No. 662 May 2026 Edited by Sue Willetts
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming Lectures and Events
Tuesday 12 May 2026 Grace Jarvis from the West Essex Archaeological Group (WEAG) on ‘Copped Hall – a mansion of pleasure and privacy’. Tuesday 9 June 2026 Annual General Meeting at 7:30pm followed by a lecture given by our President, Jacqui Pearce, entitled ‘The Parish Scavenger’s Tale’. Recycling household waste is not new. This talk looks back at the activities of a Parish Scavenger in London’s West End during the 18th century, as demonstrated by a particularly rich assemblage of finds recovered during excavations in Duke Street. These present a vivid picture of everyday life in the neighbourhood at a time when the area was being developed and acquiring a respectable status. Free tea, coffee and biscuits at the AGM. Lectures are held in the Drawing Room, Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. 7.45 for 8pm. Tea, coffee and biscuits available for purchase after each talk. Buses 13, 125, 143, 326, 382, and 460 pass close by, and it is a five to ten minute walk from Finchley Central Station on the Barnet Branch of the Northern Line, where the Super Loop SL10 express bus from North Finchley to Harrow also stops.
Subscriptions
A polite reminder that HADAS membership renewals were due on the 1st of April. Please pay by direct bank transfer if possible, to CAF Bank Account 00083254, Sort Code 40-52-40, stating your surname and Memfee 26 (or shorten to Mem26 if there is not enough space). Members who pay their subscription by standing order need take no action. Please send cheques to Roger Chapman; his address is on the back of the newsletter. Membership fees are still only £15 per person; add £5 per person per household. Fees for the under 18s and full-time students are only £6.
Treasurer Role
Roger Chapman is stepping down as HADAS Treasurer, although remaining on the committee. This is an important role for the functioning of HADAS. Please contact him for more information; his email is on the contact list on the last page.
Vine Cottages – Dig in July
This summer HADAS will be returning to the site of Vine Cottages for another excavation. Work this year will target the western area around Trench 3, where a few features were unable to be fully excavated and from where the most interesting finds were discovered. The dig will run between the 23rd and the 26th of July, and the site is located across from the Greyhound Pub in Hendon. Participation in the excavation is free for members, and temporary membership can be purchased on the day for £1 per day. Everyone is also welcome to come and have a look and a chat, without needing to dig!
The Clay Tobacco Pipes from West Heath
Susan Trackman Between 1984 and 1986 HADAS carried out the second set of its excavations on a site on part of the West Heath. Whilst almost all the recovered material consisted of flints and stones, HADAS also collected six pieces of clay tobacco pipe (five in 1984 and one in 1986). All the pieces of pipe found in 1984 were decorated and/or marked. The small piece of bowl found in 1986 (undatable) was plain but had been burnished. Set out below are the details of the pieces of pipe found in 1984. Photos 1 & 2 With its upright bowl and heel this small piece of pipe is datable to 1850–1910 (AO 31). The pipe was decorated with the front depicting a partial face. Unfortunately, with only the initial letter (‘D’) of the maker’s first name being present, it is not possible to establish the maker. Photo 3 Even this tiny fragment shows that the original pipe was decorated with leaves leading up from the stem to the bowl. Photo 4 The bottom half of a small figure is visible. Photo 5 The simple decoration around the top of the bowl marked this out as the plainest of the pipe pieces. Photos 6 & 7 This piece of bowl was the largest of the pieces recovered and consequently showed the most decoration, which had been well modelled. Leaves ran up at least one seam and a partial horseman in 18th century dress is visible. There is sufficient bowl present to indicate that this pipe also dated 1850–1910 (AO 30). In addition to the decoration, the letters ‘H I G’ are visible and they may give a clue as to the pipe’s maker. From about 1854/5 until 1907/8, John Harrison and his brother Francis ran the pipe factory in Muswell Hill Road. They had taken over the business started by William Andrews in the late 18th/early 19th century. Harrison pipes were usually marked ‘Harrison of Highgate’ along the stem. However, ‘Highgate’ sometimes also appeared on the bowl. Given the date of the pipe and the possibility that the letters ‘A T E’ would have been on the other side of the bowl, it is possible that the pipe was made at the Highgate factory by the Harrison brothers.
