The following near tragic event was reported in the Sevenoaks Chronicle on 18th May 1928

“WROTHAM POSTMAN SAVES BABY’S LIFE AT STANSTED.
PLAYING NEAR POND AND FELL IN.
A Wrotham postman’s prompt action saved the life of a young baby boy who had fallen into a pond, between four and five feet deep, at Stansted on Monday morning.
The little child, James Patrick, the two years and three months’ old son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Knight, of Powell Cottage, Fairhill Farm Stansted, was playing by the pond, which is some considerable distance from the house and is obscured on three sides by a tall hedge, when he apparently ventured too near and slipped in.
Had there been no one about, the little baby’s fate would have been assured. But fortunately, Mr. Percy Hollands, Wrotham postman, saw the child in the water and dashed to the pond. Snatching up a pole, he managed to balance the child upon the end, owing to his small weight and thus brought him to the bank. The child was unconscious, but after artificial respiration had been applied by a man named Gould, a chauffeur to Sir Gerald Hohler of Stansted Court, he showed signs of life. He was taken home, where he is going on well and gives promise of being none the worse for his watery adventure.”

Sheila Parker (nèe Brown) knew Partrick Knight well and remembers him telling her that the pond was in Tumblefield Road, very near the Old Forge. When Sheila knew him, he lived at the old Brattens Cottages in Plaxdale Green Road. The story says that Patrick was living in Powell Cottage, Fairhill Farm, Stansted, but this is not an address known in Stansted. Despite his early scare, Patrick lived to the age of 78.

The Ordnance Survey map of Stansted published in 1870 shows a pond on the left of Tumblefield Road going uphill on the other side of the road from the Old Forge. It was very close to Tumblefield Road and was in a narrow wooded area. These days the site is just a muddy depression up from the Tumblefield estate car park and is next to the footpath. It is almost certainly where the toddler fell into the water.

So what happened to his rescuers?

The postman was Percy ‘Perc’ Hollands. His father, Alfred, had been a gamekeeper living at Court Lodge, Stansted, in 1891. Perc was born on 5th April 1891 and was baptised in St Mary’s church in May 1891 so it is almost certain that he was born on the farm at Court Lodge. He subsequently moved to Wrotham and was a lifelong postman. Sheila says that he knew everybody on his round, and if they moved, he made it his business to get to know the newcomers. These days were when road and house names were ad hoc, and letters were often addressed to *Name*, Stansted, Nr Wrotham, Kent.

Samuel Gould was a 31-year-old chauffeur/mechanic for Sir Gerald Hohler at Court Lodge, Stansted, in 1928 when he helped rescue little Patrick. Ten years later, he was the Horse and Groom pub licensee on the A20. Samuel died in February 1941 at the early age of 47. His son Edward, sadly, died in action in northern Germany on 2nd May 1945, aged 19. His death was just two days after Hitler’s suicide and six days before Germany signed the Instrument of Surrender. Edward was the last member of his battalion to lose his life before V.E day.

[Note: The full story of Edward Gould’s life can be viewed on this website under People>Memorials.]