WP Haskett Smith - any living relatives?

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Steve Reid 28 Sep 2005
A long shot, but for reasons of private historical research I am trying to contact any living relatives of Walter Parry Haskett Smith who made the first ascent of Napes Needle in 1886.

Any (sensible) suggestions gratefully received (and I've tried the obvious ones like the FRCC, CC, AC etc).
 Bob 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Steve Reid:

Do you know where he died? The registrar for that district should have details of his death certificate.

The 1901 census is on-line and may be of help. From http://www.frcc.co.uk/rock/history/needle/napesneedle1.htm it would appear that he was still around in 1936.

Ask on geneology sites as they should be used to this sort of detective work.

Bob
Steve Reid 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Bob:
> (In reply to Steve Reid)
>
> Do you know where he died? The registrar for that district should have details of his death certificate.

Yes, indeed I do, I'll follow it up - thanks!
In reply to Steve Reid:

He died in March 1946 at Parkstone in Dorset "to which he had retired, little-visited, isolated, and in failing health, after the bombing of his London house", according to Perrin in the introduction to the Ernest Press edition of his 'Climbing in the British Isles'.
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I posted that because I thought other people might be interested to know.
 Rob Naylor 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Steve Reid:

Did he not live with his sister, neither of them marrying? His brother Edmund may have married.

The Haskett-Smith family were from around Goudhurst in Kent, so you might find some more distant relatives there. There's an inscription in Goudhurst churchyard:

"Thermutis Ashe daughter of Haskett SMITH of Trowswell born 29 September 1854 died 27 February 1864. Haskett Smith of Trowswell died 7 October 1895 aged 83. Anne (DAVIES) his wife died 6 September 1893 aged 74. Algernon HASKETT-SMITH born 4 July 1856 died 27 November 1887."

There's a Claire Haskett-Smith living at Burnham-on-Crouch (or was in 2002) and a Philip Haskett-Smith whose name I've seen on a campsite register near Tunbridge Wells (noticed them both because of the surname!). Not much help, but may give you something to go on.
 Rob Naylor 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Rob Naylor:

Oh, and in his short life, Algernon H-S was apparently a first class cricketer. He's the right age to be a brother or cousin of W.P., and you may find some leads through cricketing archives.
 Postmanpat 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Steve Reid:
There's a Lizzie Haskett Smith who also seems to live in Burnham and is attached to the "BMS World Mission" a Christian charity .Suggest you try them or the church in Burnham .

http://www.bmsworldmission.org/standard.asp?id=17140
 Geordie 28 Sep 2005
In reply to Steve Reid:
'alleged' first ascent
 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Hi Gordon,

Great snippet. So he almost got to Portland. I could have lent him my drill!

Mick
 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
> 'alleged' first ascent

Please tell me you're joking...

Mick
 steve taylor 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> (In reply to Steve Reid)
>
> He died in March 1946 at Parkstone in Dorset "to which he had retired, little-visited, isolated, and in failing health, after the bombing of his London house", according to Perrin in the introduction to the Ernest Press edition of his 'Climbing in the British Isles'.

Blimey - that's where I'm sitting now! No-one listed with that surname in the telephone book around here though.
In reply to Mick Ward:

No doubt was ever raised about H-S's first ascent, to my knowledge, until a thread on RT in 2002, based on some very weak arguments that were well refuted by Rob Naylor. The same subject, with the same doubter, then reappeared two years later. His arguments have about the same merit as those who claim the Americans never landed on the moon but faked it in a Hollywood studio.

The threads were:
http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=12010
http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=79843

But I think it would be entirely redundant to resurrect that debate again.
 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Phew... thanks for that!

Isn't there a story that H-S went back to Napes Needle, many years later, when he was an old 'un, soloed it again, did a headstand on top, quipped with the onlookers ("Tell us a story!" "This is the top storey!!"), etc, etc.

Whatever the merits of this later tale, it seems inconceivable (well to me, anyway), that he would blag the FA. Not that sort of man.

So thanks again. Now, about the moon landing - zzzzzz...
 Jimmy D 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:
> (In reply to Gordon Stainforth)
>
>
> Isn't there a story that H-S went back to Napes Needle, many years later, when he was an old 'un, soloed it again, did a headstand on top, quipped with the onlookers ("Tell us a story!" "This is the top storey!!"), etc, etc.
>


Yes - he went back in 1936 for a 50th anniversary reapeat. Don't think he did a handstand though.

 Jimmy D 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> (In reply to Steve Reid)
>
> He died in March 1946 at Parkstone in Dorset "to which he had retired, little-visited, isolated, and in failing health, after the bombing of his London house", according to Perrin in the introduction to the Ernest Press edition of his 'Climbing in the British Isles'.

Typically gloomy Jim Perrin appraisal
 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
> Yes - he went back in 1936 for a 50th anniversary reapeat.

Brilliant! It's great when folk go back - like Cassin.

We'll let him off the head/handstand. 'Don't think I'd fancy it.

Didn't Crowley do a FA on the Needle? And wasn't a very young Dennis Gray part of a plot to blow it up?

