were cancelled and many pubs and cafes stopped serving hot meals because the kitchens were unbearable (The Harrow pub in Hughenden Valley stopped serving cooked food for staff safety reasons when 49.9 degrees Celsius was recorded by the ovens in the kitchen).
This year however there have been some spectacular thunder storms to break the heat cycle, unlike 1976. Then it didn’t rain from early May to the end of August. Heathrow had 16 consecutive days when the temperature topped 30 degrees celsius.
In many ways we were lucky in Penn and Tylers Green. We didn’t have standpipes in the street like many other areas or periods when water supply was turned off.
However, water pressure was reduced and the water level in Widmer Pond on the common dropped alarmingly. Lots of fish died and warning notices were posted strongly advising people that for health reasons they should not to swim in the stagnant water that remained. In nearby villages the ponds dried up completely.
Local roads were covered with sand and grit in an attempt to stop the tarmac melting. The stretch of the M40 from Denham to Beaconsfield, which had only opened three years previously, was closed when smoke from a massive woodland fire at Fulmer drifted across the motorway. Train journeys through the area were also frequently disrupted due to embankment fires – mainly caused by passengers throwing cigarettes out of the train window.
Garden hosepipes and sprinklers were banned as were car washes. People who felt the need to wash their cars at home were told to do so with recycled water. Residents were also urged, where possible, to flush the loo with recycled water from the sink. Local farmers warned of increase food prices as their crops of spuds, barley and wheat all withered.
The drought broke, in typical English style, on August Bank Holiday with downpours transforming the front common from a dustbowl into a quagmire and putting a dampener on St Margaret’s Country Fair which was being held at the time. Still, it meant those on the “Throw a Wet Sponge at the Verger” stall didn’t feel so guilty.
Soggy but unbowed. Runners and organisers ensure the show goes on…
IT WAS sod’s law that the village’s biggest community gathering – the Penn 7 and Fun Run – should fall on one of those rare summer days when there were heavy downpours and chilly winds throughout the day.
But it didn’t stop hundreds of people turning up on Tylers Green Common last month to enjoy the races and the Party by the Pond afterwards.
The Ruby Dash race, pictured above, attracted fancy dress competitors – the Penn and Tylers Green Scout group, below, in Formula One mode while a group of friends in the village completed the race as cops and robbers.
The evening’s Party by the Pond finished half an hour earlier than planned at the police’s request after a group of young people from outside the village became a nuisance. Penn Village Shop manager Parish Annaa told the local press that about 20 youngsters descended on the shop and stole some beer and coke. Police issued a dispersal order to break-up the trouble-makers who left quietly and there were no arrests.
The event has been raising money for charity for over 40 years and involves around 200 local volunteers in its organisation and execution in addition to attracting hundreds of runners.
This year’s beneficiary is the locally based Thomas Ball Children’s Cancer Fund, which helps children in the area with cancer and their families. After drying out, the charity said: “The organisers are absolute heroes and deserve a huge round of applause, as do the brave runners.”
Don’t count your chickens…the derelict shed that’s to be revived to its former glory
IT HAS to be said that the old chicken shed in the grounds of the former Penn School isn’t in prime condition. In fact, it is downright dangerous. So dangerous that even the best structural engineers say it is beyond repair.
The 175 year old walls – all precariously leaning – have major cracks and show signs of movement. A large tree has rooted itself inside and grown up through the roof causing significant damage. And the mortar that held the bricks and flints together has eroded so much there are holes where the mortar used to be.
It would be an act of mercy, many would think, to call in a bulldozer and put it out of its misery.
But not the new owners of the Penn School site.
They are transforming the old school, with its many listed buildings and annexes, into a luxury hotel complex called Rayners Penn while retaining its grand Victorian style.
They intend to dismantle the chicken shed brick by brick and restore and repair whatever bricks and flint they can. And then they intend rebuild the entire building – using more rigorous 21st century building techniques – so that it looks exactly as it did when it was first unveiled to the world around 1850.
