The Three of Hundreds Chiltern - "Taking the Hundred"

Parish Map of the Chiltern Hundreds courtesy of British History Online

On 21st October 2022 Christian Matheson MP for City of Chester resigned his Parliamentary seat by being appointed by Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the post of Crown Steward and Bailiff of The Three of Hundreds Chiltern, he had "taken the hundred".  

Appointment to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of The Three of Hundreds Chiltern is a procedural device to allow Members of Parliament to resign from the House of Commons. Since MPs are technically unable to resign, resort is had to a legal fiction. An appointment to an "office of profit under The Crown" disqualifies an individual from sitting as a MP. Several offices were used in the past to allow MPs to resign, only the Crown Stewardships of the Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead are in present use.

The Hundreds were local authority areas that they were set up during the late Saxon period across most of what became England and Wales, Rapes in Sussex the land of the South Saxons and Wapentake in areas of Medieval Scandinavian occupation and Wards in Northumbria and the other northern counties. 

Other MPs who have used applying to the Chiltern Hundreds included John Stonehouse who faked his own death in 1974, lived in Australia for several months and was arrested in Melbourne on 24 December 1974. He was extradited to the UK and convicted on 18 counts of theft and fraud, sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He resigned as an MP on 27 August 1976 by way of application to become a steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. Another was John Profumo used the same method of resigning his seat in the House of Commons on 6th June 1963. 

The first application to become a Steward was John Pitt MP for Wareham, his application was on 25th January 1751. The most recent is Christian Matheson MP. Since January 1751 there have been 1073 MPs who have resigned their Parliamentary seat by applying to be Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds.

Tony Blair applied to The Three of Hundreds Chiltern and David Cameron chose the Manor of Northstead to leave to Commons after they relinquished their Premierships. 

The interest for the history of Eton Wick is that the Three Hundreds covered the south of Buckinghamshire are Burnham, Desborough and Stoke. The Stoke Hundred included the parishes of Colnbrook, Datchet, Denham, Eton, Fulmer, Hedgerley, Horton, Iver, Langley Marish, Stoke Poges, Upton-cum-Chalvey, Wexham, Wyrardisbury. Eton was initial within the Burnham Hundred.

Eton Wick may still only be a relatively small community it is part of the Chiltern Hundreds that still has a place in the UK's political life.

More details can be found on Wikipedia.

A Diamond Jubilee Oak on the Common - A Royal Gift from Prince Philip

In 1897, a sapling oak was planted on Common Road, Eton Common (in Eton Wick) to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee; the oak, which thrived and is now a splendid specimen, came from the forestry department of Windsor Great Park.

In 2012, the Eton Wick History Group commemorated Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee by planting a young oak some seventy yards from the one referred to above; and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh, kindly agreed to let us have a 10' 0" (3 metres) sapling from the Crown Estate.

The Oak Tree planted to commemorate the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in June 2012

As I write this, I know that the oak has been set aside for us and we have only to make arrangements to collect it at an appropriate time for planting; but before obtaining suitable transport and agreeing the date for planting, we have first to acquire a steel fence guard to protect the young tree from cattle (it will be planted just inside an area where cattle graze). Our local Councillor, Peter Lawless, has kindly authorised a grant to cover the cost of the heavy-duty metal tree guard. We hope that shortly we will be in a position to announce the date of a formal planting ceremony. 

John Reid Chairman — Eton Wick History Group 

From page 34 of The Eton Wick Newsletter of April 2012

Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, Provost of Eton College
with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Eton Town Council

Lord Waldegrave undertook the ceremonial planting of the Jubilee Oak.

  

The Eton Wick Newsletter - Our Village Collection

The Eton Wick History website is a project born out of a friendship between John Denham and a former Slough Librarian, Alison Davies. In the early years of the Eton Wick History Group John used the Reference Section at Slough Library on a very regular basis for his many research projects. When Alison returned to her native Scotland she offered to set up a website as a way of staying in touch, that was in 2003. 

John Denham was a founder member of the History Group and also its Archivist. For more than 20 years he brought together a significant collection of village memories, books and research material about the village and local area. The varied content of this website reflects this archive. This website currently has 370 articles and over 150 further pages of supporting documents.

