Loquitur’s Jottings Dad’s story

At one time it was suggested that I could have a job with the “Anglo South American Bank”, where an Uncle on my Mother’s side was Manager. It would have meant going to work in Santiago in Chile. However, luckily for me the Bank went bust and Uncle came home!

It was not easy to get employment in 1930/31, and the only way with The City was through influence, and my interview with Mr Simms, Manager of the “Union Insurance Society of Canton” in Cornhill, came about because Grandpa Harries was at one time the London Manager, and taught Mr Simms about the Business.  The interview did not produce a job but another meeting, with a Mr H. O. Bruell, another old friend of Grandpa’s. Mr Bruell was the Contract Director at “C.E. Heath & Co Ltd.”, the (then) leading Insurance Brokers and Underwriters, in not only The City but the World! Mr Bruell took Dad and me to lunch in the Captain’s Room at”Lloyds” (of London, Underwriters). Afterwards I was taken to meet Lord de Vesci, Office Manager at Heath & Co, and I was put on the Waiting List for a job.

Nine months later I was working in The City in the Postal Department at Heath’s in Cornhill. It was now March 1931. I was two months off my Eighteenth Birthday. During the waiting period I, of course, remained at school and rather enjoyed my Football and Cricket, and got my First XI Colours in both. School work did not worry me too much because I knew I had a job lined up.

The Postal department was in the Basement. My work was taking mail round the various departments, collecting mail for dispatch from “Out” trays, addressing envelopes, putting the right amount of stamps on – remember mail was being dispatched Worldwide – and each morning, delivering “By Hands” round The City. Our hours were from 8.30am ’till 8.00pm. We did not go home until all the mail was dispatched; the final mail being taken to St. Martins Le Grand – the main City Post Office by St. Paul’s Cathedral to be posted as “Late Fees” by 8.00pm. This was all for £60 a year! Lord de Vesci used to come round on the last Thursday of the month and hand out a cheque for £5.00, which in the Lunch Hour we changed for Cash at Lloyd’s Bank in Leadenhall Street. We were all very well dressed. I wore a pin-stripe suit and vest, a bowler hat and carried an umbrella; sometimes I wore spats.

We were a rather select lot in the Postal Department. It consisted of a permanent staff of four, who really knew their stuff. The Manager kept the accounts. The other three “pigeon-holed” mail until they knew they had the lot for the day, and kept the large, small and medium envelopes already addressed, and passed them to us for weighing etc. etc. The rest of us “new boys” did the post and waited patiently for “Promotion Upstairs”. In my day there were chaps from Harrow, Charterhouse, Sedbury, Rugby and Owen’s (that’s me). A particular friend of mine was John Heseltine. His Father was a Cartoonist for “The Daily Sketch”, I think.  He came to work in a Chauffeur Driven White Rolls Royce. He and I used to sneak off sometimes to “Pimms” opposite “The Royal Exchange” for a real cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit. Another one of the “stamp lickers” was John Charles Pole Gell (Yep! Spelling is spot on this time Dad!). I met John again in “London District”. He was a Colonel in one of the Guards Regiments and I was “RTO London District”, but that was 22 years later!

Soon after joining “Heath & Co” the Firm moved to “Bankside House” in Leadenhall Street. It was a new building; six floors, lifts that worked, and had the “latest thing” in The City; a mezzanine floor. Cuthbert Heath bought the whole building and let it out except for the Fifth and Sixth which were occupied by the “Heath & Co” workforce; and the Second Floor, which was turned into a Table Tennis Club. Marvellous! Five Tables, and it became part of the “Erycinus Sports Club”, incidentally the Greek word for Heath (the Erycinus Sports Club was later renamed C E Heath, and was one of the clubs at one time involved in the Leigh & Westcliffe Lawn Tennis Association – formed to provide a competitive league in South East Essex – amazing what a “google” name check can turn up!). We played matches against the City Banks at the “Lombard Lounge Club” in Lombard Street, commercial houses like “Harrods”, “Selfridges”. I played several times against Victor Barna, the Czechoslovak World Table Tennis Champion (actually Dad, he was Hungarian born (1911-1972) but later played for Britain. He won 22 World Titles inc. 5 Singles and one of the World’s greatest Table Tennis Players ever! You don’t mention who won those matches Dad!)   

After about 6 months I was promoted. My move was to the Renewals Department. In all I stayed at “Heath & Co”until 30 November 1936 and worked in “All Risks”, “Fire”, “Marine”, “Enquiries”, but the job I liked best was “Underwriting Accounts” This job was on the Sixth Floor of the “Lloyds Building” and the work covered our Underwriting Syndicate, i.e. “Heath & Co 620”, “Heath & Others 624”, “Montague Evans 625” and “H J Parsons 629” (can somebody explain to me what that means?). My job entailed visiting Insurance Brokers, and agreeing their accounts with our syndicates. I had sixty Insurance Brokerage firms to look after – not bad for a Youngster! There were four of us who worked outside. Sometimes two of us would help each other if the account was a large one like “Price Forbes”, “Matthew Leslie and Goodwin”, “Wrightson”, etc. We used to meet up with others in the same game, so we had “coffee parties” and played dominoes some mornings. We would take our ledgers back to the office on the Sixth Flor of “Lloyds” and the office staff sent out the Quarterly Accounts. Believe it or not, Underwriting Accounts are probably the most complicated, with their “short debits” and “under credits”, and the business of changing Sterling into Foreign Currencies and vice versa. Claire (Mum) knows something about these accounts, as she worked in the Accounts Department of “Price Forbes” (“Google” “Underwriting Accounts” if you want to know more). Our Manager was Charlie Michaels who had an office at the end of the room. He was so short, he could not be seen when he sat down! Sometimes we could see the round bald patch on the top of his head. I remember another short girl in the Enquiry Office in Birchen Lane. The chaps there used to stand her on her desk and bounce her up and down until her knickers fell down round her ankles! Got to have a laugh sometimes (very PC not, Dad!)………

Insurance work is really interesting, especially in a leading Broker’s like “Cuthbert Heath” (there is plenty on “the Web” about CE heath, etc – some good, some bad (misconduct in 1998), and an interesting (short) article about the man himself on Lloyds Website. Follow my Blogroll Link if you are interested) 

The Erycinus Sport’s Club had other activities – our Sports Ground was at Raynes Park near Wimbledon. It was after a football match against “Commercial Union” at Grove Park that I met my future Wife on London Bridge Station. She had been playing hockey for her firm, “Price Forbes Insurance Brokers”, whose offices were near The Monument. It was 1934. She was 18 and very, very good looking! She was with a friend and I was with Stan Brown. We followed them down The Tube at London Bridge and flirted with them all the way to Clapham Common where one of them got off, followed by Stan; and I stayed on and followed the other one to Trinity Road. I chatted her up but she was in a hurry, she had a date that night. So we agreed to meet again and we’ve been together ever since.

