Unsung heroes: service animals and Victorian engineers

00:00:00: Helen We are Chelmsford, the birthplace of broadcasting.

00:00:03: Rachel We're the city that started it all, the titans of transmission.

00:00:06: Helen The precursors to podcasts.

00:00:08: Helen And whilst we're at it, the home of the best museum in the world.

00:00:12: Rachel But that's not all.

00:00:13: Rachel Chelmsford's home to histories aplenty.

00:00:15: Rachel We were once the capital of the UK, don't you know?

00:00:17: Rachel Well, sort of.

00:00:19: Rachel And it's the people past and present who make us, us.

00:00:22: Helen So hear from them yourself as we tune in to stories past and present in the

00:00:26: Chelmsford Broadcast.

00:00:28: Rachel Brought to you by the Museum of Chelmsford.

00:00:47: Helen This month we have a very interesting and inspiring episode for you about the

00:00:51: amazing work done by our friends in the animal kingdom to support humans in their

00:00:56: work and in times of conflict.

00:00:58: Rachel That's right, so Oaklands Park is unusual to have a nationally significant

00:01:02: memorials dedicated to service animals.

00:01:05: Helen Are you an animal person, Rachel?

00:01:06: Helen Got any pets?

00:01:07: Rachel Oh, I've got a lovely big ginger cat called Garfie, a black and white cat

00:01:11: called Penny.

00:01:12: Helen Oh, lovely.

00:01:13: Helen I've got two cats as well.

00:01:15: Rachel Oh, really?

00:01:15: Helen Yeah.

00:01:16: Helen I've also got three dogs, a giant tortoise, 2 guinea pigs, an axolotl, a

00:01:20: hamster and several fish.

00:01:24: Helen I'm not sure any of them would be any good in public service roles though.

00:01:28: Rachel Wow, I think we can safely say no axolotls were used in the war effort, but

00:01:32: your pet dogs might have been called up though.

00:01:36: Helen Really?

00:01:36: Helen I didn't think we had many military dogs during the First World War.

00:01:40: Rachel Well we didn't, but at the start of the war there was just one, an Airedale

00:01:44: terrier, so his trainer spent years proving dogs could be useful for police and

00:01:48: military work.

00:01:49: Helen But the First World War was very much focused on new war technology, machine

00:01:53: guns, artillery,

00:01:54: Helen Barbed wire.

00:01:55: Helen What could the dogs do?

00:01:57: Rachel Well, quite a lot actually.

00:01:58: Rachel So they were great messengers, they carried first aid kits to the wounded,

00:02:01: and they offered a great comfort and morale boost to the soldiers.

00:02:05: Helen That's brilliant.

00:02:06: Helen Did others see the benefits?

00:02:08: Rachel Eventually, yes.

00:02:09: Rachel So A dedicated war dog school was established here in Essex in Shoeburyness.

00:02:14: Rachel where dogs were trained for service on the front lines.

00:02:17: Helen That's amazing.

00:02:18: Helen But surely they were purpose-bred military dogs, not like my poodle.

00:02:22: Rachel Actually, no.

00:02:23: Rachel So people across Britain donated their pets to become war dogs, collies,

00:02:27: whippets, lurchers and intelligent breeds like your poodle.

00:02:30: Helen Wow, that must have been a huge sacrifice for families to give up their pet,

00:02:34: when it is likely dads, husbands, brothers were already fighting.

00:02:38: Rachel Oh yes, so immeasurable courage from the animals and the people they work

00:02:41: with.

00:02:42: Helen I'm looking forward to hearing from our very

00:02:44: Helen knowledgeable curator, Sarah, who will tell us more about the memorials we

00:02:48: have in Oaklands Park and how they came to be here.

00:02:51: Rachel We're also going to hear from Alan Pamphilon about their Chelmsfordian of the

00:02:55: month, as well as myself to tell the story of how Oaklands was used during the First

00:02:59: World War and even slightly in the Second World War.

00:03:02: Helen So stay tuned as we head over to Curator's Corner.

00:03:05: Helen Over to you, Sarah.

00:03:09: Sarah Hello, welcome back to Curator's Corner.

00:03:12: Sarah My name is Sarah and it's my turn to look in detail at an object in the

00:03:15: collection.

00:03:16: Sarah This month, as we are close to Armistice and Remembrance Day, I thought I

00:03:19: would focus on the story of those who have fallen in service to their country.

00:03:23: Sarah Like most British towns, conflicts and the two world wars in particular have

00:03:27: inflicted devastating losses in Chelmsford.

00:03:30: Sarah At the memorial inside the Chelmsford Civic Centre, there are 359 names listed

00:03:34: for those who died in service during the First World War alone.

00:03:38: Sarah This list is the counterpart to the Cenotaph outside the Civic Centre, which

00:03:42: is the focus for remembrance ceremonies every November 11th.

00:03:45: Sarah But that list of names does not tell the whole story, as it only covers

00:03:49: Chelmsford town's losses during the First World War.

00:03:52: Sarah Many more lives were lost in service across our district and are commemorated

00:03:56: at local memorials in the surrounding villages.

