The Great Treasure Hunt of 1904

Paul Slade, a London journalist, contacted me in November 2013 about a nationwide treasure hunt that was held by the Weekly Dispatch back in 1904.
Medallions were buried all over the country and clues were issued in the paper daily. Anyone finding a medallion could claim a cash prize, with the most valuable being worth £50 (a fortune in 1904). Medallions worth thousands of pounds were buried in many towns and cities and the resulting treasure hunt led to chaos. In January 1904, a London barrister, Thomas Wright, came home to find a mob of treasure hunters digging up his garden. When he confronted them, he was attacked and, fearing for his safety, took refuge in a neighbour's house until the police arrived. Gardens were destroyed, public highways were torn up and general mayhem followed whenever the Weekly Dispatch announced their latest location of buried treasure. Men, women and children carrying knives, shovels and sticks dug wherever they pleased leaving a trail of havoc. Many cases ended up in court and the treasure hunt lasted for several weeks. Suddenly, on 14th February 1904, the Weekly Dispatch stopped posting clues and the treasure hunt came to an end. This followed the paper being issued with an injunction from London County Council's parks committee, which was backed by the Attorney General, which requested that the scheme be dropped immediately. Many medallions were never found and four of these were hidden in Plymouth. One of the clues to the location of the Plymouth medallions was issued in the newspaper on 31st January 1904. A reporter from the newspaper had recently travelled to Plymouth to hide the tokens and stated:
'Inky dark it was, and the rain fell in torrents as I turned sharp to my left from Mill Bay Station, under the bridge, and followed the train-line.'I was struck with the exceptional beauty, as disclosed by a street lamp, of the marble pavement along the front of a big building. But I could not thrust a medallion into marble, so I passed one.'Not far from there, but on my right, I perceived the unique sign of an enterprising tradesman – a sign that seemed to be mutely telling me that, but for the magic disc, I should have been listening to the merry frazzle at that very moment of bacon and eggs.'Soon I espied a church, also on my right, and nearby I saw a narrow and quiet street, leading to the left, from the main road.'Here, I thought, was my chance. Exploring the street, I noticed that the road was loosely laid in places. It would be easy to press the treasure under the stones there. I was just stooping to do so when a man, evidently late for work, rushed round the corner, so I pretended to be fastening my shoelace. After that, the street was never quite clear of people, so I decided to leave it for a few minutes, possibly to try again a little later.' Meanwhile I visited another street not far away. Opposite a large establishment which is doubtless deeply interested in the ‘big or little loaf’ question was a low wall. I looked over it.'

And so, almost 110 years passed without the Plymouth medallions ever being discovered. With the Second World War and much rebuilding, it seemed unlikely that they would have survived or ever be found. However, the story takes a strange twist and Paul was recently contacted by Alvaro Casares who had found one of the tokens while using a metal detector in November 2013. It was located just four inches beneath the soil of Plymouth’s Brickfields Recreation Ground. It's amazing that it had remained hidden for all that time and three more, perhaps, are still out there, although they probably have little value nowadays. The whole fascinating story can be read at Paul's website at http://www.planetslade.com/treasure-hunt-riots1.html

Lost photo archives

It seems that many local newspapers such as the Evening Herald and the Western Morning News have limited photo archives. Many events recorded by the newspapers pre-1990 seem to be lost forever. While many photos have been contributed to and scanned by the South West Image Bank on the Barbican, there seems to be a huge hole in the archives and the only answer can be that the photos have either been destroyed or thrown away over the years. Oddly, some of the photos turn up in the US and are sold on ebay.
I've lots of old cuttings and unusual photos from Plymouth's past and wherever possible, I'll try to put them on this blog so that everyone can see them (and I'll also put them on my Flickr pages). Hopefully, even though some pictures aren't of very high quality, they will fill some of the missing gaps.
The few photos shown here come from the Western Morning News of Wednesday 25th July 1923 (please click on the images to view them larger). The caption for the photos read: 'Plymouth toll bridges at Stonehouse (left), the purchase of which is soon to be completed, and at the Embankment roads, which the Special Purposes Committee of Plymouth Town Council recommend shall be abolished at the close of the present year.'
Footnote: It seems that the negatives from photos used in the Western Morning News and Evening Herald over the years have survived after all and they're mentioned in an article from the Evening Herald of 24th December 2013:
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/s-Hoe-lot-snow/story-20360683-detail/story.html

