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Where do you begin to pay tribute to a man like Philip Plumb? We knew him in Buntingford as ‘our local historian’ and I have been immensely grateful to him for the steady stream of articles which he produced for the Journal, illustrated by photographs taken from his vast collection. I used to look forward to the talks which he gave from time to time on Buntingford which really brought the past to life. Even though I went to them all, each time he would show an old photo which I had not seen before. I was delighted when his book came out ten years ago and I will always treasure the signed copy which I have. However, Philip’s interests and knowledge extended far beyond Buntingford as I hope this article will show, but his home and his heart have always been here. He was born in River Green, Buntingford, in October 1925 - his father, Walter, came from Aspenden and played in the Buntingford Town Band. He attended the local school in Buntingford and then got a scholarship to Hertford Grammar when he was 10. When I interviewed him in 1995 he said he enjoyed his schooldays and still kept in touch with some of the friends made at that time - one such friend was the actor Brian Wilde (Foggy in “Last of the Summer Wine”) When he left school at the age of 16 he worked as an Assistant in the County Library in Hertford and when the weather was reasonable he used to cycle there, mainly because he could not afford the bus fare (which was 12/6d. per week) The 13 miles used to take him about an hour but his record (though he admits there was a tail wind) was 40 minutes. He joined the army in 1944 and after basic training at Bury St Edmunds he was selected for a young soldiers training battalion and went to Scotland. From there he was selected for officer training and was commissioned into the Beds and Herts Regiment. In the summer of 1945 he took a platoon to Rangoon in Burma and was still on the ship when the Japanese finally surrendered on 14th August that year. In a book published by the Britain Burma Society in 1998, Philip describes the country when he arrived – it was in a state of indescribable filth, with no water supply and the open roadside drains were full of sewage. He remained in Burma for three years and during that time he developed the great affection for the country which remained with him all his life. He was involved in army education, mainly preparing British troops for their release back to civilian life. His last job in Burma, whilst still only 21, was Commandant of a training centre with 30/40 staff and about 500 students. His claim to fame whilst there is that in February 1946 he appeared in the Jubilee Hall in Rangoon on the same stage as John Gielgud in “Hamlet”. The Hall has now gone and a Defence Museum stands on the site. When he returned to this country Philip resumed his career at the County Library and was responsible for the local history and reference collection. After three years he took a library post in London and then joined the Library Association H.Q. and worked as their Librarian and Research Officer. He also did lecturing on librarianship at what is now the University of North London. His last post before retiring in 1990 was Chief Librarian of the North East London Polytechnic. After the War he went straight on to the local Parish Council in Buntingford as its Chairman and was involved in many local projects at the time; the reinstatement of Norfolk Road playing fields (which had been used as allotments during the war) and the re-surfacing of the Market Place, which at that time was very rough and dangerous, with old gas pipes sticking out. Mr Hartnett who lived in the Manor House at the time claimed rights but could not produce any documentary evidence of this and either would not or could not do anything about the surface. Always very thorough in his research, Philip went into the history of the market place and it transpired that it was designated as ‘roadside waste’ which gave it legal status and meant that the County Council could re-surface it. He was also involved in the acquisition of the land which is now Layston Court Gardens; the house (and former Grammar School) had been sold and there was a danger that the garden was going to be used for development. He was also involved in fighting the case against Nuthampstead Airport being used as London’s third airport. In 1963 he was the main objector to the closure of the Buntingford Branch Line and his first article for me as Editor was the ‘Death of the Branch Line’ and I am re-printing it in this issue as November is the 42nd anniversary of the closure of the line to passengers. He was elected as Secretary to the Buntingford Almshouse Trust in 1951 and a Trustee in 1953 and he served the Charity continuously since then. He was an authority on Bishop Seth Ward, the founder of the Almshouse, who was the subject of one of Philip’s fascinating articles in the Journal. He was a Trustee of the Audio Reading Foundation set up to provide tape recordings for blind students and was also concerned with writing and