OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES, one of Wisbech's most ardent campaigners has been Victoria Gillick. She came to  nationwide attention when she challenged the rights of doctors to give confidential contraceptive advice to teenage girls without bringing parents into the loop.
She spoke at the controversial public meeting over immigration a couple of years ago. Now she has painstakingly compiled a report on how she sees immigration affecting Wisbech and the surrounding area. The information and statistics contained in the report are, she says, all via Freedom of Information requests. She has asked me to host the report on this blog, and I am happy to do so, but I make no claim over the accuracy of the statistics, and I neither endorse or refute her personal conclusions. The report is long and detailed, so it will be published in sections over the next week or so. I have put statistical information in blue font. The remainder are Mrs Gillick's own views. YOUR VIEWS ARE WELCOME, both for and against, and you can make them known via the contact form at the bottom of the blog, or via Twitter - https://twitter.com/wisbechevenmore

PART ONE OF THE FOILING CABINET REPORT

DATA ACQUIRED THROUGH
              FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS                    

 What's going on in Fenland?

Impoverishment

Very flat, the Fens. Sea-bed flat in fact, being the drained and reclaimed marshland encircling the southern and eastern sides of the Wash. Transformed over the centuries into super-fertile farmland, the Fens stretch in a wide arc from the Norfolk port of King's Lynn, southwards to Cambridge, across to Peterborough and up to Boston in Lincolnshire. The district known as Fenland lies in the north-west corner of Cambridgeshire, abutting Norfolk and Lincolnshire and encompassing twenty-nine villages and the four market towns of Wisbech, March, Chatteris and Whittlesey.                                                                                                  

So much for the geography. This Bulletin, however, is about Fenland's history: its recent, troubling history, which truth to say, differs only in scale to what's been happening all over the country: Government engendered, business orientated, taxpayer funded impoverishment.

Fenland's troubles began, as so many untoward outcomes have begun, with the European Union   stipulating unfettered movement of peoples between Member States. Our government eagerly complied and our public authorities obligingly cooperated. At the receiving end.....Joe Public, ignored, neglected and vilified. We shall therefore start with a brief look at the impact on Fenland as a whole, followed by a more detailed scrutiny of one of its market towns: Wisbech.

      

                                       CONTENTS                                                     Page

                                       FENLAND

Demographic trends 1981-2001 ............................ 2

East European immigration ................................... 3

  'Migrant Population Strategy' 2007....................... 4/5

  'Migration Impacts Fund' ...................................... 5/6

The migrants' home countries ..............................  6

                                     

                                       WISBECH

Background ............................................................ 7

Population & age structure ..................................... 8

                                      Local  numbers ....................................................... 9

School population.................................................. 10

 Healthcare (GPs and Hospital) .............................. 11

Accommodation  ................................................... 12

Social Housing ...................................................... 12

Wages .................................................................... 13

Unemployment .....................................................  14

Alcohol .................................................................  15

Crime ....................................................................  16

                                      Costing the UK & the County ............................... 17

Costing the District ................................................ 18

Impoverishing Wisbech ..........................................19

                                      References

2.

FENLAND

Fenland grows and prepares food for the nation, its farms and food-processing factories always needing extra horny-handed workers during the hectic harvest months. Hiring additional seasonal labour, whether local people, students, traveller families or foreigners on work permits, has thus been part and parcel of Fenland's yearly cycle for generations.

Between 1981-2001 Fenland's indigenous population swelled by over sixteen thousand souls, rising from 67,175 to 83,549.¹  During those twenty years, however, the age structure in the area had seen a decline in the number of younger people, and a corresponding increase in older ones:

    1981-2001

*  Under-20s decreased ...... 28.0 - 24%

*  20-29s decreased.............12.4 - 10.3%

*  30-39s rose..................... 13.8 - 14.6% 

*  40-59s rose..................... 23.8  - 26.7%

*  Over-60s rose................. 22.0 - 24.5%,   
                                                          

DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

This demographic change was not unique to Fenland, but was part of a national trend consequent on low birth rates in the 1970s and '80s. To maintain stable population growth a country needs a birth rate of 2.1 children. The post-war baby-boom of 1946-47 had a rate of around 2.4 children which led to another, smaller, baby-bulge twenty years later. Parliament, persuaded by birth control lobbyists that Britain was on the brink of a catastrophic population explosion, sought to head-off the disaster by legalising abortion in 1967 and making contraception available on the NHS  in 1973. The upshot was a mega Baby-Bust as annual birth rates plummeted to 1.7 children, the lowest level ever recorded in Britain.²  By 1984 the number of children aged 0-15 was almost two million fewer than in 1971, resulting in thousands of school closures during the following decade.

