Ethel Lilian Wright, guardian
Ethel was the second of three children born to David and Mary Milk. She was born in Gressenhall village on 9 November 1884 and baptised in St Mary's church in the following January. In 1891 Ethel was living with her parents and two brothers, David and Sydney, in Sparrows Green. Her father was a farmer, and they had one servant helping in the house.
By 1896 the family had moved to Park Farm in Scarning. David gave his occupation as landowner and farmer in the 1901 census and his son, also David, was helping him on the farm. Despite only having owned the farm for a short while, he must have been fairly well established because the neighbouring cottages in the census were listed not as Park Farm cottages, but as Milk's cottages.
Ethel's family were active members of the church and village community. Her father served as churchwarden at the church of St Peter and St Paul for many years, and her mother helped to organise local whist drives and other events. In 1902, at just 18, Ethel took responsibility for arranging a collection for the curate who was leaving the parish. She was heartily thanked for her kindness and "for the prompt manner in which she had done the work". In March 1908 she and her brother, Sydney, organised a social evening in the Village Hall. Ethel was presented with a plated toast rack and knife rests by the Scarning church choir and singing class, presumably as a gift for her forthcoming wedding later that week.
Ethel married Arthur Faulkner Wright on 25 March 1908 in Scarning. Arthur was the eldest son of Joseph and Sarah Wright, and heir to his engineering firm, JJ Wright & Sons, established in 1889. It began as a bicycle shop but quickly grew and became a Ford dealership in 1912 and one of Dereham's largest employers.
Reports of the wedding were carried in the local press:
"A very pretty motor wedding took place on Wednesday at Scarning Church ... The bride was dressed in blue voile dress bodice, trimmed with fillet lace and ball fringe, blue crinoline hat trimmed with hydrangeas and blue chiffon ... A reception was afterwards held in a spacious marquee on the lawn where Mr & Mrs Milk entertained a large number of guests"
"Mr and Mrs David Milk entertained the employees on the Park Farm to a substantial supper. After the repast the remainder of the evening was devoted to songs, games, etc and Mr and Mrs David Milk gave several excellent gramophone selections. Hearty cheers were given for the bride and bridegroom, also for the host and hostess. Altogether a most enjoyable time was spent."
Ethel and Arthur set up home at 52 Norwich Street, East Dereham, but later moved into the flat above the business at 38 High Street. Arthur and Ethel had 3 children in Dereham, Edwin, Joan and Mary before moving again in 1922, closer to Ethel's family in Scarning. They lived at Church Farm where the children could enjoy a more outdoor life. Arthur farmed the land, as well as helping his father with the family business. Two more children followed, Eric in 1923 and John in 1928. Ethel advertised in October 1928 for a Housemaid and General servant.
Arthur's father, Joseph James died in January 1932. Arthur took over the chairmanship and Church Farm in Scarning was to become an important asset for the business. An annual sale of tractors and tractor implements was held in Scarning from as early as 1936, with the range of machinery offered expanding as time went on. In 1939, still in Church Farm, Arthur gave his occupation as Farmer and Motor Engineer. Dorothy Hemsley was employed as Housemaid.
With war seemingly inevitable in 1939, Arthur and his daughter, Joan, had both answered the call for volunteers to join one of the Air Raid Precaution (ARP) organisation locally. Arthur signed up with the Observer Corps, an organisation which played a vital role in national defence, particularly during the early stages of the war. Volunteers were organised into observation posts and trained in aircraft recognition. Sightings of foreign aircraft would be reported to a local plotting room so that information could be analysed to provide early warnings to the RAF.
Joan, who worked as a domestic science teacher during the day, volunteered as an ambulance driver. Drivers were trained in practical skills like first aid, the use of stirrup pumps to help fight fires caused by incendiary bombs and other civil defence duties. Their efforts were crucial in preparing for potential wartime emergencies, including enforcing the blackout and responding to air raids.
Joan's eldest brother, Edwin, meanwhile, was living in Abbots Langley, in Hertfordshire, working in Watford as a hospital pharmacist and his sister, Mary, as a cook in a hospital in Colchester.
Working with the Observer Corps however, was not Arthur's first volunteer role. By 1932 he had joined his father-in-law, David Milk, as churchwarden and were both present when the bells in church were rededicated by the Bishop of Norwich having been fully restored and rung for the first time for nearly a quarter of a century.
He was also a Special Constable and the family still have a copy of a letter dated 27 February 1936, from Chief Constable SH Van Neck, in Norwich, recording his thanks to Arthur, and presenting him with the Special Constabulary Medal. The medal was instituted in 1919 and was awarded to those who had completed nine years of service, suggesting that Arthur had served since 1927.
Ethel's volunteer work at this time took a different form but each of her roles would have presented their own particular challenges in wartime. Education, and especially girls' education, was clearly important to Ethel and she took on the role of manager at the local school in Scarning, and governor of Dereham High School for Girls.
Ethel herself had attended Fairfield House Girls School in Theatre Street, Dereham and obviously valued the education they provided. Fairfield House was a private school run by the "Misses Stringer and Certified Governesses", for girls of all ages. In 1900 Ethel was listed amongst those winning awards in what may have been her final year at the school. She was awarded the prize for drawing, and the Visiting Master's Arithmetic Prize.
