Ernest Harry Chaney was the only child of Robert and Mary Chaney (nee Briggs) who were both from Carleton Rode families. They were married in 1892.
Ernest was born the following year on the 15th May 1893 and after leaving school (around 1905/6) worked for his father; the family had moved to Poplar Farm on Rode Lane only a year or so before.
In the 1912 Kelly’s Directory, there were 27 farmers listed in the village. A few were larger concerns farming a few hundred acres and employing several men and boys, but many, like Poplar Farm, were traditional family farms with a few acres, arable and pasture, livestock and poultry.
Around this time, Ernest (Ernie) was courting a girl who had moved into the village around 1910. Kate Holder was a live-in servant working for Walter Brown, his wife and baby grandson at White Lodge Farm on Fen Road.
Kate was born in 1895 in the village of Scoulton (the other side of Attleborough), although her parents met and married whilst working in domestic service in London – and the family moved frequently.
After working variously as a butler, valet and coachman, Kate’s father had tried his hand at running a pub (the White Hart Inn in Thurlton, near Loddon) but found that he could not control the drunken behaviour of his customers (Eastern Daily Press, March and October 1885), forfeited his license in 1887 and returned to working ‘in service’ as a coachman, groom and gardener.
By 1911, only Kate and her year-older sister remained in Norfolk (Gladys worked as a live-in servant in Norwich). Her older siblings were either in the Navy (or married to a career soldier) or in the Metropolitan Police – and her parents were working at the Coldstream Guards’ Windsor Barracks where their son-in-law was a Colour Sergeant.
When war was declared in August 1914, Kate’s family were in the thick of it.
Kate and Ernie married on the 18th November 1915, when Kate was already expecting their first child and the couple lived on the Chaney family farm. Ernie had not volunteered for war service at this point; as an only child he would have been essential to ensuring the farm’s economic viability. Conscription came into force in January 1916 for single men; by May this included married men as well.
In the middle of this uncertainty, on the 1st March 1916, Kate gave birth to a boy they named Robert Harry. Tragically, the baby lived for only 11 days and was buried in the church cemetery.
Despite such heartbreak, Ernie went to war; he would have had no choice. He was serving with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s) regiment and within a couple of months he was sent to the Front. Later in the war, he was transferred into the 9th Seaforth Highlanders. This was a Pioneer battalion; they dug trenches, laid tracks and tramways as well as roadworks, pipes for water etc. Almost all of their work, even when not in or near the frontline trenches, was well within range of enemy artillery.
At home in Norfolk, a daughter was born to Kate, on the 31st January 1917 and was baptised Mary Margaret Chaney in All Saints’ Church on Lady Day (25th March) that year. Perhaps this coincided with Ernie’s leave home? We simply don’t know as his army record does not survive.
Ernie was at the heart of the fighting during the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and later as the Germans advanced in the Ypres Salient during the spring of 1918.
During this tumultuous time at the Front, Ernie sent a postcard to his cousin, Fred Briggs, who was serving with the Machine Gun Corps.
This treasured postcard, written in pencil and later glued into the Briggs’ family album, demonstrates the importance of home – family, friends, and glimpses of the old life Ernie longs to return to; a transcription follows (the brackets are ours):
(Dear) Cousin,
I don’t suppose Nett (Nelson Briggs) is out here again yet. I was lucky in seeing him when I was home.
Have you had any leave yet? I don’t think we look like getting any just yet either. But I suppose we shall just have to keep on dodging them, not so pleasant at times.
I could do with half a pint of cider, couldn’t you? What do think of the Vin Blong (sic)? It puts me in mind of Bob Rout’s cider.
Have you seen anybody you know yet? I haven’t had sight of anybody. Joe Stapley and Will Brown have joined the Volunteers. They drill at Colmans I think. I wonder if Yacht (John Rush) or Sid Bennington have joined yet. Think that’s all this time.
Write me when you have time. Ernie
NB. Joe Stapley referred to in Ernie’s postcard was Joseph William Stapley, who was of a similar age to Ernie and a local farmer’s son. On the 1911 Census, the Stapley family were living at Highfield on Mill Road in the village.
Joseph married Gertrude Smith in All Saints’ Church in February 1915. She was the daughter of the schoolmaster at Carleton Rode and whose brother Sydney J Smith is also listed on our Roll of Honour board. The couple lived on the Norwich Road (the Turnpike) in Bunwell. He may well have registered earlier in the war with the Volunteers – but only some of his pension papers survive; we know that Joe joined the Irish Guards in June 1916 and survived the war. He is listed on the Bunwell Roll of Honour.
Will Brown – could be Wilf Brown, one of our survivors? He joined the Norfolk Regiment. Perhaps the Volunteers are the Norfolk Yeomanry? They certainly had a drill station at Attleborough.
We have Fred Briggs’s late granddaughter, Vivian Frost (nee Dade), to thank for sharing this postcard, and other family photographs, many of which are reproduced on this site. She was a great supporter of our project which aims to tell the stories of those who went before us and to keep alive the memory of those who shaped our village.
After the Armistice in November 1918, it took many months to get the men home from overseas. With Ernie still away, Kate attended a fundraising event in the schoolroom on Boxing Day, a ’combined whist drive and American Basket Social.’
A tradition in the USA was for women of the village, or more often a church community, to decorate a box or basket and fill it with items for a luncheon or dinner for two. The local menfolk would then bid on the women’s baskets – presumably in the hope of eating it alongside the woman who had prepared it!
