Chapter Eleven: Keep Things Going, 1928-58 - Stoke Park

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STOKE PARK
Switzerland. Recreations: has participated in nearly every British sport.
Address: Creston, Farnham Common, Bucks. Club: Royal Automobile.
On his retirement, the Golf Club Committee, after receiving
a letter from Pa Jackson ‘expressing his indebtedness to the
Committee for the assistance they had always given him’,
resolved:
That the Committee wish cordially to thank Mr Lane-Jackson for his
farewell letter and to record their report that the invariably pleasant relations
which have so long existed between him and them have come to an
end and their sincere hope that for many years to come he may enjoy a
well earned rest after the exacting labours from which he is now retiring.
A brochure had been prepared for the sale. It was a more
modest affair than those of the 1880s but it nevertheless
emphasised the historical lineage:
The new mansion built by Thomas Penn about 1760, together with lovely
Gardens of sixteen acres in extent, and a Park of 250 acres, is now occupied
by the Stoke Poges Club, which is undoubtedly the finest country
club in the world.
It mentioned all the attractive amenities, towns and villages
nearby – Eton, Windsor Castle, Burnham Beeches, Virginia
Water, Ascot and Hawthorne Hill racecourses, Cliveden,
Maidenhead, Beaconsfield, Marlow, Henley – and the excellent
communications: 40 trains a day from Paddington to
Slough, taking 23 to 30 minutes, the Great Western Railway
running motor omnibuses to serve the Estate, one going by
Salt Hill and the other by Stoke Green to Farnham Royal,
and, finally, a motor service between Slough station and the
Stoke Poges Club. It spoke of a ‘remarkably dry and healthy
climate, for it stands high above the Thames Valley and singularly
free from mist and fog. The soil is so light and porous
that little discomfort is felt from the heaviest rains.’
A big change from the 1880s was the availability of houses.
The brochure offered ‘a few houses, already built, for sale on
very reasonable terms, and the Stoke Poges Estate Company
have arranged to build houses to suit purchasers’.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Keep Things Going, 1928–58
The Club re-formed
A great entrepreneur and philanthropist
A visit from the Queen
Gray’s Meadow and the Gardens of Remembrance
Tournaments continue
Suspend Rudge forthwith
Gift of 200 acres

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STOKE PARK
The Club re-formed
In 1928, Mr (later Sir) Noel Mobbs bought the Club from Pa
Jackson, and he re-formed it in 1929.
At the General Meeting of Stoke Poges Golf Club Limited
held on Monday, 3 September 1928 at 201 Great Portland
Street, London W1, Noel Mobbs reported that:
On behalf of Morland Estates Limited he had acquired the whole of the
shares from Mr Jackson and his friends, who had resigned from the
board.
Mobbs further reported that:
Morland Estates Limited had acquired the freehold of the Estate,
together with the freehold of certain cottages on the property.
Mobbs said that Morland Ltd agreed to run a golf club for the
Members of the Stoke Poges Golf Club and generally to carry
Noel (later Sir Noel) Mobbs took over running the Club and bought the freehold. ‘Pa’
Jackson wrote: ‘I could see from the first that it was his ambition to make Stoke Park the
finest rendezvous for golfers in the neighbourhood of London. He has extended the short
course to one of 18 holes, which, like the old course, was laid out by H.S. Colt.’
out the Memorandum of Stoke Poges Golf Club Ltd.
As Jackson had done when he founded it in 1908, Sir Noel
produced a new brochure. In talking about the Old Course,
which measured 6,477 yards from the Medal tees, it noted
that: ‘A feature, from the point of view of the scratch player,
is the number of long and testing second shots to be played if
par figures are to be secured.’
At the same time, the brochure assured prospective members
that the average player would not find the course ‘too
exacting’. He or she would find the fairways broad, and the
greens, though well-bunkered, large. It continued: ‘The
greens themselves are famed for their beautiful putting surface,
and the fullest use has been made of such natural hazards
as the lake and stream.’
Harry Colt had also designed a further nine holes to take
the short course up to eighteen holes. It was opened in 1929
and, though nearly as long as the Old Course, was considered
to be a little easier. Though they were not permitted on the
Old Course, three- and four-ball matches were allocated on
the New. Ladies were also allowed to play on this course at
weekends.
The brochure also noted that the Club played matches
against the Universities and there was also a well-known
Ladies v. Men Match and the Girls’ Championship. In the
1920s, the News of the World Professional Tournament and the
London Amateur Foursomes had also been held at the Club.
Harry Colt had also designed an eighteen-hole putting
course described in the brochure as ‘quite unique’ (language
pedants would not like the qualification of the word ‘unique’,
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 189
The clubhouse in 1929, ‘The Upper Portions of which … are being converted into Private
Service Flats ranging from a Bed-Sitting-Room and Bathroom, up to a Hall, two Sitting-
Rooms, two Double Bedrooms, four single Bedrooms and two Bathrooms. These suites will
be self-contained with their own front door.’

