|
The Folkestone Harbour Station Canteen and the Visitors’ Books
Throughout the Great War, Folkestone Harbour Station had a canteen which provided free tea, cakes and buns to soldiers, sailors and members of the Red Cross. According to the catalogue at the East Kent Archives Centre ‘this canteen was staffed by local volunteers and amongst the most devoted were the Misses Margaret Ann and Florence Augusta Jeffery.’ The Jeffery sisters were both awarded the Order of the British Empire, the Queen Elisabeth Medal (Belgium) and the Medal of Gratitude (France).
The photograph of the canteen shows clearly the granite of the harbour wall on the right of the picture. If you look carefully at the picture you can just make out a book on the table. This is one of the visitors’ books that were signed by many of the men who benefited from the canteen.
(Photo courtesy of Folkestone Library)
We have tracked down the exact location of the canteen and it was on the furthest platform on the Outer Pier at the point where the Pier bends. The arrow indicates the location.
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey map)
The following picture is taken from the point of the arrow looking south east.
 These pictures show respectively a ‘then and now’ comparison with the location of the canteen and the entrance to the canteen. The site of the canteen therefore still exists and could still be preserved. 
The visitors’ books have recently come to light in the East Kent Archives Centre in Dover where they were catalogued many years ago, but where they have not so far come to the wider attention of historians. The catalogue goes on to say ‘the albums were carefully bound after the war and were finally presented to the Borough of Folkestone in 1920 in order to provide a permanent reminder of all the serving men and women who used the Harbour during 1914 to 1919.’
There are eight volumes of the visitors’ books. Totalling 3,518 pages, they cover 1,604 days of the Great War with entries starting on 9 June 1915 and finishing on 29 October 1919. A conservative estimate, based on 12 names per page is a staggering 42,000 names.
The books are a wonderful roll call of those who passed through this site in the Great War and include men and women from all over the British Empire. Every race, creed and social class from King George V to the humblest private soldier is represented. Date of visit, rank, name and corps or unit are almost always included. A few men have also written their regimental number and a number have written comments or short poems.
 
(Above: the autograph books in East Kent Archives)
This is a fantastic resource for people researching an ancestor as the books would give definitive proof of when he or she passed through this particular spot. This would be particularly true for the many men whose service records do not survive in The National Archives and for whom it can be difficult to piece together a service history.
It is hoped that the books can be digitised and indexed so that they can be made available to all.
Many famous people of the day left a record of their passage. Politicians include Andrew Bonar Law, Lord Derby (Under Secretary of State for War), David Lloyd George, William Hughes (PM of Australia) and Winston Churchill. Representatives of the Royal Families of Belgium, Rumania, Spain and Serbia are to be found as is the odd writer such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Senior soldiers and sailors include General Sir William Robertson, General Sir Henry Wilson and Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes. A number of VC winners are also included as are the major-generals commanding a number of divisions of the British Expeditionary Force.
(Right: a page from the visitors’ books showing the signature of David Lloyd-George, Secretary of State for War on 13 August 1915.)
|
