Rainham Girls School, Orchard Street 1941/2

The attached photo was taken in the quad at Rainham Girls School, Orchard Street, c. 1941/2. My mother is shown second from right in the back row. She annotated the reverse with "Village scene from school play" and included names.

 

Front row L-R

Jean Muir

Marie Lavenda

June Glover

Audrey Foster

Joyce Pack

Back Row L-R

Daphne

Joyce Shipley

Joyce Parker

Jean Greg

Pat Packham

Eileen Hales

Stephanie Porter

Elm Plastics Ltd - Rainham Kent - History

According to Kelly's directory, Elm Plastics was based at 22 Motney Hill Road in Rainham, now a series of warehouses for James Wellesley Kitchens. The Managing Director was a Polish gentleman called Mr R Michalkiewicz (sometimes known as Mr Michaels) who is mentioned in the Lower Rainham Coronation Party newspaper article of 1953 as having given souvenir books to the children at the party.

The only online info I can find about the factory is this announcement in the Edinburgh Gazette in Sept 1968, ‘... that the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity hereby gives notice that, during the month ending 30th 11 September 1968, she has made special exemption orders relating to the employment of women and/or young persons at the following Factories: Elm Plastics Ltd., Motney Hill Road, Rainham, Gillingham…’ It was reported by several people that the factory had a poor health & safety record with a number of workers losing fingers and at least one losing an arm in various accidents. Phil Stanfield recalled that his mum started a worker’s walk-out one winter because they had no heating in the building! The factory made many popular toys of the time and there are fond memories of families being brought home items such as a Muffin the Mule and a Pea Shooter Gun which were made there. The factory also made Loony Links and the original Mr Potato Head toys.

Babs Brown writes: Mr brother who still lives in Rainham recently sent me a of your magazine featuring Elm Plastics.  I worked there in the early sixties many fond memories.  I met my husband there we are still together he is 85 and myself 78.  I am enclosing a photo taken outside. It was owned by Mr Michaels and Mr Tomasheski excuse the spellings.  Mrs Dingle ran the assembly room with her supervisor Dot I believe that was her name her mother and father owned the shop on the corner. I used to spray paint pineapple ice buckets just like the ones you can still buy today. In the photo I am standing on the right linking arms with the young man. We also sprayed dolls faces made lampshades

Elm Plastics Motney Hill Rainham Kent 1960s

 

 

Siloam in Rainham - Part 1

SILOAM in Rainham Part 1 

The house that stands today is surrounded by fields and situated about half a mile south  of the A2 and several hundred yards east of Mierscourt Road. It is a Grade II Listed  Building dating from the 17th C or earlier but has been extended and altered in the mid-  20th C. It is timber-framed, L-shape in plan and one room in depth. The ground floor  walls are of red brick and those of the upper floor are rendered and tile hung. Outside is a  traditional walled garden with a rear stable block. 

J .K.Wallenberg in his book Kentish Place-Names says the name is derived from the Old  English word syle meaning ‘miry place’ + hamm, i.e. a home near a pool or muddy area.  He also mentions some early recorded variations in spelling, viz. Syleham (1226), Sil-,  Sylhamme (1304), de Silhamme, Silham (both l4 th. C)  At the beginning of Vol. VI of the second edition of Edward Hasted’s History of Kent,  published between 1797 and 1801, there is a description of the parish of Rainham, which  he tells us was in the Hundred of Milton. He states that ‘The paramount manor of  Milton claims over this parish, subordinate to which is the manor of SILHAM, or  Sileham-court, as it is now usually called, in the southern part of the parish, of  which William Auburie died possessed in the 1st year of Edward I (1272-3) After  which it came into the possession of Peter de Meredale‘, in right of Agnes his wife,  by whom he had two sons, William and Roger, who were possessed of it jointly, as  heirs in gavelkind, in the reign of Edward II’ (1307-27) Agnes was the daughter of  William Auburie. 

But Hasted also says, further on, that another family, called Toketon, (the name was later  changed to Tufton) was associated with Siloam and other lands in Rainham during the  preceding hundred years. Many of the records that survive from the past are about the  ownership and transfer of land and the rents paid. For example Sir William de Toketon  (born c.1200) lived in the Lathe of Scray in Kent at the latter end of the 13th C either at  Sileham or at Tufton in Rainham in Kent. He is mentioned in a deed of John de  Madetune, who ‘grants and confirms to William de Toketon and John his son, half a  mark in money, a yearly rent of ten pence and a hen, which Geofry de Meredale used to  pay out of a tenement, with appurtenances, near a lane leading to Sileham on the east,  also an acre and three roods of land lying in field called Hamme, and other lands  thereabouts, paying yearly a pound of cummin, or a penny.’ Sir William’s grandson  Roger de Toketon (b.1250) about 1280 was deeded with John de Renham ‘certain arable  land purchased of Peter de Mere, lying in the borough of Mere in Rainham, paying a  rose at Midsummer, in consideration of 4 pounds in money’ 

After mentioning William and Roger, sons of Peter de Meredale, Hasted continues  ‘After which it became the property of Donet, which family increased its possessions  in this parish by the purchase of the estate of Roger de Reynham, in the reign of  Edward III (1327- 1377) At length it descended down to James Donet, who died in  1409. He lies buried in the high chancel of this church, in one of the windows of  which were formerly his arms, Argent, three pair of barnacles, gules’ An inscription,  in Latin, recording his death, can be found on a brass plate let into a slab in the floor of  the chancel of St. Margaret’s Church, Rainham.        

Notes:

1 A person had a Christian name followed by the name of the place where he lived, in this

case Meredale, which was also in Rainham.