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Tennis was clearly going to be an important activity at the Club. There were eight grass
courts and two hard courts, with a tennis pavilion where men and ladies could change and
where they could have tea. Members of the Tennis Club could also use the facilities of the
clubhouse and the gardens.
maintaining that something is either unique or it is not), and
‘a lasting testimony to the skill of its designer’.
The course was no less than 600 yards in length, and
though, as the brochure pointed out, every hole could be
done in one, the Bogey (the word used in those days in the
UK for par) was 49. At that point the record round was 40.
The green fee for the first round was one shilling (about
£2.75 in today’s money) and six pence (£1.37) for any additional
rounds.
There was also a practice ground and the offer of lessons
from the professional.
As well as golf there was also a Stoke Poges Tennis Club
boasting eight grass courts and two hard courts, with a tennis
pavilion where members could change and where tea could be
taken. Members of the Tennis Club also enjoyed the freedom
of the main clubhouse and the gardens.
A great
entrepreneur
and philanthropist
Who were the Mobbs family that had bought the estate?
Arthur Noel Mobbs was an entrepreneur who had recognised
the potential for developing businesses associated with
the motor car industry, which was growing rapidly in the early
years of the 20th century. Born in 1878, Noel Mobbs, with
his brother Herbert, had formed the Pytchley Autocar
Company to sell private cars in 1903. He also formed the
Pytchley Hire Purchase Company, the first of its kind to offer
easy payment terms for the purchase of motor cars. It became
the United Motor Finance Corporation and was absorbed
into Mercantile Credit in the 1950s. Mobbs also ran the
Anglo-Saxon Insurance Company.
Mobbs’s automobile business was based in Northampton
and it also owned garages in Market Harborough and
Banbury. One source of its income was its dealership in Fiat
cars from Italy, and another was royalties from its invention
and development of a sliding roof for motor cars.
In the aftermath of the First World War, Mobbs became
involved with other entrepreneurs, notably Percival (later Sir
Percival and finally Lord) Perry, another heavily involved in
the motor car industry. These entrepreneurs were intrigued
by the possibilities of what was then called Slough depot.
This depot had been set up towards the end of the war to
accommodate some of the thousands of motorised army vehicles
that had been shipped to the war zone in France. In July
1917 it was calculated that no fewer than 2,540 lorries and
1,486 cars were waiting for urgent repair work either in
England or in France. A further 1,800 motorcycles were also
in need of repair. The War Office looked for a suitable site
and discovered what they thought was one at Chippenham,
near Slough, a Buckinghamshire town with about 15,000
inhabitants.
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 191
An eighteen-hole putting course was built by the lake. It was designed by Harry Colt and
opened in 1930. Rather expectantly, the Club Brochure wrote: ‘The course is about 600
yards in length, and, although every hole can be done in one, the Bogey (NB not Par!) is 49.’
Slough was best known as the place where Sir William
Herschel, royal astronomer to King George III, ‘looked further
into space than ever human being did before me’. It was
also known as the birthplace of Elliman’s Embrocation, a

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STOKE PARK
blend of vinegar, turpentine and egg white sold throughout
the world to cure both humans and horses! In the 15th century
Slough Kiln supplied bricks for the construction of Eton
College. Slough’s other claim to fame was its place as a significant
staging post on the London-to-Bath road. By the 17th
century there were many coaching inns coping with the 80
coaches a day passing through. In the 18th century Slough
had also created a number of nurseries producing Cox’s
Orange Pippin apples and Mrs Simkins’ Pinks.
None of these was of much interest to the War Office.
What they liked was its location less than an hour’s drive from
central London and the fact that the 668 acres of
Chippenham Court Farm was close to both the Great West
Road and the Great Western Railway. The depot was started
but suffered delays, and by early 1919 questions were being
asked about the so-called scandal of Slough depot in both
Houses of Parliament. Winston Churchill of the War Office
faced angry questions. By this time 3,400 men were working
up to 48 hours a week to complete the depot.
The man put in charge of the depot by the government was
Sam Wallace, an experienced engineer who had made himself
rich running the General Electric Company in the USA. He
had come to England to act as joint manager of Associated
Equipment Company (AEC). At the end of 1919 he was seconded
to running the Slough depot and quickly came to the
conclusion that its salvation would be conversion to a privately-,
as opposed to government-, run business. He proceeded
to try to put together a consortium to make a bid for
the depot.
The first person he approached was Sir Percival Perry, who
had worked for Henry Ford before the war, for the government
during the war (for which he was knighted) and for
himself after the war. He set up a company called Motor
Organisations to buy and sell the entire surplus stock of US
Expeditionary Force motor transport left in Germany. He
involved Noel Mobbs in this operation, who had made his
own contribution to the war effort as Assistant Director of
Food Production in the Ministry of Agriculture, where he was
responsible for the efficient operation of 30,000 tractors
imported from the USA. He was awarded an OBE in 1918.
