Photographs courtesy Valérie Ferris

As usual, the village celebrated this Royal occasion and it began with a Royal Ball in the village hall on Saturday, 7th May 2023: A tractor parade... And then a big lunch at the Three Horseshoes on Sunday, 8th May: And ending with a cricket match on Saturday, 23rd May, 2023: The Captains: Neil Woods and Mike Spencer

Photographs courtesy Valérie Ferris

From Thursley Parish Magazine October 2019 If you missed the well attended walk around Hammer Pond on Saturday 5th October here are some fascinating facts about this thriving industry. Why Thursley? Thursley Common possessed both iron ore for smelting and peat for fuel and the Hammer Pond could produce power for the hammer. The first reference to Thursley ironworks was in 1574 and it prospered throughout the 17th century. William Yalden was Thursley ironmaster with the industry bringing prosperity and employment to the local gentry – the Yaldens living at Heath Hall Farm and Bell and Smith living at Rake. By 1730 there was enough ore to support two forges and contracts with the Navy for Cannon and Shots. The ore was smelted and beaten into shape by water powered Hammers (the Surrey name for a forge) hence the connection with Hammer Pond. Demand for firebacks started to  replace guns and cannon and by late 1768 the industry was dead. This illustration of the Hammer Forge  shows – the hammer, for beating the iron against the anvil, whose shaft is  pivoted on posts and raised by knobs projecting from the drum, which was  connected to the water wheel by the shaft to produce the power for the hammer.

Reporting from Surrey Live: https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/blank-ammunition-firing-off-common-4818630 Photographs from our archive:

The Prince of Wales was proclaimed King George V following his father's death on 6 May 1910, and his Coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on 22 June From Wikipedia: 1911.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_George_V_and_Mary

From Wikipedia: Witley Military Camp, often simplified to Camp Witley, was a temporary army camp set up on Witley Common, Surrey, England during both the First and Second World Wars. The camp was about 40 mi (64 km) southwest of London. Camp Witley was one of three facilities in the Aldershot Command area established by the Canadian Army; the others being Bordon and Bramshott (nr. Liphook). Wilfred Owen penned a prelude to his ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ whilst stationed at the camp. Witley Camp was the headquarters of the Polish Resettlement Corps. From Surrey Museums.org.uk: Unearthing the Secrets of Witley Camp Godalming Museum was awarded £63,900 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out an exciting new community archaeology project at Witley Camp in 2019. Once a bustling military camp home to 20,000 British and Canadian soldiers as well as a veterinary hospital, the area today has returned to woodland with little trace of any remains. To ensure the camp is not forgotten, volunteers from the local community were invited to join professional archaeologists from Surrey County Archaeological Unit to carry out landscape surveys and excavations, learning new skills, meeting new people and increasing awareness about the site. For the first time, the National Trust owned site was recorded thoroughly, ensuring specific areas of interest were identified and preserved for future generations. The results of these excavations are still being processed, but will be made public through pop-up banners, a new museum display, education materials and loan boxes, ensuring the camp and its important history is not forgotten. Perhaps the most famous soldier who passed through the camp was Wilfred Owen. He was stationed at the camp in the summer of 1916. Whilst at Witley, Owen wrote ‘A New Heaven’, which he later reworked to form his famous poem ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the three camps were rebuilt by the British for use by Canadian troops and to train the local Home Guard. Witley was involved with the disastrous Canadian Army landings at Dieppe and was used as a holding area in the lead up to D-Day. Between 1946 and 1949, the camps were taken over as the headquarters of the Polish Resettlement Corps, helping resettle around 150,000 Poles and their families in Britain. The site was again returned to common land with little above the surface to tell the incredible tale. Many thousands of lives were impacted by the camp, but as the last veterans of the Second World War pass away, this memory is fading. It is hoped that a new audio guide, focusing on the First World War, will increase awareness of this important site.

