Grayshott Village Archive

Early Businesses in Grayshott

In general, most of the first shops and small businesses in the country were situated in a room within the proprietors house and it was not until the late 19th century that shop fronts, fronted with plate glass windows, became common. Shop assistants worked long hours, as shops opened from early morning and often until late evening. It was only as a result of the Shops Act 1912, that assistants hours were reduced and they had the right to a half day off each week, generally they had no right to annual holiday pay. Lighting within business premises was mainly by candlelight and later, perhaps, by oil lamp. (Electricity supply was only brought into Grayshott in 1901 and gas in1909).  

The Parish Magazine of Grayshott was first published in January 1898 and thereafter was distributed monthly at a price of two-pence per month.  As is the case today, local businesses of the day used the magazine to advertise their services, although  it should be noted that adverts were also placed in what is now the Haslemere Herald newspaper, which was first published in 1896. Grayshott businesses also advertised their services over a wider area through The Homeland Handbooks for Haslemere & Hindhead . Businesses in the village were plentiful and varied as the population of the village and surrounding area rapidly grew, with many in competition with other businesses in close proximity  However, there were no advertisements in the Parish Magazine during the period of the first world war. Later, advertisements in the Magazine were placed by businesses from wider afield, such as Pinoli’s Restaurant in Wardour Street, London, where the cost of lunch in 1923 was advertised as 2/6d and dinner 3/9d, and Almonds Hotel, Clifford Street, London.

The earliest shop in Grayshott was established by Henry and Hannah Robinson at Mount Cottage, in the valley opposite School Road, which sold mainly groceries and was also the focal point for mail prior to the Robinsons moving to new premises in what is now Crossways Road. (see Article on The Post in Grayshott).

A number of photographs of early shop fronts in Grayshott can be found in the Photo of the Month section of our web-site.

Included in early advertisements for Grayshott businesses, you will find the following:

1898
	H. Mitchell	Family Butchers Headley Road
	Grayshott & Hindhead
		Steam Laundry, Proprietor Mr P.B. Brain
		Attached to the village school and now Grayshott Pottery
	Pannells	Boots & Shoes
	T.H. Oldershaw	Family Butchers, Headley Road
		Previously A.J. Moore
	E. Coxhead	General Ironmongers, Headley Road
1901
	Livery Stables	Stables, Beacon Hill. Proprietor B.Chandler
	E.Cane Inge	Chemist & Photographic,  Headley Road
	The White Heather Dairy	Dairy, Headley Road (Deliveries twice daily)
1902
	Watchmaker	Jeweller & Engraver, Crossways Road
	J.P. Walder	Photographer
	W. Wood	Carrier
	J & M A Munday	Fruit Shop, Headley Road
1903
	C. Mitchell	Purchase Farm, Whitmore Vale Road
	Madame Warr	Draper
	J.Collins	Tailor, Headley Road
	R.C. Harrison	Pharmacist, Headley Road
1908
	F.Warr	Tailor
1909
	Grays Motor Garage	Proprietor  A.J. Moore
	W.G. Armstrong	Grocer
1918/19
	Stanfield & Co	Greengrocer, Headley Road
	H. S. Winchester	Coal Merchant, The Gables
	Chapman Lowry Puttick	Builders, Headley Road
	J.E.Grimditch	Butchers, Headley Road
	Tyler & Co	Wine Merchants, Headley Road
	The Salon	Books, Stationery, Compton & other Pottery
		Proprietor M.S. Deighton, Hindhead
	A. Bangs	Boot & Shoe Stores, Headley Road
	C. Barnes	Carpenter, Headley Road
	Funnell& Furlonger	Carriers
	The Spirella Company of Great Britain Ltd	Corset Manufacturers, Hertfordshire
		Agent Miss Massey, Glan Twy, Grayshott
	Coxhead & Welch	General Stores, Headley Road
	J.G.White & Son	Bakers & Confectioners
		Holmdale Bakery, Grayshott
	Garner & Fairminer	Decorators, Virginia Cottage, Headley Road
	E. J. Wood	Butchers & Fishmongers, Headley Road
	Geo Lewis	Coal Merchant, Crossways Road
	O.J. Chapman	Post Office, Crossways Road
	J.A. Prince	Bakers
	H. Madgwick	Grayshott Dairy, Cow Keeper & Dairy Farmers
	James Baker	Watchmaker, Headley Road
	Queen’s Café	Café, Crossways Road
	R.C. Harrison	Pharmacy, Headley Road

The sample of adverts shown below have been scanned from original copies of the Grayshott Parish Magazine, in order to give an idea of local services available to the residents of Grayshott and the surrounding area in the late 1800’s and early part of the twentieth century.