Our Swimming Club was in full swing. We used the Paddington Baths on one night a week. I won my first prize there – a cut glass bowl, which Angela still has – one hundred yards breast-stroke. The Club played Polo, and Temme – who was the first chap to swim “The Channel” both ways – played for “Commercial Union”. Incidentally they put up £300 Sponsor Money for the swim. (Edward Harry Temme: He swam from France to England on 5 August 1927 (14h 29m) and from England to France on 18 August 1934 (15h 34m – Ed) However he was a very dirty polo player! Water-polo is notoriously dirty; so many fouls are made underwater and are not normally seen.

We had some fun in those early days. We used to go to quite a lot of parties – five of us usually: Stan Brown, Robert Yeldham Unwyn (I think! – Ed), me and two others. Parties at “Moorfields Eye Hospital” and “North Middlesex Hospital”. Donald Soper used to organise parties for young people. He was a famous Methodist Preacher – became a Lord (Check out “Baron Soper” on Wikipedia if you are interested – Ed) . Robert always carried a camera; he made money out of it. One day he took a picture of a man who jumped from our building and landed on a bus. He rushed it up to Fleet Street and got £10 for it… I could go on for ever!

In my first years at work Dad still locked up at 10 o’clock. We were supposed to be home by then, but I found it a bit irksome at times. Anyway I had a Girlfriend and thought I should have a bit of latitude. I don’t know whether Dad knew I was still out or not. I had my own Bedroom, so Mother used to make sure the Lavatory Window was open, so I could climb up a drainpipe and so to bed! This was while we still lived at Southgate. When we moved to Epsom I was allowed a key – a good job(!) because with all the parties going on we were a gang of “late birds”! There were times when I had to wait until about seven o’clock in the morning, and creep in when Dad was shaving! He must have known but he never said anything.

In 1932 the Family moved to Epsom. I had a £10 raise in January and at Christmas 1932 we all got a £10 bonus, so my salary was £70 per year. I was “bloody hard up” despite the fact that I only gave Mother 10/- (Shillings) a month which she usually gave me back a few days after getting it! Dad paid my fares and bought most of my clothes.

Life was pretty good though. I was playing football for “Broomfield” in the “Nemean League”. We played clubs similar to those in the Southern Amateur League, like Hastings, Ipswich, Moor Green, Wood Green, etc., and in Hospital Charity Cup matches  I usually got a 10/- note in my shoe after the match (there are a couple of Broomfield FCs around today – with a web presence – but the one Dad played for can be found by clicking on the “BroomfieldFC1911” link on my Blogroll – Ed). Cricket was a must and I played for “Southgate Adelaide”. We were a First Class Amateur Club, and I met and played with people like Tom Pearce who captained Essex; Teddy Carris who played for Finchley and Middlesex; Benka, for Neasden and many others….don’t keep “name dropping” Harries! (Southgate Adelaide are still going strong and “on the WWW”  – follow the Blogroll link. Now on Facebook, they have played on the Walker Ground in North London ever since they were founded in 1870 – Ed)

Holidays were good family affairs and we were now going to “Pineapple Farm” at Manorbier near Tenby in Wales. Pembrokeshire. The “Little England Beyond Wales” was a lovely place. Of course The Harries Family have many connections with that part of the World.

Meanwhile I had joined “The Territorials”. A friend of mine who lived in our road at Southgate was a member already. He worked in a Brokers in “B….ter (Help!-Ed) Square, and we travelled up together, Bowler Hats, Umbrellas and all. It was May 1931 and I was “Gunner Harries” in “159 (Lloyds) AA Battery (TA) 53 Brigade”. 98 Officers and Men, all Insurance Chaps. There were 3 Batterys in the Brigade, a Bank’s Battery (157), Lloyds (159) Battery, and a Commercial Battery (158) (from “the web”,  these Batterys made up the 53rd (City of London) Anti-Aircraft Regiment, R.A. (T.A.) – London District HQ, 157th, 159th (Lloyd’s), 158th (City of London) Btys: War Office Dept, White City Road W 12 – Ed). Uncle Leonard, my Father’s young Brother, who worked for the Eastern Telegraph Company in Moorgate, in the same office as Dad, was in the 158 Bty. I saw him one day riding on the seat of a 3 inch AA Gun (the only AA Gun we had in those days). He was coming down Cornhill in The Lord Mayor of London’s Show. I was also in it later on. There was great competition to get into Lloyds Battery, so few were needed. There were some famous names there too, including one Bill Fussell, a great friend of mine who married Claire and I at Epsom Registry Office in August 1937. He was famous for that very reason! Our Best man, John Robertson (again, I think!-Ed) was also a Gunner. He later became Medical Officer of Heath’s for Surrey. Training was every Monday night at Lytton Grove, Putney. We studied German aircraft, knowing they were to be our enemy.

At one time I got fed up with office work, I don’t know which department I was in, but I went up to “Scotland Yard” to try for the Metropolitan Police. No hope! They were interviewing 200 a day from all over the World! When I stood in front of about six Doctors, naked, on two pieces of paper, with legs apart, they said “Go back for the other half!” I was 9 stone 10lbs in those days (under 62kgs). Then after my first Camp, I told Dad I wanted to join the Army. He took me for a walk one Sunday morning and talked me out of it. he said “Don’t do it Josh. They can do anything they like to you in the Army, except put you in the ‘Family Way’ “. So I stayed at “Heath’s”.

TA Camp was two weeks a year and because we were “Lloyds” it did not count against our annual entitlement. 1931 at Watchet – Doniford Range; 1932 at Blackdown, one week only. Ramsay MacDonald and the Labour Party were in; Disarmament was the Policy, and there was no money for training; no ammunition. So we trained with a Mountain Pack Battery. Have you ever heard of a mule TRAF?! (can someone please let me know what this acronym stands for? Military/Artillery/?- Ed) (There is an interesting article by Christopher Trevelyan on the ‘Web’ – at least I think so(!) – on the Indian Army Mountain Artillery, which gives a good idea of what Dad got up to on that Training Camp – Blackdown (Surrey) though is not nearly so exotic as the North West Frontier, in the time of the British Raj. Follow my Blogroll link-Ed).  I was at Blackdown, near Frimley in Surrey, again in 1940. Claire came down and we stayed at The White Hart, near Frimley for a weekend. I was on Embarkation Leave for Finland and had reached the rank of full Sergeant. 

