263 replies to this topic

[Peter Leonard]

I had two Grandfathers (nothing unique there then ?) Both survived the war.

Harry Leonard (ESR & RMLI) started as a Van Boy for Jaeger Clothing Company in 1913 aged 14, and rejoined in 1920. I have his 20 year service gold watch given in 1933 when he was 34.

Joe Sturmer (LRB & Artists) worked in the City of London in Men's Outfitting Shop called 'Copestakes Crampton'. He  joined after demob in June 1919. he also became a lifelong 'Special Constable' from 1921 until 1962.

What's your story ?

Pete

[Jim Clay]

Grandad Clay was a grocers' manager in Sutton Coldfield before, during and after the War;  he moved around the Welsh Marches and environs in the 20s and 30s, and was still a grocers' manager, in Swadlincote, Derbyshire when he died at about 50 in 1939.  I have a wartime photo of him in a military group which Pals have identified as a VTC unit (WW1 'Dad's Army').

Grandad Price was a Herefordshire farm labourer before and after the War until his retirement about 1960-ish.  He served in F&F;  I think in the Worcesters.

Jim

[JIMMAC]

[quote name='Peter Leonard' date='Feb 3 2007, 12:21 AM' post='613437']

My grandfather was a tramcar conductor in Glasgow, joined in 1915.  He ended up a school janitor after being unemployed for some years in the twenties and thirties. Worked till 1967 when he fell ill and passed away.


                        Jim

[Myrtle]

Grandad Price was a Herefordshire farm labourer before and after the War until his retirement about 1960-ish.  He served in F&F;  I think in the Worcesters.

Jim

Not from Weobley area , by any chance?
Myrtle

[Anthony S]

Grandpa Taylor was an electrician by trade. As a young man he worked at the same hospital as his father, until it seems a rather embarassing sittuation occured involving a female member of staff, which I won’t go into now.
On his attestation papers he is given as ‘Tram Conductor’, something that my mother says she had never heard.
After the First World War he was an ambulance driver and then for years up until the 50’s was a Weighbridge Clerk for Marylebone Borough Council. After he and my grandmother retired to Ramsgate, he did some part time work for a taxi firm doing administration and taking calls.

Grandfather S.. was probably that little bit too young, and escaped the draft of 1917, although during the Second World War he was in the Home Guard.
He spent all his life in engineering, including many years in the aircraft industry.

Tony

[Chris_Baker]

Sailor and bookie's runner.

[Sgt_Hazell_Great_Grandson]

Pro soldier from age of 14 then church warden up until his death.
Roland.

[Coldstreamer]

GGdad was a chauffeur to a mill owner in Lancs  and a driver in the ASC during the war

When his boss died after the war, GGdad was left the contents of the garage - and the Rolls Royce was in there so he got that !

[John Hartley]

Grandad Hartley was Company Secretary of a cotton firm - before, during and after. He didnt serve - but spent the war making lots of money. My guess, putting two and two together from research, was that it was probably not all legal and certainly not patriotic.

Grandad Brough was a "fireman" at the local gas works. He went back to work and, when he retired in the early 1950s, was chauffeur to the "big boss".

John

[Max]

Of the 12 members of my extended family who served, all were coal miners.

[Hambo]

Grandad Hamblin, listed below was a schoolboy when he joined up and after the war ran his own haulage business which went under in the depression so he became a clerk in a builders merchants in Bristol. Having gone to France in 1917 he never went abroad again! Served in the RAFVR into the 30s and as a policeman (part time) during WWII. Lasted until he was 82 which is not bad for a bloke with a 60 a day habit!

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

... until it seems a rather embarassing sittuation occured involving the opposite sex, which I won’t go into now.

Aww..Go on you tease us with a line like that & then...??



Grandad Drake was a,Boy soldier having run away from Home;{He had 7 Sisters~Who wouldn't poor boy} & joined the Northamptonshire Regiment,serving in South Africa & The Sudan,then a Baker,a profession he carried on with in the Army No 4 Field Bakery ASC,until being Gassed;discharged he became a bit of a Wreck by all accounts,a life ruined by War.Sadly he died in the 1940s before I was born {

Grandad Van,had worked in the Family General store in Wick Road Homerton,before the War,when he served in the RNAS as an Air Mechanic,he was in Engineering after the War,My Grandmother "Nanny Van"{they had dropped the "Hinsbergh" bit during the War,@ Home;,for obvious reasons,though of Belgian extraction} was before the Great War & Pianist in a Silent Movie House in the East End;For a while in the 1920s~30s[in the depression era, he was Manager of a Model Pig Farm in Horsham Sussex,my Dad {a boy of 12 @ the time} recalled having the job of Stunning the Pigs,with a Baseball Bat type "Tool"or "Big Stick" as it was known!!,prior to Slaughter,as they had to be "Bled" to keep the meat White,he didn't last long @ that as he killed the first one outright!!
Grandad or "Pa" as he was always known worked in a Sugar Beet Factory as an Engineer in the 30s & 40s,He also made Furniture,{from amongst other things~Aircraft Packing Cases,I still have a superb sideboard with Ivory Door Knobs & Ebony stringing & made of exotic woods,He also made Umbrella Handles & Walking Sticks,I remember a Greyhound Head Gamp,carved in Ivory & Covered in Snakeskin with Red Stone Eyes,as well as Carved Animal & Oozalem Bird Ornaments of various Woods & Roots with Amber Beaks & Tails,by the time I  & my younger Siblings arrived he was just "Pa" who we would visit & be in awe of his beautiful & fairytale Garden with its Rustic Wood Furniture & "Dingly Dell" appearance.to the rear of his Prefab Home in Chelmsford