1 Gavelkind. A system of inheritance, particularly in Kent, whereby estates were equally

divided amongst sons, and in the absence of male heirs equally amongst daughters.

The Rev.A.J. Pearman writing just over a hundred years ago states ‘the early history of

the Tuflon’s, as connected with Rainham, is involved in some obscurity. There can be

no doubt that a family of this name held property in the parish as long ago as the time

of King John (1 190-1216); and there is a tract of ground near Moor Street called

Tufions, which in all likelihood was their original inheritance. But it is equally certain

that the existing family, now seated at Hothfield , came from Northiam, and obtained

their estates in Rainham by the marriage of Sir John Tufion with Olympia Bloor in the

reign of Elizabeth (1588-1603). The probability is that the early Rainham Tufton’s

were an offshoot of the parent stock at Northiam and have long been extinct. They do

not appear at any time to have been the chief residents in the parish’

3

SILOAM in Rainham. Part 2

In his History of Kent Hasted also says this of James Donet, who died in 1409, ‘On his  death without male issue his sole daughter and heir, Margaret, carried this manor  in marriage to John St. Leger esq., of Ulcombe, Sheriff anno 9, Henry VI, (1430-31)  Hasted is mistaken in calling James Donet’s daughter Margaret; her name was Margery.  Several generations of the Donet family lived at Siloam. John St. Leger who was  knighted died in 1442. His memorial is the brass of a man in armour of the Lancastrian  period which is mounted on a board in the north aisle of Ulcombe church (the inscription  is missing) His wife Margery is buried beside him in Ulcombe church. A long line of  St. Leger’s resided at Ulcombe, acquired manors and wealth, intermarried with the chief  families of Kent and frequently served the office of Sheriff and represented the County  in Parliament. They had four sons, Ralph the eldest, who succeeded his father at  Ulcombe, Bartholomew, Thomas and James. Of the four Thomas was the one who left  his mark on Rainham. 

Some of you may remember that several years ago The Rev. R.Allington-Smith, a former  vicar of Rainham, arranged an exhibition in the church entitled ‘The World of Thomas  St.Leger’. This is what he said in the Publicity Release ‘Sir Thomas St.Leger, Knight of  the Bath, lived from 1440 to 1483. Born of a Kentish family, the St.Legers of Ulcombe,  he fought on the Yorkist side in the War of the Roses, became esquire and later knight of  the body to King Edward IV and married the King’s sister, Anne of Exeter. He was much  in favour with the King who employed him extensively in the affairs of the Kingdom,  including foreign diplomacy. His connection with Rainham lies in the fact that he lived  for a time at the manor of Siloam in this parish and was involved in the building of the  great tower of the parish church. He was also instrumental in putting up the ‘canopy of  honour’ inside the church painted with Yorkist ‘sun-in-splendour’ devices. The church is in fact a part of the exhibition.

After Edward IV’s death Thomas St.Leger, with many  other Kentish knights, became implicated in Buckingham’s conspiracy against Richard  III. After its collapse he was beheaded at Exeter in 1483’  It was once suggested that Sir Thomas lies buried in the chest-like monument under the  easternmost arch of the arcade dividing the chancel from the chapel in St.Margaret’s  church. As this is shorter than normal it was argued that it must contain the body of a  headless individual namely Sir Thomas St.Leger.  The truth is that he was interred alongside that of his wife in the Rutland Chantry in St.  George’s Chapel, Windsor. He had founded it for Ann in 1481.  Incorporated in the battlement on the north side of the tower of St. Margaret’s church  are three shields, all eroded, one of which would probably have displayed the St. Leger  coat of arms if Sir Thomas had been involved in the building of the tower. 

The subject of who was responsible for the ‘canopy of honour’ or celure on the ceiling of  the nave and its interpretation has given rise to much debate- but that is another story.  Hasted continues ‘Sir Anthony St. Leger, (d.1559) lord deputy of Ireland in King  Henry VIII th’s reign (1509-1547) sold the manor of Sileham, or Sileham-court to  Christopher Bloor esq. who rebuilt his seat in this parish called Bloor's Place, in  which his ancestors had resided for several generations.’       

Christopher had a daughter, Olympiaz, who by her marriage to John Tufton of Hothfield,  near Ashford in Kent, the Tuftons came to possess not only Siloam but other estates in  the neighbouring parishes that were owned by the Bloor family. They remained in the  possession of the Tufton family until sometime in the 20‘h C. John was Sheriff of Kent in  1575, knighted in 1603 and became a baronet in 1603. He was buried, along with  Olympia and his second wife Christian Browne, in the vaults at Hothfield church. These  were prone to flooding and so in 1770 their remains were brought to Rainham. Along  with other members of the family they were placed in the vaults beneath the Tufton  chapel in St. Margaret’s church which are thought to have been built by Olympia’s father.  My paternal grandfather came from near Thame in Oxfordshire and moved to Kent at the  end of the 19"‘ C looking for work. Wakeley’s who were farmers at Meresborough gave  him employment and he lived at Siloam, which was owned by them. At that time it was  divided into two parts to accommodate two families of farm workers. My father spent his  childhood there and I visited Siloam, as a boy, a number of times to see my grandparents.  In particular I can remember the enormous fireplace in the house and a pump in the yard  where water was drawn from a well.  The house and estate comprising 66 acres was sold off in parcels by auction in 1986.  Notes:  1 A more reasonable explanation for the shortening of the tomb (if indeed it is a tomb) is  that it was done in order to allow priests to pass from chancel to chapel.  2 Olympia died without having a son. Sir John’s descendants (who became Earls of  Thanet) came from his second marriage, which produced six sons and four daughters. 

Eric Cross       

Page 1 of 3

Free Joomla! templates by AgeThemes