However, 1933 and back to Watchet; lovely Camp there! The Regular Battery, “5 AA Bty” from Portsmouth, was acting as basic “work boys”. They tried to kill their Sgt. Major by bundling bales of hay round his bell tent and setting fire to them! Their punishment was to be sent to Aden. Aden was the Gunner’s Punishment Station in those days. (Aden was formerly part of British India and then a British Colony and then a South Arabian Federated State, and in 1967 became the People’s Republic of South Yemen-Ed). That year we stood in the rain for hours waiting to be inspected by the “boss Gunner”, Brigadier General Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd. What a memory! (loads about ‘Archie’ on the ‘Web’-Ed)

I was Number 5 on the Gun that year. I received the Round from number 6 who catered it. I rammed it home in the Semi-Automatic Breech, which came up and pushed my hand in the air, which I then brought down on the Firing Handle on the left-hand-side of the Breech to fire the Round. What happened? A misfire! Wait one minute; fire again. No good! So Number 6 opens the Breech by hand. I receive the Round which slides out, not separated thank goodness! Examine the Primer. Oh Dear! It’s been struck! The Drill is to “double”  it away (military speak for bl**dy quickly!-Ed) to a place of safety, which is supposed to be at least twenty yards in front of the Gun. What did I do with it? I “doubled away” with it, and placed it at the feet of Col. Barratt (the Chairman of Lloyds Bank) who was the Brigade Commander, and who was standing safely in the sandbagged Command Post, with the Mayor and the crews of the Vickers Predictor and the UB2 (Universal Base 2 Metres) (one of the first fully automated anti-aircraft fire-control systems, the predictor was an electromechanical analog computer. It could aim a gun at an aircraft based on simple inputs like the observed speed and the angle to the target and was intended to be used against high-altitude bombers-Wikipedia-Ed)

There was Hell to Pay! I had retreated back to my Gun by now. I had to “double back” to the Command Post  and pick up the Shell and “double away” with it to a place of safety in front of the Gun!

We had some fun though. We had competitions in the Battery to see how many rounds we could fire in one crossing of the target; the target being a “sleeve” towed by an aircraft. The old 3″ AA Gun was used for all sorts of things: Air Defence on ships; mounted on Vehicles; or on the Ground. It was made for the ’14/’18 War in Belgium (made in, but of course used in as well!-Ed). The Shell was fixed ammunition, and the Projectile had a powder fuse and weighed 28lbs (approx 13 kg-Ed) with a ceiling of 20-25 feet. There was also a Shrapnel Round with a 2 to 4 second fuse that exploded forward at about 2000-4000 feet (approx 600-1200 metres-Ed). The normal Shell had up to a 30 second fuse. We had bearings which we should not fire outside, but one day we did not hear the “cease fire” and went on firing. The Mayor of Watchet complained that Shell pieces had fallen on his harbour!

By the way, I had my first beer at Watchet. It was the custom of the Section Commander, Lt Gibson, to take his Section to the NAAFI Canteen for a drink, and I had my first Light Ale in September 1931. It was a good Canteen and one could go there in the evening to eat and drink and play “Housey Housey” (Bingo) . Watchet was a good spot and most of the time we drank Stickleton Stout (Somerset Cider) (I can’t find this name on the ‘Web’ – can anyone throw some light?-Ed) in the local Pub. It was potent stuff! The locals drank it and it was thick and opaque!

Watchet again in 1934. Same sort of routine; same old guns; same old crowd. Mother and Dad drove down in the 97hp Hudson Essex (a US car makers formed originally in 1909) car and stayed at the Somerset Arms Hotel. Not a bad drive for Dad – all the way from Epsom where we now lived.

In 1936 King George V died, and the five best chaps at Rifle Drill were selected for lining the route. I was one of those selected and we practiced under a Warrant Officer from the Welsh Guards for several nights. The big day dawned and I was standing in the gutter in Sussex Gardens. The cortege passed on the way to Paddington Station – the Coffin was going to Windsor for burial. It rained all day and we were soaked. Still it was an event to be proud to be chosen for!

In 1935 and 1936, we went to Weybourne near Sheringham in Norfolk, and met, for the first time, a good AA Gun; the 3.7″ Mobile Gun. It was a marvellous gun; equivalent to the German’s 88 millimetre. The projectiles weighed 56 lbs (over 25kgs), and one could fire an airburst to explode at 19,400 yards at 50ft (nearly 19km at 15metres) – jolly good for HE (High Explosive) at concentrations of enemy troops! It was also used as an Anti Tank weapon, and also built for static sites and fixed in Concrete (see Blogroll link if you are interested in the facts and figures).

Dad let me take the car to Camp in 1935 but it broke down at Potter Heigham in Norfolk, so I had to leave it at “Sidney Grape’s Garage” for a welding job, which cost £5; and I went to Camp in Bill Fussell’s car. He took me back a week later to collect the old Hudson Essex (in checking out Sid Grape’s Garage, I have discovered that he was a leading and interesting Norfolk literary figure – the Norfolk Humorist. Take a few minutes out to check him out by following my Blogroll link – where you will also find a photo of the “famous” garage!-Ed)

I only did six years with Lloyds Battery. I would have done more but Claire and I decided that we would like to get married, so I resigned from the TA to spend more time with her.

That Summer we went to Sidmouth for our Summer Holiday, but first of all we had to be settled into new schools. Ray, Stan and I went to Percy Haller’s. He ran a Private School called “Brownlow College”. It was two large houses knocked into one at Brownlow Road, Bowes Park. Haller and his Wife, another Amy, were strict Methodists – My God they were! I can hear the Hymns we had to sing to this day! He was a bastard with his Cane! It had a brass ferrule on the hitting end. He used to lash out blindly and foam at the sides of his mouth, and spit when he lost his temper for no reason at all! He once lashed out and hit me on the back of the hand by mistake. A two inch lump came up immediately, so I shouted at him, walked out and went home! On that occasion perhaps he had reason to lose his temper. The other end of the cane was a bit frayed and we were able to pierce it with a big pin; so of course when he grabbed it………, we’ll leave what happened to your imagination!

I suppose I learned something, and indeed I was rapidly recovering from my previous time as a Boarder and Day Boy at Chelmsford. I was discovering that I could do what other boys did. I could run, climb trees, play games; and I developed rapidly to the state of becoming almost normal. It’s debatable if I ever entirely reached normality. So be it!

Kath went to a small private school in part of the house by the lake in Broomfield Park, Palmers Green. Poor old Peg was ill with Glandular Fever so they said, and had to be laid out in a Day Care perambulator. It was terrible! Doctors, later on, said she was alright and did not need to be stretched out so, but she suffered for quite a long time. She eventually went to the same school as Kath. We had a piano and I carried on with my music lessons. I believe Ray had them too.

By the time I was twelve, in the May of 1925 I started falling in love. There was Barbara Cove Smith who’s Brother was about to be a Doctor, and who was quite a fine Rugger Player. There was Ivy Went (I think that’s the surname) whom I chased hard and fast without much luck. There was Ivy Grubb who chased me! She once took me into Arnos Grove and we lay in the long grass, and she frightened me to death! There was Norah Hills (again I think that’s the surname) but only at a distance. I digress. We won’t go any further at this stage. I liked Betty Kitto who lived in our road at No. 7 but she was older then and played the Oboe in the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Alexandra Palace. Her mother had Cancer and had to have electric treatment on her nose. They were nice people. Opposite us lived the Wilkinson’s. “Tubby” was a friend of the Boys and his Father was an Artist. Dad bought some of his paintings of wildlife. I wonder what happened to them? He died very early on. Just above them on the same side were the Spattell’s. There were two boys – they were both killed in the War (WWII) in the RAF. Their Father was Captain on the Queen Mary. On one occasion he took the Queen Mary into harbour without a pilot because there was a strike on at the time. Opposite them were the Leeches, Les and Mary. They were Cousins of Mother’s. Their two Sons, Raymond and Bob went to Brighton College. (You can find Leeches on Louise’s Family Tree site but not all i.e Mary but not Raymond . I guess there is work to be done for someone!) Harry Wren lived with his Mum and Dad at the top of the Road. They had a large Humber Saloon. Harry went to Fox Lane Grammar School. His Father made pianos in their factory near Stoke Newington.