And, in a rather romantic twist, its new role will be as a gardener’s store – the role it was probably built for in the first place before the chickens moved in.
Incidentally, workers improving a rear entrance to Rayners last month uncovered this long-forgotten pedestrian entrance off Hammersley Lane buried under hedges and shrubs. It was used by villagers who worked at the school and, before that, the Rayners estate, before it fell out of use about 50 or 60 years ago
Praise be! Tylers Green charity walkers get national TV coverage
TYLERS Green prostate cancer campaigners Ron and Pat Hedley were filmed for the BBC’s Songs of Praise series last month as their walks to raise awareness of the disease continue to grab national attention.
So far Ron’s numerous sponsored walks have raised over £93,000 for the Bob Willis Fund in memory of the England cricket captain who died from prostate cancer nearly seven years ago.
The filming took place when members of Essex County Cricket Club’s over 60s/70s hosted a walk in Chelmsford. It is due to be shown on 9 August and for the following week on i-player.
This summer there are planned walks in Berkshire, Leicestershire and Hampshire. Full details and how to donate are on this link https://bobwillisfund.org/ronsmarch
Historic Penn home for sale at four and a half million
ONE OF Penn’s most significant homes, The Old Vicarage in Church Road, was put on the market last month. It’s had some significant owners over the years and significant visitors too.
It was built 200 years ago by the Rev James Knollis, the vicar of Holy Trinity next door, for a £1,400. Unlike most vicars of the time – and today – the Rev Knollis was a man of considerable means and paid for it himself.
King William IV and his wife Adelaide made two early visits – one before attending the Christening of one of Earl Howe’s children and a second to admire what was then an uninterrupted view of Windsor Castle.
At the end of the Second World War it was the home of one of Britain’s top soldiers, General Sir Brian Robertson, and hosted visits by his boss, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. General Robertson and his family left Penn in 1946 and he later became military governor of the British occupation zone of Germany.
In his book Mansions and Mud Houses, local historian Miles Green says the house was one of very few in the village to have a roof of Welsh slate when it was built – a move likely to save money because there was a special tax on bricks and tiles. Today, it’s all yours for around £4.5million.
Gordon Cuthbert, the hero who didn’t have to go to war
CAPTAIN GORDON Cuthbert, whose body has been identified 111 years after he was killed in the First World War, didn’t have to go and fight.
He had already done his bit. Aged 18 in 1894 he joined the London Rifle Brigade. Six years later he received a commission to Second Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment and promoted to captain two years later. He retired from the army and joined the Territorial reserve in 1908.
Meantime in 1905 he married Eleanor, a vicar’s daughter, and over the next six years they had three children, a son Cholmeley and daughters Elizabeth and Patricia. Pat, who was born in 1911, spent her whole life in the village and was to become one of its most active and respected residents.
Gordon lived a comfortable life in Penn. He had a good job – a broker in the oil industry and chairman of the recently formed Beaconsfield Motor Company – and, as a Penn parish councillor and active member of Holy Trinity Church, was well known and admired in the village.
But when war was declared in 1914 he didn’t hesitate in enlisting immediately. By this time he was 38 and not in perfect health. With a young family no-one would have blamed him for holding on to see how the war developed before being called up from the reserves. But he wanted to serve immediately.
By the spring of 1915 he was in the thick of battle in the Ypres area. On 25 April the British and German troops were in bloody hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets, taking over trenches then losing them again.
A later battle report said: “Capt Cuthbert and 2nd Lieut. Stead led B company, half of A company and the survivors of the 2nd East Surreys into the enemy’s trenches. Casualties were heavy. Capt Cuthbert and 2nd Lieut Stead both being among those killed in the hand-to-hand fighting.”