00:03:59: Sarah In the Second World War we have no accurate list of the number of Chelmsford

00:04:02: residents who lost their lives as, unlike the First World War, no official list was

00:04:06: kept.

00:04:07: Sarah The Cenotaph dedication commemorates all citizens who fell, importantly

00:04:11: acknowledging both the deaths in service and also the civilian casualties, as

00:04:16: Chelmsford, with its important industries that were serving the war, was regularly

00:04:21: targeted by enemy fire.

00:04:23: Sarah These incredible sacrifices are so important for us to remember and

00:04:26: acknowledge, and I would encourage anyone with an interest in the names behind the

00:04:31: memorials to visit the Chelmsford War Memorial website, which is a really brilliant,

00:04:35: deeply researched memorial to all their known Chelmsford residents lost to conflict.

00:04:40: Sarah But closer to the museum in Oaklands Park, we have a slightly different

00:04:44: memorial inspired by sacrifice, and it's that I'm going to focus on today.

00:04:49: Sarah Regular visitors to Oaklands Park will probably have noticed the National Dog

00:04:53: Memorial which sits on the front lawn facing the museum.

00:04:56: Sarah The statue designed by local sculptor John Doubleday is made of bronze and is

00:05:00: approximately 2 metres tall including the plinth.

00:05:03: Sarah It depicts two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Cocker Spaniel either side of a

00:05:07: kneeling police officer.

00:05:09: Sarah The canine memorial was unveiled in April 2019 by the then Metropolitan Police

00:05:13: Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick after a blessing by the Bishop of Chelmsford.

00:05:18: Sarah It was the culmination of 13 years of hard work and fundraising by one man,

00:05:22: police dog handler Paul Nicholls of Essex Police.

00:05:26: Sarah Paul grew up in Chelmsford, in a family with long-running links to the police

00:05:30: force, and he vividly remembers at the age of just 14, walking down the road in

00:05:34: Broomfield and seeing a police car shoot past with a police dog in the back.

00:05:39: Sarah From that day on it was his dream to be a police dog handler.

00:05:41: Sarah He joined the Essex Police Force in 1987 and after 13 years of service finally

00:05:46: achieved his dream.

00:05:48: Sarah Paul's first dog was a German Shepherd called Saber, affectionately known as

00:05:50: Mr.

00:05:51: Sarah Sibs.

00:05:52: Sarah He had been rescued from a neglectful home and was teamed up with Paul to be

00:05:55: trained for police work.

00:05:57: Sarah Police dogs play a vital role in law enforcement, carrying out work including

00:06:01: crowd control, drug and firearm detection, tracking and searching for missing people

00:06:05: or evidence, and providing protection and support for their handler in dangerous

00:06:10: situations.

00:06:11: Sarah Saber became a firearm support dog, and Paul has spoken of sending him into

00:06:15: buildings searching for armed people and into woodland in pursuit of assailants

00:06:20: carrying knives.

00:06:21: Sarah Within such stressful and life-threatening situations, it's clear that an

00:06:25: incredibly deep bond of trust is formed between the police dog and the handler.

00:06:29: Sarah An exhibition was held at the museum in 2019 to support the unveiling of the

00:06:33: memorial, and this told the deeply moving stories of many dogs who had served in our

00:06:38: country, including some who had lost their lives protecting their handlers.

00:06:42: Sarah Retired Police Constable Ian Churms sums it up really nicely in a video for

00:06:46: the Canine Police Dog Memorial, explaining that the police officers choose their

00:06:50: career, they know the dangers and decide to serve their communities.

00:06:54: Sarah whereas the dogs are chosen and trained for that role, doing out of love and

00:06:58: trust for their handler.

00:07:01: Sarah The loss of any pet is devastating, but it was clear from the testimonies in

00:07:04: the exhibition that it was particularly tough for handlers.

00:07:07: Sarah Luckily for Paul Nichols, Sabre served his time in the force without serious

00:07:11: injury and passed after retiring.

00:07:14: Sarah But the loss of his close partner for so many years still overwhelmed Paul and

00:07:18: he was inspired to create the Police Dog Memorial to commemorate the special

00:07:23: relationship and incredibly important role of the dogs serving in our forces.

00:07:28: Sarah Essex-based and internationally renowned artist John Doubleday was

00:07:31: commissioned to make the memorial, generously donating half his fee to the project.

00:07:36: Sarah John Doubleday is most famous for his bronze portraits of Nelson Mandela,

00:07:40: Sarah His Royal Highness Prince Philip and Charlie Chaplin's sculpture, which is in

00:07:44: Leicester Square.

00:07:45: Sarah Before making the final piece, he created a small maquette in bronze, which is

00:07:48: part of the museum's art collection and can currently be seen on display in our

00:07:52: Timeless Treasures exhibition.

00:07:54: Sarah And of course, dogs are not the only animals that have served their country.

00:07:58: Sarah During the Second World War, carrier pigeons were seen as such a vital part of

00:08:02: the war effort that predatory bird species like the peregrine falcon were almost

00:08:05: driven to extinction in this country in the effort to ensure that the pigeons'

00:08:09: messages made it through.

00:08:11: Sarah And horses still serve in the police force, and in the First World War,

00:08:15: despite advances in mechanisation, the cavalry and their horses were a very

00:08:20: important force.