In 1988 government advisers alerted the business world to the stark fact that by 1995 the number of 18-21 year-olds would have fallen by 1.2 million.³ Most employers nevertheless ignored the warnings, preferring instead to blame their labour problems on young people themselves, publicly lambasting "the youth of today" as lazy, incompetent, work-shy slackers.  How stupid is that?

As ever, the Government then made matters worse by scrapping Student Maintenance Grants, traditionally topped-up by holiday and weekend jobs, in favour of bank-run Loan Schemes. Thereafter most students chose simply to ratchet-up their huge bank debt all year round.

By the turn of the Millennium there was indeed a dramatic fall in 15-29 year-olds, with Fenland  suffering a drop of almost 1,800 in this critical age group. The labour shortage did have one beneficial effect however, for it obliged notoriously tight-fisted Fen farmers and factory bosses to pay their workforce a decent living wage for a change: more than double the Minimum Wage.

Then out of the blue, early in the new Century, something unprecedented happened in Fenland.

It all began in 2002 when Brussels granted EU membership to eight East European nations. Most of the other big beasts in Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Italy) put a 7-year block on migrants from Eastern Europe pouring across their borders in search of jobs and homes. But British industry, being ever mindful that cheap immigrant labour was the quick way to easy profits, couldn't wait to have them here, and persuaded the Government to post a more or less open invitation to the new Member States, saying in effect: "Come one, come all.....our economy needs YOU!"                                                         

The entreaty was all but irresistible, thanks to a previous ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, which in 1985 declared that anyone entitled to live in another country was also entitled to bring every other member of their extended family with them.

3.

 

MASS MIGRATION

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The outcome was predictable; nay, it was intentional. By 2003 thousands of Portuguese families suddenly began arriving in Britain, emigrating here because (they said) they had been ousted from their agricultural jobs back home by a sudden incoming wave of Polish workers. Very soon, however, the Polish tide changed direction and began sweeping over Britain instead, inundating Fenland farms and factories in particular. Following fast in its wake came an even bigger tsunami of Lithuanians, Latvians and ethnic Russians. At least a million were in the UK by 2006. Nor were these newcomers arriving only as temporary seasonal workers. A large and growing proportion intended to settle here......permanently. 

Fen farmers and factory bosses were ecstatic. Landlords and gangmasters couldn't believe their luck. Mini-wages were back again for everyone......plus multi-lets at maxi-rents for the foreigners.  Lovely big bucks and loud hoorahs all round.

Only one nasty fly in the ointment: the hefty government increases in Fenland's Business Rates, which have risen 63% in the last ten years, from around £14 million to almost £23 million by 2013.  

                                                                                                                                                                        

INVISIBLE IMMIGRANTS

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) hasn't a clue how many people are living in the UK nowadays. Its 2011 Census recorded over one million residents were from Eastern Europe, but in April 2014 it finally admitted to underestimating their numbers by a massive 350,000.⁴ 

Meanwhile the Census for Fenland had the population increasing to 95,262, of which a mere 4,439  were East European nationals, including 665 migrant children and pensioners. This hopelessly inaccurate head count also occurred in the two migrant-heavy districts of Lincolnshire, with Boston said to have only 6,839 East Europeans, and Spalding just 5,241.⁵

In short, most of the East European workers had simply ignored the Census altogether. The trouble was, these wholly erroneous ONS statistics are still being used by Cambridgeshire officials to formulate all their policies and funding for Fenland. [See Page 8: 'Uncounted migrants']

                                                                                                                        

COMMUNITIES BALKANISED

Generally speaking, when immigrants are relatively few in number they will make an effort to blend into the landscape by adopting the language and culture of the host community. But East Europeans in Fenland were legion and increasing year on year, and consequently felt neither the need nor the desire to speak English and integrate. Being employed en masse in fields and factories, and then lodged together in shared houses, each different Teutonic/Slavic nationality sticking closely with its own, served to Balkanise the newcomers still more. Before long the Poles and Lithuanians had established numerous cafés, shops and supermarkets in Fenland, employing their own people to sell their own imported food in their own language. The Polish migrants were further segregated by being granted separate church services, conducted by their own priests in their own native tongue. Meanwhile Lithuanians acquired a couple of Wisbech pubs, one of whose licensees was ordered by the police to remove a somewhat hostile notice from its windows: 'No British here'.