History doesn't stop and the History Group are most grateful to have the permission of the Eton Wick Village Hall management committee to hold the Our Village Collection on this website. Three times a year since 2008 the Eton Wick Newsletter has recorded the activities of the village, its recent history. You can find the Collection by clicking on this link and the August 2021 edition can be found here.

The Eton Wick Newsletter - April 2008 - `Our Village' Magazine - OUR NEW PLAYGROUNDS

Haywards Mead Children's Play Area

Stockdales Road Children's Play Area

Our children's play areas, in Stockdales Road and Haywards Mead, are being completely renovated and upgraded, thanks to a huge community effort by the Eton & Eton Wick Partnership, who have raised £110,000, and £90,000 of that goes to the village, with the remainder going to the playground in Meadow Lane at Eton. 

Eton Town Council set up the Partnership in 2004 to tackle the anti-social behaviour problems in the village centre. Thames Valley Police, the Royal Borough, Windsor Housing, Eton College and others joined them to work together, and saw the problem pretty well disappear, but they went on to do other things to help, like arranging for the extra lighting in Haywards Mead and the car park, more staffing and projects for the Youth Club, the new CCTV camera, closing the rat run at Bellsfield Court and the drinking den in the recreation ground. In all twelve separate initiatives were undertaken. 

And then came the big one. The survey undertaken in 2006 —remember www.etonsurvey.com - showed that our rather tired playgrounds were a big issue for many of us, with lots of Mums and Dads taking their children to newer and better playgrounds in Datchet, Windsor and beyond. So the Partnership consulted the community, particularly the schools, playgroups, child minders and the youth club and then set about raising the necessary cash. The government's South East England Development Agency matched the Partnership's efforts pound for pound, and £110,000 has been raised altogether. 

These new facilities will benefit local children, helping their problem solving, improving confidence, and providing more social opportunities for them and for the rest of us as well. Initiatives from within our community of which we can all be proud. 

Philip Highy - Mayor 

Sue Warner - Partnership Chairman 

This article was first published in the first edition of the Eton Wick Newsletter in April 2008 and is republished here with the kind permission of the publishers, the Eton Wick Village Hall committee.

There are several articles about the history of the Eton Wick Recreation Grounds that can be found on this website by clicking on this link.

The images that illustrate this article are used with the courtesy of Google Maps.

The Closure of St. Gilbert's Church

St. Gilbert's Church, Hayward's Mead

It was at the beginning of December when we were informed that St. Gilbert's was to close and that our last service would be on 6th January (The Epiphany). We knew the 'writing was on the wall' as, for the past few years, services had been reduced to one Sunday and one Friday Mass per month (plus Christmas Day and Easter Sunday) but we really had hoped that this might be allowed to continue, for whilst we had those few services it did at least mean that there was a visible Catholic presence in the village and the Catholic church was available for baptisms and funerals etc. In recent years, a retired priest, Father Bosco Clarke, generally came over from Maidenhead to celebrate the Sunday Masses (ably assisted by our Deacon, Paul Lipscomb); and our Parish Priest, Father Andy Richardson, was always on hand for the Friday evening service, and for special celebrations. 

A letter from our Bishop, which outlined the reasons for closure, referred to the reality of there now being fewer priests. The letter also mentioned the need to spend a lot of money on the church on maintenance issues; we had always tried very hard not to cost the diocese too much money in upkeep: for example, the interior had not been redecorated for over twenty-five years, and the interior plumbing and wiring was as installed in 1964; but inevitably major work would be required in order to bring the building up to a legally compliant modern standard. Hence, the Diocese, who are having to prioritise with many other churches around the diocese in a similar situation, took the difficult decision to close St Gilbert's and sell the land. 

The St. Gilbert's congregation always enjoyed sharing the church with our other local denominations and were often involved in ecumenical happenings: we took our turn with them in hosting the Churchyard Committee meetings, the recently established 'Thy Kingdom Come' prayer breakfast, and the annual (Women's) World Day of Prayer (some of us got together to represent Catholics at the recent one at St. John's). We even opened St. Gilbert's to an impromptu hosting of last December's 'Carols and Dress-Up Nativity Play', which couldn't take place by the village Christmas Tree due to very strong cold winds — Father Andy was represented by Father Emmanuel Okami. For more than twenty years, Mary McCarthy ran a youth club (called Charlie's Angels) at the church for children from 5 to 12 years old. We will very much miss having the opportunity to share in this way. 