Salonika Campaign – The Finchley Connection
Andy Simpson Newsletter readers may remember that in HADAS newsletters 623 (February 2023) and 647 (February 2025) I discussed the lives and burial places of the four Hendon men buried out in Greece, having fought and died as part of the British Salonika Force in Greece and Macedonia during the Great War. It was my intention then to look for other Salonika casualties originating in the current London Borough of Barnet, and I recently began studying those from Finchley, initially by checking names on Finchley area memorials against casualty records on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. Finchley has a number of public war memorials. Perhaps the most visible is that in North Finchley, outside Finchley United Services Club, Ballards Lane, unveiled in November 1925. It is flanked left and right by the recovered war memorials from the now demolished former Metropolitan Electric Tramways Finchley tram depot. This stood almost opposite in Woodberry Grove, opening in June 1905, later serving as a trolleybus depot from August 1936 until January 1962 and then as a motorbus depot, finally closing on 4th December 1993. It was replaced originally by a Homebase store and in 2025–2026 by the inevitable blocks of flats, which saw the demolition of remaining sections of depot wall. The tramways memorial lists eighteen men, mostly now buried in France or Belgium, with one in Egypt. None appear to have died during the Salonika Campaign. The former Hendon bus garage memorial, originally unveiled in 1921, lists 31 men plus two killed in air raids. The garage itself opened in March 1913, operated by the London General Omnibus Company, and was closed by London Buses after services on 5th June 1987, after which the memorial was relocated. One of those listed is bus washer W. McLaughlin. According to the LGOC Staff Register, washer W. McLaughlin of 19 Hardington Street, Marylebone, a single man with no recorded dependants, left the LGOC on 22 January 1915 and served with the Royal Field Artillery. Killed in Action 10 June 1915. I did think at first that he may have served in Salonika with the Northumberland Fusiliers as 28336 Private William McLaughlin, who now lies in Struma Military Cemetery. However, the surviving pension record indicates that this Private McLaughlin left a widow, Margaret, née McGregor, and three children including son Robert and daughter Janet Miller Hutchinson. The others listed on this memorial all lie in France and Belgium, with one in Italy. Thanks to SCS chair Alan Wakefield for the following: I was looking at Vol 1 of the Macedonia Official History for the 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers for 10 September 1916, the date Pte McLaughlin died. It appears the battalion attacked the village of Nevolyen in the Struma Valley as part of XVII Corps operations to hold Bulgarian forces to that front and prevent any troops being taken out of the line and sent to assist in the Central Powers offensive against Romania. Although the village was reached relatively easily, a large Bulgarian counter-attack led to close quarter fighting in which a number of Fusiliers were captured. By the time the battalion withdrew back across the River Struma at 7.40pm, it had suffered 124 casualties. McLaughlin was most likely one of these men. The rafts constructed by the Royal Engineers assisted with the crossing of the river and the evacuation of casualties after the attack. The other names on the garage memorial include Hendon-born Driver, later Private M/321615 Ormand William Woodford of the Army Service Corps Motor Transport Section, attached to 15th Light Armoured Motor Battery, Machine Gun Corps (Motors). He is buried in Baghdad (North Gate) Military Cemetery. He died on 11 January 1918, aged 29. Son of Mr and Mrs W. Woodford of Deenfield, Hendon, he was still living at 42 Deerfield Cottages, The Hyde, Hendon in 1911; these stood near the former Schweppes factory on the Edgware Road until demolished in the 1970s. He was the husband of the presumably later remarried Winifred Alice Hitchens (formerly Woodford), of “Rosemary,” East Street, Fine Dock, Sydney, Australia. His grave is marked EVER REMEMBERED, HONOURED IN DEATH BY WIFE AND CHILDREN. There are however two Finchley men remembered who definitely served in Salonika. Over at St Mary-at-Finchley Church there are 36 names on the memorial. One of them is William Vickers Dunfee. As Flight Lieutenant Dunfee in the newly formed Royal Air Force (RAF), he died at or near Stavros