By 2006 the strain of living among so many uncommunicative foreigners was beginning to tell on the Fenland populace, particularly in Wisbech where most of the food processing and packaging industries were based, and three-quarters of the migrants were living.⁶ Here, not only were local workplaces becoming filled with East Europeans, but whole neighbourhoods as well. 

Something had to be done. But what, and how.....and by whom?

4.

TO BE CONTINUED

PICKWICK'S GUIDE TO POLITICAL SPEAK

After a succession of posts about dark deeds from our shared Wisbech past, I am reminded that Pickwick has neglected one vital part of our Shared Agenda/Prospectus/Vision Statement/ Policy Guidelines (substitute any piece of modern management bullshit with which you are most comfortable) So, with a General Election - if not exactly looming - a flicker on the horizon, this post is by way of a public service broadcast. You will hear many of this phrases over the next six months, and you may need this essential cut-out-and-keep guide as a translation aid. This installment is free, but future issues will be competitively priced at £7.99, payable to Pickwick's offshore ethical investment account.

After a long and thorough consultation… - "My cabinet colleague has come up with a great idea…"
Community cohesion - what happens when migrants are allowed to burn the British flag and other national symbols, and then play the race card when challenged.
Fall for - what ordinary people do when they vote for an idea or policy not approved of by the mainstream parties.
Immigration - something which is great for businessmen, farmers and crooked landlords.
Foreign Aid - a system whereby working people in one country subsidise palaces, executive motor cars and space programmes in another country
Free speech - a state of affairs when certain people in the community can advocate beheading their opponents, and someone who opposes that idea is arrested for 'hate crime'
I hear what you are saying - "Your opinion is worth jack **** to me."
Laughter - what politicians resort to when their logical arguments fall on deaf ears, as in 'Still Laughing at UKIP'.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear - "I'm not answering your question, but I'm going to spin all around the houses with a load of gobbledygook."
Local elections - a process whereby a minority of people in a city, village or urban area decide who will run their affairs of the whole community for the next four years.
People in my community are genuinely feeling the pinch - "I have an all expenses paid flat in Islington, a family home in the Cotswolds, and a villa in Tuscany."
Political Party - a club where the members have to agree with every decision it makes, no matter how stupid or ruinous to the common good.
Populism - something that ordinary people believe is important, but which mainstream politicians think is bad for us - and them.

Postal voting poses certain challenges - "Strewth, the local Labour party has bought all the Asian votes again!"
Socialism - a form of government which takes money out of your pocket, and puts it into the pocket of someone who is either lazy, inept or criminal.
The electorate are vital stakeholders in our shared future - "Phew! Back in power for another four years! Take the 'phone off the hook, Miranda."
The exploitation of migrant labour is repellent - "Have you collected the rent from the Filipino nanny yet, Giles?"
The NHS is the jewel in our crown - "Anyone know where the nearest pawnbroker is…?"
The xxxx candidate conducted a fair and honourable campaign - "LMAO - the xxxx candidate only got 54 votes!"
We must work together, across party lines, for the good of the village/town/city/country - "I'm going to take the mickey out of my political opponents at every opportunity, and belittle them as much as possible."
We're listening to parents - We are telling parents to make trouble for those Lefty idiots, the teachers.
We must resist the inflationary pressure on wages - "That's a 10% pay rise for us MPs, then!"
We will not let this matter rest - "When the media have got tired of this story, we'll just carry on, same-old, same-old."

THE FIVE LITTLE MARTYRS (conclusion)

The story so far. "SCHOOLBOY GANGSTERS ROUNDED UP!"  screamed the local papers. According to Dr Meacock, who chaired the Special Children's Court, the boys,

 "constituted a centre of vice in the town,
and they must be dealt with drastically."

Those of you who follow this blog will remember that Dr Meacock was at the very heart of the controversy surrounding the life and death of Dr Horace Dimock, twenty years earlier, an unfortnate situation which resulted in the infamous riots. So, who were these five desperados, and what were the Industrial Schools to which they were to be packed off, until they reached the age of 16?