Grandma and Grandpa Newman lived at 127 Fox lane, about 20 minutes walk from us. Grandpa was retired and they used to walk up to us for tea every day. We often went there for tea on Sundays. I used to enjoy tea at Grandma’s. We always had something tasty; Sandwiches with Water Cress in them, Radishes. They were interesting, especially if Uncle Ron was there – he chewed every mouthful thirty times – Radishes made quite a good munch! We often had Shrimps which I still enjoy to this day. I don’t mean the frozen rubbish you get now, but the fresh ones which smelled of the Sea. A couple of Grandma’s Sisters lived at the bottom of Fox lane at No. 93. Uncles Fred and ? (Richard Edward Smith – Dad couldn’t remember – thanks to Louise’s Website!) and Aunts Edith and Emily. I had some other friends living in Mayfield Avenue; Eric Snuggs and Ralph Smith. We remained friends for as long as we stayed at Southgate.

That Summer we went to Sidmouth for our holiday and Grandma and Grandpa Newman came too. We went from Waterloo. Dad used to reserve a compartment on the train and the Guard would put up a long table down the middle of the compartment so we could play games.  Grandpa Newman showed us all how the new Safety Locks worked on the Carriage Doors. He said it only opened to the first catch and needed another movement of the hand to completely open it. It opened OK. It flew open and nearly took him with it! We were travelling at quite a speed and we all had to hang on to his Jacket to stop him falling out! Of course the door flew back the opposite way to which we were travelling, so it was quite a job to get hold of the Window Strap and pull the door shut! Grandpa’s face was red for the rest of the journey.

We had relatives who lived at Sidmouth, in a house with a big Fig Tree in the Garden. We used to go there for tea. We went to Sidmouth several times. Chudleighs (a sweet, Scone like bun from near the town of Chudleigh in Devon – also known as “Cut Rounds” or “Splits“) and Cream, boat trips to Ladram Bay, walks, sand, bathing, three weeks! I don’t know how Dad afforded it – all of us to clothe, feed, School Fees, and of course when Ray and I and Stan went off to proper school – bus and train fares. I’m off target again! Us Boys are still at Haller’s, which is not the object of the exercise.

In September 1925 I went to Owen’s School in Islington. I had to go up to the School to take an entrance exam. I was not very brilliant so I don’t know to this day how I passed. My father took me up of course and when we got home he wanted me to remember what I had had to do. I could not remember a thing, so I made something up. I told him that one of the sums was a “square root”. I said the answer was 125, so he worked out the thing and said I did it correctly. When the results came out I had scored nil for Maths. My father said I had at least one correct answer. They still said no, and so he went up to the School and asked to see the Papers. The School was right of course. I had made a mess of it, and on top of it all, unlike George Washington, “I had told a lie”. However, much to everyone’s surprise they took me in. Dad came into my Bedroom one morning and said, “After all, you are going to a school for young gentlemen!”

Owen’s was founded in 1613 by the Husband of Dame Alice Owen to commemorate her not losing her life when walking by the Stream in the fields of Islington. An arrow from the Butts (an archery practice field, with mounds of earth used for the targets) in an adjoining field came over the hedge and went through her hat – hence Owen’s School! (still going today; check out the School website where they are planning their 400th Anniversary in 2013 – see Link in my Blogroll. Dad’s version of the story is slightly different to the School’s but the arrow hits its mark! Wikipedia also has an entry for Owen’s). It was free education for 30 boys, 24 from Islington and 6 from Clerkenwell. When I arrived there were about 600 boys, all fee paying except for the locals – they were, of course, not the originals! The School was later taken over by the “Worshipful Company of Brewers” (still Trustees today) and became one of the many minor Public Schools run by the Worshipful Companies, i.e Merchant Tailors, Stationers (where my two Brothers Ray and Stan went), The Grocers, The Haberdashers, The Vintners, Latymer Upper and Lower Schools, City of London, Dulwich College, etc. etc. William Ellis was also in the same category (William Ellis was a businessman who, in the mid-nineteenth century, founded a number of schools and inspired many teachers with his ideas on education. He wanted children to be taught “useful” subjects such as science, which was a different approach for the times. William Ellis School in Camden (est. 1862), is the only one of his schools that still exists today – more info on the www if you are interested)  

In the early days, all the boys were given money at the end of the Summer Term to enable them to buy Beer to drink during the speeches on Speech Day. The amount depended on one’s age, and any boy absent on that day forfeited his “beer money”, and it went to the Head Boy – lucky chap! It’s still the custom today (check it out on the History page on the School website). It was really a marvellous school! It had everything and I mean everything! A Chemistry Lab, Science Lab, Physics Lab, Lecture Room with seating rising to the rear, Manual Room (I think Dad mean’s somewhere to do metalwork and woodwork, etc), a Gymnasium. The Art Room was huge and had a glass roof. The Canteen was run by Mr and Mrs Collins, the School Caretakers, who lived on the premises.

We had properly Qualified Masters. Mr Mauritzi (I think that’s Dad’s spelling), a Swede, was the Gym Master, nickname “Fitzi”. We had real Singing Masters and Art Masters. They were all either BAs or MAs. I had four Form Masters: “Dicky” Dare, Bill Baker, PC Rust and “Flash” Pete Hardwicke. “Dicky” Dare played Cricket for Essex. He also wrote the “History of Owen’s” in 1976 (A History of Owen’s School (1613-1976), R.A. Dare B.A). Bill Baker used to throw pieces of chalk, and my nickname was “Pipes” because I used to lean on the radiators. PC Rust wrote school textbooks on Mathematics. “Flash” Pete was a Canadian and came from British Columbia. He was a really smart chap. We had a school playing field at Oakleigh Park, ten acres of magnificent playing area, a pavilion, a house for the resident Groundsman and his Family and Classrooms for us.

We were either Upper, Middle or Lower Schools and went in turn to Oakleigh Park direct from home, either on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday depending on your Grade. We did lessons from 9 -12 then Games, etc. I was in Lonsdale House and by 1928/29 I was Captain of my House, and was playing First Eleven Cricket and Football, and got my School Colours for both. Our Latin Master once wrote at the bottom of a page of translation, “Jesus Christ!”. One does not often get marked like that. I considered it a great honour! I can’t remember the exact date but I was in Form IVc, “Flash” Pete’s. We were on the fifth floor and it suddenly became very dark. A huge object passed close to the window blotting out the light. It was the “Graf Zeppelin”, passing over the City of London. I don’t know but I rather think it might have been its last voyage. It caught fire in America with large loss of life (actually Dad it was the Hindenburg in 1937 which caught fire in New Jersey, and this disaster spelled the end for commercial airships and ended the Graf Zeppelin’s passenger carrying life. What you saw could well have been the Graf Zeppelin’s first commercial transatlantic flight in October 1928, passing over London from Friedrichshafen on route to Lakehurst, New Jersey – if you are interested, see my Blogroll Links for more on the Graf Zeppelin).

