Title:
Interview with John Calvin Hewitt
Level: Category
Sound Archive
Level: Fonds
ESSEX RECORD OFFICE
Level: Series
Headline History
Scope and Content:
Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt (b. 1904) talks to Stephen Hussey about his memories of Essex.

[Side A]
(0:10) Born in Great Ellingham, Norfolk in 1904. Father was a Baptist Minister. Moved to Suffolk and to Chelmsford in 1920. (2:30) Remembering the Marconi masts and the London Programme. The old crystal wireless sets. Local station running a cable wireless. Remembers listening to Children’s Hour on the Home Service. Hearing Churchill’s speeches. (8:00) Joining the Local Defence Volunteers, later called Home Guard. Talks about working in the Rocket Defence at the Recreation Grounds in Chelmsford. (14:10) Remembering an alert when in the Home Guard. Spitfire crashing in the Bishop’s garden in Chelmsford. Airmen machine gunning people on London Road and a train. Installing barrage balloons. Marconi, Hoffmann’s and Crompton Parkinson’s in Chelmsford being targeted. Flares being dropped. (18:50) Bomb being dropped on Hoffmann’s, killing people. Mass grave in Chelmsford cemetery. Working at Crompton’s. Getting call up papers. Bomb being dropped at Crompton’s. (21:30) The church bells ringing at the end of the First World War when living in Suffolk. Having flu in the Asian flu epidemic. (25:20) Working for Hoffmann Manufacturing Company in the correspondence office for ten years. Remembers working at Crompton Parkinson’s from 1931 in the switchgear department. (31:50)
[Side B]
(0:10) Continues talking about working at Crompton Parkinson’s. Being out of work in the depression of the 1930s. Signing on, getting dole. Leaving Hoffmann’s in 1931 and joining Crompton’s in 1933. (5:30) No tarmac on old roads, remembers cycling on mud. No cars in Chelmsford then. Wife’s father, a farmer, having a horse and trap. Talks about tractors. (9:30)

Dates of Creation:
12 August 1999
Extent:
40 minutes
Creator Name:
Essex Record Office
Archivist Note:
Synopsis prepared by Carol Sudkamp.
Copyright:
Copyright: Essex Record Office, 2000
Originals Location:
Essex Sound and Video Archive
Related Unit of Description:
References are made in this interview to 'Marcus'. This is Mr Marcus Knight - see SA 13/6/6/1.
Publication Notes:
Some excerpts from the interview can be heard on the audio CD which accompanies the book, 'Headline History: One hundred years of Essex history from the pages of the Essex Chronicle newspaper' - Essex Record Office Publication No.142 (Essex County Council, 2000).

Key terms

TypeKey termsDescription
Subjects Home Guard Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999
Subjects Radio Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999
Subjects Second World War Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999
Document Types Sound recording Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999
Institutions Crompton Parkinson Ltd Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999
Institutions Hoffmann Manufacturing Company Ltd Headline History Project – Mr John Calvin Hewitt, 1999