In February 1920 Perry and Mobbs made a joint bid for
the depot. It was a colossal deal. The price paid was £7 million
(£385m in today’s money) and for that the Slough
Trading Company, as the purchasing company was called,
received 1.8 million square feet of covered space, the largest
industrial complex under one roof in Britain, and more than
17,000 vehicles. Motor News wrote: ‘It will be something of a
miracle if they succeed in converting Slough into a money
earning concern.’
The first task was to sell the vehicles, but Mobbs could also
see potential in the land they had acquired. In July 1920 the
company was approached by a local business to lease an acre
site on which it could build a factory. Slough Trading
Company decided it would lease selected sections of its land
for 999 years at an annual ground rent of £75 (£4,125
Right: Cartoons from an article in The Bystander in August 1932.
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 193

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STOKE PARK
today). The proposed per square foot rental was 3d (70p
today). Clearly the other directors expected Mobbs to make
the business hum. What sort of man was he?
He was very tall and commanded respect. He did not suffer
fools gladly. Already in his forties when he became
Chairman of Slough Trading Company, as well as business
acumen he had also developed a strong sense of social
responsibility. He was a keen all-round sportsman, with a
golf handicap of five, and had won several tennis tournaments
and been captain of a curling team. His real passion
was bridge, and he would later be elected Chairman of the
card committee at the Portland Club, the world’s leading
authority on bridge. He would help write new rules for the
game. He was also elected President and Chairman of the
executive committee of the European Bridge League.
Mobbs and his wife, Frances, felt they should move from
Northampton to be closer to Slough. Initially he bought a
large house at Gorse Hill, Woking, conveniently next to
the golf club. Unfortunately they refused him immediate
membership! Marcus Colby, who went to Oxford University
with Richard, one of Mobbs’s sons, said that Noel Mobbs
was a man
… with a big personality and an impressive intellect. In business he could
be pretty hard-nosed. He gave the impression of being able to see through
walls. Away from business, he was a hell of a big spender. There were
extraordinary parties, the sort people talked about and tried to get invited
to. There was a lot of bridge and a great deal of betting on just about
every sporting event you could imagine.
Mobbs battled away to make sure the Slough Trading
Company succeeded, and on 7 August 1925 Royal Assent was
given, allowing the company to press on with the strategy of
converting and building factories for letting. A huge acreage
of land was ready to be fully exploited. In March 1926 Slough
Trading Company became Slough Estates Ltd, and by
Christmas 1927 the estate had no fewer than 65 companies
operating from its property, including Black and Decker,
with their revolutionary new power drills, and Nicholas
Products, who used the as and pro to give the brand name
ASPRO to their headache pills.
In the early 1930s, in spite of the worldwide depression,
Slough Estates pulled off a coup in persuading the American
company, Mars, to take space. The 28-year-old Forrest Mars,
wanting to prove himself away from his father, had come to
Britain. He talked to two businessmen already successful in
the food business in the UK. Philip Wrigley, who had been
manufacturing chewing gum in Wembley for five years, told
him that ‘The English eat a lot of milk chocolate’, and James
Horlick, who had been making the eponymous drink for 24
years, advised him to go and talk to Noel Mobbs.
Mobbs welcomed him, showing him a large shed in Dorset
Avenue in Slough, and although the roof was leaking, Mars
signed a lease. The two men became friends and Mars was
invited to stay at Stoke Park.
As we have seen, in 1928, Mobbs bought the Stoke Park
Club from Nick ‘Pa’ Jackson. He paid £30,000 (£1.65 million
in today’s money) and moved with his family into the
house, setting himself up with an office there. He soon faced
a threat to the rural setting of Stoke Park by Slough’s Urban
District Council wanting to extend their boundaries into the
parishes of Farnham Royal, Burnham, Stoke Poges and
Langley Marsh. All the councils agreed and Greater Slough
grew overnight from 1,660 acres to 6,082 acres. According to
the Estates Gazette:
Within a mile radius of the trading estate there is enough land to accommodate
100,000 people and, if the town is enlarged to that extent, the
necessity for wise town planning is a matter of extreme importance.
Since it appears to be certain that the town will be developed as an
industrial centre the problem of town planning assumes, to many people,
an appalling nightmare. In all probability, this depressing outlook is due
to visualising Slough as a second Black Country. We feel confident, however,
that the well-balanced commonsense shown in the construction of
the Slough factories will also show in the development of the housing
schemes which will be designed to accommodate the workers in those fac-
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 195
tories. In any event, we do not fear another bout of industrial hooliganism
such as we had in the last century.
Even the New York Herald was expressing concern that the
spread of commerce in the area was such that nearby Stoke
Poges church, immortalised in Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy’, was ‘in
danger of being imprisoned by new buildings’.
