If you know the town and shops of Great Dunmow, then you will know of the newsagents, A Willett & Sons, next to The Saracens Head. Even today, the signage and frontage of the shop is old fashioned and harks back to a more distant time in Great Dunmow’s past. Many of the real photo postcards of the high ways and by-ways of Great Dunmow’s Edwardian past have the name ‘Willett Dunmow’ printed on the bottom left corner.

The Edwardian shop of A Willett and Son (on the left) – on the right, the road leads onto Market Hill and then out towards Church-end.  

During the Great War, Arthur Willett often ‘popped’ out of his shop, took a few steps to the junction of the High Street and Market Hill and took photos of soldiers marching through his town.  Below are two photos from his camera – from the serial numbers on the cards and the date of the second card, the first card would have been taken in the Summer of 1914 (note the leaves on the trees and the straw boater hats worn by some of the crowd).

I did wonder if these were the Sherwood Foresters (the Notts & Derby) who are known to have marched into Great Dunmow from Harlow in 1914.  However, from the Notts & Derby’s accounts, the Sherwood Foresters first came through Great Dunmow between  16 t0 18 November 1914 but looking at the trees and straw boater hats, this photo had to have been taken during the Summer months. Update March 2014: I am now convinced that these are the Staffordshire Yeomanry, who had, for some reason, marched from Bishop’s Stortford to Great Dunmow – see the bottom of this page for more detail.

The soldiers playing their flutes are turning left and so are about to head down Market Hill, so were probably marching onto St Mary’s Church nearly 1 mile away.  I have not been able to trace whose funeral this is.  There is not a casualty buried in Great Dunmow’s church on the Commonwealth War Grave’s Debt of Honour who would match with the date of death of November 1914.  It could possibly be a Sherwood Forester, as they had marched into Great Dunmow 16-18 November and only left the area on 28 December 1914.  However, whoever it is, they are not on either Great Dunmow’s War Memorial or the Commonwealth War Grave’s Debt of Honour as the dates don’t match any casualty buried in St Mary’s churchyard.

 *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

1916 was a terrible year for the newsagent Arthur Willett and his wife Sarah, for they lost two sons to the Great War.  Arthur Albert Willett, aged 25, of the 6th Battalion Essex Regiment died of wounds in a military hospital on 25 February 1916, and was buried in his parish church, St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow.  Younger brother, Frank Willett, aged 20, of the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment was killed in action on the Western Front and died on 23 October 1916.  Frank has has no known grave and so is commemorated on the vast and overwhelming Thiepval Memorial.

Both brothers are commemorated on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial – their inscriptions on the memorial facing down the High Street and towards their father’s shop.

Great Dunmow’s War Memorial with the names of the Willett brothers

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

Updates to this story
Update November 2013: There is an update to the story of Military Funeral postcard here: – War and Remembrance: Military Funeral 1914

Update December 2013: There is another update to the Military Funeral postcard here  1914 Military Funeral – a follow-up

Update March 2014: The 2nd postcard down (Willett’s number 830) has been the subject of much debate between myself and another local historian as to which regiment this was.  I am of the firm believe that it is not the Notts & Derby (the Sherwood Foresters) who arrived in Great Dunmow later on in 1914 (I have a postcard of them parading in the Market in November 1914).  A copy of Willett’s #830 postcard exists with the postmark of August 1914.  That well known auction site a few years ago had a Willett postcard showing troops in Great Dunmow, with the postcard labelled by Willett as being the “Staffs. Yeomanry in Dunmow, Aug 31st, 1914”.  The Staffordshire Yeomanry spent 1914 billeted in Bishop’s Stortford.  I have another postcard from a soldier billeted in Bishop’s Stortford in 1915, possibly a soldier of the Staffordshire Yeomanry (he was writing home to his folks in Staffordshire) about his duties whilst he was billeted in Stortford.  Is my mystery card of soldiers marching through Great Dunmow, the Staffs Yeomanry?  They are certainly coming from the direction of Bishop’s Stortford and are marching in the direction of Church End.  If so, what were the Staffs Yeomanry doing in Great Dunmow when they should have been in Bishop’s Stortford?

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

Men of Essex Recruitment Poster © IWM (before June 1916)

From The Times, 13 December 1918: CAPTAIN FRANK WILLIAM BACON, 1/5th Essex Regiment who died on December 4 aged 36 was the youngest son of Mr James Bacon of Olives, Dunmow, Essex.  A good cricketer, Captain Bacon at the outbreak of the war, was a second lieutenant in the Essex Territorials and was promoted captain of the 1/5th Essex Regiment early in 1915.  He went out to the Dardanelles, and was at the Suvla Bay landings, where he was wounded and invalided home.  He rejoined his regiment in Egypt.  He was wounded in the first battle of Gaze in March 1917, and for the third time in the following November; he died from the effects of his wounds.  He was a most popular officer.  He married on August 7 last, Zennil, daughter of Mr G Grimes of Hook, Hamps.