Brian Tapp, Grayshott Village Archive

Note: 

In general, most of the first shops and small businesses in the country were situated . . . . . . . . .

St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church

Grayshott

 

 

 

Catholicism in early Grayshott

The building of St. Joseph’s was commenced in 1910 and the church was consecrated on the Feast of St. Anne on 26^th July 1911. However, the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church were followed in the area for many years before the foundation of St Joseph’s and the history of the church is centred around the Vertue family and in particular Mrs Ada Vertue.

Ada Vertue was born Ada Caroline Hitchcock in Hornsey, Middlesex, in June 1855. The 1881 census shows her to be living in Kenwyn, Cornwall, together with her brother Henry who at the time was Priest Curate in charge of St. George’s, Truro. In 1887, she married Charles Erskine Vertue in Hastings and they moved to Grayshott to live at The Court, Headley Road, Grayshott, which they had acquired from Edward I’Anson and others by a Deed dated 6^th April 1889. Formerly called Heather Lodge and later to be named The Convent of Our Lady of the Cenacle, Heather Lodge had been built by Edward I’Anson in 1864.

 

Mr. Vertue, who was a Government Inspector of Schools for more than thirty years and who also held the appointment of Honorary Chamberlain to Pope Pius X, had been received into the Catholic Church in May 1890 by Father Galway, SJ. In the early days, the Vertues attended Mass in a small Chapel within the house of a nearby neighbour, Sir Archibald Keppel Macdonald, a fairly difficult horse drawn drive along a rough road over the Common. Sir Archibald was the son of Sir James Macdonald, Bart., Lord of the Manor of Ludshott 1825-1832, who had acquired the old Ludshott manor house in 1826. Sir James had an additional wing built to the side of the house and called his new home Woolmer Lodge. After his death in 1832, he was succeeded by his son Sir Archibald Keppel Macdonald although at the time he was only eight years old. After service in the Royal Scots Fusiliers as an officer and then as Equerry to the Duke of Sussex, Sir Archibald took up residence at Woolmer Lodge in 1849, eventually to become High Sheriff of Hampshire in 1865. Following his second marriage, he built a Catholic chapel in Woolmer Lodge, dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conceptionand it was here that the Vertues attended Mass.

 

Woolmer Lodge stands south of Ludshott Common, at a point approximately halfway between St. Joseph’s and Bramshott, now approached along Woolmer Lane, Bramshott. It has recently been redeveloped into private residential apartments. After Sir Archibald’s death, he was succeeded by his son Sir Archibald John Macdonald Bt. who died in 1919, after which the title of the Lordship of the Manor of Ludshott was purchased by Mrs. Charlotte Lyndon, transferred upon her death to her husband Dr. Lyndon and upon Dr. Lyndon’s death it was left to the National Trust.

 

In November 1890, the Bishop of Portsmouth, Mrg. Vertue, (a namesake only and not directly related), came to the village to give Charles Vertue Confirmation and whilst in the area, the Bishop decided to say Mass at Sir Archibald’s.  Following a tiring drive each way, he later suggested to the Vertues that future Mass could be held once a week in The Court. Unfortunately, two weeks later and whilst the Vertues were staying in London, there was a devastating fire at The Court and the building was almost totally destroyed. However it was decided to rebuild the house and upon hearing of these plans, the Bishop suggested that a Chapel be built within the new house in order for a daily Mass to be held. In the meantime, for the next two summers, the Vertues lived in the Coachman’s and Gardner’s cottages and Mass was held in a chapel in the only remaining room of The Court, known as “the outside room”. Bishop Vertue said the first Mass there on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snow in 1891. Arrangements were made for the Premonstratentian Fathers of Farnborough to serve the Chapel and this duty was later taken over by the Franciscans from the Novitiate at Chilworth.

 

Initially, the congregation consisted of Mr. & Mrs. Vertue and three servants, but this was soon increased when a few villagers from the surrounding area, including Haslemere, Shottermill and Wishanger, started to attend Mass. Should any member present wish to attend Confession, the Chapel was cleared and the congregation had to wait outside for the necessary period. Eventually, the new building of The Court was completed and on June 26^th 1895, the Feast of St. John and St. Paul, a Father Gallway blessed the new Chapel and Bishop Vertue said the first Mass. The Franciscans, mainly Father John, Father Fidelis and Father Thaddeus, continued to serve until the arrival of Father Jerome O’Callaghan from Ireland. Under his care, the congregation gradually grew up to thirty in number but Father O’Callaghan served for a relatively short term before returning to Ireland where he died from consumption.

  

Note: 

The building of St. Joseph’s was commenced in 1910 and the church was consecrated on the Feast of St. Anne on 26th July 1911. However, the . . . . . . .