seaplane base, Macedonia, aged just 18, on 1 May 1918. This seaplane base hosted aircraft for spotting and reconnaissance duties, keeping an eye out for Bulgarian submarines operating along the coast, with the front line and mouth of the Struma only a few miles away. There was also an airfield for landplanes a short distance inland from Stavros. Army Death Records indicate he suffered skull injuries in a flying accident whilst serving on the Salonika Front with No. 2 Wing (based at the large, safe anchorage at Mudros Bay, on the east side of the island of Lemnos in the North Aegean Sea), leaving effects valued at £37 4s, transferred in September 1919. This gave him posthumous entitlement to the Victory Medal. The published probate record dated 31 May 1919 shows that his estate, total value £104 17s 6d, went to his mother in Finchley. William was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire, on 19th May 1899; son of Mrs Helen Dunfee, latterly of 56 Church Crescent, Finchley, and the late William Lobeys Dunfee. Church Crescent lies just yards from the actual church. The 1901 census has the one-year-old William living in Buckhurst Hill, Essex with his five-year-old, Ventnor, Isle of Wight-born sister Eleanor Gladys, and his 39-year-old mother Helen, at his Yorkshire-born 44-year-old single aunt Annis Robinson’s home. In the 1911 census, he is at boarding school. He had originally joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), being appointed Probationary Flight Officer (temporary) on 5 August 1917 whilst at Crystal Palace, appearing as such in the Active Officer List, and Flight Sub-Lieutenant (temporary) on 12 December 1917 whilst at Cranwell, and Lieutenant effective 1 April 1918. Officer’s Records indicate he had been posted from the Royal Naval Reserve Training Depot HMS Victory VI at Crystal Palace to the main RNAS pilot training base at Chingford, Essex on 8 September 1917, and from there to the RNAS Central Training Establishment, HMS Daedalus, Cranwell, Lincolnshire on 27 October 1917. Operating a variety of aircraft types, Cranwell served as the base for finishing courses and graduation for RNAS personnel. From Cranwell, he was posted to No. 2 Wing on 30 January 1918. He is buried at Mikra British Military Cemetery, Kalamaria, south of Thessaloniki. Also on the St Mary’s memorial is Finchley-born Second Lieutenant Maxwell Halford Carne, 2nd Battalion (46th Foot), The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Died of Wounds 23 December 1916 at Tigne Military Hospital, Malta, aged 26. Buried at Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta. Born in Finchley on 14 March 1889 and baptised there on 31 January 1890, he was the third of four children and the eldest son of Henry and Agnes Miriam Carne, living in Elm Park, Finchley. A career bank official, Henry was latterly Principal of the Issue Department at the Bank of England, who on 21 May 1917 inherited his late son’s estate valued at £265 12s 3d. Maxwell was also remembered on the nearby war memorial at Christ’s College, Church End, Finchley, unveiled in 1921. He later moved to City of London School. On 7th March 1913, aged 24, he sailed on the SS Grampian along with his younger brother Harry Carne as a second-class passenger from Liverpool bound for Halifax, British Columbia; his occupation was listed as ‘Manufacturer’ (the 1911 census lists him as ‘artificial eye maker’). He worked on the Welland Fruit Ranch, Nelson, British Columbia. Returning to London on the outbreak of war, departing Montreal on 7 September 1914 and arriving at Liverpool as a third-class passenger listed as ‘Lumberman’ on 18th September 1914, he promptly volunteered for foreign service and joined the newly mobilised Artist’s Rifles that same month. Originally enlisted as a private, he first served in France and Flanders with the 28/London Regiment from 22 January 1915, regimental number 2828, entitling him to the 1914/15 Star. Early in 1915 the regiment established an Officers Training Corps in France, and as a result he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on 9 July 1915, moving to Salonika in November 1916. The unit had been Salonika-based since late 1915. After the taking of the southern Serbian town of Monastir from the Bulgarians on 19 November 1916, Carne was promoted to temporary Captain and given his own company to command, but had to relinquish that when three Captains were sent out from London to fill vacant posts. He died in Tigne hospital from wounds received in action on 7th December 1916 while leading