Plymouth in the Great War

With the centenary of the First World War coming up next year, there will be many books published as well as many events to mark the commencement of the Great War in 1914. I've been commissioned by Pen and Sword to write a series of books, one of which will be 'Plymouth in the Great War'.Rising tensions in Europe and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, led to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia. This led to the Central Powers, which included Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the Allies, which included the British Empire, the French Republic and the Russian Empire, to declare war on each other which led to the commencement of the First World War on 28 July 1914.
On 4th August 1914, just before midnight, the offices of the Western Morning News in Plymouth posted an announcement in their window that Britain had declared war on Germany. One of the newspapers journalists recorded, 'The news caused a profound sensation, several women swooning, and a long murmur of excitement passed through the crowd.'

Many people were asleep in their beds and knew nothing of the announcement until the following day when official war notices were placed in newspaper publishers’ windows and on placards. Newspapers were soon full of the news.

Plymouth played a huge part in the First World War with thousands of troops passing through the port on their way to France.The Journal of Commerce of 18th August 1914 reported:
'The principal base of military operations is Plymouth, one of the most important of the southern shipping ports. There, the already perfected organisation of the regular infantry and artillery branches of the service has been concentrating since the morning of August 5th.
During the day and night, more than 10,000 troops of these arms were assembled. The mobilization of these soldiers moved smoothly and within twenty-four hours, they were ready with full equipment for service.
The busy English seaport was transformed into an armed camp overnight. The railways there were virtually in possession of the Government that morning. Until August 9th, when our correspondent of the World left for New York, the regular schedules of train service between London and Plymouth were suspended, the Government assuming complete control.
The movement of troops and paraphernalia of war continued day and night without interruption from the morning of the fifth. In the four days from August 5th to August 9th, 120,000 British fighting men had been assembled at Plymouth, according to officers of the service to whom had been instructed the mobilisation preliminary to the execution of plans for their transportation to Continental points.'
Regiments included Pals Battalions one of which was the Footballers' Battalion (the 17th Service Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment). Several players from Plymouth Argyle enlisted in the regiment.
The war was a long and bloody one. Plymouth played a major part in the struggle supplying ships, weapons and troops. Men from all around the world passed through the port on their way to the conflict. Once the war was over, there wasn't a family in Plymouth who hadn't lost a son, father, nephew, uncle or brother. There were tremendous celebrations in the streets as the end of the war was announced but the effects of the war lasted for years to come.

The Evening Herald of 11th November 1918 carried joyous news:
'News of the signing of the armistice reached us this morning before 9 o'clock through the courtesy of the Admiralty Headquarters at Mount Wise. A veritable pandemonium arose in the Dockyard and district: scores of sirens rent the air with their shrill blasts and big steamer horns boomed out their deep-throated message. At last the world war had come to an end. School children demonstrated to their hearts' content, marching along the principal streets, singing and cheering and exchanging greetings on all sides. One procession had as leader the ubiquitous Charlie Chaplin replete with moustache, cane and preposterous boots.'
The story of Plymouth's part in the First World War is too involved to be condensed into this short article but I hope that many people will enjoy reading the book when it's published next year.

