The Sussex Coast Blue Plaque project commemorates people past and present that have worked along the line. The blue plaques are installed at some of the stations between Hove and Littlehampton. In Lancing and Littlehampton the plaques have been used to create town trails. Here are some of the stories of the ordinary men and women that worked on the railways and that did extraordinary things during their lifetimes. We thank all those that helped identify these people for their hard work and dedication.
Angmering Station – Horace Hayward, Station Manager
All change!
When the railway first came to our villages
by Graham Lewis, with acknowledgements to Richard Standing
The opening of Angmering Station on 16th March 1846 altered the face of travel in Rustington, East Preston and Angmering, bringing about significant social and economic changes to this largely agricultural area. Many more people were able to explore the world beyond their rural village, and in an era when roads were notoriously bad, the faster journeys achieved by train enabled the coastal strip to develop a successful market gardening industry, with produce travelling to London and beyond. Tomatoes and flowers were the principal crops.
The construction of Britain’s railways began in the 1830s in the hands of a large number of independent companies, authorised by parliament, but with no overall plan or co-ordination. The London & Brighton Railway Company was responsible for the scheme to link these two centres of population, but it seems a line westward along the coast from Brighton had always been an essential part of the scheme. In 1837 the company was given permission to build a line from Brighton to Shoreham, as well as its main line from London. As a port, Shoreham was a potentially profitable destination, but it was clearly foreseen that a line westwards from there was desirable.
A few years later, the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway was formed from several smaller companies and it was the LBSCR which built the line we know today, reaching Worthing in 1845, followed by Angmering and then Chichester in 1846. Leaving Shoreham, the first station on the new line was Lancing, followed by Worthing, Goring and Angmering. The original station at Angmering appears to have been an attractive flint-faced building with twin gables. After Angmering, the next station was called Littlehampton, though this was situated near the level crossing in Lyminster, two miles north of the town. The next station was Arundel (now Ford station) and the spurs to the town centre stations in Bognor and Littlehampton were added in 1864. Barnham Station was built in that same year.
The 1853 passenger timetable shows that there were four daily trains from Angmering to Brighton and four trains a day to Portsmouth. To travel to London, a change at Brighton was essential, as the loop between Hove and Preston Park wasn’t built until 1879.
In 1854, Angmering Station was provided with a goods yard on a large piece of land to the north of the line, donated to the LBSCR by the Squire of Ham Manor, William Gratwicke. The goods yard is now the station car park but the old engine shed still stands today and is used by a tool hire business. The second (and present) station building, dating from the 1860s, included a house for the station master or other key staff. A signal box was constructed in 1877 on the south side of the station adjacent to the level crossing, but this was removed in the 1990s when the signalling system was centralised. In its earlier days, Angmering station wasn’t just a railway station, as the station master (sometimes designated simply as a “clerk”) also served as the local postmaster. From here, mail for Angmering, East Preston, Kingston and Rustington was sorted and distributed. The opening of Angmering Station didn’t just transform the local economy and people’s way of life. It also resulted in the name of the road leading from Rustington to East Preston being changed from East Street to Station Road, and the latter name continues right through Angmering to Water Lane.
Hove Station – Ethel Lee, Southern Railway Ship Stewardess
Ethel Lee took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk. She was acting as a stewardess on a cross-channel boat which was making its way to Dunkirk to rescue survivors. The boat was attacked by enemy planes and a bomb hit it amid-ships. For over one and a half hours Mrs Lee was in the water swimming and occasionally floating on her back to rest. Mrs Lee was born in Lewes and lived in Newhaven.
Lancing Town Trail – Harold Dray, Coach Trimmer
Roll of Honour – Sussex – Lancing
Harold Dray was born at Canterbury Kent on 22nd January 1913 to parents Elizabeth and Harold. Harold senior worked in the stores at Southern Railway in Ashford – at 16 years old Harold junior started a 5-year apprenticeship there and at 21 years old became a fully qualified “coach trimmer”.
The carriage-works at Ashford was closed and all railway carriage construction was concentrated at Lancing West Sussex. Approximately 500 men transferred to work at the Lancing carriage-works. Harold in his early 20’s relocated from Ashford to Lancing sometime between 1934 and 1937 going to lodge with family at Shoreham-by-sea.
Harold met local girl Winifred Lilian Mockford and they married at St Michael & All Angels Church in Lancing on Saturday 27th March 1937. Winifred [Wyn] was born in Sussex on 27th August 1916. She had been working “in service” as a housekeeper in Maidstone – perhaps she had met Harold while she was living in Kent. Harold and Wyn began their married life in a property called “Lido Villas” on the sea-front at South Street Lancing. Their first child, Linda Mary was born on 26th March 1941.
In the early morning of Friday 25th April 1941 a German plane, being chased from London by the RAF jettisoned a bomb before flying out to sea. It was a direct hit on Lido Villas and reduced the property to rubble. Wyn was in bed, baby Linda was in the cot and Harold was in the bathroom getting ready to go to work at Lancing carriage-works. Wyn threw herself on top of the cot; she and the baby were rescued uninjured and taken to neighbours at The Three Horseshoes pub next door to keep them safe and warm. Harold was seriously injured and taken to hospital in Worthing.
