HARRIS, Audrey Sophia “Sophie” (1900-1966) and Margaret Frances “Peggy” (1904-2000)
HARRIS, Audrey Sophia “Sophie” (1900 – 1966) and Margaret Frances “Percy” (1904 -2000) Theatrical set and costume designers Sophie Devine (née Harris) (photo Sophie Jump) Margaret ‘Percy’ Harris The early years of the well known founders of the Motley Company, Audrey and Margaret (Percy) Harris, were spent in Hayes. They were the daughters of William and Kathleen Harris and until 1937 their home was the White House, Hayes, although they trained and later had their studio in London. Their mother Kathleen had artistic leanings and was a keen amateur photographer. From an early age they were encouraged to dress up and had a fairly unrestricted life exploring and playing on the Common. Both Sophie and Margaret inherited their mother’s talent but sadly she died in 1916. Before Kathleen died she was a member of the Kent 50 VADs which Audrey joined as soon as she was old enough, serving at Oakley VAD Hospital on Bromley Common until the war ended. After the war the sisters became involved with local organisations helping with the newly formed Girl Guides and with the plays performed by the local Women’s Institute. In 1928, for example, Percy Harris made the costumes for a Guide entertainment that raised £8. In 1930 Audrey Harris, took part in a WI production of scenes from ‘Quality Street’ by J M Barrie and in 1931 both Peggy and Audrey took part in a Hayes WI performance for which they made the costumes. Also starring was Elizabeth Montgomery whom they met when they were at Art College in London and with whom they formed the influential Motley Company. Their Company became renowned for its theatrical designs of sets and costumes. Hilda Reader, daughter of the Hayes village dressmaker, was the principal costume cutter for about 30 years. In the beginning, Motley operated from the White House until premises were found in London. Their first major client was John Gielgud when he directed a production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1932. They also designed the costumes for his ‘Merchant of Venice’ at the Old Vic in the same year. The operation expanded and eventually they needed to employ a staff of 60. Laurence Olivier called them ‘magical’ designers and used them for his ‘Macbeth’ in 1937 and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on Broadway in 1940. Sophie married actor and director George Devine in July 1939. Sophie died in 1966 and Peggy then set up the Motley Theatre Design Company. She visited the White House a few months before she died on 10 May 2000. Further information Mullin M, Design by Motley, University of Delaware Press , 1996Strachan Alan, Motley Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP, 2004.
HARRIS, Norman
HARRIS, Norman 7 November 1898 – 26 November 1914Midshipman Norman Harris was the second son of William Birbeck and Kathleen Harris of the White House, Hayes. He was sent to Osborne Naval College at the age of 11 and later to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. On the outbreak of war in 1914 his parents received a telegram saying ‘we are mobilised’. Short of naval officers, the eldest boys from the college were made midshipmen. The ship to which he was posted, HMS Bulwark, was loading ammunition at its base in Sheerness when a huge explosion destroyed it. Norman Harris was killed. He was just 16 years old and became the youngest of the Hayes casualties in the First World War. Memorial in Hayes Parish Church
THOMPSON, Thomas Sparke
THOMPSON, Thomas Sparke 28 March 1798 – 6 September 1873Naval career, Churchwarden, School Trustee Thomas Sparke Thomas began his naval career as young boy in 1811. He was a Lieutenant when he proposed to Henrietta, daughter of James Norman of Bromley Common. Her brother George was very concerned about the proposed match writing to his sister that he did not doubt that Thomas was a gentleman but that he should not have asked for her hand in marriage and that she would not be able to live on his income. ‘Think of the situation of your offspring if you have the fortitude to support the pangs of poverty’. However, the marriage took place in 1830 and Thomas continued in his naval career gradually moving up the chain of command. In 1832 he became a Commander. Family His daughter Emma was born in 1835,and her brother Norman a year later but he died in New Zealand in 1881. Another daughter, Henrietta, was born in Hastings in 1840. Shortly after her birth the family moved to the Nest in Hayes where Henry was born in 1842. They employed three resident servants. When Thomas was posted abroad. Henrietta was able to rely on the support of her Norman family, particularly her brother George, who lived nearby. Career – From Captain to Rear- Admiral In 1843 Thomas was at Chatham when he wrote to thank his brother-in-law for his gift of wine and saying he would be going to Plymouth ‘my ship looks very beautiful, has stored four months provisions under hatches for 130 men without difficulty’. He entrusted his wife and children to George’s care. The next year he was back in Hayes. He was described as churchwarden and a guardian of the poor when arrangements were made to sell the Parish Workhouse. Soon after he was again at