Sam Holt’s parents, Mary Ann Ashley and Gregory Holt with Sam’s youngest sibling Sally (Sarah Holt, born in 1918, pictured outside their house in Egerton Street, Sale about 1922 – photo thanks Marion Gregory, Ancestry.
Memories Hilbert Rec
Although not part of the Ferndale Park Estate, many of the children who lived on the estate in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s played in the Rec, as we used to call it, or the Grosvenor and Hilbert Park to give it its full name, and will have fond memories of it. There is an excellent website by the Friends of Grovenor and Hilbert Park (FOGH) at <http://www.fogh.org.uk/> that includes much information about the park and I will not duplicate that here. This page is intended for memories of the Rec from those children who lived on the Ferndale Park Estate, the two park-keepers – Sam Holt and Charlie Baldock, and a little history about it.
The Friends of Grosvenor and Hilbert Park (FOGH) sign pictured in 2018 (click on the sign to enlarge it) – photo thanks Alan Dane.
Most memories of those of us who lived as children on the Ferndale Park Estate include the rec, the Hilbert recreation Ground, or the Grosvenor & Hilbert Park to give it its proper title. Hilbert Park was the area closest to the estate and we entered it through the gates at the bottom end of Hilbert Road. Those children living in the high even numbers in Ravenswood Avenue (78-102), and I believe 9-14 (now 6-1) Lipscombe Road, were lucky because they had a gate at the end of their gardens that gave access direct to the rec.
History
The history of Grosvenor and Hilbert Park has been well documented and I will not repeat it here, other than briefly to use as an introduction to this page. The Friends of Grosvenor and Hilbert Park (FOGH) have an excellent website at <http://www.fogh.org.uk/> that gives much information about the park and ongoing events there. On the ‘Park History’ page, it says, ‘The Grosvenor Recreation Ground was Tunbridge Wells’ first public park. It was opened in 1889 on the site of the former Calverley Water Works, engineered by William Hilbert. In 1931 William Hilbert’s grandson, Cllr EJ Strange, bought the “Charity Farm” lands to the north-east, and presented them to the council. He requested they be named Hilbert Recreation Grounds after his mother, Lydia. This land also includes the Hilbert Recreation Ground Allotments. The original Farmhouse, now called “Packs in the Woods” is privately owned.’
Chair of FOGH, Carolyn Gray, has written a good article about the history of the park at: <https://historymagpiedotcom.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/it-all-started-in-1066-writer-carolyn-gray-reveals-the-history-of-grosvenor-and-hilbert-park-tunbridge-wells-2>.
Brian Johnson, writing on Facebook RTWPP on 12 April 2022, said, ‘This morning’s walk to High Brooms station’ and posted these wonderful pictures of Hilbert Recreation Ground, that doesn’t appear to have changed very much from what I remember when I was child and used to play there with my friends from the estate in the 1950s. I am pleased to see that the seat in the centre of the first picture is still there; it even looks like the same one we used to sit on and listen to the park-keeper, Charlie Baldock, tell us his army stories as he almost chain-smoked! More about Charlie (and the other park-keeper Sam Holt) below.
One of the people who posted a comment to Brian’s pictures was Gerry Larkin, who said, ‘Did that walk from Ravenswood Avenue to the Station in 1958 - 1963 found memories thank you’. I thought he could be Gerald Larkin who used to live nearly opposite us at 29 Ravenswood Avenue who, with his younger brother Keith, were two of the friends from the estate I played cricket and football with in the rec. Gerald was slightly older than me and when he left school, he worked as a draughtsman, commuting to London every day, and would have walked to High Brooms Railway Station, the same route as Brian Johnson, through the rec. I believe Gerald later emigrated to Australia and have written more about him and his family on the ‘People 1-40 Ravenswood Avenue’ page. I messaged Gerry about his comment and found he was indeed Gerald Larkin from 29 Ravenswood Avenue, and now living in Australia!
The swings
I think that most of us children who went to the rec to play sooner or later found their way to the swings in the valley where the Wetlands are now situated (area 5 on the photograph of the sign at the top of this page). The swings actually consisted of three things: swings, a roundabout and what some called the ‘long swing’, ‘flying plank’ or ‘family swing’, (a long length of wood that seated about eight children plus one standing each end, that swung back and forth).
Hilbert Athletic
Just inside the Hilbert Road gates were football pitches, one on the left, with a smaller practice area and a single goalpost close to the oasthouse, and two on raised ground to the right (the one nearest Roundabout Wood has now gone and is where the present day Grosvenor Skate Park is located). We used to play football on the practice area and cricket in the summer on the pitch on the left after the football season ended. When we started the Hilbert Athletic football team in the late 1950s, organised by Tom Pearch (79 Ravenswood Avenue), we played other junior teams from the area on the first full-size pitch on the right. I was chosen as the goalkeeper, probably because of my height!
