VV_Feb Web 19

VV HISTORY:
TWIXTLANDS FIVE
From time to time the Residents Society
receives enquiries from people outside the
immediate area, usually concerning
matters of local and social history often
linked to their own family stories...
One such enquiry, received just before
Christmas, concerned the final resting place of
one Ellen Cicely Wilkinson who with others
lived in Penn Bottom in the Autumn of 1939.
Now, I imagine Ellen was not typical of those
that enjoyed the rural atmosphere of Penn
Bottom between the wars, she was the MP for
Jarrow, had led the Jarrow March and was a
founder member of the British Communist
Party, she had travelled to Russia and met Leon
Trotsky, and following the Labour Party
landslide in 1945 she became Minister for
Education and died in office in 1947. Although
keeping a London flat she must have retained
fond memories of Penn as she is buried in Holy
Trinity Penn Street.
However, there is still more to be told, as
Ellen shared the house in Penn Bottom - known
ELLEN WILKINSON CIRCA 1930
www.pennandtylersgreen.org.uk
Village Voice February/March 2019
as Twixtlands - with other notable socialists of
the era.
Probably best known was Herbert Stanley
Morrison, he of the Morrison shelter widely
promoted and used in WW2. One-time leader of
the London County Council, he became Home
Secretary in the Coalition Government
1940-1945 and then Deputy Prime Minister in
Clement Attlee’s 1945-1951 Labour
Government.
The third Labour MP present that Autumn
was John Jagger who had represented
Manchester Clayton since 1935, a committed
trade unionist he became Morrison’s PPS in
1940 until his death in a road accident 1942.
This accident took place in Clay Street Penn
Bottom when his auto-cycle collided with a
motor car driven by a local farmer, Jagger was
on his way to Beaconsfield station to catch a
London train.
The remaining two residents were Anne &
Doris Wilkinson, sister & sister-in-law to Ellen,
Anne was a staunch supporter of her sister
throughout her political career both sharing
various London addresses for many years.
So, within Twixtlands had resided political
figures of considerable national & international
reputation and there had been iconic visitors as
well Mahatma Gandhi among them…and yes it
still stands today as Little Penn Farmhouse
This article would not have
been possible without reference
to the “1939 Register”, it
provided the Government with a
snapshot of the civilian
population of England & Wales
just after the outbreak of WW2.
It was taken on 29th
September 1939 and was used
in the introduction of Identity
Cards & Ration Books. It later
played an important role in the
launch of the NHS. It can be
viewed on both the Find my
Past and Ancestry websites.
Ron Saunders
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