When this piece originally appeared in our Society Magazine of March/April 2020, it also promised that “there will be a display of cards and other memorabilia, including numerous fascinating newspaper clippings related to the company at the 2020 CSGB Convention in Salisbury”. Sadly this much awaited event was cancelled by coronavirus. Twice. But to celebrate our Virtual Version, our Computerised Convention, the author of this work, Mr. O. Sanders, has graciously allowed us to re-publish it. And one day, hopefully, virus vanquished, you will all be able to come along to our physical convention and view his full collection in person…. but until that time, may we now present :
Company History
The business that traded as H. Stevens was set up in 1780. A Mr. Raikes transferred his business from the canal to a shop in Silver Street, with the business trading under his name until 1826, when it was taken over by John Stratton who had a similar business in Exeter Street. During his 23 years ownership, the business expanded and in 1849 was sold to James “Baccy” Brown. The cutting and grinding of the tobacco leaf took place on the upper floor of the Old Town Mill near St. Thomas Church. At the time the company was producing Shag and Birdseye tobacco and plain and scented Scotch snuffs. In 1865, Brown sold the business to Henry Stevens who moved all the business to Silver Street. He was succeeded by his son who improved the factory by installing electricity. The business was sold to Messrs F.J. & E.E. Snook in 1900, who were manufacturing snuff, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and imported cigars from Cuba, India, Phillipines and many continental countries. |
After the takeover by the Snook brothers, they endeavoured to promote the usage of English grown tobacco so as not to have to pay the duty on imported tobacco. The Americans at this time were taking over British companies and creating the monoliths which still exist today of BAT [British American Tobacco] and American Tobacco. In 1925 the Snook brothers were purchasing 14 tons of tobacco from A J. Brandon of Church Crookham.
In 1950 the Snooks stated they had never used tobacco from “dollar countries” and relied upon supplies grown locally at Church Crookham, Poole, Ferndown, Wareham, Waddon and their own plantations in Ross-on-Wye. During this time they issued two sets of cigarette cards, under the Blue Pryor brand, Dogs (a set of 20) in 1923 and Zoo Series (a set of 25) in 1927, these are currently catalogued at £240 and £175 respectively. In 1946 the business was made into a private limited company with one of the Snooks remaining as chairman. They opened a new modern factory at High Post, Great Dunford, where large quantities of cigarettes were produced for both home and overseas markets. Among the many brands of tobaccos and cigarettes marketed in 1956 were Sarum, New Forest, Blue Boy, Golden Shag and White Label. The war hero of the company Mr & Mrs F.J. Snook had one son, John Primrose Snook, who after his education at Choristers School, Salisbury and Shaftesbury Grammar School, joined the family business. At the commencement of the World War II he obtained a commission in the 43rd Royal Corps of Signals and later transferred to the Royal Tank Corps. Whilst on exercise in March 1942 an RAF bomber crashed in a field nearby. Lieut. Snook and others extricated the crew and saved two lives before the plane exploded a few minutes later. Lieut Snook was awarded the M.B.E. for this outstanding act of bravery. He later took part in the invasion of France, following the D-Day landings, and sadly was killed on July 21st 1944 and is buried in the Banneville-La-Campagne Commonwealth War Cemetery just outside Caen. |
And there the article finished. But I was immediately curious about Lieut. Snook, and wanted to know more.
In the hope you do too, here is what I have managed to piece together from a variety of sources.
I`m certain there is more out there, so the story will be continued on Armistice Day!
The first thing I found out was that he did not fight as John Snook; War Office and all other records have him as Lieutenant Frederick James Primrose Snook. Frederick was his father’s name. All the documents agree on this. While at Shaftesbury Grammar School he had joined the Officer Training Corps, rising to the level of Cadet Sergeant, Junior Division. When he left school he joined the tobacco company. Officer Training Corps were thought useful for people going into business as well as into the forces, and you will still hear this mentioned today. However in the run up to wartime the forces` need was paramount, so when war broke out he took a commission in the 43rd Royal Corps of Signals. This was known as the Wessex Division. His regimental number, given at the time of joining the forces, and staying with him throughout his career, was 92300.
He next appears in “The London Gazette” on the 14th of July 1939, where it lists future Second Lieutenants of The Royal Corps of Signals, to be created on the 15th of July 1939. He is given as Frederick James Primrose Snook (late Cadet Serjt., Shaftesbury Gram. Sch. Contgt., Jun. Div., O.T.C.). The Royal Corps of Signals is mainly concerned with communication on the battlefield, and to commanders and base headquarters, installing the equipment, maintaining it, and operating it. As such they are one of the few groups which are needed in all areas of warfare. At that time communications were primarily radio. Up to and including the early stages of World War Two, the height of any applicant was set to be at least 5 feet 2 inches. They were initially sent to Catterick Camp, in Yorkshire, where one of their tasks was to learn to ride, which you may think a useful skill for when the terrain was too rough to take mechanised transport, but it had actually been superseded when mechanised war transport had been invented, just not removed yet from the lesson curriculum. The men were enlisted for eight years then spent four years “in the reserves” in case they were needed in the event of further skirmishes.
I have not been able to find out when he transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps (Yeomanry). Sometimes a man has a flair for something and are moved across, sometimes the soldier requests it themselves. Whichever, he found himself in an interesting place, as the records tie him to a first line Territorial Army Infantry unit, namely 107 / 5 Battalion, The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), as part of the 34th Tank Brigade. This was based in Salisbury, but 5th Battalion had already fought in France and been evacuated at Dunkirk in May 1940. In November 1941 they had been transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, becoming the 107th Regiment. That is why the Battalion shows two numbers.