In December 2016, a picture of the 1960 Hilbert Athletic team was posted on Facebook OTWPS by Anne Pearch (right), the daughter-in-law of Tom Pearch (left in picture wearing the coat). I recognise Malcolm Foy (45 Ravenswood Avenue) second from the right in the back row and Gerald Larkin (29 Ravenswood Avenue) left of the front row. Comments on the Facebook post suggest Jimmy Maddock next to the coach, then Jumbo Mercer and Peter Lainson (13 Ravenswood Avenue) next to the goalkeeper. Possibly Clive White back row right, Graham Powell second left in front row and Mick ? bottom right. Tom’s son, Doug Pearch, thinks the goalkeeper was Reg Gorham or Goram. Can you name anyone, please?
Anne Pearch sent me two more pictures of the Hilbert Athletic football team (above) that I think are earlier than the 1960 one because of the shirts they are wearing. Whereas I don’t remember the shirts in the 1960 picture, I do remember those in the other two pictures with the badge consisting of the letters H and A superimposed on top of each other. I think the picture without Tom Pearch is the earlier one and it has the following names written on the back: Diplock, Foy, Geering, Pearch, Lainson, Larkin, Shoals for the back row, and Powell, ?, Fuller, Larkin and Pearch for the front row.
I recognise Malcom Foy (top row second from left) and Gerald Larkin (top row second from right) and Anne Pearch says her husband Doug Pearch is bottom row right) and his cousin Peter Pearch is top row centre. I believe the other Larkin (bottom row second right) is Gerald’s younger brother Keith Larkin, and the Fuller (bottom row centre) could be Rodney Fuller who lived in St James Park and whose parents took over the newsagent shop at 39 Albion Road after Reginald Dredge died in 1962.
Again, I recognise Malcolm Foy (bottom row left) and Gerald Larking (standing right in the tracksuit) in the second picture, with Tom Pearch standing left. My brother Tim also recognises Jim Maddocks (top row fourth from left).
The first newspaper report of Hilbert Athletic I have found is in the 17 July 1959 Tonbridge Free Press that under the heading ‘New Soccer League for “Minors”’, reported, ‘The Six-in-One Club, one of the most progressive of its kind in Tonbridge, have entered their soccer team in the newly formed Minor Division on the Tunbridge Wells league. At the general meeting of the League in Tunbridge Wells at the week-end, seven clubs guaranteed that they would field sides and ensure the inaugaration of minor soccer. Although feelers were put out in Tonbridge some weeks ago, only the Six-in-One Club agreed to take part. Now, however, the organisers feel that more teams from the area might be interested. Already included are Hilbert Athletic, Withyham, Hawkenbury Juniors, Covenanters Ramslye Estate and the Meadow Memorial School. The Chairman of the League, Mr W S Stolton, a schoolmaster, will be pleased to receive applications at his home, 60 St Stephen’s Road, Tunbridge Wells. He has a particular interest in schoolboy football, and Tonbridge, with a large number of young players, may well find this new division a boon.’
The new league appears to have started in the 1959/1960 season and was hit by a bout of bad weather early in 1960. The 22 January 1960 Sevenoaks Cronicle reported, ‘One Minor league game was played, Hilbert Athletic continuing their winning sequence by beating Hawkenbury Juniors 5-1. The conditions here were as bad as they could be, and there was some considerable doubt whether the pitch was fit for play. On a treachorous surface, White (2), Geering and Diplock scored for Hilbert, a Hawkenbury defender contributing a fifth goal. Hawkenbury could field only a depleted side for this game and, against such strong opposition, did well.’
The following week, the 29 January 1960 Courier reported, ‘In Minor League games...Dr Barnado’s, Crowborough put up a very creditable performance against Hilbert Athletic and held their powerful opponents to a couple of goals in each half, but they could not score themselves. Hilbert recorded their 100th goal of the season in this game and fittingly, it was scored by their captain Geering. Fuller (2) and Powel also scored for the winners.’
The only other newspaper reports of Hilbert Athletic I have found are in 1987 when, amongst others, the 16 April 1987 Courier included on its football results page, ‘Under 15 League Charity Cup: Crowborough 5 Hilbert Athletic 1.’ Does anyone know anything else about Hilbert Athetlic and its history, please?
In October 2023, Gerald LARKIN told me, ‘Memories of Hilbert Athletic football team include The Oast House changing area (shared in memory by my brother Keith), clearing the field lines of snow so we could play, Carole – my then girl friend now my wife – getting frozen feet on the sideline and thawing them out in front of the open-fire at mum and dad’s house after the game, and in our first season in open-age football after leaving the youth league travelling by M & D bus to Fordcombe for the match and returning with mud on our uniforms and boots as there we no change rooms at that ground. This would have been the late 1950s I think as I turned 16 in 1958 and left school and started a job in Victoria Street, London.’
The Park-keepers
Samuel Holt
When I was young, the head park-keeper was Samuel (Sam) Holt who lived in the cottage ‘Packs in the Wood’ next to the oast house, part of the old Charity Farm. Sam was a familiar sight walking to and from the cottage to the rec. I remember him being a tall moustached man with a military bearing (although I haven’t found any evidence he served in the military), wearing a hat and checking the time from his pocket watch in his waistcoat. He used snuff, and was the first adult I came across who did that.