As an adult, Ethel represented Scarning village on the Mitford and Launditch Rural District Council, and for some years chaired the Housing Committee. Councillors will have been at the heart of local decision making when it came to wartime planning. Although not a specific target during the war, plans would need to have been in place to deal with housing issues brought about by bomb damage or the influx of refugees. During the war a mass evacuation of schoolchildren from urban areas to the countryside took place and a number of evacuees were placed in the village, some at Hillfield House and others at Meadowlea in Podmore. The governors of Dereham High School, including Ethel, will have been expected to put a workable solution in place to deal with the increased number of students that resulted.
Although not mentioned in her obituary, Ethel was also one of the Guardians at the Poor Law Assistance Institution in Gressenhall (former Workhouse) for over ten years. She will have been very conscious of the presence of the Institution when she was growing up in the village and clearly felt drawn to offer her help once she was again living in the area. She first joined the committee in November 1937 and was soon elected on to the House Committee. In March 1938 she was one of two members asked to represent the Guardians at a meeting of the Public Assistance Committee for the selection of a new Master & Matron following the dismissal of Mr & Mrs Loxham. Mr and Mrs Nichols were selected later in the year. In the same month, she was appointed to a subcommittee to consider a report on the review of accommodation and whether any aged inmates could be boarded out.
The minutes of 10 January 1944 give a taste of a typical Christmas at Gressenhall:
"Christmas Day was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The menu was as follows:
Breakfast - Sausages and eggs for the Sick Wards.
Dinner - Roast pork, beef, rabbits, roasted and boiled potatoes, swedes, parsnips and sprouts, followed by Christmas Pudding and custard, ale and minerals etc.
Each patient then received 1/-. The men were given tobacco and sweets. The women and children were given sweets, apples, chocolates and nuts.
Tea - mince pies and Christmas cake.
In the afternoon, a concert was given by the Troops of Gressenhall Hall and in the evening, a cinema show was provided which lasted until 9pm. Then followed songs by the inmates and staff.
Mince pies and coffee was served at 11pm and then to bed tired, but happy."
The additional expenses incurred could not be taken from the regular weekly budget and had to be found from other sources. The Institution had their own farm in the grounds, growing vegetables and raising animals, and there are records in the minutes of a pig being slaughtered for Christmas, but anything required over and above this that could not be produced on site had to be bought in. Each year, Ethel arranged a collection from amongst the Guardians to cover these costs and thereby ensure that Christmas could be a special day.
The minutes of 10 January continue:
"On behalf of the patients and staff of the Institution I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Committee for the excellent fare provided at Christmas. Also, for the sum of £5 10s 6d collected by Mrs A Wright at the last Committee meeting."
This was not her only contribution, on more than one occasion she is noted as having made gifts of various kinds too. In 1941 thanks were recorded for her gift of books and papers; in 1943 for tobacco and in 1944 for apples and toys. One of her last gifts was an easy chair, provided for the patient's canteen in 1947, around the time that the Institution became Beech House, a home for the elderly.
In August 1945, Ethel took on an additional role as a Lady Visitor to Boarded Out Children in East Dereham and Westfield. She will have been making regular checks on children fostered by local families but will also have been responsible for visiting the homes of prospective foster parents and reporting back to the Guardians on their suitability. The minutes record one such visit in March 1946 when she and Mrs Kenward visited Mr Heritage who had applied to give a home to two children, Jean Bacon and Annie Godbold.
At home, Ethel faced worries of another kind when her son, Eric, enlisted with the RAF and was posted overseas. He joined the RAF in September 1942 as an aircraft fitter and on Christmas Day received a greetings telegram from home addressed to his training base at RAF Locking in Somerset. From here, he probably spent time at RAF Swanton Morley before going out, with his squadron, to Vitry-en-Artois in France in October 1944 and then to Gilze Rijen in Holland, in 1945. As a fitter, he would have been allocated a specific aircraft to look after, probably one of the squadron's North American B25 Mitchells, and with an airframe fitter, would have carried out all the pre-flight and post flight checks, travelling with this aircraft and its allocated crew when they were posted. The squadron was disbanded in 1945 and everyone returned to England, but Eric returned to Europe in January 1946 and remained until he was demobbed in February 1947.
In the later stages of the war, German prisoners of war were sent to work at Ethel's parent's home at Park Farm in Scarning, and Italian prisoners of war at nearby Brookside Farm, cutting and gathering willow. There were also Land Girls in the village, one of whom worked for Ethel and Arthur at Church Farm.
Optimism following the ending of the war brought many changes and the village became a thriving community. Residents participated in many events, ranging from Harvest Suppers in the Village Hall to barn dances at Church Farm.
In 1947, Arthur gave Scarning its own playing field. The 5 acre field, known as the Well Meadow, had formerly been used to graze cows. Over time, the playing field came to be used for a variety of sports, from tennis to football; from cricket to cycle speedway, and the gift was to be marked by a plaque unveiled after his death.
Ethel too continued to serve her community - as a member of the playing field committee, the St Peter and St Paul Parochial Church Council, and as Vice President of the Mothers' Union. She and Arthur, and their family, were recognised locally for all they had contributed and, as one of the village's long-standing families, Wright Drive was named in their honour.
Ethel went into hospital in 1952 for an operation she was expected to survive. Unfortunately, there were complications, and she died in a nursing home in Norwich on 16 February. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as a pulmonary embolism and ovarian cancer.
Arthur married again in 1953 but was widowed just 7 years later. He himself died in 1961 and was buried, with Ethel, in Scarning churchyard.