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in March 2022 Part of the procession through the village en route to the cricket green With Michelle De Vries and her team currently busy planning fun and interesting activities for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, marking 70 years since Her Majesty’s accession to the throne, I thought it would be worth revisiting previous Jubilee’s for some inspiration. Indeed, it would appear that Thursley has never shied away from an opportunity to celebrate when a celebration is called for! Royal Jubilees are an occasion to celebrate the life and reign of a Monarch, and are significant events which are celebrated around the world. Though the concept of the jubilee began in biblical times, today the term is most closely associated with the Royal Family, and the ceremony and spectacle which the term symbolises. Royal Jubilees celebrate significant periods in monarchs' reigns and the national life. Few British monarchs have achieved reigns of 50 years, and Golden Jubilees are very rare. There are few records of how - if at all - Henry III, Edward III and James VI celebrated their 50-year milestones. The first British monarch to mark 50 years on the throne in a significant way was George III, followed by Queen Victoria. The Queen has had significant jubilee celebrations, in 1977 for her Silver, 2002 for her Golden, 2012 for her Diamond and 2017 for her Sapphire jubilee. The Silver Jubilee The climax of the national celebrations came in early June. On the evening of Monday 6 June, The Queen lit a bonfire beacon at Windsor which started a chain of beacons across the country. On Tuesday 7 June, vast crowds saw The Queen driven in the Gold State Coach to St Paul's Cathedral for a Service of Thanksgiving attended by heads of state from around the world and former prime ministers of the UK. An estimated 500 million people watched on television as the procession returned down The Mall. Back at Buckingham Palace, The Queen made several balcony appearances. Street parties and village parties started up all over the country: in London alone, 4,000 were reported to have been held. The final event of the central week of celebrations was a river progress down the Thames from Greenwich to Lambeth on Thursday 9 June, emulating the ceremonial barge trips of Elizabeth I. The journey ended with a firework display, and a procession of lighted carriages took The Queen back to Buckingham Palace for more balcony appearances to a cheering crowd. In Thursley, a whole host of events (for every age and predilections apparently) were planned under the watchful auspices of Norman Ratcliffe, then the village bobby, living in the police house on The Street. It all took place on Tuesday 7th June and I am guessing the following day must also have been a Bank Holiday as it was a busy old day, culminating in dancing until midnight! The programme of events from Norman was such: HORSE SHOW At 10am at Haybarn stables. Programme and entry form available from Thursley Stores, Thursley Post Office, the Police House and the Red Lion garage. OLD PEOPLE’S LUNCH At 12 noon in the Village Hall, a lunch and entertainment will be held for our senior citizens. PROCESSION At 2.30pm the procession will go from The Red Lion to the cricket field. Anyone is welcome to join in. Please come in fancy dress, on foot or horseback. You can organise a group float, decorate your cycle or car and just join in the fun. CRICKET MATCH At 3pm the Half Moon (one of three pubs in the village – Ed) will do battle against the Three Horseshoes, in a not too serious match. DOG DISPLAY At 5pm on the cricket field, there will be a display by Guardwell Security Dogs. CHILDRENS PARTY At 5.30pm all children of school age will be welcome to a party in the Village Hall. This will be tea and a magic show. DANCE AND CABARET The dance will be 8pm to 12 midnight on the cricket field. There will be a cabaret during the evening. Dancing will be to The Gold Top Roadshow. This is a show in its own right. There will be a bar. Wow! As I said, a full day and absolutely exhausting from the sounds of it! But I’ll bet a lot of fun was had. Golden Jubilee The central focus for the year was the Jubilee weekend in June 2002 which began with a classical music concert in the gardens at Buckingham Palace. There was a Jubilee Church Service at St George's Chapel in Windsor and a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral which followed a Ceremonial Procession from Buckingham Palace. Events culminated in a pop concert at Buckingham Palace with performers including Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Elton John and Shirley Bassey. The evening ended with a spectacular firework display and The Queen lighting the National Beacon, the last in a string of 2,006 beacons which had been lit in a chain across the Commonwealth. It was much more difficult to track down much information on the Golden Jubilee albeit it was in 2002, only twenty years ago. It was noted “that on Saturday the 1st June, there will be a Thursley Village party – a pig roast, jazz and fun for all the family in the Village Hall”. And so, it was to be. A fantastic whole village feast was prepared. Long tables were set up, bunting was hung and young and old enjoyed a day of sunshine, celebrations and commemorations for our dearly loved Queen. The Diamond Jubilee The Diamond Jubilee in 2012 celebrated the 60 years since the accession and was marked with a spectacular central weekend and a series of regional tours throughout the UK and Commonwealth. The central weekend began with The Queen’s visit to the Epsom Derby on the Saturday. On the Sunday, ‘Big Jubilee Lunches’ were held across the UK: building on the already popular ‘Big Lunch’ initiative, people were encouraged to share lunch with neighbours and friends as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant also took place on the Sunday, with up to 1,000 boats assembled on the Thames from across the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh travelled in the Royal Barge which formed the centrepiece of the flotilla. On the Monday, a host of famous faces came together to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee against the backdrop of Buckingham Palace for a concert organised by Take That singer and songwriter Gary Barlow for the BBC. Performers included Will.i.am, Stevie Wonder, Grace Jones and Kylie Minogue. Following the concert, The Queen lit the National Beacon: one of a network of 2,012 Beacons which were lit by communities and individuals throughout the UK, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the Commonwealth. In Thursley, as is tradition now, again a large marquee was erected in the garden of the village hall and a feast of pig roast was served to all villagers. Memories of the village Diamond Jubilee celebrations The Sapphire Jubilee 6 February 2017 marked 65 years since The Queen acceded to the throne, becoming the first British Monarch to mark their Sapphire Jubilee. To coincide with the occasion Buckingham Palace re-released a photograph of Her Majesty taken by David Bailey in 2014. In the photograph, The Queen is wearing a suite of sapphire jewellery given to her by King George VI as a wedding gift in 1947. And so, we look forward to our extended national celebrations this year for the Platinum Jubilee, from 2nd – 5th June, and in particular our own village celebrations. Never let it be said that Thursley doesn’t know how to celebrate and have a good time! And oh, how our fabulous, hard-working and admirable Queen is worthy of our celebrations. The earliest village Jubilee celebration found in our archives.

