The Wickenden Saga

The early story, from Gord's first contact in November 1999, is recounted below.

Towards the end of 1999 I received an enquiry from Canada about an Old Huisher of the First World War era, R.M. Wickenden. Naturally, the name suggested a relation of H.J. 'Jack' Wickenden but no evidence had been found. My correspondent is Gord Wickenden whose forebears emigrated in the late 1800s and he has 'grannie's scrapbook' of family mementoes, among them the following newspaper cutting which Gord surmises was sent by a Taunton relative. It has no indication of source, or date, but reads:

"Huish Old Boy wins the MC - Hearty congratulations will be extended to Second Lieutenant R.M. Wickenden of the Royal Field Artillery on winning the coveted distinction the Military Cross, which was personally bestowed by His Majesty on Wednesday. We understand the honour was won by exceptionally smart work as forward observation officer when Lieutenant Wickenden under circumstances of great danger and difficulty kept in touch with a group of artillery and so prevented the consummation of an enemy attack. Lieutenant Wickenden is the son of Mr. F.B. Wickenden and Mrs. Wickenden of Tone House and was for some nine years a pupil at Huish's Grammar School Taunton, where he finished up as senior prefect. His school fellows celebrated the winning of the cross by having a half holiday."

'WICKENDEN, 2/Lt Robert Membry (SR), LG 19 Nov 1917; citation LG 22 Mar 1918 For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When acting as F.O.O. during an attack, he rallied men of infantry units who had been driven back from the captured position, and led them forward and re-established the line'.

UPDATE Since writing the above I have been in touch with H.J's daughter who confirms that 'Jack', her father, and Robert M were brothers, the sons of Mr and Mrs F.B. Wickenden of Tone House.

H.J. and R.M.W., courtesy of Sylvia Wickenden, Feb. 2000 (176Kb)

"Hi Gord & Family,

"I happened across your interesting web site in my search for anything related to the 12th battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. I have been researching, on and off, this battalion for over twenty years so I can shed some light on the mystery below:

"Rather oddly, the school magazine for 1915 - just before publication was suspended 'for the duration' - records that R.M.W was with The Gloucestershire Regiment (Bristol's Own) but the Gloucester Regiment has no record of his service with them."

"The 12th Battalion was a Service battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. All British Army regiments formed 'service' battalions at the outset of WW1. The intention being to provide service for the duration of the war and be disbanded at its end. The 12th Gloucesters were formed on 4th September 1914. Regarded as Bristol's 'special' battalion it soon became known by its pet name of "Bristol's Own". It remained in Bristol, where training was carried out, until June 1915 when they moved to Yorkshire for brigade training, then Salisbury Plain for divisional training. The battalion sailed for France on 21st November 1916.

"The original commander of the battalion was a local man who had served in the Gloucestershire Regiment for many years, Lt. Col. W.E.P. Burges. When the battalion was originally formed it was intended for: 'The Professional and Mercantile men of the City of Bristol and its neighbourhood'. As such, a fair sized proportion of those that came forward were from middle class families and had received good educations. Col. Burges recognised this fact and arranged to enlist six full rifle companies (normal for an infantry battalion was four) in order to allow him to extract those men that stood out as officer material. The result of this is that a lot of men that originally enlisted in the 12th Gloucesters were, within months, removed from the battalion and trained as officers, eventually being poisted to 'any' regiment. Few actually made it back to the 12th battalion or even the Gloucestershire Regiment.

"It would appear, therefore, that the school magazine was correct. R.M.W. did enlist in "Bristol's Own" and was subsequently removed for officer training. The Nominal Roll was finally put together just prior to the battalion leaving Bristol in June 1915. The men that had originally enlisted and given an Army number; if no longer with the battalion they would not be recorded. Whence the fact the Regimental H.Q. has no record of him.

"I have attached a photograph for interest. It shows three young "Bristol's Own" recruits at the battalion training ground at Bower Ashton (about 2 miles from Bristol City Center) It was taken toward the end of 1914 and if you look above the head of the central figure you will make out the north tower of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Three Recruits courtesy of Dean Marks Nov 03 (62.4Kb)

"I hope this has been of interest to you".

To return to the general history of the Taunton Wickendens:

THE WICKENDEN STORY is now one year old. Gord and his wife Vi plan to visit England in Spring 2001 and we look forward to welcoming them and perhaps assisting in yet further discoveries. Meanwhile, we have a new puzzle: the location of the Wickenden Tea Rooms depicted in the attached picture

Wickenden's, courtesy of Sylvia Wickenden and Gord Wickenden (67.9kb)

As a postscript to the above, we are now very nearly convinced that this is indeed the North Street premises, despite the most unfamiliar appearance of the balcony. In particular, also, we are most grateful to the Editor of the Somerset County Gazette for the publication of a request for more information with a striking reproduction of the picture in the 'Looking Back' column, 2nd February, 2001. Quite coincidentally, the same issue records the imminent opening of the new teaching wing at Richard Huish College and the search for the 'oldest Huisher' to take part in launching a public appeal for the enhancement of the high-tech facilities in the new teaching areas. All in all, the College has particular reason to remember this issue of the 'Gazette'!