An Ancestry family tree shows Sam was born on 16 March 1903 at Manchester and baptised on 8 April 1910 at the Weslyn Methodist Chapel, Egerton Street, Sale, Cheshire as Samuel Holt, the son of Gregory and Mary Ann Holt of 51 Egerton Street, Sale (right|). He was baptised at the same time as his younger sister, Mary Jane Holt born 16 July 1905 and his younger brother James Gregory Holt, born 6 September 1909. It was not uncommon amongst poorer families at that time to have more than one child baptised at the same time.
The family tree shows Sam’s father Gregory Holt was born in 1869/2 at Barton-upon-Irwell, Lancashire and moved to Sale from 76 Chester Road, Stretford between the 1871 and 1881 censuses. In the 1891 census he was still living with his parents in Egerton Street. He married Sam’s mother Mary Ann Ashley in 1893 at Altrincham, and by 1901 they were living at 25 Egerton Street. Gregory worked as a bricklayer’s labourer, and died in 1947 in Sale, his wife Mary had died in 1933. The family tree traces Sam’s paternal ancestory back to Frederick Holt (1811-1850) and Martha Watson (1811-1898) in Lancashire, and his maternal ancestry back to John Ashley (1811-1856) and Margaret Brough (1811-?) in Cheshire.
The 1911 Census shows Sam aged eight, attending school and living with his four older siblings, two younger siblings, his parents and grandmother (his mother’s mother Anne Ashley, a 74-years-old widow) at 51 Egerton Street, Sale. They were living in four rooms! The 1921 Census shows the family living at 89 Egerton Street, Sale, the family having either moved a few doors along the road or the houses were renumbered. Sam was aged 18 and working as an iron rivetter. Sam was the sixth of his parent’s ten children.
Some time between 1921 and 1929, Sam moved south from Cheshire to Kent because the GRO has a marriage record for 1929/4 at Tonbridge between Samuel Holt and Annie L Sheppard. I wonder what made him move to Kent. The GRO also has two birth records: 1930/4 at Tonbridge for Brian L Holt and in 1934/2 at Tonbridge for Margery A Holt, both mother Sheppard.
We know Sam was employed as the park-keeper in the Hilbert Recreation Ground by 1933 because the 5 May Courier (below right) reported the following court case, ‘Charges alleging offences with intent to insult three small girls at the Hilbert Recreation Ground on April 21 were dismissed against Alfred George Miller of Tunbridge Wells. Mr G S Hall of Messrs Cripps, Harries and Hall, appeared for Miller who pleaded not guilty. The Town Clerk (Mr John Whitehead) prosecuted. Samuel Holt, a park-keeper, said that some small girls who had been playing near a stream made a complaint tom him about a man, which he reported. Evidence was given by three schoolgirls, and their allegations were strenuously denied by Miller. The Bench dismissed the case.’
The 1939 Register (below right) shows Sam living at Charity Farm, Tunbridge Wells, born 21 June 1903 and working as a park attendant, and also a member of the auxillary fire service. His wife Annie L Holt, born 11 December 1906 is shown as unpaid domestic duties, the term used in the register for woman working at home. There are two closed records, probably their two children Brian and Margery, and Herbert Bennet, born 18 October 1911, a general labourer, and his wife Helen B Bennett, born 30 August 1912, also unpaid domestic duties.
Street directories show Sam living at Packs in the Wood, the Charity Farm cottage, from 1953 to 1965. The GRO has a death record in 1965/2 at Tonbridge (the district that covers Tunbridge Wells) for Samuel Holt, aged 61 years.
The GRO has a marriage record in 1952/3 at Wandsworth for Brian L Holt and Muriel E Pritchett, and birth records in 1952/4 and 1958/2 at Wandsworth for Christopher J Holt and Susan Holt, both mother’s maiden name Pritchett. It appears Brian and Muriel eventually moved to Devon because a UK Death Index shows a Brian Leonard Holt, born on 2 December 1930, died on 9 July 2006 and his last known address was Exeter, Devon.
The GRO has a marriage record in 1954/2 at Tonbridge for Marjorie A Holt (a different spelling from her birth record of Margery) and Michael Benton. The 18 June 1954 Courier published a classified marriage notice that read, ‘Marriages: BENTON - HOLT - On June 12 1954 at St James Church, Tunbridge Wells, Michael Benton to Margery Holt.’ The GRO has birth records in 1962/1 and 1965/2 at Tonbridge for Andrew Benton and Victoria L Benton, both mother’s maiden name Holt. Electoral Registers for 2002-2018 show Michael Benton and Marjorie Benton resident at 14 Elmshurst Gardens, Tonbridge.