an attack on Bulgarian lines south-east of Serres in the River Struma Valley. The Struma flows from the Bulgarian mountains, through Macedonia to the Aegean Sea. Its valley, some nine miles wide, is low-lying and was then prone to flooding, with its malaria-inducing swamps and marshes particularly unpleasant in the summer months, hence it was known as ‘Death Valley’ to the locals. Beginning at 06.40 hours, this failed attack at Tumbitza Farm by the 2nd Gloucesters with the 2nd DCLI in support was intended to aid pushing Serbian troops out of the Struma Valley. Despite preliminary artillery bombardments at 5am and 6am, and a third just before the actual attack, heavy Bulgarian artillery, machine gun and rifle fire caused a total of 365 British casualties of all ranks, with withdrawal ordered at 07.35 hours after barely an hour of attacks. Located near Lake Tahinos, the farm was a large, isolated farmhouse in fertile tobacco and grain-growing country, occupied by the Bulgarians as a permanent post in front of their main front line. A previous costly and unsuccessful attack on it had been made on 17 November as a diversionary attack during the advance on Monastir. British Commander Lt General ‘Uncle’ George Milne was so angered by the losses in these two attacks that it was the only time he relieved an officer of his command, sending Brigadier General Ravenshaw back to England. By 1919, Maxwell’s mother Agnes’s address for correspondence was 41 Upper Tollington Park, London N14; she was the daughter of William Halford, presumably hence Maxwell’s middle name. Additionally there are 42 names on the memorial at All Saints’ Church, East Finchley, but seemingly none with a Salonika connection. See allsaints-eastfinchley.org.uk. With grateful thanks to Susan Trackman (Archivist, Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution); SCS Chair Alan Wakefield; and my sister Alison Hitcham, for their assistance with researching this article.
Bibliography
Falls, Capt. C. History of the Great War – Military Operations in Macedonia: From the Outbreak of War to the Spring of 1917. HMSO, 1933. Wakefield, A. & Moody, S. Under the Devil’s Eye: The British Military Experience in Macedonia 1915–1918. Pen & Sword Military, 2011. Wakefield, A. ‘The Principles of the Offence in the Struma: a study of three operations 1916–1918.’ The New Mosquito: The Journal of the Salonika Campaign Society, Issue No. 34, September 2016, pp. 2–12. Watson, K. ‘Onward Christian Soldiers: On Campaign with 2/DCLI.’ The New Mosquito, Issue No. 17, April 2008, pp. 9–18.
Other Societies’ Events
Eric Morgan As always, please check with the societies’ websites before planning to attend, since not all societies or organisations have returned to pre-Covid conditions. Wednesday 13 May, 5pm. Royal Archaeological Institute. Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BE. The Lamp of Knowledge: The Symbol of the Society of Antiquaries. Presidential address given by Natalie Cohen. The Lamp has been used since the 18th century, originally identified as a Roman artefact, subsequently re-dated to the medieval period, and more recently suggested to be a Jewish Sabbath Lamp. The talk will discuss other examples identified in collections in the UK and beyond during the medieval period, the context of the Lamp’s discovery, and lived experiences of Jewish communities in England. Preceded by AGM at 4.45pm. Tea served at 4.15/4.30pm. For enquiries please phone 07847 600756. May also be available online. www.royalarchinst.org Friday 15 May, 7pm. C.O.L.A.S. Talk on Zoom. Witch Bottles Concealed and Revealed by Nigel Jefferies (MOLA). Please book via Eventbrite. Visit www.colas.org.uk Monday 18 May. London Archives. London’s Jews and the Roman Wall. From medieval to modern times, London’s Wall has played an important role in defining Jewish life in our city. Utilising historic maps and other primary sources you will learn how it impacted the locations of Jewish settlement throughout the past millennium, and what it meant both religiously and culturally to this community. Talk delivered by Rabbi Shalom Morris as part of Jewish Culture Month. Book via Eventbrite. Wednesday 20 May, 5.30pm. London Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB. The Medieval Monastic B&B Hotspot. Talk by Lester Hillman (City of London Guide Lecturers Association). How monastic and episcopal lodgings in Clerkenwell served as strategic stopovers for legal business, charter work, fundraising and hosting. Highlights the Hospitallers, Gilbertines and Bishop of