Piddingworth Greg Benton |
pidd.net |
|
|
 |
| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
 |
| Thank you very much for your support! |
| MY FAMILY AND PIDDINGWORTH I am often asked why I have I chosen the name of "Piddingworth" for my home and website. This is my personal story. There once was a man named George Ambrose West who on the 16th of December 1883 married Sarah Ann Harris. They lived in an old, simple stone farmhouse on the farm north of the village of Stanmer and near the village of Plumpton in Sussex. This house was named "Piddingworth". In the service of the Earl of Chichester, George, a stockman, tended the cattle and sheep whilst Sarah and the girls when they came of age, worked in the 'great house' at Stanmer. They had six children, Annie, Joseph, George, John, Rose and Minnie. Rosie was a perfect name for the little girl who became my grandmother, for she was in every way an "English Rose"; lovely, gentle but strong, and sweet. George and Sarah are my great-grandparents. Rose West is my grandmother; whom we called "Nana". Rosie grew up in Piddingworth and who, with her brothers and sisters, helped her mother and father with the chores. She would later walk the several miles each day to attend school in the village of Falmer, near Stanmer. Baptised in St. Michael's Church, Plumpton, Rosie was later confirmed by the Bishop of Chichester and received her first holy communion in the Chapel at Stanmer. She and the family would also worship in lovely St. Laurence Church in Falmer. The Wests were a family of deep Christian faith and Rosie, as a young lady, was admitted to the "Girls Friendly Society" whose object was to bring together young women and girls who committed themselves to such religious and social virtues as "purity of life, dutifulness to parents, faithfulness to employers, temperance and thrift". Life was not easy for the Wests. Though rich in faith, they had little of material substance and suffered from tragedy and misfortune. In a terrible blow, George was blinded by an accident while farming and thereafter had to rely upon his wife and children to keep the family home. Rosie went into service for the Pelham family, the Earl of Chichester, as a maid in the great 18th c. manor house at Stanmer where, surrounded by great wealth and privilege she cared for the linens and silver and, as one would expect of her, performed her duties humbly and faithfully. One day, Rosie contracted a bad ear infection and went to see a physician in Brighton to have it cared for. Sadly, whatever treatment she was administered resulted in her becoming deaf, mostly in one ear but partially in the other as well. The adjustment to being hard of hearing was difficult and Rosie had to learn to live with this handicap for the rest of her life. But illness was not a stranger to the Wests, as the Rev. Canon Bickersteth, the parish priest, wrote in his notice of the death of Sarah Ann in 1915, at the age of 51: "I have been in that home in times of sorrow and joy during 14 years, more often in days of trouble, for she and her family have had much suffering and illness." Little is now known about the death of her father George Ambrose 30th March 1920 or the fate of her brothers and sisters. We know that her brother, John Henry, b. 16 November 1892, became a baker in Brighton, married and had a family. Of her other brothers, Joseph Ambrose,born 31 March 1888, and George William, b. 27 July 1890 we know little. Minnie, and daughters Ann and Daisy for whom we have searched so long have, by the miracle of the internet, been found...a happiest event that we never expected...thanks to cousin June Horsfall and her husband Peter of Sale, Cheshire whose Google search found her family on this site! Click here for more! In this day and age, with all our technology and other health and social benefits in life, it is difficult to imagine the kind of hardship and suffering then endured by poor, simple, working people for whom every day seemed a victory of some sort. Is it a luxury to have good health and the comfort of a close and loving family? Rosie's life took a dramatic turn in the year 1919 following the first world war. At the age of 24, she and a friend worked a "fish and chips" in the town of Bexhill-on-sea up the coast from Brighton. It was there that she met the handsome Ernest Leonard, a soldier from Plymouth, Devon, serving with the Canadian Corps, and, having been wounded in battle, was recovering in the nearby army hospital. Strolling along the boardwalk and up to the fish and chips, his eyes met hers. Each, no doubt, became smitten with the other while, he told her about his family and of beautiful Devon; his football (he had played for Torquay United who had won a championship in 1909) and that he had travelled to Canada where he and other ex-pats from Devon played with "The Devonians" in Toronto. He invited her to meet his parents, James and Lydia Leonard at the family home in Peverell in Plymouth and