Despite the 1939 Register showing Annie’s date of birth as 11 December 1906, this was wrong because she was born on 11 December 1905 and baptised on 11 February 1906 at All Saints Church, Notting Hill, where her parents were married in 1902. The Baptism Register (below right) shows her father was a baker living at 31 All Saints Road. Annie was the third of her parent’s 11 children born between 1903 and 1918.
A small Ancestry family tree of only six people shows Samual Holt’s wife is the daughter of John Henry Sheppard (1879-1948) and Annie Burley (1878-1942), (below right) consistent with the GRO birth record above. Several other Ancestry family trees trace the Sheppard line back to Thomas Sheppard (1762-1838) and his wife Hannah Munday (1759-1842 in Wiltshire.
The GRO has a birth record for Annie’s father John Henry Sheppard in 1879/3 at Devizes, Wiltshire and the 1881 Census shows him living with his family (eight siblings) at Roundway Bottom, Devizes. The 1891 Census shows him aged 13 years, still living there with his family working as a carter’s boy. His father was a general agricultural labourer. John left home and went to London before 1901 because the census of that year shows him living at 312, Portobello Road, Kensington as a servant for Joseph Hutter and his family. Joseph was a baker and confectioner and John was working as a baker.
While he was living in Kensington, John met Annie Burley and on 8 February 1902, they married at All Saints Church. Their entry in the Baptism Register (below right) shows they were living at 87 and 89 Tavistock Crescent, less than half-a-mile north of Portobello Road. The 1911 Census shows them living at 144 The Broadway, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, about four miles south-west of Tavistock Road, with their five children, including Annie aged five. John’s move from farming in Wiltshire appears to have paid off because he was described as an employer baker and confectioner, and was also employing a home servant.
Sometime between then and 1921, the family moved from London to Buckinghamshire because the 1921 Census shows John and Annie living at High Street, Langley, Bucks. John was working on his own account as a grocer and their daughter Annie Lucy was 15 years old and appears to have been helping her father. About 1928 the family moved again, this time to Matfield, Kent where John took the tenancy of Maycotts Farm and worked as a dairy farmer. It was probably after the family moved to Matfield, that Annie met Sam resulting in their marriage in 1929/4.
Maycotts Farm was situated in Maycotts Lane, just north of The Green. In 1942 it was described as, ‘Maycotts Farm, extending to an area of about 8¾ acres, with long road frontages, superior cottage residence, cow house for 10, dairy, etc. Let on yearly tenancy to Mr J Sheppard at £84 10s pa gross,’ when it was offered for sale by auction.
The 9 November 1934 Courier reported the marriage of Annie’s younger brother Edward Arthur Sheppard (GRO 1911/3) and Mercy Ruth Glazier, ‘The wedding was solemnised at St Luke’s Church, Matfield on Saturday between Miss Mercy Ruth Glazier, daughter of Mr and Mrs F B Glazier of 5 Wents Villas, Matfield, and Mr Edward Arthur Sheppard, son of Mr and Mrs J Sheppard of Maycotts Farm, Matfield...The future home of the bride and bridegroom will be at 17 St James’ Park, Tunbridge Wells.’
The 1939 Register shows John, born 8 February 1879, and Annie, born 4 January 1877, living at Maycotts Farm with two of their sons. John was a dairy farmer and their sons a cowman and roundsman. Three years later, Annie died on 1 March 1942, aged 65 years, the 6 March Courier reporting, ‘The death occurred Monday of Mrs Annie Sheppard, wife of Mr John Sheppard, Maycotts Farm, Matfield. The funeral takes place to-day (Friday).’
Six years later, John died aged 69 years on 9 September 1948, and his Obituary was published in the 17 September Courier, ‘Mr John Sheppard of Maycotts, Matfield, died on Thursday last week aged 69. Although Mr Sheppard had been farming in the village for about 20 years and had become very well known, probably few people knew that before coming to Matfield he was a baker in his home county of Wiltshire. He leaves ten children, five girls and five boys. Mrs Sheppard died during the recent war. All his children, two of his sisters, and Mrs Sheppard’s sister, were among those who attended the funeral conducted by the Vicar, the Rev E L Howland, at Matfield Church on Monday.’
It appears John probably purchased Maycotts Farm when it was offered for sale in 1942 because the 29 October 1948 Courier published a notice of an auction sale, ‘By order Executors late Mr J Sheppard, Maycotts Farm, Matfield. Capital Small Dairy farm nearly 9 acres, in the village, with picturesque six-roomed cottage. Cow house for 10 & other buildings. Soil ideal for fruit planting. Vacant possession....’
The National Probate Calendar has the following entry for John Sheppard, ‘John Henry Sheppard, otherwise John of Maycotts Farm, Matfield, Brenchley, Kent, died 9 September 1948. Probate London 27 November to Barclays Bank Limited. Effects £10,056 7s.’
