THE WISSMANN FAMILY

Rudolf Wissmann was a naturalised German whose son, John, became Dulwich's first fatality of WW1 when he died on the Western Front.

Ludwig Wilhelm Rudolf Wissmann was born in 1855 in Hanover, Germany. He became a bank manager and then a stockbroker for Dutch brokers FC Stoop & Co in Hercules Passage, Threadneedle Street. He then set up his own firm, called Wissmann & Co, at 10 Throgmorton Avenue. AAM Weebers, a young Dutchman who came to work for the firm in 1895 at a salary of £75 pa, said Rudolf Wissmann handled all the foreign securities and had his own office ‘as small as a pipe drawer’ while the rest of the firm were in an adjoining small room. Weebers said he learned a lot at Wissmann’s and spoke of settling day being extremely busy, when all the firm dined together in the City, late in the evening.

In 1879 Rudolf Wissmann married Milley Betsy Fairfield from Lambeth. They may have met through mutual German friends as Milley ‘s father, who was a clerk and her mother, a schoolmistress, often had German friends living with them. The Wissmanns set up home in Lincoln Villa, Barry Road and then moved to Overhill Road in a house they named Sonnenbrink after a hill in Germany, before moving to Bell House in 1900. Rudolf had become a naturalised British citizen in 1883. Their son, John Rudolf, was born on 23 October 1890 and a daughter, Kathleen Mary Caroline, followed in 1893. The Wissmanns took an active part in local affairs: Rudolf was treasurer of the South Diocesan Association for the Care of Friendless Girls and raised funds for a home in Camberwell and also took on treasurer duties for local charities near their country house in Devon. After the Boer War he led a group of foreign members of the London Stock Exchange in raising funds ‘to support the English’. Mrs Wissmann, though described as being ‘of a severe disposition’ also played her part in the work of Dulwich charities.

John Wissmann in World War One

Rudolf and Milley’s son, John, was educated at Dulwich College Prep and joined Dulwich College with a junior scholarship.

He left in 1909 and went straight to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where he was an excellent horseman, won prizes for his German and qualified as an interpreter. After passing out in December 1910 he took a commission in the Royal Field Artillery.  He joined the 22nd Battery at Bulford Camp, moving with his Brigade, the 34th, to Aldershot in 1913, in which year he was promoted to Lieutenant. He was a very keen soldier and spent his army leave in Belgium learning about the country and its communications as he was convinced Germany intended to invade France via Belgium. On New Year’s Day 1914 he married Gladys Emily Jukes, the daughter of a missionary. Later that year, within three weeks of WW1 being declared, he was fighting in France. He was continually in action, taking part in the retreat from Mons, the first battle of the Marne and the first battle of the Aisne where he was killed in action on 15 September 1914. He was 23 years old and the first fatality of the war who had been a resident of Dulwich Village. His only child, Joan, was born posthumously in February 1915. His widow founded the John Wissmann Memorial Prize at Dulwich College in his memory for boys who obtained the highest marks in the entrance exams for Woolwich and Sandhurst.

Following the sinking of RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915, Sir Arthur Pinero, the playwright, wrote to The Times calling on naturalised British citizens of German origin to make public statements of their loyalty to the King and reject Germany's methods of warfare. In the following days, protest letters were received by the newspaper from naturalised Britons affirming their loyalty, including public figures such as Sir Ernest Cassel, Sir George Henschel, Sir Carl Meyer and Sir Felix Schuster. Rudolf Wissmann added his name to the protest letter, condemning Germany’s military aggression and expressing his loyalty to his adopted country. Although Rudolf was a naturalised citizen he had to prove to the London Stock Exchange that he had been denationalised by Germany.

Life in Bell House

In 1901 Rudolf, Milly and their two children lived at Bell House with a nurse, parlourmaid, two housemaids, a cook and two gardeners. Ten years later, in the 1911 census, Rudolf declared Bell House contained twenty rooms (excluding bathrooms and small rooms like the scullery) and it still required a large staff to look after its residents. As we have seen elsewhere, many of the maids came from London and the home counties though some of the Wissmann maids also came from Germany. As well as the usual nurse (mainstay of a large middle-class family), cook, parlourmaid and housemaids, the Wissmanns also employed a ‘between’ maid or ‘tweeny’. This maid would perform duties across the household, both downstairs scullery duties and upstairs cleaning as well as waiting on the senior servants. It was one of the most thankless tasks in the hierarchy of domestic service as the tweeny often had to answer to more than one senior servant, eg the housekeeper and the cook, and this could make her (and it was always a her) life very difficult. Her status was low, roughly equivalent to a scullery maid. The children’s maid had to be Swiss or German and in adverts Mrs Wissmann specified that she must be a Protestant. There was also a sewing maid, Marie Kloosz, who came from Switzerland. They rented Trewyn (now Pickwick Cottage) to a Mr Taylor. They also advertised for a ‘useful children’s maid, German or Swiss’ who needed to be a good needlewoman and, importantly ‘Protestant’. Two gardeners lived with their families in the Lodge as did the coachman, James Farmer, and his family. The coach was drawn by two horses and James was a rather accomplished coachman who, as he swung the coach between the narrow gate posts of Bell House, used to exclaim ‘It takes a real expert to do that!’.

Kathleen Wissmann gets married

On 17 October 1933, aged 40, Kathleen Wissmann married the Revd Arthur Johnstone, the vicar of Heavitree (near the family’s country house in Exeter, ‘the family having been associated with the area for generations’). The wedding was a grand affair at Exeter Cathedral with guests including European royalty. Members of the public stood anywhere they could to get a view: on the plinths of statues, on the ledges of walls, even on their chairs to get an uninterrupted view. On leaving the cathedral the bride faced ‘a battery of cameras’. The newspapers carried a detailed account of the day including descriptions of her dress, her pearls, her diamond sapphire brooch, the prayer book she carried instead of a bouquet and her bridesmaid, her niece, Joan.

In 1913 Rudolf, Milley and Kathleen moved to Great Duryard, later a hall of residence for Exeter University. When he was discussing dilapidations with the Estate he mentioned the temporary cottages that Harman Tidy had erected and never demolished and suggested they be taken in part payment. Although the Estate admitted Rudolf had ‘practically given a new lease of life to an old house’ they would not forego any dilapidation payments. Thomas Marlowe, editor of the Daily Mail, applied to rent Bell House but the Estate refused his offer for being too low. Bell House was then let to Charlotte Barclay. Rudolf died in 1923, leaving £70,000 to Milley who herself died in 1938, leaving £15,000.