As many of you will already know, it was in 1954 that a Father Dunstan (formerly a Torpedo Boat Coxswain!!) encouraged Eton Wick's Catholics to strive to finance the construction of their own church in the village. At that time, Sunday morning Mass was being celebrated in the Village Hall (for which the hire charge was 4 shillings per week and the clearing of Saturday night's debris); and, prior to that, villagers had made their way to 'Our Lady of Sorrows' at Eton. A committee was elected, a raffle held and the £3 raised was the first contribution to the fundraising. A few years (and a lot of jumble sales, bazaars, and dances) later, the funds had reached £4,000 and money subsequently pledged realised the total required for construction to commence, with the foundations being dug by the parishioners themselves. Ten years after Father Dunstan's challenge, on the day before Palm Sunday in 1964, the Roman Catholic Church of St. Gilbert was blessed by Bishop Leo Parker. St. Gilbert's was built at a cost of £16,000 on land which was purchased for £1,500. We are thankful that none of those who worked so hard to provide this Catholic church remain to see its closure. 

Interior of St. Gilbert's

Eton Wick Catholics have scattered, for a variety of reasons, to various local churches (although we officially remain in 'Our Lady of Peace' parish) and we have lost our physical `home'; but we are still together in our faith. It just remains for us to say 'Thank you' to all those villagers (whether Christian or non-Christian) who have supported St. Gilbert's in different ways throughout the past 54 years, your various kindnesses have been much appreciated and we will remember them in our prayers. 

Written on behalf of St. Gilbert's Clergy and Congregation 

This article was first published in the Our Village April 2019 edition.

Jade Garden - A Brief History

GOODBYE AND THANK YOU CONNIE

It came as a surprise in October, to all the village, to suddenly learn that Connie and family were to leave their ‘Fish and Chips’ shop and the village the following week.  With no opportunity for proper farewells, we asked Chung, their son, to give us their memorable story:-

Image from Google Street View

Jade Garden - A Brief History

In 1988 a Chinese family moved into the village to take over what was then a fish and chip shop named Gray's.  It would start as a partnership with a third party and the business was named Eton Wick Fish Bar.

They were one of the first, if not the first fully non-British family to be welcomed to the village; they were here to work hard and try to make a living in what appeared to be a suitable area.  There were local amenities nearby: schools for their children and, more importantly, plenty of people who were interested in eating Chinese food.  Business was good, with people becoming more accepting, helped by the fact the children spoke English (and the food was good).  In 1994, the business partner was bought out and the shop was renamed Jade Garden.

For the next 22 years, Connie, Kevin and Chung (and a few different chefs) would serve the village and surrounding area with a warm welcome and smiles on their faces.  Families would move out, new families move in, older folk pass on, but Jade Garden, commonly known as Connie's, would remain part of the village.  Different generations of the same family would buy from Jade Garden: couples would start families; their children would grow and themselves buy from the shop and they later might have families of their own and thus the cycle repeated.  

After working 60-70 hours a week for most of their working life, the time became right to sell the business and welcome a new era for Jade Garden.  The discreet announcement may have seemed quite sudden but plans had been quietly progressing for some months and it would not have been appropriate to publicise them until all was finalised.  Connie and Kevin may well have regretted not saying something sooner, as there was so little opportunity to say goodbye.  Rest assured, all customers/villagers/friends will be fondly remembered, especially by Connie with her exceptional memory for faces and names.

Connie and Kevin will be spending their years of retirement in their country of birth, Hong Kong; and their large family will certainly keep them occupied.  Nevertheless, they have promised to visit the UK when they can, so maybe some of you will get to see them again some day.  

From the bottom of their hearts, the family thanks everyone who has ever supported their business over the years and made it such a success.  

Chung (Connie's son)

We heartily thank Connie, Kevin and Chung for all they meant to our community during their twenty-eight years here; and we do sincerely wish them all good health and happiness in their ‘going home’.  We also wish Jenny and her team every success in Eton Wick and may they be here at least as long as dear Connie.

Eton Wick History Group

This article first appeared in the December 2016 issue of Our Village, the Eton Wick newsletter. Our Village is published three times a year by the Eton Wick Village hall Committee