A Brief History Of Ralph Stanley Jutsum And Life In Ash, Kent
Ralph was always known as Stanley or Stan. He was born on the 29th of July 1889, in West Ham, which was then in Essex. Some records state that he was born in Hampstead. By 1901 he was living in Wood Green, Middlesex and decided to train as a butcher. After working in London, he decided to move to Eastbourne, Sussex, where he obtained a job in a butcher’s shop in South Street. Although he decided that he wanted to live in Eastbourne if, and when, he could, Stan wanted to see the world before he settled down. He emigrated to Canada in 1911. On 20/04/1913, travelling third class, Stan departed from the port of Bristol, on the ‘SS Royal Edward’ (1). The voyage was planned to take seventeen days, and the destination was the port of Quebec. After first living in Montreal, Quebec, he worked in a more rural area of Canada. He then moved to a job in a meat packing factory in Toronto, Ontario.
Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Stan joined the army. He signed his Attestation Papers in Toronto, for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, on the 08/04/1915. He served as A404130 Private Ralph Jutsum, in the 3/Canadian Infantry (possibly the Toronto Regiment). He fought in France and was wounded during fighting on the Somme. The battle of the Somme was fought from the 01/07 – 18/11 1916. Stan was also captured and became a prisoner of war for two and a half years. He spent time in the prisoner of war camp at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. At first, he worked in a scrap iron yard, before being sent to a farm in East Prussia, Germany. He later described this as “…. a wild sort of place”. It must have been extremely unpleasant and very cold in the winter here, as it is not far from the Baltic Sea. Following the Armistice on the 11th of November 1918, he sailed home from Stettin, Prussia (2), via Copenhagen, Denmark. During an interview for an article for the newsletter of St Elisabeth’s Church, Eastbourne, in December 1967, he recalled
“…. In those days it seemed that every corner shop in Copenhagen was full of cheese”.
He finally arrived in Scotland on Christmas Day.
Stan was living in Witney Camp, Oxfordshire, when he married Mary Jane Spain (known as Jenny, b. July 1885), on 25/03/1919, at St Nicholas church, Ash. They made their home in ‘Mogul House’ in East Street, near Ash, Kent. This had been built by Jenny’s father, Charles Spain. The house name came from the type of plums which grew in the back garden. Water was obtained from a pump just outside the back door, and the house was lit by oil lamps. When they went to bed, they used candles to light their way. East Street was a dead end, with Lower East Street Farm at the bottom of the lane. From here you could walk across the fields to Sandwich. Jenny’s father had built other houses in Ash, including the one next door to Mogul house, where a Mr and Mrs Divers lived. They would become lifelong friends. Stan also owned two cottages in Ash, Springfields, which were also built by Charles Spain. Jenny died on 27/10/1933.
Florence Emily Whittaker (known as Kathleen) was born in Ash (possibly New Street) on 20/12/1891. She moved to London and married Charles Henry Bosher on 23/09/1916. He served with the Royal Engineers and was gassed in Gallipoli, resulting in long term health problems. He died on 15/02/1929.
Kathleen moved to Warwick to work in a hotel, before moving to Tunbridge Wells to work in a nursing home. She oversaw the dining room, and it was whilst she was here that she met Mrs Pearson, a patient. She owned Hadlow Castle, in Hadlow, Kent, and asked Auntie to go and work for her. She agreed. Auntie then contacted a cousin, whom, along with her husband, ran a market garden in East Street, Ash, Kent. Whilst dining with them one day, she met Ralph Stanley Jutsum, whose own market garden was opposite theirs.
Kathleen and Stan’s friendship grew, and they married on Wednesday the 23/12/1936, at St Mary the Blessed Virgin church, Woodnesborough Parish Church, Kent. Both became active members of Ash village life. Kathleen was President of the Women’s Section of the British Legion and joined the Red Cross. Stan was in the Home Guard. He also sang in the church choir and sung in the Canterbury choir festivals. On one occasion the choir were on their way to Canterbury to sing in the Festival Evensong, when, after a few miles, their coach broke down. They were all in their best clothes but hitched a ride in a lorry. It was carrying flour, and although they arrived on time, Stan recalled their clothes being white.
Stan ran his market garden from Mogul House. Amongst the crops he grew were soft fruits, apples and vegetables. There were fruit trees in the garden behind the house, and chickens were also kept in the yard at the side. Other crops were grown at ‘Spring field’, which was one of the fields that he had in Ash. He grew ‘Royal Sovereign’ strawberries, and always felt that they were the best (3). No other type of strawberry matched them for taste and quality, according to him. Stan was always particular in the quality of the fruit that he sent to Covent Garden, London, to sell, and was disappointed if they were not bought. Unlike some other growers, he would not send, or hide, small or less than perfect strawberries at the bottom of his punnets. The upstairs back bedroom, on the right-hand side of the house, was used as a storage area for the fruit. Steps were placed from the garden up to the window, so that the fruit could be carried in and out of the house. As a member of the Horticultural and Cottage Gardeners Society in Ash, he won many prizes for his produce in the local agricultural shows. These included the National Farmers Union, Ash and District Branch, Farm Competition, Class 1, which he won from 1921 – 1925.