00:08:21: Sarah The Essex Royal Horse Artillery had its headquarters in Chelmsford.

00:08:24: Sarah And a section was based here too, so hundreds of horses were moved through the

00:08:28: town to defend the country both here and abroad, carrying men, artillery,

00:08:32: ammunition, and that's something that you can learn more about in the Essex Yeomanry

00:08:37: Gallery at the museum.

00:08:39: Sarah So, as we reflect on the incredible sacrifices that have been made to protect

00:08:43: our country, I'd also like to remember the animals that have played an important

00:08:48: role, serving without choice, but still with great bravery and dedication.

00:08:53: Sarah Now I'll hand over to Rachel for Rachel's Story Time.

00:08:58: Rachel Welcome back to Rachel's Stories, where today I will be expanding Oakland's

00:09:02: role in the First World War.

00:09:04: Rachel We start over 1,000 miles away from Chelmsford in Sarajevo on the 23rd of

00:09:08: June, 1914.

00:09:11: Rachel A single shot fired at the Archduke Franz Ferdinand reverberated around the

00:09:15: world.

00:09:16: Rachel A military arms race, a rise in nationalism, and the fracturing of country

00:09:20: alliances.

00:09:21: Rachel The assassination, you could say, was a spark that ignited the world into its

00:09:25: first World War.

00:09:26: Rachel Tens of millions of people from all walks of life would be affected for the

00:09:30: next four devastating years.

00:09:32: Rachel Public buildings such as schools, churches, and even stately homes were used

00:09:36: in the war effort, with Oakland's House no exception, and its doors were flung open

00:09:41: to be used as both a field hospital and recruitment office.

00:09:45: Rachel Inside Oakland's House, there was an operating theatre, which is now the Hive

00:09:49: Cafe Kitchen,

00:09:50: Rachel Here they would have operated on less serious cases such as broken bones,

00:09:54: cuts and possibly even shell shock.

00:09:57: Rachel The more serious cases would have been taken to Hylands's House, which is a

00:10:00: large stately home just 4 miles away from Oaklands.

00:10:03: Rachel When the Flower family moved in 1922, they said how they had to open all the

00:10:07: windows in that part of the building every day to stop the smell of ether.

00:10:12: Rachel Ether was used as a general anaesthetic during the war and had a rather

00:10:15: pungent smell.

00:10:16: Rachel Oaklands was officially known as a fever hospital.

00:10:19: Rachel Even the house grounds were used

00:10:20: Rachel in the form of isolation huts that were scattered around the garden.

00:10:24: Rachel We have some fantastic photos that were donated to the museum from a former

00:10:28: patient, Reverend Richard Douglas, who came back to help as a nursing orderly.

00:10:32: Rachel And the photos you can see in full on my blog on the Museum of Chelmsford

00:10:36: website, but describing to you now, it's very touching at times.

00:10:41: Rachel So we have soldiers outside the wooden huts, which they would have been

00:10:45: staying in for many weeks at a time, and we can see the real camaraderie.

00:10:49: Rachel We've got some lovely

00:10:50: Rachel photos of one of the nurses holding a little black and white cat and the most

00:10:55: fantastic photo of a panoramic shot around the back of the house of around 30

00:10:59: soldiers.

00:11:01: Rachel standing very proudly in their uniform.

00:11:03: Rachel And I like the little details you can see.

00:11:05: Rachel So for example, just above, there's a conservatory at the back there used to

00:11:08: be.

00:11:09: Rachel And above that, we have a soldier to sort of popping his head out, wondering

00:11:12: what's going on.

00:11:13: Rachel Inside these huts, the soldiers would be isolating with cases of spotted

00:11:17: fever, which we now know is meningitis.

00:11:20: Rachel Symptoms included fever, headaches, neck stiffness and vomiting.

00:11:25: Rachel And fingers crossed, they all made a full recovery at their time here at

00:11:29: Oaklands.

00:11:30: Rachel Later in the war, Oaklands was used as a recruitment office.

00:11:33: Rachel Mrs Gentry, who worked here in 1917, gave an interview to the museum back in

00:11:37: 1982.

00:11:39: Rachel She described how the house was stripped back to its bare bones with no

00:11:43: carpets or furniture.

00:11:45: Rachel Her office was in the former family bathroom, which is now our toy gallery

00:11:49: upstairs.

00:11:50: Rachel Her desk, I say in inverted commas, was a wooden plank balanced on a bathtub.

00:11:55: Rachel She would work every day, 9am to 5pm, indexing cards and typing up drafts for

00:11:59: new

00:12:00: Rachel recruits.

00:12:01: Rachel Not only was Oaklands a place for the soldiers to recover, but also the

00:12:04: horses from the front line.

00:12:06: Rachel Oaklands had fully functioning stables for the horses to rest and to recover.

00:12:10: Rachel It's highly likely that the army enlisted local vets and farriers in

00:12:14: Chelmsford to help their recovery.

00:12:17: Rachel When we think about the horrors the horses must have gone through, travelling

00:12:20: up to 40 miles a day in deep mud and rough terrain, as well as dodging shells and

00:12:24: gas attacks.

