263 replies to this topic

[Suzie-Q]

Grandad Rawlinson was a hairdresser in Leeds before and after the war; Pop Austin was an Electrical Engineer in Sydney before and after.

I forgot to add that young Arthur was a blacksmith in Sydney before the war.

Johnathan, my 2 eldest kids are almost 18 - the age Arthur was when he signed up, with a letter duly signed by his parents - and just turned 19 - a couple of weeks older than he was when he was KIA.  It makes you stop and think ... and cry

[fortheFallen]

Mine was a printer before the war, and a soldier afterwards!

[gmac101]

One of my Maternal Great Grandfathers was a woollen manufacturer before the war, joined the RAOC and ended up in Salonika and was responsible for cleaning and drying the woollen blankets.

The other was a miner so was exempted but did join the RAF in May 1918 and finished his flight training just in time to fly a few sorties (evidently)

Gavin

[trenchtrotter]

My maternal Grandfather worked at Trinity House Hull before and after the war. He spent his whole life with them as secretary and recieved the MBE for his services. He was admitted to their brotherhood too.

TT

[SFayers]

My paternal grandfather was a horseman before and after the war (won many a ploughing competition in Suffolk apparently!) and attested for the RGA in late 1915.

My maternal grandfather at the outbreak of the war was a toddler! His dad was a police constable in the Suffolk Constabulary.

cheers

Steve

[chrislock]

Upon returning home, he became an alcholic and drank himself to death. I never met him!
A casualty of the Great War, this I'm sure!

[simonharley]

My great-grandfather Tommy was a jam boiler-maker, a reserved occupation (and an American firm apparently tried to headhunt him, but he liked Lincoln too much I gather).  He had I am told served in the Militia at some point.  World War II became was somewhat more interesting for my family however...

Simon

[Clutterbuck]

My mother's father was in the Royal Artillery.  He'd been a bookie's runner working for his 2 older brothers in Birmingham.  Little Billy Hill used to work for them, but Billy went on to bigger stuff using his full name William Hill.  My grandfather landed D-Day plus a few weeks, liberated Antwerp (not on his own), and was at Belsen within a couple of days of its discovery.... Whoops, wrong war!  

My mother's maternal grandfather was wounded in WW1, but noone seems to know where.  

My mother's mother b.1910 had an uncle whose lungs were so badly damaged by gas he could not climb the stairs and always slept in the kitchen where the whole family could hear him coughing every night.  He died during the twenties.

Most unusual is my 77 year old still extant father.  His father, my grandfather (overseas sales rep for Slazenger), was born in 1870 so missed WW1.  In turn his father was born in 1816.  Incredibly, my father can say today that his grandfather was born 192 years ago.

[Lemon Nelly]

My Maternal Grandfather or Pappa as we called him was a miner before the war, he joined the Navy but like many others served in France on land due to the need for less sailors and more soldiers.  He was awarded a Distinguished Conduct medal, then he went home at the end of the war to mine again, which he did untill he became ill with lung disease.
I only remember him as a white haired old man who didn't say much and if I got too close gave me a funny look and waved his stick at me.
I was so surprised when I went to the Archives to look for him in the local paper, luckily there he was, but a young black haired man with film star looks.  How I wish I had known him better now.

[PJA]

Maternal grandfather was ordained, became a Vicar in wales in 1913, served as a Chaplain on Western Front.  Resolutely refused to tell me anything about his tour of duty, with the exception of one remark about the appalling incidence of Venereal Disease among the soldiers.

Paternal grandfather was a wholesale butcher - third generation - in the family business in Smithfield Meat Market in London before the war; joined the RFC in 1916 and was a motorbike dispatch rider delivering messages between the various airfields.  He was once taken up in an RE8 and was flown over enemy lines where he saw German soldiers playing football.  He went back to the business, and I became the fifth generation in the trade, joining the business in 1975.  Grandpa always loved motorbikes.

Phil.

[MBrockway]

Pals,
My grandfather John Brockway, R/6479, KRRC, became a watchmaker after the War.

His father and uncles had been variously bootmakers, drapers and grocers with absolutely no tradition of watchmaking or any other form of precision engineering.  

Grandfather was certainly shell-shocked as well as receiving various other wounds, and I have wondered whether he was perhaps trained in watchmaking as some form of occupational therapy during his recovery.

Mind you if ever there was a trade that needs a very steady hand, it's watchmaking!
Cheers,
Mark

[ian.sumner]

One of mine was a motor mechanic before and after the war; he served with the South African Brigade, but returned to the UK after the war (my grandmother couldn't stand her mother-in-law   ). He became some kind of handyman at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh (don't know what he thought about _his_ mother-in-law!).