Grayshott and the Telephone

The first published list of Grayshott telephone numbers and subscribers was in the National Telephone Company directory of 1907. The Grayshott exchange was at the Post Office in Crossways Road where previously Flora Thompson had worked. The hours of business were 8am to 8pm on weekdays, and 8am to 10am on Sundays.

In this first telephone list there were 21 Grayshott subscribers. Numbers 13 and 22 were omitted but these were later taken up in 1908. Interestingly several of these original numbers still exist at the same premises today, albeit in modified form with prefixes, an example being Grayshott Pottery located at the former laundry, the present number being 604404; see below.

 

About 1930 the new telephone exchange was opened at Hindhead. Grayshott numbers were then transferred and became ‘Hindhead’ numbers. The Grayshott subscribers had by then reached 150. Various prefixes, e.g. 40, 4, 50 and 5 had been added to the numbers.

A more comprehensive list of numbers and subscribers up to 1930 will be made available on this web site in due course.

Richard Peskett
March 2010

Note: 

The first published list of Grayshott telephone numbers and subscribers was in the National Telephone Company directory of 1907. The Grayshott exchange was at . . . . . . . .

Grayshott Band of Mercy

The National Origins of the ‘Bands of Mercy’

The origins of the Band of Mercy organisation can be traced back to the beginnings of the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (R.S.P.C.A.) which was originally formed in England as the S.P.C.A. in 1824, the Royal Warrant being granted by Queen Victoria in 1840. The establishment of the S.P.C.A. arose from an 1822 Act of Parliament to introduce controls for the prevention cruelty to farm animals, it was the first animal charity to be formed in the world.

Led by Catherine Smithies, a small group of activists made up of S.P.C.A. members established the Bands of Mercy as a wing of the S.P.C.A in 1824. The intention was for it to be a children’s club, modelled on the Temperance Society’s Band of Hope, the latter being an organisation to promote a “children against drink” campaign. The idea behind the Band of Mercy was to encourage children to love animals.

 

Note: 

The origins of the Band of Mercy organisation can be traced back to the beginnings of the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (R.S.P.C.A.) which was originally formed in England as . . . . . . . .

The Murder at Hindhead Chase, Grayshott

by Jan & Gordon Gale (2007)

It was December 1915. The Great War had started in the previous August and the British Empire had sent troops to Britain to help in her fight against Germany. One such body of troops was the 9"' Canadian Mounted Rifles. The troops were stationed at Bramshott undergoing training before being sent to France, whereas the Commanding Officer, the Assistant Regimental Adjutant and other officers were billeted, with their batmen, at Hindhead Chase, in Crossways Road, Grayshott.

The 22 year old Assistant Regimental Adjutant, Lieut. Codere, was nicknamed 'Fou', or `Fool,' Codere, because of his erratic behaviour. The C.O. had already decided that, when the regiment was sent to France, he would not be allowed to accompany it. He was the officer temporarily entrusted with the regimental canteen funds which had been handed over by the canteen sergeant, 37 year old Sergeant Ozanne. Although belonging to the 9ffi Canadians, Ozanne was an Englishman who had moved to Canada and joined the regiment. His parents were still living in Southampton. Once Codere was in possession of the funds he stole some and asked Ozanne to help hide the theft.

Ozanne refused.

Saying that he wished to discuss the matter, Codere invited Ozanne to Hindhead Chase one evening and, following an argument, killed him with a trench stick (a leather-covered rod of lead) in what is now the small Sitting Room,. Following this he dragged the body into the cellar and inflicted a great number of stab wounds. Codere then instructed a batman to help him take the body to one of the stables at the bottom of garden. The batman eventually told the C.O. what had happened. Codere was soon arrested and held at Whitehill Police Station.

In every case of a suspicious or violent death an inquest must be held to determine whether it is the result of foul play. This inquest was started in what is now the Dining Room at the house; continuing at the Village Hall. It was clear that foul play had occurred: Codere's trial followed. The judge gave the jury three options: they could find Codere either `Guilty', `Not Guilty' or `Guilty but Insane'. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged but this was later commuted to life imprisonment because of his insanity.

Codere started his imprisonment in England but was later transferred to a prison for the insane in Canada.

On the day of his funeral Ozanne's body was escorted from the Drawing Room of the house by members of his family, his regiment and the regimental band. The parade was halted in Crossways Road to allow the trumpeters to play the Last Post.

He was buried, with full military honours, in the old cemetery in The Mount, Guildford, where his grave can still be seen.

Note: 

It was December 1915. The Great War had started in the previous August and the British Empire had sent troops to Britain to help in her fight against Germany. One such body of troops was . . . . . . . .