Nostalgia by Neil Rees

Neil Lamond from Ley Hill has contacted us about a mystery photograph which has come to light in the village.

Ley Hill Village Hall

Ley Hill is a village near Chesham. In the late 1800s the Schoolhouse behind the Common (now called the Old School House) doubled as a community hall, where many meetings were held. In July 1919 a committee was formed which decided to build a hall as a War Memorial for local groups, meetings and entertainment. Fundraising then started.

The village hall was built on land donated by Lord Chesham. It was formally opened on 14th January 1922 with the Bishop of Buckingham and Lord Chesham in attendance. The hall was a wooden building 50 feet long, 24 feet wide and 16 feet high at its peak. There was an exterior lamp above the entrance gate with “War Memorial Institute” printed on it. Inside the hall a wooden memorial was hung up for those who died in the Great War inscribed with “Lest We Forget”, and a “Roll of Honour” was hung up for those who served.

The new hall

In the mid-1990s, rather than continually repairing and updating the hall, it was decided that it was better just to rebuild the entire hall, to make one fit for purpose for new millenium. The old hall was demolished and the new one on the same site was officially opened by Lord Chesham in December 1999.

When the old hall was demolished a lot of items were stored in a local barn and then returned to the loft of the new hall. Amongst the items was an old photograph of men in uniform with a silver bowl. Other photographs and items which have been found have been identified but this one remains a mystery.

Local photographs

Over the years different photographs, memorials and banners have hung on the walls at different times. This photograph looks like a prize-winning volunteer artillery unit from the 1890s.

It probably hung on the wall in the Village Hall in its early years, and then was put in a box where it remained ever since.

It must have had a local connection but this has now been forgotten, and we would like to know what it is.

Perhaps someone reading this will know? The clues on the photograph are as follows:

Who are the men?

The group seems be of a Volunteer Artillery unit. Most of the soldiers are in a Royal Blue uniform and wearing caps with a red cap band, apart from three sergeants whose uniforms and caps are piped in silver.

These caps were known as pillbox forage caps, and were no longer used after 1902.

The men with the chevrons on their caps are of the rank of Bombardier and Lance Bombardier, which is equivalent to Corporal for gunners.

On their collars some of the men have images of Royal Artillery fusil bombs (the forerunner of grenades). Some of the men are wearing medals which appear to be the Volunteer Long Service Medal, which came out in 1894. The men seem to have crossed canons on their sleeves indicating that they are of first class gunner rank, some with a proficiency badge above.

On their sleeves above the trefoil cuff, some of them have a small star. Each star indicates 5 years efficient service, and some of the men seem to have 2, 3 or more of these

Where is it taken?

We think the photograph is most likely taken at Shoeburyness in Essex where an annual competition for volunteer artillery was held each summer.

The object which looks like a clock in the background is a range indicator.

Artillery competitions resulted in the award of silver bowls and trophies.

The large silver bowl in this photograph has three shields attached to the bottom of it.

Newspaper search

A look in the local newspapers for that period led to the discovery of a brief newspaper article in the last column of page 6 for the Bucks Examiner of 6th May 1898 which reads “Mr. Sherriff Dewar has presented a Challenge Trophy to the National Artillery Association for competition at Shoeburyness in August next.

The trophy is in the form of a massive silver bowl.” Could this be the event?

Appeal

For much of this information we would like to thank the National Army Museum for their assistance.

If anyone has any clues about the local connection of the photograph, please let us know by contacting me on 01494 258328 or by email at nwrees@gmail.com.