Topic October/November 2023. Anyone who knows the rather upper-class town of Shepperton nestling by the River Thames will be rather surprised to learn that in Edwardian times there was a western style ranch-house in the grounds of the Imperial School of Colonial Instruction. That timber building was a club “El Desperados” for the many men in London who had experienced life in Western America or Western Canada. In those days it was quite legal to have a men-only club and such men could retire to their club and talk of their days in the “Wild West”.

Thunder of hoofs on the range as you ride,
Hissing of iron and sizzling of hide,
Bellows of cattle and snort of cayuse,
Longhorns from Texas as wild as the deuce.
Mid-nite stampedes and milling of herds,
Yells of the Cow-men too angry for words,
Right in the thick of it all I would say,
Make me a cowboy again for a day.

Under the star-studded Canopy vast,
Camp-fire and coffee and comfort at last,
Bacon that sizzles and crisps in the pan,
After the round-up smells good to a man.
Stories of ranchers and rustlers retold,
Over the pipe as the embers grow cold,
Those are the times that old memories play,
Make me a Cowboy again for a day.

This poem tells us the feelings of the many Frontiersmen who had worked in the American West but were now back in city life and were enthusiastic members of London Command of the earliest years of the Legion of Frontiersmen, often carrying western nicknames – we have reported on “Texas” Thompson ¹. The above poem is anonymous with the author’s name lost, although it has appeared in several relevant books, such as Michael Wallis’s “The Real Wild West” (1999) ². At El Desperados they could be cowboys again for a day.

There were two log cabins on what is today Duppa’s Close, Green Lane Shepperton, now a very much built-up area. One was El Desperados Club and the other was home to”The Imperial School of Colonial Instruction”, run by Captain Cecil “Pete” Morgan and Evelyn “Jeff” ffrench. There was an advertisement on the inside front cover of the first (1909) edition of the “Frontiersman’s Pocket Book.³

All branches of colonial craft taught by experienced and practical Colonial instructors – RIDING, ROPING, STOCKWHIP, CARPENTERING, STOCK MANAGEMENT, BLACKSMITHING, etc.. Moderate inclusive terms for one or six months course. Books of tickets for smaller number of lessons in any subject.

In late Edwardian times, Shepperton people became very used to men rising around the area dressed in cowboy garb. Both the “Imperial School” and El Desperados were surprisingly popular places, and the “Cowboy Wedding” in Shepperton of “Pete” Morgan and a widow, Emily Skelly, caused quite a stir in Shepperton, being attended by a large number of cowboys, all wearing revolvers in their belt holsters. It did not become illegal in Britain to have weapons in public until the Firearms Act of 1919. The shown Illustrated London News drawing of the event by E.W. KoekKoek, who illustrated several Frontiersmen events, demonstrates how many “English cowboys” were living in the London area and attended. The great majority of these men were members of the Legion of Frontiersmen.

Morgan and ffrench both contributed to the “Frontiersman’s Pocket Book”, Morgan particularly on his speciality: pack horses and pack transport; ffrench on saddles and horses. It is unknown how successful the “Imperial School” was – certainly El Desperados was a popular club among Frontiersmen – but after a few years Morgan and his new wife moved to Canada. It is believed that he was offered a regular job there. Evelyn ffrench could not carry on by himself and so the business folded and El Desperados closed, but not before some of the Frontiersmen became film ‘stars’ in one film in the infant moving picture industry, filmed at Shepperton and on the River Thames in July 1908.

Evelyn ffrench and Capt. Cecil Morgan produced a short Wild West film called “A Texas Elopement” in which ffrench was the hero and Morgan the villain. They found a girl from the local livery stables who was a competent rider to be the heroine. Roger Pocock was the ranche foreman where the trouble happened.

When the heroine fled from the villain she came to a wild Texas river at Shepperton-on-Thames where they embarked in a boat contrived and patented by Pete (Morgan), which consisted of two pack saddles, and was ultimately bought by the Marconi Company. During the scene of the embarkation I (Roger Pocock) sat just under the camera, having a gossip with the vicar of the parish while his little green parrot rambled all over me. The heroine had to embark over and over again because of things which happened on the Wild Texas River, such as a flotilla of swans or a wherry full of girls. And there was also serious trouble behind the scenes because a Thames Conservancy Official was pulling the coat tails of the camera man – photography being illegal. The camera man was howling with rage and a Sergeant of police was arresting the Conservancy man for assault. At last the heroine pushed out into the Wild Texas River, but this being her first attempt to row a boat, she pulled in circles, shrieking for assistance. It had to be presumed that she reached the other bank, behind the splashes made by the abominable villain as he leaped his horse into the raging flood. Then came the hero, swimming in pursuit, tailing his horse, and emptying his revolver at me, while the recoil from each shot sent his whole moustache under the water like a drowning mouse. Afterwards, when we saw our picture presented at the Palace Theatre even we could not tell what it was all about, or why the little people on horseback were bobbing up and down in the far distances of the Boundless Plains, while the pretty Jersey cows grazed undisturbed in the foreground. Then I saw the foreman of the ranche, a back view, twenty-three feet tall, and discovered to my horror that I was bald behind…⁴

This was not the only occasion when Roger Pocock was involved in a film shown in London. In the early 1920s Pocock was passing through Piccadilly Circus where there was a cinema, the Pavilion, showing films made in Hollywood. The title looked familiar, “A Man in the Open”, because it was the title of one of Pocock’s more popular fiction books. Half an inch of type at the bottom of the poster showed that it was indeed an adaptation of his book, a great surprise to him. Honesty was in short supply in early Hollywood, so Pocock had had no permission sought nor payment made to him. Pocock went to see the film and gave an opinion..

“Still, theft as it was, here was a jolly good picture as films go”.

As with most early Hollywood films, this Western film has not survived.

There are Pathe films of the Frontiersmen which can be viewed online. No doubt over the years amateur photographers have made motion pictures of Frontiersmen at various events. The historians are hoping that some may emerge one day.

1 Who Was “Texas” Thompson?

2 “The Real Wild West”, Michael Wallis, (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1999).

3 Information from Valerie Brooking and article in the Shepperton Local History Journal, Autumn 1983.

4 “Chorus to Adventurers”, Roger Pocock (Bodley Head 1931) pp. 287-289.

Illustrations:

1. Evelyn “Jeff” ffrench. According to Roger Pocock, ffrench often preferred riding like this. He had an injured back and he said that riding stood on the horse’s back was less painful.

2. H.W. Koekkoek’s drawing of the Shepperton wedding for the Illustrated London News, 19th December, 1908. As we have seen elsewhere, Koekkoek’s drawings of Frontiersmen were a far better illustration than the photographs of the time.

3. Riding skills at Shepperton. These skills show that it is no wonder that the British army were keen to enlist the Frontiersmen for breaking horses at the beginning of the First War. This picture first appeared in “Wide World” magazine, date unknown. Original photographs of Shepperton “cowboys” were by Halftones Ltd. (original company no longer exists).

4. Another drawing of Frontiersmen by Koekkoek, this time at the River Thames with the Morgan patented pack-saddle. Illustrated London News, 25th April, 1908.

5. Rough sketch by Valerie Brooking showing where the log cabins were at Shepperton.

© Copyright Geoffrey A. Pocock. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced in any form, in part or in full, without prior permission.