After Samuel Holt died in 1965, Annie continued to live locally. The 19 December 1975 Courier published Annie’ retirement, ‘After 27 years as a “dinner lady” at St James’s Infants’ School, Tunbridge Wells, Mrs Annie Holt is retiring today (Friday). The children gathered on Monday to sing her a song, recite a poem written about her, and present her with a bouquet of flowers and a gold watch, followed by presents from school staff and managers. Praise for her came from Miss P G Neale, headmistress, Miss C L Newcombe, the retired school meals organiser for West Kent, Mr R Baker, retired head of the junior school and Miss K Lower, ex-deputy head of the school, who also presented Mrs Holt with a chocolate “Cordon Bleu” medal and ribbon. Mrs Holt of 152 Sherwood Road, has four grand-children.’
Ann Wild, who is 85 years old and lived in Stanhope Road for 63 years, told me in June 2023, ‘I worked with Annie Holt from 1968 until she retired. She was well over the retiring age to go to the new [St James] school. She told us many stories about Sam when they lived in Packs in the Wood. On leaving school, Annie went into service as a house-maid and was still doing it while I worked with her, a very hard working woman. In the war she worked in the Calverley Grounds giving children school dinners, and also in the Grosvenor Recreation Park (Satellite Youth Centre). A Mr Peers was also a park-keeper with Sam. He lived in the lodge by the big gates at the bottom of Auckland Road. Children had to behave when Sam was about, but he was always a very liked man. I know they had a daughter who married an lived in Tonbridge at the bottom of Quarry Hill. She had two children (Sam and Annie’s grandchildren) and she would often come into the school to see her mum. I think they also had a son who lived away somewhere. And yes, she did live in Sherwood Road.’
Annie lived for 38 years after Sam died, reaching the age of 97 when she died on 9 June 2003. She was cremated on 18 June at Tunbridge Wells Crematorium.
Clive Stace (104 Ravenswood Avenue), Sam Holt was definitely away during the war. He only reappeared on the scene after the war ended. One feature of him that I recall was his heavily tattooed arms (not so common in those days).
Charles Edwin BALDOCK
According to census records and the 1939 Register, Charlie was born on 15 August 1899 at Pembury, and the GRO has record in 1899/3 at Tonbridge (the district that covered Tunbridge Wells) for Charlie Edwin BALDOCK, mother’s maiden name BUTCHERS. Although most official references to Charlie show his christian name as Charles, his GRO record shows it as Charlie. Charlie was baptised on 24 June 1900 at Pembury as Charles Edwin Baldock, the son of Alice and William Baldock, a grocer’s assistant of High Street, Pembury.
Charlie was the fourth of his parent’s eight children born between 1892 and 1910 and the 1901 Census shows him (as Charlie) aged two living with his family at High Street, Pembury, between the Black Horse public house and a bakers shop (pictures right). The house has since been demolished to make way for Blackhorse Mews. Charlie’s father was William Baldock, a 31-years-old warehouseman and his mother Alice Baldock, also 31 years old.
Between 1901 and 1911, the family moved to 6 Cambrian Road, Tunbridge Wells (below right) where the census shows Charlie aged 12 attending school. His father William was now working as a stoker at the Gas Works. By 1921 the family had moved a few doors along the road to a similar house at 22 Cambrian Road (below right). Charlie’s father was working working for Tunbridge Wells Gas Co and Charlie as a gardener for ‘Adam’s Nurseries’. Geo I Adams Ltd had a shop at 21 Grosvenor Road and their nursery in Sandhurst Park.
On 30 January 1932, Charlie was still living at 22 Cambrian Road when he married Nellie Margaret Rogers of Vernon Road, Tunbridge Wells at St Barnabas Church. The wedding was reported in the 5 February 1932 Sevenoaks Chronicle (below right), ‘A pretty wedding took place at St Barnabas Church on Saturday, the contracting parties being Mr C E Baldock, eldest son of Mr and Mrs Baldock of 22 Cambrian Road, and Miss Nellie Margaret Rogers, second daughter of Mrs and the late Mr William Rogers of 21 Vernon Road...Mr S Ranger was best man. The reception was held at St James’ Hall, about 40 guests being present...Presents - staff of Adams’ Nurseries - cheque...’
Nellie’s father was William James Rogers and he died in 1920 leaving her mother a widow living at 21 Vernon Road, Tunbridge Wells, and she never remarried. After Charlie and Nellie married in 1932, Charlie went to live with Nellie and her mother at 21 Vernon Road, and they both lived the rest of their lives there.
Charlie and Nellie had four children and the GRO has the following births recorded at Tonbridge: 1932/3 Eric William Baldock, 1934/3 Christine Margaret Baldock, 1937/4 Brenda A Baldock and 1940/2 Gerald E Baldock, mother’s maiden name Rogers.
In March 1936, Nellie’s mother died in tragic circumstances. The 20 March Courier reported an inquest held on 16 March, ‘A brief note, of which only three words, “My dear daughters” were decipherable, was left by a 59-year-old widow, Mary Ann Rogers of 21 Vernon Road, before placing her head in a gas oven on Saturday.
