New Book: They Stand Beside Us - The lives of Old Colcestrians who died in the Second World War

I can highly recommend this recently published book, which tells the story of 73 former pupils and staff of Colchester Royal Grammar School who gave their lives during the Second World War.  E.J. Rudsdale was a former CRGS student and many of the names of the fallen appear in his journals.  The book is a very well researched account and a fitting memorial to those who lost their lives.  The contributors are Neil Brinded, Michael Green, Laurie Holmes, Col. Richard Kemp, Peter Rowbottom and Paul Ma.  Copies can be purchased from the Old Colcestrian Society.  

CP - 3rd March 2021

The 75th Anniversary of VE Day - 8th May 2020

Five years ago, on the 8th May 2015, the publication of E.J. Rudsdale's wartime journals on this blog, came to an end and today we mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.  Living under the restrictions imposed by lockdown for Covid-19, has given me an even greater appreciation of those who lived under the restrictions of the Second World War for six long years.  The celebrations for VE Day in 1945, and the freedom that it bought to so many, would have been mingled with sadness for those who had not lived to see that day.

I hope all of you who continue to enjoy E.J. Rudsdale's wartime journals stay well and keep safe as we look forward to the time when we can also experience freedom from restrictions again.

Wishing you well,
Catherine Pearson
8th May 2020

A Play to Mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day

To mark the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, I have been inspired to write a play, entitled 'Forewarned is Forearmed' based on E.J. Rudsdale's diary account of his experiences of serving in the Royal Observer Corps.  Rudsdale, himself, wrote a play about this experience, entitled 'Fox One', the name of the ROC Post where he served, but the play is sadly lost.   

If you would be interested in performing the play, please contact me for details.  The play is approximately 30 minutes in length, has six characters, and is set on a Royal Observer Corps post in Essex in 1944.

Many thanks, Catherine Pearson

9th May 1945 - VE Day Celebrations

Wednesday
Warm.  Showers at times.  

The great victory parades in the Park this morning.  Hymns being sung.  Saw they came back to the Bridge.  Big crowds on the pavements.  The Town Council came, some in a taxi and some walking, the police officers and the Mayor’s Beadle with the mace.  They all stood on the steps of the Clarkson Memorial and a man took photos.  The band stood alongside.  The sun shone just after a shower, and the band of the cadets came through the High St, with the young drum-major striding in front, and behind him a tiny boy with a huge mastiff, as the “regimental mascot”.  Then the Home Guard, aged, fat, thin, grey, shambling, plenty of officers.  The Civil Defence – Penny and his man in front, Jones and the heavy rescue men, ambulance men, nurses, sea-cadets, girl cadets, Women's Voluntary Service, even fireguards in uniform (never seen anything like this before) and curious grey uniformed girls of the Salvation Army looking like camp followers of the Civil War.  Boys and Girls Life Brigades and tiny children in various uniforms. 

As each platoon or group drew level with the Clarkson Memorial, an officer or leader would call “Eyes Right” in ranging tones of military volume and the Mayor solemnly lifted his cocked hat.  Incredible how many Home Guards and Civil Defence people there are in this small town.

Going through old market, met a man leading two thoroughbreds and wheeling a bicycle.  Helped him round to Hancroft Road where he turned them out.

To Museum, finished Townsend case, which now looks very well.  Letter from Miss Peckover in answer to mine of yesterday to say she will serve as President again.

Crowds outside all the fish shops, waiting for the usual Fenland dinner.

Went to Warby’s this evening.  Elm bells ringing, St George’s flag waving on tower, flags on most of cottages.  Glorious evening, clear washed skies, one or 2 Lancasters sailing over, I suppose full of released prisoners.  The cuckoos calling, distant cattle lowing.

Saw the German camp at Waldersey, the men playing football with a big crowd, and a cottage opposite covered with flags.  

Back to Oldfield at 8.30, cuckoos still calling.  Down Elm Rd, chestnuts full of gigantic candles, cuckoos, wood pigeons and rooks cawing ceaselessly.  Crowds coming out of the town from the “celebrations”.

*****

Seventy years after the end of the Second World War, this is the last diary entry for E.J. Rudsdale's wartime blog.  I would like to sincerely thank all of you who have followed the blog over nearly six years and particularly those who have contributed comments and insights, which have enhanced the blog and my knowledge of this period considerably.  Special thanks to regular contributors Mike, (who has given us such useful information on monetary values from the time), Jane and Robin.

The publication of the blog has enabled E.J. Rudsdale's journals to reach a worldwide audience and has allowed greater detail from his diaries to be published beyond that which it was possible to include in the book, 'E.J. Rudsdale's Journals of Wartime Colchester'.

The blog has made many connections for people researching their Essex family history in this period and it has been a joy to receive details of your stories and research in this regard.

I hope to publish E.J. Rudsdale's peacetime journals for Colchester from 1920 to 1939 and for Wisbech from 1945 to 1951 in the future and details will be published on this website at a future date.

Thank you again for your loyal support and kind encouragement.  It has been a great pleasure to share E.J. Rudsdale's experiences of the Second World War with you.