reading aids for the paralysed, a project of Action for the Crippled Child. In 1969 he was persuaded by the District Commissioner to start a scout troop in Buntingford, which he did. He was also Chairman of Buntingford Football Club for 25 years and was involved in the Buntingford Dramatic Society, acting in and producing plays. One of the Society’s plays was attended by its author, Peter Blackmore, who lived at Sandon and who declared that the Buntingford version was better than the West End Production! He became a Magistrate in 1972, sitting at the Court House both in Buntingford and then in Hertford. This continued for 20 years and latterly he was Deputy Chairman of the Hertford Bench. Even after retirement, Philip kept busy. He was a long serving member of LACA (Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance) and in 1992 he was made its President, which meant a lot of travel and enabled him to return to Burma. He was probably the first European to be allowed to enter the University of Rangoon following the student uprising. One of his tasks was to advise Burmese librarians on the urgent task of conserving deteriorating ancient records on palm-leaf scrolls. The Society has posted a Memorial to Philip on its website, which shows that he was a stalwart supporter of the Association and the comments from various members shows that he will be very much missed by them. One amusing fact I noticed was that Magnus Magnusson wore a LA tie on Mastermind and when the Philip LarkinWest End play was put on Philip loaned them his LA tie for the stage show. He was a founder member of the Society for the Study of W.S. Gilbert (one half of Gilbert & Sullivan) which was formed in 1985 to further the knowledge, study, appreciation and enjoyment of Gilbert’s life and works. Philip was its Chairman and he contributed many articles on Gilbert in that Society’s magazine. He was extremely supportive of the Buntingford Heritage Centre and provided much of the information for their exhibitions. He was also a member of the Buntingford Railway and Local History Society. A Requiem Mass was held for Philip on the 6th October at St Richard’s Church, where Philip had been baptised and confirmed. Included in the Order of Service was a tribute from the Reverend Norman Richards which captured the essence of Philip: a quietly spoken man who could enthral and captivate us with his written and spoken work on so many subjects, who used his wide knowledge and experience to serve others. Since Philip’s death, even more achievements have come to light. His daughter Alison found amongst his papers a letter from the Ulverscroft Large Print founder, Dr Fred Thorpe, which shows the contribution Philip made to this concept. Dr Thorpe says that although he is featured as the ‘pioneer’ of large print throughout the world, he regards Philip as the ‘Godfather’ of large print. When he first met him and explained his desire to develop large print books, Philip ‘switched on that enigmatic smile’ and invited Dr Thorpe to feel free to use any of the survey results which he had collected over the past twenty years on the subject. Philip married Dulcie in 1952 and he is survived by his wife, their three sons, two daughters and five grandchildren. He was a devoted family man and he lived his life to the full doing the things he wanted to do. I am glad that I have been able to include so many of Philip’s historical articles in the Journal so that at least some of his vast knowledge can be preserved. His first article appeared 30 years ago in October1976, the first year of the Journal’s publication, and a copy of that first article “Buntingford Fairs & Markets” is re-produced in this issue as a tribute to Philip. I know that he had other articles in the pipeline and only two weeks before he died he was discussing future articles. He told me once that he had enough photographs for another book on Buntingford and I understand from his daughter that he was talking with a publishing company about this. I would dearly love to see a new book published in his memory. Once again, I offer my condolences to Philip’s family for their loss and thank them for their help and co-operation in producing this article. Val Hume
From: Joan Boyle (nee Smith), Oldham, Lancs. (born in Throcking) I have just heard of the very sad passing of Philip Plumb – he will be very greatly missed by everyone. The monthly magazine was so interesting with all Philip’s history – it will not be the same without his contributions. Philip’s mother was my Godmother and I used to visit her in her cottage by the River Rib when I came past from my school on the way home. I can remember seeing Philip run every morning to the railway station with his briefcase; he had such long strides. It would be so good if the History of Buntingford and all the surrounding areas could be carried on by someone else. I keep all the historical articles for my grandchildren and the children that follow. So much to learn. I hope this letter will be able to be included in the magazine; my life is here but my heart will always be at THROCKING HALL.
