Martley has always had a place in the thinking background of the Willis family. The fact that my father’s name is chiselled out on the Martley War Memorial of the First World War bears testimony to the presence of the Willis family. Some of your guests on the 31st August were interested in my remembrances, which were not many, but I made a promise to put them down on paper. You, Pam, showed interest in what I had to say and you kindly took me into your home, but as I said at the time, my memories were of a near derelict house with doors and windows swinging in the wind, after all the 1920`s are so long ago. The conversion you and Ian have created is quite lovely; you must have a great feeling of satisfaction of accomplishment.

Now to record my memories with a short prologue.

The Willis family are from Naunton, near Ripple district of South Worcestershire, and my mother’s family the Taylor’s were from Kempsey and Severn Stoke. The family trees are clearly followed from the early 18th century, less clear in the 17th century.

How a member of the Willis family came to Martley is fairly clear, John Willis (1865 – 1923) my Grandfather, was the second son of Thomas (1821 - ? ) who was a Market Gardener with his own property and on his death it passed to the eldest son Thomas. John moved out and became Bailiff to an estate at Witchenford and that was where his family was raised. In the fullness of time his eldest son, Thomas, my father, was employed by the Nash family of Martley and he became Groom. Whilst Thomas was becoming a man in Martley he joined the Ancient Order of Foresters and in the course of time went through the Offices of that Order. Berrows Worcester Journal from time to time records his duties.

At some time during this period The Vicarage at Martley was seeking a Cook and fate filled that position with a young woman named Harriet Taylor whose family lived in Birlingham where her father Thomas Taylor was a tenant farmer. How they met, courted and fell in love is lost in the mists of time. During October 1914, they were married and moved into Scar Bank Cottage, which was a tied cottage of the Nash estate. Scar Bank Cottage was originally two cottages but when the newly wed Willis’s moved in it had been converted into one dwelling. This has been confirmed on 6th September 2003, by talking to my cousin aged 98, but still fully articulate and full of memories. She and her sister used to spend school holidays at Martley and she vividly remembers that doors had been inserted upstairs and downstairs between the two cottages and they had great fun going up one flight of stairs and down the other.

The Nash family were all-important to the dreams of Thomas and Harriet. The outbreak of war in August 1914 was to affect the hopes and aspirations of most people. The Nash immediate family tree, with notes, is as follows.

Richard Slade Nash, born 1857/58, buried 29.10.1936 aged 79.
Edith Day, christened June 1864 Worcester Cathedral, buried September 1946 Martley.
The above were married at Witchenford on 16 June 1889.
Richard’s father described as a Gentleman. Edith’s father being Vicar of Witchenford.
Their children were: -
George, baptised 15.10.1890, buried 5.7.1915. Died from serious head wounds on 29.6.1915,
Brought back from France to die at Martley.
(G.Stinton and Thomas Willis were two of his
Pall Bearers).
Dorothy Alice, baptised 11.8.1892, buried 21.6.1911, aged 18.
James, baptised 8.8.1893, killed in action France 2.4.1915.
Slade Maurice, baptised 28.3.1896, buried 1.4.1896.
Edith Margaret, baptised 14.2.1899, buried 28.10.1918, aged 19.
Barbara Francis, baptised 6.8.1900, terribly affected by family tragedy, sought other ways of
escape.
Slade, baptised 9.2.1902, believed to have left home to live in Kent.

James (Jim) Taylor who replaced Thomas Willis at The Noak was, I understand a tower of strength to Barbara Francis in her agony which lasted through the 1920`s. Jim Taylor was a nephew of Harriet Willis (nee Taylor).

The Nash family must have had considerable influence within the village. I remember
Mrs. Nash and her sister. They were upper middle class, well educated who spoke beautifully with quiet voices but with command. You felt their spiritual self in their quietness and gentle manners. They had an inner peace that probably came from the trials and tribulations as shown in the family tree. They were assured of their place in an ordered society.

Every Christmas Mrs Nash used to come to our home in Worcester to bring us holly and mistletoe, a rabbit and other foodstuff. This was a time consuming journey because it was always done by a pony and trap. So many years have gone and the overriding impression now of Mrs. Nash over 70 years on was her gentleness, her true belief and her quiet voice. Once or twice every year in the 1920`s Mother took us to Martley by Burnham Charabanc to visit our Godparents. The Noak was to me HUGE. Miss Taylor was visited first in her own sitting room and then we would have tea with Mrs. Nash, sometimes on the lawn. We were taken upstairs to play in the Nursery. All the toys from the past were in a large chest of drawers and it had a small side room that was full of chopped blocks of wood. The whole large house was heated by open fires with wood the heating agent. Of course there was no longer the large number of employees as in the past. Jim Taylor used to take us to see the ferrets and the cow yard. The very large bakery seemed to have been rarely used in the 1920`s. After tea we were paraded into the Study of Richard Slade Nash and he used to ask us questions. I do not recall what he asked – I suspect it was a ritual he would have preferred not to undertake. Then we would walk down into Martley to catch a bus back to Worcester, before boarding the bus we would go to the churchyard to the War Memorial and then visit Uncle Henry and Aunt Edith, they were Uncle and Aunt to my Mother. Henry had moved from his parents’ home in Severn Stoke during 1879, going to Martley where he spent the rest of his life and where he died at end of December 1927. An appreciation of his life was published in the Berrows Worcester Journal that described him as a Haulier and Contractor.

In putting thoughts on paper I recall when our sister was young, maybe 9 or 10, she complained of great pain in her back. The Doctor diagnosed rheumatism but the pain did not go away - even if a door in the house was closed with a bang she would scream with pain. The Doctor then diagnosed malingering! Then Mrs. Nash organised a Girls Friendly Society day of prayer across the world (Empire more likely) for her. The Doctor had her admitted to hospital and she was stretched from the neck and legs. Then the day of prayer took place and a few weeks later Dorothy started to improve, but I don’t think she grew much after that. The action of Mrs. Nash provoked other thoughts either medical or spiritual.

Jim Taylor who has been mentioned earlier took over from Thomas Willis in mid 1918. He was the eldest son of Henry (Harry) Taylor who was brother to Harriet Willis (Taylor). He stayed with the Nash’s to the end of 1936. He enjoyed a special relationship during his employment at the Noak.

These notes will demonstrate how the great war of 1914-1918 destroyed the continuity of a branch of a family of Landed Gentry and left a servant family in straitened circumstances. It seems that what I have recorded is a facet of social history.

TOM WILLIS.