I was not very fond of schoolwork and only did enough to get by. I suppose I could have done better, and wish now that I had tried harder. I found some subjects i.e. English Literature, Grammar, Geography and especially Art, easy to get along with. French and German I tolerated. History I liked but could not bother with. Arithmitic, Geometry and Algebra, I hated! Latin, I have already mentioned. My Manual Work was good and we made folding desks for the Art Room, with a panel of Scrollwork with our initials, fixed to the front. Gym was good. Funnily enough, although I never played many games up to the age of 12 because I was supposed to be a “weakling”, I developed amazingly and soon did well in most Sports. The fact that I played Cricket and Football for my House and eventually the School, kept me out of quite a bit of trouble over my work.

One of my best friends at “Owen’s” was Doug Smith. His Parents had two shops, one at Stoke Newington, and the other at Palmer’s Green opposite the Fox Public House, at the bottom of Fox Lane where they lived. He was in the Scouts, and one Summer he went to Looe in Cornwall for Annual Camp. He caught Meningitis and came home in a Coffin!

We had given up Sidmouth and had a couple of Holidays at Penmaenmawr in North Wales (Snowdonia, near Conwy). Lovely sandy beach, marvellous walks across Penmaenbach to Aber falls , trips to Conwy, F–light Glen (can anyone help?) and Dwygyfylchi down to Swallow Falls, and walks up to the mountain lake, Bala. One year, or rather, each year, to Llanberis and the walk to Mount Ywithwa (Dad: I think you mean Yr Wyddfa, or The Burial Place (in English)), which people do not realise is the highest peak in the Snowdon Range, the highest peak is not Mount Snowdon (Dad, the highest peak is Mt. Snowdon. The Welsh name for the mountain is Yr Wyddfa) (the walks are still marvellous today Dad! check out Wikipedia for Aber Falls or follow my Blogroll Links to whet your appetite!). Walking up the last part, called “The Saddle”, can be a nightmare, especially if it is cloud covered and windy! The path is narrow, and on the left, straight down, is the Llanberis Pass. The right-hand side is also dangerously steep! At the top is the end of the “Rack Railway”and the Restaurant. We, of course, did not use the Railway; it took about 5 hours to walk up and 2 to come down.

Marvellous holidays we had! Cousins Ernest and Vera usually came with us. We also joined up with a family from Liverpool, the Dalgarno Family; they stayed at the same Boarding House. I wonder what happened to them? One day we met a party of German Scouts. They were sitting on top of the hill overlooking Conwy and the Suspension Bridge. I’ve often thought about them; they must have been German Spies!

Grandma and Grandpa Harries had moved some years previously from Billericay to Harwell, then to Winchelsea near Rye in Sussex, and then to Stockens Green near Knebworth. Grandpa was retired, and Leonard was working at the Eastern Telegraph Company in London. Dad had got him a job there. Anyway Leonard got married in 1931. I was eighteen and I was his Best Man. He married a girl called Vera and the Reception was at the Knebworth Tennis Club; he was Captain there and quite a good player. He was also a marvellous pianist. They lived at Knebworth for a while, but Grandma and Grandpa moved soon to Mayfield Avenue at Southgate. Isn’t it strange how we follow one another around. Are Families still like that, or are the Harries’ peculiar?

My academic capabilities not being terribly outstanding, it was time for me to be casting about for a job, and if you are interested, you can read about it in the following pages…….

I suppose I did behave like a normal child on occasion. I was about ten when I had my first cigarette. Bernard Bull was a Day Boy who lived in Billericay. His father owned the Car Hire firm and whose large Limousine used to take us on holiday in the Summer. Bernard was an older boy and if I gave him twopence he would bring me five Woodbines or Player’s Weights. It made a change to have the odd fag. The other fourpence pocket money went on wafer biscuits.

We were permitted to use the Gymnasium during the evenings. It did not include me, but one evening it was dark, wet and miserable, I crept in and joined the other boys. It was marvellous! We were using the High Jump with a Spring Board to help take off. I of course fell on landing! The result was a very painful left arm. The next morning I had great difficulty in getting up and dressing. On the third morning I could not get out of bed at all, and so was taken to the Matron, and ended up with my broken arm in splints!

Matron by the way, was a great comfort (!) if we had a headache or felt sick. We visited her room where she soon “cured us” with the only medicine she had; a spoonful of Epsom Salts in a cup of warm water! Ever tried it? One did not go near the Matron if one could help it! Funny thing; it was at this time that I had a part in The School Play. I was “Mustard Seed” in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. However, my dream of acting was soon over. Life had reached BOTTOM! The night of the Play arrived. The venue was a Theatre in the town. I was sitting in the Front Row with my arm in a sling. Mother and Dad, who were sitting a few rows back, had come all the way from Billericay to see their little boy in his first play. After the First Act when the lights came on, I was able to stand up and wave to them. I can’t remember what they said. The School of course had not told them of my accident. Anyway the School did not know how it had really happened, because I was not supposed to be in the Gym. So I told them that I had slipped in the rain when running round a corner to get in out of the wet! What a life!

I had very little control of my life. I spent it dodging Pinder and trying to make a Basket from Cane and Raffia, wanting to take part in things with very little success. I seemed always to be in trouble. The boys were playing Cricket one evening when we were just back from a holiday. I joined in and along came a Master. “What are you doing?”; “Just playing Sir.”; “You are not allowed to play are you?”; “Yes Sir! My Father said I could play this term.” Consequently a letter  was sent to Father. The answer was “No, I did not say he could play this term, he is still ill.” The result was two strokes of the cane on each cheek of the backside for telling lies. Gawd, what a Life! End of term.

On the bus going to Chelmsford. No, not to school. Where to then? To Chelmsford Hospital. Going to have my throat cut and the “lump” removed! Well, well! Can’t be worse than going to school!

All alone in a large room, quite a large bed. I suppose it seemed large, I really was only a little sod. Mask on my face, breathe in; asleep; wake up bandaged like a Mummy. Mother and Dad by the bed, a new life ahead of me. Jolly good! The Nurse used to come in with her hands behind her back and say; “Give me a kiss for what I’ve got behind me!” Cor, what a sauce! A kiss for flowers; sweets were alright! Anyway, I was in for some time, don’t know how long. Then home, and a scar from my left Ear to my Adam’s Apple! I’ve still got it. BUT, then I started to develop a bit. I could run and play, and I was no longer to be a Boarder!

Before I left as  Boarder I must tell you about Princess Mary’s Wedding Day (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, later George V and Queen Mary). It was April 1923 and she married the Earl of Harewood (Henry Charles George, Viscount Lacelles) (actually Dad they married on 28th February 1922). I believe he was a bit of a hard man. It was a special day for us. The Tea Table was laden with cream buns and we were allowed to eat as many as we liked. I was sick in bed for three days! By the way, since I broke my arm I was put in a room on my own to sleep. It was above the Dormitory in a sort of Attic. I was scared stiff on my own in the dark!

