Daphne Holdsworth
Daphne Holdsworth


Next time you visit St James Church rest for a moment on the bench dedicated to Daphne Holdsworth. In 1940 her father was a submariner in Plymouth and, when the dockyard was bombed during World War II, Mrs Blacker fled with her three daughters, Jenefer, Daphne and Heather. They were taken in by the Webb family at The Butts, where they were given the rooms at the top of the house.

The Webb’s own grandchildren had already been evacuated from London and Sophie, the eldest, remembered how they became close friends, ranging the woods and hills, picking hips and blackberries, collecting conkers, and gliding across flooded frozen fields. Then they’d climb the step ladder to their secret ‘Attic Club’, where they wrote their own magazine, made a museum, and planned expeditions and adventures they would never have. In Sophie's words, “We never seemed to have time to be bored”..

Mrs Blacker was soon elected secretary of the Women’s Institute, performed in fund raising variety concerts, and was one the volunteers who built the Keevil aerodrome, while Sophie's Aunt Doola cared for all six children. At Sunday School, all three sisters performed plays at the Annual Baptist Fete, while Jenefer and Daphne won top prizes representing Bratton Parish Church for the 10 Westbury and District Sunday Schools examinations.

The Blackers returned to Plymouth at the end of 1942, having only stayed in the village for two years. However, Bratton has a way of captivating people’s hearts, and the Blacker family had fallen under it’s spell. When Daphne, now Holdsworth, died tragically young following a traffic accident, aged just 34, her family honoured her wish that Bratton, the setting of so many precious childhood memories, would be her final resting place. If you take a short stroll from Daphne's bench to her grave you’ll read that Jenefer, now Aston, joined Daphne in 1981, along with their father, Leslie, in 1991 and mother, Iris, in 1992.




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Bratton History Association.

The Bratton History Association aims to provide all those curious about local history with an opportunity to meet, exchange ideas, and discover more about the history of Bratton and Wiltshire. Activities include monthly meetings, talks by professional historians, visits to places of interest to historians, and our own local history project.

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