Category: News

To celebrate International Women’s Day, today the 8th March, our Information Manager, Elizabeth, has been looking at the role of women in milling – who are not as few and far between as one might think!

M. I. Batten^[1] is the author of English Windmills Volume 1 which was published by the Architectural Press in 1930.  We have a copy in the Mills Archive Library available to visitors.  However, it is only through our work on the Rex Wailes Collection that we are understanding how significant this book is and the part Marjorie Batten played in the early days of the SPAB Mills Section.

This volume is important because it comes just a year after the SPAB Windmills Fund was launched in June 1929 to raise money for the preservation of windmills. 

The Windmill Campaign was launched when the Daily Mail asked Miss Batten to write an article about the plight of windmills in June 1929.  A copy of the Daily Mail press cutting was found recently in the Rex Wailes Collection.

The first report of the Windmill Fund was produced in the SPAB Annual Report 1930^[2].  On the list of committee members and honorary positions is Hon. Secretary to the Windmill Fund Miss M. I. Batten.  In 1930, Miss Batten was one of a small number of pioneering women who were making their mark in the preservation of historic buildings and mills. 

Genealogical research has uncovered her name to be Marjorie Isabel Batten. She was born in Kensington in 1903, daughter of Holgate Batten, a land agent, and Jane Forbes of Scotland.  Marjorie had two older brothers, John Forbes Batten and Stephen Alexander Holgate Batten.  The family lived at Moorlands, Horsell, Woking but then moved to Folkestone, Kent by 1911.

Marjorie was an art historian by training and was elected to SPAB in 1928, possibly through her brother John Forbes Batten who was also a member.  In 1930, she was appointed Secretary of the Windmill Fund and was on the SPAB Windmill Committee from 1931 to 1934, serving as its Secretary until 1931 when Miss H. Lloyd took over.  

As a result of the Daily Mail item, SPAB was inundated with correspondence and mill photographs which must have taken up a lot of Marjorie’s time acknowledging them all.  The Press interest was such that she sent further letters appealing for funds to preserve windmills.  These appeared in many papers including The Times, Daily Telegraph, Morning Post, Manchester Guardian, Evening News, Country Life and The Field.  Two leading articles on windmills with photographs were also published in The Times. 

In the correspondence files of the Rex Wailes Collection there are several letters sent to Rex Wailes from Miss M. I.Batten in her capacity of Honorary Secretary.  At the time Rex was just an engineer interested in mills but very involved in the Windmill Campaign.  In a letter to Rex Wailes on 29 November 1929, Marjorie outlines a plan for the lecture which she had mentioned in a telephone call to him that day. 

In the letter she explains that the idea for a talk or lecture was suggested in a letter she received from Mr Jan den Tex, Secretary of the Dutch Windmill Preservation Society.  He was very keen to visit England to talk about the Dutch approach to windmill preservation.  Simultaneously, she received a letter from Mr Rupert Thompson, Chairman of the National Trust Publicity Committee who knew Jan den Tex and was keen for National Trust members to be invited to the lecture.

Marjorie formulated a plan, agreed with Mr Powys the Secretary of SPAB, took the initiative and provisionally booked the lecture room at the Society of Arts which held about 200 people on a date to be decided. 

She outlined her ideas to Rex of how the event would unfold, calling Jan den Tex ‘ the hero of the hour’.  She suggests that Rex show some slides on English windmills – Cranbrook, Brill, Bourn and Chesterton.  She signs off in her characteristically tiny writing.  In the margin, Rex has created an additional list of mills to be included.

Rex Wailes replied on 2 December 1929 and suggests some more mills to include in his slideshow and how long he might speak for – 10 slides in 15 minutes, speaking for a minute and a half on each slide!

He also suggested that he could display some 18th century Dutch milling books from his collection. 

The Science Museum also lent a fine scale model of Cranbrook windmill which Rex demonstrated^[3].

In 1930, Marjorie wrote two letters to Rex in a more informal style which hint at her personality and life outside SPAB.  One gets the impression that she was an enthusiastic and intelligent woman. 