‘Charles Edwin Baldock, 21 Vernon Road, said he had never heard his mother-in-law threaten to take her life. He saw her at 8.30 on Friday night just as she was going to bed. She then appeared to be her usual self. He did not see her again until Saturday morning. Mrs Rogers was usually the first to rise, but during the past three weeks, whilst she had been under the care of the doctor, she had not been up so early. When he got up on Saturday morning, he entered the skullery and found Mrs Rogers lying with her head in the gas oven. All the taps were turned on. He immediately turned them off and opened the doors and windows, after which he summoned the police. The coroner: Had Mrs Rogers made certain accusations against you? Witness: Yes. She had made an accusation. he had always lived on very friendly terms with Mrs Rogers.
‘Nellie Margaret Baldock of the same address, said she had been living with her mother for about seven years. She continued to do so after her marriage. Her mother had never enjoyed very good health. She knew that about eleven years ago her mother became a patient at an institution and remained there for about a year. For the past three weeks she had been attended by the doctor for various veins....In returning a verdict of “Suicide Whilst of Unsound Mind”, the Coroner said that everyone seemed to have acted with promptitude. He was satisified that Mrs Rogers had caused her own death, and he was further satisfied that there were no grounds for her accusation against her son-in-law. The note which Mrs Rogers had left behind might have helped the enquiry, but unfortunately it was practically undecipherable.’
The 1939 Register shows Charlie and Nellie living at 21 Vernon Road, Nellie born on 31 December 1906 and Charlie working as a nursery gardener. There are three ‘closed’ entries which are most likely their three children born in 1932, 1934 and 1937.
In 1967, more tragedy occurred for Charlie and Nellie when their youngest child, Gerald E Baldock, suddenly died only 27 years old. The 4 August Courier published his Obituary, ‘A county bowls player for Kent, Mr Gerald Baldock of 21 Vernon Road, Tunbridge Wells, died in his sleep as a result of a heart attack, on Sunday morning. He was 27. A storeman with the South Eastern Electricity Board, Mr Baldock was single and lived with his parents. He started playing bowls about 11 years ago with the Grosvenor club, for which he did a lot of work.’ The Obituary then described Gerald’s bowling accomplishments.
A year later, on 24 August 1968, Charlie died aged 69. The 30 August Courier published his Obituary, ‘Mr Charles Edwin Baldock of 21 Vernon Road, Tunbridge Wells, died early on Saturday morning, aged 69. Mr Baldock, who was park-keeper for Grosvenor and Hilbert Parks, had worked for Adam’s Nurseries for over 30 years. He was a member of Grosvenor Bowling Club, and was well known in his neighbourhood for help he gave in other people’s gardens...Mr Baldock leaves a widow.’
Charlie was buried in Tunbridge Wells Cemetery in the same grave as his son Gerald. Nellie died on 27 February 1984 and was buried in the same grave as Charlie and Gerald.
Memories
Patricia Taylor, 20 Hilbert Road, said, “There was (and still is) a recreation ground at the bottom end of Hilbert Road. The entrance had a pair of glorious green wrought iron gates specially designed to stop children climbing over, although we did try. We spent a lot of time in the rec, especially in the wood at the top where there was a nice little stream (and dire warnings from your mother not to get your feet wet). We never played in the other wood – it was too gloomy. There was a zig-zag concrete bridge over the railway at the far side of the rec with high walls (because of the steam) which echoed when you ran over it. At the far side was a lone mulberry tree which suffered dreadfully when there was a craze for keeping silkworms.
“There were some swings and a roundabout (gone now but there is a photograph of them on-line) on a hard asphalt base. No health and safety then, if you fell off it was your fault. There was a duck pond where I was taken many times to feed the ducks when I was little. I saw it last year and it had been drained and looked awful. The gates looked very unimposing too, smaller of course and desperately needing a coat of paint.”
Alan Dane, 70 Ravenswood Avenue, said, “The Oast House in the Hilbert Recreation Ground, prior to its use as a changing room, was the store/den of park keeper Sam Holt and his assistant Charlie Baldock. Before that, I can remember a large shed on the right-hand side just beyond the second of two hedged football pitches, and at the edge of woodland. Indeed, when I was quite small walking in the ‘Rec’ with my aunt and her dog, stopping to chat with Sam and Charlie. The lower area of Hilbert ‘Rec’, now a playing field, was for some years merely rough ground.”
Clive Stace, 104 Ravenswood Avenue, said, “Hilbert Rec is now a nature reserve and they are planting trees to join up Roundabout Woods and Folly Shaw. I know only the chap in charge of natural history, Ian Beavis, who lives in St James’ Road. He wrote a nice booklet on the butterflies of the Tunbridge Wells area. Did you know that the bottom of the Grosvenor Rec has lost its swings etc. and has been allowed to revert to a boggy area for wild life, fed by chalybeate springs?”