Drenched in climbing history...


OP Anonymous 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:
Can't remember whether it is in Hankinson's Century on the Crags,
but isn't that the occasion where those below asked "Tell us a story" and he is supposed to have said something like

"There is no other story. This is the top storey"
 Rob Naylor 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Geordie:
> (In reply to Steve Reid)
> 'alleged' first ascent

Oh, Jeezus, not you again! We've had several long discussions on this, and you usually end up conceding that my points against your "chip on the shoulder" arguments are valid.

Then you seem to do a brain reset, disregard all the refutations of your arguments that he didn't do it, come out with the same arguments for the "nth" time and need to have them shot down again for the "nth" time. Talk about holding fast to cherished beliefs in the face of the weight of evidence!

To save a re-hash of the refutations here, see: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=79843&v=1#1075436

and the previous thread *that* one refers to.
 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Anonymous:

Thanks! Kind of thought it was a Jerry Wright reference but my memory's more than a tad iffy. Century on the Crags, eh?
The mid-way ledge is in sight!

Mick
 Rob Naylor 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Sorry, Gordon, hadn't seen your references before I posted the one above!
 Simon Caldwell 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Rob Naylor:
The main argument seems to be:

"I have much more 'evidence' that questions the validity of the ascent. But I'm off to the wall now, bye."

It certainly had me convinced.
 Dave Pritchard 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:
> [...]

> Didn't Crowley do a FA on the Needle?

That was Ilam Rock in Dovedale, wasn't it?

Dave

 Colin Wells 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:
> [...]
>
> Brilliant! It's great when folk go back - like Cassin.
>
> We'll let him off the head/handstand. 'Don't think I'd fancy it.
>

It was Ivan Waller who did the handstand. Eric Byne recalled:

‘Legends grew up about his Alvis car speeding at a terrific pace from one climbing ground to the next, and how he had stood on his head on the top of Napes Needle’
 Colin Wells 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:

>
> Didn't Crowley do a FA on the Needle? And wasn't a very young Dennis Gray part of a plot to blow it up?
>

Crowley did indeed do a first ascent - 'The Crowley Route' HS 1893

The long-standing rumour that climbing terrorists planned to blow up that sacred icon of British Climbing (and logo of the F&RCC), Napes Needle, in the 1950s is, one suspects, a bit of a climbers' urban myth. I've heard it in various forms over the years from different sources who all claim different people were on the verge of doing it. It probably dates from the immediate post-war period as a form of sublimated resentment against the perceived (but actually completely unjustified) elitism of the FRCC. The most plausible source for the origins of the story I've seen names an unwitting Paul Ross, rather than Dennis Gray, as the alleged perpetrator.

While drinking in Keswick’s George Hotel one night, Ross is alleged to have suggested in jest what a good wheeze it would be to blow up the Needle, as a kind of ‘two-fingers up to the Toffs’ gesture to what the Young Guns considered the local Climbing Establishment. Unfortunately he was overheard by a local quarry worker who shared similar anarchist sentiments and a few nights later, when Ross was back in the pub the quarryman rushed in saying, ‘I’ve got it!’. When Ross said ‘Got what?’ he was ushered to the Gents and there, in a plastic shopping bag, were six sticks of dynamite. As is the case with bar room yarns, the story became embellished into a serious intent in the re-telling over the months and years but, rather amusingly, the chief suspect evolved, by a process of Chinese Whispers, into Ross's innocent contemporary Peter Greenwood. As a result of the rumour mill he was apparently regarded with grave suspicion by some FRCC members for some time afterwards, much to his perplexity.
In reply to Dave Pritchard:
> (In reply to Mick Ward)
> [...]
>
> [...]
>
> That was Ilam Rock in Dovedale, wasn't it?
>

No, that was done by Herford in August 1914.

 Mick Ward 29 Sep 2005
In reply to Colin Wells:

Thanks for the info. Thank God somebody knows their history!

Got a vague memory of bumping into Waller at Chee Tor, of all places. Good effort for Crowley, HS (I always thought it was VS) in 1893 - not too shabby! Got a vague recollection of Dennis the Menace mentioning the 'Blow up Napes Needle' plan in 'Rope Girl' but may be hopelessly mistaken, probably am.

 Mark Kemball 30 Sep 2005
In reply to Mick Ward:
> (In reply to Colin Wells)
! Got a vague recollection of Dennis the Menace mentioning the 'Blow up Napes Needle' plan in 'Rope Girl' but may be hopelessly mistaken, probably am.

I think I remember reading that too. Anyone read it recently to confirm?

Steve Reid 30 Sep 2005
Many thanks for all the helpful replies. I haven't had time to follow them up yet.

Actually what I am trying to establish is a connection of some sort between Haskett Smith and a man called Wright who lived in Purley, Surrey and whose widow was alive in 1979. I have considered that this might possibly be JEB Wright who died in 1975 and lived in Richmond Surrey, but I think that is unlikely and that it is more likely to be a distant relative.

