Mrs Annabel Dott: additions and corrections

A minor point - just to inform readers that I have amended my text as regards the architect Walter Brierley's involvement in the Goathland scheme.  

It is known that he was involved in the conversion of the cottages for the disabled officers but it isn't clear whether he was involved in the original design stage.

3 March 2019:  Following correspondence with Lynne Dixon, I have made an amendment regarding the Amhurst Road house in which Annabel grew up.  Lynne has come to the conclusion that 13 & 323 Amhurst Road are one and the same.  Lynne informs me that Annabel gave up her membership of Women's Pioneer Housing Ltd after four months, probably because of pressure on her time, given her other projects and her parish work; I've made that alteration too.

23 October 2019:  Following correspondence with Martin Hulbert, a descendant of Patrick Dott's brother Hugh, I have added to 9. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Barnes, 1923 to 1937 an interesting piece of information from a notebook kept by Patrick.  A newspaper clipping from the Church Times of 16 June 1934 stated that Patrick had been "appointed chairman of the Capetown Diocesan Association", which suggests that he and Annabel had been planning a return to South Africa.  I think it likely that they changed their plans when they realised she had cancer.

11. Annabel & Patrick Dott: Epilogue: sale of the Goathland Homes

A couple of years after Annabel put the Grey Wood estate at East Hoathly on the market, the Trustees of the Goathland Homes for Officers put the The Orchard up for sale.

By the summer of 1931, the Trustees had found that the cottage colony had run its course.  According to Percy Ward, "most people found Goathland too quiet" and it was decided to invest instead in houses in London.

Percy Ward, in his article in the Goathland News, recorded the names of the original tenants – men such as Captain Tollemarche, who was badly shellshocked and who played cricket for Goathland, and who was succeeded at No 1 by Capt Brown; Brigadier Smith at No 4, a fine tenor who sang in the church choir; Capt Harry West at No 5, who was very lame, and became Chief Surveyor to the County Council; and blind Mr Irish at No 6, who sang bass in the church choir.  This was the sort of involvement in village life that Annabel and Patrick must have envisaged for the occupants of the Orchard.  The announcement of the auction in the Yorkshire Post gave the names of the tenants in 1931:

Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer, 1 August 1931

GOATHLAND, YORKS.,

SALE OF THE ORCHARD ESTATE.

By Order of the Trustees of the Goathland Homes for Officers.

Messrs ROBERT GRAY and SONS will offer for Sale by Auction, on the Premises, Goathland, on THURSDAY, AUGUST 20th, 1931, at 2 p.m. (subject to Conditions),

The VALUABLE FREEHOLD ESTATE

known as

"THE ORCHARD," GOATHLAND, comprising Eight Stone-built DWELLING-HOUSES, including contents, gardens, orchard, gardener's cottage, recreation ground, and 15¾ acres of grass land, which will first be offered in one lot, and, if unsold, will be divided into eleven lots.

Each house is furnished, and the contents are included in the purchase.

Plans may be seen and particulars and conditions of sale obtained from the Auctioneers, Whitby; or of

Messrs GRAY and DODSWORTH, Solicitors,

Duncombe Place, York

Yorkshire Post & Leeds Intelligencer, 8 August 1931

LOT 1 - Semi-detached RESIDENCE, No. 1 The Orchard. Tenant – Captain Stanley Brown.  9 Rooms, old railway carriage, garden and orchard

LOT 2 - Semi-detached RESIDENCE, No. 2 The Orchard.  Tenant – Dr Slater.  Same size as lot 1, garden and orchard

LOT 3 - Stone-built RESIDENCE No 3 The Orchard.  Tenant – Mrs Almgill.  8 Rooms, garden and orchard.

LOT 4 - Stone-built RESIDENCE No 4 The Orchard. Tenant – Dr Smith.  7 Rooms, Garden and orchard

LOT 5 - Stone-built RESIDENCE No 5 The Orchard.  Tenant – Dr Aspinall, 8 Rooms, Garden and orchard

LOT 6 - Semi-detached RESIDENCE, No 6 The Orchard.  Tenant – Mrs Burt.  8 Rooms, Garden and orchard

LOT 7 - Semi-detached RESIDENCE, No 7 The Orchard.  Tenant – Mrs Todd.  9 Rooms, Garden and orchard

LOT 8 - Detached Stone-built RESIDENCE, No 8 The Orchard.  Now vacant.  8 Rooms, garden and orchard

LOT 9 - The Gardener's COTTAGE, adjoining Lot 7.  5 Rooms.

Each home is furnished, and the Contents are included in the purchase.