The other was an apprentice electrician when he was called up; he joined the Navy, and served on anti-submarine trawlers out of Queenstown in Ireland. Stayed in the same line of work after the war (for a firm that made asbestos - amazingly, he was 90 when he died, so he couldn't have breathed in much at work    ). His uncle was a carrier in Eccles with his own horse and cart, and served as an artillery driver.

Ian

[privatewickham]

My Great Grandad was a Bell Diver's Assistant in Dover on the 1901 census - maybe by the time the war broke out he was a fully fledged Bell diver. I'll have to wait until the 1911 census is released before I can find out though!

[zippy.72]

My Great-grandfather John Leonard Scott Clemmett (189th HB RGA) was a jeweller for H Samuel both before and after the war. He moved around the whole country and served as a Hendon ARP during WW2. I suspect the fact that we have no medals is down to the fact that he was acutely aware of the price of silver!

[MartinBennitt]

My father's father was a parish priest (St Mary's Bletchley), a reserved occupation, but joined the RAMC towards the end of the war for reasons of which I am totally ignorant. He was posted to Salonika but only sailed on November 11, 1918. He was invalided out the following year and returned to his parish.

my mother's father was a teacher, but I don't even know his first name and I have no idea if he served.


cheers Martin B

[Canadawwi]

Before war = law student.
After war = lawyer.

Rank:  Gunner, CFA 41st Battery

[georgemckieIII]

Hi all!

My maternal grandfather, S. Bedford, was a store-keeper before the war, and after, was also a store-keeper.

My paternal grandfather, G. McKie, was listed as a teamster upon attestation in the C.E.F.  I have not, as yet been able to find an  occupation for him upon his demobilization.



George

[Audax]

Apprentice Journeyman Joiner - Sapper RE 1914 - 1919 - Caretaker of Territorial Army HQ (1921)

[-tmm-]

Of my three great grandfathers who fought:
Arthur Abbs was a tailor before and after (he disliked it, his parents chose his profession) and later in life was a clerk/book keeper
William Sharpe was a labourer before and after
Robert T Finch was in the printing industry according to census records. After the war I do not know.

Both of my grandfathers were in RAF as a career before, during and after WW2
Dennis Sharpe was an engineer
James Tennet was a sign writer (how this had any relation to his RAF career, I do not know)

[jasmor58]

My father-in-law prior to the war was a labourer in an iron foundry. He survived the war and went to Glasgow University and graduated with a 1st Class Hons. Degree in English.
jasmor58

[edwin astill]

Mine, Frank Astill, went over to France in 1914 with 7th Field Coy, R.E.    Office clerk before joining the army and after discharge in the 30's joined Ministry of Labour.   Set up and managed Buckingham Labour Exchange.   As a Clerical Officer!     Due to grade inflation a similar grade would barely be allowed to photocopy today!  Commissioned into REs during WW2

Edwin

[lenandoliver]

My paternal Great-Grandfather was a Tram Driver before and after the war in Brixton SE London. My paternal Grandfather was an Agricultural Labourer before the war. He joined under age (17) and was sent to Catterick to do a signalling course which he passed with flying colours, he was in France and Italy with the RGA, until 1919 and then signed on for a further 4 years. He worked for the GPO after he left the Army in 1923.In WW2 he worked for Bletchley Park.
My maternal grandfather was born in 1903 so was to young, but he spent the war years as Bare Knuckle Boxer, his older brother was killed at Loos and it really affected him for several years after.

Regards Frances

[Rignold]

Maternal grandfather was an upholsterer before and after the war.  I assume the military decided that nailing fabric to wooden frames was an ideal background for an RNAS fitter.  An great-uncle was an iron-monger after the war.  Not sure about some other relatives though.

Robert

[Ply16992 TGBurtonshaw RMLI]

Ply16992 worked in Cwmfelin steelworks then was a fish-hawker before becoming a Marine.

[Rockdoc]

Herbert Gaskin was a farmer's son from Walmley, near Sutton Coldfield, in Warwickshire. He worked as a booking clerk at Hugglescote Station in Leicesershire but then went down the pit at nearby Ellistown Colliery. He joined up in 1909, I suspect, because work was short. I have a letter to his girl (my Grandmother), written only a week or two before he enlisted, saying he can't come over to meet her that weekend because he's skint after only getting two days' work.

After the Great War he moved to mid-Derbyshire and got a job (as it was described on my mother's birth certificate) as a "motorman on the district tramways". I don't know how long that lasted but he eventually returned to coal mining and worked at Watnall and Moorgreen pits until he was 67.

Keith