Moulton and The Hall: The Great War 1914-1918

Moulton and The Hall : The Great War 1914-1918
Alex Moulton Charitable Trust

1
Stephen Moulton (above) was an
Englishman who had set up as a Broker
in New York in the 1830s. Here he
met Charles Goodyear, the man who
discovered how to make natural rubber
durable - the Vulcanisation process. In
1848 Moulton arrived in Bradford on
Avon and founded his rubber company
in the Kingston Mill, originally built for
Thomas Divett at the beginning of the
19th Century. Moulton also bought the
grand but decaying Jacobean mansion,
then called ‘Kingston House’ (now
known as ‘The Hall’), and restored it to
be his family home. Early customers of
Moulton’s rubber company included the
British Army buying waterproof capes
for the Crimean War, and Isambard
Kingdom Brunel who sought rubber parts
for his Great Eastern steam ship. After
many years of financial struggle and legal
wrangles, Moulton became very successful
in the manufacture and supply of rubber
‘mechanicals’ - springs, hoses, seals etc. -
to railway companies all around the world.
After his death in 1880 the company was
run by his sons Alexander and Horatio, and
in 1891 a merger with Geo. Spencer & Co.,
long-standing customers of Moulton, led to
the creation of George Spencer Moulton &
Co. The business continued to expand and
by the end of the century Spencer-Moulton
were world leaders in the rubber industry.

Bradford on Avon, originally a weaving town
noted for the quality of its cloth, came to be
dominated by the rubber industry that Moulton
had founded. The Kingston Mill was slightly to
the west of the town, but as Moulton expanded
his works the New Mills were absorbed and in
1916 the Lamb Building was erected right by
the Town Bridge. The Abbey Mill also became
part of the factory. Thus the centre of the town
really was Moulton’s rubber company - not only
physically, but also in the fact that most of the
people in the town earned their livelihoods there
or in the surrounding supporting businesses.
In 1906, the Sirdar Rubber Company arrived
from London and set up in the Greenland
Mills. Their main product was rubber tyres.
Despite War Office contracts, Sirdar failed
at the end of 1914. A year later, under the
direction of the Ministry of Munitions, the
Greenland Mills were taken over by the Avon
India Rubber Company.
Such were the demands placed on the rubber
factories, Moulton’s Lamb Building was
originally designed to be four storeys high.
For speed, it was built using pre-fabricated
reinforced concrete, an innovation at the time.
2

By the turn of the century Stephen Moulton’s youngest
son, John, was the Chairman of George Spencer Moulton
& Co. He lived at The Hall with his wife Alice and their
sons John Coney (born 1886) and Charles Eric (born
1889). John Moulton was a local Justice of the Peace and
a County Councillor. The photograph on the left, taken
on the last day of the 19 th century, shows the Moulton
family (the children as Eton schoolboys) at The Hall.
Thanks to the tremendous success of the Spencer-
Moulton company, John Moulton was a very wealthy
man. He made substantial improvements to the grounds
of The Hall, including the new stable block designed by
Sir Harold Brakspear. He was a notable benefactor to the
town, giving both land and money for the building of the
Queen Victoria Jubilee swimming baths; and restoring
and converting what is now St. Margarets Hall into a Drill
Hall and later the Alexander Picture Theatre.
3
The 1911 census record for The Hall reads as follows:
John Moulton, 71 yrs
Alice Blanche Moulton, 46 yrs
Charles Eric Moulton, 21 yrs
Servants: Joseph Hoggett, Footman, 23 yrs
Margaret Jones, Cook, 42 yrs
Blanche Blewitt, Housemaid, 35 yrs
Hilda Olney, Maid, 26 yrs
Henrietta Wills, Housemaid, 19 yrs
Ellen Hann, Kitchenmaid, 16 yrs
In addition, there was an outdoor staff of ten, including
five gardeners (the Head Gardener being Albert Keen), a
carpenter, a gamekeeper and a chauffeur.