I’m now a Day Boy. So what? The only thing I can remember about being a Day Boy was travelling to school by train from Billericay to Chelmsford. Leonard, Dad’s younger Brother, still went to Brentwood School. We travelled on the same train. He got off at Brentwood and I got off at Shenfield and changed to another train for Chelmsford. I can remember walking from the Station to School but nearly everything else is a complete blank! The only thing I can remember from that time was that Ray, Stan and I used to go to Sunday School. We had a penny each for the Collection, so we used to put one penny in the Collection and spent the other two pence on sweets! One day we saved the sweets to eat in bed so I kept them in my pocket. After going up to bed, I crept down to get the sweets from my overcoat pocket hanging in the Hall. I got caught and suffered the consequences on my backside!

It’s a little worrying, because my memory is good regarding most of my life.

Well that was the end of Chelmsford and Billericay. In 1925 I was twelve years old and we moved to Old Southgate in North Middlesex and life for me took on a completely new complexion. Dad bought No. 12 Mayfield Avenue (Enfield, London, N14). It had been lived in previously by Auntie Rene and Cousins Ernest, Vera and Rene, the Family of Ernest, Dad’s Brother, who died after the War – they lived at Knebworth then. They moved to Cheshire and we moved in to their old house. I remember that day because I did not feel too good. Ernest and I clubbed together enough cash to buy 10 Spinet Cigarettes. The trouble was we did not want to take them home with us nor throw them away. So we had to smoke the lot in twenty minutes! It’s a funny thing! I can see that cigarette packet; white “SPINET” and in red letters”Full Size Cigarettes”. But very bitter. Much more so than “Doctor Blosser’s Medicated Cigarettes”, that were “so good for one’s heart”!

One Sunday in 1921 I’m sitting with Dad in the front seat on the upper deck of a bus going to Chelmsford. Yes, there were double decker buses in those days. The horse buses had gone, although Dad used to say that he had travelled from High Barnet  to work in the City by horse bus in the early 1900s, about 1905-6. Where are we……………? Oh yes, on the way to Chelmsford. Incidentally there was a hole in the floor in the driving cab of the bus so that the driver could let down a pointed steel rod which stuck, or was supposed to stick, in the road, if the bus should inadvertently stop on a steep hill and try to run backwards.

Chelmsford. We are outside a huge building! I’ve never seen a prison. I am only 8 years old but it certainly looked as if it could be one. There is a large double iron gate. It’s open and I look up at two huge pillars one on each side of the gate. On top of each pillar is a large eagle with its wings outstretched. It’s not a prison, it’s my new school, King Edward VI Grammar School, known as KEGS (established by Royal Warrant in 1551 and still going – see link).

Have you ever read Tom Brown’s School Days (Thomas Hughes, 1857)? Well his school had nothing on mine! I don’t remember meeting the Matron or any of the Masters, or saying goodbye to Dad. I remember going to bed in a dormitory with a lot of other boys, and I remember the next day because I was a new boy. We were called “Shrimps” and were led round the School buildings by two boys, one on each arm, followed by the other boys from the dormitory; the idea being that we were made to pick a fight with another newcomer. The chap I had to fight was very bony and had knuckles like iron! I can remember him quite well. He was taller than I and had fair curly hair, I think his name was Langley or something like that.

We wore knickers, stockings and lace-up boots; jackets without turn-down collars, because we wore “Eton” collars (a broad white buttoned collar worn over the lapels of a jacket which originated at Eton College in the 19C) with a tie. Lord knows how I managed to put a stiff collar on and tie a tie! I must have looked a sight! I don’t think I even did my hair in those days.

Lessons for us were in two huts by the side of the playing field near to the outside bogs – lavatories to ordinary people. There were two lady teachers for the small boys. Mine was a Miss Alterton. I don’t know what she taught because I don’t remember learning anything! However I do know something about Hiawatha (a poem, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 – 1882) and his girlfriend Minnihaha sitting by the banks of something or other.

The School was well equipped for Sport; a large playing field attached to the School, and a short distance away another very large area of playing fields, and a good gymnasium.

The Headmaster’s name was Will Hey. His wife, a buxom woman, was called Amy. I met them both eventually. I’ll tell you about that later.

The food was atrocious, in fact putrid, and I really mean rotten! The meat was usually stew, and the meat was gray in colour and smelt badly. The gravy had tiny bubbles floating on top. I think each bubble contained a foreign body! The pudding was either Rice or sometimes Rice mixed with Porridge left over from breakfast, or Tart covered with stewed Rhubarb, which looked like dishwater with shreds of something floating in it! I reckon the tramps had better breakfast served in the Workhouse in Billericay. Tea was plates piled high with Bread and Margarine, and you had Jam or Paste if you had any in your tuck-box. All the boys carried envelopes at dinnertime to put their meat in and then throw it over the wall which bounded the playing field. After dinner we lined up in two rows to go into a little room where we were either given a dessert spoon of Cod Liver Oil or Scotts Emulsion (a Cod Liver Oil based tonic used for Generations and still available today).

On Saturdays as we passed out of the Dining Room we were given six (old) pence (would be the equivalent of about 75 pence today) by the Headmaster for pocket money. Prep was at 6 o’clock, except Saturday and Sunday, then at 8 o’clock we had the best meal of the day.

There was a large coal fire in the Dining Room, which was used as a Common Room in the evenings, and sliced bread was available. Not the sliced bread as we know it today, but real sliced bread, sliced with a knife and really good for toast. We could make toast and use our own Butter and Jam, and eat our own Cake if we had any. I used to write Home every week to ask for more Cake to be sent (I have some of Dad’s “begging” letters which I will put onto the Web as proof!). The food that we supplied ourselves was really the only edible and decent tasting food we got. Still we must not forget that there had been a war and that everyone was suffering in the aftermath of that war.

The long and the short of it was that I developed a swollen neck, a poisoned gland. I was not allowed to play games, do Gym or play in the playground. When the weather was warm I had to sit outside the Classroom to get as much fresh air as possible. My life was pretty traumatic at this time, and there are two moments worth telling, because even today they often come to mind. The only fun I really had was during holidays at home with the Family, and at “half-term merits”.

One lunchtime I was playing ball with some of the boys when the ball went into a corner of the field where the Headmaster kept some Chickens. I went after it and was chased by a Cockerel! I threw a clod of earth or a stone at it. The Headmasters Wife, buxom Amy was looking out of the window. She told the Old Man and I was hauled into his Study and lectured on throwing things at his Chickens. Result: two strokes (of the Cane) on each hand. I spent the next ten minutes with my hands on the cold stone of the Urinals before going back to the Classroom.

It was a Sunday morning when I was caught with my knees dirty! Usually we went in crocodile (formation) to Chelmsford Cathedral for Morning Service. This day I went with my Friend, whose name I forget and whose Parents lived in Australia. The Head Boy, named Pinder, passed us on the way and noticed that the back of my legs were dirty. He told me to report to his Room when I got back to School and to bring my Slipper with me. I did not do so, and lived in dread ever after!