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in June 2023 I write this less than 48 hours after the brilliantly organised and wonderfully patriotic Coronation celebrations in Thursley. Congratulations to all involved. In our archives we have a most beautiful approved souvenir programme from the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that I thought some of the contents were worth sharing. It was published on 2nd June 1953. It begins with a poem from the Poet Laureate of the day, Mr John Masefield. “Our Gracious Sovereign This Lady whom we crown was born When buds were green upon the thorn And earliest cowslips showed; When still unseen by mortal eye One cuckoo tolled his “Here am I”, And over little glints of sky, In rain-pools whence the trickles flowed, The small snipe clattered wing. The swallows were upon the road, Nought but the cherry-blossom snowed, The promise was on all fields sowed Of Earth’s beginning Spring. Now that we crown Her as our Queen May love keep all her pathways green, May sunlight bless her days; May the fair Spring of her beginning Ripen to all things worth the winning, The very surest of our praise That mortal men attempt. May this old land revive and be Again a star set in the sea, A Kingdom fit for such as She With glories yet undreamt”. Here is a family tree, useful to those of us that didn’t study English history (ask me anything about William Wallace!). By Arthur Bryant: “Our Queen who is crowned today is descended from Alfred – the lonely King who saved England by his courage and Christendom by his example, and, single-handed, recreated civilisation in a ruined land. She is the descendent of the great Norman who, though he conquered England, made her the first national kingdom of Europe. Of Edward I, father of our Parliament; of the first and wisest of the Tudors and she is the great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. As on this historic day she rides, radiant and crowned, in her golden coach through the ranks of her cheering peoples, she expresses the dedication of a vast part of the human family to the task of making earth a juster, kindlier and more gently place.” Souvenir coronation flag issued to celebrate the coronation of Elizabeth II. The portrait of the new Queen is surrounded by four flags, including that of Australia (the Red Ensign), superimposed on a Union Jack And finally, towards the end of the booklet, it lists the who, when and where details of the State Procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. Amongst the many grand sounding visitors were: His Highnesses the Sultans of Lehej, Selangor, Johore, Perak, Zanzibar and Kelantan. Also invited were the Queen’s Honorary Physicians, Surgeons, Dental Surgeons and Chaplains. Recognisable names included The Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill (Prime Minister), Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (aka “Monty”) and Vice-Admiral The Earl Mountbatten of Burma (our Kings favourite Uncle). The History Society has ordered the official programme from our Kings Coronation and hopefully it will be stored safely in our archives for future generations to read and remember. If you have any records, mementoes or memorabilia from this Coronation, or in fact from anything to do with Thursley or its people, and would be happy to donate it to our archives, please contact jackierickenberg@gmail.com or alisonhanbury@live.co.uk.