Marjorie’s catchphrase was “buzz” or “buzzing”.  She was very excited that she had found three illustrations of windmills earlier than the Lutteral Psalter.  The Architectural Press had also offered to publish her book. 

In the Foreward, she acknowledges the help of several eminent mill experts: William Coles-Finch who allowed her to reproduce his photographs in the book; Jack Holman (millwright of Canterbury) who sent photographs and information; Mr H P Vowles who sent a copy of his paper on the origin of windmills read at the Newcomen Society; Mr Rex Wailes, engineer and millwright who has advised the Society on the repair of mills and I am indebted for his invaluable advice and assistance.  Mr Wailes kindly wrote the second chapter of this book – Design and Development.

When the book was published, she asked Rex to approach The Sphere to publicise her book.  This magazine had a wide circulation.  Marjorie’s glamourous photograph (at the head of this article) appeared in the edition of March 21, 1931 on a page of other notable women including a Duchess, a Countess, the actress Fay Wray, and Fraulein Margarethe Guessow, Germany’s only female astronomer. 

This last letter relates to when Marjorie handed over the Honorary Secretary role to Miss Lloyd, although she continued to serve the SPAB Windmill Committee until her marriage in 1934 to Col. Geoffrey Fairbank Webb^[4]. She obviously liked to live well, eating oysters for lunch at the Albemarle Club!  This club was unusual in being a private members club for men and women and progressive in supporting women’s rights.  Members were aesthetes, artists and intellectuals. [The Albemarle Club was absorbed into the ‘In and Out Club’ in 1939].

Little seems to be recorded of Marjorie after her marriage.  Volume 2 of English Windmills was written by Donald Smith and published in 1932.  Marjorie suffered declining health and passed away in 1962.  

The SPAB Windmill Committee in their 1961-62 report^[5] expressed “deep regret of the death of Mrs Geoffrey Webb”.  Her book English Windmills volume 1 was described as “a pioneer work of the utmost interest and lasting value. It was through Mrs Webb that the Ministry of Works was approached by the Section and encouraged to take certain mills under their guardianship”. 

^[1] Image of Marjorie Batten from The Sphere March 21, 1931

^[2] Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Fifty-Third Annual Report of the Committee, April 1930.

^[3] Lantern slide image (KGFC-GPN-E-082) of the Model of Cranbrook Smock Windmill in the Science Museum.

^[4] Col. Geoffrey Fairbank Webb (1898-1970) was an architectural historian, Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge and head of the Monuments and Fine Arts Section of the Allied Control Commission during World War II.  His biography can be read here https://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/webb-col-geoffrey-f

^[5] SPAB The Wind and Watermill Section Report of the Committee for the Thirtieth-Thirty-First Year 1961-1962

Mills have played a huge role in our lives for hundreds of years, from the primitive mill stone to more recent hydroelectric turbines. It is interesting to see how much of an impact mills have had in all areas of our lives, not least their impact on language across the world. Whilst reading through many journal articles I have found many commonly used idioms and expressions relating to mills and milling life, many contemporary users of which likely don’t know about their milling origins! Below I’ve listed some of my particular favourites – I hope you enjoy them. How many of these do you know? Do you know any that aren’t on this list? Let us know!