The Family was increasing at a rate of knots! As I’ve said before, Dad did not waste time when home on leave, and Kath was born in October 1918; then came Margaret Joan , known as Peggy, on 29th February 1920 with a Birthday only one in four! A year later I was on the way to Boarding School, King Edward VI’s School, Chelmsford; a boarder at 8, Lord help us! Miss Boughtwood’s was bad enough! What sort of trouble was in store for me? I was already in trouble enough over simple things as for instance, one day I arrived at School late and could not get the door open. So in despair I went home. It being Summer, I sat in the long grass in the field behind the house, and waited for the Church Clock in the Village to strike twelve before going home. That was OK but what about the next day? I was frightened to go to School, so I sat in the field once more ’til twelve o’clock. The next day, sitting in the field for the third time, I must have dozed off because I miscounted the chimes and went home soon after eleven o’clock.

I was put to bed and got a tanning when Dad came home in the evening. The next morning I was given a  note to take to School to explain my absence. When I got to the Railway Bridge at the Station I was afraid to continue the journey, so I tore up the note, chucked it over the railway bridge and went home again. This time I did not sit in the field and I was eventually taken back to School by someone, I can’t remember who it was, and all was well, or as well as could be expected!

We were a real family. I the eldest stood out from the others; thin, pale, hair that did not look like anything, always in trouble, at least that’s what it felt like! If I kicked a football it was bound to knock some apples off the best tree in the Front Garden. Ray and Stan were tougher. Nice blond curly hair, well behaved, a couple of creeps… not really. I don’t remember much about Kath and Peg. They had a Governess to look after them, she even came on holiday with us!

After the War we always had three weeks holiday in August. We used to go in those early days to Southwold (in Suffolk) , a good spot for sands and walks. Dad used to hire a large car, it took the whole Family including the Governess. Had to have a chauffeur of course. Dad did not drive in those days, in fact he did not learn ’til I taught him in 1932. We never missed out on Pantomimes, Firework Nights and visits to friends. Our main friends who visited us were from Dad’s office; the Fairbairn’s,  the Sui….’s (sorry Dad – can’t read your writing – can anyone help?), the Levanski’s, who later changed their name to Beach.

Mother’s Parents visited us a lot and stayed quite often for long periods, especially during the War. Grandma looked like Queen Mary (the Wife of George V). I reckon they exchanged hats and used the same umbrella! (Check out the Photo of Annie Rebecca Fell (I95) on the Family Tree website – see Five Trees link) She was a real tartar! The Queen I mean! She would be wouldn’t she, after all she was a Kraut called Mary of Teck (? Dad she was actually British but descended from the German Dukes of Wuerttemberg). Anyway it was George V who changed his name to Windsor from Guelph (? Dad, he changed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) George was a cousin of Kaiser Bill (Wilhelm II) (check out Georgie boy on Wikipedia if you are interested – see link) I must not say too much because Grandma Harries’ name was Jacobi and her half brother was a General Von Jacobi on The Kaiser’s Staff. Annie Caroline Jacobi – her Family later changed their name to Clarke and the Jacobi’s in England to Jacoby.

Mother’s brother Ron, was a fine chap. There’s a story to tell about him later if I get to it. He was in the War in Mesopotamia (now mainly in modern Iraq plus parts of Turkey and Syria – and known as “The Cradle of Civilisation”) fighting the Turks. His Regiment marched all the way from Palestine to Basrah via Damascus and Baghdad, fighting most of the way, and finally ending up in a Battle at Shaibah just outside Basrah, where there is now a Large rock named “Victory Fort”. I spent a year there in the last War (WWII). More about the relatives later.

Dad used to go off for weekends sometimes  and took me with him, usually to Burwell in Cambridgeshire, where his Uncle and Aunt ran the Village School (a reminder that most if not all of the Family whom Dad writes about can be found at Cousin Louise’s “Five Family Tree” Website – just follow the link).  Uncle Isaac and Aunt Emily had a house in the School which was a Church of England School. The only trouble was if the School was working when we went up, I used to have to sit in the front row of the class!

Grandma Harries was an old witch! She was always trying to make trouble between Dad and Mum, without success.

Time was passing. I was getting on and old enough to go to School. Stan and Ray were firm friends, despite Ray using Stan as a dartboard and a carving fork as a dart! Mother had had a haircut. I remember one evening Dad suggested she had her hair bobbed and offered to do it. She had lovely long hair done up in a bun, but no longer…! It looked terrible after he had finished with it!

Living in the country was good fun. We used to go into the woods to play, catch rabbits, even collect moor-hens eggs and cook them over wood fires and eat them hard boiled. Mother told us that one of her Uncles had been blinded. It was on Firework Night and coming home he looked up at a rocket and the stick came down in his eye and blinded him.

I’m not certain of the date but one night I was taken out of bed and stood on the windowsill of the back bedroom. Ray was a baby then and Grandma and Grandpa Newman were staying with us. There was a marvellous fire in the sky; it looked so near, almost as if it was in the field next door. It was a German Zeppelin and was coming down very slowly in flames. It had been shot down by one of our planes. The next morning Grandpa took Ray in the pushchair and me walking, over to see it. It was in a ploughed field and still smouldering. What a mess! Grandpa picked up some bits and kept them for years in a box in a cabinet in their Drawing Room.

At one time early in the War we had some 3 inch AA Guns in the field next to us. I don’t think they fired the guns although the Kraut “Taubes” (A WW1 monoplane resembling from below the shape of a pigeon – Taube in German – in flight) used to come over from the Southend direction to try to bomb London. Later we had Kraut P.O.Ws working in the  field, but they soon went away. In another field about half a mile away, there were three houses. Grandma and Grandpa Harries lived in one, with Daughter Rene (Irene) and youngest Son Leonard. Leonard was a Day Boy at Brentwood School and he went by train everyday. He was about three years older than me; a bit young to be my Uncle. He was Dad’s youngest Brother.

Rene was married to a chap who was in the Royal Flying Corps, I can’t remember his name (William Wood). He looked good in his uniform. He was killed late in the War. Dad’s other brothers were Ernest, who had three children: another Ernest, and Vera and Rene, and Laurie. Uncle Ernest died in the huge flu epidemic after the War, and Laurie, or Lawrence, was packed off to America years before, as were most “black sheep” of families in those days. He did reappear from time to time, but was sent back again. He did stock car racing for funds (I think that’s what he wrote!) in America until he started a fruit farm in Florida.

Anyway I am digressing.

Grandpa grew a lot of stuff. He had a lovely garden. He went up to London each day. He was manager of The Union Assurance Society of Canton, in Cornhill. When I was old enough to go to school I used to walk with him to Billericay Station; where he would give me a penny which I was supposed to save until I had enough to buy a donkey so that he could ride on it to the station!

