| Collection | Winstanley Oral History Collection |
| Description | R. A. Clarke, born 1892, interviewed in Deal. His father was a medical student but didn’t sit exam, he was then a manager of a public house (Red Lion). His mother was an estate manager. He came from a family of four boys and two girls. His job was an engineer in Northampton, later worked for Bentley and Rolls Royce 1919.
Track 1 [1:35:36] [Session one: first interview: 5 February 1975] Introduction: Mr Reginald Arthur Clarke [RAC] of 52 Salisbury Road, Walmer, Deal, Kent. RAC born Wingham, 1892. [00:53] Description of father, a medical student, Guy’s hospital. Father worked with cricketer W.G. Grace. Father went to Daventry as a locum where he met his mother. Moved to Wingham. [04:02] Maternal grandmother owned Lion Hotel, Wingham. Maternal grandfather was an estate manager. [05:01] Mentions Goodnestone Park, the Bridges Plumptre family and Lord Fitzwalter. Grandfather’s connection with the Goodnestone House. Grandfather was vicar of Goodnestone and Lord of the Manor. Grandparents lived in the Dower House. Mother born in Tirringham House near Newport Pagnell. Father born in Cowes, Isle of Wight. Father worked with Charles Gray Montgomery Lewis. [08:09] Description of RAC’s five siblings and where they live. RAC went to Simon Langton School. [10.19] Story of Diamond Jubilee review at Spithead. Aunt Jocelyn was headmistress of Fratton Girls School, Portsmouth. Cousin was Sir Arthur Street, Air Ministry Private Secretary. [12:03] Describes travelling by train to Portsmouth and introduction of the motor car. [12:54] Father dropped being a doctor. Father was Worshipful Master in 1907. [13:58] Went to a prep school kept by Miss Hudson. Started Schenck’s Boys School in Ash in 1902. Mother died in 1902 in childbirth. Remarks on his maternal aunt who brought up the family. Started Langton in 1905. Met the sons of Charles Petley of Staple who went to Chatham House School, Ramsgate. Mentions that Edward Heath went to Chatham House. [16:56] Story of Harold bringing apples for RAC and brother Gerald. Mentions the Lovell family. [17:25] Mentions old choir mistress who lives in Broadstairs. Mentions the Dog pub. Tells story about playing trick on schoolmaster, Tom Pilcher. Describes parson, James Makinson Fox, M.A, and William Church. Mentions Captain John Robinson. Tells story of a trick that he played with Gerald. [21:13] Mentions that he had to pay to attend his schools. Peter Ledger, form master and assistant headmaster. Describes the form system. Mentions the subjects he took. School had Wimshurst machine. Anecdote about misbehaving in lab. Mentions getting knocked silly by Leaming the science master. Mentions Buck Lindley the art master. Describes only knowing the first ten lines of ‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel’. [25:38] Mentions being taught to swim at Whitehall Baths. [26:44] Headmaster, William P. Mann. [28:02] E.R.J. Granville was known as the ‘One-Armed Terror’. [28:55] Left school with equivalent of a General Certificate of Secondary Education. [29:40] Describes how his father wanted him to go to sea. [31:34] Mentions Wingham Agricultural Company which became Wingham Engineering Company. They had Aveling and Porter, Charles Berrel of Thetford, Martin, Wallis and Stevens of Basingstoke and Orchins on the Globe Works, Northampton. [31:53] Given introduction by Fred Elgar. [33:30] Description of friendship with Armstrong and wickedness of the foreman. [36:12] Mentions kibbler machine which ground corn. [36:50] Mentions Ernest Borg of the Margate Corporation. [37:44] Mentions the Margate Water Works at Addisham Road, Wingham. [38:22] RAC describes pumping water to Margate, 1909. [39:14] Frank Stanley, Chief Engineer at the Water Works. Introduced RAC to the first socialist paper, the Clarion by Robert Ratchford. Discussion of reception of socialist ideas. [41:40] Describes pay from Wingham implement and Margate Corporation. [43:00] Worked for uncle in Northampton. Mentions Foden steam waggon. [48:55] Lived in Firecotton. [49:50] Mentions relatives who were farmers in Stoke Goldington. Uncles Ebenezer and Harry associated with Midland Carriageworks. [51:02] Mentions Ram pub near All Saints Church, Northampton, and Queens Cross Hill.
