Betty Warren and Lloyd Shakespeare

Betty Warren and her partner Lloyd Shakespeare bought the Stebbings business from the Stebbings family around 1942. I’m still piecing together the story, but I am uploading photos and newspaper snippets (see below) for others who may be interested.

Betty Warren was the professional name of Babette Hilda Hogan, born on October 31, 1907 in Fareham, Hampshire, England. She died on December 15 1990 in Yeovil, Somerset, England.

This first picture and article is from Shipyard Spotlight, January 1943. This pamphlet was produced by the Admiralty and circulated to boatyards, that were interested, for sale to their employees – price one penny.

I also have this photo of Betty breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow of a new yacht. I don’t know the name of the boat, unfortunately. I’m also not 100% sure this is Betty Warren, but there is a very strong likeness to the photo in Shipyard Spotlight.

Lloyd Shakespeare, a trumpet virtuoso, was born on 6 June 1895 in Leytonstone, London. He led his own bands during the twenties, recording for the Edison Bell Winner, Parlophone and Piccadilly labels and became a top session and side man with many of the great bands of the 30’s, under amongst others, Lew Stone, Arthur Lally, Jack Harris, Sydney Lipton, Ronnie Munro, and Cecil Norman. He died in 1963.

Here is a scan of an advertising leaflet that I have.

There ae various newspaper cuttings from Betty Warren’s time as a resident of Burnham. Here are a couple of examples from the Essex Newsman (first from 19 Nov 1948 and the second from 13 Oct 1944.

An obituary for Betty Warren appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Stebbings, Chapel Road

An earlier post of mine showed the details of the sale of land in Chapel Road in 1902. It seems Stebbings were not involved in acquiring any new land at that time, but they did purchase land on Chapel Road in 1919.

The area of land purchased wasn’t developed all at once, and in 1929 the portion of the site furthest from the river was transferred from being owned by the business to being owned by part of the family for the building of a house. This dwelling was originally named Cupola. It’s still there today but has been renamed Walnut Tree House. Cupola was sold by the family in 1949.

Bonito in Chapel Road yard.

Main yard Chapel Road. End of store on the right.

Main yard, Chapel Road.

No. 5 shop, Chapel Road yard.

No. 5 shop, Chapel Road yard.

Timber storage, Chapel Road yard. Harry Stebbings on the right. Cupola in the background.

The photos below are of Crystal’s in various stages of fitting out. I’m not sure if this work was done at the Chapel Road yard, or elsewhere.

Plans for new quayside store 1898

The Essex Record Office hold plans from 1898 for new yacht stores to be built on the quay. The owner of the stores is Mrs Spencer Addison, and William Stebbings is entered as the designer and builder.

The layout of the plan does suggest a building used for storing goods rather than for building boats. It might have housed the office as well. It is not clear what was on the site prior to these stores being built, but perhaps it was the shed used for building the oyster fishery vessels for Spencer Addison – this is just a guess.

The photo below seems to show the stores as being between the main Stebbings shed and the Nethercoat’s shed. One can see from the state of the roofing material that this section was constructed at a different period.

Date uncertain

Here’s a view of the stores building from another angle, showing the characteristic windows and doors arrangement – just before the whole lot went up in flames.

Shipyard Spotlight

The Shipyard Spotlight was a paper produced during the second world war by the Admiralty. It reminded shipyard workers of the importance of their efforts and glorified ship production and success at sea, although it did report losses as well. It was circulated to all shipbuilding and ship-repairing firms that desired it and in 1942 about 10,000 copies were being printed and circulated each month.

The January 1943 edition included a picture article about Stebbings. This was soon after the business had been sold by the Stebbings family, to Lloyd Shakespeare. The picture and text (see above) feature Betty Warren, Shakespeare’s partner (they married after the war). The error about the yard’s location may have been introduced deliberately. The full text is as follows,

Miss Betty Warren, stage and screen actress, who is now appearing in “Waltz Without End” in London, is a boatbuilder in her spare time.

A native of Portsmouth, she has naturally been interested in the sea all her life. Since the war, she decided she wished to play another part, but not on the stage this time. With Mr. Lloyd Shakespeare, the dance band conductor, she acquired a Thames-side [sic] boatbuilding yard. Mr. Shakespeare also has a love of the sea, for he was a keen amateur yachtsman.

Now, almost every week-end, Miss Warren can be seen in dungarees, working in her yard with the other employees, men and women, who number nearly two score. She has learned quite a lot about boatbuilding and her firm is turning out ships’ lifeboats, whalers and dinghies for the Admiralty and the Ministry for War Transport.

In the photo, Betty Warren is stood in foreground. The scene is of the yard at Chapel Road.

Auction of land on Chapel Road, 1902

In February 1902, Ernest J. Gale issued a plan and description of property on Chapel Street (nowadays Chapel Road) and the High Street, for sale by auction.

I need to do more research but Stebbings may have bought one or more of these plots for their Chapel Road yard and a family home

Of interest,

• Lot 6 is the site of what is now the war memorial.
• Lot 5 is described as including an oyster pit and today shellfish continue to be sold from the site, from The Oyster Pit seafood shop (formerly Dengie Shellfish).

W.Stebbings & Sons, The Quay

Diving from the jetty

Date uncertain. Postcard by E. Ballarati, Quay Restaurant

Date circa 1908

Date uncertain

Date uncertain

WW2 years?

Fire!

Roof lettering.

The jetty’s under there, somewhere.

Images from over the years of the Stebbings shed located on the quay.