Firstly the names of the boys. I received this information from the County Record Office. I imagine they are all now deceased, but at the time their names would not have been available in the press, for legal reasons. They were:

Horace Stephen Freear, age 7
Frederick Hunt, age 8
Stanley Johnson, age 9
Harry Rivett, age 10
Harry Worth, age 10

Their sentence? To spend the years in an Industrial School, until they reached the age of 16. For Worth and Rivett - a 6 year sentence; for Johnson, 7 years; Hunt would serve 8 years, and Freear a staggering 9 years.

The words 'Industrial School' have a vaguely worthy ring to them. There's a suggestion that they were places where youngsters could learn a trade, benefit from a healthy lifestyle, and be taught the errors of whatever ways had led them to become inmates. Older readers will remember the words 'Reform School' and 'Borstal'. These days we skip around the  truth with phrases like 'Young Offenders Institution', but the fact remains that Industrial schools were usually grim places which probably served as training grounds for future lawbreakers. The industrial schools were invariably grim and forbidding places but it doesn't seem that one existed in Cambridgeshire, with the nearest one being in Suffolk.

To their eternal credit, there were those in Wisbech who thought the sentence handed down to these boys was excessive. To use modern parlance, they may well have been "thieving little scrotes", but even so, this was a draconian sentence, even by the standards of 1933. Spearheaded by a Baptist minister, the Reverend R N Armitage (pictured below), a fund was started to appeal the boys' sentence.

Then, the big guns turned on Dr Meacock and his fellow magistrates. The popular periodical, John Bull, said its piece.

After repeating the findings of the magistrates, the journal then let rip.

Early in the New Year of 1934, with the backing of the Isle of Ely Education Committee, a court declared that the sentences imposed on the lads were totally disproportionate. The Wisbech magistrates were humiliated, and costs were awarded against them. It was significant that no-one could explain why Dr Meacroft was even on the magistrates' bench in the first place.

So, what became of The Five Little Martyrs? The records tell us that a Horace Stephen Freear died in 1978, and that Frederick Hunt died in 1971. Of the others, no-one knows. If any readers have information about what these lads did with their lives once they were spared from years in an Industrial School, then Pickwick will be only too happy to publish it.

THE FIVE LITTLE MARTYRS (part one)

 

In the autumn of 1933, once again Wisbech made it into the national papers. In the same year as the double tragedy of Florence Reeve and her jealous husband shocked people across East Anglia (see the blog for 14 September 2014), a criminal case brought Wisbech into national focus. Here was the headline in the Wisbech Standard.

Let the report in the Wisbech Standard tell the tale of these ruthless gangsters and their reign of terror which had the honest Fenland folk cowering in their beds and in fear of their lives.

For five hours Dr H. C. Meacock (in the chair) and other magistrates sat, on Tuesday, at a special Wisbech Children's Court listening to the evidence in an amazing series of thefts extending over two months, committed by a gang of young Wisbech schoolboys, five of whom were eventually ordered to be sent to an industrial school.

Dr Meacock, I hear you ask. Doesn't he have previous? Wasn't he the man who, twenty years earlier, was most prominent in the sad case of Dr Dimock and The Wisbech Riots? He was, the very same. One of his fellow magistrates was a certain Mr Savory, seen here on the right of the good doctor.

The defendants were first charged with stealing a purse containing a ten shilling note and 2s 6d in silver from the dwelling house of Annie Ward, at Wisbech, on September 5th.

Annie Ward, of Little Church Street, Wisbech, stated that she left her house at 11.55 am to go to a nearby baker's establishment. When she returned five minutes later she found her purse missing from the mantelpiece.

Inspector Bush gave evidence of the enquiries he pursued after being informed of the loss, and read statements which he said were made by the defendants when he interviewed them.

The next charge was one of stealing a box of ante-serum for pigs and 5s worth of groceries, the property of Bert Clifton at Wisbech on September 1st.

Bert Clifton, a farmer, of Gedney, said that about 8 o'clock he left his motor car against the Canal railings near the Empire Theatre. In the car were some drums of ante-serum, which he valued at 22s 8d, and 5s worth of groceries. He was away from his car between 8pm and 10.45pm, and on leaving the Theatre he went direct to the car and did not miss the goods until he reached home.

Inspector Bush stated that on September 11th and on subsequent dates he interviewed defendants, one of whom he said took the groceries out of the car and handed them to another of the defendants, who threw them into the canal. Witness added that one of defendants' parents had rendered every assistance in trying to retrieve the goods from the canal (pictured below)

All the defendants pleaded guilty except one, whose father said that he was in the house at the time of the alleged crime.

