Arthur Atkins, who was born in Worthing, has identified many people in the group photo taken to celebrate Peter Gow’s appointment to the board of P. D. Chapman Ltd, owners of the Tannery.
Photograph taken behind Railway Tavern, Station Road, North Elmham about 1936/7.
Key to photograph
1. —— Lowe
4. Walter Charles Atkins. Wearing eye-patch having lost an eye in WWI. Arthur Atkins’s uncle.
7. Robert John Parden of 1 Church Road. Died Sept 1 1970 aged 79. Buried Worthing churchyard. Grave C5
8. George Sydney Bartram (lorry driver for Chapmans) who married Dorothy Maude Irene Bartram (née?)
16. Mr Pearson – Chapman’s Company Secretary. Lived next door to Arthur Atkins.
17. George Sheils’s father James. Buried in Worthing next to his sister Emily (Grave C200)
18. —— Reynolds. Could be Charles, buried in Worthing 23rd. Dec 1925
19. Lou Raisbury (lorry driver) Likely to be Lewis (or Louis) Percy Raisbury, born Worthing 27 March 1905, to Richard Charles (platelayer) and Anna Susan of Railway Gatehouse, Worthing
20. Arthur Wells (Worthing foreman). This is James Arthur Wells b.1876; died 21 Dec 1957. Buried in Worthing church (Grave B11). Lived with his sister Eliza in l.h. end of Manor House (then Manor Cottages)
21. Peter Gow
22. Ted Chapman
23. —— Bullimore (groom to Ted Chapman, who had race horses)
24. —— Marsh
25. Arthur Atkins’s father (Robert) died aged 70. Buried in unmarked grave in Worthing on 23 Nov 1943 just north of the church round tower. Baptised at Worthing 16 March 1873 (born 8 Nov. 1872) Parents William and Elizabeth.
26. ‘Podger’ Robinson. Bill Robinson, possibly Herbert William, buried in Worthing churchyard 8 May 1958 aged 81. His name is on the Roll of Honour. Looked after Chapman’s greyhounds and worked at ‘Klondike’, a pit up by the present airfield edge where there was a shed in which dead horses were dealt with. There was a special cart, with a winch and chain, onto which the dead horse would be loaded for transport. Sometimes the vet came to establish the cause of death. Surrounding the shed there were pig styes. Arthur Atkins recalls that Klondike was named after somewhere in France or Belgium in WWI.
27. George Sparkes. Buried in Worthing churchyard 4 March 1942, aged 86, in unmarked grave.
29. —— Wells (lived in cottage behind Podger’s)
37. Lou Raisbury’s wife, Bertha Diana Raisbury
38. George Sheils’s mother. Helena Sheils buried in Worthing (grave C18) on 6 March 1961. Lived in Manor Cottages where George was born.
39. Arthur Wells’s sister. Eliza Wells buried in unmarked grave on 20 Dec 1965.
42. Podger’s wife. Possibly Sara Alice Robinson.
43. Arthur Atkins’s mother. This is Phoebe Anna L. Cook (?) Buried in unmarked grave in Worthing on 3 Dec 1949 next to her husband. Robert’s first marriage had been to Rose Anna Caroline Woodward on 10 Nov 1902. Arthur Atkins had a step-brother nine years older.
44. Bartrum’s wife. Dorothy Maude Irene Bartrum
45. ‘Dr’ Pilch
46. Fred Robinson (Podger’s brother) buried in unmarked grave in Worthing on 11 May 1964.
47. Wife of Fred Robinson. Believe this to be Nellie Marina Robinson.
48. Hannah Chapman (Ted’s wife, Alice Gow’s mother)
50. Mrs Bullimore