In his book “Penn and Tylers Green in the Great War and the men who did not return”, local historian Ron Saunders writes : “Capt Cuthbert was rightly honoured by an article in the magazine of the Western Front Association entitled ‘Heroes all’. To mark his death a memorial service was held in Holy Trinity on 8 May, 1915.”
In the church today there’s a plaque in his memory. It reads: “This tablet has been placed here by his wife and some of his friends.”
In the Middlesex Chronicle a member of his battalion wrote: “It is not an exaggeration to say that his officers and men adored him – unfailing in sympathy, unfailing in good humour, he was always ready at the end of a long march or an exhausting turn of duty in the trenches with a laugh and a joke, however tired he might be.
“His devotion was indeed an example. By disposition a man of peace, he might easily have avoided service at the front on medical grounds, but he preferred to take the risk of another attack of his old trouble and go with his ‘boys’.”
His family stayed in Penn, supported and loved by the community. His widow Eleanor, known as Nora, was a leading figure in the Women’s Institute and in 1940 welcomed Queen Elizabeth to St Margaret’s Parish Room where the WI based their jam-making and fruit preserving activities.
His youngest daughter Pat, who spent her whole life in the village mostly living in a cottage in Paul’s Hill, was to become one of the village’s most active and respected residents. There’s a special sadness that she and the rest of her family were to die themselves without knowing the final resting place of their father and husband.
Yet it speaks volumes for humanity that there are people in the world today who do not forget, and who continue to do all they can to identify the person that became the unknown soldier.
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The Cuthbert Cup – The Cuthbert Cup, named after Capt Cuthbert’s daughter Pat, is presented each year to the person who earns the most points in the domestic and flowers classes at the Penn and Tylers Green Village Show. At last month’s show in the village hall it was presented to Elaine Smith.
David Deadman reports: “This year the arts and crafts entries were full of imagination, with several new entrants producing beautiful quilts and imaginative creations, including Francis Howe ‘s life‑size wolf’s head carved from a tree trunk.The scouts’ helping hands took charge of potato weigh‑in, with Nyla Hacking winning the trophy for the heaviest crop.
“It was wonderful to see so many new faces. There are classes for everyone and as the next show is not until September 2027, there’s plenty of time to make or grow something.
“Register on our website for updates; you won’t be bombarded with emails but we’ll send details of next year’s classes, hints and tips and the odd reminder. Details on www.pennandtylersgreenvillageshow.com/classes “
Dilatory Buckinghamshire Council criticised for its tardiness and secrecy
CENSORED adults to an Olympic legend are urging Buckinghamshire Council to stop dragging its heels on matters of public interest.
Last month 2,378 people signed a petition urging the council to reverse its censorship policy of banning the publication of public comments on planning applications (see last blog and previous blogs).
Senior councillors on the Conservative-led council will now decide their next move but seem in no hurry. At an earlier cabinet meeting deputy planning leader Michael Bracken said there were no plans to change the council’s position.
CENSORED: The public, who aren’t allowed to see public letters written on public planning matters decided by a public body.
Meanwhile, Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave, who lives in Marlow, has let fly at the council for ignoring his request to investigate sewage pollution in the River Thames.
Six months ago he and the River Action charity submitted a statutory nuisance complaint calling on the council to investigate whether people’s enjoyment of the river was being harmed by the pollution.
The council, he said, agreed that an investigation was warranted and, indeed, it had a legal duty to conduct one under the Environmental Protection Act once an official complaint had been lodged. But he has heard not a peep.
IGNORED: Sir Steve Redgrave, who wants an inquiry into river pollution
Sir Steve wrote: “I am not asking the council to agree with me. I am simply asking it to investigate the evidence and make its own assessment. Surely that is the minimum residents should expect when they follow the legal process set out by Parliament?”
REJECTED: Reporter Nathaniel Lawson who the council tried to fob off with false assertions
Elsewhere, after considerable pressure from a local journalist, the council backed off after it tried to impose another piece of censorship last month.