Top left, interior of The Hall c. 1900. Above, John Moulton in his ‘new’
Garden Temple c. 1902. Lower left, John Coney and Charles Eric , c. 1895
4

5
Eric Moulton was an enthusiastic pioneer motorist. He is shown here with his 40 horsepower Mors car.

Following the declaration of war in 1914,
John Moulton chaired a recruitment
meeting in the Town Hall. More than
200 young men volunteered, including
120 of Spencer Moulton’s workers. Each
was offered £5 from the company and £5
from John Moulton himself. Amongst
them was Eric Moulton, who was
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant
in the 6th Wiltshire Regiment. Eric,
having served a three-year apprenticeship
at Stothert and Pitt in Bath and studied
Chemistry at London University, was
by then Assistant Works Manager at
Spencer Moulton where he was liked and
respected in generous measures. Eric’s
army career commenced with training at
Tidworth, followed by a spell in Westonsuper-Mare
and later at Perham Down.
He was promoted to Lieutenant in July
1915 and travelled with the 6th Wilts. to
northern France. As with many others,
before leaving English soil he wrote and
sealed his Will; he posted this to his
father with the note above. The envelope
was marked “not to be opened until official
notification of my death is received.”
6

Eric Moulton wrote home regularly to his mother
at The Hall, sometimes several times a month. His
early letters reveal how privileged his life had been
thus far, although he seemed to adjust to military
life very quickly. The first letter, from Tidworth,
reassures: “It is not as bad as I had anticipated ... I
have got a tent to myself ... With good luck I got a
man who is a waiter in the ‘Rag’ as servant. He is
quite a treasure and valets very well ... I am going to
try to come home on Sunday so as to fetch the motorbike,
as there seems to be plenty of places to hide it.”
This letter, and all those following it, were signed
“Your loving Eric.”
In early 1915 he wrote from a ‘decent billet’
in Basingstoke: “Will you please send me some
handkerchiefs, socks and my best silk pyjamas ... I
have sent you today some dirty linen which please keep
until I write for it ... Looking forward to a good scrub
tonight, not had a proper wash for a fortnight!!”
Eric wrote back for his linen in February: “please
forward my clean clothes, socks, handkerchiefs,
shirts, pyjamas and some vests.” He had also
received some distressing news from a relative:
“Charles says that you are going to hire a Ford now
that Stamper (the chauffeur) has gone. What a comedown
if it is true.” Later in the same month he had
other things on his mind: “Could you send me the
name of that dentist we both went to some time ago,
who lives on Harley Street. I am thinking of going up
to Town for a day this week and I might as well get my
teeth overhauled.” 8

Easter 1915 provided a break from the
routines of military training. Eric wrote
from the Norfolk Hotel in Bournemouth:
“I spent quite a nice Easter in the car with a few
select friends: Salisbury - dinner and theatre,
Bournemouth - lunch and tea ... quite a nice
hotel this, I have a small suite - big bedroom,
dressing room (for my man) and bathroom ...
the cooking is quite good,” By this point the
6th Wilts. had moved ten times and Eric
was based at Perham Down near Andover.
Possibly knowing that he would be there
for some weeks, he decorated his hut with
chintzy curtains.
In early July he wrote of training itself:
“Very early hours these last three days, called
at 5.30am! This is all for range shooting. We
are using American cartridges and they are
simply appalling; they jam, mis-fire and one
poor bullet only got 20 feet from the rifle before
it lay on its back; I expect they forgot to put any
powder in that one.”
Later that month he was posted to France.
“We slept 2 nights where we landed then moved
on to a small place which I shall call (1) for
a weeks time ... I shall remember the places
we go to, so you can see our progress on the
map. Gun-firing can be heard at intervals,
so you see we are not so far off. It is not the
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height of comfort here; eat when you can get
it ... Got a bed tonight in a farmhouse which
I am shortly going to revel in and a good wash
tomorrow in a river ... we are not likely to go
into the trenches for a few days ... feeling still
more blood-thirsty.”
On the 26th he wrote again: “Still on the
tramp about 14 miles a day. Sore feet and an
aching back. I believe they tire us out in order
to inflame our anger for German blood. I had
a poor sleep last night on a stone floor with a
very thin mattress ... It will be a relief to get to
the trenches as we shall have two or three days
rest.” Thinking of home he wrote “How
is the Studebaker getting on? You will find a
guarantee form in my desk if you want it.”
Eric’s next letter was much longer, seemingly
at the request of his mother. “It is very
difficult to tell you more than I do as we lead
such a monotonous life. I am glad to say that
I have managed to get a bedroom with a bed,
I think another night in the open would have
killed me ... Last evening I saw the Germans
shelling aeroplanes; they must have had over a
hundred shots, result nil. Last night from 3am
there was continuous firing which lasted until
7am; this I believe was in the region of Ypres
... Do send any old papers and magazines and
gold-leaf cigarettes, all are thankfully received
by the men and it keeps them from being
wretched and brooding, their life is anything but
pleasant. Sore feet, a weight of 50 lbs to carry,
poor and badly cooked food, hot and dusty
roads do not tend to promote cheerfulness ... a
few good thick socks I could dispose of easily.”
Eric signs off “well I don’t think you could call
this a scratchy letter.” Given the contents, his
mother may have regretted asking him for
more details of life in France.