[Session two: second interview: 19 February 1975] [53:27] Introduction: second interview with RAC. [53:53] Discussion of not being allowed to drink and smoke. [56:10] mentions Captain John Robinson [58:31] Discusses village policeman who lived at the sessions house, Adisham Road. [59:20] Lengthy discussion of Romany Gypsies, travellers and hop-pickers. RAC would pick hops as a boy. [1:04:45] RAC met his wife, Hilda, at four years old. Anecdote about having tea with her. [1:05:40] The hop-pickers would be turned away from his father’s pub if they misbehaved. His was a posh pub. Mentions his father’s poor driving. [1:08:15] Mentions his aunt having married a farmer from Trapham. [1:08:55] Discusses the pub’s opening hours and the people who stayed in their hotel and his grandmother’s cooking. [1:12:03] Mentions the wireless at the Langton in 1905, the Wimshurst machine, Marconi Coherer and iron filings detector. [1:13:15] Discusses who was allowed to stay overnight at the hotel. Describes ‘genuine travellers’. [1:15:04] Mentions that there was no competition between the pubs. [1:15:31] RAC’s father was a Tory. Mentions 1906 election. His father had disagreement with Flea Goodman. [1:16:45] The policeman was a popular figure and there was no such thing as lawlessness. [1:18:00] Story about poaching game fish and getting caught. Mentions animals along the river. Discusses fox hunts and Henry Selby-Lowndes of East Kent Foxhounds. The foxhounds would meet at Ickham church or Wickhambreaux church. Mentions his grandfather’s relation to Lord Fitzwalter. [1:24:41] Discusses rabbit poaching and the Lion pub’s history. [1:28:47] Discusses rook pie, roasted sucking pig and calf’s head. [1.32.12] Discusses animal slaughter.
Track 2 [0:59:15] [continuation of second interview: 19 February 1975] [00:20] Discusses fishing and selling fish in Wingham. [03:19] Discusses Sunday dinners and the price of food. [06:49] Mentions poorer people in the village. [08:22] Mentions how young animals were sometimes brought up by the Moat family. [10:23] His father had a De Lavel milk separator. [12:17] Mentions having ice brought from the Ramsgate Ice Company to keep meat cool. [12:43] Canterbury cattle market was the closest market. [13:54] Shopping in Canterbury. Ladies would shop at Le Fevres or Hattons and the men to Orchards. Mentions Fayter the pastry cooks. Finns the grocery delivered to the village. [16:51] Discusses snobbery, especially in Wickhambreaux. [18:24] Mentions the Lovells and Bramford families. [18:55] Mentions Adisham and Staple. His father’s friend, Franks, was a miller and farmer in Staple. [19:38] Ickham was a place apart from Wingham. [20:00] Discusses Wingham Choral Society. Johnny Read, assistant master at the choir school. [20:50] Story of a sergeant of the Royal Garrison Artillery at an installation banquet. [24:30] Mentions Kent County Cricket Club. [24:58] RAC would not go near the Canterbury barracks. His father’s snobbery. [26:05] No singing allowed in the Red Lion. Mentions father’s German machine which played tunes. Mentions local Licenced Victuallers Association. [27:20] RAC’s father was better off than trades people. [28:40] Father left Wingham in 1914 and took on the Seven Stars in Canterbury then retired to Herne Bay. RAC got married in 1914. [30:26] His father got beer from Ash Brewery. Mentions Watts of Sandwich and Lukeys of Dover. [31:28] RAC didn’t visit many places other than Canterbury. Described his daily routine and not having much time to himself. [33:08] Discusses dances and social life in the village. Explains Board Schools and Church Schools. Mentions village dancing, country dancing, foxtrot and polka. [39:00] RAC’s father-in-law was Wingham churchwarden. RAC was confirmed by the Bishop of Dover. [39:45] Discussion of social advancement and having to leave the village. [40:20] Story about Lindsell, the agent for Mercedes motor cars who died in car accident. [42:28] Village superstitions. The village was very religious. [44:55] Discusses his father’s pastimes and being well off financially. [47:25] John Robinson the farmer, Charles Gray Montgomery Lewis the doctor, Lovell the builder and Elgar the managing director of Wingham Implement Company were the top people in the village. The congregational parson was an outsider. [48:48] Mentions Salvation Army band and hall, different social classes and the end of the Boer War. [51:25] Recounts being a soldier in France when he was in the Air Force. Tells story of getting fed by Salvation Army. [53:09] People helped each other out in the village. No one was out of work. Mentions the Poor Law Institution in Eastry. [55:05] Describes how East Kent farm labourers changed jobs at Michaelmas. Describes outsiders as ‘foreigners’ but there were marriages between people from different villages.
Summary created by Amilia Gillies, volunteer, May 2023.
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