Chapter 59
Alfred Eustace Squire was born in Wandsworth, London on 5 March 1885. His parents were John and Harriet Squire.
Elsie Mary Le Brun was born in St Helier, Jersey on 20 February 1888. Her parents were Moses and Esther Le Brun.
Alfred and Elsie married in St Helier on 12 June 1913.
They had two children:
- 62.1.1 Joan Squire (1913). Joan died in 1913.
- 62.1.2 John Rupert Squire (1915)
More on these individuals in Chapter 62.1.
Before he was married, Alfred had been at home with his widowed mother in Kingston. He was already a manager at a paper merchant’s office. Elsie had been at home in Jersey, having completed her University degree. The photo shows her (left) with William (standing), Isobel and her husband Donald Mills, John De Gruchy Le Brun, Esther their mother, and Amy Le Brun; Amy and John’s daughter Amy.
(key and credit)
Antoinette Herivel recalls that Elsie was very gifted and went to London University, at the time of the suffragettes, and studied English with one of the WW1 poets.
The Slade School of Fine Art, founded as part of UCL in c. 1870, was one of the first higher education establishments to accept women. A contemporary picture shows plenty of respectable young ladies! I don’t know that Literature was taught but there was a prominent war poet – Isaac Rosenberg – and a history of producing suffragettes, e.g. Mary Lowndes, Ernestine Mills, Georgina Brackenbury and Olive Hockin (who studied at the Slade from 1904-1911). Update: I’ve found a philosophy book of Elsie’s inscribed UCL, October 1908.
The hypothesis that Elsie went to Slade, allows a glimpse into the art world of the time. And the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded in 1903, the year in which Elsie turned 18. Two years later, they convinced the Liberal MP Bamford Slack to introduce a women’s suffrage bill: the publicity spurred rapid expansion of the group.
by Arthur George Walker (my photo)
Through these pale cold days
What dark faces burn
Out of three thousand years,
And their wild eyes yearn,
While underneath their brows
Like waifs their spirits grope
For the pools of Hebron again—
For Lebanon’s summer slope.
They leave these blond still days
In dust behind their tread
They see with living eyes
How long they have been dead.
The last poem written by Joshua Rosenberg before he was killed on 1 April 1918
During WWI, Alfred was a 2nd Lieutenant (from August 1916) with the Royal Flying Corps.
His duties appear to have been technical, and ground-based, indeed Farnborough-based. Farnborough was where the Royal Aircraft Factory had developed from the Army Balloon Factory by 1912. A nondescript but Grade II* listed building of 1911 survives.
Farnborough is where Britain’s first aeroplane flight took place, in 1908, by S F Cody, who became a national hero.
And Farnborough is where planes like the SE5A, “the nimble fighter that has since been described as the ‘Spitfire of World War One’”, were designed, (sometimes) built, and repaired.
Alfred was with H. Reeve Angel at the time of his enlistment, and he stayed with them for his whole career, and was a shareholder.
Henry [Harry] Reeve Angel had been a commercial traveller in the paper trade. In about 1908, he started in business as the UK agent for the Finish Kymmene newsprint company. He founded H. Reeve Angel & Co in 1912, sharing 110 Fenchurch St, London with Frederick George Angel & Co, starches and chemicals, but soon moved to 14/15 New Bridge Street. The company was sole United Kingdom representative for ‘Desvernay & Cie. Grandsons and Successors to Conte & Cie., Paris’, featuring their crayons, pencils, etc; also Canson papers [still going]. The business advertised over many years as sole representative for J. Whatman papers, ‘As used by the foremost artists for more than a century and a half’. Angel died at 9 Bridewell Place in 1934, leaving an estate worth the considerable sum of £43,771. (Thanks to National Portrait Gallery, quoting The Year’s Art and The Studio).
The company also had premises at 9 Bridewell Place from 1918. It’s at this address that I find Alfred listed as a director in 1921. Harry is MD, and there is another director, “R J Angel” [There are many errors in the machine-OCR, so this may be Rowland Eric, Angel’s son. The company is also at 7/11. Spruce Street, New York and is sole representative for Ralston, makers of the famous Whatmas drawing, ledger and writing papers and high-grade chemical filter papers. Also agents for the Finnish Papermill Association.
The company was sole United Kingdom representative for ‘Desvernay & Cie. Grandsons and Successors to Conte & Cie., Paris’, featuring their crayons, pencils, etc; also Canson papers [still going]. The business advertised over many years as sole representative for J. Whatman papers, ‘As used by the foremost artists for more than a century and a half’. Angel died at 9 Bridewell Place in 1934, leaving an estate worth the considerable sum of £43,771. (Thanks to National Portrait Gallery, quoting The Year’s Art and The Studio).
In 1937, Alfred lodged a patent application in the US for a filtering device, which was granted. In 1950, there was a monopoly hearing in the US Congress, which involved a Reeve Angel joint venture, amongst others.
In 1974, Reeve Angel International merged with W. & R. Balston, and the brand name Whatman was incorporated to form Whatman Reeve Angel Ltd. The business is credited with the invention of the woven wire mesh used to mould and align the pulp fibres. This is the principal method used in the mass production of most modern paper. Vintage Paper Co have a great piece on how Whatman paper was made: “Over the years Vintage Paper Co has had the good fortune to handle paper from many manufacturers, both historical and contemporary and there is absolutely no doubt that J Whatman consistently produced the finest quality paper we have ever seen.” Whatman ended paper making by hand in the 1950s and by the 1960s no longer made paper for art at all although there was an ill-fated 1980s relaunch. Reeve Angel branded filter paper lasted long enough to be applied to Chinese-made product.
It rebranded as Whatman plc in 1990. The company was acquired in 2008 by GE Healthcare (a unit of General Electric) for c. £363 million. Last production at the Springfield Mill, Maidstone was in 2014, and it was knocked down in 2018, after 200 years. The local park is still called Whatman Park, and the Rag Room, which is listed, and chimney, was incorporated in the development.
The completion of the sale of GE Life Sciences to Danaher Corporation for $21bn completed in 2020. It has rebranded to Cytiva, is at the forefront of the fight against Covid 19, and is committed to the Whatman brand products, manufactured from high-quality raw materials. Filter papers are used in vaccine production.
Mum tells me that there Elsie played at the Clare Hill Golf Club at the end of the road. On at least one occasion, she won, and brought home an engraved plate as a trophy.
In 1938, they embarked upon the trip of a lifetime. They moved in well-off circles. A relative once asked if I’d inherited a Rolex (I didn’t). Alfred may have been used to dealing with the American business. But – judging by the ephemera collected – it’s not hard to see that they were thrilled.
I moved this to merge with the original Queen of the Seas blog post, now that they are co-located.
Alfred died at Esher on 16 April 1944. Elsie lived until 21 September 1970, long enough for me to meet her, when I was very small.
Apparently, Elsie used to drive herself around in a big, old Wolseley, and was driven by her housekeeper, Jane Gregory’s brother, William. It seems most likely that the pre-War family car would have been preserved through regular servicing – Mum confirms that it was this type. She still had the car when she died though, which would have made it over thirty years old.
If you can help me add to this story, please let me know.