The same boys were then charged with stealing a rib of beef and a carton of cream belonging to Susannah Winters, at Wisbech on the same date.

Susannah Winters said that she left her cycle in Clare's Passage at about 6-40pm. On the handlebars was a basket containing a joint of meat worth 2s 3d, and a carton of cream, which had disappeared when she returned to her cycle at 6.55. Inspector Bush spoke of interviewing defendants, one of whom said that one of the others took the meat home and had it cooked. This was denied by the parent. Mr A R Bennett, headmaster of the Queen's School and Mr A V Thompson, headmaster of St Peter's School were present when witness interviewed defendants.

Five of the boys were then charged with stealing cycle lamps at Wisbech on September 8th and 9th, the property of William Callaby, James John Harrop, Kate Rose, and another. Inspector Bush gave evidence in each case.

A charge of stealing two purses and 9d in money, the property of Ivy Irene Hurst, and another, at Wisbech on September 9th was brought against four of the boys. Ivy Irene Hurst said that she went to the Swimming Bath on the date in question, with a friend. After she had left the water, and dressed, she took her shopping bag, which contained her own handbag, inside which was her friends purse, and placed it in her friend's cubicle. A few minutes later they both went back to the cubicle and found that the purses had been taken from the bag. Witness valued the handbag at 7s 6d. Jean Parlett corroborated the previous witness's evidence. Inspector Bush said he interviewed defendants, who admitted being there.

Another summons was for stealing half a pound of butter, a box of Aspro tablets and two cycle spanners, at Wisbech on September 9th. Dolly Mary Willimott Barber stated that she left her cycle outside 6, The Crescent at about 6-15pm. On returning at 6-40pm, she found the articles were missing. In his evidence, Inspector Bush said he saw the defendants on September 10th, and one said that they had all shared "the white sweets, which did not taste nice."

Five of the boys were also charged with stealing a leather handbag containing 2s 7d in money, certain photographs, and one NP match-box, the property of Ivy may Hurst, at Wisbech, on September 1st. Ivy Hurst, of Broad Drove, South Brink, Wisbech, said that at about 9-15am she left her perambulator, in which was her handbag containing the articles, outside Dr Gunson's House. She visited Dr Gunson's surgery at 10-10, and when she came out at 11 o'clock the handbag was not there.

Inspector Bush said that when he interviewed defendants one of them said that a boy took the bag out of the perambulator and hid it under some stones near St Peter's School. All the boys admitted they were there when the theft was committed.

Two of the boys were finally charged with stealing 2s in silver and 4d in copper, the monies of Barbara Joyce Bush, at Wisbech, on September 9th. Barbara Joyce Bush, of the Police Station, Harecroft Road, Wisbech, stated that she left her cycle outside Peark's shop. On the handlebars was a basket, in which was a small bag containing the money. She was only in the shop about three minutes, but when she came out her bag was missing. Inspector Bush spoke of the previous witness reporting her loss to him, and the subsequent enquiries he made. One of the defendants admitted taking the money and sharing it one of the other boys. They bought some sweets with some of the money.

This hearing took place at Sessions House, a familiar Wisbech landmark.

                                             NEXT TIME .....

 The summing up and sentencing ...

The horrors of the Industrial Schools...
The town's response....

The five boys named for the first time ....

THE WISBECH RIOTS (part 3)

The Great and the Good (minus one or two of the medical fraternity from Wisbech) gathered to pay their last respects to Horace Dimock, in his home village of Stretham. There had been a kind of 'lying in state' in the family home, before the mourners assembled at the church, ready to make the procession up the hill to the village cemetery. A beautiful old funeral bier still exists inside the village church, and may well be the one which carried Horace Dimock's body on its final journey. The newspaper commented thus, " Many of the mourners came the other side of the Isle, where, week after week, Dr. Dimock had served his patients faithfully and well. The mourners assembled outside the family residence in Red Lion Street, where the young doctor lay dead, and few of them

were allowed look upon his face for the last time. Dr. Dimock, in a will made prior to one of his sea voyages taken for the benefit of his health, expressed a wish that flowers should be sent by the family in the event his death, and this wish was respected on the present occasion. Floral tributes, however, came from elsewhere—chiefly from Wisbech—and the inscriptions on them showed the high regard which the doctor was held by those amongst whom he had laboured. One wreath bore the following inscription, which fairly represented the feelings of Wisbech: "In loving sympathy, for one who worried the few, but loved the many."
 The report continued: It was expected that the funeral of the late Dr. Horace Dimock would be largely attended, but the villagers of Stretham were scarcely prepared for the crowds that trooped into their midst on Friday. One of the oldest inhabitants, in conversation with our representative, looked upon the attendance at the funeral as a fine tribute to the popularity of Dr. Dimock, and said he had not seen anything like it in the village before. 

