Prinkle Farm
1881 Census
| Name | Age | Rel | Occupation | Born |
| Albert Geering | 60 | Head | Miller & Farmer Of 100 Acres Employing 7 Men 1 Boy | 1821 Ashburnham, Sx |
| Sarah Geering | 52 | wife | 1829 Hailsham, Sx | |
| Alice R. Geering | 20 | daughter | 1861 Burwash, Sx | |
| Henry W. Geering | 12 | son | 1869 Burwash, Sx |
1939 Register:
Stanley W White 14th March 1900 Dairy Farmer
Hilda White 25th April 1898 Unpaid Domestic Duties
Elsie Venner 29th December 1894 Housemaid
Percy H Venner 26th December 1912 Gardener
Prinkle Cottage
1939 Register:
Alfred D Smith b 9th May 1889 Chauffeur Private Service
Ada Smith 30th September 1888 Unpaid Domestic Duties
The following information is extracted from Roy Iremonger’s book Dallington A Village at War (complete text available at the Resources Page)
Ada Smith ..was married to Alfred Douglas Smith and lived in Prinkle Cottage, Prinkle Lane, Dallington. Alfred was employed as a chauffeur to the Buckley family…. “In the late morning of July 7th 1944 a flying bomb severely damaged houses in Westfield near Battle and five hours later 250 houses at Polgate were seriously damaged. Other bombs landed in Dallington where a farm and fifty other properties received damage”. “A Grim Almanac of Sussex” W.H. Johnson.
Two villagers can vividly recall this day and both confirm that the “doodle bug” was flying over Dallington when a Spitfire pilot tipped its wing to prevent the rocket from dropping on the village street which would have resulted in major casualties. Unfortunately the rocket was to fall on Prinkle Farm where it is understood that Ada Smith had failed to get in to her Morrison shelter on time. Ada Smith was killed on this day when her house was destroyed in the attack.
She is buried in Dallington Churchyard Extension. Row 12 plot 373 and her name appears on the Dallington War Memorial
Maud Simmons (formerly of “Thrums”, The Street, Dallington) has left a vivid account of that day (written in June 1967): “Then those awful flying bombs started to come, and it was very nerve racking, they made a terrible noise. The first one I heard was in the night and I thought that two aeroplanes were fighting overhead. We found what it was in the paper next day. They were sent over to bomb London and our fighters were trying to stop them getting there. We had a searchlight post in the village and they shot at them. I had just finished spring cleaning the whole house, and was sitting at tea; I had just finished with the land girls, when I heard this terrific noise, and then an awful explosion. I slipped back into the chimney corner, and Swish! Bang! Whollop! The ceiling came down, the windows blew out and there was a big hole in the roof. It seems that the search posts shot at the thing and turned its course, and it fell into the farm house at the bottom of Prinkle Hill. It dived into the cellar and the whole house came down. The farmer’s wife was in her shelter and was buried for two and a half hours. The chauffeur’s wife (Ada Smith) who was in her shelter in the cottage joined to the house was blown into the garden in her shelter and was killed. Mr. Stanley White was milking his cows at the time, and his son, who was only a boy then, was with him. His wife was taken to hospital and they said they only got to her just in time. But she recovered. It was a terrible experience for her. She said when she recovered consciousness she realised she was buried, and could only move her head a little. Her first impulse was to shout, and then she thought she must wait until she heard a sound, to save her breath. Every house in the street was damaged more or less. ….”
Dallington History 