Alwington

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Ancient Family

Lieut-Col E C Pine-Coffin of ‘Cleave Barton’, Durrant Lane, Northam, who, on Monday, became president of the Royal North Devon Golf Club, is a member of one of the oldest families in the country.

Until Portledge House became a hotel in 1947 it had been their seat since 1200. Col Pine-Coffin, in addition to owning the Portledge estate, is lord of the manor of Alwington, Goldworthy and Monkleigh. Like many of his forebears – a Coffin, of Portledge, was with Henry VIII on the Field of the Cloth of Gold – he was a professional soldier. From 1915 until the end of World War 2 he served with the Indian Army. Captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore, in common with so many others he spent the remainder of the war building the infamous Burma railway, which claimed the lives of a large number of prisoners. In the First World War he served in Mesopotamia, and, following the Armistice, took part in three campaigns on the Indian North-West frontier. He joined the Royal North Devon Golf Club nearly 50 years ago.
There have been two suggestions about the derivation of the name ‘Coffin’. One is that is from the Norman French cophin – a basket. But a noted local historian, the late Mr W H Rogers, of Orleigh Court, contended it was much more likely to be from the Cornish word meaning ‘ruddy’. This suggested that Coffin was an indigenous Celt who, when the Normans came, was allowed to retain his small pre-Conquest estate at Alwington, with his own manor court, but with a Norman lord over him to whom he had to do suit and service. The marriage of Edward Pyne, of Eastdown, with Dorothy Coffin in 1672, wrote Mr Rogers ‘cemented a very ancient connection between the Coffins and their overlords, resulting in the fusion of the two families under the name of Pine-Coffin’ I am reminded that in America 86 years ago there was a notable gathering of the ‘Clan Coffin’ as they were proud to call themselves, to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Tristram Coffin, the first of the family to settle in America. He had emigrated in 1624. The Clan, who regarded Portledge as their ancestral home, certainly ‘went to town’ with the celebration in Nantuckett, Mass. About 500 attended, many travelling by special trains, and thousands of words were spoken. But some had to wait until late afternoon for their celebration meal.

Gazette article dated 5 January 1968

Army history is made

Lieut-Col (Temp) Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, DSO, MC, of the Devonshire Regiment, who is awarded a bar to his DSO for distinguished and gallant services in North-West Europe, also has the distinction of having made some Army history.

He is the younger son of the late Major J E Pine-Coffin, DSO, of Portledge, Alwington, and was gazetted in the Devonshire Regiment in 1928. He served for a while in India. He was in the Flanders campaign in 1940, and evacuated through Dunkirk. In 1941 he joined the Parachute Brigade on its formation, was later given command of a Parachute Battalion to N. Africa, carried out an operational parachute descent to seize the airfield at Bone, thereby making British Army history – it was the first occasion on which a Battalion commander took his men to war by parachute. With the First Army in the same campaign he won the MC. Last year he took over command of another parachute battalion and with it parachuted into Normandy on D1-day when the battalion held bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne, and was awarded the DSO. He was with the 8th Airborne Division rushed to help stem the German counter in the Ardennes. Last March he parachuted on to the east bank of the Rhine during operations to force a crossing of the river, and was wounded in the face. He led the battalion through Germany until meeting the Germans at Wismar.
Lieut-Col Pine-Coffin is a widower. He married Miss Joan Doris Godfrey, daughter of Mr H R S Godfrey and the late Mrs Godfrey, of Halwill, Duryard, Exeter.

Gazette article dated 3 July 1945

WI Raise Over £50 At Alwington

WI Raise Over £50 At Alwington - 16th November 1962

Over £50 was raised as a result of the annual sale of work organised by Alwington W.I.
The variety of stalls supervised by members included cake, produce, parcel, handkerchief, jumble, miscellaneous and bran tub. Tea was also served by members.
Mrs B Daniel, of Little Torrington, judged the large number of entries in the cake competition, awarding: 1, Mrs C Jeffery; 2, Mrs G Lewis; 3, Mrs L Lott.
There followed a social evening and a skittle competition, winners being: 1, Mr F Leverton; 2, Mr G Smale; 3, Mr R Lewis. Draw prize winners were; premium bond, David Metherll; chicken, R Daniel; cigarettes, Mr J Bailey; sherry, N Hillman; chocolates, D Metherell; nylons, Mr J Wicketts; basket of fruit, Mrs W Hockin.
At the October meeting of the W.I Mrs H Hillman presided. A report on the Autumn Council meeting was given by Mrs C Jeffery, who was thanked by Mrs G Lewis. Miss Bird, a representative from S.W.E.B., gave a demonstration of supper dishes. A vote of thanks was proposed by Mrs Honeywill.
The competition - toffee apple - resulted: 1, Mrs K Poole; 2, Miss M Poole; 3, Mrs G Lewis.
The social half-hour competition was won by Mrs Hopper.
Tea hostesses were Mesdames R Daniel and Adams, assisted by Mrs Mitchell.