The council, a publicly funded body, had refused to say how much it had sold the former Wycombe Council offices for to another publicly funded body, the National Health Service.
It turned down a Freedom of Information request from the BBC funded Local Democracy Reporting Service reporter Nathaniel Lawson claiming it could damage the council’s commercial activities.
But after further pressure and advice from its officers that the council is supposed to be a public, transparent organisation, it revealed the figure to be £5.1 million. It also apologised.
Regional news
Rejecting racists – Imran Hussain, the new mayor of High Wycombe, the town where he was born and bred, has shrugged off the anonymous racist abuse he has received on social media as part of “the world we now live in.” He told the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I am experienced in the realities of social media and will not allow anonymous negativity to distract from the important work ahead. I will champion kindness, resilience, inclusion and community spirit.
Service station – Plans to build a service station on the M25, halfway between junction 16 (M40) and junction 17 (Amersham/Chorleywood) have been resubmitted after an earlier scheme was rejected.
People’s pub – The Bat and Ball pub in the centre of Holmer Green has reopened as a freehouse run by a community interest company, funded by local people and staffed mainly by volunteers offering “coffee and conversation by day and plates, pints, and laughter by night.”
Stalking help – Thames Valley Police authority, which covers Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire, has agreed an extension of specialist support after 270 people sought help for protection from stalkers in the past 12 months.
Uni to homes – A Government agency, Homes England, has bought the former Thames Valley University site in the centre of Slough and has announced plans to build 1,500 homes on it together with offices and shops.
Long wait – A town centre underpass which closed in St Mary’s Way, Chesham six years ago because it was consistently flooded reopened last month after engineers reworked the drainage system.
HS2 contractor fined – A contractor working for HS2 has been fined £400,000 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a 20 ton tipper fell two metres over the side of a trench, landing on its side and injuring its driver. An HSE investigation found SCS Railways failed to provide appropriate signs or protection on the site near Uxbridge.
Legend lives on – George Michael fans gathered in Goring on Thames last month for a tribute show to raise money for the singer’s favourite charities. He lived in Mill Cottage in the village for 17 years before he died 10 years ago, and his connection still draws hundreds of tourists to Goring every year.
Music festivals – The Proclaimers, The Human League and Dave Hill’s Slade are the headline acts at the Rewind Festival in Henley next month.(details on https://south.rewindfestival.com) while Charli XCX, Florence and the Machine and Raye headline Reading Festival a week later (details on https://www.readingfestival.com/lineup )
The way we were – A reconstructed High Wycombe furniture factory, complete with bodgers area, will be operational at a heritage craft weekend at Chiltern Open Air Museum in Chalfont St Peter on 25/26 July. Wheelwrights, rope-makers and chainmail makers will be among many craftspeople showing their skills. Details on the link: https://www.coam.org.uk/heritage-crafts-weekend
By the way
*In 2012 Luke Donald, who learnt his golf at Hazlemere and Beaconsfield golf clubs, was award an MBE for services to golf after being named the world’s top golfer. Last month, in the King’s birthday honours, he was awarded an OBE, the next rank up, after twice captaining the successful European Ryder Cup team. Should he successfully captain the team for the third time in next year’s Ryder Cup, surely Sir Luke can’t be far behind.
*Hazlemere independent councillor Ed Gemmell lost his £500 deposit when he failed to get enough votes in the Makerfield by-election last month, standing for his own Climate Party. He managed 18 votes, 77 votes behind the Count Binface and 27 votes behind the Monster Raving Loony Party. He really stood to publicise his concerns about climate change but it was an expensive bit of PR. Each vote he received cost him £22.77. In case you didn’t notice, the by-election was won for Labour by some bloke called Andy Burnham.
You can contact this blog at peter@pennandtylersgreen.com
The news blog is taking a break for August and will return on 1st September. However, next month there will be a special, extended edition to mark the 150th anniversary of Tylers Green School