sea and wrote to his brother-in-law, my dear Norman, from his ship HMS Comus in Buenos Ayres discussing how they were likely to remain there until the question of peace or war was settled. In 1846 he was made a Captain but remained at sea, mainly off the South East coast of America returning to Sheerness in 1850. The family had left Hayes on his appointment but returned in 1852 to move into Street House which George Norman had bought in 1841 and this remained his home for the rest of his life. Parish Activities He was soon involved in parish activities and very concerned with the plans to build a north aisle to the Parish Church in 1856, for which he donated 11 guineas and his daughter Henrietta 1 guinea. Thomas was also one of the contributors to the East Window installed in Hayes Parish Church. He was able to persuade George Norman that it would be a fitting memorial to the memory of his eldest son George Herman Norman, who was killed during the Crimean War in June 1855. Death of son Henry Sadly, two years later, his only son Henry, who had followed his father into the navy, died during the attack on Canton in 1857. A memorial panel showing Christ helping the lame beggars was erected in the north sanctuary window. In memory of Henry Thompson, Midshipman of HMS Sanspareil who fell mortally wounded in the assault on Canton on the 29th Dec 1857 and died on the following day, aged 15 years and 11 months. This window was erected by some friends in the neighbourhood on Oct. 30 1858 Henry Thompson window North Sanctuary, Hayes Parish Church Henry Thompson’s China Medal 1857 Other parochial matters with which Thomas Thompson became involved were with a committee to examine encroachments on the Common in 1859 and the restoration of the Church Tower in 1862 to which he contributed £20. He remained a churchwarden until 1872. A new organ was installed in 1862 and was played by his daughter Henrietta who was a talented musician. The village school also occupied his attention, particularly in 1860 when an unfavourable Inspector’s Report meant a decision had to be taken about the existing teacher Mr Chaplin. The school finances were also in a poor condition and an appeal was made to parishioners for contributions. Death of wife HenriettaHis wife Henrietta rejoiced with him at his appointment as a Rear- Admiral (Retired) in 1864. However, she died two years later in July 1866. He commissioned a stained glass window in her memory to be installed in the north aisle of Hayes Church. Memorial window to Henrietta Thompson He continued to live in Hayes with his daughters Emma, Henrietta and three domestic servants. In 1871 he continued in his post as Guardian of the Poor and was also made a Vice-Admiral. After his death in 1873 he was buried in the churchyard beside his wife. Neither of their daughters married and they continued to live at Street House after their father’s death. Emma died and was buried in an adjacent plot in 1881. Henrietta remained in Hayes until 1887 and continued to play the church organ until the death of the Rector, Revd George Varenne Reed. She moved to Keston and became the organist at St Audrey’s Chapel, which had been recently built by Lord Sackville Cecil. She died at Millfield, Keston and was interred in her parent’s grave in Hayes Churchyard in 1919. References:Kent Archives U310/206Bromley Historic Collections P180St Mary the Virgin, Hayes, Kent Church Guide
CECIL, Sackville Arthur
CECIL, Sackville Arthur16 March 1848 – 29 January 1898Railway Manager, Engineer, Parish Councillor Sackville Arthur Cecil was the fourth son of the second Marquess of Salisbury and the eldest of his children by his second marriage with Mary Sackville-West. When he moved to Hayes most people called him Lord Sackville. His main interest, encouraged by his father, was engineering. He took a degree in Applied Science at Cambridge and subsequently served an apprenticeship at the Great Eastern and the Great Northern Railway workshops at Doncaster and Kings Cross. Then he became chief electrician with the task of laying the submarine cable between Marseilles and Boma, at the mouth of the Congo. An illness forced his return to England. His mother, the widowed Lady Salisbury, left the family home at Hatfield after her marriage to Lord Derby in 1870 and moved to Holwood House, Keston, with five of her children. She and Lord Derby stayed for two years before moving to the family seat of the Derbys at Knowlsley but her son Lord Sackville Cecil preferred to remain in Kent. Arrival in Hayes At the age of 25 in 1873 he decided to build his own house on the edge of Hayes Common. The result was the Oast House. He employed Philip Webb as his architect but it was Charles Vinall who finally carried out the design. He spent two years as an Assistant Manager with the Great Eastern Company 1878 – 80 and five years in charge of the London Metropolitan Underground Company. In February 1880 Lord Derby recorded: ‘Hear that Sackville has accepted the traffic managership of the Metropolitan District line, £1500 a year’. He also became chairman of the Exchange Telegraph Company and had a great interest in conducting electrical and other experiments. Not surprisingly, in view of his interests, Lord Sackville Cecil was soon seeking