A will ……. the Eltham Hutments and a soldier of the Great War

There are always stories, and some are more unexpected than others.

Well Hall Road and the hutments circa 1920

This one concerns a will, the Eltham Hutments and a soldier of the Great War.

Now as someone who had grown up in the Progress Estate I was well aware of its connection with the Royal Arsenal and the Great War, but didn’t know that there had been a whole set of “Hutments” constructed at the same time.

They were more temporary and all had gone before we settled in 294 Well Hall, so it was a revelation when I firs came across them and more so when I discovered a connection between them and George Davison, from Manchester who served in the Royal Artillery and was stationed in Woolwich.**

The Will, 1918

In the March of 1918 he made his will shortly before embarking for the Western Front.

It was witnessed by H M Drinkhall and V L Dade, and was hand written in a single sheet of note paper and is simple and the point. “This is the last will and testament of me George Gurnel Davison of Birch Vale Cottage, Romily, Cheshire.

I give devise and bequeath to my dear wife Mary Ellen all my property whatsoever and wheresoever and I appoint her sole Executor of this my will.”

By the time he made the will he had served with the Royal Artillery for four years and spent time in London and Ireland but now with the German offensive in full swing he was about to go to France, and as we know would be killed just three months later.

In one of his letters to his wife he had mentioned the Drinkhall family and how they were looking forward to her coming back to stay.

And that set me off looking for them, and in that I was helped by my friend Tricia, who located them to one of the hutments on what is now the site of the old Well Hall Odeon, which is just a few minutes walk from our old house.

That hutment will be one of those near the top of our picture, and takes me off on a number of different directions.

Detail of the hutments, circa 1920

In time Tricia and I will go looking for more on the Drinkhall’s, but for now I like the idea that someone I was writing about in connection with a book should have spent time just yards from where I lived.***

But it also points to an interesting aspect of the war, which was that Mrs. Davison visited her husband while he was stationed around the country.

As well as staying with the Drinkhall’s, she spent time in Ireland, where the one surviving photograph of the couple and their son was taken in 1916.

I have no idea if this was a common practice but given the restrictions of train travel and the cost of such journey’s it should be a fascinating area of study.

The Davison family, 1916

For now, I shall just gaze on Tricia’s picture with renewed interest.

Location; Eltham, London


Pictures, Will, 1918, of George Davison and the Davison family, 1916, from the collection of David Harrop, and picture postcard of Well Hall Road, date unknown courtesy of Tricia Leslie

* The Eltham Hutments by John Kennett, 1985 The Eltham Society, http://www.theelthamsociety.org.uk/

**George Davison, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/George%20Davison

***A new book on Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

The Eltham Hutments ............ the book of the story and a thank you to Tricia

Now until very recently I had no idea that a small community of 1500 families lived close to where I grew up on Well Hall Road.

But then why should I?  They were erected in 1916 and had gone by 1937.

The first hints came from comments on  the Well Hall facebook site but it was my friend Tricia Leslie who first alerted me to the extent of this small estate and pointed me in the direction of The Eltham Hutments by John Kennett.

Mr Kennett is a respected local historian who has written extensively about the area and contributes a regular column for SE nine. **

And with the The Eltham Hutments he has uncovered a rich part of our history.

“Between 1916 and 1937 parts of the Well Hall and Eltham Park areas of Eltham were covered by temporary dwellings.  

These 1500 wooden huts were erected for Woolwich Arsenal munitions workers and their families.

To a whole generation of local people they were home yet memories of life in ‘the hutments’ are limited to a dwindling number of former residents.”***

The book covers the building of the huts, much on life in the community and their final demolition and removal.

What is all the more exciting is that Tricia has strong family links with those huts; “my grandfather is mentioned in the book as Mr W.B. (William Broadhurst) under the heading of Shooters Hill By-Pass (Rochester Way) and Re-Housing.  It was a test case that went to court.”

And she is currently researching the community which will be a fascinating addition to Eltham’s story.

Picture; cover of The Eltham Hutments, 1985

* The Eltham Hutments by John Kennett, 1985, Eltham Books

**SE nine, http://www.senine.co.uk/

***ibid John Kennett, page 1