Thoughts of Chairman Jack

 

 

THE THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN JACK

We set up Greenwich Industrial History Society in 1998.  I booked a room; got someone from GLIAS to come and do a talk;  and then issued a general invitation to anyone who was interested in `setting up an industrial history group to turn up - which a number of people did.  Perhaps about 20 people came, among them and most memorably was a little old man. He walked in and announced  that he was going to be Chair and that appeared to be that.

I had never met Jack Vaughan although I  had heard of some ancient curmurgeon from somewhere in Woolwich  who was good at upsetting council officers. Jack did  indeed live up to his reputation and in the first few months of his chairmanship we had some narrow escapes from some real difficulties caused by Jack’s forthright and determined manner.  He had his nose in everything he could find to have his nose in. He had worked at the Arsenal and there is an article by him on file about his apprenticeship which I will fish out sometime. He was enormously proud of the work he had done there  but he was also quite determined about  a number of other issues in Woolwich and to have his say on them..

Jack was quick thinking, well read and well informed, funny, full of ideas, a leftie, enthusiastic about many, many things – and immersed in many, many groups and activities.  I am very aware that industrial history was not the only cause he gave his heart too.   He always refused to take me to his favourite pub on the grounds that the pubs he frequented were not at all suitable for ladies.  Hmmmm!

We put out the first GIHS newsletter in April 1998 and there is a report on our first meeting. We set up a working party to sort out what was going to happen -it consisted of myself, Jack and Barbara Ludlow who was the Senior Assistant at Woodlands Local History Library. We agreed to cover everything relevant to the industrial history of Greenwich in particular those areas most under development pressure.  Which led to lots of arguments because Jack didn’t agree with anything the Council was doing .  He agreed to give a talk at the next meeting about Woolwich Dockyard . We reported:

“ Jack Vaughn gave an interesting on Woolwich dockyard and the many famous ships built there. Launches from the Woolwich slips took place before vast crowds of onlookers as the ship went down into the river with acres of flags flying from the decks. Relics of many of these ships can now be found in museums and collections around the world. Jack pointed to the origins of the yard as far back as the reign of Henry the VII and went on to talk about remains which could now be found on site. The conservation of the steam factory was particularly noted as a triumph for the Woolwich Antiquarian Society. Thank you to Jack’s daughter for helping with the slides.”

I seem to remember going with Jack around the Woolwich dockyard site with -  I can’t remember where they were from = archaeologists of some sort who had studied the dockyard and wanted to see  it as it was now and see if they could track down the bits and pieces which had been there in the past and  had now gone. They were all very intense and had all these maps and things.  One of them explained that they were very perplexed by a long wall which went right along the river front and wasn’t on any map.  “Oh” says Jack  “try the Greater London Council 1974”.

I thought it might be an idea to publish gradually some of the things Jack wrote for GIHS. There’s not a lot because he died after just a couple of years – he was well in his 90s. I don’t want to start right away with the earliest things he wrote because some senior council officers  objected rather and insisted on a right of reply.  Looking at it after 25 years its all a bit sad – Jack and the officials fundamentally wanted the same things . We have forgotten that as recently as 1998 the Council had very  little knowledge of much of that vast Arsenal site. Those Greenwich Council officers were tasked with getting a regeneration plan together for a Government owned site where outside agencies and developers had their own ideas. This was for acres and acres and acres of land which might be in the Borough but which hardly any of them had ever seen and knew very little about. If, like Jack, you had worked there, you had at least seen it.  

I’ll have to work how to handle that. Anyway - just to get things going here’s a completely decorous piece by Jack

THE OLD SHEER NONSENSE By Jack Vaughan

 

On page 5 of the November newsletter a small item caught my eye under “Bygone Kent” Vol. 22.  An Ashford Lady recalls being raised next door to an old public house, which she refers to as ‘Ye Olde Sheer Hulk’.

 

I remember it (just about) and I looked it up in Volume 1 of Vincent’s’ "Records of the Woolwich District".  An excellent ‘Plan of West Woolwich in 1748 is on page 41.  It covers the streets and alleys adjacent to the Royal dockyard main gate in one of which the pub stood.  It appears on the map as ‘New Alley’ but at the time that Vincent was writing his two volumes this name had   been changed to "Martyrs Passage".

 

In recent years the area, has, needless to say, been destroyed.  I have a map of Woolwich Pubs drawn in 1950, which shows the pub but not the passage.  I would welcome knowledge of the survival of

Perhaps the name of the pub is of interest.  ‘Sheers’ (or Shears) were a special type of lifting structure used in dockyards for inserting or removing masts in wooden vessels.  The word 'hulk' is famously used to describe cut down obsolete battleships for accommodating convicts for deportation- the practice ended with the American War of Independence.  It is likely that some shears were carried in hulks to form a type of floating crane. 

 

I recall that the pub was said to have been built using timber from the Royal Dockyard, which closed in 1869.

I have found further information on the pub in a booklet on ‘Woolwich, Plumstead and Neighbourhood’ – the date is unknown by certainly no later than 1890. Some of this is reproduced below.

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The " Old Sheer Hulk," another of the branch establishments, (of the Woolwich Distillery and the Old Shakespeare’s Head)  is a house with many associations, having been one of the institutions of Woolwich for many years. In the porch of the house attention is attracted by a painting of the " Old Ship," and the words of the song, "Tom Bowling," by Dibdin, appear below. Many of our readers may regret that the "Old Sheer Hulk" has been restored and improved under Mr. G. H. Campbell's proprietorship. It has, however, now been brought into line with modern requirements, and it is fitted up in the very latest and. most effective style. The house stands opposite to the Royal Dockyard gates, and has always been well patronised by the navy, this patronage still being extended to it, even in its rejuvenescent form. The hotel is singularly well conducted, being under the personal management of Mr. Walter Campbell, the brother of the proprietor. We should also mention that this is the head quarters of, the West Woolwich Cycle Club.

 

I thought I might reproduce over the next few months some of the bits and pieces which he contributed to the Greenwich Industrial History Newsletter but also some of the campaigns he was involved  and what he thought about it all. There isn’t that much of it - as I said he died after just a few years.

To sum up – Ray, one of his colleagues in Arsenal history – said ‘Jack? Well Jack’s Jack – isn’t he?’