The mourners were met at the churchyard gate by the Rev. S. Stuart Stitt and the choir, one of whom acted as cross-bearer. The surpliced churchmen led the mourners into the sacred edifice, and the coffin, covered with beautiful wreaths, was taken thither on a wheeled bier, which was placed near the entrance the sanctuary. The service was conducted by the Rector. The choir sang "Now The Labourer's Task Is O'er" and "On the Resurrection Morning. You can listen to the tune of this lovely old Victorian hymn by following this link to Soundcloud:
Now The Labourer's Task Is O'er

For the following photographs I am indebted to Robert Bell, of Wisbech Museum who, as always , has been a mine of information.

The floral tributes included the following: In deepest sympathy and loving memory of The People's Doctor, from members of the Wisbech Working Men's Liberal Association: With deepest sympathy, from the residents of Gorefield and Leverington; With united, sincere, and deepest sympathy, from the staff and employes of the G.E.R., Wisbech; With deepest sympathy, from the parishioners

of Elm— "Greater love hath no man than that he laid down his life for others"; With deepest sympathy, from the Rev. and Mrs. S. Stitt; For Dr. Horace, with love, from Hilda: With deepest sympathy for our late beloved doctor from the M. and G. Joint Staff, Wisbech—"Gone but not forgotten." The cinematograph was at work during the afternoon, and one photographer more bold than the others of his fraternity, erected his apparatus on top of a churchyard monument. The interment took place in the cemetery after the first part the service had been held in the parish church. The proceedings were orderly, with the exception that one Wisbech man gave vent to some strong language, which had reference to the way which Dr. Dimock had been treated. The police, of whom two were in plain clothes, had an easy task to perform, as compared with what might have happened under certain circumstances.

A century later, what do we make of the affair? What happened to the participants who survived? Reading contemporary accounts, it is difficult to

believe that Horace Dimock was a totally innocent party. It would have been perfectly possible for him to have won the hearts of his patients, many of them from the poorer side of society, at the same time as conducting a hate campaign against those fellow professionals against whom he bore a grudge. The less lurid of the postcards allegedly sent by Dr Dimock were reproduced in the press, along with detailed evidence by so-called handwriting experts. The ordinary people of Wisbech were not sitting on the fence, however. to them, Dimock was a victim of a vile conspiracy, and a modern martyr. It must also be remembered that this was not a period in British history marked by many episodes of popular unrest. This was still the Golden Age of the British Empire, and despite his death three years earlier, the benign spirit of Edward VII still hovered over his subjects. Within twelve months of Dimock's suicide Europe would be torn asunder by a terrible war which would lay waste to a generation of young men.
And what of Dimock's fellow Wisbech doctors? Dr Meacock, who was the most vociferous of Dimock's detractors, was to make the headlines again, some

twenty years later, but this time in his capacity as a magistrate. This story will be covered in a later blog. Dr Gunson went on to serve with distinction in The Great War. He survived to return to general practice, and is remembered in a street sign near his former home, which was one of the targets of the Wisbech mob in the dark November days of 1913. And now, in 2014? The Dimock home in Stretham has long since been demolished. Horace Dimock's grave lies next to that of his father, who had died three years earlier. His father's tombstone is still clear, but the inscription beneath Horace's cross is barely readable. It is only by comparing the original funeral photographs with modern images that we can be certain of Horace's last resting place.

THE WISBECH RIOTS (part 2)

Before we continue with the saga of the Riots, it should be mentioned that the new welfare measures were a national issue not confined to the Fens. The Riots were widely reported in newspapers up and down the land, and the matter of doctors' panels in the town had been raised in Parliament earlier in 1913. This is the report from Hansard, and if at least one of the names seems familiar, he was Captain William Benn, MP for Tower Hamlets and Junior Lord of The Treasury. He went on to serve with distinction in The Great War and was, of course, the father of the late Tony Benn.