introduced her to another boardwalk at Plymouth Hoe. Rosie saw that Ernie came from a large family. His father was a noted merchant and lay preacher in the Methodist Church He had two brothers, Edward and Emmanel, and five sisters, Georgina, May, Bertha, Blanche and baby sister Olive to whom he was particularly close. It was 1919, however, and with the war over and his wounds healed, Ernie had to return to Canada in April to be discharged from the army. It is not surprising that he chose to stay in Toronto where two of his sisters had also settled and where he had chums from the Devonian Football Club. He asked Rose to marry him and go to Canada to make a new life. On 16 December 1919, she said goodbye to her ailing father and her sisters and brothers and boarded the "Tunisian" from Southhampton on and arrived in St. John, New Brunswick on 27 December. From there, she took the train to Toronto and rejoined Ernie. They married and took up residence in Toronto. Ernie and Rose had four children: Raymond, Margaret (my mother), Olive and Mary. Like everyone else, they lived through the Great Depression when work and money was scarce. There were not the social benefits that so many take for granted today; no unemployment insurance, welfare, baby bonuses, national health care, and the like. It was a time when family and neighbours cared for each other and needed to. Still, it is said that Rose always kept a beautiful house, clean and dignified, and that Sunday dinner, though carefully meted out, was always enough for the family. Rose was a loving, generous mother and a favourite auntie to her nieces and nephews; some of whom lived nearby. During the second world war, Rose prayed for her son, Ray, as he left in 1939 with the Royal Regiment of Canada. By a strange twist of fate, prior to the Normandy invasion, the Royal Regiment was camped near Brighton and Stanmer Farm and not far from Piddingworth which was then empty following the deaths of his grandparents. It was during military exercises in 1944 that the house was shelled and remains in ruin to this day. Having been shot in the Battle of Falaise in France, 1944, Ray returned home to his family severely wounded in the chest and without his left hand. In the post-war years, Rose saw her children marry and have families. She has ten grandchildren that she was able to know and many great- grandchildren whom she did not live to see. Rosie died and entered into the eternal rest of God's loving embrace at the young age of 62 in the summer of 1957. My memories of Nana Rose are from about 1952 or so. She was so warm and soft and gentle in voice and manner. She would often take care of my brothers and me and dutifly scrub our cheeks and behind our ears and give the occasional spanking! I recall her as a boy when, as she held me close, she was in the kitchen chatting with my mum; tea, toast, and those little fruit & nut cakes smothered in butter. I can still quicken the aroma and taste of her Sunday roast beef dinners. Fabulous. It is especially as I learned more about her life and visited Piddingworth, Stanmer and Falmer that I have realised the wonderful gifts that she possessed and the legacy she has left to those, like me, who have come to learn, even this late, some of the great lessons of her life. In a world of selfishness, phoniness, noisy and clanging voices, Rose was the face of whispered virtue. Her faith was strong, deeply personal and practiced in a quiet manner; the foundation from which she conducted her life. Far too well-acquainted with illness, grief and tragedy, she embodied love, faith and hope, lived with dignity, courage and endurance, and "good cheer" in the face of adversity. She gave all she had to her husband and children; supported them, prayed for them and cherished them. She, though she had little, was rich in the poverty of spirit and true humility. Rose lived what General Georges Vanier, the late great and saintly Governor-General described as "strength through weakness". All these virtues she acquired as daughter at Piddingworth; from her dear long-suffering mother Sarah, her poor blinded father, George, and the riches of grace in the ancient faith of the Church of England. Although the house is now a ruin and the fields of Piddingworth even used as a MotoCross for motorcycle racing, it remains a symbol to me of my grandmother and family, of the things that are truly important in life and a heritage that is beyond price; of warmth with family and friends; of prayer and the love of God; the preciousness of life; of duty and the strength to endure; of Home on earth as well as in heaven. When I came upon this house and farm in Clarington, the hills and fields reminded me so much of Sussex and of Stanmer farm that I chose to name the house "Piddingworth" and, if home is where the heart is then, Piddingworth is, there and here, through my grandmother's life and love, my home. |
 |
| Aerial photo of Piddingworth |
 |
 |
| MY FAMILY & PIDDINGWORTH |
 |