LOT 10 - FIVE CLOSES OF GRASS LAND and GARDEN adjoining above lots.  Tenant – Mr J Wilson.  Area 15,758 acres.  Annual Rent £21.  Fee Farm Rent 7s 6d per annum.  Tithe £1 3s 10d per annum.  Frontage to river Murk Esk.  Three hen houses and pigsty are included.

The Houses may be inspected on application to Captain Brown, No 1 The Orchard, Goathland, on Friday afternoons

So the Goathland cottages were sold to private owners.  Many alterations have been made to them since 1931, but the generous gift made by Annabel and Patrick is still remembered on the stone tablet recording the donation:

Very many thanks to Elsie Smith, a Trustee of Goathland Village Hall, for providing me with the Percy Ward article from the Goathland News

Lastly:  Mrs Annabel Dott: additions and corrections

10. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Wiltshire: 1937 and 1938

I have not been able to find anything about Patrick's move from Barnes, but by mid-March 1937 he was Rector of the village of Winterslow, near Salisbury.  Perhaps it was intended to be a quieter parish and a slower way of life, after many years in busy or challenging ministries.

It was in the Winterslow Rectory, on 18 March 1937, that Annabel signed her Will.  She left everything to her husband and appointed him sole Executor – a very simple Will but, most unusually, it was handwritten.  It does not appear to have been written by Annabel, but I can't discount the possibility that it is in Patrick's handwriting.  This suggests to me that, when Annabel was persuaded of the need to make a Will, they simply copied the terms of someone else's – perhaps Patrick's own Will.  The appropriate gap was left for the date to be inserted, and this has been done in a darker ink.  It is properly witnessed by retired schoolmaster and local JP, Henry T Witt, and by T Cottrell, the Rectory chauffeur.

Annabel died a few months later, on 5 November 1937, at the West London Hospital.  She was 69 years old, and the cause of death was 1(a) sarcoma of uterus with (b) multiple secondaries.  A funeral service was held at Barnes Parish church which was, the West London Observer reported, "attended by a large number of prominent local people."

Patrick took out Probate of her Will, the net value of her estate being £3,098 17s 8d.  He did not survive her long.  He died a year later, on 8 December 1938, at St Luke's Hostel, Fitzroy Square, a nursing home for clergy.  His sister Bessie was his Executrix.  Interestingly, the gross value of his estate according to the National Probate Calendar index, was £1,028 8s 10d, some £2,000 less than the value of Annabel's estate.  Perhaps this generous man had made more gifts and donations during the last year of his life.

Next:  11. Annabel & Patrick Dott: Epilogue: sale of the Goathland Homes

9. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Barnes: 1923 to 1937

Patrick and Annabel stayed in Barnes for 14 years.  They had come to a beautiful place.  The area of Barnes Rectory was described in 1936 as

one of the beauty spots of a really beautiful borough ... of some three to four acres, consisting of the church, the rectory, the homestead and cottage

The Rectory adjoined the church.  It was a Georgian house of 28 rooms, and required work.  Patrick and Annabel are reported to have spent £2,000 on renovations on their arrival.  Patrick's gross stipend, according to Crockford's Directory of 1930, was £578 a year (£520 net plus house); he later said the rectory was so vast a building that it imposed a considerable strain on the incumbent's resources:

A house of this sort cannot be maintained on much under £1000 a year ... Only a man who has an income of at least £500 or £600 a year of his own can possibly accept this living

I have only been able to find a few newspaper articles relating to Patrick at Barnes, but luckily an article in the West London Observer of 31 March 1933, when there was a rumour that Patrick was leaving the parish for a city church, gives a brief account of how active he had been in the parish during his first ten years:

Mr Dott came to Barnes from Croydon in 1923, and during his ten years tenure he has been closely associated with the Barnes Nursing Association, League of Nations Union, Animals' Welfare Centre, Barnes Rotary Club, and many other local institutions.  He played a prominent part in the recent successful Charter celebrations, being Chairman of the sub-committee responsible for arranging the historical tableau in the procession. 

One of his first considerations on coming to Barnes was to raise funds for the building of a church hall which now stands in Kitson Road.  This was opened by Dean Inge in the Spring of 1928. 

During his rectorate Mr Dott has been instrumental in effecting many improvements both within and without the church, and at the moment he is endeavouring to raise sufficient money for a fund the object of which is to repair the older part of the roof of the historic Parish Church which, incidentally, dates back as far as the fifteenth century, and also the belfry steps and the bells.

The building of the Kitson Road church hall had also been Annabel's project:

West London Observer, 8 June 1928

NEW CHURCH HALL

Plans designed by Rector's Wife 

A new recreation hall for Barnes Parish Church, erected on a site in the Rectory grounds adjoining the church, was dedicated by the Dean of St Paul's and formally opened by Lady Lowther in the presence of a large and distinguished assembly last Saturday afternoon.  The fact that the plans of the hall were designed by his wife was revealed by the rector during the ceremony. 