Noel Mobbs reacted in two ways to protect the surrounding
countryside. He helped found the Penn-Gray Society
which bought and preserved fields around Stoke Poges
church, and he financed the purchase of land and the creation
of the Stoke Poges Gardens of Remembrance, which
were opened in 1934 and later extended to cover a 40-acre
site alongside the churchyard.
Furthermore, Mobbs’s sense of social responsibility led
him to help with the creation of sporting and social facilities
for the growing population of Slough.
He laid out his philosophy:
Slough is developing as a modern town upon modern lines and it should
be run upon modern lines as far as the healthy education and contentment
of its inhabitants are concerned. Happy lives, social evenings, keen
sport and good health in our employees are of as much practical importance
to us individually as manufacturers as they are to the spirit of comradeship
which seems to pervade the British Empire more than any other
country in the world … Crime is much reduced and the temptation to slip
into evil habits among the young is both checked by precept and avoided
by lack of idle time.
By building clubs and societies for games, lectures and entertainment,
Mobbs hoped to ‘set an example which may well be

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STOKE PARK
Putting on the 13th in the 1930s. According to Pevsner, the mound is ‘probably a Bronze Age barrow, as suggested by the discovery in 1911 of a “cinerary urn” in making the bunker’.
followed in other parts of England’.
Some people were concerned in case the entrepreneur
Mobbs decided to cash in on the building boom. However,
the Sunday Despatch wrote on 30 March 1930, under the heading
‘Amenities of the Club in no way threatened’:
Writing in reference to our story last week on building developments near
Stoke Poges Golf Club, the secretary (Mr C.K. Cotton) states:
‘When Mr A. Noel Mobbs acquired the property two years ago he gave
the members every assurance that he had no intention of disposing of any
portion of the golf course or park for building.
‘Since then Mr Mobbs has acquired additional land and opened a
second 18-hole course.
‘Within the last few weeks Mr Mobbs has purchased a further strip
of land on the western side of the course, so as to ensure that future
building operations outside his property cannot interfere with the
privacy of members.
‘He has also, for the same reason, planted hundreds of trees at every
point where there is any possibility of the property being overlooked.
‘There is not, and cannot be, any apprehension on the part of present
or future members that the amenities of the club are in any way threatened.
‘It should be noted, also, that Captain A.C. Snow is not now secretary
of the club.’
A visit
from the Queen
In 1929 Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was driven
from nearby Windsor Castle to visit the Penn-Gray Museum.
This was how The Times reported the visit:
THE QUEEN AT STOKE POGES CHURCH
VISIT TO THE PENN-GRAY MUSEUM
The Queen accompanied by two ladies and an equerry, motored from
Windsor Castle on Tuesday afternoon and paid an informal visit to Stoke
Poges Church, which has been immortalised by the poet Gray. No one
knew Her Majesty was coming and there was hardly anyone about when
she arrived. The vicar, Rev. Mervyn Clare, is away in Ireland, the curate
(Rev. A.W. Heriot-Howis) had just left the church and the only official
on duty was the deputy verger, Mr Richard Hawes. It was Her Majesty’s
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 197
first visit to the church and she had a good look round, but did not sign
the visitors’ book.
From the church the Queen walked to the Penn-Gray Society Museum,
which is delightfully situated in close proximity. Here there was not a single
visitor, and Her Majesty was received by the custodian, Mr Arthur J.
Graylen. The museum has not been opened very long, but already it contains
a wonderful collection of Penn and Gray relics.
Her Majesty was immensely interested and spent nearly half-an-hour
in the building. She was particularly interested in a first edition of six
poems by Thomas Gray, which was published in 1753, and was the property
of the Duke of Portland. It contains a wonderful drawing of the old
Manor House as it stood before the greater portion of it was destroyed by
fire in the 18th century. It is the remaining portion which the Penn-Gray
Society are trying to acquire as a national asset.
Another little book which interested the Queen was the diary of
Thomas Gray during his tour of France and Italy, with Horace Walpole in
1739–40. The writing is very small, but perfectly legible. In the same case
is a piece of the aged thorn to which Gray refers in his ‘Elegy’:
Grav’d on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.
This has been preserved over 100 years, and was presented to the Museum
only last week by Miss H. Harvey.
Over the fireplace in the same room is an exquisite piece of marble
plaque by John Deare. It came from Stoke Park (now the Stoke Poges Golf
Club), which was built by John Penn, and was lent by the present owner,
Mr Noel Mobbs. The Queen questioned the custodian about this unique
piece of work, and before he could reply she had placed her own interpretation
on it and remarked: ‘It is the dream of life.’
A painting of Gray by Benjamin Wilson caught the Queen’s eye,
because in the background can be plainly seen the old tower of Upton
Church, with the Round Tower of Windsor Castle in the background. Two
Quaker prayer seats which belonged to John Penn, which were formerly in
Stoke Poges Church, also came in for special observation.