As Eric approached the trenches, his letters
became more frequent and more detailed.
He wrote to Dr. John on August 14th: “I
hear next week that we are going into the firing
line so that is something to look forward to, but
I don’t much fancy the probable result. It is
quite amusing in these small villages to talk and
get things from the villagers. I get on quite well
despite a total lack of the French language.”
The day after he wrote to his mother “We
are now in a small village very near indeed.
No beds again .. four shells came over our
house in the evening, rather alarming at first
as you don’t know if this whistling thing is
coming down or going on! ... Today I had a
walk with Eldrid into the town; quite half of it
is wrecked beyond hope of repair. The church
is absolutely ruined just part of the walls and
half the tower standing.”
In his next letter home, Eric gave his mother
details of trench warfare: “Just got through 48
hours of first line trenches, an experience I am
not looking forward to repeat ... the routine of
the trenches is very simple. Each Officer is on
duty for four hours at a time day and night ...
no-one is allowed to undress so I had my clothes
on for just about 60 hours. One can wash and
shave just the same but no bathing. The dugouts
in which you sleep are made of sandbags
with a roof about 4’ thick, they are generally 6’
long, 5’ broad and 4’ high, just room to keep in
and lie down. I had one of my men shot in the
head looking over the top of the wall, not fatal
as yet. He shot a German who was gathering
wood and like a silly ass bobbed up to have a
look when a sniper had him. Our casualties up
to the present are about 6 ... Reggie Jess sent
me 4,000 cigarettes in 2 lots which is splendid
as I can issue a quantity like this to the whole
company ... don’t send any more socks or
cigarettes for a little while, only papers.”
Eric evidently settled into life at the front, as
his letter of September 1st reads: “Here I am
once more in the front line of the trenches ... we
are all on our own now and I think for a short
time I should rather like it. There is such a lot to
do, building dug-outs, repairing the trenches etc.
An average day is spent as follows:
12am On duty
3.45am Stand to arms
4.45am Early Breakfast
5.15am Sleep
9am Breakfast
9.30am Rebuilding work etc.
1pm Lunch
2pm Rebuilding work
4pm On duty
8pm Dinner, stand to and office work
9pm Rebuilding work
10.30pm A few moments sleep
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“This will give you a fair idea of how a day
is spent 200 yards from the Germans ... the
snipers are a perfect pest and come out in front
of their trenches at night and take pot-shots at
you in the moonlight. One ass nearly hit me
the other night when I was crawling about in
front of our trenches ... the trenches we now
occupy are old German ones which have been
taken some months and twice yesterday we
had the misfortune to unearth a German - it
sounds very nasty doing these sorts of things
but when you have been in this place for a day
or two civilisation seems to drop back to the
Stone Age.”
Clearly Eric was now very much a soldier
and did not spare his mother the details:
“I had some sport the other night with a sniper
who was quite close to us. I watched for flashes
of his rifle and then crawled out and threw three
bombs in his direction. I hope I blew him to bits
Officers Mess, Festubert
as he didn’t shoot again ... I doubt if you would
recognise me now with a haggard face, hair
cropped short and mud-stained clothes ... P.S.
Tell Father I got his cake with many thanks, I
am ready for another one.”
Just three days later on September 4th Eric
sent another missive to his mother at The
Hall: “Will you please send me as soon as you
get this letter my rubber boots. If possible I
should like them by post even if you have to
put one in each parcel, and inside them please
put a pair of bed socks and some candles. It
rained all day yesterday and the trenches are
six inches deep in slush. My feet are cold and
wet and I expect will remain so until the rubber
boots come.” There were some snippets of
news from the front: “Last night at 9.30 we
had 4 minutes of rapid fire on the German
trenches in the hope of catching some of them
working ... with the help of 3 machine guns
we must have used about 2,000 cartridges on
a frontage of 200 yards, I hope we killed a
few. A little artillery shooting over our heads,
luckily over and not on.”
On the 8th, Eric wrote again: “Just a short
letter as there is every indication of something
doing at last in a very few days. A piece of
the line is to be altered and we are supposed to
be doing it. I only hope my revolver does not
mis-fire at the critical moment.” On a more
domestic note he added: “You will find a
parcel arrive for you in a few days. This is a
German entrenching tool and it struck me as
being the very thing for you to use in your rock
garden. I hope that you will like it. You had
better get Cooper to put some binding on the
handle as it is split a bit.”
On the 12th there is another letter: “I
received the boots yesterday evening filled with
socks and candles and at once put them on as
a change from my boots which I am getting
rather tired of wearing day and night ...Reggie
Fox sent me 2 boxes of nice sugar cakes so
with yours we are having quite a civilised tea
- flowers on the table, some dahlias I found
near a ruined house. The flower vase is an old
German shell that mis-fired.”
Two days later Eric reports that “the Huns
gave us 15 minutes of real ‘Hate’ this morning
at 2am. Shells, machine guns, rifles, bombs
and anything else they could get, quite a lively
time, scrap iron flying through the air in what
seemed every direction and missing me by
inches. Luckily not a person was touched.
How we escaped I cannot imagine.” He
signed off cheerfully: “Tea time and a slice of
Forts cake. Your loving Eric. PS. Will you let
me have another writing pad please.”