So, the people's favourite, Dr Horace Dimock, was dead by his own hand, as a result of persecution form his fellow medical men in Wisbech. Was it as simple as that? Had the other doctors received hate mail? Did Horace Dimock have 'previous'? Here is another side of the story, widely reported in the press, up and down the land. Was Dimock a victim of a concerted plot organised by the establishment, or was he a foolish man with a hatred for anyone who dared to disagree with him?

As soon as he (Dr. Dimock) came to Wisbech, anonymous postcards of all degrees of scurrility and obscenity were sent the secretary of the hospital, to the doctors, and to various lay members the community. These postcards in (hand) printed characters, not script, were found to resemble most closely those used some nine years before in a number of scurrilous documents that were sent to a medical student at St. Thomas's Hospital (London)who was living in the same lodgings also occupied by Dimock. A writing expert considers that the St. Thomas's Hospital documents and the Wisbech documents were, undoubtedly written in the same hand, and anyone who examines the two sets of documents must agree with this. These documents were sent in such a fashion that the wives of the Wisbech doctors saw them. The police, then taking the matter in hand, saw Dr. Dimock post documents at certain pillar-boxes, which were kept under careful observation until the officials of the Post Office could open them. In both cases postcards or similar documents were found near the top, addressed to Wisbech doctors, in the suspected writing, and of a libellous nature. 

But then on the other hand, one of Dr. Dimock's admirers spoke up in his defence.

Who are the authors of the anonymous and libellous letters and postcards written to the late Dr. Dimock, which he received from the first day he began to work in the town ? Why have colleagues called him "blackleg", boycotted and ignored him? Who repeatedly pulled down and defaced his brass plate, and were they acting for others? Who threw the gate to his back garden off its hinges, and who smashed his windows? Who repeatedly called him the telephone at night to attend to distant cases which not exist? and What evidence have the police regarding the secret persecutors of the doctor, which, it is hoped, may lead to an arrest? Not to be outdone, Dr Meacock was not slow to reply in the press.

Sadly for our modern tastes, the salacious postcards allegedly sent by Dr. Dimock were not revealed in their full glory in Meacock's letter, as newspaper readers of the time were expected to use their imagination much more than we are today. It was also evident, according the outraged Meacock, that Dimock was something of an amateur artist. Dr Meacock finished his letter regretting that Horace Dimock had died - if only because that sad fact had prevented justice from being done, and seen to done. 
 
Meanwhile, the public disturbances had continued, not without a few moments of unintentional humour.

Since an early hour this evening a mob has been parading the streets and demonstrating alternately before the residences of Dr. Meacock and Dr. Gunson. At nine o'clock a double police cordon was drawn across the bridge which gives access to the street front of Dr. Meacock's house, and the crowd, which must have numbered about 1,500 strong, concentrated upon Dr. Gunson's in the Crescent .The Police who barred the way were subjected to a fusillade of squibs and detonators, the explosion of which, though harmless, sounded remarkably like revolver shots. An arrest in Bridge-street before ten created some disturbance, and three or four stones were thrown at Dr. Gunson's windows, one or which was broken. About ten o'clock night there was a recrudescence of the rioting in the neighbourhood of the Market-square. A crowd numbering several hundred invaded Market-street, and in a few moments had broken every window in the surgery.

Further rioting took place on Saturday night. The streets were crowded with people, but there was no trouble until nearly ten o'clock. Then the people formed into mobs, and powerful explosives were discharged. Several of these exploded perilously near the faces of some of the police on duty. One bomb was so strong that it smashed the window in a jeweller's shop. That was the only damage to property during the evening, the crowd seeming to be more anxious to attack the police than damage the property of residents. This was probably due to the fact that the police had been too vigorous in  their handling of the crowd on the previous evenings. From ten o'clock until two this morning there were continuous conflicts between the police and civilians in various parts of the town, and the mob was really more riotous than it had been on any previous occasion. The rioters attempted to rush the cordon of police guarding the approach to Dr. Meacock's house, but the constables used their batons, and the crowd was repulsed, several men and women being knocked down and others receiving hard blows from the batons. A number of police were struck in return.