Ely, and reveals how local attractions made the area a lively hub of temporary residence, networking and cultural activity. Cost £5. Book via Eventbrite. Wednesday 20 May. Finchley Society. Outing to St Mary’s Hendon, courtesy of Rev. Prebendary Dr Julie Gittoes (Vicar). Cost £10. Morning visit. Further details not yet available. Please visit www.finchleysociety.org.uk nearer the time. Thursday 21 May, 7pm. London Archaeologist. Room 612, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY. Discoveries from 50 Fenchurch Street including Roman Pottery Findings. Annual lecture given by Jessica Bryan (MOLA), Vincenzo Castaldo and Isabelle Diggle. Also on Zoom. Preceded by AGM. Please visit www.londonarchaeologist.org.uk for further details and the Zoom link. Wednesday 27 May, 7.30pm. Friern Barnet and District Local History Society. North Middlesex Golf Club, The Manor House, Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0NL. Annual General Meeting followed by speaker (TBA). Please visit www.friern-barnethistory.org.uk for further details nearer the time. Non-members £2. Bar available. Saturday 13 June, 12–5pm. Highgate Festival. Pond Square and South Grove, Highgate, London N6 5BS. Stalls including the Highgate Society and Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute. Also books, clothes, craft and food stalls, music stage, tower and crypt (for Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s tomb), and tours of the church. Free entry. The Highgate Festival runs from 13th to 21st June. Please visit www.highgatefestival.org. Monday 8 June, 3pm. Barnet Museum and Local History Society. St John the Baptist Church, Chipping Barnet, corner of High Street and 2 Wood Street, Barnet EN5 4BW. The Holiday Camps: Summer Holiday Memories. Talk by John Lynch. Please visit www.barnetmuseum.co.uk for details. Visitors £3. Refreshments served afterwards. Friday 12 June, 7.30pm. Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane / Junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ. The Ancient Near East. Talk by Mark Altaweel (UCL). Please visit www.enfarchsoc.org. Visitors £1.50. Refreshments from 7pm. Thursday 18 June, 6pm. Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn, London EC1N 2HH. The Death of the Roman Republic? Talk by Professor Melissa Lane. Also live online. Free. Register via the website at www.gresham.ac.uk. Telephone 0207 831 0575. Friday 19 June, 7.30pm. Wembley History Society. St Andrew’s Church Hall (behind St Andrew’s new church), Church Lane, Kingsbury, London NW9 8AZ. Confessions of a Roman Bath Attendant. Talk by Lester Hillman. Visitors £3. Refreshments in the interval. Sunday 21 June – Sunday 5 July. Hampstead Summer Festival. Including Sunday 21 June, 12–5pm: Art Fair, Keats House and Garden, 10 Keats Grove, London NW3 2PR. Also craft stalls of pottery, jewellery and designer clothes, wine and food. Free entry. Also throughout June and July: Art Street, canvasses in Keats Grove, London NW3 2RS. Please visit www.hampsteadsummerfestival.com. Saturday 27 June – Sunday 5 July. Proms at St Jude’s Music and Literary Festival, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London NW11 7AG. Includes talks and heritage walks. For details visit www.promsatstjudes.org.uk. Tickets for guided walks must be booked in advance including Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June. Litfest at Henrietta Barnett School, London NW11 7BN with book sales. Tuesday 30 June, 6pm. Guildhall Library, Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH. Compliments to the Chef. Talk by Lester Hillman on Daniell Clarke (Master Cooke to Elizabeth I and James I), marking the 400th anniversary of his death, including the Armada, Gunpowder Plot and Shakespeare and more. Refreshments available. Book via the City of London website.
With thanks to this month’s contributors: Eric Morgan, Andy Simpson, Susan Trackman.
Contact Details
Chair: Sandra Claggett, c/o Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE. Email: chairman@hadas.org.uk Hon. Secretary: Janet Mortimer, c/o Stephens House & Gardens, 17 East End Road, London N3 3QE. Email: secretary@hadas.org.uk Phone: 07449 978121 Hon. Treasurer: Roger Chapman, 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP. Phone: 07855 304488. Email: treasurer@hadas.org.uk Membership Secretary: Vacant. Email: membership@hadas.org.uk Website: www.hadas.org.uk
The June 2026 Newsletter Editor will be Melvyn Dresner 28 Puller Road, Barnet EN5 4HF melvyndresner@hotmail.com 07941 391932 Copy to him by 18 May 2026, please.