[steve fuller]

Gt Gramps was a Stonemason Journeyman, his brothers were a Mechanical Engineer, Barber and publican and his brother in law (my Gt Uncle) was a Sandpit worker. Nice and diverse!

[Greyhound]

One of my grandfathers was too young.  The other was a generation older, and was already a soldier and Boer War veteran.  After the war he left the Army and became the local Registrar and guardian.  (I am not sure exactly what “guardian” means, but it seems to have been a role in what we know today as social services.)  I never knew him as he died long before I was born.  I’m told he was badly affected by his experiences in the War, and “was never the same man again”.  Curious, as he seems not to have fought in the front line, but was assigned to a clerical post in supplies.  I hope to find out more one day ….

[Anthony S]

Aww..Go on you tease us with a line like that & then...??

Surely you didn't think that I was going to give all his secrets away?

[stiletto_33853]

Grandad Pay was a professional soldier, who after he retired from the Army in 1933 went to work for a bank.

Grandad Macey was an engineer, joined the Royal Engineers got to France and then 4 days later was whisked back to Blighty due to his trade. Ended up as chief engineer at Hornchurch airfield in WW2 on spitfires and used to travel around S.E. airfields working on Spits.

Andy

[Jim Clay]

Not from Weobley area , by any chance?
Myrtle

Hi Myrtle

No, he was from Coddington, near Ledbury.  He did marry a Webley though.

Jim

After the war he left the Army and became the local Registrar and guardian.  (I am not sure exactly what “guardian” means, but it seems to have been a role in what we know today as social services.)

Greyhound

Try googling "board of guardians" - as you say, what we now know as 'social services' I'd think.

Jim

[John Hartley]

"board of guardians"

Managed the Poor Law and operated the workhouse, so not quite the same as modern social services. Forum member, Bernard Lewis, is an "expert"

John

[Greyhound]

Cheers, guys.  He was also Relieving Officer, so I guess that means he was the equivalent of the DHSS in the local community!

[John Hartley]

Cheers, guys.  He was also Relieving Officer, so I guess that means he was the equivalent of the DHSS in the local community!

Yes, I think you have it spot on.

John

[truthergw]

My maternal grandfather was orphaned in one of the last cholera  outbreaks in the highlands, Adopted into a Fife family he was sent to a training ship moored in the Tay, for playing truant. He was an unskilled labourer in the jute mills in Dundee, married with 3 surviving children when he joined the Black Watch. He said to my grandmother,  " It will give you a steady pay for six months ". He had already tried to join up for the Boer War but was refused because he was married with children. None of these survived to adulthood. He was captured and died of wounds at the Battle of Loos. My paternal grandfather was conscripted into Seaforth Highlanders Labour Company, Married with 7 children. Wounded 1918, and died of complications 1922. He was a carter driving a pair of heavy horses pulling jute from the docks to the mills.

[Dave1914]

Grandfather Tierney unforunetly didnt fight in the Great War as he died of heart failure in Wales a few days after his battalion had already departed.  He was a labourer as far as I know but he served in the Boar War so I presume he was in the army for a while.  I dont know that much about his life only a few pieces! Hes a hard man to track.

Dave.

[NeilH]

My great grandfather was a boilermaker.  His family were all mill workers from Oswaldtwistle (the mill, Moscow Mill is still there as a working museum, unfortunately the family house has been demolished).

Regards,

Neil.

[Les Turner]

I haven't been able to trace any Turners that fought in WW1, as they were either too young or too old. But, the Coole line (paternal grandmother), my G-Grandfather (Alfred) died in 1915 (not war related) but was a sailor from early 1889 until 1910 then became a member of the Corps of Commissionaires. At the outbreak of war, returned to the RN for approx 5 months until getting pneumonia and died later in 1915.

The Blatchford side (my mums grandfather), Henry George Blatchford (KIA 1917), was the son of an Innkeeper here in Bristol. Haven't been able to track him down (yet) on the 1901 census.

Les.

[Malcolm]

Paternal Grandfather was a stonemason and builder who had worked on the Forth Bridge and he built Munition Factories mostly Gretna, Carlisle and Preston. He appears to have been a bit of a b to his family. Died in 1955 on which my maiden aunt said Granny had a good life after he died. (Granny died aged 95)
Maternal Grandfather was in charge of the transport for the family Dairy business. Being an engineer he was good with engines and went into the RFC but ended up in the Argylls until demobbed in 1919. He became a chaffeur after the war having fallen out with the family who had spent the war in the Diary business. He died in 1965.

Aye
Malcolm