00:12:25: Rachel Horses played a huge part in the war efforts, from moving supplies, equipment

00:12:29: and even transported wounded soldiers from the front line.

00:12:32: Rachel As you would have heard earlier, our curator Sarah mentioned the Canine War

00:12:36: Memorial and next to this at Oaks' Park is a beautiful bench.

00:12:39: Rachel to commemorate all the animals lost in conflict.

00:12:42: Rachel Its design shows silhouettes of two soldiers attending to a horse, donkey and

00:12:46: dog with the inscription, they also served with two birds either side.

00:12:51: Rachel And every year on Armistice, a purple poppy wreath is laid on the bench in a

00:12:55: small ceremony.

00:12:56: Rachel So please make sure you visit next time you're at the museum.

00:12:59: Rachel But we see here how Oakland House and its gardens could be adapted in times

00:13:02: of war.

00:13:03: Rachel Even during the Second World War, the museum did stay open as a way to

00:13:06: maintaining normality and community for the people of Chelmsford.

00:13:10: Rachel By the Second World War, Oakland House was no longer a family home, but the

00:13:14: museum that we all know and love today, opening just nine years earlier on the 24th

00:13:19: of May 1930.

00:13:22: Rachel The museum was open for the public every single day during the Second World

00:13:24: War.

00:13:25: Rachel It was seen as a way to keep life in Chelsea as normal as possible despite

00:13:28: the nightly attacks during the Battle of Britain and the threat of German invasion.

00:13:32: Rachel Not even Hitler could stop the public from visiting Boris De Bere.

00:13:35: Rachel The museum did however have a close call on the evening of the 29th October

00:13:39: 1940.

00:13:41: Rachel Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Giles was serving in the 19th Squadron of the RAF who

00:13:45: were based in Duxford in Cambridgeshire.

00:13:48: Rachel He was one of 58 Navy pilots who were loaned out from the Navy to help

00:13:52: Rachel the RAF during the Battle of Britain which lasted from July to October 1940.

00:13:56: Rachel He took off in his Spitfire at 4:19pm to patrol over Kent and was called over

00:14:01: to Essex after seven Messerschmitt aircraft were seen returning to Germany after

00:14:05: conducting an afternoon bombing raid on Northweald Aerodrome in Brentwood.

00:14:11: Rachel Arthur's aircraft was attacked eyewitness accounts recalling how his aircraft

00:14:15: made several loops around Chelmsford before crashing on Oak Lodge on New London

00:14:19: Road.

00:14:20: Rachel This was just two houses down

00:14:22: Rachel from the Rising Sun Pub that you'll know today, and just a few metres from

00:14:26: the museum grounds.

00:14:27: Rachel The ARP, the Air Raid Precautions, were informed of a Spitfire crashing in

00:14:31: Chelmsford just three minutes after the crash, with the fire brigade and police

00:14:35: arriving just minutes later to help put out the fire.

00:14:38: Rachel Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Giles was tragically killed in the crash, aged as 23,

00:14:42: and he was just one of over 1,500 RAF airmen that were killed during the Battle of

00:14:46: Britain.

00:14:47: Rachel His story was just one of many that we can spare a moment to remember this

00:14:51: November.

00:14:52: Rachel And that's the story of Oakland's House during World War One and Two.

00:14:55: Rachel Next up is Chelmsfordian of the month.

00:14:57: Rachel And my question is, if your Chelmsfordian could hop on the train today, where

00:15:02: would they go?

00:15:06: Maxine Hi, everyone.

00:15:07: Maxine Welcome back to Chelmsfordian of the Month.

00:15:10: Maxine It's me, Maxine, again, and I have another special guest joining us.

00:15:14: Maxine So I would like to introduce local historian and history walk guide, Alan

00:15:18: Pamphilon.

00:15:20: Maxine Welcome.

00:15:21: Maxine And I'm going to hand straight over to you to introduce your Chelmsfordian of

00:15:25: the Month, please.

00:15:27: Alan Thank you very much.

00:15:28: Alan My Chelmsfordian of the Month is a chap called John Braithwaite.

00:15:33: Alan a remarkable Victorian engineer.

00:15:36: Alan Now, Braithwaite, really, not many people know about him, really.

00:15:40: Alan He's one of these people that seems to have slipped under the radar a bit, but

00:15:44: he was the man that bought the railway to Chelmsford.

00:15:49: Alan Yeah, I'm glad to be able to talk about him and to really tell you something

00:15:53: about where he came from and what he did, because it's quite amazing that

00:16:00: Alan These Victorian engineers, and we're talking all sorts of things like the

00:16:04: Stevensons, we're talking Isambard Kingdom Brunel, these people in their time were

00:16:09: just absolute trailblazers.

00:16:13: Alan And they could achieve things that everybody else dreamed of at the time.

00:16:17: Alan But Victorian England was the time when science really started to make a

00:16:21: difference to everybody's lives in a big way.

00:16:26: Maxine You gave us a few teaser snippets before we started recording.

00:16:30: Maxine So that sounds absolutely fascinating.

00:16:32: Maxine So please do tell us some more about John.

00:16:35: Alan Well, he had a very good education and he started working for his.

