William ('Bill') George Sallis was born in 1917 to William Henry
and Kate Sallis. The family then lived in part of what is now 7 Chawley Lane,
separated from Cumnor by fields. His father was born at Boars Hill and worked on
a Wootton farm before moving in about 1910 to Chawley, where he took employment
at Chawley Works as a waggoner. His mother came from Shippon, near Abingdon; her
father, a shepherd, was found drowned in a stream where the airfield now is. The
name Sallis was spelt in different ways in the family bible because the
grandparents,like many of their generation, could not read or write and asked
other people to make the entry for them and the local dialect led to different
spellings.
At Chawley Works, Bill's father worked with four shire horses, which dominated
his life seven days a week. He rose at 5.30 am to go to the stables to water and
feed them, returned home for his breakfast. While he was at the stables, mother
lit the fire, boiling the kettle on it to make the tea and cook his father's
meal. The children also had to be up and eat breakfast before 7 am. In summer he
looked after the horses but also did fieldwork. In winter he took out the waggon
with Billy Brown to bring in timber for the woodyard. Billy Brown lived next
door in the other half of the house, which belonged to the Works; the rent was
1s 6d a week. They would spend a week at places like Bletchingdon Park, taking
an old shepherd's van with them to live in, saw down trees and prepare the
timber for transport on the waggon. Every Christmas, all employees at Chawley
Works were given a present. The men were given a joint of meat personally by
Lady Abingdon, who wore elbow-length white gloves.
His mother found employment with Mrs Wickson at Lady Abingdon's laundry in Hurst
Lane. During the Great War she used to watch the prisoners-of-war marching from
their work at the brickyard back to their camp at Whitley. Once a week she
walked into Oxford to go shopping in St. Ebbe's. Occasionally William
accompanied her so that they could buy him a nearly-new pair of hobnail boots at
the second-hand shop or pawnbrokers. Any shopping done in Oxford itself was at
the cheapest places, in St. Ebbe’s for example, and we had to walk to get there.
Food shops did not close until 10 pm. on Fridays and on Saturdays the Butchers
would stay open as long as possible because any meat left over unsold would be
taken to the Gas Works and burnt. So it was not unusual to see women walking up
Cumnor Hill at 10.30 pm loaded with shopping - some even having to go as far as
Appleton. There was no bus service till the later 1920s but the Fyfield carrier
came by and would deliver groceries. They didn’y have a daily paper but the News
of the World was delivered on Sunday.
There was no electricity or mains water during their time in Chawley Lane. They
left in 1929. Water came from a well in the garden of the farmhouse across the
road. Hicks from Appleton delivered bread, while milk could be obtained from the
carts doing the rounds from Coulings at Borneholm Farm down the lane, George
Buckingham at Pond Farm, or Harry Webb at Burnt Farm.
His father was a staunch Liberal. There was no Labour Party following in Cumnor
then, William recalled, 'not till after the war -then we were all for Labour.'
Although he was too young to remember the 1922 strike at Chawley Works, he
recalled his father saying that Lord Abingdon was then living at New Cumnor
Place and when those representing the workers went to see him, he came out drunk
and told them to go back to work.
In 1928/9 there was a huge storm and trees were blown down, blocking the
Faringdon Road. His father and Billy Brown were sent down to clear the road and
bring the timber back on the waggon. Returning as it was getting dark, they were
crossing the Oxford Road junction when Stan Wastie ran into the back of the
waggon on his motorbike. He sued Chawley Works because the waggon had no lights
and both his father and Billy Brown were sacked. They had to leave the house.
The Sallis family moved to Rockley cottages and later to 'Jasmine Cottage', 7
Abingdon Road.
Bill's earliest memory was of being dragged by the ear off to school by a girl,
Nellie Eggleton, who was a relative. 'I used to run away a lot. Rebellious!', he
said. 'One day my mother took me back to school. 'I can't control William', said
Denton Brown, the headmaster. 'Then how do you expect me to?' she asked.
Schooling was repetition, mental arithmetic - it was not an education. But you
had to write properly for Denton Brown.' Each day a boy had to pump water up to
the tank; a worse job was cleaning the cobbled courtyard with a knife. It was
not a happy time. The basic idea was that education had to be knocked into them
by heavy caning, boxing their ears, or rapped knuckles. The vicar, the
Rev.Wilkinson, would visit the school - he was a 'very nice man. He did the
history of the Sallis family for us.'
There was little opportunity for recreation. For a short time there were two
fields, one of which was where today's Village Hall is and the other off the
Oxford Road - "nothing seemed to last very long". The Church House (where Mrs
Harvey now lives) acted as a reading room and for the playing of games for a
time. There was a Boxing Club at the Vine Inn and there was a football team
which played where the children's play area now is. There was a very successful
cricket team for many years. Money was raised for the Village Hall by selling
individual bricks for sixpence each. Once it was built it became a focal point
for all sorts of activities - travelling shows, boxing, dancing, Boys' Brigade,
concerts and many other interests.
'I left school at 14', Bill recalled, 'and got a job at Oaken Holt, gardening
for the Dowager Countess of Abingdon. She had these staff:- one chauffeur, one
butler, one footman, three gardeners, one lady's maid, two house-maids, one
cook, one kitchen maid - all for one old lady'. Her estate manager was Mr
Tipping. Bill considered him 'a smart bloke'. He would say no more about him.
(At Field House, Botley, in conversation with John Hanson September 2002)