The worst disturbance took place about 11.30 in the market-place. About 2000 people were assembled, and a rowdy element commenced throwing explosives and empty bottles at the officers. Three or four of the bottles struck policemen, inflicting nasty cuts their faces. Then the police drew their batons and charged into the crowd. They hit hard, and several of them were struck heavily in return. One aged man was hit on the head with such force that he sustained a bad wound, and was treated by doctor. The man alleges that he was standing at the top of the passage where he lives and was struck without any provocation whatever. Another man received a blow in the mouth and some of his teeth were knocked out. Order was restored in the market-place about one o'clock, but when the police attempted to clear the streets there was a renewal of the disorder. Blows were freely struck, and there were instances of of stand-up fights between civilians, while police constables on duty in the outskirts of the town were attacked at several points by villagers returning home. It was not until two o'clock this morning that order was restored.

One former Constable clearly was a gamekeeper turned poacher.

There was a sequel to the recent disturbances yesterday at a local police court, when Ernest Langford, an ex-policeman, pleaded guilty of having assaulted the police, and was fined 20s. Constable Wallace said that on Saturday night the police had just cleared the demonstrators from the Bridge, when Langford rushed across and hit the witness on the head with a stick. The blow knocked off his helmet plate and also the chain. The defendant ran away, but fell down, and was stopped by another constable. He was rescued, however, by the crowd and got away. The Defendant expressed regret, and stated that he had been a police officer, and was discharged from the force with a good character. 

IN THE CONCLUDING PART OF THIS SAD TALE, WE WILL EAVESDROP AT THE FUNERAL OF HORACE DIMOCK, IN HIS HOME VILLAGE OF STRETHAM

THE WISBECH RIOTS (part 1)

It all started with the National Insurance Act of 1911. For the first time people paid into a scheme which gave them some protection against sickness and unemployment. It was the beginning of the Welfare State.

Among doctors a sequence of events was set in train that in Wisbech would end with tragedy and riot. Before 1911 there were private GPs who gravitated towards wealthier areas. The 1911 Act provided insurance cover for about 12 million workers earning less than £160 a year and included the free services of a GP. The individual became a 'panel patient'. The difficulty lay in finding a private doctor prepared to work at panel wage rates. In Wisbech this was a problem because no doctor would do it. A new doctor, Dr Horace Dimock, was drafted in to help clear the case-load. Though the poor of Wisbech took him very much to their hearts, his arrival created hostility among the other doctors. Dimock was a local man from the village of Stretham, but the local private doctors, fearing a cut in their incomes, turned their backs on the Government's health reforms.

In October 1913, Dr Dimock's already difficult relationship with other doctors became impossible. These other doctors were receiving malicious postcards and anonymous letters supporting the wonderful work of Dr Dimock and criticising them. One of the doctors receiving the hate mail, Dr Meacock, informed the police and Dr Dimock was arrested. He was taken before local magistrates and was remanded on bail. Dr Dimock appealed to the Medical Defence Society but discovered they were already acting for the other doctors. Dr Dimock returned tired and distressed to his home village, Stretham. The next morning he was found dead. He had taken an overdose.

On 30 October 1913, the news broke in Wisbech of the death of Dr Dimock. A crowd gathered and rushed to Dr Meacock's town house by the river and stoned the windows. The local police called for reinforcements but the situation got out of control. Eventually the Mayor of Wisbech read the Riot Act and the police went in with their truncheons.

This is how the riot unfolded, according to one newspaper.

"There was tremendous excitement and grief when the news reached Wisbech. On Thursday evening, October 30th – two days after Dr. Dimock's death – four or five thousand people attended a meeting in the Market Place. The meeting was orderly enough, although the speaker declared that Dr. Dimock had been “persecuted from the day he came to Wisbech”. Tributes were paid to his services “especially to the poor”, and the crowd, standing with heads bare and bowed, passed a resolution of sympathy with his relatives and then sang “O God our help in ages past”. But, said a reporter “apparently an undercurrent was at work”.
Hundreds of people went & stood in front of Dr. Meacock’s house on the North Brink. There were cheers for Dr. Dimock and loud boos for Dr. Meacock. Then stones were thrown, and several windows were smashed before the rush from the police broke the crowd up. But they crossed the bridge over the river and reassembled again in front of Dr. Gunson’s house in the Crescent where,  booing and hooting, they smashed all the windows. The police charged again and drove them away – only for them to return to Dr. Meacock’s house."

This is the obituary from the British Medical Journal, for the unfortunate young doctor.

TO BE CONTINUED