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in October 2022 We will all truly be ensconced in Autumn when you read this, but currently I am reflecting on the long, hot summer we either endured or savoured, depending on your disposition! It made me think about how we managed in years gone by and what tips we could, in fact, glean from those days. So, as we approach what will invariably be a difficult winter for an awful lot of people, from these articles, we are reminded that our sense of community is more important than ever. From “In Days Gone By” by Lucy Good, she writes: “After being without electricity and trouble with the water recently, reminds me of days gone by in the village when we had a very hot summer and a drought. I lived in Yew Cottage. My father, Thomas Karn, worked with grandad and Uncle Jack in the Forge (the Karns at the shop were another family). There was no electricity in the village in those days or water on the mains. The rain water butts and tanks were empty and then the wells dried up. I can see my father now, with a wooden yoke with two pails on, struggling up Dye House Hill after getting some water from the stream at the bottom which, in those days, fell into a small waterfall before going under the road. The water had to be for drinking, washing, cooking etc, and also some had to be brought up to use in the Forge. Mr Rapley at Hill Farm had a horse-drawn water cart which he used to get water for the animals and also to water the cricket pitch which was done with the horse’s hooves bound with sacks to save them churning the green up. Everyone had oil lamps and candles for lighting – and of course, coal or log fires and stoves for cooking on. Apart from all this, what we did have were two shops. Karn’s Stores, where their bread was baked in a brick oven heated by wood faggots and always hot cross buns on Good Friday mornings, delivered on the door step still warm. The oven had to be kept heated and on Sunday mornings one could take their joint or a cake along and get them cooked for a penny for each one”. Taken from Dye House showing the steep gradient of the hill In “Disappearances” written by Mary Bennett, she reflects on the changing landscape and how nature is being affected by the climate and ever-changing world. “One of the changes in the Thursley scene during my lifetime has been the disappearance of ponds. Before the late 1940’s every farm had one. Cows drank from them, ducks swam on them, swallows hawked over them, frogs spawned on them. One of my great failures as a godparent was when I assured a child in need of tadpoles that there were bound to be lots in the pond in Smallbrook Lane and then arrived to discover that it had been cleaned up and turned into an ornamental pool. Later it went altogether. Where do frogs go to breed now? Or have they been eliminated? (I do believe it has been reinstated – Ed). What else has vanished? Elms and rabbits, of course, though both are doing their best to come back. The big hedge-elms went not many years after the war, victims of the axe rather than the bug. Before that we called the straight stretch of Highfield Lane immediately above Homefields, “The Avenue” because it was bordered with such fine trees. They made it very dark when one walked up from the village on a winter evening, so that it was a comfort to come back into the starlight as one turned the corner; all the more of a comfort since at that point there was a nasty little echo that sounded like footsteps padding along behind one. Alarming in a different way was an occasional sight of the big white barn owl that lived, I think, in a tumble-down, ivy-grown barn behind Hedge (now Rawdon). The brown owl can still be heard from time to time, but I suspect that it is a very long time since a white owl was last in evidence in Thursley. Bats and butterflies are both much scarcer than they were. What child would now covet a butterfly net? A few years ago, I would have said the same of chaffinches, but they seem to be coming back even more successfully than rabbits or elms. I was delighted to encounter quite a good flock in Highfield Lane last winter, even though it was nothing to compare with the huge flocks that once used to turn up, with supporting parties of greenfinches, every time that one fed the hens during the winter months. I suppose that the grubbing up of many hedges must have made all the everyday hedge birds thinner on the ground, but as long as there were some of them about one doesn’t really notice until they vanish completely. I don’t remember when the cuckoo started to become so much rarer. In May, cuckoos once really did sing all day, everywhere, and one often saw them flying over the fields, cucking and burbling as they went. House martins, anxiously awaited, still turn up; but in the last few years the swallow has all but vanished. Is all this the result of events in Africa, or is it anything to do with damage to habitat here? Does everyone in every country tidy up too much? It is melancholy to think that a child growing up in Thursley in future might have to go to a special reserve to see a tadpole or an owl, and might never see a swallow at all”. Interesting that Colin the cuckoo, so admired by a pilgrimage of twitchers every May on the parish field, would have had a lot more feathered friends than he does today. This was written around the mid 1980’s (although some of it refers to much earlier times, as does the first article), after the last major epidemics of Dutch elm disease and myxomatosis had ravaged the country. And I’m not sure the memories, certainly from my childhood, of the pastime of young children capturing butterflies in jam jars, is to be encouraged these days!