On the evening of the 16 th of September 1915, Charles Eric Moulton was shot and fatally wounded whilst making
improvements to a communication trench near Estaminet Corner in Festubert. The bullet severed a main artery
in his thigh and, despite immediate aid from his comrades, death was almost instantaneous. He is buried at
Brown’s Road Military Cemetery in Festubert. His headstone is inscribed ‘Rest In Peace’. He was 26 years old.
14

The War Office telegram that everyone
dreaded arrived at The Hall on the evening
of Saturday 18th September. A telegram
from Buckingham Palace followed on the
21st: “The King and Queen deeply regret the
loss you and the army have sustained in the
death of your son in the service of his country.”
The Wiltshire Times reported that “A
Bradford soldier serving with the 6th Wilts.,
writing home, says that the death of Lt.
Moulton, the first officer of the 6th Wilts. to
fall, was received with the deepest regret by
the whole regiment. He was “one of the best
officers in France” and whilst a capable officer
on parade he was a friend and chum to every
man, who would have followed him anywhere.”
Many letters of condolence were sent to
The Hall. Reggie Fox wrote “I can only
offer you my heartfelt sympathy. As for me,
I have lost my dearest and best friend in Eric,
and one whose place can never again be filled.”
Another wrote “I must tell you, although
you must already know if anyone in the 6th
has written to you, that he was quite the most
popular officer in the Regiment.”.
His comrade Eldrid wrote with feeling
about how Eric did not suffer, that he was
a true friend, and how he knew how much
the troops liked and admired him, both in
their actions and from their letters home;
with his sincere sympathies he asked that
“if I am to be spared, I hope that you will
permit me to visit you in the future.”
The last Will of Charles Eric Moulton,
signed and sealed scarcely two months
before, named his brother John as executor.
Eric left £1,000 to his servant, Albert Glisson,
if he were to survive the war. He left the
contents of his garage in the Drill Hall Yard
to a Mr. Hickley, and instructed that the
garage itself be removed and all traces of it
to be obliterated. To his mother he left his
jewellery, trinkets and his motor car body.
The will continues: ‘The residue and remainder
of my property, whether real or personal and
wherever situate, I give and bequeath to my
brother the said John Coney Moulton.’ This
included a portfolio of railway, oil and rubber
company shares, including a £2,800 stake in
George Spencer Moulton & Co..
15

