Family History

A number of people have messaged asking about our family connection to Westcombe so we thought we would do a short post on our Great Great Grandparents and their lives.

Westcombe was originally built for Charles Henry Croxford in around 1924 as a summer home before being bought by our Great Great Grandparents, Captain Raymond Eardly Morris and Grace Edith Thallon in the early 1930s who then developed it extensively.

Ray was a qualified solictor before being deployed to Mesopotamia (Now Iraq) during WW1 where he achieved the rank of Captain. He was a keen shooter and a member of several rifle clubs. Unfortunately due to his experiences in the war he suffered with what would now be known as PTSD and was unable to carry on working as a solicitor. Following WW1 he became a councillor for Salcombe and was the senior air raid warden for Salcombe during world war 2.

Grace was born in Brooklyn, New York before moving to London where she worked as a singer and musician performing in concerts and theatres. During WW1 she became a volunteer ambulance driver in Salcombe. Following this in World War 2 they would host gatherings at Westcombe for the American troops stationed in Salcombe prior to the D-day landings where Grace would play old patriotic American music on her Grand Piano (pictured).

They were both keen yachters and owned a number of yawls which they raced in Salcombe. One of the yawls was named Edra, a combination of Grace EDith and RAymond. However judging by the newspaper article it didn’t always go to plan!

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