The Carleton Rode event was reported in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) and 34 baskets were displayed, decorated in patriotic style. Kate won the prize for the prettiest basket and Alice Greenwood of The Ashes created the basket that realised the most money – £1 (the equivalent of a farm labourer’s weekly wage!). Songs, games and dancing were also enjoyed in the crowded schoolroom, and altogether £15 was raised for St Dunstan’s Hostel for the Blind (that’s about £500 today – although these things are difficult to quantify).
Click here to discover more about this tradition and its links to small schools which was still going strong in the remote rural farming communities of post-war America.
Ernie returned home early in 1919 (he is not on the Absent Voter’s List for that year) and began to pick up the threads of his former life, working with his father on the farm and becoming a family unit with Kate and their daughter, Mary. Two more children were born in the years following the Great War – Thomas Harry was born on the 11th July 1922 and Maurice Robert on the 31st March 1924.
In 1928, Ernie, Kate and their children moved to nearby Fen Farm when George Chatten gave up farming. They were to remain there for over 20 years as village life slowly returned to normal.
The EDP reported on the games and tournaments played in the villages which recommenced after the war. Bowls and quoits were popular and many local pubs fielded teams in the area. Ernie played for the Plough Inn, Carleton Rode, and was especially skilled at ‘ringers’. He also participated in Ninepins tournaments (skittles) and ploughing matches.
Fetes and carnivals in Carleton Rode, New Buckenham and Old Buckenham grew into large and successful events in the interwar period.
Usually held on Rectory Meadow in the village or in the grounds of the grander houses in the Buckenhams, there were fancy dress parades and bonny baby competitions, all manner of athletics and sports, vegetable and fruit displays, (and all of these were rewarded with monetary prizes), jewellery, crafts and trinket stalls, fairground rides and side shows. You could guess the weight of the fat lamb, bowl for the pig (a real one!) or have a go at quoits (often with Ernie in charge). Refreshments and ice-creams were plentiful to cater for the large crowds that came from the surrounding villages. Frequently, the marching New Buckenham Silver Band played in the afternoon and accompanied the dancing in the evening.
Reading through these accounts in the local newspapers (from 1921 to the outbreak of the Second World War), it is easy to imagine this period was a golden age of farming community life – the darkest days of the war were being ‘put behind’ men and women as best they could, although many bore terrible physical and mental scars. However, many ex-soldiers required long term practical support, especially with regards to finance (war pensions), housing and trying to find work.
Ernie was one of a group of men who were determined to support those in need and was a founding member of the area’s British Legion in 1921, comprising men from Carleton Rode as well as Old and New Buckenham.
The EDP reported that there were 15,000 disabled men ‘on the books’ in Norfolk (those that had already been assessed and granted a pension) but there were many more who needed help to approach the bureaucratic Ministry of Pensions (the majority of men would only have had a rudimentary education to the age of 12 before starting work).
Ernie was elected to the committee of the British Legion on several occasions and their fundraising supported ex-servicemen and their families. Agricultural workers suffered severely during the economic downturn of the 1920s as well as during the ‘Hungry Thirties’ – the years of the Great Depression which affected the whole country. Ernie was also the British Legion wreath bearer for the local Armistice Parades on many occasions.
By 1937, the August fete held in aid of the British Legion had surpassed all expectations (Diss Express). It was held in the grounds of Old Buckenham Hall and over 4000 people attended. The athletics races were very popular with entrants from all the local villages plus some from further afield – Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire – and there was a total of £50 prize money on offer. There were cycle races, fairground attractions and stalls – mostly manned by ‘old soldiers’ and their wives and children (Ernie, Fred and Nelson Briggs, Walter Chapman, Joe Scott, Ernest Burt to name just a few). The New Buckenham Silver Band played and there was a tea dance in the afternoon, followed by a concert party from Norwich in the evening. Despite the deaths of 14 members in the previous year, the Old Buckenham, New Buckenham and Carleton Rode branch of the British Legion had 172 members (EDP).
Many local funeral reports published in the papers during the 1920s and ’30s reveal more of Ernie’s circle of friends. He was often chosen to bear the coffin at funeral services along with other men of his generation such as Walter Spratt, Walter Basham, George Jolly, James Chatten, the Groom brothers, Tom Stevenson – all neighbours in the village.
These reports regularly mention a representative of the Loyal Cholmeley Lodge in attendance. Robert Chaney, Ernest’s father, was involved with this Lodge, a charitable organisation that had been founded by a former rector of Carleton Rode, and whose aim was to promote education for ordinary working men. By 1880, enough subscriptions had been raised to erect a building on the Flaxlands, appropriately called the ‘Workman’s Rest’, where the men could meet without the need to repair to the pub. The Lodge had been part of the temperance movement in its early days and many of its members came from both the Church of England and Baptist congregations in the village. Robert was on the board of Trustees during this period and Ernie served on the committee.
The Chaney family also played an active role at All Saints’ Church, serving as sidesmen and on the newly formed Church Council. Ernest’s son, Maurice, also left a legacy for alterations to the bell ringing chamber when the new peal of six bells were installed in 1998.
Ernie died in 1955 and Kate in 1969.
We are very grateful to Liz Chaney, daughter of Maurice, and her uncle, the late Tom Chaney, for the evocative photographs of the Chaney family shown here. Tom remembered that during the Second World War, planes from the USAAF base at nearby Tibenham were forced to drop their bombs on Carleton Fen when the planned raid on Germany was aborted. It was only some years later, when rethatching Fen Farm and finding bits of shrapnel in the old thatch, that they realised how close they’d been to a major fire!