The Queen congratulated the custodian on the wonderful museum and
the beautiful way in which the place is kept. Her Majesty afterwards walked

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into the old world garden in which the museum stands, and when she saw
it she remarked, ‘What a charming old world spot.’ In the distance could
be seen Penn’s house, about which the Queen asked many questions, and
also about the piece of land adjoining the Manor House, which the
Society hope to acquire for the nation.
There were no motor cars on the adjoining roadway to disturb the harmony
and beauty of the surroundings, as the Queen stood in the garden.
Before leaving, Her Majesty shook hands with Mr Graylen, and wished
him every success. The Queen then motored back to Windsor Castle.
Gray’s Meadow
and the Gardens
of Remembrance
Two of the most important developments of the 1920s were,
in a sense, an ‘anti-development’ move in that the further
encroachment of houses onto the land around Stoke Park was
curtailed by the purchase of Gray’s Meadow and the construction
of the Gardens of Remembrance.
Now that planning legislation prevents unrestricted development,
it is often forgotten that such legislation came into
force only after the Second World War and that, before that,
builders could build whatever and wherever they liked. The
meadow next to St Giles’ church was under threat from developers,
and in the early 1930s two appeals were instituted to
raise £6,000 (about £330,000 in today’s money) to buy the
land and to repair the church tower. A committee was formed
and their eminent friends and contacts were asked to write to
the Daily Telegraph. This campaign was successful, with wellknown
authors such as G.K. Chesterton, John Buchan,
Anthony Hope-Hawkins, A.E.W. Mason, and the biographer
of Gray himself, Edmund Gosse, writing on behalf of the
appeal. The money was raised, and on 5 May 1925 the deeds
of the meadow were handed over to the National Trust. The
Slough Observer wrote:
It is this beautiful meadow that has been secured. First, the nearest three
acres of it, with the Penn Memorial, were bought and presented by the
late Sir Bernard Oppenheimer and Mr W.A. Judd. That, temporarily,
held the breach. On the death of Sir Bernard Oppenheimer, the remaining
ten acres came into the market. Canon Barnett and Mr Judd bought
this portion for £2,000 [about £110,000 today]. They might have sold it
since for £4,000 or £5,000. Instead they have held it – without charge
or interest – until the money could be raised. To the new Parochial
Church council was given the opportunity of carrying through the appeal,
always with the devoted help and initiative of the vicar, and it is on behalf
of that council that the deeds are to be handed over.
Right: Ladies v. Men 1934. The men, conceding nine strokes per round, were beaten by
fifteen matches to five with one halved.
Here are, left to right, Miss Jean Hamilton, Mr E. Martin-Smith, Miss Molly Gourlay
and Mr R.H. Oppenheimer.

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STOKE PARK
It was Sir Noel Mobbs who realised the danger of housing
development on land nearby and adjacent to Stoke Park, and
he bought it to protect both the church and the estate. He
organised the construction of the Gardens of Remembrance,
an oasis of peace and tranquillity, under the direction of the
well-known landscape architect, Edward White.
Individual gardens and plots were made available for private
interment of cremated remains, and the Gardens as a
whole were dedicated by the Bishop of Buckingham on 25
May 1935. In 1971 ownership was transferred to the District
Council by a Private Act of Parliament which required that
the Gardens be maintained to the same high standards that
had been applied from their creation to their transfer.
The Gardens stretch over 20 acres and include over 2,000
individual gardens made up of many different types, incorporating
rose, heath, parterre, colonnade, rock and water,
formal and informal. The main avenue leads down to a
colonnade and features columns, water channels, magnolia
trees and flower beds full of colour. The Gardens also
include many wonderful trees, some hundreds of years old.
One of the individual gardens, consecrated in 1949, is a
memorial to all ranks of the Gurkha Regiment who gave their
lives in service to the British Empire between 1857 and 1947.
In June every year since 1949, a service has been held by the
Gurkhas to honour their past members.
The headquarters of the Penn-Gray Society used to be
Church Cottage, near the entrance to the Gardens, but this
cottage is now the administrative centre of the Gardens. The
urn to the memory of Lady Juliana Penn, which now stands
on the lawn going down to the lake from the Gardens, was
originally in the west garden next to the Mansion. In 1996
the Gardens were placed on the English Heritage Register of
Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, and became
Grade II listed.
Tournaments
continue
Golf tournaments were continued during the 1930s after the
new Club had been constituted. In 1928 the British
Professional Match-Play Championship (first played in
1903), sponsored by the News of the World, had been played at
the Stoke Park Club. After four days of golf, the final was
contested between the experienced Charlie Whitcombe and
the brilliant up-and-coming star, Henry Cotton. The final
was over 36 holes, and at lunch, after eighteen holes,
Whitcombe was four up. However, Cotton birdied the first
five holes to put the match at all-square. Whitcombe fought
back, got down in two at the seventh, and then covered the
next nine holes in just 29 shots to win four and two.