permission from the Common Conservators to lay an underground telegraph from his house along the road to Dr Morris’s house at Baston Farm and then to the corner of the adjacent common. With his friend Herbert McLeod in 1877 he set up a telephone system and tested it by transmitting all kinds of sounds, including the sound of the flute played by a local schoolteacher. Contribution to Hayes Church He was on extremely good terms with the rector, Revd G V Reed, and read the lessons during the later years of the rector’s life. It was remarked by Daniel Kettle that Lord Sackville was ‘at once an honorary curate and an adopted son’. In 1878 he anonymously gave the money for the building of the south aisle of the church and south transept to house an organ chamber. He was particularly keen on organ music. On the wall of the south aisle stands the following inscription:The transept for the organ with the vestry/adjoining were the gift of a parishioner. And to increase/ the accommodation for the poor this aisle was built by/him upon condition that all the seats therein should be for ever free and unappropriated.After the rector’s death he transferred his church work to Keston where he built St Audrey’s Private Chapel.A later rector, Revd Percy Thompson, said that Lord Sackville Cecil was a handyman who kept a bag of tools in the church to put things right if anything went wrong with the bells or the organ. He acted as parish clerk and was present at the Vestry meetings when many issues were considered for the local community. He was very interested in the proposals to bring a railway to Hayes, an event which happened in 1882. Recognition of the importance of local historyOne of Lord Sackville Cecil’s greatest contribution to our knowledge of the history of Hayes was his arrangement in 1879 for a copy to be made of a handwritten account of The History of Hayes in the County of Kent by a Native of the Village. It was produced in 1833 by Charles Kadwell who had been born in Hayes in 1786. Lord Sackville Cecil put this copy with the Hayes Parish records ‘in the hope that the Rector of Hayes and other qualified persons will continue the history and insert in the blank spaces notes of duly authenticated information upon matters of local & Parochial interest’. In 1895 he also paid for copies of some illustrations and maps which had been collected by Charles Kadwell to be inserted in the book. Hayes Parish Councillor In 1894 the Hayes Parish Council was set up and the Hayes Vestry then became concerned only with ecclesiastical matters. Lord Sackville Cecil stood in the election for the first Parish Councillors and received the second highest number of votes. The early meetings covered many issues, such as the recent rise in freight rates and fares by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway (LC&DR) and SER companies. In May, the Parish Council refused permission for telegraph poles, insisting that cables should go underground but had no major objection to a proposed housing development at the north end of the parish (Hayes Road) on Norman land. He remained a parish councillor until his death in 1898. Death He and his mother, Mary Countess of Derby, were left Holwood, Keston for life after his stepfather’s death in 1893. It was here that Lord Sackville Cecil died on 29 January 1898, at the early age of 49, of ‘gastroenteritis, pleurisy, pneumonia and cardio failure’. He was cremated at Woking Crematorium on 2nd February and his funeral, attended by Arthur Balfour (Prime Minister 1902-6) and Lord Eustace Salisbury, took place the next day in Hayes. His ashes were buried in a simple grave beside the church of which he had been such a great benefactor. Many local inhabitants admired him and Daniel Kettle of the White House wrote that he was ‘a nobleman in every sense of the word, of most unceasing activity and unselfish devotion’. References:Hayes Church Records Bromley Historic Collections P180Hayes Common Records, Bromley Historic Collections 298Bromley Record February 1898
LEGGE, Geoffrey Bevington
LEGGE, Geoffrey Bevington 26 January 1903 – 21 November 1940 At the age of ten in 1913 Geoffrey Legge moved with his parents Henry and Edith to the Nest in Hayes. After the First World War, he joined his father in his firm originally established as paper manufacturing agents. He continued to live with his parents who bought Baston Manor in 1921. He showed aptitude as a cricketer from an early age and with his brother Philip sometimes appeared for Hayes Cricket Club. He became the youngest cricket county captain in 1928 leading Kent until 1930 and playing for England against S Africa in 1927 and New Zealand 1929/30. This was his last international appearance, although he retained his love of cricket and continued occasionally to play for Hayes. He married Rosemary Frost of Glebe House in Hayes Church in 1929 and they lived at Nash Farm, Keston. His parents continued to live at Baston until 1934. Geoffrey became a Lieutenant Commander, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, HMS Vulture, in the Second World War. He was killed while flying despatches to Exeter when his plane became lost in the fog, ran out of fuel and crashed on a hillside. He left his widow and four young children.