John Coney Moulton, the eldest son of John and Alice Moulton, was
born in 1886. Like his younger brother Eric, he was educated at Eton.
He later read Natural Sciences at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1909,
fresh out of college, he was recruited by Rajah Charles Brooke to establish
a new museum in Kuching, Borneo.
In 1914 John Coney married Beryl Latimer Greene in Sarawak. Beryl
was the daughter of Dr. Greene of Stratford-upon-Avon; and sister to Dr.
Downes Greene, Principal Medical Officer in Sarawak. The outbreak of
war curtailed their happy existence in the raffish but restricted society of
Sarawak. John Moulton saw service as a Captain in the 4th Wiltshire
Territorial Regiment in India from 1915 onwards. Beryl returned to
England and their first child, John, was born in 1916.
In 1917 John Coney was appointed to the Staff of the Military
Headquarters in Singapore as co-ordinator of the Intelligence Services
in the Far East, serving under General Sir Dudley Ridout. With a new
home awaiting on Grove Road in Singapore, Beryl made the somewhat
perilous sea passage to re-join her husband and in 1918 their daughter
Dione was born. After the war Major John Coney Moulton resigned his
commission and in 1919 accepted the post of Director of the Raffles
Museum and Library in Singapore.
John Coney and Beryl’s third child, Alexander, was born in 1920 in
Stratford-upon-Avon - clearly Beryl spent a good deal of her time
travelling between England and the East. In 1923 John Coney Moulton
was invited by Rajah Vyner Brooke to return to Sarawak as Chief
Secretary, Member of Court and Judge of the Supreme Court. He
accepted and was duly inaugurated in the August of that year.
The final tragic twist in this story is that John Coney Moulton died in
1926 having contracted peritonitis following appendicitis. He was only
39 years of age and left three children under the age of ten.
16

Rubber in the Great War
The George Spencer Moulton Company
in Bradford were, of course, rubber
manufacturers. As the war progressed
and demand for rubber items of all types
increased, Spencer-Moulton expanded
rapidly and consequently imports of raw
rubber rose sharply. Whilst this demand
tested the supply of raw material, Britain
did not experience any significant shortage
17
of rubber. In Germany, the situation was
rather different as they had great trouble in
obtaining the raw material.
This shortage of material was so severe
that sprung wheels of the type illustrated
above were introduced on German cars and
military bicycles in order to reduce rubber
consumption. By 1916 even private bicycle
use was curtailed and all tyres and inner
tubes not required for commercial use were
to be handed over to the authorities where
they would be re-distributed for industry
and military purposes.
Given the strategic importance of rubber
in the war effort, precautions were taken
to ensure that tyres and other rubber items
supplied to neutral countries could not end
up in the hands of the German Government
who so desperately needed them.

