Danesfield House at Medmenham was converted into an RAF base for the skilled interpretation of aerial photographs during the second world war. Those asked to analyse images for the sake of mission planning included explorers, geographers and scientists as well as representatives from the RAF, Army and Navy. Models and maps of landscapes were also made at Medmenham to help in the planning of operations including the Dam Busters raid and D-Day. The latter event alone required thousands of models. Phyllis Court near Henley was also used for model making. Some of the model makers were professional artists. The planes that took the photographs for Medmenham landed at RAF Benson on Oxfordshire. All of this was strictly secret at the time, even some of those working in other roles at the Medmenham base did not understand or know all the work that was going on there! The role that the base had played in the war effort was revealed in the autumn of 1945 when British journalists were invited in for all (well probably not ALL) to be revealed. Tens of millions of images passed through the hands of the Medmenham team. Many women held senior positions at the base, including Constance Babbington Smith a journalist at Aeroplane magazine and a biographer of Amy Johnson. Constance while at Medmenham was the first person to identify the V1 rocket and it's launch ramp. It was considered that women were more patient and thorough than men when poring over images in quantity so they formed the backbone of the service.
Constance did not just interpret photos back at base, she flew with crews over enemy territory and took photos herself.
It wasn't all hard work for the 1-2000 staff engaged there at any given time. Regular dances were organized for them and locals at the relatively new Medmenham Village Hall and Henley Town Hall. The base had its own theatre and dance band. Glenn Miller and his band visited and performed on one occasion. Americans at the base organized extravagant Halloween parties. Some Halloween balls and dances occurred in England from the 1920s onwards but the celebration was a far bigger occasion of course in America.
Actress Sarah Oliver nee Churchill was another photo interpreter not to mention the daughter of Winston Churchill. Sarah was a tough cookie who made it plain she did not want the safe and unchallenging desk job she was offered after joining the WAAFs and applied to be a photo interpreter instead. She encouraged showbiz friends to come to the base to help entertain her colleagues and to attend local events fundraising for the war effort. The cinema in Marlow was used for one such event according to the book Women Of Intelligence: Winning The Second World War With Air Photos by Christine Hallsall and published by the History Press. This is a book I highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about RAF Medmenham. The ISBN for this book if you want to order it is 0752486519 9780752486512.
Sarah was given time off from her work at Medmenham to accompany her father on key diplomatic meetings with Joseph Stalin, the Chinese President and Franklin Roosevelt. Her father visited RAF Medmenham itself in 1943.
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In a different branch of service, the Royal Marines, Lt Leonard Raoul Pugh is buried in the churchyard at Medmenham. His grave says that he died in "active service" In fact he died instantly after being accidentally shot in the head during an exercise at Larkhill Range on Salisbury Plain. He was in his 23rd year at the time. Leonard had served in Egypt and taken part in the Landing of Sicily in July 1943.
Leonard was baptised in his mother's native Lancashire* while his businessman father was Welsh so what connection he had to Medmenham is not clear to me. I don't believe his parents ever lived there. Presumably he had as a young adult lived there or perhaps he had enjoyed visiting the village as a tourist as so many others did. Leonard would certainly have enjoyed the surrounding beauty as he was poetically inclined. None of his many poems were published in his lifetime but they were gathered and published by Macmillan in 1948 along with some biographical notes as to their author. In them one of his officers described him as "a grand lad without fear and always able to get the best out of his men".
To see a photo of Leonard's grave please see the Commonwealth War Graves Commission page for him here (goes off blog).
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Despite the war Medmenham was a popular destination for not walkers, fishermen, photographers, artists, boaters and cyclists to stop off at during the 1940s. Catering for those day trippers and holiday makers employed some of the locals but agriculture was the mainstay of the local economy. Land girls filled the gaps caused by recruitment of male workers. One of these Miss L Wallington who worked at Killdown, Medmenham for Mr Keene won a distinction in a tough proficiency test she entered in 1944. These tests were judged by experienced farmers. Miss Wallington took the test in fieldwork which meant she must demonstrate skill in the driving of a horse and cart, harnessing a horse, ditch cleaning, hedge trimming, hoeing and "sheep throwing" (!).
The above mentioned Mr Keene was a member of the Bucks War Agriculture Committee, who helped organize these land girl tests amongst much other important work.
The British Shorthorn Society was based at Westfield Medmenham during the war. This tirelessly promoted Shorthorn cattle as a good alternative to normal dairy cows for milk and butter production in this time of food crisis. Society members periodically donated free cows to be sold with all profits going to the Red Cross.
On the subject of first aid, classes in that were held at Medmenham in the Village Hall as part of the village's war preparations.
*Leonard was born 10th July 1921. His parents were then of Lawsword Formby, Lancs but later moved to Anglesey.
For more posts on Medmenham see the Nearby Places Index for this blog.
Related Posts:
World War Two in Marlow Part One here and Part Two (which includes secret goings on at sentry Hill near Medmenham) here.
Written and researched by Charlotte Day.
Sources for this post:
Pugh, R. L (1948). Poems: With a Memoir of the Author. United Kingdom: Macmillan and Company Limited.
Commonwealth War Grave Commission.
Lancashire Online Parish Clerks (OPC). Baptisms. https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Formby/stpeter/baptisms_1907-1923.html
Bucks Free Press. April 1st 1944. British Library Archives via the BNA. Yorkshire Post 7th September 1945, as previous.
https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-175/sarah-churchill-more-than-a-thread/
Personal interview.