With best wishes, 
Catherine Pearson
9th May 2015


Afterword: E.J. Rudsdale after the Second World War

E.J. Rudsdale continued to serve as Curator and Librarian at Wisbech Museum up to the late 1940s.  His father, John Rudsdale, died in 1946.  Rudsdale, himself, never married.  In 1949, Rudsdale was appointed Consultant Archaeologist at Scarborough Museum for nine months but was hampered by poor health and subsequently resumed his post at Wisbech.  Throughout the rest of his life, Rudsdale continued to maintain his journal on a regular basis.  He also kept in close contact with events in Colchester through friends such as Hervey Benham and Harold Poulter.  (Poulter continued to live at Hollytrees Museum until his death in 1962).  Rudsdale published articles on the history of Colchester in the Essex Review in the post-war years and became a founder member of the Friends of Colchester Museums in 1949.  In November 1951, he underwent an emergency operation for appendicitis but died of kidney failure on 14 November 1951, at the early age of 41.  His journals were later bequeathed to Essex Record Office.  The inscription on his tombstone in Wisbech Cemetery states: ‘He studied and preserved antiquities’. 

Shocked by the news of his death, his friends in Colchester raised sufficient funds for a museum display case to be purchased in his memory and his name is commemorated in the naming of a road, Rudsdale Way, in the Prettygate district of the town.  Rudsdale, himself, however, had more modest ideas of a memorial.  Lying ill with bronchitis in 1949, he re-wrote his will and, with thoughts of Colchester Castle, stated that after his debts had been settled:

'Any residue to Colchester Corporation with the request that they shall place a small tablet in the Castle Tower, as follows:

In Memory
Of
E.J. Rudsdale, 1910-19??
Who loved Colchester
Here he liked to stand on a
Summer afternoon'

It is hoped that his wishes for such a memorial may one day be realised.

8th May 1945 - VE Day

Tuesday
Nightmare about 5am, of sirens blowing in Colchester.  I was cycling along Magdalen St and turned up Military Rd just as they began.

Breakfast at 9, a bright sunny morning, the sound of Walsoken bells on the breeze.  The old sweep, Wiseman, came by whistling his interminable hymn –
     'Now praise we all our God
     With heart and hand and voices – '
over and over again.

The woman next door was hanging out flags, and Mrs. Burnett was busy spring cleaning the dining room.  Flags all down Norwich Rd, milk and papers being delivered, and a British Liberation Army man just come on leave, carrying his pack, and shouting to a woman “I’ll be glad to get my boots off.”  Norfolk St a mass of flags.  

The Museum open, and Miss Thompson not quite sure whether the war was over of not.  Several people came in, and Edwards turned up at 10.30 and stayed until nearly 12.  Began to take the cover off the Townsend case, and did a little in the Library.  

Announcer van going round the streets saying there would be services at 4 o’clock today, and that the King will speak tonight.

This afternoon quite a number came in, including four Women's Land Army girls.  One, who came from Newcastle, said in the course of conversation that she had always believed that Wales was an island.  I mentioned Dorothy L. Sayers book, 'The Nine Tailors' [which is set in the Fens], but none had even heard of her.

The church bells began to ring shortly after 3, first single bells, then peels, then great clashing chords.  The service at 4 was well attended, big crowds going through the Square, women dressed in their best.  Some people stood round the West doorway and I could hear the hymn “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past.”  After the service the bells began again.

To my surprise and delight Sisson walked in, on his way from King's Lynn.

7th May 1945

Monday
Heard a cuckoo this morning about 6.  Busy day.  Committee meeting at 11.30, only six members came, with dear old Guy Pearson in the chair.  I presented the 109th Annual Report, which was accepted.  Among the gifts was the metal cannister which contained the bombs dropped on 17 March.  The ARP people apparently don't want this, so we’ve taken it.

The meeting then adjourned at precisely 12 noon to the Library, when 5 more members arrived.  Not a single subscriber turned up!  Edwards assured me that this was quite in order.

We then did the whole thing all over again, and elected the Officers and Committee.  Miss Peckover was made President once more, although it is hardly likely that she will ever again attend a meeting.

Then they made a presentation to poor old Edwards – a cheque for £25, as a token of their regard for his 22 years service.  The old fellow was most moved, while I sat gazing down the corridors of time at 1967.  Meeting ended quarter to one.  This is really farcical, and next year we must make some sort of arrangement to have it at a more convenient time.

And now it is nearly midnight, and the war is over.  All day there was an air of expectancy, with the press yelling “any moment now”.  Then at last the announcement came on the radio at 8 p.m. – tomorrow and Wednesday are to be holidays, all shops shut.  The Swifts were very pleased.  There is a total German surrender to all the allies, but the Russian attitude is still not clear.  By this evening there were flags all over the streets, people standing in little groups, people carrying flags, (even quite small Jacks on sticks cost 10/-).  Went into Porper’s bookshop, and a woman came in and said “I think I’ll buy a book – just to celebrate.”
 
And so ends this long and disastrous war, and I find myself alive and well, with a home and my books intact.  But amidst all the rejoicings there must indeed inevitably be sadness – what will the poor firewatchers do now?  What can take the place of those happy hours in the Control Room and Report Centre?

6th May 1945

Sunday
Went to Elm in the afternoon, and saw Warby.  Then to the “Limes” for tea.  Mrs. Coulter very happy about the imminent “peace”, but still a little nervous that even now the Germans may think up some trick or other.  Hundreds of heavy bombers going out as I came home.  Did some writing and to bed at midnight.