More Georgia Boys

Jane Thomas kindly wrote to me after reading my blog article about the Georgia Boys. If you haven't read the article, it tells of my time as a boy in the early 1970s taking guitar lessons from Pete Martin who was one of a local duo, the Georgia Boys. Jane sent me a photo of the couple back in the 1970s. This is a photo that Pete also gave me at the time but it has long since been lost so it's great to see it again. The Georgia Boys were regulars on Westward Television, Plymouth Sound and at venues all around the region at the time. Jane reminded me that the other member of the duo was Dave Bassett who also played with a folk band called 'Beggars, Tramps and Thieves'. Like myself, Jane also took guitar lessons with Pete but was more successful than me and became a guitar teacher herself years later (I still can't play!).
Pete's biog reads: 'Pete Martin was born in Alberta, Canada and, as a boy, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. which he now calls home. He made his name as a vocalist and a flat-pick guitarist and has worked with such greats as Ramblin Jack Elliott, Derroll Adams, Slim Whitman and has a long friendship with Murray Kash. On the Columbia label, Pete recorded 'No-one will ever know' which sold well. This was followed by both appearances on BBC and ITV.'
I don't know what happened to either Pete or Dave after the 1970s and local appearances seemed to dwindle. I've searched on the internet but have found nothing.
My original article can be read here:
http://plymouthlocalhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/georgia-boys.html

Gogmagog and this month's Shopper article

Regular readers will know that I write a a column for the free Plymouth paper, 'The Shopper' each month. This month's article is about Gogmagog and the chalk giants that once stood on the Hoe.
For anyone who doesn't get the paper, here's the article for you to read.

(Please click on picture to enlarge).

Houdini in Plymouth 1909

No photo has ever been discovered of Harry Houdini's jump from Ha'penny Bridge, Stonehouse on 17th August 1909. The reason is probably quite simple. All local newspapers at the time carried just news and no photos. Searching the archives, I found this photo taken just two months before Houdini's Plymouth jump. It comes from the Dundee Courier from Monday 21st June. Some newspapers from around the country challenged their readers to take the best 'snapshot' of Houdini that they could and cash prizes were offered. However, at the time, most people wouldn't have had cameras! As far as I know, this photo has never appeared anywhere since 21st June 1909 so here's an exclusive!

Westward Television's female presenters

 After my article about Westward Television appeared in the Shopper newspaper a few months ago, many people wrote to me to say how much they had enjoyed it and how it had brought back many happy memories for them. Graham Danton, who hosted the popular shows 'Date with Danton', 'Late with Danton' and 'Holiday Times' and was Westward's well-loved weatherman for many years, kindly wrote and suggested that I did a follow-up article featuring the female presenters at Westward. The first article had been male oriented so this seemed like a good idea. Graham's wife, Ann Taylor, presented Dancing Club, Zoo Time and Blue Peter for the BBC before becoming a Westward Diary reporter.

Many famous household names started their careers at Westward.

During 1969, Angela Rippon joined Westward after leaving BBC South West. She produced children's and women's programmes for the station including 'The Show Without a Title' during the summer of 1972 and in 1973, a show called 'Young Eyes' which was aimed at young people.

Jan Leeming was an announcer on Westward in 1965 before leaving to join Granada and HTV West. During the 1970s, she regularly presented 'Pebble Mill at One' and became one of the BBC's main newsreaders in the 1980s.
Judi Spiers joined Westward as an announcer in 1976 and became very popular with the viewers and fans of Gus Honeybun. Before appearing on tv, she had worked for the Coventry Theatre writing, producing and directing drama for schools in the city. She now has her own very popular show on Radio Devon.

Fern Britton joined Westward in 1979 and when the company lost its franchise, she joined BBC Southwest and later became a household name with appearances on Breakfast Time, GMTV, Ready, Steady, Cook and, later, This Morning.
Moyra Babington was the station's cookery expert and joined in 1962, fronting many cookery programmes as well as contributing to Westward Diary. Off-screen, she taught elocution at the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.
Alison Holloway started her career at Westward, aged 17, as a continuity announcer and newsreader before leaving to join HTV West in Bristol.

Other female presenters on Westward included Jennifer Clulow who had formerly worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and had appeared in the West End, top tv shows and plays, Helen McDermott who joined Westward in the 1970s but left in 1979 to join Anglia Television and Penny Bowles who was a continuity announcer and programme presenter in the 1960s and early 1970s.
On Sunday mornings, there was a religious spot called 'Look and See' for the under-8's which was hosted by Norah Thomas, Jill Mapson, Pat Webber and Ann Davey.
There were many more well-loved female presenters on Westward Television and this article covers just a few of them. How many can you remember?