Maurice Yeatman

Dad's Army character
name=Maurice Yeatman


affiliation=
occupation=Verger of St Aldhelm's Church
start=First series (1968) as caretaker; verger from third series (1969)
portrayer=Edward Sinclair

Mr Maurice Yeatman [In one episode, "War Dance", the verger's name is Henry.] , played by Edward ("Teddy") Sinclair (1914—1977), was the obsequious verger of St Aldhelm's Church, Walmington-on-Sea in the BBC TV comedy series, "Dad's Army" (1968-77), set during the Second World War.

The character

In the first two series (1968-9) of "Dad's Army", Sinclair appeared as the caretaker of the church hall, but, by the third series (1969), his role as the verger was established. One of twins, Yeatman wore spectacles and a flat cap; his face bore an earnest, sometimes outraged, expression and he was usually of a dour, officious personality. He was also leader of Walmington's sea scouts and, as such, was seen boating, camping, marching and parading in his semi-nautical uniform.

Mrs Yeatman

Yeatman's forbidding wife, Beryl [In "War Dance" Mrs Yeatman is referred to as Anthea, and, in "Knights of Madness", her name is Tracy.] , played by Olive Mercer, appeared from time to time, mostly in situations when she was able to express impatience: for example, as a member of an over-large committee planning a social function or in a queue in the butcher's shop of Lance Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn). She led the Walmington on Sea ladies Netball team. It emerged, after Mrs Yeatman had caught her husband taking an afternoon's ride on a motor-cycle with the flirtatious Mrs Marcia Fox (Pamela Cundell), that, somewhat improbably, she herself was involved in an extramarital relationship with the elderly Sidney Blewett (Harold Bennett) [Episode "Everybody's Trucking", 1974] .

Verger and vicar

Yeatman and the rather camp vicar of St Aldhelm's, the Rev Timothy Farthing (Frank Williams), performed something of a double act. Yeatman was forever fawning and fussing over the vicar, whom he addressed invariably as "Your Reverence", while Farthing frequently expressed annoyance when distracted from writing his sermons. In an exchange about courage, a quality which the vicar professed to lack, Yeatman attempted to reassure him with the well-intended, but tactlessly ambiguous, comment, "There‘s all sorts of courage, sir – I don’t know how you have the nerve to get up and give those sermons every Sunday".

On occasions Yeatman's conduct gave the vicar cause for concern. For example, Farthing suggested that if there were any impropriety in his apparent liaison with Mrs Fox, his position as verger might be called into question. On another occasion, following an allegation by Corporal Jones, he asked why Yeatman found it necessary to count the collection from the Sunday morning service in the bar of the Red Lion public house.

Off-screen Sinclair and Williams became good friends [Graham McCann (2001) "Dad's Army"] .

Verger and Home Guard

Yeatman's relations with Walmington's Home Guard platoon, led by Captain George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) were strained, almost hostile. He resented their use of the church hall for parades and in particular the inevitable damage caused by various militaristic activities ("the vicar must be informed"; "His Reverence is not going to like this"). Yeatman referred to the platoon as "vandals". Responding in kind, Corporal Jones often described Yeatman as a "troublemaker".

On one occasion, when the platoon, under cover of darkness, were seeking to retrieve a spring for a Lewis gun from a freshly interred coffin, Yeatman suffered the spooky indignity of having earth that he had just shovelled onto the grave thrown back in his face. This incident led to his making dark accusations about grave-robbing ["No Spring for Frazer", 1969] .

Anti-Mainwaring activities

As a consequence of such bad feeling, Yeatman formed alliances with those, such as Chief ARP Warden William Hodges (Bill Pertwee) and Captain Square (Geoffrey Lumsden) of the neighbouring Eastgate platoon, with whom Mainwaring was often at loggerheads. These led, for example, to his spying for the Eastgate platoon during competitive manoeuvres of which he and the vicar were supposed to be judges ["Battle of the Giants", 1971] and acting as a biased umpire during a cricket match between Mainwaring's platoon and the wardens (in an episode ["The Test", 1970] in which Yorkshire and England fast bowler Fred Trueman made a guest appearance in the wardens' team under the name of E C Egan).

Private Verger

When Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier) acquired the courtesy title of "Honourable", Yeatman showed his servility by bowing and addressing him as "My Lord" ["The Honourable Man", 1973] . Then, when Wilson was in charge of the Walmington platoon while Mainwaring was in hospital, the verger and the vicar (whose medals from the First World War Yeatman was in the habit of polishing) were permitted to join the ranks. Jones addressed them as "Private Vicar and Private Verger". However, their presence was not welcome to the rest of the platoon and so their Home Guard career was brief ["The Recruit", 1973] .

End of an era

Edward Sinclair died on 29 August 1977, five weeks before the final series of "Dad's Army" was broadcast. It was a reflection of the extent to which his initially minor character had become part of the programme's fabric that his death finally laid to rest any thought that its run might yet be extended. As Ian Lavender (Private Pike) recalled, "that really did mark the end of it" [McCann, "Dad's Army"] .

Notes