Military Men And Politics (30 April 1976)
When writing about Monty three or four weeks ago, I was struck by the resemblance between his early military career and that of a former Bletchley county councillor, the late Brigadier E G Earle, of Walton Hall – now the seat of the Open University.
At the time of Monty’s demise, writers and broadcasters pointed out that during the first world war he was a junior officer, was severely wounded and received the rare distinction for a junior officer of the DSO award.
It reminded me that during that same war the future Brig Earle was a junior officer in the Royal Artillery, that he was severely wounded and that he, too, was decorated with the DSO.
Monty’s wounds do not seem to have left any permanent injury. Brig Earle, however, lost an eye and thereafter wore a glass substitute.
When I came to Bletchley in 1946, the district was allowed only one county councillor. This was retired railwayman Mr Harry Chandler. But at the very next election he was unseated by Brig Earle.
The retired brigadier was a popular figure in the town, though he did live outside it. Very interested in sport and a member of the MCC, he was president of the then recently formed Bletchley Town Sports Club. He had also taken over the old Yeomanry Hall in Newton Road which, for some time afterwards was the quarters of the local branch of the Royal Artillery Association.
As a county councillor he did useful work until he, in turn, was unseated by Mr Alfred Felce. I remember his strong protest at the then absence of hospital site provision in the county council’s plan for Bletchley and also his success in establishing the town’s first full-time county branch library – at Holne Chase.
Mrs Earle, the brigadier’s wife, was formerly a Miss Harley, a member of a family who, it is said, gave their name to Harley Street, London, and who also provided Walton with its village hall, named Harley Hall.
She was a pleasant woman, but she had an unusually deep voice. I was aware of this, but one day I forgot and slipped up. I rang Walton Hall and when a voice answered I said: “Good morning, Brigadier…” I was then suitably abashed when the voice boomed: “One moment, please, I think my husband is somewhere about!”
While on his way to and from county council meetings at Aylesbury, Brig Earle drove through Bletchley and occasionally gave me a lift back. Our conversation was usually on current matters, but one day he was in reminiscent mood and got to talking about his time at Staff College. Just one item – which interested me greatly – has remained in my memory. He told me: “Once, we had to compare the various advantages and disadvantages of Gibraltar and Tangier as the key to the ‘Med.’ After due consideration I plumped for Tangier because of its air facility. But I failed on that one because I could not at that time see the possibility of building an air strip on the Rock.”
That airstrip explains my interest, of course, for it was from there that North Bucks MP, Brigadier John P Whiteley, flew to his death in 1943.
For some years before the war, Brig Whiteley – then Major Whiteley – lived in Buckingham Road, Bletchley, at a house called “The Grange.” The house, which earlier had been known as “Brooklands” has now been demolished. Previous occupiers included Lord Dalmeny, who later became Lord Rosebery, and Mr Mornington Cannon, the celebrated jockey. The old lodge, however, still stands by the roadside.
Major Whiteley was a popular figure who, like Brig Earle, included cricket among his interests and was likewise a “Gunner.”
He entered Parliament in 1937 as a National Conservative in a by-election caused when Sir George Bowyer MP was elevated to the peerage and became Lord Denham, of Weston Underwood.
That was the period when Churchill was making his warning speeches in the Commons and was regarded by most of his fellow Conservatives as somewhat dangerous, if not exactly an outsider – a view which, I gather was at first shared by Major Whiteley.
However, he had little time to make his mark on Parliament, for when war broke out in 1939 he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Bucks Yeomanry. He volunteered for war service and from then until his death was engaged mainly on Army duties. His death came as a great shock to his constituents. “He would undoubtedly have made ministerial rank had he lived,” wrote a succeeding North Bucks MP, the late Sir Frank Markham.
The manner of Brig Whiteley’s death caused much speculation at the time. The chief passenger in the plane was General Sikorski, the Polish Prime Minister and Commander in Chief. Colonel Victor Cazalet, MP was also on board. They were bound for this country.
It was night-time but the plane seemed to make a normal run to the end of the strip. Then, instead of rising, it simply dropped into the sea, drowning all on board. Was is sabotage, with Sikorski as the target? The plane was soon recovered and meticulously examined. The exact cause of the accident was not discovered but it was generally agreed that sabotage could be ruled out.
I recall visiting “The Grange” during a garden party while the brigadier’s wife was still living there, but a few months later she moved to Westbury. Now both the house and the Yeomanry Hall have gone and the only reminder of a notable era is the Whitely Crescent council housing estate.
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