The German plane was shot down. The pilot survived and was rescued from the sea near Worthing Pier and taken prisoner.
Harold and Wyn were eventually housed in a bungalow in Lancing Park and their second child Sylvia Jean was born on 28th January 1943.
Harold was “called up” to The Royal Army Service Corps [General Transport] and was posted on Thursday 5th March 1942 for training at Beacon Barracks, Bulford Wiltshire.
The Army paid an allowance to Wyn and the children as his dependants.
Harold was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force which landed on the beaches in France in June 1944. He was fatally wounded on DDay by shrapnel to his left side and both legs and he died on 7th June 1944 at a casualty evacuation centre on the French beach. Wyn received confirmation that Harold was “missing in action” but confirmation of his death did not come until October. As soon as that notification was given, the financial allowance paid to her and the children ceased.
In the family archives there are three letters – written in pencil – to Wyn from Private C.H. Bennett who had been a great friend of Harold’s and had tried to find him when he was wounded. Private Bennett’s letters indicate that Harold [Hal to his mates] was very popular and well-liked by his comrades. Private Bennett survived the war and returned to Scotland but he made a trip down to Lancing to visit Wyn and return Harold’s identification dog-tags to her. Private Bennett told Wyn that overnight on 6th June 1944 the casualty evacuation centre had been bombed and all nursing staff and patients had been killed.
Without financial support, Wyn found paid employment making and packing “chaff” which was used as radar counter-measures by British warplanes. Wyn had to send her young daughters to an orphanage. Linda at 3½ years old and Sylvia aged 18 months were placed in the care of The Southern Railways Orphanage at Woking Surrey. The Woking Orphanage accommodated 150 children whose fathers had died during their employment on the railways. The building latterly became part of “Woking Homes” a home for retired railway and transport personnel and their spouses.
In July 1947 Wyn re-married. Reginald James Shorter [Reg] was a locksmith at Lancing carriage-works. He had relocated from the Ashford carriage-works and he had worked alongside Harold. Reg wasn’t able to join the Regular Army due to his poor eyesight but he did serve with the local Home Guard throughout the war. Reg and Wyn immediately brought the girls out of the orphanage and in August 1947 they became a family. Linda aged 6½ years joined the Lancing Junior School and Sylvia joined Lancing Infants School.
Reg worked for Lancing Carriage Works until it closed in the 1960s and he subsequently trained as a carpenter at Beamish on Shoreham Harbour until he retired.
Reg and Wyn lived in the bungalow at Lancing Park. Reg died in 1986. Wyn sold the bungalow in 1995 and retired to live in Ireland alongside her daughter Linda. Wyn died in Ireland 2009. Linda didn’t have children but Sylvia had two children [Sharon and Joanne]. Sylvia died in 2018. Linda, is now aged 83 and living in Staffordshire. Linda visited Lancing with Sharon during Remembrance in November 2024 to take part in a memorial service at Lancing Station and to lay a wreath in memory of her father Harold whose name is inscribed on the war memorial. Sharon has vowed never to forget the service and sacrifice of the grandfather she never knew – Harold Dray.
Lancing Town Trail – Arthur R.R. Bartlett, Booking Clerk
Private 10497 Artur Reuben Robert Bartlett enlisted on 27th February 1917. He served in the 2nd Battalion Honourable Artillery Company as a stretcher bearer.
Arthur was killed in action on Friday 26th October 1917 aged 20 years. Struggling through waist deep mud and machine gun fire, attempting to rescue wounded men lying in water-filled shell holes, working under very heavy fire. Private Bartlett was killed by a piece of shell, South of Ypres near Vierstraat. He was baptised at St James The Less on 6th June 1897. He lived at 2, North Road Lancing, Sussex. He worked as a Booking Clerk at Lancing Railway Station. Arthur’s Grandfather was Postmaster at Lancing Post Office.
Lancing Town Trail – Ernest Strudwick, Lifter
For more information about Ernest Strudwick please visit: Lancing War Memorial: STRUDWICK Ernest
Gunner 374377 Ernest Strudwick of the 173rd Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. Ernest was killed in Action on Thursday 21st March 1918 aged 32 years. A casualty of the German Spring Offensive, killed by a shell and buried where he fell, commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the missing. Ernest lived in Penhill Road Lancing. He married Rose Grinyer and they had 4 children. He worked as a garden labourer until outbreak of war, joined the staff at Southern Railway Carriage Works as a Lifter.
Lancing Town Trail – Herbert J Clist
Private Herbert John Clist, (known as Jack), Royal Army Service Corps.
Son of Edward and Emma Louisa Clist,Third Avenue, Lancing, Sussex.