Kathleen’s niece Florence Emily Petch (also known as Kathleen or Kath) went to live with them during the Second World War. Kath married Royal Artillery soldier Alfred John Heather (known as John), on 26/03/1942. On the wedding day, the cars which had been ordered, failed to arrive, as the hire firm had forgotten to send them. Kath finally arrived at St Nicholas church in Ash, to find yet another person had failed to show up, the vicar. While John was in the church, Kathleen stood in the porch, waiting for the vicar to turn up. John went around to the vicarage and found the Reverend Charles Magraw digging the garden. He had completely forgotten about the wedding booking. With a quick apology, he went and changed, and conducted the service still in his gardening boots.
There were always ‘dog fights’ over this part of Kent. It became known as ‘Hellfire Corner’. There was an RAF site in Ash Road, Sandwich. This was known as a Grand Controlled Interception (GCI) site. This provided inland coverage of radar, which was missing from other sites. Ash is about 14 miles from the port of Dover, and just 6 miles from Manston airport. Both sites were important to the British and the Germans. Manston airport became the United Kingdom’s most bombed airfield. It was only thirty minutes flying time from the French coast. Kathleen saw one RAF aircraft shot down. The pilot was subsequently buried in Ash churchyard. She also saw RAF airmen being shot by German planes as they tried to parachute to safety from their own aircraft.
On one occasion an RAF fighter plane crashed into the field in front of Mogul House, almost opposite one of the windows. Though Kathleen and Kath did not see it come down, Kathleen went out to see what had happened. Aviation fuel had gone into the pilot’s eyes. Kathleen, who was in the Red Cross as an Ambulance Attendant, took him into her kitchen to wash it out. His colleagues from Manston aerodrome then came to pick him up, as they had seen the plane come down. By way of thanks, and as a souvenir, he left Kathleen his flying gloves. Once when out in the fields picking fruit, a dog fight occurred overhead. Katheleen and Kath ran to the house, but Stan wanted them to stay and finish the job. They ignored him.
John Heather was severely wounded in Tunisia, and he and Kath lived with Stan and Kathleen at Mogul House. In January 1944 Kath was sent to a Nursing Home in Tunbridge Wells for safety, to await the birth of their first child. John, wrote a letter to Kath from Ash, about the previous night’s events, of the 21st/22nd January 1944. He had been to the whist drive, and everyone was asking about Kath and congratulating them on their good fortune having a son.
“…. I am very worried now about last nights raid …… its the liveliest time we have had for sometime, the siren went about nine and the all clear about ten thirty, lots of flares and gun fire, …… then the siren went again this morning about 4.30. …… I went up the village this morning …… and the raid was all the talk, some pilots killed out in the fields at Ash they had got one up till then, and by rumours our pram shop in Canterbury is burnt down and a few others, it is all the talk here today, you may get some idea from the fact that we have just had dinner and the time is two o clock”. (Sic)
Enemy aircraft dumped their last bombs as they made the run for home, and many fell around Ash. One fell so close to Mogul House, that it lifted their son right out of his cot. John could not stand the thought of his son being injured, so they decided to head for West Sussex. They eventually settled in Eastbourne. Kathleen and Stanley Jutsum then moved to Eastbourne to be nearer them in the 1950’s. Stanley died in Eastbourne on 01/12/1976, and Kathleen on 05/07/1975.
(1) The SS Royal Edward was an 11,117 ton ship, was part of the ‘Royal Line’, belonging to the Canadian Northern Steamship Company. It was built in 1907, and named RMS Cairo, before changing to the Royal Edward in 1910 when it was sold. During the First World War she was used as a troop ship. Whilst near the Dardanelles, it was torpedoed by a German UB14 submarine. It sank within about six minutes with the loss of hundreds of lives.
(2) Prussia was one of the greatest kingdoms of Germany before the First World War. Stettin, the birthplace of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, is now in Poland. It has been renamed Szczecin.
(3) Frangaria X Ananassa ‘Royal Sovereign’ dates back to 1892, when plant breeder Thomas Laxton produced what is felt to be his best variety. The plants are smaller than modern varieties, with a smaller yield. However, the flavour is superb. They can be grown in pots, or in open ground, but are susceptible to virus diseases and mildew. It is an early variety, but is productive, hardy, has a good handling quality, and is beautiful to look at.