Mr Sherwood, The Town Clerk (8 December 1978)

The other day I was very surprised to learn that it is now ten years since Sherwood Drive, Bletchley, was opened for all its length and 18 years since the man after whom it is named retired to the south coast.

The late Mr Reginald Leuty Sherwood will never be forgotten by those who knew him and this piece is by way of introducing him to the thousands of people who have come to the town since he left and who understandably might be harbouring the notion that the road had something to do with Robin Hood and his merry men .

Humour

Not that Mr Sherwood was unmerry. In fact, he had a large fund of humour and some will say that he needed it to be clerk of the Bletchley Urban District Council for 28 years – from 1932 to 1960. He was a neat, almost natty dresser, had slicked-back hair and cut quite a dash at August Shows and the like in a trilby snapped down over one eye, sports jacket, bow tie, flower buttonhole, and dress gloves, carrying a programme in one hand and holding a long cigarette-holder to his lips with the other. But behind that façade lay an acute brain and the ability to work long hours, which he was often called upon to do towards the end of his career.

In these days when working lives become ever shorter, it is odd to reflect that he had already spent 22 years in local government when he began his 28 years at Bletchley – a total of 50 years. From 1910 to 1919 he was the master’s chief clerk at the Firvale Poor Law Institution, Sheffield; and from 1919 to 1923 he was on the Ministry of Health’s district audit staff, first at Durham and then at Doncaster. For the next nine years he was clerk of the Brigg Urban District Council, Lincolnshire. Then he came to Bletchley, where he succeeded Mr F E Capper, who had been here just four years.

Pleasant

For much of his time here, maybe for all of it, Mr Sherwood was not only clerk, but also chief financial officer. I came in 1946 and from then onwards he was the man for me to see on all matters except those which lay in the province of the engineer and surveyor. I do not recall any occasion when our meetings were not very pleasant. If I arrived at elevenses, he would have one poured out for me, give me a cigarette, then lean back in his chair with his hands behind his head, smile and say; ”Well, what is it this time?” Most times he gave me a straight answer. When he could not give me one, he explained why and promised to let me know when he could. I was happy enough with that.

When he was appointed, the council chairman was the Rev J T Lawson.  Mr C D Flack was vice chairman and other members were Lady Leon, Mr Harry Beckett, Mr T R Cole, Mr H P Dimmock, Mr S Maycock, Mr J Colgrove, Mr A C Marshall, Mr A J Stevens, Mr Allen Wells and Mr Oliver Wells. Major Chadwick was the surveyor.

Chairmen under whom he served after Mr Lawson were Mr Flack, Mr JF Smith, Mr F A Bates, Mr O Wells, Mr S Maycock, Me W S Johnson, Mr H J Price, Mr E HJ Fryer, Mr T H Cloran, Mr E R Staniford, Mr W Cauldwell, and I think, Mrs Julia Ramsbotham (now Mrs Phillips).

During his time he saw the town’s population almost treble. In 1932 the population was about 6200 all told for Old Bletchley, Fenny, Simpson and Water Eaton, though the last-named place was not yet in the urban district.  The town was growing quite nicely before the war.  The conflict what may be described as the first of three artificial expansions (the establishment at Bletchley Park, etc.) and by its end the local services were providing for nearly 11,000 people altogether.  Then it began to settle back, but did not drop much below 10,000 and by 1951 it had regrown to 18,916.  Then came the second artificial expansion, this time under the Town Development Act.  This was in full spate when Mr Sherwood retired and by the following year the population had grown to 17,093.

Expansion

During the war he took on a number of extra duties.  At one time he was food officer and at another coal officer.  Later he and Mr James Smithie, together spent so many hours negotiating town expansion with Ministry officials that I imagined the latter exclaiming “Oh, my goodness, it’s those terrible twins from Bletchley again.

Throughout his stay in Bletchley Mr Sherwood lived in Buckingham Road, right next door to Mr C D Flack, a fact which I daresay they found very convenient at times.  On working mornings he nearly always walked to the council offices and often I walked my part of the way with him.  I sometimes wondered why he did not have a car, but he said he felt more in touch with people if he walked and that he could always get a lift if need be.  I also wondered whether he hoped he was saving ratepayers’ money by not running one when he could have done so quite correctly, but I did not ask.  He began using the town bus service when the company claimed it was not being supported well enough.

Joke

One development he probably did not foresee was the coming to fruition of a joke perpetrated at a dinner held in 1957 to celebrate his 25 years as clerk of the council.  The printed programme-com-menu card, like many others of its kind, was decorated with amusing little sketches. The one on the front cover showed the council offices, cob-webbed, with “For Sale” boards outside it and a newsboy carrying a poster inscribed “Bank Rate 7%.”  We have seen the sale come to pass, haven’t we?  But not on account of the 7 per cent bank rate.  For, as Mr Smithie wrote in 1974:

“So the tempo of town development increased, hampered only temporarily by financial upheavals which produced 7 per cent interest rates, thought then to be astronomical, yet which today would be regarded as most attractive.”