MOYSEY, Frederick
Moysey, Frederick20 February 1781 – June 1863Barrister Frederick Moysey was the son of Abel Moysey and called to the bar on 22 November 1808. His sister, Charlotte Moysey of Pickhurst Mead, who died in 1846, left him £5000 in her will, Although she left her house to her nephew Henry Gorges Moysey, it was agreed that Frederick would live at Pickhurst Mead with his wife Laura. He moved from West Wickham and appears on the Hayes churchwardens’ rates from 1848 until 1863. He was very interested in education, an active supporter of the Anglican National Society and immediately became involved in the administration of the village school. He was a trustee from 1849, treasurer in 1851 and by 1860 was chairman of the governors. His sister Charlotte had left a legacy of £50 to the school. Frederick found it extremely difficult to understand the view of the Rector of Hayes, Revd Thomas John Hussey, who was very hesitant to provide him with the relevant information to apply for grants to help with plans for a proposed extension. The Rector did not like any interference in the running of the Church School which he had managed for the previous 18 years. He refused to have anything more to do with the school and fell out with Frederick who wrote to the Rector on 15 August 1849: I observe your desire that your communication may be final and I much regret to have to acknowledge such an answer on your part to my colleagues, the Governors of the School.’ However, largely through the support of the Moysey and Fraser families two new school rooms were added at the rear of the school in 1850. Frederick was a firm supporter of the Established Church and whilst in West Wickham had been churchwarden in 1844 when the Church tower of St John the Baptist was restored. As soon as Revd Hussey was replaced by Revd George Varenne Reed in 1854 plans were made to enlarge Hayes Church. Frederick Moysey was one of the local landowners on the committee set up to agree the extension and to commission the architect George Gilbert Scott to design the North Aisle. He donated £100 to the project and in spite of the Rural Dean’s reservations sufficient funds were raised for its completion in 1856. When the church was enlarged again in 1878 the first stained glass window to be installed in the south aisle was in memory of him, his sister Charlotte and his wife Laura née Bowles. Laura was eight years younger than Frederick but suffered from increasing health problems in the early 1850s both with her breathing and sight. They employed six resident servants to help them and were also assisted by Laura’s niece, Anne Sturges Bourne, who was a frequent visitor and sometimes stayed for several months. Laura died 20 May 1854 and was buried near the ancient yew tree in Hayes churchyard, close to the grave of Abel and Charlotte Moysey. Anne was very worried about whether Frederick could look after himself but she knew he liked solitude and meditation. He was a deep reader, keen on his garden and his charity work. His particular hobby was talking military tactics and strategy and he enjoyed using his model soldiers to re-enact the Peninsular War battles with his friends and family. Anne and his nephew Henry frequently visited him and after one visit when he was over 80 years old Anne wrote ‘if he had become a little more odd or forgets to eat his lunch it is no great matter at his age’. Letters from Frederick, (Uncle Fred), in 1861-2 discussed letting Pickhurst Mead and going to live at Testwood, Hampshire with Anne but he died in Hayes in June 1863. He was interred with his wife Laura in Hayes churchyard.