The Rev W P Dott, who presided, read a message from the Duke of York, who has taken a keen interest in the efforts to provide a recreation hall, in which His Royal Highness expressed his pleasure that the hall had been completed.  It was a very great day for those who had had the matter on their hands for more than three years, the Rector said, and it was really a fine achievement that they had provided such a building, for the religious and social welfare of the parish.  They had had to encounter many difficulties in building the hall; at first they tried to find a site in front of the Rectory gardens, facing the main road, but it was found that this meant going beyond the building line.  The site was accordingly backed to the level of the old Rectory.  The first plans which were submitted by the honorary architect, the Rector continued, were found to be too costly, and finally, speaking with all modesty, the Rev Dott said the hall was designed by his wife.  (Applause).  "This is a time when the Church of England is being rent asunder," he said, "and it is pleasing to reflect that the Church of England in Barnes during this time of controversy has got on with the job." (Applause) ... 

A financial statement submitted by Mr Bowes Loddiges showed that £3,838 18s 6d had already been received, of which £2,842 12s 2d had been paid away.  Further demands amounted to £1,116 and as the cash in hand was £1,036, there was a deficit of £80.  In addition to this, he estimated that a further £180 would be required for equipment, etc. ... 

Following the opening ceremony, Mrs W P Dott presented Mr W Taylor, the foreman employed by the builders, with a handsome watch 

[There follows a short list of the more significant attendees:  councillors, and clergy from Holy Trinity Barnes, St Michael's Mortlake, and the West Kensington Jewish Synagogue]

This building is still the St Mary's Church Hall, generally known as Kitson Hall (the entrance is on Kitson Road)

Kitson Hall, Barnes

Annabel was still attracting press attention.  A story that she claimed to be able to build workers' houses at two-thirds of the cost of council houses appeared in several papers – her print persona was to be unorthodox and slightly eccentric, and how much of what is reported of her is true, is impossible to judge.  This is from the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 8 June 1928

If only the builders to-day would forget about the pretty villas with paper-like walls and unnecessary rooms that they are building," she said, "and go back to the simple old Elizabethan cottages, the housing shortage would be solved in half the time. 

The working man and the small clerk need only one large living room, with furniture such as sideboards and cupboards let into the walls.  Two rooms are more expensive, twice the work, and quite unnecessary. 

If only I could have the designing of the L.C.C and other Council estates being built for the workers I would put them up at two-thirds the cost, double the comfort, and make them solid, beautiful and lasting"

By this time, the work that Annabel had begun in Sussex in 1920 was nearly complete.  As the 1921 article in the Worthing Herald had said, she aimed to combine at Grey Wood, East Hoathly, "all the delights of Jacobean residences with all modern conveniences".  Her use of electricity attracted the attention of the trade press:

The Electrical Journal, vol 92 1924

Mrs Annabel Dott, wife of the Rector of Barnes, has designed and had erected 17 cottages [actually 14 dwellings in all] in Grey Wood, near East Hoathley, Sussex.  A special electrical generating plant has been equipped, and the cottages are supplied with current for lighting, irons, kettles, etc., while there are also a communal electric laundry, electric bakehouse and electric washer-up

Annabel had created a little hamlet at Greywood – a quirky collection of cottages, houses and supporting out-offices in a variety of styles.  As with the houses in Goathland, Annabel had used reclaimed materials.  She seems to have envisaged a self-sufficient little community, sharing facilities without living in each other's pockets, and enjoying a woodland and lakeside setting.  There was no architectural unity to the scheme – the cottages were thatched, the supporting out-offices were built in a half-timbered style, the houses were very individual – it was an eclectic collection of styles that must have appealed to Annabel herself.

The scheme cannot have been the success for which she had hoped, because she put the little estate up for auction at the end of May 1929 and the auction announcement in the Sussex Agricultural Express of 31 May shows that only two of the thatched houses in The Quad (see photograph below) were tenanted, and only one of the outlying houses.  The estate was to be sold as a whole or in lots, and prices ranged from £550 to £1,450.  

Quadrangle, Greywood, East Hoathly

The sales brochure which describes Greywood is written in a style so reminiscent of Annabel's own that it must surely have been written by her:-

The Grey Wood Estate consists of nearly Fifty Acres of beautiful woodland in which are built a Quad of Nine Thatched Houses, a Flat in the Little Quad, and four outlying Cottages.  It is about a mile from East Hoathly, a Village on the main London to Eastbourne Road, and is in an unspoiled rural district, its comparative isolation being its chief asset – it is so hard to get real country within fifty miles of London. 