• Être au four et au moulin = (French) To be in the oven and in the mill. (i.e. being in two places at the same time)
• To blow enough turn to turn a mill = to be severely out of breath
• To fling one’s cap over the windmill = to fly in the face of convention, to act recklessly or defiantly
• A new mill grinds corn well = something/ someone new will do a good job at first but it may not last
• All’s grist that comes to my mill = everything that comes my way will be useful/ can be put to use (“It’s all grist to the mills” is a variation)
• He who avoids the mill gets no flour = Effort is required to achieve an end (from the Latin proverb “Qui fugit molam farina non invenit”)
• He who comes first to the mill grinds first = First come first served
• I am loath to change my mill = I’ll stay with what I know
• To be born in a mill = To be born deaf.
• Mills and wives are never wanting
• No mill no meal = you have to put something in to get anything out
• Run of the mill = ordinary, not specially selected
• The mill cannot grind with water that is past = one cannot look back to missed opportunities (similar to “it’s no good crying over spilt milk”)
• The same water that drives the mill decayeth it = nothing is ever free
• To bring grist to a mill = to bring profit/valuable supplies
• To bring more sacks to the mill = to bring more ammunition to your side of the argument
• To go through the mill = to grow through hardship/difficulties/hard training and experience
• To grind to a halt = to come, gradually, to a standstill
• To keep old mannie’s mill going = to continue without a break
• To let the multure be taken by one’s own mill = to allow yourself to be deprived of your own rights
• To mill about = to circle aimlessly around
• We cannot go to one mill let him try another = let someone who has failed on one course of action try something else
• Every honest miller has a thumb of gold = there are honest millers
• Every miller draws water to his own mills = everyone looks after themselves first
• Like a miller’s mare = sober and unassuming
• Much water runs by the mill that the miller knows not of [More water glideth by the mill than wots the miller of – Shakespeare] = there are many things going on behind your back
• To be behind hand like the miller’s filler = to be poor at keeping appointments
• To drown the miller = to overdo water in spirits or other beverages
• To give someone to the miller = to engage someone in conversation long enough for a crowd to gather and attack the victim, often with stones!
• To put the miller’s eye out = to make a broth so thin or pudding so insubstantial that even a miller would find it difficult to see the flour
• Too much water drowned the miller = one can have too much of a good thing
• A millstone does not become moss grown = that which is kept rolling will not be burdened with unwanted loads
• A rolling stone gathers no moss = someone who is always on the move will not be able to gather possessions or wealth
• Hard as the nether millstone = unfeeling or callous
• To rain millstones = to rain very hard (rain seems to be a popular theme in expressions and idioms)
• To carry a millstone round one’s neck = to be burdened with an unwanted companion or obligation
• To weep millstones = to not weep at all
• His mill will go with all winds = he can cope with all situations that may arise
• To have whittled a mill post to a pudding prick = to have allowed short term gain override long-term prosperity
• To have windmills in your head = to be overtaken by fantasy
• To tilt at windmills = to take on imaginary enemies (from Don Quixote who attacked windmills perceiving them to be giants)
• You cannot make a windmill go with a pair of bellows = it’s pointless to attempt something without the required ability. 

You may remember from a previous blog post the story of Albury Park Paper Mill, Guildford, Surrey and forged French assignats (a form of paper currency issued by the French Republic from 1789-1797).

A recent discovery of an article in The Quarterly (the Journal of British paper historians, 106, April 2018) has provided us with an update on this story, by discovering that forged assignats were not exclusively produced by this Surrey paper mill, but also by Haughton Castle Paper Mill in Northumberland (pictured above).

However, the circumstances behind the forged assignats at Haughton were very different from those at Albury Paper Mill. In this situation, it was the British government rather than the French, and also some individual workers, who had commissioned the production, with the intention of destroying France’s economy or at the very least putting it under considerable pressure. And the plot was a success: France suffered inflation rates of 13000% which were the highest ever recorded, causing a massive economic collapse.

The article also gives us reason to believe that back at Albury Park Paper Mill, none other than King Charles X of France (then the Comte D’Artois) was playing a major role in the business of forged assignats. He was in exile in England when he became directly involved in the production of counterfeit assignats, with the intention of overthrowing the revolution (without luck).

On several occasions the Comte visited the paper maker Charles Ball at Albury Park Mill, Surrey, to order new paper, supervise the manufacture of new assignats and watermarks, and to take delivery of completed paper. An account written at the time shows he may have become more involved than he might have wished:

“On one occasion he (Artois/ Charles X) required various changes to be made in the watermarks. The form-maker [maker of paper moulds and watermarks] of the mill was sent for. He was a young man named Longhelt, a native of Germany…[it] was explained to him, the alteration he wanted to be made and (Artois/ Charles X) sat down by his side for the purpose of seeing him begin his labour. Longhelt, who had been drinking, resented the intrusion and getting impatient at this stranger’s interventions, he waxed furious and threw the mould at the visitor’s head.”

