Here is a photo taken on Berrycroft, almost opposite Berrycroft stores. The men (and child) are passing the time of day outside R. Smith’s Tobacco Shop – a small wooden building fronting onto the road. That shop and the attached cottage are now long gone. One person of note is the man in the middle who looks very like “Harry Williamson” aka “Wulf Schmidt”, the infamous German spy (see inset picture). Schmidt parachuted into Willingham in 1940, was captured by the local Home Guard and then turned into a double agent. He was never discovered by the Germans and spent the rest on his life living in England under the name “Williamson”. We are not sure whether the man in the picture is him but there is a strong resemblance. For more information see: oldwillingham.com/spy.
November 2023