FRASER, Marianne
Marianne Fraser Fraser, Marianne1788 – 21 December 1852 Marianne Fraser was born in Scotland and was the eldest daughter of Lt. General Mackenzie Fraser. She was 14 years old when her mother Helen died in 1802. Her father wanted to try to keep all the family, her brothers Charles and Frederick and sister Helen, in Edinburgh but his plans were unsuccessful. He was therefore very grateful for the offer from Vicary Gibbs, whose wife was Helen’s sister, to have all the children at Hayes Court and look after them while he was on his military campaigns. Marianne arrived with her younger sister Helen 12, brothers Charles 10 and Frederick 6. A governess Miss Jones was engaged for them. With her sister Helen she was amongst the 12 persons confirmed in Hayes Church on 7 August 1806. Their preparation instruction was undertaken by the Rector of Hayes, Revd John Till, whose executor she became on his death in 1827. Neither Helen nor Marianne married although Helen eventually lived in Gloucestershire. Marianne remained in Hayes and became very well known for her active interest in the health and welfare of those who lived in the village. She read widely, studied Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Italian and French for her own improvement, kept countless diaries and commonplace books and detailed records of her accounts. She also assisted the Revd John Till as he became infirm in his old age. She kept her brother Charles informed of events in Hayes including times when John Till fainted in the pulpit. She showed great concern for the Rector who came to rely on her to handle his affairs, to ensure the money was distributed correctly to the poor in the Parish and with him she paid for the extension in 1821 to the Charity School that had been set up in 1791. She also paid the fees for several children to be able to attend that school. On Revd Till’s death she had the task of allocating £100 to the villagers and her comments on each recipient show that she was well aware of those who needed and were deserving of a legacy and those who she felt had not tried to help themselves or indeed aggravated their poverty by their actions. She also felt that those who were wealthy, as she became after the death of her father in 1809, should use their money wisely. She administered the contributions from the wealthy for the poor stating ‘I shall therefore continue distributing it as nearly as possible in the manner in which he [Revd Till] disposed of it’. In 1820 after the death of her Uncle Gibbs she became the owner for her life time of Hayes Grove. For many years she rented the property out whilst living with and looking after her aunt Lady Gibbs who was increasingly frail and became blind as she grew older. In 1835 Marianne’s brother Charles, his wife Jane with ten of their children came to stay at Hayes Grove while major work was being carried out at Castle Fraser which he had inherited. Sadly, eight of the children caught chicken pox and the youngest Caroline aged one and a half died and was buried in Hayes. Slowly the other children recovered and with their aunt visited Madame Tussaud’s, the London Zoo, and more locally the Bromley Horticultural Show. The house was much quieter once they returned to Scotland but Marianne continued to have responsibility for her nephews when they were sent to England for their education and also became involved in the debts which her brother Frederick and sister Helen incurred. Marianne was 55 when Lady Gibbs died and for the rest of her life she lived at the Grove with two resident servants. In her will she left legacies to her family and to the SPCK and SPG but being uncertain of the direction in which the school was going under the Rector Revd Thomas Hussey she revoked her £60 gift to it. She left £20 each to Timothy Tilden and his wife and £50 to her gardener Benjamin Bunny. She gave clear instructions that she should be buried in the south east corner of Hayes Churchyard in the plainest manner. The undertaker should be the carpenter Thomas Smith who lived in one of her cottages and the coffin bearers were to live in the village of Hayes and each be paid £1. Her tomb includes the following inscription: ‘died Dec 21st 1852 aged 64 long known in the Parish of Hayes for her active benevolence and the genuine interest she took in the welfare of the inhabitants.’ Further information:Lavinia Smiley, The Frasers of Castle Fraser, 1988Aberdeen University Library & Special Collections, Fraser Papers:MS3470
GUINNESS, Henry Seymour
Guinness, Henry Seymour & daughter Heather1858 – 1945Irish politician, banker, engineer, Assistant Managing director of Arthur Guinness, Son & Company 1924-30 After his retirement from his business activities Henry Seymour Guinness bought Hayes Grove in Prestons Road in 1933. He moved here with his wife Marie and his two younger daughters Patricia and Heather Seymour, known as Judy. Heather was second in fencing at the 1932 Olympic Games, won the British Women’s Fencing Championship in 1933 and was runner up the following year. She became engaged to Clifton Penn-Hughes, a racing driver who came second in the Italian Mille Miglia. He flew his own plane and in August 1935 amazed villagers when he landed it in fields in George Lane in order to visit Judy at the Grove. They married at St Clement Danes in October 1935 and her sister Patricia was a bridesmaid. Sadly Clifton Penn Hughes did not live to see the birth of his daughter in February 1940 as his plane crashed at Lympne in July 1939 .
