Names

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

The deep sympathy of many friends is extended to Capt the Hon. Denys Scott and Mrs Lillian Scott, of the Holt, Appledore, in the death, as a result of enemy action in the South-East of England, of their youngest son, Anthony James Scott, aged 19, whose attractive personality had won him many friends.

He was the grandson of the late Lord Eldon and the late Captain Stuart, RN, of Scotland.
Educated at the Grove, Harrow, he was a keen sportsman, taking an active interest in football, rifle shooting and golf. On leaving school he was articled to a famous aircraft factory. He had passed the medical and verbal examination with a view to joining and obtaining a commission in the Fleet Air Arm, and was keenly looking forward to next November when he would have the opportunity of taking an active part against the enemy in that service.
Deeply devoted to his nurse, Miss Poulter in her last illness he came specially home to cheer her up. The last time he attended Church at St Mary’s he read the lesson at the invitation of the Vicar, Rev H C A S Muller.
The flag on St Mary’s Church, Appledore, of which his father is a sidesman, has been flown at half-mast and when the coffin was brought to the church Mr W Beara (churchwarden) and senior sidesmen were the bearers while retired Master Mariners under Capt T Scilly kept vigil over the coffin prior to the interment.
At both services at St Mary’s Church on Sunday, the Vicar requested the congregation to stand in silence as a mark of respect and sympathy and stated what a great pity it was that a life of such promise of brilliance should be cut off so early. There were also pulpit references at the Sailors’ Rest Harvest Festival Services.
The funeral takes place today (Tuesday) at St Mary’s, Appledore, at 3o’clock

Toast to Mr Hugh Stucley in 1966

Coming-of-age presentations at Hartland Abbey

7.4.1966 Hugh Stucley

Last (Wednesday) evening Sir Dennis and Lady Stucley entertained some 150 tenants and employees to supper at Hartland Abbey to celebrate the coming-of-age of their son, Mr Hugh G C B Stucley, who is a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues).
On behalf of tenants and employees of Hartland, Affeton, North Molton and Moreton estates, Mr Tom Allin, who farms Stoke Barton (540 acres) at Hartland, presented Mr Hugh Stucley with a gold watch and bracelet and three cases of vintage port. A film and slides of Sir Dennis’ agricultural tour of New Zealand, Australia and California were shown.
It is interesting to note that of the 36 farms remaining of the Stucley estates 26 are occupied by the sons or grandsons of former tenants. The longest tenure is that of Mr Robert Ayre’s family at Cobley Farm on the Affeton estate for his wife’s forbear became tenant there in 1774.
The Affeton estate became Stucley property about 1390 when Hugh Stucley married the heiress, Katherine Affeton, daughter of Sir Thomas Affeton. Sir Dennis Stucley sold Moreton House and part of the Bideford estate to pay estate duty when his father, Sir Hugh Stucley, died in 1956. Moreton is now owned by Grenville College.
Lady Stucley’s tenants and employees from the Bampfylde estate at North Molton were among those present at the supper. Her family’s ownership of this property dates back to the 13th century.
Hartland Abbey, where the party is being given, was presented to Mr Hugh Stucley’s family by Henry VIII in 1540 when the monasteries were dissolved at the Reformation.

Honour for Torrington Naval Officer in 1940

To Commander (..Captain) G F Stevens-Guille OBE of Palmer House, Torrington, and son of the Rev H G Stevens-Guille,
now of Chope Barton, Northam and connected with Little Torrington, befell the distinction of being the first member
of His Majesty’s forces in the Bideford and Torrington districts to be honoured for services in the present war,
at the outbreak of which he was employed on convoy escort.

He was promoted to Captain and received the Distinguished Service Order on the last day of last year. The honour afforded considerable gratification in Torrington and district with which the family has long been connected and to which, as Captain Stevens-Guille has stated ‘We are proud to belong’. Congratulations on his promotion and award were expressed on behalf of the town by Torrington Council at a recent meeting.
Capt. Stevens-Guille, who was born in 1898, jointed the Royal Navy as a Cadet in 1911. In the last war he served as a midshipman and sub-lieutenant, being at the Dardanelles and Jutland. He received the Order of the British Empire (Military) in 1931 and in the December of that year was promoted to the rank of Commander and served as such in various commands of destroyers and at the Admiralty. He commanded the Anti-Submarine Flotilla 1938-1939.