|
|
We are grateful to one of our society members, Mr.C.J.Johnson, for the transcript of an illuminated address to Mr. Christie, who retired in 1903 as Head Gardener at Ragley Hall.
Mrs.I.Smith of Maltmill Lane, Alcester, kindly showed the framed Address to Mr. Johnson. The 'purse of money' referred to, came to £17.00 The Address had been found in a London antiques shop by some 0f Mrs. Smith friends; it is surprising how local material can be so widely dispersed.
Mr. Christie appears only fleetingly in our Arrow records, viz. when he entered his son on the register 0f Arrow School. Mr. Johnson intends to look Up the 'Alcester Chronicle' of the time to find more details of Alex Christie's life. A future issue 0f 'Local Past' will then supply the details.
The donors for the Address reads like a roll-call of the great and the good in the Arrow/Alcester area: many names are immediately recognisable to those who know the locality;
| Stannus | Jephcott | Whitehead |
| Adcock | Fisher | Bowen |
| Shrimpton | Averll | Bomford |
| Smith | Collins | Burden |
| Blackband |
are some of them.
To Mr. Alex Davidson Christie,
Ragley Gardens, Near Alcester
We the undersigned beg your acceptance of the accompanying purse of money, on the occasion of your leaving Ragley Gardens, as a token of the esteem and regard in which you have been held by your numerous friends in Alcester and the district:
B. W. Stannus, G. Lightfooot, E. A. Jephcott, J. Bennett, J. Henderson, S. A. Gothard, R.W. Whitehead,
A.H..Whitehead, H. G. Paley (or Patey), W.J. Morris, W. G. Facer, E. A. Wilson, Alcester Cycle Co.,
Edw. Stanton, J. Dow, H. D. Adcock, J. Cooper, J. Fisher, J. H.. Saunderson, C. J. Hayward, F. Watkin,
J. Bayliss,A. Kerr, J. Jones,B. Bowen, J. Elsely,A. M. J. (sic), J. Bull, G. W. Shrinipton, Reg. J. Patey,
A. Cox, Edwin Smith, G. Pike, L. Warwick College, Walter Trout, W.J.Days, W. Boswell,
A. J. Whitehouse, S. Averill, E. Reeve, J. F. Sheppard, B. S. Browne, H. B. Bomford R. Bonford,
J. wheeler, j. R. Andrews, H. Salmon, Sophia Smith, Annie Smith , Alfred Smith, G. Pitt, A. J.Wardle,
J. Collins, F. Court, J. Burden, E Bomford, W. Barnes, H. W. Humphries, S. J. Harris, John Canninng, The
3 Cs,W.Wells, H Blackband, J. Mitchell, H. J. C., F. Blick, J. Mansell, John Foster, Thos. Hout.