People are tired of crowded towns, with the jostling on the pavement, and the rush of traffic.  It is a boon to get a small house away from the dust and noise of modern life.  Such a house with a really big living room and modern conveniences can be a comfortable home for a quiet-loving man, or a week-end refuge in the peace of the countryside.  The very distance from a station is a gain in these days of the small car and the motor 'Bus. 

The big Power Station makes it possible to supply its own electric light. 

The Quad is not a communal settlement, as at the 'Varsity, a man can "sport his oak" when he chooses; as in a London block of Flats, the Tenants do not necessarily have an intimate acquaintance, so in the country one's friendships depend on one's inclination. 

It is hoped to attract Tenants from the Services, especially Naval, Army, Indian Civil Servants, 'Varsity and Literary Men needing quiet; lovers of the Country and country life.

The Quad consisted of nine thatched houses built on three sides of a square:

Each House has a long low Living Room with panelled walls and oak floor, a small Kitchen, Dining Room, 3-4 Bedrooms, Bath Room.

Wired for Electric Light.  Radiators

Constant Hot Water could be arranged.

Telephone if desired.

The Little Quad, an L-shaped, black-and-white timbered adjunct to the Quad:

consists of boiler house, fuel store, electric laundry, the Estate Office, the Bakehouse, with a three-tier oven, an electric washer up for 200 people, and a store room for luggage may be added.

Above is a long Balcony, from which Three small Guest Bedrooms open in the manner of a little Swiss chalet hotel.

There is also a Flat with Drawing Room, Dining Room, Kitchenette, and Three Bedrooms and Bath Room.

The Quads at Greywood, East Hoathly

There were, according to the brochure, "four outlying cottages".  One was 'Fairview'

a house with wide open views across the Valley.  It is built of English oak weatherboard, lined with a wall of Moler Blocks making it warm and cosy.  The house is wired for electric light.  Living Room (oak floor), 20ft x 12 ft with casement Windows, radiator, Dining Room, 20ft x 12 ft, radiator.  Third small sitting Room.  Kitchen with independent hot water boiler.  Loggia, partly roofed to serve as open air sleeping porch.  The house stands in an acre of ground.

Another was 'The Little House', which

stands in a charming small garden about one acre, part of which is wild woodland, the rest fruit trees, flower beds and grass.  It is built of brick and English oak weather board, with a tiled roof.  The big long Living Room has an oak floor and Casement Windows.  A Dining Room and Small Kitchen are also on the Ground Floor.  Above are 3 Bedrooms and the Bathroom.

The description of the other two "outlying cottages" is fairly baffling, and seems to describe just one house:

Round Houses stands in an acre of ground and is copied from a house in S. Africa, which has four Round Rooms.  It is built of oak weather board and is thatched.  There are two Large Panelled Living Rooms, a charming Round Room for Smoking or a Man's Den, five Bedrooms, Bathroom, Kitchen, etc, and a cloak Room with W C and lavatory basin.  It is wired for electric light, has an independent hot water boiler, radiators in the Living Room, and is most easily worked.  There is room for a Garage and Tennis Lawn.  The Gate is a fine piece of old English ironwork.

It is thought that it may have had rounded corners or round rooms at the corners, rather than being a round house.

Greywood was fully equipped with its own electrical generating plant, a brick-built water tower, pumping sheds (with an Amanco engine and a Pettar engine), a hydro extractor, vats and tanks, a boiler house to provide hot water for 9 houses, circular saw, fire appliances, chicken sheds, bee barn and garage.

There was a small lake and, true to her love of entertainment in the country and of acting, Annabel had planned an open air theatre in the woods.

I do not know what happened at the sale in 1929.  In 1936 she evidently still owned the woodlands:

Sussex Agricultural Express, 1 May 1936

By kind permission of

Mrs Patrick Dott

The Woodlands,

(40 acres)

Greywood,

East Hoathly,

will be opened to the Public on

Wednesday, May 6th

between the hours of 12 noon and 7 pm

The charge for admission will be 1/-, which will be devoted to the Funds of the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution

Although Patrick and Annabel spent more time in Barnes than in any other parish, I have been able to find very few references to Annabel in the local press.  An article in the West London Observer of 26 February 1932 shows that she was the Secretary of the newly-formed Society of Friends of Barnes Church.  Dean Inge was the chief visitor at a public meeting of the Society, which was presided over by Patrick, who pointed out 

that they had recently made a great improvement to their churchyard, but they now had at least £500 to spend on repairing the fabric of the Church ... They had started a fund to meet their expenses.  