Jack was an apprentice at Southern Railway Carriage Works Lancing Sussex in the upholstery dept. On completion of the apprenticeship, Jack enlisted into the Royal Army Service Corps. After training he was posted to Singapore. On the surrender he was sent to a Prisoner of War Camp, where worked on the Burma Siam Railway, The Death Railway. `After 2 years of internment sadly Jack died of Cholera in camp 30th May 1943, age 26 years.
“In the early 1950’s my mother and Grandfather had a visit from a fellow POW. The Men that survived in the camp had agreed to visit relatives and relay what had happened to their menfolk. This chap stated that after another hard day working on the railway, they returned to camp exhausted. Something happened and their water was not fully boiled. Hence contracting cholera.
Buried at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery, Myanmar, Japan.
“Golden Memories Silently Kept, We Who Loved Will Never Forget”
The Uncle I never met.
Regards.
Mike King (living relative to Herbert Clist)
For more information visit: C Database
Lancing Town Trail – Evelyn Joan Ford, Upholsterer
Evelyn trained as a Tailor/ dress maker. She worked at Lancing Carriage Works in the upholstery department during WW2 in the Hush Hush shop, working on secret missions for the Army supporting the war effort, she spoke about making floats for the Bailey Bridges and the overlays for the Horsa Gloder planes, which were used to support the Normandy Landings. Evelyn was always very proud of the work they undertook
Evelyn lived at the time in Hove and travelled every day on the Lancing Belle to work at the Lancing Carriage Works, using the train she used to tip a lads hat off who worked at the railway station as he was seeing the train off safely as he worked on the platform, (later she married this chap 20-10-1945) and moved to Ferring and started a family, Evelyn’s husband Horace Alfred Ford known as Henry then moved and worked at Worthing Railway Station as platform guard/ chargeman.
Evelyn died in 2018.
Photos from Eve’s Family
Lancing Town Trail – Sarah Chesterman, Railway Goods Van Driver
Sarah Chesterman is mentioned in a newspaper article from December 1942. This was the Worthing Herald, but the story was repurposed across other titles at the time too. The headline is ‘Women do big jobs on the railways. Mere man’s tribute – We’d be in a mess without them”.
It describes Miss Sarah Chesterman, 33, who worked in a store. This gave a year of birth, that she was unmarried, and possibly a store/shop worker. They even showed a photograph – though very poorly reproduced in the article online.
The 1939 register shows only one possibility for Sarah (born 16 Oct 1908). We can assume that she didn’t marry as she kept her birth name to the last. Her parents and siblings were in Oxfordshire. She was buried back in Kidlington – where her relatives may still be.
Littlehampton Town Trail – Ernest H Morley, Signalman
Ernest worked for the railway for over 45 years, 40 of these as a signalman at Lyminster Crossing. For more information about Ernest, visit Littlehampton Museum. Home | Littlehampton Museum
Littlehampton Town Trail – William Betterton
William was born in Reigate in 1880. He lived and worked in Tunbridge Wells, before marrying Mary Ann Hall in Sussex in 1906. He started work for the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway that same year, in Littlehampton. He was employed as a ‘carman’ – a carter who would drive a horse-drawn vehicle, collecting and delivering goods to and from the station. He and his wife Mary had six children between 1907 and 1919, living at 12 Gloucester Place and later at 44 Maxwell Road. Tragically William died at work on 14 June 1920, in an accident at the stables at Littlehampton station. For more about William and his family, please read this brief account written by the Railway Work, Life & Death project, who researched William’s life for us.
Thanks to William and Mary’s surviving family who provided a photo and information.
Littlehampton Town Trail – Frederick Parsons
Frederick Parsons was born in Wivelsfield in 1869, to Belinda and Thomas Parsons, a railway labourer/platelayer.
By age 22 (1891) he was already bookstall manager in Oxted where he met Hannah Dilnot, a Kent girl working as domestic staff for an architect. They married in 1893 and in 1901 they were still living in Oxted, and he continued to manage the railway bookstall. By 1911 Frederick was a clerk for a bookseller/newsagents [WHSmith’s] they were living at 54 East Ham Road, Littlehampton with Hannah and their only child George, a newsagents’ assistant.
In 1921 census Frederick was still manager of a railway bookstall and even specified WHSmith’s Littlehampton Railway station. He’d lost Hannah by 1939’s identity card register and was living with the Burt family at Parkside Avenue, Littlehampton.
For more information about Frederick, visit Littlehampton Museum. Home | Littlehampton Museum
Littlehampton Town Trail – Edward Tanner
Awarded an MBE in 1918 for services to the railway, Tanner served over 50 years, the last 20 at Littlehampton. For more information about Edward, visit Littlehampton Museum. Home | Littlehampton Museum
Littlehampton Town Trail – Tony Squires
Tony worked for the railway 1957-1966 and 1974-2001. He was a local Councillor, 1965-1968 and 1978-2015, and Littlehampton Mayor, 1987/88 and 2000/2001. For more information about Tony, visit Littlehampton Museum. Home | Littlehampton Museum