This was an infrequent defeat for Cotton, who was
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 201
probably Britain’s greatest-ever player. This is what Ted
Barrett wrote about him:
There was never a greater individualist than Henry Cotton. He was not
the most approachable of men, yet he did much to raise the reputation of
his profession. He could scarcely have resembled Walter Hagen less, yet
like the great American he would brook no hint of an insult to the
dignity of the golf professional.
Hagen felt insulted when he was refused clubhouse facilities in Britain,
and did much to end such discrimination. Cotton had the stature to make
it a condition of his being attached to the Ashridge club in Hertfordshire,
as it had been at Waterloo in Belgium, that he should have honorary
membership. This is now widely accepted practice.
He was a public schoolboy who liked to consort with the rich and celebrated,
and was at ease when he did so. It has been said – no doubt by the
envious – that among his fellow pros he spoke only to champions.
Nevertheless, at well past three score years and ten, he could be the life
and soul of the pro-am party.
He was, understandably for a triple Open championship winner, an
expensive golf teacher, yet freely gave a great deal of his time to the cause
of the Golf Foundation, which he helped to establish in 1952. The
Foundation began with coaching at six schools, and now organises coaching
at more than 2,000 schools and junior groups. How much this initiative
is responsible for the general raising of professional and amateur
standards in Britain can scarcely by quantified, but cannot be discounted
– nor can Cotton’s leading role in the enterprise.
His other notable contribution to the cause of encouraging young
players was the institution in 1960 of the Rookie of the Year title, which
goes annually to the best newcomer on the tour. His part in helping the
1938 Walker Cup team to gain their first success against the United States
is another example of his inspirational effect on British golf. His most
outstanding service to the nation’s game was breaking the American grip
on the British Open in 1934, not to mention the majestic way in which he
did it, setting up a 36-hole record of 132, not equalled for 56 years until
Nick Faldo beat it with 130 in 1992. Cotton held a far more dominating
position in English – and European golf – than anyone who followed.

Left: Stoke Park Club from the
air in 1935, including the Coltdesigned
putting course which was
lost when flood defence works were
carried out in the early 1960s.
Right: A cigarette card in 1934
showing Stoke Park’s famous 7th
hole.
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 203

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STOKE PARK
Long before he won the Open, and Cotton did not hide the fact that
he proposed to do so, he had made himself known to a wide public, for
here was no ordinary golf professional, but a self-possessed, stylishly
dressed, articulate member of the upper middle class who intended to
make a glittering career from the game.
When he at last won the Open at Royal St George’s after several high
finishes, his second round of 65 gave the Dunlop company the longrunning
idea for a new golf ball, and any reader who has yet to see one has
only to go out and take a good look in the rough of his or her nearest
course to find one. It is unlikely that many belonging to Cotton could
ever have found their way there, for his greatest asset was long, straight
driving.
He is one of the few professionals who never tried to plan their way
round a course with fade or draw as their chief means of control. His
endless practice gave him the means to attempt this daunting tactic, and
he succeeded at many important moments in his career – though not in
the last round of his Sandwich triumph, when he put up the same sad
closing score as in 1933 – but this time, thanks to his meteoric start, it was
good enough to give him a five-shot win.
One of the long-remembered events of the 1930s was the feat
of Captain R.F.H. Norman, a member of the Portland Club
in St James’s Square and a First World War veteran who was
somewhat lame with a metal plate in his leg, who played ten
rounds of non-stop golf at Stoke Park to win a bet that he
could complete this feat in fewer than 1,000 strokes. He
achieved it with 40 strokes in hand.
It meant that he walked no less than 45 miles in sixteenand-a-half
hours. His handicap was 18, and though he did
not play to it in most of the rounds, he was remarkably steady.
Indeed, his last round was almost his best. The rounds were:
100, 98, 94, 89, 94, 102, 97, 89, 107 and 90. His only sustenance
during the day was four lemons and glasses of water.
Captain Norman and his wife. Although lame from a First World War wound, Captain
Norman completed ten rounds in a day in fewer than 1,000 strokes to win a bet. Diana Fishwick putting on the 18th green with the clubhouse in the background at a time when the lobster pots were in use.
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His caddie was Rudge, who carried his bag in every round.
(Rudge may have been a hero too on this day, but, as we shall
see, he blotted his copy-book later.)
Norman achieved some publicity for the Club with his
feat. The Daily Express ran a story and included a photograph of
him, and the Daily Mail wrote quite a long piece, concluding:
Mrs Norman accompanied her husband on the last few rounds and all the
members gave Captain Norman the way through, stopping their own
games temporarily.
At the end of this extraordinary feat he walked back to the clubhouse
and immediately went to sleep in one of the rooms, but later he walked
across to Stoke Court, a residential club, where he is spending the night.
The Professional Match Play Championship returned in
1937. This time Percy Alliss (father of the BBC golf commentator,
Peter Alliss) and Jimmy Adams met in the final.
Alliss won three and two.