From Essex and Herts Observer, 14 December 1918: DEATH OF A DUNMOW OFFICER The death occurred on 4th December, of wounds received in Palestine, of Captain Frank William Bacon, youngest son of Mr James Bacon of Dunmow.

Above photo from Dorothy Dowsetts book Dumow through the ages (1969)

Captain Frank William Bacon, of the 1/5 Essex Regiment was educated at Felsted School from January 1894 to July 1900 where he played on the Cricket XI from 1899-1900.  Lt Col Tom Gibbons’ book With 1/5 in the East (1921) recounts that Frank served with the 1/5 Essex Regiment from 23 July 1915 to 2 November 1917 and was wounded twice: 26 March 1917 and 2 November 1917.  The latter injury during the 3rd Battle of Gaza was described by Gibbons: ‘As I entered Rafa redoubt I was surprised to meet Frank Bacon being carried out, his foot badly shattered by a bomb.  He was too much knocked about to stop and question as to how he got there, but the situation was gradually cleared up by further enquiry…‘

Captain Bacon returned home to recover from his injuries where, during the final months of the Great War, he became a member  a committee set-up to establish a War Memorial in Great Dunmow.   Sadly, after succumbing to pneumonia, he became one of the men of the town to be commemorated on that very same memorial.

Frank is commemorated on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial.

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

From Essex and Herts Observer, 14 December 1918:  RETURNED PRISONER’S DEATH. – Pte. David Button, 23. M.G.C., who had returned to Dunmow, from Germany where he had been a prisoner of war since April, died at his home on Sunday.  His case was hopeless, due to the starvation he had undergone in Germany and the hardships he endured.

Grave of David William Button, aged 26,
Private in the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
and also of the Essex Regiment,
buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Great Dunmow

Propaganda Poster © IWM (1919)

Census 1901 – Parsonage Down, Great Dunmow
Henry Button, head, married, aged 58, occupation bricklayer, born Great Dunmow
Elizabeth Button, wife, married, aged 45, born Great Dunmow
Henry Button, son, aged 11, born Great Dunmow
William Button, son aged 8, born Great Dunmow (assume this is David)

Census 1911 – Parsonage Down, Great Dunmow
William Hoy, aged 78, married 7 yrs, occupation old age pension, born Essex, Dunmow
Elizabeth Hoy, aged 56, married 7 yrs, born Essex, Dunmow
Henry Button, stepson, 20 years, single, butchers man, born Essex, Dunmow
David Button, stepson, 17 years, single, farm labourer, born Essex, Dunmow

From the rural beauty of Great Dunmow’s Parsonage Down to the horrors of the trenches and a Prisoner of War camp in Germany.
Parsonage Down, 2012
Parsonage Down, 2012
Parsonage Down, 2012

David is commemorated on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial.

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

You may also be interested in
– Memorial Tablet – I died in hell
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.

Of all my postcards, my most treasured one is the one below.   The image on the front is a boring country scene of Wandsworth Common, South London in 1907 – nothing remotely interesting.  But it’s words mean so much to me.  The recipient of the card was a Mrs Kemp of the Royal Oak, Great Dunmow (her full name Alice Kemp nee Parnall) and the sender was her niece, Elsie (her full name Elsie Parnall Cole).  A few years ago, the husband of Alice’s great-granddaughter found the postcard on the internet and sent it to me.  Me, the great-niece of the sender, Elsie, of Wandsworth.  More than one hundred years after it was first sent, the recipient’s descendant returned it to the sender’s descendant.  And by a strange quirk of fate, I was by then living in Great Dunmow, totally unaware of my family’s previous connection to the town.  So the card has come home to Great Dunmow a hundred years after it was first sent to the town.

Postmark: Wandsworth, 23 Feb 1907
D. A.
Ma heard from A.B that you had all been very queer.  Hope you are quite well by this.  Weather has been very cold & severe suppose it has been the same with you.  Ma’s eyes are emproving [sic] very slow.  G is pulling a tooth out.  With love Elsie. 

The ‘Ma’ was my great-grandmother, Louisa Cole nee Parnall, Alice’s sister and Elsie’s mother.  The ‘G’ who was pulling a tooth was my young grand-dad, George, then aged only 8 – a man I never knew as he died when I was two.

Sadly, the story of the Kemps of Great Dunmow includes the loss of two beloved sons, Harold and Gordon, killed in action during the Great War.

James Nelson Kemp (husband of Alice Kemp nee Parnall), standing outside his pub, the Royal Oak in Great Dunmow.

Postcard of James Nelson Kemp standing in the doorway of his pub.  His son, Gordon Parnall Kemp on the pony and trap.  Photo taken sometime between James’ arrival at the Royal Oak in c.1906 and his departure in c.1911.  The postcard identified in the local newspaper, the Dunmow Broadcast in August 1978.