In July 2023, referring to the top-left of the six photographs from Brian Johnson at the top of this page, Clive said, “Under Hilbert Rec, in the top left of the block of six coloured photos, there are two memorable features. First the lone bench, where Margaret and I use to sit in the gloaming and often cold (courting as my grandparents used to call it). Just visible on the right, a large oak tree with its thick trunk. We lads used to think we had reached a notable stage when we could throw a cricket ball over it without it touching any branches. It would be easy to do that now, because its height was much reduced by the ravages of the 1987 Great Storm. Photo attached of it in full glory, 1966 [pictured right.]. In the wood there was a very large beech tree on which we used to carve our initials. I remember going back to view it years later and the only ones I could make out were TJ & CS in a heart. CS was Christine Skewis, not me, and TJ was Tony Jenner of Dorking Road. In the Great Storm the tree was blown down, not broken but simply uprooted whole. I have a lot of memories of Roundabout Woods – a wonderful place, not at all gloomy and foreboding as one of your correspondents says. One feature you don’t mention is the ‘rusty streams’ (chalybeate), especially conspicuous in Folly Shaw. I attach a photo, 1966” [pictured right].
Clive’s step-mother Phyllis Stace (104 Ravenswood Avenue) was interviewed about her memories of the park by Carolyn Gray of FOGH in 2011, and her article, published on their website, is reproduced here with Carolyn’s kind permission.
“Phyllis Stace was born in the mid-1920s and lived for eight years in Auckland Road. For her and her brother, who was two years older, the park was their local play area. Their father worked at the Gas Works on the other side (High Brooms) and they had an allotment in Sandhurst Road. In 1933 they moved to Cambrian Road, and Phyllis carried on walking through the park for three years, to St Barnabas Primary School.
“Before the Second World War the park keeper lived in The Lodge, Auckland Road. Every night he went round locking the gates at sunset. Before he started, he would blow a whistle to warn everyone to leave, and he always walked round the same way, so you knew how long you had to get out. There were the gates at Auckland Road and Rochdale Road, as now. There was an entrance by the Council Works Yard. The zig-zag bridge was built about 1934/35, and Phyllis thinks a house on Upper Grosvenor Road must have been pulled down to make that entrance, she says there were gooseberry bushes all around the path (I went to have a look and no 176 Upper Grosvenor Road is missing, with 174 and 178 either side of the entrance). The last exit then went into Folly Shaw, as the Hilbert Recreation Ground was still being constructed. Phyllis remembers it as the Charity farm, and there being cows kept on the fields. The other side of the farm, to Sandhurst Park, was nurseries and it was like being in the country.
“The park layout at the time started in the south by Grosvenor Bridge with the caves and duck pond (or as we like to say: The Dripping Wells and Lake!). As these are fed by the Jackswood Spring, when the electricity works in Quarry Road were busy and took too much water it reduced the flow to the park. They used to sail toy yachts on the duck pond. Next was the swimming pool, which was dirty because of the soot from the passing steam trains. Between the existing bowling green and the railway line were tennis courts. By the Auckland Road entrance was a boat swing and a baby swing. The bandstand there in the north-east corner near to Dorking Road (official date for demolition is 1935), but Phyllis doesn't remember any bands playing there. In the hollow were the remains of the lower lakes, described by Phyllis as muddy pools, but still with their original railings. Above them, towards the railway line, was a levelled area with a shelter and swings. Cycling was banned, you had to get off and push.
“Her husband was in the police force from 1935-1960, and he told her that after the war the swimming pool was filled in with various debris from the war.”
Book
If you would like to know more about Grosvenor and Hilbert Park, a booklet has been published by Friends of Grosvenor and Hilbert Park (FOGH) about it (right), written by Philip Whitbourn and Ian Beavis. It was first published in 2012 and re-published in 2022. The booklet, consisting of 36 pages, contains old photographs and drawings of the park, together with information about the wild-life in it. It is available from the FOGH for £5 (plus £1.60 postage) and any profits from the sale of the publication go to the work of the FOGH.
A recent aerial view of Grosvenor and Hilbert Park. The Hilbert Road entrance is shown right edge centre with the oast house just below it – photo thanks Roddy Paine, Facebook OTWPS.
The Hilbert Road entrance to the Hilbert Recreation Ground – photo thanks Google Street View.
Brian Johnson’s ‘This morning’s walk to High Brooms station’ on 12 April 2022 – photos thanks Brian Johnson, Facebook RTWPP.
The Wetlands where the swings stood, pictured in 2020 – photo thanks Peter Taylor, Facebook OTWPS.
A 1953 postcard of ‘Grosvenor Recreation Ground’ and what we called ‘the swings’, where the Wetlands are now situated – photo thanks Paul Lindfield, Facebook OTWPS.
The summer of 1961 (l to r) Lynne, Carol and Nikki Smith (78 Ravenswood Avenue) with their mother Marion, and an unknown boy standing on the end, does anyone recognise him, please? – photo thanks Carol Campbell nee Smith.
The roundabout in the rec in 1947, posted by Nigel Malyon (who used to live in Burslem Road) on Facebook OTWPS, showing his mother and four sisters (l to r) Pauline, Betty, Marg, Dawn (mother) and Ruth. The edge of the swings can just be seen on the right of the picture – photo thanks Nigel Malyon, Facebook OTWPS.