The background to the rise in forged assignats is fascinating. In November 1789, in order to raise finances and as part of its renunciation of the old feudal order, the National Assembly (the new government of France at the time) nationalised all church lands; a total of some 20,000 square miles, approx. 10% of the country. The idea was originally proposed by the then-Bishop of Autun, better known as Talleyrand, on 10th Oct 1789, the day Louis XVI became King of the French (rather than the King of France). This meant he was still on the throne, but only precariously; the French people were becoming more powerful.

The sale of these properties, the Domaines Nationaux, was to provide the financial base of the new regime, via the issue of interest-bearing bonds, or notes, called Assignats.

Despite warnings from some members of the National Assembly that the release of so much land on to the market would devalue all property prices and thus the assignats, men like Thomas Lidet, part of the regicide, considered it patriotic to use them. He wrote that
‘Assignats will soon be dispersed all over the country and, in spite of himself, every man who holds them will become a defender of the Revolution.’

Whilst it may have been the patriotic thing to do, those who used assignats incurred heavy losses. By May 1791 assignats had stopped bearing interest and by the time they were finally withdrawn in 1795 an assignat with a face value of 100 livre was worth a maximum of 15 sous.

John Gamble, an Englishman working in Paris throughout this period, who had many connections with paper making in France and Britain, wrote in his journal about the paper from the mill owned by his brother in Law, Leger Didot, at Essonnes near Paris. This was one of the paper-mills which supplied the government printing houses responsible for issuing assignats. He said:

“The paper was frequently sent in a damp state in covered carts drawn by post horses to the printing office in Paris, was immediately printed and signed by the proper authorities during the night and as soon as the paper as sufficiently dry it was issued in the morning to the public. I remember the numerous laughs and jokes that took place when Didot returned from Paris with a small bundle of assignats under his arm which was all that he had received in payment for all the cartloads of paper.

This was paper with which he had supplied the government; the only difference was that when they came back with Didot they had been printed and signed by some of the revolutionary demagogues then at the head of government. The fate of the assignats is well known, I recollect being in Paris at the time they were ordered to be burnt and I saw their fragments flying over the heads of thousands of persons who had been utterly ruined by their introduction.”

Printing the paper before the sheets were properly dry gives an idea of the urgency of the French authorities’ need for currency. Paper would normally have been dried and cured before leaving the mill.

Deliberate forgery of assignats was a perilous enterprise and occurred in France too. Many attempts were made by private individuals, who in many cases met the worst punishment: the guillotine. The assignats had ‘La Loi Punit de Mort le Contre facteur,’ (The Law Punishes the Counterfeiter with Death) printed on them as an attempt to dissuade people from attempting to produce forgeries.

However, in Britain, forging assignats where French law had no means of tracing, catching or punishing the counterfeiters, was very effective. Sir John Swinburne, who was an investigator of the forgery at this time, wrote in his journal:

“In the years 1973 and 1794, government, Mr Pitt being [Prime] Minister, caused an immense number of assignats of various values to be fabricated in England and a prodigious quantity was poured into France…from Flanders and from the coast of Brittany for the rebels in La Vendée.”

Paper for these assignats was produced for the British government by William Smith at Haughton Castle Mill, Northumberland and by John Finch in Dartford, Kent. Paper for the émigrés was made by Charles Ball at Albury Park Mill, Surrey.

One of the best sources of information for the British role in the forgery is a memorandum written in 1773 by Sir John Swinburne, particularly his notes from a meeting with the foreman at Haughton Mill. This account also gives information of Brook Watson, the then Director of the Bank of England’s role in the forgery. He also questions whether the government approached the Bank of England directly in order to put this plan together. It seems very likely that this was the case.

Swinburne’s notes show it was not easy to convict ministers of being involved in the ‘proceeding of so fatal an example in a commercial capacity whose existence depends on good faith. I believe little doubt does exist…of the share ministers had in this scandalous business.’ For many years, the British involvement was treated as a ‘blatant attempt of the defamation of the British character,’ and dismissed as heresy. Documents such as those found in this article go some way to show that the reality was very different.

You can read Susan’s blog about Albury Park Paper Mill here.