Windshaft from the mill in Broadoak, near Burwash, Sussex, taken in Chiddingfold, Sussex

Muggeridge, in a letter to Rex Wailes dated 12th Jan 1941, says "A few weeks before Christmas I had a letter from Simmons to say that there was a windshaft at Rockhill Mill (broadoak) and that I might care to try to get it; I was able to buy the whole unit complete, windshaft, canister and both brake and tail wheels and got Neves of Heathfield to move it home for me… it weighs a couple of tons and is some 14 feet in length… for the present it is out in the open but we were fortunate enough in getting a large tarpauline to cover it…".

Donald W Muggeridge was one of the pioneer mill researchers of the 1930s. A Kentish Man, he was born in the early 20th century and inherited his father's (William Burrell Muggeridge) interest in windmills. Donald was married to Vera in 1936. He volunteered the month after WWII broke out and escaped from the Dunkirk beaches without injury. In 1943 he returned to Kent for officer training, and in the same year his only son, Derek, was born. In the final phase of the war, with an armoured division travelling from Normandy to Berlin, Donald still managed to take more than 400 photographs of mills. On a March 1945 letter to Rex Wailes, Donald, a Lieutenant, put his army details "502 Coy RASC (Indep. Armd. Gde) BLA" at the top. In 1956 Donald and Vera moved to Canada, and later to California, where he retired in 1983. He died in 2015.

This is a digital copy of a photograph held by the [University of Kent](http://www.kent.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/mills/muggeridge/index.html). A higher resolution copy can be viewed for free at the Mills Archive; please email [visitors@millsarchive.org](mailto:visitors@millsarchive.org?subject=Request%20to%20consult%20item%20DWMC-540105) to arrange an appointment. Permission to reproduce the image should be addressed to the University of Kent.

Donald W Muggeridge was one of the pioneer mill researchers of the 1930s. A Kentish Man, he was born in the early 20th century and inherited his father's (William Burrell Muggeridge) interest in windmills. Donald was married to Vera in 1936. He volunteered the month after WWII broke out and escaped from the Dunkirk beaches without injury. In 1943 he returned to Kent for officer training, and in the same year his only son, Derek, was born. In the final phase of the war, with an armoured division travelling from Normandy to Berlin, Donald still managed to take more than 400 photographs of mills. On a March 1945 letter to Rex Wailes, Donald, a Lieutenant, put his army details "502 Coy RASC (Indep. Armd. Gde) BLA" at the top. In 1956 Donald and Vera moved to Canada, and later to California, where he retired in 1983. He died in 2015.

Published