Suspend
Rudge forthwith
The Club was run strictly by the Committee, as is made
clear by these minutes from Committee meetings during
the 1930s:
Post-dated Cheque. A member having given a post-dated cheque, the
Secretary was instructed that unless said cheque is met on presentation,
this member shall be notified that his membership ceases forthwith.
Dogs seemed to be a perennial problem:
A letter was read by the Secretary from Mr A.N. Mobbs regarding the nuisance
repeatedly caused by a dog belonging to Mr Koch de Gooreynd,
running loose near the 11th hole, New Course and disturbing the players.
The Secretary reported that Mr Koch de Gooreynd had informed him
that the dog is always shut up in a kennel at week-ends, but had found a
means of escape. This exit has now been blocked up and further escape
prevented. Mr Koch de Gooreynd tendered his apologies for the disturbance
caused.
Mrs Hyman’s dogs. The Sec’ was instructed to write to Mrs Hyman and
inform her that the Committee would not permit her frequent breakage
of the rules concerning dogs at liberty on the course. And unless she give
a written undertaking not to bring her dogs on the Club premises at all,
the matter would be brought before the Committee at their next meeting
to be dealt with.
As for caddies giving lessons:
The point of Caddies being engaged to give lessons to certain members
was raised by Mr Alexander and the Secretary was instructed to inform
such members that this practice is deprecated by the Committee.
Giving lessons was one thing. Playing at a nearby club with
one of the lady members was another.
Rudge. It was reported that a letter had been received from the
Maidenhead Golf Club complaining that one of the Stoke Poges Caddies,
F. Rudge, had played there with a lady member of Stoke Poges, representing
himself as a member of Stoke Poges Club. The Secretary was instruc-
A post-dated cheque from a member of Stoke Park Club? Never!
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 207
A caddy playing with a lady member at another club and claiming to be a member of Stoke Park Club! Suspend him forthwith. (The irony was that Rudge was the caddy for Captain
Norman when he completed his ten rounds in a day.)

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A montage of the Ladies v. Men match of 1936 showing
some big names – A.D. ‘Bobby’ Locke (to be Open
Champion in the 1950s), Leonard Crawley, Eustace
Storey, Enid Wilson and Pam Barton.
ted to suspend Rudge forthwith and to report this matter to the Ladies’
Committee and ask it to request an explanation from the lady concerned.
Caddies seemed to cause considerable angst, and the subject
of tipping them prompted a substantial article in the Daily
Telegraph in 1933 under the heading:
TIPPING-THE-CADDIE HUBBUB
Officials of golf clubs around London were astonished to learn today that
the Stoke Poges Golf Club had decided to set a rigid limit on tips to caddies
there.
Stoke Poges had issued the following notice:
CHARGES FOR CADDIES
(which include lunch money, cleaning of clubs and delivery to car or
club-house):
Fees for Round: 1st-class caddies, 2s per round and 2d booking fee;
2nd-class caddies, 1s 4d per round and 2d booking fee.
Tips to Caddies: The usual tips are 1st-class caddie, 1s 6d per
round; 2nd-class caddie, 1s per round.
Players are particularly requested in no circumstances to give more
than another 6d per round.
After talking to officials of many clubs I have failed to support Stoke
Poges. The view almost unanimously is this:
Caddies earn little enough at present. They get tips on a recognised
scale from regular members and occasionally ‘fancy’ sums from wealthy
visitors. The feeling has often arisen that these ‘super tips’ tend to spoil
the caddie, but previous attempts to limit the tip have failed and are certain
to do so again.
Usually a caddie gets a shilling lunch money and probably a similar
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 209
Leonard Crawley. A brilliant all-round sportsman, he made 97 international golf appearances
and became the respected golf correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. (As it happens, I
played against his son, Eustace, the day after Kennedy was assassinated. I’m ashamed to say
I don’t think either of us mentioned it.)

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During the Second World War some holes were turned into farmland. Golfers were forbidden to walk on the seeded areas to recover balls. At harvest time there was keen competition to find lost balls as, like all other ‘non-essential’ items, golf balls became scarce during the war.
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After the war the dog problem did not go away.
sum, or slightly more, at the end of the day. The charge per round is fixed
by the committee and is paid to the caddie master. The matter of tips is
left to the player’s good sense.
‘Leave it to the Player’
Some clubs like Addington, where the caddies have to travel several miles
to the course, charge 2s 6d per round. The members there usually give a
two-shilling tip per round.
Here are some opinions about the Stoke Poges rule:
Mr G.J. Hawker, secretary of Walton Heath: We do not limit tips. Each
member is the best judge of how to spend his own money. But I do know
that tips are not so big now as they have been.
Mr Peter Wood, the Coombe Hill secretary: The usual luncheon money
tip is one shilling. After the day’s golf the amount the member cares to tip
is a matter for himself. No club committee can dictate to its members on
this question.
