Page 8 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side v1

Many of the boys joined the regular Army as soon as they were old enough, which helped ease the
problem of overcrowding and offered them their only opportunity to see what lay beyond their
boundaries, as well as a chance to better themselves and earn a guaranteed wage.

The rich and powerful occupied magnificent mansions, such as Foots Cray Place, Mount Mascal, Vale
Mascal and Loring Hall, where the number of servants employed often vastly outnumbered the
occupants. A few house servants lived-in, with many more employed on a daily basis. In addition, a
large number of gardeners were needed to maintain the vast grounds and cultivated gardens.

Whilst the cottagers’ children attended the National Schools to receive a very basic education, it was
then usual for the sons of the ruling families to attend Public Schools, where they could be educated in
the gentlemanly tradition of honour, loyalty, chivalry, patriotism and leadership, preparing them
implicitly for the challenges of war.

The public school culture of organised games helped students to develop, not only personal fitness, but
also physical courage, self-discipline and team spirit - attributes which were of substantial value in a
military context. Underpinning all the young men’s education and sporting activities was the
principle of absolute loyalty to God, King and Country and as soon as the First World War started in
1914 they were automatically considered as suitable officers.

Geoffrey Vesey Holt, whose family home was Mount Mascal, North Cray, was the fourth son of a very
successful Army Agent. At their London home, this wealthy Edwardian family employed a total of ten
servants which included a butler, footman, nurses, cooks and housemaids. By 1911, 13-year-old
Geoffrey was at boarding school in Broadstairs, Kent followed by Eton Public School. He took an
enthusiastic interest in the Boy Scout Movement and his father was President of the Sidcup Local
Association of Baden Powell Boy Scouts.

Joseph Charles Pillman JP, who was the head of a wealthy and respected family living in a large
property in Church Lane, Foots Cray, named “the Bungalow”, played an important part in the life of
the Foots Cray community. He was a Kent County Councillor and his two sons, Robert and Charles,
attended the world-renowned Rugby School and both boys were enthusiastic sportsmen, being selected
to play international rugby for England.

A century ago the population of North Cray had risen to 665 people and it had a post office in the shop
of baker, Edward Humphrey. The North Cray Road has always been important in the life of the
residents of North Cray, linking them with other villages along the River Cray. It was an ideal location
for the country homes of senior politicians and the very wealthy, being in easy reach of the
London-Dover road and after 1866, with the coming of the Dartford loop and its Station at Bexley, on
the South Eastern Railway.

Then in August 1914, just as the harvest was being gathered in, came the bombshell - Britain declared
it was at war with Germany. Suddenly everything was different, more chaotic, more uncertain. It was
to send the men in all directions... to trench warfare in the muddy fields of Europe, to do battle in the
unbearable heat of the Middle East and even the bitter cold of Russsia's Siberia. Many never
returned.