St Andrew's, Orwell

 The third church of Saint Andrew in South Cambridgeshire.  It has a prominent position on the hill at the top of Town Green Road.  It has two side aisles and the chancel looks to have been added or rebuilt after the nave.  It has a beautifully-decorated wooden ceiling.   The royal coat of arms looks as if it really does date from 1686.  

Memorials at Harlton Church (2)

 

The first plaque commemorates William Ellison, M.A., who died in October 1922, aged 69 (so born in ?1853).  He was a chaplain of the Bengal Ecclest: Est.  from 1883 to 1902, then rector of Papworth Everard 1902 to 1908 and finally rector of Harlton 1908 to 1922.  His M.A. suggests he was educated at Cambridge, due to his location on his return from India.  Bengal had a large number of Christian churches and a cathedral, St Paul’s, but I can find no trace of a ‘Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment’ as an entity.  At least three of his children were born in North-West India, a long way from Bengal.

The second plaque commemorates Mary Ellison, born in Ealing 13th November 1864, who died at Cambridge on 2nd July 1953, aged 89.  No maiden name is given, but the wording states she was the mother of nine children.  Her husband’s plaque says it was ‘a token of love from his wife and eight children’, so presumably one had died before 1922.

Another pair of plaques commemorate the service in the Great War of four of the Ellison sons.  The oldest of these was John Ellison, born in Jullundur (Jalander) in NW India on 31st October 1886, when his mother would have been just short of her 22nd birthday.  He qualified as a doctor from Cambridge University, served in the RAMC at Gallipoli and later became an obstetrician and FRCOG.  He died at Barton-le-Clay (Bedfordshire) on 19th October 1939, aged 52.  

The next mentioned is William Julius Ellison, born at Dalhousie in India (not far from Jalander) on 26th June 1891 and educated to M.A. level, presumably at Father’s alma mater, Cambridge.  He served in the Royal Field Artillery and was wounded at Gallipoli in 1915 and later in France in 1917.  He reached the rank of captain.  He died in Geneva on 28th September 1931, aged 40.

Also in the Royal Field Artillery was Arthur David Ellison, born at Dunga Gali, India, on 2nd June 1894.  Dunga Gali was a sanatorium town in the hills during British rule, and is now in Pakistan.  He gained a B.A., so either he did not go to Cambridge, or he was unable to stay the extra year for his M.A.  He was wounded in France in 1917, reached the rank of major and was awarded the M.C.  He died in Bangkok, Siam, on 22nd January 1924, aged 30.

Eighteen months after the birth of Arthur, on 4th November 1895, Mary Ellison gave birth to Harold Summerhayes Ellison.  The birth took place in Ealing, so presumably Mary was at her parents’ home for some occasion, or for health reasons.  Why he has a family name as a second Christian name is a mystery.  He perhaps did not go to university, as after army training, 1916 found him on active service and wounded twice, aged only 20.  He was wounded again, in France, in 1917, but reached the rank of major and was awarded the M.C. and the Croix de Guerre.  He died in Tandjong Bringin, Sumatra, on 18th July 1923, aged just 28.

So William Ellison did not seem to have been in Bengal very long, perhaps leaving after his marriage, which would have been around October 1885, with Mary just 21.  Henry Jan (or Ian) Ellison was born in 1902, presumably in England, and died in 1984, aged 82.  As his mother was 38 years old at his birth, perhaps he was her youngest child.  He carved the Madonna and Child that now adorns the churchyard, as well as the twelve Apostles behind the altar.  Of female children there is no mention.  There would surely have been a child between John and William Julius?   The service records are on the Roll of Honour because even the oldest child was only 16 when William senior became rector of Harlton, so they had all lived in the village.  They seem to have been the only officers from the parish.  I wonder whether their wounds contributed to their early deaths?  

On The Feeder

 A female Great Spotted Woodpecker is a frequent but wary visitor to the suet cage.  The Rook is even more wary but proves that wings can overcome squirrel guards.

Trident Day

Today I became a joint custodian of Duxford's d.H. Trident 2, with all its manuals and history.  The aircraft was 'interned' in Cyprus in the mid-1970s and had to be flown out under strict UN protocol with only a few bullet holes to show for the stay.  

 

Waresley Wood Bluebells

A pleasing morning at the wood.

 

Memorials at Harlton Church (1)

                                                             

As mentioned in yesterday's post, Henry Fryer's memorial is the most eye-catching in the Church of the Assumption, but the accompanying poetry is bad . . .   One feels sorry for Mrs. Jane Simpson, who buried her husband and eight children (six under were ten years old) before she died aged 65 in 1865.  Gwen Raverat, artist and granddaughter of Charles Darwin, lived at the Old Rectory, Harlton, between 1928 and 1946.  The Madonna and Child and the twelve apostles behind the altar were carved by Henry Jan Ellison.  The saints are, from the top row left to right: Jude, Bartholomew, James the Great, Simon, James the Less, Peter, John, Thomas, Philip, Matthew, Andrew and Matthias (replacement for Judas Iscariot).  More about the Ellison family in Part 2.

Harlton Church

Properly called the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this is a largely perpendicular church from the C14th, without a clerestory.  Inside, it is tall, with a basic wooden roof and two side aisles.  It is very austere, even worn.  The exception is the alabaster monument to Henry Fryer, who died in 1631. He is the one in the armour, with his father in the doctor's robes, and the memorial includes his mother and his step-mother.  There is a stone rood screen and only four stained glass windows, all in the chancel.  On the outside, there is a turret at the intersection of the chancel and the north aisle, but this does not show from the inside.  

 

Hardwick Wood

 Some images from the wood today.  Some Nuthatch territorial argument, a Speckled Wood, Oxlip, Bluebell and Ladybird.  

St Peter & St Paul, Little Gransden

A neat two side-aisle interior decorated with restraint, with the post-Reformation royal coat-of-arms prominent on the south wall.  A vivid colour comes through the west window.  The roof has very little ornamental timber, and the east window of the north aisle is blocked off by some of the organ pipes.

The altar has a double piscina and a stone dedicated to Frederic Norris, who died in 1856 after twenty-five years as rector.