Annabel, the Society's secretary

explained how they had formed the Society to help the Church, and added that she thought they were the first parish church in the country to start such an organisation, although they had been run in conjunction with the various cathedrals.  Dean Inge had supported the idea and agreed to become their President.  To her mind, all who were proud of the parish church at Barnes should support the Society.

It's possible to follow parish activities in the pages of the West London Observer.  In the early 1930s Patrick was Mayor's Chaplain to Mr J D Firmston, J.P., the Charter-Mayor of Barnes.  The Rectory Grounds were used for fund-raising – in June 1933, there was Dogs' Jamboree in aid of the RSPCA.  And the new church hall – by mid-1935 it had become known as the Kitson Road Church Hall and often simply as Kitson Hall – was in regular use.  A quick look at the second half of 1935 shows: a display by a dancing school; a "flannel dance" held by the Tennis section of the Church Fellowship (Mr and Mrs Dott "looked in"); a play about Leonardo da Vinci; a Jubilee Bridge Drive held by the Badminton Section of the Church Fellowship; a two-act play translated from Spanish, called 'The Cradle Song', given by the Student Players; whist drives held by the Barnes Habitation of the Barnes Primrose League; the play 'Journey's End', by the Student Players; a sale of work and a concert in aid of Barnados ... 

But Annabel disappears from the press in the 1930s, as far as my searches of digitised newspapers show.  Perhaps she concentrated on parish life, or on her private life, or was very occupied with work for her favourite projects, such as the Women's Pioneer Housing.  A clipping pasted by Patrick into a notebook suggests that in 1934 he and Annabel were planning to move back to South Africa.  It appeared in the Church Times of 16 June 1934:

The Rev W P Dott, rector of Barnes, has been appointed chairman of the Capetown Diocesan Association in succession to the late Archbishop of Capetown, Dr Carter, who has accepted the position of President.  Mr Dott was rector of Woodstock, Capetown, for four years, and Acting Warden of St Paul's Theological College, Grahamstown.

Perhaps it was then that the first symptoms of Annabel's cancer appeared and they changed their minds.

Patrick and Annabel's last major activity in Barnes was, it seems, to apply to build a block of flats on the Rectory grounds, together with a new rectory, and for the old Georgian rectory of 28 rooms to be turned into chambers.  This was their solution to the problem of what to do with a rectory that was far too expensive to run – and it was natural, given their view of the need in London for more accommodation suitable for the needs of the post-War population.  

However, their proposal ran into trouble from the well-organised Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen Ratepayers' Association and was rejected by the Council.  The Dotts took their application to appeal, and it was rejected at an inquiry in early 1937.  It cannot be a coincidence that in March 1937, the Association held a public meeting at which their President gave an address on the subject, "Are flats a menace in Barnes?"  

But Annabel and Patrick would soon be gone.  By mid-March 1937 they were in Wiltshire.

The Rev W Patrick Dott at Barnes

With very many thanks to 

Jane Seabrook, local historian in East Hoathly, who has provided me with so much information on Greywood 

Cheryl Cole at Kitson Hall for use of the photograph

Descendants of the Dott family for the photograph of Patrick at Barnes
Martin Hulbert for the information from Patrick's private notebook

Next:  10. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Wiltshire: 1937 and 1938

8. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Croydon: 1919 to 1923

Patrick had family ties to Croydon – his mother had lived there and he had sisters and brothers still in the area, though not actually living in his parish.  

St Luke's was quite a new parish – Patrick was only its 5th vicar and it had its 50th jubilee in April 1922 while he was there.  His income will have risen noticeably, as directory entries show that the stipend for St Luke's in 1891 was £365 a year net, including residence, while at Dringhouses in 1890 it was £160.

The church building itself was still unfinished and Patrick announced on his arrival that the work would continue as already planned at a cost of £3,000.  Sadly, some time after he had left the parish and the church had indeed been completed by the strenuous efforts of the parish and vicar, it was very badly damaged in a fire in June 1929 and work had to begin again.  

In 1919, Patrick was coming into a rather challenging situation.  St Luke's had been without a vicar for some time and the Rural Dean, the Rev Patrick McCormick, spoke to the congregation at Patrick's induction about the need for parishioners to trust their new vicar.  He said he was sure that Patrick, with the knowledge of men that he had gained in the military camp where he had done such good work, would not ride roughshod over people's feelings.  Unfortunately, Patrick and two long-standing churchwardens did indeed fall out badly in 1921.  There was a difference of opinion over the expense of the planned War Memorial and the argument played out messily in the pages of the Norwood News.  However, it was all finally settled when a new solution was suggested and the memorial cross that can be seen today was erected.  