00:16:40: Alan his father's manufacturing, and they were making various pits of industrial

00:16:44: engineering for moving air around.

00:16:49: Alan And they actually ventilated the House of Lords at one point.

00:16:53: Alan But where they really came into his own is that he was a remarkable mechanical

00:16:57: engineer with locomotives.

00:17:01: Alan He met up with the Stevensons, that's George and Robert Stevenson, and got into

00:17:06: the idea of making steam locomotives.

00:17:10: Alan And then he paired up with a Swedish captain called Ericsson, John Ericsson.

00:17:16: Alan Together, they started to think about whether they could actually make a viable

00:17:21: locomotive that could be mass produced.

00:17:29: Alan And what they did was they started to get interested in a particular experiment

00:17:34: that was happening in Manchester, Liberal Manchester Railway, going to do the

00:17:38: Rainhill trials in 1829.

00:17:42: Alan And Ericsson and Braithwaite decided to make a locomotive engine that could

00:17:46: then compete in these trials with the idea that it would actually then become a

00:17:51: common production item.

00:17:58: Alan And they made this engine in the space of just two months.

00:18:01: Maxine Two months.

00:18:02: Alan Two months.

00:18:03: Alan And then they shipped it to Manchester on a canal barge from London.

00:18:08: Alan And the Rinhill Trials was a 34 mile long length of railway where the

00:18:12: locomotive engines from all over the country were coming to compete.

00:18:17: Alan Of course, the rocket was there and that was one of the main contenders.

00:18:23: Alan But they liked the idea of this particular one from Braithwaite and Ericsson

00:18:27: because it was called The Novelty.

00:18:29: Maxine Oh, that was a brilliant name.

00:18:30: Alan Brilliant name.

00:18:31: Alan And it was lightweight and it was really sleek and...

00:18:35: Alan When it was running, it could actually do a mile in under a minute, 56 seconds.

00:18:41: Alan And the rocket could never compete with that speed.

00:18:44: Maxine But it was called the rocket.

00:18:46: Alan But it was called the rocket.

00:18:47: Alan Yes, you're right.

00:18:47: Alan And if you see the rocket and you look at that, you think, oh, it's a very

00:18:50: elegant looking engine.

00:18:52: Alan But the novelty looked even nicer.

00:18:54: Alan Unfortunately, on the day of the trials, the real key point

00:18:59: Alan The rocket was more reliable than the novelty was, and the novelty didn't

00:19:03: actually complete the entire length of the track.

00:19:06: Alan So Braithwaite and Ericsson went away and said, OK, right, fine.

00:19:10: Alan Well, we'll have another go at producing other engines.

00:19:13: Alan And they did, but none of them were as successful as that.

00:19:17: Alan But then what Braithwaite and Ericsson did was they looked at other

00:19:21: applications for steam locomotives.

00:19:23: Alan And they realized that what they didn't have was a good quality steam pumping

00:19:27: engine for firefighting.

00:19:32: Alan So they developed this particular horse-drawn steam pumping system.

00:19:41: Alan And they made four, five of these.

00:19:44: Alan And the one that was used in London was used to fight fires at the Palace of

00:19:48: Westminster and breweries and various other places.

00:19:52: Alan The thing was that you took the fire appliance to the fire by a horse drawn,

00:19:56: and then on the way there, you had 25 minutes to get up steam.

00:20:03: Maxine 25 minutes.

00:20:04: Alan 25 minutes.

00:20:04: Alan Yeah.

00:20:05: Alan So 25 minutes.

00:20:06: Alan And you had a coke, a coke, coke fire.

00:20:08: Alan So it was very, very easy to run and get going.

00:20:12: Alan And eventually, when they arrived at the fire, they could actually move 150

00:20:16: gallons in a minute.

00:20:20: Alan So this is a pretty powerful

00:20:22: Alan pumping engine.

00:20:24: Alan And this went so did so well that the London Fire Brigade actually got a bit

00:20:28: jealous of it.

00:20:33: Maxine Oh, so they weren't part of the fire brigade?

00:20:34: Alan They weren't part of that.

00:20:36: Alan It was a private it was a private fire engine.

00:20:38: Maxine Private fire engine.

00:20:39: Maxine Wow.

00:20:39: Alan And and one day when it was out doing a really good piece of work, the whole

00:20:43: thing was attacked by a mob and they destroyed it.

00:20:49: Alan But the other versions of this particular engine ended up working in Liverpool

00:20:53: and in Berlin.

00:20:58: Alan And both of those versions were bigger and they carried on.

00:21:02: Alan But Braithwaite decided because the resistance in London, he was not gonna

00:21:06: build another one.

00:21:08: Alan And so he left the project there.

00:21:10: Alan And this is very much Braithwaite, the way that he worked, he decided that

00:21:16: Alan He would do a project, it would be successful and then he would move on to

00:21:20: another project.

00:21:21: Alan At the same time, from being a mechanical engineer, he then became a civil

00:21:25: engineer and he started to be consulted on various ways that you could lay.

00:21:32: Alan railway and rail networks.

00:21:34: Maxine Do you have an overview of what the railway looked like before he started

00:21:38: getting involved?

00:21:39: Alan The 1820s, 1830s were a big time when all sorts of private railway companies

00:21:43: are setting themselves up.

