On December 12th, 1917, the head teacher of Welton school, Mr Bond, made the following, fascinating entry in his head master’s log book:
“An interesting presentation has been made to the school in the form of a bell which was found in Combles by the father of one of the school children when the town was captured from the Germans in the Somme campaign last year.”
The father concerned was Jim Fleming, who lived with his wife Edith (formerly Webb), of Welton, and sons Eric and John, in Rose Cottage on Station Road (now demolished).
Jim was born in Ireland and had joined the Irish Guards in 1907, with duty at the Royal residences. He served with them for 13 years. His discovery of the handbell was reported in the Rugby Advertiser on March 24th, 1961, which states that the bell was found in the ruins of a school in Combles, one of the towns devastated in the Battle of the Somme. Jim brought it home with him, had it cleaned up and inscribed and gave it to the school.
The bell is inscribed “Combles 1917 – Presented to Welton School”.
The bell still rings out in the school today.
Jim went on to become a handyman at the Grand Union Canal Company, working for them for 38 years, retiring in 1955. The Fleming family lived in Welton with their young family during the 1920s and 1930s, later moving to Newnham.
One of his sons, Eric, clearly had very happy memories of the village, as many years later, it became a source of inspiration for him. It is Eric who appears on the far left of this photo taken in the gardens of Welton Manor in the mid 1920s – the photo, incidentally, which was responsible for our research into ‘Peter Romanov’!
Eric moved to Newnham with his parents, then married and moved to Fawsley, but at the age of 40 he suffered a stroke. It was suggested that he should take up painting as part of his recuperation. Well, that suggestion resulted in literally dozens of charming paintings and drawings of Welton and the surrounding areas.
Quite amazingly, most were done from memory. Eric continued painting until his 60s when sadly another stroke robbed him of his sight. Eric’s pictures really capture the village as it was over 100 years ago and is a fantastic body of work left as his legacy. Some of his works were shown in an exhibition at Whilton some time ago, and in 2026, the Welton History Group was delighted to include dozens of his paintings in an exhibition as part of our Heritage Day display. The gallery below shows just a handful of views of the village, many of which are very recognisable today.
Eric’s daughter and niece still live locally in Daventry – and his great niece lives in St Martin’s Cottage!
Here is his daughter’s favourite image of Eric, complete with his trademark beret.
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