The report of the induction service in the Norwood News of 3 October 1919 gives us a glimpse of Patrick and his new church.  There was a "ladies' choir in their gowns and mortar-boards," a lay reader and a curate.  Patrick announced the compromise arrangement he had already agreed with factions in the congregation that the service of Matins would alternate on Sunday mornings with that of Choral Eucharist.  He was a High Churchman, so more frequent Eucharists will have been very much his aim.  A report in the West Sussex Gazette on his appointment to Barnes in 1923 mentioned that he introduced vestments to Woodside and that the congregation had given him a cope.  Unsurprisingly given his background in mission work, he told his new congregation that he would probably introduce extra services of a mission nature, sometimes in the open air.  He was enthusiastic about the possibilities.  

While Patrick was very actively making changes at the church and being involved in the civic life of the area, Annabel was particularly busy.  The Rural Dean had introduced her to the congregation, rather dauntingly, not only as an architect (mentioning the donation of The Orchard and saying – according to the report in the Norwood News – that "the cost must have run into something approaching ten thousand pounds, judging from the comments in the Press at the time," which seems a rather exaggerated figure) but also as "a brilliant writer, articles from her pen appearing in the Nineteenth Century and the Architectural Review, the latter on the technical subject of fitments – labour-saving devices."

She was certainly active in the normal run of parish activities – suggesting a parish fête to raise money, arranging a tea & entertainment for 350 to 400 children of the unemployed of Woodside, with a Christmas tree, innumerable bags of sweets and a parting gift to each child of a bun and an orange in 1921 – but we can be sure there would have been a lot of muttering and uncertainty about a vicar's wife whose past achievements were as unusual as Annabel's – especially as, at the same time, she was very active outside the normal run of parish duties.  

She began with a parish building project.  On 27 February 1920, the Norwood News announced that

The Rev Patrick Dott will soon be in a position to welcome parishioners to the new "vicar's room."  The idea is to have a rendezvous where men and women alike may call informally at any time, meet others on parish business, see the vicar, or sit and read or smoke while they wait.  Mrs Dott has designed the whole thing.  She is directing the building operations, and has laid out the furnishing scheme.

From this use of the room in December, I would think Annabel had a hand in suggesting the speaker:

Norwood News, 17 December 1920

Dr Sophia Jevons on Citizenship

In the vicar's room, St Luke's, Woodside, Dr Sophia Jevons, L.C.C. [London County Council], gave a address on Citizenship to about fifty women and girls on Thursday of last week.

Now that women have the vote they ought to realise their responsibilities and duties, said Dr Jevons.  Women should attend the meetings of candidates before deciding for whom they should vote, and remember that much of their daily life was influenced by the power of the local authorities, a power for which they as voters were responsible.  The speaker gave many useful hints relative to children's health and education.

In the spring of 1921, various pieces about Annabel appeared in the newspapers, which must have caused a good deal of interest in the parish.  In March, newspapers across the country syndicated a story about Mrs Dott and a "gossip seat."  The Yorkshire Evening Post reported

One of Mrs Dott's original ideas is a gossip seat between the kitchen doors of semi-detached houses. 

"I know maids are bound to gossip so I thought they might as well do it comfortably, so I made the two kitchen doors face each other and put a seat in between."

I think this must relate to the Goathland cottages, which were the only semi-detached houses that Annabel had built; why it became a newspaper story in 1921, I don't know.

The Daily News in Perth, Australia, ran the same piece with the additional information (there's no way of knowing if this is an accurate report):

As soon as the first house of any group is built she lives in it herself for a fortnight in order to find out what alterations should be made.  Then she embodies them in the rest.

These articles prompted a piece in the Norwood News.  I am not sure how to interpret its tone.  What can the writer mean by "quaint"?  And "designing of flats for gentlewomen" sounds rather dismissive; in the interview in The Vote Annabel refers to flats for "bona-fide professional women workers":

Norwood News, 25 March 1921

A "Discovery"

From time to time references have been made in these columns to Mrs Dott, the Vicarage, Woodside, and her work as an architect.  The quaint parish parlour at Woodside is evidence of her resourcefulness.  The daily press have this week discovered Mrs Dott in relation to her building, especially in relation to the designing of flats for gentlewomen so that there shall be a saving of labour.  Before coming to Norwood Mrs Dott designed houses in Yorkshire.

On 22 April 1921, the much more substantial interview in The Vote appeared.  It ended with a resumé of Mrs Dott's work since coming to Croydon and shows how swiftly she had moved on from the creation of the vicar's room.  I'm afraid I haven't been able to check how accurate it is, but it's clear that, as well as being a founder member of Women's Pioneer Housing Ltd, Annabel had decided to provide housing for women herself:-

"So much for my work in the past," Mrs Dott continued.  "Since coming down to South London I have undertaken other building, such as the practical reconstruction and modernizing of an old manor house, the addition of a parish room to the vicarage, and the conversion of a big house into flats.  Another project in the same locality is the conversion of an old-fashioned house into self-contained flats for professional women workers, which I have furnished with really old and valuable furniture.  These are now ready for occupation at reasonable rentals, and, if any of your readers, who are bona-fide professional women workers, would care to write me, to the address of THE VOTE, I would consider their applications. 