00:21:50: Alan There is no...

00:21:51: Alan overall control.

00:21:53: Alan Even the gauge that each one of these railways will run on is only particular

00:21:57: to that particular company.

00:22:00: Alan And that was the way that the railway network was evolving.

00:22:04: Alan There was no standardization at all.

00:22:06: Alan And so Braithwaite was asked then to actually project the Eastern Railway from

00:22:10: Mile End all the way to Ipswich.

00:22:18: Alan Chelmsford just happened to be on the route between the two locations.

00:22:22: Alan That's all it really was.

00:22:23: Alan There was no reason to come through Chelmsford, but if you draw a straight line

00:22:26: between the two, you end up coming through Chelmsford.

00:22:29: Alan So Chelmsford got in really from a point of view of just being in the right

00:22:33: place at the right time.

00:22:35: Maxine Brilliant, brilliant for us.

00:22:37: Alan Absolutely.

00:22:39: Alan So Braithwaite decided that he was going to project this railway.

00:22:43: Alan He surveyed it and realised that there was a lot of

00:22:48: Alan buildings, viaducts, bridges, everything, stations, everything you need for a

00:22:52: railway needed to be designed and built.

00:22:55: Alan And he took that role on and he became the engineering chief of the

00:22:59: construction of the Eastern Railway.

00:23:02: Alan Now, Eastern Counties Railway, as we should call it, once they got out of

00:23:06: London, through the marshy land, it became much easier.

00:23:10: Alan And then the next stage was to build from

00:23:14: Alan Shenfield and Brentwood out to Chelmsford and onto Colchester.

00:23:19: Alan That was the aim.

00:23:21: Alan And that's when Braithwaite started looking at Chelmer Valley and the area

00:23:25: around Chelmsford and realised what he needed was a railway to go across a town, a

00:23:30: floodplain and two rivers.

00:23:37: Maxine That does not sound like an easy job.

00:23:40: Alan Exactly.

00:23:43: Alan So Braithwaite decided that he what he would do is build an elevated railway

00:23:47: for one and a half miles from Widford to Springfield and he then designed all of the

00:23:52: particular parts of that railway that needed to go in including our beautiful

00:23:57: viaduct which is actually part of a whole network of 83 arches built through the

00:24:12: Alan middle of Chelmsford on a curve.

00:24:15: Maxine And the viaduct has been a subject of paintings, postcards, photographs.

00:24:19: Maxine How many people are linking it back to John?

00:24:22: Alan No, that's the problem.

00:24:25: Alan It's not thought about as John's real project.

00:24:31: Alan It's been seen as it's the Eastern Railways Company.

00:24:35: Alan They built it, but someone had to design it and someone had to work on it and

00:24:39: make it happen.

00:24:41: Alan the the way that that particular viaduct came together it started in 1842 and

00:24:45: 500 men worked day and night by candlelight and torchlight to construct that railway

00:24:50: with the embankments on each side now some of the embankments needed more soil so

00:24:55: they dug a big hole

00:25:04: Alan in the area next to it, which has now become Central Park.

00:25:08: Alan The bit that's actually the pond started out life as various other things, but

00:25:12: eventually became a nice ornamental pond with fountains in it.

00:25:18: Alan But that contributes to the embankments that actually run the railway because

00:25:22: they're quite high.

00:25:24: Alan And what happened was that they then had to connect that viaduct and the

00:25:28: viaduct across Parkway

00:25:32: Alan and then through to the station and then beyond into Springfield.

00:25:37: Alan So if you go onto Widford, Widford Road Bridge and you look at the viaduct from

00:25:42: above, you'll see that in fact it's wider than it needs to be because Braithwaite

00:25:46: thought that in fact, while he's building something as big as that, why not build it

00:25:51: big enough for a seven foot gauge rather than a five foot, which is what he laid in?

00:25:58: Maxine Future proofing.

00:26:00: Alan Yeah, yeah.

00:26:01: Maxine Brilliant mind.

00:26:03: Alan Now, when he actually got to the point where he'd put the station in, the

00:26:07: station had a single platform in the middle, not as it has today, two platforms.

00:26:15: Alan There was a problem with the Duke Street bridge.

00:26:19: Alan One day, one of the farmers was coming to market with a big loaded horse and

00:26:23: cart and couldn't get under the bridge.

00:26:30: Maxine That must have been a very loaded horse and cart.

00:26:32: Maxine So it was a lot lower than it is now.

00:26:35: Alan Well, what happened was that Braithwaite knew it was a problem.

00:26:39: Alan So what he did was he then had his men excavate the road and dig it deeper

00:26:43: underneath the bridge.

00:26:46: Alan That's why there's a slope that goes up into Duke Street.

00:26:49: Maxine That's fascinating.

00:26:50: Maxine I had no idea.

00:26:52: Alan And it was big enough for a double decker bus once, but not the ones we have

00:26:56: now.

00:26:57: Maxine They can try once.

00:26:59: Alan And there are the odd occasions when we do have buses try to go under there.

00:27:02: Alan Yeah, yeah.

