By Richard Morris
Published by the Loughton and District Historical Society, 80 pages. Paperback (N7877)
From the rear side cover: The many histories and articles describing the fight to save Epping Forest from enclosure in the 1860s and 1870s, include references to W G S Smith, who in 1871 became the Hon. Secretary of The Forest Fund, and organised the protest meetings throughout East London, the Forest and in the City of London over the following seven years. We are fortunate that Smith kept two scrapbooks recording events between 1867 and 1882.
The scrapbooks show how efficient Smith, a solicitor by profession, and his colleagues were in keeping' the public informed with regard to events, inviting both local and national newspapers to visit the Forest to see both its beauty and the problem of enclosures, and liaising with the Commons Preservation Society in promoting the objectives of The Forest Fund in Parliament. The scrapbooks also contain correspondence from 1866 to 1869, concerning the fight to save Wanstead Flats from enclosure. Details of these important letters have not been published before.
The book includes several small black and white photographs
The condition of the book is excellent. The cover has one or two very minor scuffs but is generally clean and tidy, the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.