Bodiam Patrol

County Group
Locality

Bodiam is small village in East Sussex and the home of Bodiam Castle.

Patrol members
Name Occupation Posted from Until
Sergeant Sydney John Brabon

Farm tractor driver

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Stanley George Barber

Head gardener

28 Oct 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Arthur Brabon

Farm labourer

22 Dec 1941 03 Dec 1944
Private Wilfred Walter Ensum

Dairy farmer

27 Jun 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Ernest William Ades Goodsell

Coal merchant & clerk

28 Oct 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Frank William Jarvis

Farm manager

07 Apr 1941 03 Dec 1944
Private Louis Orsbourn

Farm tractor driver & mechanic

22 Jan 1942 03 Dec 1944
Private Jack Shoobridge

Farm tractor driver

02 Apr 1941 03 Dec 1944
Private William Charles Simmons

General farm labourer

10 Nov 1940 03 Dec 1944
Private Edward David Smith

Lorry driver & farm worker

24 Jan 1942 03 Dec 1944
Operational Base (OB)

The Operational Base was constructed from corrugated iron and timber. Dug into the side of a steep sided wooded gully known locally as the ‘Round Wood’. There was a small stream running north south down the gully which hardly if ever dried up.

Jon Burgess can remember looking at the remains of the structure with his father some time in the mid 1960s. By then it had all but collapsed in but this made its outline from above obvious. At that time the entrance was still partly open but was slowly being crushed from the sides.

Patrol & OB pictures
OB Image
OB Status
Location not known
Location

Bodiam Patrol

Training

It is assumed they trained at the regional HQ at Tottington Manor.

Other information

Udiam Farm was used as a depository for Auxiliary Units arms after stand down.

Most of the men of the Bodiam Patrol worked for Guinness Hop Farms Ltd, part of Arthur Guinness and Son.

Jon Burgess' father was employed as assistant and later farm manager for the company starting in 1957 so he knew most of the Patrol but was unaware of its existence or their involvement with the Auxiliary Units. His view is they where steady, trustworthy men who got on with their work and could always be relied on to 'get the job done’. Several later became either farm Bailiffs or Forman for the company.

References

TNA reference WO199/3391

Hancock data held at B.R.A

1939 Register

Jon Burgess

The Secret Sussex Resistance by Stewart Angell

Bygone Bodiam