Opposite Grandpa’s house lived a Captain in the Merchant Navy with his family. Their name was Bowles. Next to them was a family called Jolliman. They were Germans and the father was interned during the War. Anyway, Margaret Jolliman in those days was my age, and my friend. I remember one Sunday morning her Grandfather was chopping logs and he cut his thumb off! The Doctor would not see him because it was Sunday, and he should not have been working on Sunday!

The Doctor’s name was Shackleton. He was a cousin of Ernest Shackleton, the explorer. They used to go exploring together, I think because the Doctor was good with his knife. I don’t know if they were together when Ernest met up with Stanley (? Come on Dad! I think you are getting your eras and explorers mixed up! Shackleton would have been a contemporary of Scott). He was our Doctor and the one who attended Dad after he came home with his terrible abscess. He used to go on his rounds in a pony and trap. One Saturday morning he passed us in Stock Road and told us to go home because the “Taubes” were coming. The Doctor, despite his no nonsense methods was a good chap. He had to qaurterize (sic) me one day because Chum, our dog, had taken a bite out of my face! I approached him, the dog, from over and behind when he was dozing in front of the fire. So he reacted, and there I was; having a painful job done in the Doctor’s Dining Room. He always did odd jobs in the Dining Room. One Christmas Eve I sat at the corner of the Dining Room table and had a tooth out. He was Doctor and Dentist!

The Doctor and his family lived in a large house near the Church. I knew it well because when I was old enough I used to play with his Son in the yard at the back of the house. His Son was deformed and did not lead a normal life. He had a large head which was a common thing in those days. He could not play in public or go to School, so I was delivered to the house to play with him on Saturday mornings. When I was five I started School. I had to walk to the village; the School was just over the railway bridge up the hill past the Red Lion, and was called “Miss Boughtwoods” (Can anyone confirm the name?). All the children sat in one room. We learned to write and do sums and sing songs. Most of our writing was in exercise books and we did page upon page of pothooks and hangers ( a curved, S-shaped mark). Our sums were done on slates with slate pencils. Miss Mason did most of the teaching and all the boys were in love with her! Miss Boughtwood used to walk about; her hair was done up in a bun, she wore a white high-necked blouse with long sleeves and a black skirt down to her feet. The other lady played the piano. I do not remember her name but she used to come to our house on Saturday mornings to teach me the piano. I did not get on very well. I had lessons on-and-off for about eight years. I knew the scales and could read music, and even managed to play “Sweet & Low” (see link), but that was about all.

When Dad came home from the War and had recovered from his trials and tribulations, we spent a large part of our time in the garden. He was a great gardener! We had a marvellous bonfire one night. I don’t know which year it was but coal was officially rationed so Dad and a friend ordered ten tons at the pit head and it came down from Newcastle to Billericay by rail. They had to get it moved from the yard somehow, and because in those days Inspectors used to come round and inspect your coal stocks, he decided to bury his 5 tons. He dug a large pit at the bottom of the garden, tipped it in. All well and good, until one dark night the World appeared to be on fire! The bonfire that he had made at the bottom of the garden that Sunday had come to life! It was a beautiful blaze! I don’t know how much he lost but I suppose what he had left was worth it. Coal at that time was 1/- (one shilling) per cwt (one hundredweight = 50.8kg; 20cwt to the ton) at the pit head, and transport charges very reasonable.

The beginning

The 8th day of May 1913 was a special day for my parents; Joshua Sims and Hilda Louise, of Woodgrange Avenue, Finchley, North London, for it was my Birthday.

We did not stay there long. Dad bought a house at Billericay – what a marvellous name – in Essex. It was a new house, four bedrooms, built by a builder named Iles. How do I know? Just one of those things I suppose. Drawing Room, Dining Room with French Doors, big Hall, large flag-stoned Kitchen and a Scullery down a couple of steps to the back door. A very large garden, fields all round (sic). The address was “Woodgrange”, Stock Road. I wonder why? In honour of my having been born at Woodgrange Avenue?

I’ve grown a bit by now and the War has started. The house was large but I always remember it as being warm and cosy. Of course we had coal and log fires, and in the Kitchen a large coal-fired range, where all the water was heated and the cooking done. Lighting was by paraffin lamps on the tables and candles and night lights. The furniture was made especially by “Maples” of Tottenham Court Road, London. We had a gramophone (HMV), a piano and a music box. By the way, I was Christened at the Church in Hockley, a nearby village – in the same Church and font where King Cnut was Christened in 1016. He was of course a Dane and tried to stop the tide coming in.

Time passes but my memory does not seem to fade because I remember my brother Ray as a baby being bathed in front of the Kitchen range. He was born in August 1915, then Stanley was born in April 1917.

Meanwhile Dad had gone off to the War. He volunteered and joined the London Rifle Brigade, the foot sloggers (one hundred and twenty to the minute) . He did his training in Wiltshire at a place called Fovant. They were the famous “6th Division (London)” and he went out to France in 1916 as a Signaller, Lewis Gunner, B….. (handwriting indistinct), and Rifleman. As a Lewis Gunner he was Number Two on the Gun. In one action the No. 1, a Sergeant (?),  got the Military Medal – I don’t know why Dad didn’t get one as well!  He must have had the odd bits of leave because Stanley was born in 1917 and my Sister Kathleen in October 1918. Not bad going as Dad was taken prisoner in “The Great German Onslaught” of 28th March 1918. He did not go to a Prisoner of War Camp, but was made to scavenge for the Bosche behind the lines ’til after the War, when he was allowed to make his own way home.

The prisoners had to fend for themselves food-wise and had a terrible time.  Dad wrote a book about it which in his lifetime he could not get published. Perhaps one day one of you boys will be able to do something about it? [Author’s note: I have a copy of the book and I will Dad!] I am not sure exactly when he did arrive home, but when he did he was in a pretty bad state for he had been kicked in the groin by a horse in Belgium and he had a very bad abscess; and was confined to bed for some time.

Mother of course had no news of Dad except a telegram from the War Office which said Private Harries missing believed Killed in Action. This of course was due to the Huns not notifying the authorities of his Capture. Anyway, as soon as he made his way back to the Coast she was informed that he was alive.

I’ve a story to tell about that later if I get to it, but in the early Summer of 1918 two policemen knocked at our door. They had come to arrest my Father for failing to register for Service. My Mother showed them the telegram and they went away empty-handed with their tails between their legs. I remember that as if it were yesterday and I was only five years old at the time.

Those War years must have been quite difficult for Mother: a large house; huge garden; no transport except once a week on Friday a bus passed our house on the way to Ingatestone. Mother used to catch it sometimes because it was possible to get eggs in the market at Ingatestone. Rationing was very strict. Her biggest problem was coal. There were no deliveries so she had to push the pram to Billericay Station Yard and collect some and wheel it home; two or three miles each way; a country road; no pavement except for a short distance out of the village. She had help in the house. We had a maid or servants as they were called in those days.  I remember one who was called Lydia. She had a starched blue uniform, and when she was cleaning the grate I used to pull her skirt up over her head, which showed her blue knickers which came down to her knees. That must have been later on, because she used to chase Stanley around the room singing a song she made up about “chasing the boy round the room”!