"Reconstruction and conversion I find quite interesting," Mrs Dott finally concluded, "but building is really my bent, and you may be interested to learn I am now constructing several thatched houses in a wood in Sussex, of which I shall have more to say when the project is further advanced."

The article mentions the conversion of a big house into flats and the conversion of an old-fashioned house into self-contained flats; it is possible, of course, that the report is mentioning the same project twice.  Annabel certainly had just such a project in hand in South Norwood.

In February 1920 she heard that 14 Lancaster Road was to be sold, and she decided that it would be ideal to convert into flats for single working women.  She approached Sidney Woodcock and his wife, who held the underlease, and they agreed together that she should buy the leasehold term from the superior landlord, that the Woodcocks should stay in the house but that Annabel would have a lease on the rest and would sub-let it.  

The Sussex scheme mentioned in the article was much more ambitious.  Annabel had bought 50 acres of woodland and intended to build a little self-sufficient community of houses there.  In March 1920 she advertised in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette for a builder with knowledge of Cob building who was prepared to erect a cottage; she also required a thatcher.  And this piece appeared in a Sussex newspaper:

Sussex Agricultural Express, 14 May 1920

Mrs Dott deposited plans of some cottages to be erected at Grey Wood, East Hoathly, in Cope or Pisa work, no block plan showing drainage and water supply was included, damp course was not shown.  The plans were ordered to be returned for amendment.

The following year, on 2 July 1921, this very enthusiastic piece appeared in the Worthing Herald:

A Sussex Dream Spot

Arcadian Delights at East Hoathly 

It is very refreshing in these days of stern realities to meet an idealist, but this was my experience the other day (writes a 'Herald' representative) when I went to see the Rev W P Dott at Gray's Wood, near East Hoathly.  Mr Dott, who is the vicar of Woodside, a large and populous parish near Croydon, is something more than an idealist – he is that rara avis a practical idealist and yet modest withal.  It was my misfortune that I did not see Mrs Dott (she was in town the day I called), for to her Mr Dott gives all the credit for the undertaking on which they have embarked. 

Jacobean Residences 

The idea is to build sylvan homes of rest and quiet for gentle people.  About a year ago Grays Wood, a beautiful piece of typical English woodland about 50 acres in extent, was in the market and Mrs Dott, whose scheme was already formulated, purchased it.  It previously belonged to Lord Chichester and was one of his most favourite pieces of covert and abounds with game.  Part of the wood near the road was cleared and in that space, amid the birch, ash and oak trees, nine houses of the type one dreams about – with stone encased mullioned windows, wide fireplaces, oak floors, beams and panelling, all the delights of Jacobean residences with all modern conveniences – are being built.  The dwellings are being erected there on each of three sides of a square. 

Woodland Fruits and Flowers 

An ornamental lake and old-fashioned courtyard and garden are to be made in the square.  Behind the houses the virgin woods are to be unspoiled and yet made even more delightful.  Mrs Dott, who has been energetically engaged on the scheme for some months, has planted bulbs all through the woods, and where she has sown seeds foxgloves have sprung up in rich and beautiful profusion.  The Ministry of Agriculture, always ready to encourage the reclaiming of the land, has given 1,000 fruit trees, and these are to be planted here and there in the woods where the atmosphere is always warm and the soil favourable for their growth.  An enclosed orchard is also being formed.  

Such a haven as this will indeed be a place of rest and quiet.  In three months' time it is hoped that the scheme will be completed and then I am to go and see Mrs Dott.  It is in such a place that I should wish to live when my ship comes home.

Three months for completion sounds a little hopeful, given this report regarding planning approval (though perhaps it was granted retrospectively) – and the Worthing Herald article mentions nine houses, while this report from the Uckfield Urban Council mentions seven:-

Sussex Agricultural Express, 8 July 1921

East Hoathly
THATCHED COTTAGES. - The Surveyor of the Uckfield Urban Council has reported that the plans of seven cottages at Gray Wood, East Hoathly, for Mrs A Dott, had been approved.  Thatched roofs had been specially allowed by the Ministry of Health.  The Housing Committee resolved to grant certificates for subsidy

I think Patrick was available for interview with the Worthing Herald because – presumably worn out after the months fraught with arguments over the War Memorial, which had ended with a newspaper report of the resignation of one of the churchwardens under the headline "Pathetic Vestry Incidents" – he had had to take time away from work.  The Norwood News in mid-July reported that he was returning, having been away for some time.