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in October 2021 (see also separate entry for The Hindhead Murder 1786 - 1986. The Unknown Sailor was an anonymous seafarer murdered in the Devil’s Punchbowl in September 1786, and buried in Thursley’s churchyard. His murderers were hanged in chains on Gibbet Hill, Hindhead the following year. In his book Who was the Sailor murdered at Hindhead 1786 (2000), Peter Moorey argues the case that the Unknown Sailor's identity was Edward Hardman, born in 1752 in Lambeth, London, although this has not been confirmed. The story goes thus: The sailor was visiting the Red Lion Inn at Thursley, as he was walking back from London to join his ship at Portsmouth on 24 September 1786. There, he met three other seafarers, James Marshall, Michael Casey and Edward Lonegon. He generously paid for their drinks and food and was last seen leaving for Hindhead Hill with them. The three seafarers murdered and robbed him and stripped him of his clothes. The three then made their way down the London to Portsmouth road (now the A3) and were arrested a few hours later trying to sell the murdered sailor's clothes at the Sun Inn in Rake. The Hampshire Chronicle, dated 2 October 1786, reads: Sunday last a shocking murder was committed by three sailors, on one of their companions, a seaman also, between Godalming and Hindhead. They nearly severed his head from his body, stripped him quite naked, and threw him into a valley, where he was providentially discovered, soon after the perpetration of the horrid crime, by some countrymen corning over Hind Head, who immediately gave the alarm, when the desperadoes were instantly pursued, and overtaken at the house of Mr. Adams, The Sun, at Rake. They were properly secured, and are since lodged in gaol, to take their trials at the next assizes for the county of Surrey. Six months later they were tried at Kingston assizes (the precursor of Crown Courts) and two days after that, on Saturday 7 April 1787, they were hanged in chains on a triple gibbet close to the scene of the crime in Hindhead. The blacksmith who made the chains and gibbet was Richard Court who is buried in Thursley churchyard and his headstone bears the inscription: ‘My Sledge and Hammer lie reclin’d, My Bellows too have lost their wind; My Fire is out, and Forge decay’s, And in the Dust my Vice is laid.’ The sailor was buried in our churchyard and the gravestone was paid for by the residents of the village. It reads: In memory of A generous but unfortunate Sailor Who was barbarously murder'd on Hindhead On September 24th 1786 By three Villains After he had liberally treated them And promised them his farther assistance On the road to Portsmouth. The Sailor's Stone at Gibbet Hill (in The Punchbowl) was erected by James Stillwell of nearby Cosford Mill soon after the murder. It was sited on the Old Coaching Road from London to Portsmouth close to the site of the murder. The inscription on the front of the stone reads: ERECTED In detestation of a barbarous Murder Committed here on an unknown Sailor On Sep, 24th 1786 By Edwd. Lonegon, Mich. Casey & Jas. Marshall Who were all taken the same day And hung in Chains near this place Whoso sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed: Genesis Chap 9 Ver 6 In 1851 Sir William Erle paid for the erection of a granite Celtic cross on Gibbet Hill on the site of the scaffold. He did this to dispel the fears and superstitions of local people and to raise their spirits. The cross has four Latin inscriptions around its base. They read: POST TENEBRAS LUX IN OBITU PAX IN LUCE SPES POST OBITUM SALUS which translate to "Light after darkness. Peace in passing away. Hope in light. Salvation after death." All monuments are standing to this day. St Michael and All Angels churchyard The murder of the unknown sailor has always attracted press coverage: Extract from The Daily Universal Register, 4 October As well as monographs and other literature: From the Francis Frith Collection: Front and back cover of latest edition of Peter Moorey's book.