Mr G. Stagg, the Addington secretary: If there were no caddies here,
members would not play. Tipping is a matter for the individual. If a
caddie gets ten shillings – well, good luck to him. To the member who
paid him that amount the caddie must have been worth it.
During the Second World War, nine holes were requisitioned
by the government and turned into farmland. All the holes to
the south of the lake were farmed, as was, where possible,
space between fairways of the remaining 36 holes.
Responsibility for farming this land was undertaken by Sir
Noel Mobbs’s son-in-law. During the growing season,
golfers were forbidden to walk across seeded areas to recover
their golf balls. By harvest time there was keen competition to
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 213
find the golf balls which, like many other non-essential
items, had become scarce during the war.
The long and level fairways were perceived to be possible
landing places for German aircraft, and to prevent this,
sections of railway line were erected vertically on these
fairways. At the end of the war, the lost nine holes were not
rebuilt, and it was only in 1998 that the Club managed to
restore them.
However, some things did not change during the war. The
Committee were still concerned about dogs, and at their
meeting on 19 August 1945 they passed this resolution:
Dogs. It was resolved that after giving due notice to members by Circular
letter no member would be allowed to take a dog round when playing,
whether on the leash or not, and that members would not be allowed to
exercise their dogs upon the Course between the hours of 9.30am and
5pm. Any member bringing a dog up to the Club in a car must leave the
dog in the car while he plays.
In 1957, when the Mobbs business, United Motor Finance
Corporation, was amalgamated with Mercantile Credit, Stoke
Park and the Club were both offered to Mercantile Credit.
Sir Noel had retired and his sons were heavily engaged in
other activities. However, Mercantile Credit did not want to
divert finance and management time into running a golf
club, and both were sold to the Eton Rural District Council
for £56,000 (about £1.2 million in today’s money). Because
of land sales and facility reduction, the Pa Lane Jackson
vision of the grand country club had been reduced to an

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eighteen-hole golf club with half of the Mansion for its clubhouse.
The sale price reflected this smaller vision, and the
Club lost the ability to generate enough revenue to conserve
the estate on its own.
An advertisement in Country Life in December 1957 (see
right) shows that Mercantile Credit offered the Club to the
open market before selling it to the Council.
Gift of 200 acres
Sir Noel Mobbs, having sold Stoke Park Club to the District
Council two years earlier, died in Bournemouth in 1959. He
had set up the Mobbs Memorial Trust in 1956 and, after his
death, this was run by his three sons, Richard, Eric and
Gerald. In January 1970, Richard died and Eric and Gerald
decided to give 200 acres of land to Eton Rural Council.
The properties offered were: the Manor House, occupied
until shortly beforehand by the London Diocesan Fund as a
conference house, and the 26 acres around the house; the
Memorial Gardens, about 45 acres, with Church Cottage and
ten service cottages, and £100,000 (about £1.5 million
today) to set up a maintenance fund; 100 acres of land
around the Tithe Farm, bounded by Park Road and West End
Lane, to be used as a municipal golf course; 61 acres of playing
fields at Farnham Park, including a central pavilion and
three service cottages and a sum of not less than £15,000
(£225,000).
Eric Mobbs, Chairman of ML Engineering Ltd, told the
Slough Observer:
There are now only two of us left and we realise we’re getting old. Gerald
has been ill recently and is not able to do as much as he used to, and I’m
getting near 65. And so we have to look to the future. We won’t be around
for ever but the local council will go on and on. And so we have decided
to offer all the land to them with the only conditions being that they use
it wisely and maintain it well. For instance there has been talk for some
while of having a municipal golf course.
The areas to be given included the Memorial Gardens, and
when asked by the Observer whether he thought some of those
who had bought plots might be upset, Eric Mobbs said: ‘I
can’t see why they should. The gardens will no doubt stay the
same. It will be a moral and legal obligation.’
The Slough Express was full of praise for the Mobbs’s generosity,
writing on 14 August 1970:
Everyone knows that land and property are just about the best investments
going in these tax-bound days. Consequently, there could never really be
any question of Eton Rural District Council rejecting the munificent gesture
of the Mobbs family in offering to give the authority 200 acres of
Green Belt land … The land involved will be there to be enjoyed by the
whole population, and posterity, as the pressure for building land grows
and grows, will have reason to be grateful to the family of the man who,
perhaps more than anyone else, laid the foundation for Slough’s unique
prosperity and who himself was no mean benefactor – Sir Noel Mobbs.
THE FIRST 1,000 YEARS 215
There was, however, one major drawback to this generous
plan. Dividing the historic estate also put Repton’s landscape
at serious risk, as it now relied on several landowners to
maintain what had been under one management for centuries.
This was to have serious consequences over the next
twenty years.
By 1957, Sir Noel Mobbs had retired and wanted to move to Bournemouth. Mercantile
Credit, which had bought Mobbs’s business, offered the Club for sale before eventually selling
it to Eton Rural District Council.