Langrish village lies 2.5 miles west of Petersfield.
Name | Occupation | Posted from | Until |
---|---|---|---|
Sergeant Richard Douglas Luff | Cowman assisting father |
14 Oct 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Lieutenant Edward Fitzroy Talbot-Ponsonby | Poultry farmer & Director of motor company |
09 Aug 1940 | 01 Feb 1941 |
Private Frederick George Cable | Cowman |
02 Jul 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Private Kenneth Edward White Dickenson | Factory worker |
05 Nov 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Private William George Lambert | Farmer assisting father |
16 Sep 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Private Michael Faraday Newton-Smith | Pig & poultry farmer |
20 Jun 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
Private Reginald Stuart Rogers | Distributor of cattle, pigs, poultry & Farmer. |
15 Jan 1941 | 03 Dec 1944 |
The OB is thought to have been located in Rookham Copse. It is not known if it survives. Nigel Talbot-Ponsonby recalled that the OB was in some woods above Langrish; his father had taken him there once, but it had collapsed.
Langrish Patrol
Nigel Talbot-Ponsonby remembered his father saying that ‘his lads’, the Langrish Patrol were to have targeted the A272 road, that runs from Winchester across the South Downs into East Sussex, and also the Meon Valley railway which connected Fareham to Alton, and would have been a main connection between the South Coast.
His father had apparently walked through both nearby tunnels at Privett and West Meon with Nigel and shown him where ‘his lads’ had prepared locations to place explosives to blow the tunnels.
The Patrol were based at Langrish House near Petersfield. It is now a beautiful hotel.
Quantities of explosives were hidden in the cellars of Langrish House, ready for distribution to the local hideout deep under the trees in Rookham Copse.
The Langrish Patrol were all known to Talbot-Ponsonby as they were all linked to farms in the area, with exception of Ken Dickinson, who was employed at Edward’s factory, possibly as a foreman, and who lived at Buriton, which was a village the other side of Petersfield.
They had regular reunions after the war.
TNA ref WO199/3391
Hancock data held at B.R.A
1939 Register
Robina and Nigel Talbot-Ponsonby,
Jon Radcliffe
Edna Dear, 'Aspects of Langrish'. Langrish