“Sir, The picture in the June Broadcast of Stortford Road shows the Royal Oak and the donkey & cart being driven by Gordon Kemp, the son of J N Kemp who used it for delivering. This was probably taken about 1912. My parents and myself took over the Royal Oak (Mr and Mrs W F Strutt) in 1912 and we kept the donkey for a short period. The garden in front & steps remained till 1931 when my father met with a fatal accident on corner of Rosemary Lane and my mother left. The boards across said J N Kemp supplies the public with their requirements and there was a tin mug attached to the pump near the gate into the yard. Memories of the past. Many thanks Ella M Edwards (Mrs) nee Strutt, Pippbrook Gardens, Dorking, Surrey“

Gordon Parnall Kemp, born Edmonton 1887, killed in action 26 September 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres (the Battle of Passchendaele).  Gunner of the Royal Garrison Artillery, 186th Siege Battery – from 5 September 1917 to 17 December 1917 the 186th Siege Battery was serving under 33rd Heavy Artillery Group.  From the Essex Chronicle, 19 October 1917:

“Mr J N Kemp for many years a resident at Dunmow and now of Yarmouth has received the sad news that his second son, Gordon, has been killed in action in France.“

Voormezeele Enclosures No.1 And No.2,
West-Vlaanderen, nr Ypres, Belgium

Memorial Tablet -by Siegfried Sassoon (1918)
Squire nagged and bullied till I went to fight,
(Under Lord Derby’s scheme). I died in hell –

(They called it Passchendaele). My wound was slight,
And I was hobbling back; and then a shell
Burst slick upon the duckboards: so I fell
Into the bottomless mud, and lost the light

At sermon-time, while Squire is in his pew,
He gives my gilded name a thoughtful stare;
For, though low down upon the list, I’m there;
“In proud and glorious memory” … that’s my due.
Two bleeding years I fought in France, for Squire:
I suffered anguish that he’s never guessed.
I came home on leave: and then went west…
What greater glory could a man desire?

Harold James Parnall Kemp, born Edmonton 1885, of the British South African Police Force, killed in action German East Africa (now Zambia) 28 May 1916.  From the Essex Chronicle, 9 June 1916:

“Mr J N Kemp of the Golden Lion, The Conge, Great Yarmouth for many years resident in Dunmow has received information from the British South Africa Co that his son Harold has been killed in action with the Northern Rhodesian Force.  Harold was educated at the Dunmow Church Schools.  He started in life with the late Mr F J Snelland at his death continued with Mr Gifford, under whose instructions he became very proficient and acting on Mr Gifford’s advice obtained a situation in the Council offices at Sidcup where his instructions stood him in good steed.  From there he joined the R.S.A. Police and became the manager of the Police Review.  When he had served his time he obtained a good situation with Messrs. Arnold and Co of Salisbury and London.  On the outbreak of the war he volunteered for active service and now, alas, his end.  He was a member of the Dunmow church choir from his school days up to the time of his leaving Dunmow and he will be remembered as singing solo in the old church the Sunday before his departure for South Africa.“

From ‘Frontier Patrols – A history of the British South Africa Police and other Rhodesian Forces‘ by Colonel Colin Harding C.M.G., D.S.O. 1938

‘In the general advance of 23rd May, 1916, the Nyasa-Rhodisia Field Force were detained to undertake the three following operations: viz., Colonel  Hawthorn was deputed to attack Ipiana, Colonel Rodger, Mwembe, and Colonel Murray was entrusted with the attack of Namema, 26 miles north-east of Abercon. …none of these operations met with any notable success, for the Ipiana garrison retired without presenting any opposition, the Mwembe garrison opposed our advance for two days and then escaped, and the Namema investment after the duration of a week was rendered futile by the flight of the garrison. On the morning of May 26th, 1916, the time and date selected for an attack on Namema by the Rhodesians, whilst A and B Forces had carried out their instructions, C Force had lost direction and failed to reach its allotted position till the following day. Then rather late in the operation it was discovered that Namema was held by a considerable enemy force and situated in such an invulnerable position that to attack with the present force would have been suicidal; consequently tactical positions were established with the idea of completing the investment of the enemy.

It is with much regret I record that this abortive operation cost us the lives of Corporal Hoal and Privates Kemp, Steele and Short; whilst the Germans lost their commander, who was captured and subsequently died of wounds he received during the engagement. It was on the 3rd of June that the enemy succeeded in breaking through our lines, and, making their escape northwards, were without avail hotly pursued by our troops.’

Great Dunmow’s War Memorial with the names of the Kemp brothers

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

You may be interested in the following post:
– The Cole family of Spitalfields Market (Louisa Cole (nee Parnall) story).
– Memorial Tablet – I died of starvation
– Memorial Tablet – I died of wounds
– The Willett family of Great Dunmow
– Postcard from the Front – To my dear wife and sonny
– War and Remembrance – The Making of a War Memorial
– Great Dunmow’s Roll of Honour

You may also be interested in the following websites:
– Royal Oak, Great Dunmow
– White Horse, Great Dunmow
– Great Dunmow’s War Memorial – my original research, including more photographs and transcriptions of primary sources held in Essex Record Office on Great Dunmow’s War Memorial.

© Essex Voices Past 2012-2013.