The reason is that I have recently bought a bronze statuette of Napes Needle that was given to Haskett Smith by Gustave Speaker of the FRCC in 1937, shortly after he and Theo Chorley took HS up the Needle on the 50th anniversary of the first ascent. The statuette was sculpted by Una Cameron who was I believe the first woman to climb Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, and lived most of her life in Courmayer.

The statuette was in the property of Mrs Wright in 1979 and I am trying to establish how it came to the Wright family from Haskett Smith.

Speaker had a second copy of the Napes Needle statuette made and this was presented to the FRCC who still own it today.
Sybil Crawford 07 Oct 2005
In reply to Steve Reid: Hello- here's the long shot- My name is Sybil Crawford- I live in Nova Scotia Canada and I am a grand niece of WP Haskett Smith- my grandfather Edmund Haskett Smith and he were brothers- Other siblings were Algernon, Frances St Barbe and Elizabeth Alethe- the only other descendant I know of is George Prigent, a grand nephew, who lives in Paighton Devon- another grand nephew would be David Rossiter- grandson of Frances- whereabouts unknown-
 Rob Naylor 07 Oct 2005
In reply to Sybil Crawford:

Wonderful! So you're the grand-daughter of WP's younger brother Edmund...the one who put up several climbs with him on Pillar Rock.

And I was correct guessing in my post above that the cricketing Algernon buried in Goudhurst churchyard was a brother who died young!
Stephen Reid 08 Oct 2005
In reply to Sybil Crawford:

Fantastic! I have sent you an email!!
philip haskett-smith 14 Oct 2005
In reply to Steve Reid:
me,philip, my children beccy,claire,lizzie, thomas Edward and alice. I should have spent more time climbing!!!!! wp was some relative of my great grandfather. Only other blood relative I know is my sister jenny.
regards
philip
In reply to philip haskett-smith:

Amazing thread. I was stunned at how far it managed to be reaching but then I put 'haskett-smith' into Google -

http://www.google.com/search?&rls=en-us&q=haskett-smith&ie=UTF-...

Still pretty impressive that a 16-day old thread on here gets to be the top hit on Google!

Alan
 Rob Naylor 14 Oct 2005
In reply to philip haskett-smith:

Are you the Philip H-S who's used campsites around Tunbridge Wells? And is the Claire you mention the one who lives/lived in Burnham-on-Crouch?

Presumably your Great Grandfather wasn't WPs brother Edmund, as his great grand-daughter has already posted above and didn't seem aware of you. Algernon died young, but I have no idea whether he had any children before shuffling off. So I guess we're back to offspring of the previous generation...WP and your GtG could have been cousins, maybe? Should be traceable in the Parish register at Goudhurst.
 Rob Naylor 14 Oct 2005
In reply to Rob Naylor:

Or...Edmund's Gt Grand-daughter above mentioned a "Frances St Barbe H-S" as a sibling. From the spelling I assumed it was a sister. However, we have from local records:

4. Katherine Ada, b.1870 Sep 29, Suez, married 1896 Jun 20, Paddington, Frank St Barbe HASKETT SMITH of Goudhurst, Kent, and had issue

So is seems that Frances/Francis was a male after all, and that WP had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, not 2 brothers and 3 sisters as I'd assumed! Perhaps Philip is a descendant of Frank, as the previous generation were just "Smith" with the patriarch being called Haskett Smith, Haskett being his first name.

Fascinating...I just wish I had time to follow it up at Goudhurst. It's only 10 miles away, but it might as well be the moon with the workload I have at the moment. Yes..I'm still working: waiting for a tape to finish running so I can analyse the output!
Steve Reid 15 Oct 2005
In reply to philip haskett-smith: Great - I have emailed you!
In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Yes, a thread like this is surely an example of the internet at its very best.
Sybil Crawford 15 Oct 2005
In reply to philip haskett-smith: I am very interested to learn that you are a distant relative of my great uncle Walter Haskett Smith-My grandfather Edmund Haskett was a brother , his father was Haskett Smith and his grandfather was Samuel Smith- Could you please tell me the name of your ggrandfather? Sybil Crawford
Sybil Crawford 15 Oct 2005
In reply to Rob Naylor: Phillip Haskett Smith could not be a descendant of Frances St Barbe as there were only two girls in the family- Doris and Gracie. Algernon and Walter were never married, neither was their sister Alethe.
 Rob Naylor 16 Oct 2005
In reply to Sybil Crawford:

Scratch that idea, then. I felt that it was a possibility since:

(a) He obviously isn't descended from Edmund, or you would have known of him.

(b) Their generation was, as far as I could see from the Goudhurst inscriptions, the first to use "Haskett Smith" as a surname. Their father was just plain Smith, and his first name was Haskett, as I noted further up the thread, and as you confirm above.

I thought the idea that the children of, say, one of Mr Smith's brothers or cousins might have taken the surname "Haskett Smith" (with or without hyphen)a little unlikely. So, knowing (now) that Frances was male, married and "had issue" according to local records, I thought it most likely that Philip was descended from Frank/ Frances.

You've just scotched that possibility, so once again I'm intrigued!

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