MOYSEY, Abel
MOYSEY, Abel1743 – 1831Judge, MP for Bath, Deputy Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer Abel Moysey took over the lease of Hayes Grove in 1823. He and his family had known both Vicary and Lady Gibbs for many years before they moved to Hayes and in the correspondence there are frequent references to meetings. Abel had four children and his sons, Abel and Frederick, followed their father’s legal career and qualified for the bar. Another son Charles entered the church and became Archdeacon of Bath from 1820-39. His daughter Charlotte, a gifted artist, lived with him at The Grove. There is a remarkable book of her paintings of the plants and flowers found around Hayes and on the Common between 1824 and 1828 in the Fraser Archives in Aberdeen. She and Marianne Fraser were clearly friends and in 1812, for instance, played a piano duet at a musical evening. Charles Fraser also referred to Charlotte’s exceptional musical talent and they often shared evening entertainments at each other’s houses. It is therefore not surprising that when Samuel Nevil Ward left Hayes Grove in 1823 that Marianne should offer to let the house to Charlotte and her father Abel. After Abel’s death at Hayes in 1831 Charlotte remained at Hayes Grove with all the furniture which she inherited until her new house, Pickhurst Mead, was ready for her in 1834. Charlotte continued to help the poor of Hayes as her father Abel had done during his time at Hayes Grove.
ROBINSON, Elizabeth
ROBINSON, Elizabeth formerly Pickard and Martin (née Winder)Hayes Grove 1773 – 1803 Elizabeth was married three times. She moved to Hayes in 1773 when her husband Joseph Martin purchased the Grove, a red brick substantial house that bordered on the Common. Her son Joseph William was born in 1776 and was ten months old when his father died. He left all his possessions to her. Her second marriage was to a Yorkshire man, William Pickard, who was living in Ludgate, London. He moved into Hayes Grove. In 1782 they lived at the Grove with her son Joseph William and four servants.Their coachman William Brown lived nearby in Elm Cottage.William Pickard came from Great Osborne in Yorkshire where he was buried in 1783. He left legacies of £1000 to his brother Thomas, a clergyman, and £200 to his brother Leonard and £400 each to Mary and Margaret, Leonard’s daughters. Other large bequests were made to his cousins and £200 to the poor of Great Osborne. Elizabeth was left £200 and all his plate, linen, carriages and horses and Joseph William was given £500 and his books. The interest on her marriage settlement of £5600 was to continue and on her death the sum was to be divided equally between Joseph William and the children of his brother Leonard. After William Pickard’s death Elizabeth married Edward Robinson who lived with her at the Grove until her death in 1805. Regular donations were made to support the poor but he was not considered fit enough to rase support when called upon during the Napoleonic wars. In 1790 they employed three resident domestic servants and a gardener and a coachman who lived in separate cottages. In 1803 Revd Till wrote ‘Mr Robinson is much in the same precarious state of health, as usual, though I think upon the whole rather better this winter than the last. Mrs Robinson … is not proof against the general influenza and the day before yesterday I saw her with every symptom of its approach.’ The illness greatly weakened her but she persevered with her main ambition of building and furnishing her son Joseph’s parsonage house at Keston. Revd Till felt that she would not live long after its completion. ‘She has now but one more piece of furniture to provide for him and then, I think, she may contentedly assume to herself the line and lesson of every country churchyard, ‘Farewell, vain world, I’ve had enough of thee.’ She died and was buried near her first husband in West Wickham in September 1805.