00:27:04: Alan But then when Braithwaite finally finished this project and he had all sorts of

00:27:09: problems in the later days of the railway actually coming to fruition, but

00:27:13: eventually on the 29th of March 1843, the Eastern Railways, as far as Colchester,

00:27:18: was approved for passenger use.

00:27:28: Alan And on 11am on that day, a train arrived from London decked with flags carrying

00:27:33: the company directors.

00:27:37: Alan The driver of that train was John Braithwaite.

00:27:44: Alan The first official train to pass over the viaduct.

00:27:49: Alan And standing right beside him on the footplate was his wife.

00:27:54: Alan Now, was she shovelling coal that day?

00:27:56: Alan I don't think so.

00:27:58: Alan But we know that Braithwaite was the first official engine driver over that

00:28:02: viaduct.

00:28:04: Alan So yeah, and the crowds greeted this whole thing and I've read the local

00:28:08: newspaper article on it and it's a big event.

00:28:15: Alan People are waving flags, they're cheering, they're shouting, they're clapping.

00:28:20: Alan All of this is happening on all the bridges that go across the railway and on

00:28:24: the stations.

00:28:27: Alan But the train didn't stop in Chelmsford.

00:28:30: Alan It went straight through to Colchester.

00:28:33: Alan And that's where the directors got off the train and had a cold meat lunch.

00:28:38: Maxine Well deserved.

00:28:39: Alan Well, they travelled a little away from mile end.

00:28:40: Alan That's a long way.

00:28:42: Maxine How long would that have taken?

00:28:44: Alan In real terms, probably about three, four times what we have now.

00:28:51: Alan Yeah.

00:28:52: Alan We're not talking very fast, very fast engines.

00:28:56: Alan And we were talking about a newly laid line, so they couldn't have run too

00:29:00: quickly over it anyway, because obviously it was all settling down at that time.

00:29:06: Alan Yeah.

00:29:08: Maxine So even though Chelmsford being on the line was quite incidental, what did

00:29:12: that bring to Chelmsford?

00:29:14: Alan Okay, so 1850s, the railway greatly assisted the brewers that were here and

00:29:18: also a small number of local industries, including Marriage's Mill,

00:29:25: Alan and also for the Flour Mill and also the New London Road Ironworks and there

00:29:29: were a few ironworks going on in that area.

00:29:34: Alan But that was just the start because that was all the industrial activity we had

00:29:39: in Chelmsford at the time.

00:29:43: Alan So therefore being linked to suddenly to London quite conveniently would have

00:29:47: meant that big industrialists, the likes of Crompton

00:29:54: Alan Hoffman, Marconi and Christie would all have then said, well, okay, we're now

00:29:58: linked to London.

00:30:02: Alan It means we can get our goods here quicker and we can sell our products back to

00:30:07: London and beyond.

00:30:10: Alan But the other thing is that obviously the transportation because it brings in

00:30:14: people.

00:30:15: Alan So therefore the big industries, as I've just mentioned, they started to expand

00:30:20: quite dramatically.

00:30:24: Maxine We have a lot to be grateful for that it came past here.

00:30:26: Maxine Yeah.

00:30:26: Maxine Wow.

00:30:27: Alan So you can imagine sleepy old Chelmsford there, agricultural town.

00:30:31: Alan You have farms, farmers changing, a corn exchange, the farmers coming in,

00:30:35: selling their cattle.

00:30:37: Alan All of this starts to change in the 1850s.

00:30:43: Alan And there's this large amount of people that suddenly come to work in all these

00:30:48: big manufacturing facilities.

00:30:51: Alan And of course,

00:30:53: Alan Chelmsford starts to change.

00:30:55: Alan Chelmsford starts to expand in a massive way.

00:30:58: Maxine What did John go on to do next?

00:31:02: Alan Well, John decided in 1844 that he'd really done all he could for the Eastern

00:31:06: Railway Company, and he left, he resigned.

00:31:12: Alan But he did actually supply another 12 locomotives for the railway.

00:31:18: Alan 1844 also saw the standardization of the gauge.

00:31:23: Alan Braithwaite had laid in from Mile End or Shoreditch as it was then, all the way

00:31:28: to Colchester in a five-foot gauge.

00:31:34: Alan But then there was resistance from Robert Stevenson, and he convinced

00:31:38: Braithwaite that he should standardise his railway gauge to meet with all the other

00:31:43: gauges, which was 4 foot, 8 1/2 inches.

00:31:50: Alan So during September and October 1844, the entire line was regauged.

00:31:57: Maxine Can I ask a silly question?

00:31:59: Maxine Can you explain what a gauge is, please?

00:32:01: Alan Right, a gauge, it's the width of the railway between the two rails.

00:32:05: Alan When you come down to four foot eight and a half inches, it all gets a bit

00:32:09: cramped.

00:32:10: Maxine Is that what we run on today?

00:32:11: Alan That's what we run on today.

00:32:12: Maxine It's still the same.

00:32:13: Maxine Wow.

00:32:14: Alan But what did happen to Braithwaite?

00:32:16: Alan Well, he went on and he became the editor of the Railway Times.

00:32:24: Alan He was involved in various other ventures.

00:32:30: Alan And he was also a life governor of 17 charitable institutions.

00:32:37: Alan And he was a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers and the Royal Society.