One of Annabel's projects had run into difficulty.  The conversion of 14 Lancasater Road, South Norwood, had not gone according to plan.  The episode sheds interesting light on Annabel's lack of method and her slightly slapdash approach, as well as her other activities at the time.

Annabel had spent £2,000 on buying the lease and repairing and furnishing the house.  Unfortunately her agreement with Mr Woodcock had fallen apart, and at the beginning of April 1922 Annabel sued him in the King's Bench Division for possession of the top floor, second floor and basement floor, and rent of premises in arrears, and damages for waste.  Mr Woodcock told the court that he had suggested a solicitor should draw up the agreement made between them originally, but Mrs Dott refused, saying she was quite satisfied that they could arrange matters amicably.  This had not worked out.  The case was reported in the Norwood News on 7 April 1922.

A letter from Annabel, written to Mr Woodcock from East Hoathly, Sussex, was read out in court.  It  gives us a vivid picture of her life

You said I am an elusive lady, and no wonder.

What with fruit-tree planting and building in Sussex and parish work at Woodside, I have scarcely time to eat or sleep.

To make matters worse, I have been ill, so will you forgive the long delay in sending agreement? ...

The judge, Mr Justice Lush, said that "it seemed a terrible thing that all this money should have been spent and that the scheme had not been allowed to fructify".  He suggested that the parties should try to come to an arrangement.  Fortunately they succeeded, Mr Woodcock recognising that Annabel had acted purely from philanthropic motives.

Mr Justice Lush, in expressing his approval of the course adopted, said it was eminently a case for settlement.  Mrs Dott had done what she had over this house from philanthropic reasons, but, through want of business habits on the part of the parties, he thought it would have been almost impossible to arrive at a solution.

This time it was Annabel's health that gave way:-

Norwood News, 22 Sept 1922

The Vicar and Mrs Dott left on Thursday for a stay on the Continent, the medical adviser insisting on Mrs Dott having a thorough change

In February 1923 she was back at work, and applying for planning approval to convert a house in Lancaster Road (the same one? another one?) into four flats.  She was still newsworthy – the West Sussex Gazette even reported this:

West Sussex Gazette, 26 April 1923

Overhanging Trees: A Motor-Bus Mishap 

The danger of overhanging trees to the occupants of motor-'buses and chars-à-bancs was shown on Tuesday of last week, when several passengers travelling on the outside of the afternoon 'bus between Chichester and Selsey were struck by a branch.  Mrs Patrick Dott was struck full in the face, and received an injury to one eye, and two women sitting behind were also struck, and one had her spectacles broken.  Happily the glass did not penetrate the eye.  Mrs Dott was not so fortunate in escaping injury.  The bough struck the eye, causing intense pain, and she had to be taken to London to consult a specialist.  Much sympathy has been expressed both in Chichester and at Woodside, Croydon, where the Rev Patrick Dott is vicar.

But before many weeks were past, she and Patrick were to leave Croydon.  The Norwood News on 6 April 1923 reported that at the evening service on Easter Day, Patrick spoke to the large congregation from the chancel steps: 

They had had, he said, a splendid Easter festival, and it was a great joy to him to know that notwithstanding so many were away, 590 had presented themselves that day at the altar of that church.

But it would be his last Easter as their vicar, because the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's had preferred him to the rectory of Barnes in place of Canon Kitson.  The Dean and Chapter must have been looking for a vicar who would not be afraid to make changes, as Canon Kitson had been at Barnes, an important post, for thirty years.  Patrick, said the Norwood News (with an unspoken look back at the War Memorial episode, presumably), had been 

a "live" vicar in every sense of the word, and a vast amount of organising and progressiveness has been manifested in all departments of church work. 

A vicar of such a temperament is naturally faced here and there with differences of opinion, but differences of opinion are evidence of vitality.  Where they do not exist it too often means indolence and sloth.

The Norwood News of 22 June 1923 reported Patrick's warm farewell to his parishioners:

he referred to the large amount of social work which goes on at Woodside, commending it warmly as a part of Christian life.  He paid a heartfelt tribute also to the Church Council and to the large body of Sunday school teachers with their superintendents.  Of the choir and organist and the Guild of Servers at St Luke's, he spoke with earnestness and gratitude, and a special word of heartfelt thanks was offered to the churchwardens, Messrs G T Tobitt and J Holden for their loyal co-operation in the work of the parish.

Note: the name Grey Wood appears in several forms – Gray's Wood, Gray Wood, Greywood etc.

Next:  9. Annabel & Patrick Dott in Barnes: 1923 to 1937