This article written by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Parish Magazine in June 2022 Well, isn’t life strange? I’ve been writing and collating these reports for a couple of years now, and just when I find myself, for the first time, scrambling around for something interesting and topical, along comes a best-selling book and film with a somewhat tenuous but nevertheless curious connection to our sleepy Surrey village. As Paulo Coelho once wisely said “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. I shall tell you the tale first and I wonder how long it will take you to name the book and film (in cinema’s now, as I write this in late April). On Christmas Eve 1919, a chap called Walter Wright sold Rock Cottage, at the very top of Highfield Lane at the head of the Valley of the Rocks, to the President of the Board of Education (what would now be the Secretary of State) H A L Fisher. In fact, it was not Herbert Fisher who made the decision to buy Rock Cottage – it was his wife Lettice (at the time they had a seven-year-old daughter called Mary). She committed them to the purchase on the basis of one brief visit, being largely persuaded by the fact that Walter Wright’s daughter who was residing in the property during this visit, was called Lettice Mary! Fisher was born in London in 1865, the eldest son of eleven children. Direct relatives included brother-in-law, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and first cousins Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell, and his godfather was the Prince Consort. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford and it was there he took up his first post as a tutor in Modern History. By 1913 he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and by 1916 Fisher was elected Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam. He joined David Lloyd George’s government as President of the Board of Education. And of course, Lloyd George became Churt’s most famous resident a year later. Coincidence, or were they close? He was sworn on the Privy Council, therefore becoming The Right Honourable, and it was in this post that he was instrumental in the formulation of the Education Act 1918, which made school attendance compulsory for children up to the age 14. Fisher was also responsible for the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act 1918, which provided pension provision for all teachers. So, when Herbert Fisher bought Rock Cottage a year later, in 1919, he was already a committed, hard-working MP and government minister and remained so for a further 7 years. When he retired from politics in 1926, at the age of 61, he took up the post of warden of New College, Oxford which he held until his death. During his long, illustrious career he served on the British Academy, the British Museum, the Rhodes Trustees, the National Trust, The Governing Body of Winchester College, the London Library and the BBC. In 1939, he was appointed the first chairman of the Appellate Tribunal for Conscientious Objectors. Unfortunately, this inadvertently would be responsible for his demise on 18th April 1940. On this date, whilst in London to sit on a Conscientious Objectors’ Tribunal during a blackout on what was called a London “pea souper”, H A L Fisher was knocked down by a lorry and died in St Thomas’s Hospital. Now, what was it about this honourable man’s life and ultimately, his death, that made it into a best-selling book and film? Well, bizarrely it was his underpants. You see, Fisher had left a few of his possessions - clothes, his library of books, etc in New College, Oxford and they were still there a couple of years later, when in 1943, Operation Mincemeat was being planned and executed. This is now the name of the best-selling book by Ben Macintyre and a film starring Colin Firth. Operation Mincemeat was a British Intelligence operation to deceive enemy forces, where they undertook the invention of a false Royal Marines officer, whose body was to be dropped at sea in the hope the false intelligence it carried, would be believed. It was, indeed, a success and was responsible for misleading German intelligence and possibly influencing the eventual outcome of the war. The following excerpt from the book, explains the details that joined the otherwise unlikely chain of events: “Underwear was a more ticklish problem. Cholmondeley, (intelligence officer) understandably, was unwilling to surrender his own, since good underwear was hard to come by in rationed, wartime Britain. They consulted John Masterman, Oxford academic and chairman of the Twenty Committee, who came up with a scholarly solution that was also personally satisfying. “The difficulty of obtaining underclothes, owing to the system of coupon rationing”, wrote Masterman “was overcome by the acceptance of a gift of thick underwear from the wardrobe of the late Warden of New College, Oxford”. Major Martin (the corpse’s new identity) would be kitted out with the flannel vest and underpants of none other than H A L Fisher, the distinguished Oxford historian and former President of the Board of Education in Lloyd George’s Cabinet. John Masterman and H A L Fisher had both taught history at Oxford in the 1920’s, and had long enjoyed a fierce academic rivalry. Fisher was a figure of ponderous grandeur and gravity who ran New College, according to one colleague, as “one enormous mausoleum”. Masterman considered him long-winded and pompous. Fisher had been run over and killed by a lorry while attending a tribunal examining the appeals of conscientious objectors, of which he was chairman. The obituaries paid resounding tribute to his intellectual and academic stature, which nettled Masterman. Putting the great man’s underclothes on a dead body and floating it into German hands was just the sort of joke that appealed to his odd sense of humour. Masterman described the underwear as a “gift”; it seems far more likely that he simply arranged for the dead don’s drawers to be pressed into war service”. So, there you have it, an eminent academic and politician who served his government and country, published many important papers, bills, reference and textbooks – and his legacy we’re talking about today is his underwear, high quality though it may have been. Although The Rt Hon H A L Fisher was the last man, until the present day, to have bought Rock Cottage, he spent most of his time in London and Oxford. However, his wife and daughter, both extraordinary woman in their own rights, lived in Thursley for many years and I will be delving more into their past next month. Special thanks to Sally Scheffers and to Arthur Lindley, the current owner of Rock Cottage, for their help and assistance this month. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-war-on-paper-operation-mincemeat