GORD'S RESPONSE Gord Wickenden has sent the following note with instructions not to change a word of it. Headed 'Bob and Gord's Excellent Adventure' he describes the course of our joint exploration of his Taunton connections. I need hardly say that to Huishers of a certain age, the name 'Wickenden' continues to excite instant recognition. And not only because of painful memories of encounters with 'Moses' or 'Ebenezer'! Thank you, Gord. An editor's lot is often an unsung one: I often wonder what our 1500 readers a year think of our humble effort and so, with due modesty - and more than a little pride - here is your letter:

This is just a short note to let the readers know about how helpful your Huish web pages really are. During my genealogical research I found that my ancestors came from Taunton. My great grandfather William Henry Wickenden and his family emigrated from the Taunton area in 1891 for Canada. However, reaching this point, I was stuck for further clues. One day my sister found a small newspaper clipping in Grannie's scrapbook about an R.M. Wickenden who had won the Military Cross (no mention of which war). The article had only one other clue...that he was a graduate of "Old Huish Grammar School". I found the web pages for Richard Huish College through some web searching and noticed a call for enquiries about "old Huishers". So..on a lark I asked the web-master if he could find some info about this RM Wickenden. I didn't know it but I had just hit the jackpot!

Bob Pendleton immediately responded, telling me all about Jack Wickenden, a much loved teacher at the school. Bob proceeded to look up the census of 1881 where indeed my family was to be found in Taunton. In fact, we found three daughters we did not know of previously! Bob looked through the School archives and found mention of RM being in "Bristol's Own" regiment. However, upon writing to the regiment, he discovered that he was actually in the Royal Artillery. A copy of the citation for Robert's Military Cross was obtained. Then, when Bob told me of Jack's father's "Tea Room" I became excited because my great grandfather had been in the restaurant business as a cook when he first came to Canada...(could there be a connection or was this just coincidence?) We then found that a Sylvia Wickenden had dedicated a tree to her father Jack upon his retirement ... was she still alive? Indeed we found a few Sylvia Wickendens. Bob telephoned and finally found THE Sylvia who was the daughter of Jack. She confirmed a number of things for us including the fact that RM Wickenden was her uncle...Jack's brother!

If this wasn't enough Bob then found pictures of Tone House where Jack and RM's parents lived. It is now covered over with a military museum in the grounds of Taunton Castle. Not to be outdone by this Bob then found and sent pictures of the Wickenden Tea Room.

I believe that Jack and Robert's father was a brother to my great grandfather and that Sylvia is in fact a living relative. Actual confirmation will be found soon...especially after a telephone call to Sylvia.

Now what better service could anyone ask? I made a short enquiry of Bob...got information about my family, pictures of their house, their restaurant and the name of a living relative. For over two months Bob immersed himself in Wickenden family history and "found the family". Well done Bob! .. and thank you very much! Your web pages are a big help in drawing together Huishers of all eras.

Bob's response was way beyond the call of duty. His insight, detective skills, research ability and lateral thinking enabled him to come up with more than I ever expected. However, it was especially his willingness to be helpful that impressed me. All his work in our family history makes me feel like I've made a new friend. It also leaves me with a warm feeling about Huishers. My wife and I are planning a trip back to Taunton in the near future to "walk in our ancestors footsteps"... I have many drinks to buy Bob at "the local" for all his help. (Getting friends "saturated" at the local is apparently a tradition with Taunton Wickendens!!)

Gord Wickenden, gordon.wickenden@sympatico.ca (NB: new address from 2003)

POSTSCRIPT MAY 2001 It has been our pleasure to welcome Gord and family to Somerset where he has visited the Wells and Taunton sites of former Wickenden restaurants and the former Wickenden home, now Goodland Gardens. We also visited, in company with Sylvia Wickenden, the Richard Huish College and many photographs were taken of 'Sylvia's tree', the Metasequoia planted to commemorate H.J. Wickenden's 37 years as History master at the boys' grammar school.

Gord with Sylvia and her father's tree at the College, May 2001

Gord has produced a Wickenden genealogy website incorporating some of the above and also including his discoveries about his wider family at http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/i/c/Gordon-O-Wickenden/

ANOTHER POSTSCRIPT OCTOBER 2003 We have remained in touch and are delighted to record that contacts in Clevedon have produced some photos of the cutlery used in the Wickenden restaurant there. Gord tells us that a member of the family has already visited and that he and other members of the family hope to re-visit England in 2004. Here is a picture of the monogram showing a 'W' and a Heron with Eel (I think! - BP)

Detail of Wickenden cutlery, Clevedon Civic Society (click to enlarge)

My thanks are due to Sylvia Wickenden; The Curator and Col. D.E. Whatmore (ret'd) at the Soldiers of Gloucester Museum; Col. J.M. Phillips, Curator and Historical Secretary, Royal Artillery Historical Trust; Mike Cull, for 1881 Census and other information; David Bromwich, Taunton Library and Janie Norman, Richard Huish College Librarian. The later and most valuable contribution of Dean Marks is particularly appreciated.