From Berkshire to Africa and Arabia 

The two World Wars took Berkshire men across the world, as represented in two recent arrivals.  One is a fascinating photograph album of the Berkshire Royal Horse Artillery Ammunition Column in Aden, 1915 (D/EX3088).  The Berkshire RHA was part of the voluntary Berkshire Militia, and was mounted on horses and, in this area, camels. It saw active service during the First World War in various parts of the Middle East from 1915 to 1918.  Aden (now in Yemen) was a British Protectorate. 

We have also catalogued a small collection of records of Dennis Ledger of Reading and Tilehurst (1922-2010). Most of his career was at Wellsteeds department store, where he started as a teenage drapery display window arranger. In his 20s he had an enforced break from local life, serving in the armed forces in North Africa at the end of and just after the Second World War. He saw service in Libya, Egypt and Algeria between 1945 and 1946. On being demobbed, he returned to work at Wellsteeds, where by 1969 he had risen to the rank of Assistant Manager of the store. His papers include interesting photographs of both his army life and Wellsteeds (D/EX2931). 

A crime against all humanity 

We have recently catalogued the records of the Berkshire County Association of Trades Councils, 1976-1988 (D/EX2864).  A letter to the Swedish Ambassador expresses sorrow at the assassination of Olaf Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, in 1986, describing Palme as 'this wonderful human being who has worked so hard throughout his life for peace and social justice, his murder is a crime against all humanity'. 

We were pleased to receive a photograph and set of slides recording the last day the Reading trolley buses ran in 1968 (D/EX2941).  Also new is a slide with an aerial view of Tilehurst Water Tower taken in about 1979 by the Ministry of Defence as part of their camera testing programme (D/EX3105).  Another small collection includes photographs of George Palmer Primary School, Katesgrove School, buildings in the Katesgrove area and the building of the IDR and A33 relief roads, Reading; and Waltham St Lawrence School; c.1990-2001 (D/EX2978). 

A newspaper man’s eye 

An interesting recent purchase was a notebook compiled by Walter Rivers, journalist (and later editor and proprietor) of the Reading Observer in 1893 (D/EZ228). It includes a charming account of a holiday journey to Torquay by bicycle, more local daytrips, and a fascinating article on ‘life in a newspaper office’.  He describes the process by which the compositor arranged the type, correction of proofs by the reporters, etc. He advised schoolboys considering the newspaper industry, 'you will not find life a summer's holiday' and advising against getting into bad habits of life or drinking alcohol until older.  He was only 19 himself but had been working for the paper for three years. 

New for house history 

We have received a nice collection of deeds and other papers relating to a house called Ladywell (previously known as Church View Villa and the Clerk’s Cottage) in Speen, 1798-2017 (D/EX2666).  Deeds have also been deposited relating to Balsdon Park, Kintbury, 1699/1700 (D/EX3053); and a property in Hurst, c.1819 (D/EX3069).  We have listed a sale catalogue for a house called Little Thatch, The Avenue, Bucklebury, c.1972 (D/EX3035).  We have also been given a plan for land adjoining Micklands Farm, Eye and Dunsden, 1949 (D/EX3063). 

You can find out more about all these records by searching our online catalogue.  Enter the collection reference given above in the Catalogue Reference field.