WITH the 50th birthday of Test Valley Council upon us this year, it seems appropriate to remember the four councils that were abolished in its favour.
They were Romsey Borough, Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District Council, Andover Borough and Andover Rural District.
Romsey and Stockbridge Rural District Council was formed in 1932 by the combination of Romsey and Stockbridge Rural Districts. Mr W. A. Tanner was appointed as their clerk and held the post until September 1964 when he retired.
‘Bob’ Tanner as he was known by his friends was a Romsey lad who left school at the age of 13. (‘Bob’ was slang for a shilling, and ‘tanner’ for 6d.) He had been a boy scout and was an Abbey choirboy.
He started work in the solicitors’ offices in Abbey Water where the partners served as clerk to various public bodies. His whole working life was in public service. His early career included serving as clerk to several public bodies and for 40 years he was Superintendent of Births, Marriages and Deaths for the rural district.
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The post of Clerk to the new rural district council was a full-time one, unlike the clerkship of Romsey Borough which was part-time and held by B. W. Attlee, another local solicitor.
The new Rural District Council bought land to the north of Duttons Road from Romsey Borough and built their Council Offices there. Mr Tanner had the job of settling the staff in and making everything work efficiently.
He was Clerk throughout the Second World War which was very challenging as so many of his staff were conscripted for the Forces. Thus he, like so many others, had to get used to having women employees, and not treating them as they did their young men trainees. (My aunt said that in Salisbury council offices women would burst into tears if told off.)
His wartime roles included responsibility for billeting evacuees, managing food and fuel rationing locally and serving as Secretary of the semi-secret Invasion Committee.
In their appreciation of Bob Tanner, the Council directed that a photo of him be hung permanently in the Council Chamber. Little did he know it, but his old Council had only ten years of life left, before it was absorbed by the new Test Valley Council. I wonder what happened to the photo.
William Albert Tanner died in 1966 at the age of 67, so had less than 18 months of his retirement. He is buried in Botley Road cemetery.
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