Part Two 1940-41
1940- Winston Churchill's scientific advisor Frederick Lindemann, of German origin but hater of the Nazis, moves his Statistics Department from London to Sentry Hill House on the edge of Marlow. The building was requisitioned by the government for the war effort. Members of the department lodged there, and worked there of an evening to escape disturbance in the Blitz. Filing cabinets were transported to the house in the backs of cars which was perhaps not the most secure way of doing things. The department left in 1942.
Frederick's father Adolf had lived in the neighbouring house The Heights at the time of his death in 1931 so Frederick already knew Marlow well when he arrived.
May 1940- £800 is spent on buying the piece of land known as Foxes Piece in Marlow for a recreation ground thought necessary because of the increased numbers of children in town due to evacuations. Authorities were very aware of the greater numbers expected to arrive in the coming months. The recreation ground is now the site of Foxes Piece School.
Colonel M .O Clarke A.R.P officer for Bucks lives White Lodge, on the edge of town. (Bisham)
1941- Spinfield, a house in Spinfield Lane partially taken over for accommodation of RAF personnel. Danesfield House has by then also been seized entirely for RAF use, including by photographic reconnaissance officers. Soldiers in camouflage hide in the woods protecting this base.
June 1941- Marlow F.C lost to Reading in the final of The Berks and Bucks Red Cross Cup, organised to raise money for the Red Cross Fund. Over £120 was raised.
June 1941- a motor launch comes along the Thames through Marlow several times one Sunday. The occupants use a loudhailer to urge women they see on the riverbank to sign up to take serving men's places in factories and workshops. A novel idea!
December 1941- Nazi sympathiser and British Fascist Frederick Joseph Rutland living with his brother in law Henry Rupert Hood-Barr and Spinfield, a house in Spinfield Lane West, Marlow as mentioned above arrested by police on suspicion of espionage and later interned for the duration of the war. He was suspected of passing secrets to the Japanese while in America and the Pacific. He had been decorated for his aerial reconnaissance work during WW1 for the RAF. Frederick had been spied on by people working for MI5 and based at Spinfield House for some time.
Part one of Marlow In World War Two deals with preparations for the war and the first few weeks of it as is available here. Part Three moves on to the years 1942-3 and can be read here.
Interested in WW1 in Marlow? Kathryn has a detailed year by year series of posts on it
More sources:
Bucks Examiner 27th June 1941. British Library Archives via the BNA.
Papers of Frederick Lindeman, Nuffield College Library, National Archives catalogue.
Operation Crossbow: The Untold Story of Photographic Intelligence and the Search for Hitler's V Weapons. By Allan Williams. Published by Random House. 2014. Read more about Danesfield in the war in this interesting book.
The Times, October 15 1941 - thanks to Archibald Friend for a copy of this.
To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. New content added daily!
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