On the 24 March 1942, The King, through Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, published his orders for forthcoming appointments to the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. This award was given in recognition of conspicuous gallantry, of carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner. Only three awards were announced on that day, and you can see the original section of the Gazette newspaper at : https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35498/supplement/1330
The three men were:
Second-Lieutenant (acting Lieutenant) Ralph Herbert Brentnall, A.R.I.B.A. who had rescued men from a burning bomber in the Swaffham area
Lieutenant Robert Horace Leopold Posgate who had rescued one child of two which had wandered into a minefield
and our man
Lieutenant Frederick James Primrose Snook (92300), Royal Armoured Corps (Yeomanry) (Salisbury, Wilts.) who had rescued men from an aeroplane crash.
Details on this are still incomplete, but I have managed to find out the aircraft was an RAF Stirling bomber, which crashed in a field nearby to where Lt. Snook was taking part in a wireless exercise. Lieut. Snook and two others ran to the aircraft, which had already caught fire. He did not rescue the entire crew, as on arrival it was immediately clear that some of them had been killed in the crash, but they managed to remove two men from the wreckage, who were recorded in newspapers as having been otherwise “incapable of evacuating” before the aeroplane exploded just a few minutes later.
Sadly he was killed in 1944 during the invasion of France, following the D-Day landings, and was buried in the Banneville-La-Campagne Commonwealth War Cemetery just outside Caen. He left a widow, Betty Diana. The date of death, unsurprisingly for a theatre of war, varies. The 21st of July is the date is the one recorded by Commonwealth War Graves whose records appear online at https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2323862/FREDERICK%20JAMES%20PRIMROSE%20SNOOK/ However if you look at another site, http://www.fallenheroesofnormandy.org/Servicemen/Detail/1684 that gives the date of death as Saturday July 1st, and this is the date which actually appears on his grave stone, which you can see, as it was photographed for https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56104060/frederick-james_primrose-snook - and that mentions his M.B.E. as well as giving his home location as Salisbury. His death certificate is also odd as it has no place or date of birth, nor place of residence and under Previous Place(s) of Burial it says “unknown” not the more usual “none”....
He next appears in “The London Gazette” on the 14th of July 1939, where it lists future Second Lieutenants of The Royal Corps of Signals, to be created on the 15th of July 1939. He is given as Frederick James Primrose Snook (late Cadet Serjt., Shaftesbury Gram. Sch. Contgt., Jun. Div., O.T.C.). The Royal Corps of Signals is mainly concerned with communication on the battlefield, and to commanders and base headquarters, installing the equipment, maintaining it, and operating it. As such they are one of the few groups which are needed in all areas of warfare. At that time communications were primarily radio. Up to and including the early stages of World War Two, the height of any applicant was set to be at least 5 feet 2 inches. They were initially sent to Catterick Camp, in Yorkshire, where one of their tasks was to learn to ride, which you may think a useful skill for when the terrain was too rough to take mechanised transport, but it had actually been superseded when mechanised war transport had been invented, just not removed yet from the lesson curriculum. The men were enlisted for eight years then spent four years “in the reserves” in case they were needed in the event of further skirmishes.
I have not been able to find out when he transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps (Yeomanry). Sometimes a man has a flair for something and are moved across, sometimes the soldier requests it themselves. Whichever, he found himself in an interesting place, as the records tie him to a first line Territorial Army Infantry unit, namely 107 / 5 Battalion, The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), as part of the 34th Tank Brigade. This was based in Salisbury, but 5th Battalion had already fought in France and been evacuated at Dunkirk in May 1940. In November 1941 they had been transferred to the Royal Armoured Corps, becoming the 107th Regiment. That is why the Battalion shows two numbers.
On the 24 March 1942, The King, through Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, published his orders for forthcoming appointments to the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. This award was given in recognition of conspicuous gallantry, of carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner. Only three awards were announced on that day, and you can see the original section of the Gazette newspaper at : https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35498/supplement/1330
The three men were:
Second-Lieutenant (acting Lieutenant) Ralph Herbert Brentnall, A.R.I.B.A. who had rescued men from a burning bomber in the Swaffham area
Lieutenant Robert Horace Leopold Posgate who had rescued one child of two which had wandered into a minefield
and our man
Lieutenant Frederick James Primrose Snook (92300), Royal Armoured Corps (Yeomanry) (Salisbury, Wilts.) who had rescued men from an aeroplane crash.
Details on this are still incomplete, but I have managed to find out the aircraft was an RAF Stirling bomber, which crashed in a field nearby to where Lt. Snook was taking part in a wireless exercise. Lieut. Snook and two others ran to the aircraft, which had already caught fire. He did not rescue the entire crew, as on arrival it was immediately clear that some of them had been killed in the crash, but they managed to remove two men from the wreckage, who were recorded in newspapers as having been otherwise “incapable of evacuating” before the aeroplane exploded just a few minutes later.
Sadly he was killed in 1944 during the invasion of France, following the D-Day landings, and was buried in the Banneville-La-Campagne Commonwealth War Cemetery just outside Caen. He left a widow, Betty Diana. The date of death, unsurprisingly for a theatre of war, varies. The 21st of July is the date is the one recorded by Commonwealth War Graves whose records appear online at https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2323862/FREDERICK%20JAMES%20PRIMROSE%20SNOOK/ However if you look at another site, http://www.fallenheroesofnormandy.org/Servicemen/Detail/1684 that gives the date of death as Saturday July 1st, and this is the date which actually appears on his grave stone, which you can see, as it was photographed for https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56104060/frederick-james_primrose-snook - and that mentions his M.B.E. as well as giving his home location as Salisbury. His death certificate is also odd as it has no place or date of birth, nor place of residence and under Previous Place(s) of Burial it says “unknown” not the more usual “none”....