Camborne Parish Church

St Martin’s at War, Camborne Parish Church, 1939-1945

In the late 1930s Camborne Parish Church was still called St Martin’s, as it was not until Whitsunday 1958 that the Lord Bishop of Truro declared that it should in the future be known as the Church of St Martin and St Meriadoc, thereby reviving the old original Celtic dedication to St Meriasek. War was declared with Hitler’s Germany at 11.00am on Sunday 3rd September 1939. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, made the announcement on the wireless and this would have been at the exact time that the main Sunday morning service was beginning at Camborne Church, just as the processional cross was entering the Church from the choir vestry. The Revd Douglas Edward Morton, who had been Rector of Camborne since September 1934, coming from St Faith’s, Maidstone, Kent, following the death in May of that year of The Revd George Brereton Hooper, who had held the Living for 34 years since 1900, had prepared his sermon in advance, sensing perhaps the gathering storm clouds of War, but not of course knowing that War would be declared just as Divine Service commenced. His text was II Samuel 10, verse 12 “Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.” It was a singularly appropriate message for an expectant congregation.

It is possible to tell the names of some of those who were in Church on that morning in September 1939, as the choir boys’ attendance register survives. Those who walked behind the processional cross to their places in the choir stalls, in front of the men, were J Clemo, J Colliver, R Evans, J Hockey, A Hancock, K Manuell, F Thomas, D Ursell, D Whear, and J Williams. Recently the head choir boy had been P Evans, but he was not present on this occasion. At this period the many ladies of the choir were un-robed and were not allowed to sit in the Chancel choir stalls, but occupied instead the front pews of the nave on both sides, in front of the pulpit and the brass eagle lectern, as sopranos and altos. They did not wear robes like the men, (who had been surpliced since 1879), until November 1965. On the evening of the same day the Revd Morton preached again on a text from II Kings 18, verses 19-20, which included the words “I have counsel and strength for the war, Now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me?” Throughout the long years of the War many were to trust in the Providence of God.

At the beginning of 1939 the Church Curate had been the Revd Robert Edward Marsden, who later went on to be Vicar of Pendeen, after serving in some other parishes, but by the beginning of 1940 The Revd R N Bland, a Missionary from China, held the post of Curate at Camborne. The Churchwardens were Mr George Eustice of Bella Vista, Beacon and Mr Frank Mason Paradise of Vyvyan Street. The organist was Mr Richard H Dunstan of Green Lane, Redruth, who held this post for 52 years from 1916-1968 and who in the early days of his musical career had acted as an accompanist for silent films in local cinemas or picture houses, as they were then known. Mrs Sara of 8 Atlantic Terrace acted as Secretary to the Parochial Church Council while Mr W J Cotton of 15 Wellington Road was the Secretary and Treasurer of the Church Magazine. Mr Jack Bennetts of the Bungalow, Trelawny Road held the office of Church Sexton. Three generations of the Bennetts family held this office from the late nineteenth century until the 1950s.

The Camborne Parish Church monthly magazines for the War years survive and they provide a rich source of information on this period. Many Churches stopped having winter evening services in favour of a 3.00pm service but the Church Council voted in September 1939 to have the Church windows screened so that evening services could be continued, despite the blackout on the streets. The windows of the Church Hall at the 1885 Mission Room in Trelowarren Street were also darkened, so that the premises could be used for necessary purposes after sunset, when lights would be required. The Rector wrote in October 1939 that “I am sure that young people will not remain indoors even on the darkest of winter evenings and for them especially Sunday Evening services are required.” He also noted that “let it be a matter of pride that Camborne holds the foremost position in the County with regard to the number of evacuees for whom temporary homes have been found.”

In the latter part of 2008 I had the privilege of meeting a lady from London, staying at Tyack’s Hotel, who had come to Camborne seeking her roots and to retrace childhood steps. She had been evacuated to Camborne in 1940 and was then called Rosie Bishop, the daughter of a George William Bishop. She let me take notes of her wartime experiences as a Camborne Evacuee and they provide an interesting insight into the Rectory family regime at that time. On arrival at Camborne she was picked out as a suitable candidate for the Rectory by the Rectory housekeeper Dosie Stevenson, who was a native of Downham Market in Norfolk, and who ran the household affairs of the Rectory for Douglas and Enid Morton. Rosie has many happy memories of her stay in this enormous late Georgian house, built in 1817-1820. She recalls sitting and reading in the rhodedendrum garden, the well outside the back door of the house, and playing in the bamboo areas of the huge garden, then managed by Mr Box, who lived in Rectory Lodge at the entrance gate of the Rectory drive. Twice a year a man came to kill the Rectory chickens and was given lodgings in the Rectory nursery when engaged in this task. On Saturday mornings she received six pennies from Mr Morton and extra pennies if a visit to the dentist was in the offing. If Rosie was naughty then there would be no supper and an early bed. She was allowed to read in bed and can still recall the cawing of the rooks in the tall trees that surrounded the house. She was also read stories by the Rector’s daughter Gwen Morton, who also taught her the names of all the wild flowers and how to press flowers properly. Gwen Morton also served in the local Red Cross and Rosie recalls the uniform that she wore. There were walks to Penponds Woods on her own, as it was very safe in those days and many hours were spent by herself, without any problems. It was a very different world from 2009. Dosie, the housekeeper, had a friend called Florrie, who lived in Fore Street, and kept a parrot…