As Philip was so much a Buntingford man through and through, readers of the Journal may be surprised to hear that he is remembered and appreciated by local historians in a quite different quarter – the London borough of Hackney. Philip came to work in Hackney in 1994, after his ‘retirement’, on a contract for Hackney Council’s Archives Department. His brief was to catalogue the Tyssen collection of religious writings, for which the British Library had given a grant connected with its 18th century short title project. The material – most of it 18th and early 19th century sermons, many preached to Hackney’s strong community of early non-conformists - had been put together by J. R. D. Tyssen, the manorial steward in the mid-19th century, whose wider collection formed the original nucleus of Hackney’s remarkable local history library. When Philip started on it, the un-catalogued part of the collection occupied more than 12 linear metres of shelving. He finished the work early in 1996, producing a 200 page catalogue dealing with more than 800 items. Many a contractor might have left it there, but during his time at Hackney Philip became a valued contributor to the life of the Archives Department and a good friend to its Friends group. Much more than that, long after his time was up he maintained the link, and was welcomed back with pleasure at social events. Over time he contributed three articles – learned as well as lucid – on the important local subject of early nonconformity, to the annual local journal Hackney History, and it is only a matter of weeks since he volunteered to write another, on Hackney’s 18th century turnpike roads. (The main one is Ermine Street, the A10, which is almost as critical to Hackney’s history as it is to Buntingford’s). We were warned to expect some hitherto unconsidered material. Philip’s allusion to his first (and possibly most favourable) impressions of Hackney recalled the early years of the last war, when the young ladies of one of the borough’s schools were evacuated north along the Roman road to Hertfordshire. His kindness, breadth of knowledge, unassuming manner and gentle humour made him a joy to work with (as did hearing about Buntingford, and Buntingford cats of course). He will be missed, and remembered with warm affection, in these quarters - as well, doubtless, as in the others where his broad range of interests found expression. We are grateful to Dulcie and his family, and to all his other spheres of interest, to have had the privilege of sharing a bit of him with them. As his editor in Hackney, I’d trade any number of excellent potential articles to have had him around a while longer. From: Norman Richards, Vicar of Buntingford
Philip was particularly gifted at being at the heart of a community yet without being remotely ostentatious, or assertive. Philip had rare qualities of great intellect and intimate knowledge of so many areas of both local history and contemporary issues both near and far. How many times over the years have we seen Philip sitting in his favourite window seat at the library eagerly devouring the pages of the quality newspapers and journals! This quietly spoken man could enthral and captivate us with his written and spoken word on so many subjects. He used his wide knowledge and experience to serve others. His enquiring mind has been of enormous benefit to this town and indeed to a much wider community through his professional life, as a librarian. He also served for many years as a J.P. and he volunteered for so many posts of responsibility in our local community. He was indeed a true servant. Philip was essentially a very modest man. He loved to get to know people and tactfully understand them in order to serve them. He was genial, warm and very approachable, with a delightful sense of humour. We thank God for the privilege of having known him. Our prayers and thoughts are very much with Dulcie and the family. From Bill Etherington I first met Philip in July 1946 when I was posted to what was by then Burma Command Headquarters and moved into the R.A. Mess. He was in charge of the Burman Command School for basic education of British soldiers and before we sailed back home in May 1947 he had risen to the rank of Major. This was a temporary rank, as mine of Captain was, although on Demob we were amused to be told we were entitled to use our Temporary Rank titles in ‘civvy street’ – and never did, needless to say! I am fairly sure that in the photograph Philip is wearing a Major’s crown on his epaulette. I’m sure I remember Philip told me he had done Commando training at some stage but it sounds so unlike the unaggressive man we knew later. I certainly know that when there was no more fighting to be done Philip applied for transfer to the Royal Army Education Corps and was accepted. He told me that he was soon given the very interesting job of writing for the 12th Army newssheet “The Burma Star”, which gave him access to a far wider picture of what was happening than most young officers. I was very grateful for Philip’s knowledge of the RAEC ropes when I returned to the UK. He arranged for myself and a Scottish friend, John McEnery, to have a month’s course at Newbattle Abbey near Edinburgh preparatory to resuming interrupted higher education study. This meant a leisurely troopship voyage from Rangoon to Liverpool, followed by disembarkation leave, before meeting again at Newbattle Abbey as the first Edinburgh Festival started. From: Eunice Woods Philip and I had a number of interests
in common but above all our love of our hometown Buntingford, it’s
history and the characters that have lived here especially in our
lifetime. Philip played a unique part in building
our 21st century understanding of the works of W.S. Gilbert. In
the autumn of 1984 he booked a room in the Regent Street Polytechnic
and invited people interested in W.S. Gilbert by means of a small
advertisement in The Times. At this meeting, we formed the W.S.
Gilbert Society and Philip agreed to be our Chairman. At that same
meeting, Brian Jones was appointed Editor of the Society’s
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