Letters September 2004

Letters September 2004

From: A Yule

Several generations of my family worked at Woolwich Arsenal in the mid-1800s early 1900s.
Could you please let me know if there are any personnel records for that period and if so where they are stored?

.

---

From: Chris Beddoe

I am currently tracing my family history which has Greenwich links in the 19th century - of particular interest is a Pub called the Steam Ferry, on Horseferry Road. My great-grandparents Charles George Beddoe and Annie Beddoe (nee Clarke) had the licence around the mid-1880s. My grandfather George Beddoe was born there in 1888. I believe the pub was earlier named the Unicorn Tavern (before the official opening of the Steam Ferry) and both Charles George and Annie were working there before they married in 1886.

I have read with interest the article on Wood Wharf from an earlier edition and I have been wondering if any of your members or contacts has any knowledge of/interest in the pubs around the Wharf. I am particularly interested in seeing any photos of the area from that period.

From: Allan Green

I have just read the latest Newsletter and felt that it was necessary to make some comment about the Stone Brothers and PLUTO article. I saw the obituary in The Timesand was interested to read of the connection they had with Siemens. The PLUTO pipeline was constructed using two quite different types of piping both of which contributed significantly to the war effort.

The type with which Stones were involved was known as HAIS (named after Clifford Hartley, Chief Engineer of the Anglo Iranian Oil Company and also after Siemens) . H artley A nglo I ranian S iemens. It was made mainly from lead and produced by Siemens on conventional cable manufacturing equipment but also by no less than eight other companies including Telcon in Greenwich, Henley's and Johnson and Phillips.................. all very close to home as it were. The lead pipes could be extruded in lengths of 700 yards and had to be joined which is where the brothers Stone came in. It was no mean lead pipe weighing in at 65 tons per nautical mile and no less than 23,000 tons were used to construct that part of PLUTO.

The other type of pipe was known as HAMEL and was made from steel tubes and did not involve lead burning i.e. the Stones were not involved in this one. The manufacturers of HAMEL pipeline were the big steel tube makers like Stewarts & Lloyds and James Mowlem.

From: Tony Osman

For some time I have been searching for evidence to show that Telcon played a significant part in the manufacture of PLUTO. During this 60th anniversary year there have been a number of publications on the development and execution of PLUTO with mention of W.T-Henley. BICC, and Siemens, but nothing which included Telcon. There appears to be no local recognition as to the important part that Telcon played in this historic event.

It is my intention to write a short article on this subject. I can remember (what I believed to be) PLUTO being despatched. I hope others may still be around. I hope you can advise me where I can obtain full details of Telcon's part in the PLUTO Project.