Nevertheless, in 1916 the Daily Mail alleged that Spencer-
Moulton had been treacherous in supplying tyres into
neutral countries without adequate safeguards against
onward shipping and that these tyres were being used as part
of the German war machine.
The Spencer-Moulton Board were furious at this suggestion
(one can imagine that John Moulton, having already lost his
son, was particularly incensed) and took legal action against
Associated Newspapers Ltd. with the result being the court
finding the allegations entirely without foundation.
Spencer Moulton were further moved to place ‘Honour
Vindicated’ advertisements in the press detailing the story
and adding that, far from supplying tyres without ensuring
that they did not fall into enemy hands, at the outbreak
of war they had actually recalled their stocks of tyres from
neutral countries.
Other Spencer-Moulton advertisements of the time made
a strong plea to buy British: “Help win the war by giving your
whole-hearted support to British tyres. Every penny spent on
imported tyres hampers home industries and undermines the
financial stability of the country. The Spencer-Moulton threeribbed
tyre is British made throughout. It gives as good service as
any imported tyre - and in many cases scores a distinct advantage
on the question of price.”
Spencer-Moulton lost 47 of their workforce during the
war, including George Spencer who was effectively Eric
Moulton’s counterpart in the Spencer family and, at 31,
already a member of the Board of Directors. George died
from wounds sustained in battle in December 1917.
18

Red Cross Hospital, Avoncliff
Bradford on Avon Church Lads, New Road Hut
19
Red Cross Volunteers and Nurses, Fitzmaurice School
Victory Parade at Victory Field, 1918

Victory Parade, Bradford on Avon
20

War-time Cake
from Alice Moulton’s Recipe Book
Alice Moulton kept a neat book of household
recipes - from conventional cooking to how to
deal with stains and even how to prepare glass
photographic plates.
Of particular relevance here is this war-time
cake recipe, made without butter, eggs or milk.
The Victorian kitchen in the basement of The
Hall may have seen the baking of the war-time
cake many times, and indeed some may have
been posted out to Eric at the front. One does
wonder however, if there was such a lack of
ingredients at The Hall, whether others in the
town had anything to eat at all.
After the death of her husband John, Alice
Moulton became head of the household at The
Hall. Her eldest grandchild, also John, later
recalled: “We know that Granny never really got
over the loss of her three men and for a long time
the subject was hurtful to her. However, she must
have quickly seen where her duty lay and, by sheer
strength of character and supported by a strong
religious faith, was able to steer the estate safely
through the financial shocks of the Depression, then
the second war and finally her own last illness, to
hand on to us the priceless asset we see and love
today. We owe her so much.”

Eric Moulton’s memory is perpetuated in many places. He was laid to
rest in Brown’s Road Military Cemetery at Festubert, France, and his
name is listed on the memorial in the cemetery grounds. In Bradford
on Avon his name is to be found on the War Memorial in Westbury
Gardens and on the Spencer-Moulton memorial (right) which is
now affixed to Kingston House. Holy Trinity Church has a fine War
Memorial on the south wall and wooden boards inside the porch. The
organ in the church is dedicated to the memory of Eric and his father
John (who provided the funds for its purchase). Christ Church has the
1919 Lady Chapel and Rose window and, finally, Eric is listed on the
War Cenotaph at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.
Cover image: The Hall in the 1890s (AMCT)
Back cover image: Stone of Remembrance, Brown’s Road Cemetery, Festubert (DF)
P1: AMCT & R.Wilkinson. P2: WSHC. P3,4,5,6,7 AMCT. P8 BoAMus. P9,10 WSHC.
P11 AMCT. P12 ©IWM Q98202, Q51640. P13 ©IWM Q52982AD. P14,15,16 AMCT.
P17 ©IWM 205219528. P18 The Motor Trader/Grace’s Guide. P19 WSHC, BoAMus.
P20 WSHC. P21 AMCT. P22 BoAMus.
Research by Guy Vincent
Text, Design & Layout by Dan Farrell
© Alex Moulton Charitable Trust 2018
The vision of the Alex Moulton Charitable Trust is to nurture and inspire future
generations of innovating engineers and designers and to inform, excite and engage
the community in the unique industrial legacy of the Moulton family of Bradford on Avon.
Visit our website: www.moultontrust.org
Alex Moulton
Charitable Trust
info@moultontrustees.org.uk
The Hall, Bradford on Avon BA15 1AJ
Registered charity number: 273158
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