Hidden Henley

There’s a curious story of a possible injustice that’s told in the nearby well-kept church at Remenham which is a very pleasant one and a half mile walk from Henley town centre. The information board alongside the stained glass window in my picture says:

“George Hawkes spent all his life in Remenham – his father was sometime ferry man at Aston and at the time of his death he was living at 8 Council Houses in Remenham and was a very popular young man and excellent sportsman playing cricket and football for the Remenham Athletic Club and a member of the Sport Committee of Remenham Flower Show. He was also a Special Constable and interested himself in many aspects of Remenham life.

On Sunday 9^th October 1932 George had met his fiancée Alice Lovegrove in Shiplake and walked back to her home in Friday Street for tea. They had then gone back to Shiplake by train, George taking the train back to Henley and then walked back to Remenham up White Hill. At about 11.15pm various Remenham residents had heard the sound of breaking glass and a thud but could see nothing in the dark. At 5.30am the next morning Walter Pickett, bicycling from Wallingford to Uxbridge, saw something on the footpath next to Squires Garage (now Whitehill Services) and alerted the village Policeman who lived in the Police House on Remenham Hill. PC Bird duly discovered the body lying in a large pool of blood. Marks on the footpath showed that the body had been dragged some distance by a car.

Between the time of the accident and the discovery of the body, a motorist called at Maidenhead Police Station and reported that he had hit something between Henley and Temple golf course. However, the police found nothing but when the body was discovered Lord Howard of Effingham, heir to the Earl of Effingham, re-appeared at the police station and was charged. In October 1932 Lord Howard of Effingham was charged with manslaughter after an inquest found that he had knocked down an agricultural labourer in his car. However, the case was dismissed when it came to the magistrates court in Maidenhead. The inquest was chaired by the then Rector the Rev. Rees-Jones and the very well attended funeral was held on 13th October in Remenham church”