Hilbert Athletic football team, believed about 1960 – photo thanks Anne & Doug Pearch.
Two more early pictures of Hilbert Athletic – photos thanks Anne & Doug Pearch.
Extract from the 17 July 1959 Tonbridge Free Press reporting the general meeting of the Tunbridge Wells League and the formation of a Minor Division.
Extracts from the 22 January Sevenoaks Chronicle (above) and 29 January Courier reporting Hilbert Athletic’s matches.
A recent picture (2022) of the oast house and you can just make out the cottage ‘Packs in the Wood’ where the park-keeper Sam Holt lived in the 1950s – photo thanks Brian Johnson, Facebook RTWPP.
Extract from the Weslyn Methodist Chapel, Sale, Cheshire Baptism Register showing Samuel Holt’s baptism on 8 April 1910 with his younger brother and sister.
Extract from the 1939 Register showing the Holt family living at Charity Farm.
Extract from the 5 May 1933 Courier referring to Samuel Holt, a park-keeper at Hilbert Recreation Ground.
Sam Holt’s parents, Mary Ann Ashley and Gregory Holt with Sam’s youngest sibling Sally (Sarah Holt, born in 1918, pictured outside their house in Egerton Street, Sale about 1922 – photo thanks Marion Gregory, Ancestry
Extract from the 8 September 1972 Courier that reported, ‘Mrs Marjorie Benton, of 2 Quarry Gardens, Tonbridge, recently won the weekly Miss Lovely Legs contest whilst staying at a Holiday Village near Bournemouth. Marjorie is a nursing assistant who likes dressmaking and keep fit – and has beautiful legs.’ – photo thanks Courier.
The entry in the All Saints Church, Notting Hill Baptism Register for Samuel’s wife Annie Lucy Sheppard on 11 February 1906.
Samuel Holt’s wife Annie’s parents, John Henry Sheppard and Annie Burley – photos thanks Iris Sheppard, Ancestry.
The entry in the All Saints Church, Kensington Marriage Register for the marriage of Annie’s parents on 8 February 1902.
The marriage of Edward Arthur Sheppard and Mercy Ruth Glazier at Matfield, Kent on 3 November 1934 – photo thanks Courier.
The 19 December 1975 Courier published Annie’ retirement – photo thanks Courier.
The Obituary of John Sheppard in the 17 September 1948 Courier.
The other park-keeper working with Samuel Holt was his assistant Charles Baldock, known as Charlie, pictured left on his wedding day on 30 January 1932 – photo thanks Ancestry, Indigodeltatango, who I also remember very well. Unlike Sam, Charlie was much more friendly to us children and I remember on many occasions sitting with my friends on the seat closest to the Hilbert Road entrance overlooking the football pitch (King George V Field) listening to Charlie telling us his army stories while he almost chain-smoked. His stories were mostly quite interesting to us children until we started hearing them for a second time, and some for a third time! Charlie used to walk to work through Grosvenor Park from the entrance off Rochdale Road at the bottom of Vernon Road.
The marriage of Charles Baldock and Nellie Margaret Rogers on 30 January 1932 at St Barnabas Chursh – photo thanks Sevenoaks Chronicle.
<19000624 Charlie Edwin Baldock Baptism.jpg> Extract from the Pembury Baptism Register showing Charles Edwin Baldock baptised on 24 June 1900.
The Black Horse public house, High Street Pembury and (left) 16 High Street, which in 1901 was a baker’s shop. Charlie lived between the two buildings in 1901 at 14 High Street which was later demolished to make way for Blackhorse Mews.
A picture of Pembury High Street in 1918 looking similar to when Charlie lived there. The Black Horse is just past the first telegraph pole on the left – photo thanks Mick White, Facebook RTWPS.
Left: 6 Cambrian Road (right of the semi-detached pair) where Charlie Baldock and his family lived in 1911 and right: 22 Cambrian Road, (right of the semi-detached pair) where they lived in 1921.
The headstone in Tunbridge Wells Cemetery for Charlie Baldock, his wife Nellie and their youngest son Gerald – photo thanks Ancestry, Dennis Baldock
21 Vernon Road (first house on left) where Charlie Baldock and Nellie Rogers lived all their married life. The entrance to Grosvenor Park, where the present Table 8 Cafe is located, can be seen at the bottom of the road.
The magnificent oak tree in Hilbert Rec pictured in 1966 before the storm of 1987 reduced it in size (see text for story) – photo thanks Clive Stace.
A good example of the ‘rusty streams’ (chalybeate), especially conspicuous in Folly Shaw – photo thanks Clive Stace.
Another picture of the seat referred to by Clive Stace where he and Margaret Williams did their courting and where I used to listen to the park-keeper, Charlie Baldock’s, army stories, pictured at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Picnic in the Park, 2012 – photo thanks FOGH.