00:32:44: Alan He was one of these people that could have gone on for much longer, but he

00:32:48: mysteriously died in 1870 and his remains are buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, which

00:32:53: just happens to be the same cemetery as where Judge Tindall resides.

00:33:05: Maxine Oh wow, there's a link there as well.

00:33:07: Alan Yeah.

00:33:08: Maxine So to wrap up, Alan, can you tell us why you chose John Braithwaite?

00:33:13: Alan I have always had a bit of an admiration for Victorian engineers and we had

00:33:17: some real great ones in our time here, including Thomas Hungate Preston Dennis.

00:33:26: Alan But I mean, that aside, Braithwaite outranks him because of the international

00:33:30: effect that he had and what he achieved

00:33:37: Alan in what was a remarkable lifetime.

00:33:40: Alan It's just a shame that we can't really recognise Braithwaite in any way, but

00:33:44: there may be a way forward there.

00:33:47: Alan I may be working on something, but at the moment it's all a bit secret.

00:33:52: Maxine Okay, we will wait to hear more.

00:33:54: Maxine Alan, thank you for today.

00:33:55: Maxine It's been fantastic.

00:33:57: Maxine Could you tell our listeners where they can find out a bit more about you and

00:34:01: what you do?

00:34:02: Alan Right, well, yeah, I actually have a website, chelmsfordhistorywalks.uk, and on

00:34:07: there you will find all the walks that I do, all the talks that I do.

00:34:13: Maxine You sound a bit like John Braithwaite with all of your projects, one after

00:34:16: another and after another.

00:34:17: Maxine So then I have the question that Rachel asked you in her story time.

00:34:22: Maxine So if your Chelmsfordian could hop on a train today, where would they go?

00:34:27: Alan Well, Braithwaite got the railway as far as Colchester.

00:34:31: Alan It was projected to go all the way to Ipswich.

00:34:34: Alan So I think just as a pure curiosity, just to see the finished product, I think

00:34:38: he would have journeyed from Chelmsford to Ipswich.

00:34:44: Alan I think he would have been very impressed.

00:34:52: Maxine Brilliant.

00:34:53: Maxine Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Alan.

00:34:56: Maxine It was really lovely to have you.

00:34:57: Alan I've thoroughly enjoyed it and it's always nice to come along and see you

00:35:00: people at the museum.

00:35:02: Alan And I'm just amazed the way that it keeps evolving and always looking fresh.

00:35:07: Alan You've done a great job.

00:35:08: Alan Thank you very much.

00:35:09: Alan Thank you.

00:35:13: Helen We've heard all about John Braithwaite, who was undoubtedly a notable honorary

00:35:18: Chelmsfordian.

00:35:20: Helen But have you heard of another local hero called Brenda, who raised hundreds of

00:35:24: pounds for the Red Cross for wounded servicemen following the First World War?

00:35:28: Rachel No, how did she manage that?

00:35:29: Helen Mostly through slobber and cuddles.

00:35:31: Rachel What?

00:35:33: Helen She was a very large and very friendly Saint Bernard.

00:35:37: Rachel Oh, right.

00:35:37: Helen Her owners, Mr and Mrs Smith, would take her around Chelmsford with a

00:35:41: collecting tin, where she was a remarkably successful fundraiser.

00:35:46: Rachel Oh, she must have become very popular in the community.

00:35:48: Helen Yes, so much so, she was awarded a medal for her collar and a silver bowl.

00:35:53: Rachel Oh, so although she wasn't a hero on the battlefield, she certainly helped

00:35:56: serve the community.

00:35:57: Helen Yeah, and that's why the memorials in the park are so important.

00:36:01: Rachel And what a touching and heartwarming episode.

00:36:03: Rachel It's going to be lots to think about and to be grateful for.

00:36:06: Helen Indeed.

00:36:07: Helen I encourage you all to come and visit the park and see the memorial and bench

00:36:11: for yourself.

00:36:12: Helen And while you're here, pop into the museum.

00:36:14: Rachel So inside you'll be able to see the collar of a German messenger dog captured

00:36:18: in Ypres in 1915, as well as reminds of bigger animals that were once here, like the

00:36:22: mammoth tusk in the prehistoric gallery.

00:36:25: Helen There have been many animals associated with Oaklands through its history.

00:36:29: Helen From the horses in the stables and the cattle grazing in the park, to the pets

00:36:33: and companion animals.

00:36:35: Helen We don't know their names and perhaps that is why memorials to animals matter.

00:36:39: Rachel Absolutely.

00:36:40: Rachel They remind us that history wasn't made only by people.

00:36:43: Helen An incredibly thought-provoking episode, Rachel.

00:36:46: Rachel Do join us next time for something a little bit more light-hearted as we look

00:36:49: at how Christmas has been celebrated at Oaklands and where do some of our favourite

00:36:53: traditions come from.

00:36:54: Helen If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe, write a review and

00:36:57: spread the good news.

00:36:59: Helen word to anyone who will listen.

00:37:01: Rachel It really does help and take a look at our membership options on our website

00:37:04: and if you can come and see us.

00:37:06: Helen That's all from us now.

00:37:08: Rachel Bye, goodbye.