The Henry and Effie Squires Collection
A poignant collection in the History Society’s archive is the Henry and Effie Squires Collection. Comprising over 270 photographs and some
Henry and Effie Squires outside West View
items of memorabilia, only a handful of the photographs carry any identification of their subjects or locations so their identity is lost to posterity.
The items were found when her house was cleared after Effie died in 1977 age 80. The accession note records that they were given to the History Society by Muriel Cook who then lived in Barns Green and who was related by marriage to the Anscombes.
Effie Mary Anscombe was born in Wisborough Green on 27 March 1896, the second child of Warden and Sarah Jane Anscombe. She was the eldest of six children, four boys and two girls. Warden had been born in Bolney but migrated westwards and married Sarah Jane Barnett at Alfold in 1893. In 1901 he and his family were living in Newpound and Warden was working as a steam engine, or traction engine, driver no doubt employed by Carter Brothers.
Effie married Henry James Squires at St Peter’s on 15 April 1922. Henry, born in Coldwaltham, was a labourer living at Strood Green at the time of his marriage. He and Effie eventually moved to West View next door to the Cricketers Arms where they lived initially with Effie’s father and younger brother, also Warden or Ward. They would continue to live there for the rest of their lives.
In 1949, Ward Anscombe married Eva Randall, daughter of George Randall the licensee of the Cricketers. Eva had been running the pub since George had a stroke in 1942 but as a young woman she was unable to be the licensee. George Randall had died in 1947. Ward Anscombe became the new licensee. He retired in 1957 and he and Eva moved into Park View on the other side of the pub to Effie and Henry Squires.
Henry died on 1st December 1964 and Effie on 7th February 1977. They are both buried in St. Peter’s churchyard.
The collection is poignant for several reasons. There is the fact that the people, occasions and places in the photographs are mostly unknown and will remain so, because nearly 50 years after Effie’s death the opportunity to identify them diminishes. Then there is the sad reminder of death – not morbid, necessarily, just how things were. There are photographs of flower-laden graves taken just after interment, and a number of In Memoriam cards as well as invoices and correspondence about funeral arrangements and grave maintenance, for much-loved family members no doubt, in particular Arthur James Anscombe, Effie’s older brother who died age 26 in 1924 from tuberculosis, possibly exacerbated by wartime service. Little else remains of two lives lived but there are a couple of gems of memorabilia from the perspectives of historical and social interest.
Edited from an account which appeared in the October 2024 edition of the WG Village History Society’s monthly magazine (free to all members). If you have any documents, photographs or artifacts relating to Wisborough Green that you no longer want, or that you could let us copy, please get in touch. Andrew Strudwick 01403 700749.
Andrew Strudwick