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Hammersmith, the Bridge c1960
Hammersmith, the Bridge c1960 Ref: H387014
Memories of Hammersmith, the Bridge
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 Hammersmith, Lower Mall from the Barnes Bank c1960 (ref: H387024) |
Year: 1940s
Memories of War - The Forgotten Casualties (1) - by Patricia Bolter
I am entering these memories on behalf of my mother in law - Patricia Ross (nee Bolter) Running to meet Dad, just a young man, in uniform for the first time coming home to show us in pride. Providing for the family had been difficult, even tried sweeping snow. I have listened to "The Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot" could only cry "I don't want my Dad to go away" but what does a 4 year old really understand. We had watched Dad and Uncles dig a shelter in our yard and played getting into it quickly, it was dark and damp. Mum fell down the steps but we were "SAFE . Save The Children? What have we learned?" Fetching Granny and relatives to share our shelter for the first air raid, cushions on head for protection from shrapnel. Naive . . Issued with Mickey Mouse gas masks in a cardboard box with a shoulder string, the smell of rubber, no understanding of why they are necessary. Mum with 4 of us under 5 years, just a kid herself as she was only 17 when I was born. Now Dad is in the army. How will she cope. Dad decided that we would be safer evacuated so he took us to Windsor, a friend of Mum's came with her 3 children but it didn't work out - my sister badly cut her arm on a milk bottle. Then I remember being in another home, Tiverton this time with the owners. Mum was expecting her 4th child and when the child was born she called her Coralie after the daughter of the house who, as I recall, was in her early teens. I remember my 3rd sister sitting outside cuddling what I thought were 2 rabbits - one in each arm, but they were rats, that caused a commotion. But Mum got homesick and bought us all back home when Dad came home on leave, he was frightened for our safety. Anyway we had to go - Mum wouldn't come so we children were evacuated. We eldest 2 were awoken early for breakfast, a treat of Iced Gems - little biscuits . . which I've never been able to eat since. Our belongings in packs on our backs and labels to identify us. The station was packed with crying children and parents. I remember the smoking train, the last farewells, trying to be brave and smile, never the same again. Arriving at the transit camp; a school hall . awaiting our collection . we were among the last to be assigned as I kept insisting that we not be parted; these had been my Dad's last instructions. Get the feeling we were in the way. Eventually go home with a lovely old couple; returned the next day old couple can't manage, new home. Now starts the real awareness of being a nuisance, in the way; don't eat too much, make a mess, noise, retaliate to son of house, must stay out of house Saturday and Sunday. Wander unfamiliar streets, cold and hungry, were discovered in an air raid shelter trying to keep warm with a box of matches by a kind lady who warmed and fed us, beaten for falling in a pig sty while watching them to pass a wet Sunday afternoon, beaten for treading on wet floor. My teacher asked me if we were being ill treated but at 5, in a strange world and frightened dare one confess, anyway my sister got re-housed so were split up, she went to a lovely home, was treated like a princess. I being the eldest had been well trained and became a little skivvy. The householder became pregnant hence relieved of her obligation to house me, so after months, which seemed like years, I was passed on to a cheery couple, old but kind. Now I settle into a pattern of life different, but happier, free to come and go until 1945, though not without incident . . . visits to the delousing station and the government store for clothes. I roamed the spinney and once a plane crashed there and we kids found body parts scattered and a man still in the tail, I wonder did he live? We had solid shelters in the street (a Crescent) where I lived and once a plane, seemed to me, to land on one and the pilot asked if there was any open space. I gave him directions and he landed safely. Later we all went round to look and he recognised me among the crowd, it didn't strike me as strange at the time, though now I don't think I'm believed did I dream it? Baby-minding took on a new meaning, the daughter of the house whose husband was in the navy, was living a secret existence enjoying a good time with the "Yanks". I would mind baby in the park while she went on to rendezvous with the promise of gum or chocolate . I never did get any . or I would help her take off her make up and put here hair in rags before her Mum and Dad came in from the pub on Saturday evenings making believe she had been home all evening, I having cared for her child yet only one myself really. The son of the home (Albert) was in the army, he sang with the band. I heard him sing 'Dearly Beloved" on the radio once, how I loved it. Sometimes on a summer evening taken to a pub and offering my rendering of "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire". (continued in Pt.2) Posted: 22/08/2008 17:00 by Jane Ross |
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Hammersmith, Lower Mall from the Barnes Bank c1960 (ref: H387024) |
Year: 1860s
The Howard family at Hammersmith and Barnes
My Great-Great-Grandad, William Howard, lived in the early 1800’s - a time of great rural depression - and so he left his Devon home to look for work in London with the result that several generations of my family lived in the Hammersmith area. The story is that he walked all the way. No doubt the stage coach fare was beyond the means of an unemployed labourer. He found work constructing railways which at this time were spreading rapidly all over the country. He may have found lodgings in North London, perhaps in Camden with either his brother or his cousin George Howard. Later he moved to the Hammersmith area and he married in his early twenties. He had (at least) six children, the eldest of whom, Elizabeth, was born about 1840. His son - William Henry (my Great-Grandad) was born in 1847 and the youngest son was Jack who later emigrated. Two of the Howard family daughters, Louie and Mary Jane, did not marry and in later life lived together with their father William at 100 (or was it 104 as memory is playing tricks!) Iffley Road which is about half a mile from Hammersmith Broadway. William found other employment after the great railway boom came to an end. For many years he worked locally in Hammersmith for the Post Office. However he was eventually pensioned off following an accident in which he broke his leg. The family attended the Congregational Church at nearby Brook Green and it was here that William Howard’s elder son, William Henry Howard, met his future wife Jane Esther Goodwill. Great-Great-Grandad William Howard outlived his wife by several years (at least seven). My Great-Uncle Harry Howard recalled the severe winter of 1894/1895 during which he was ill and remembered that his grandfather William used to read to him. Soon after that bad winter, William died at the age of 84 whilst living with his two unmarried daughters at Iffley Road. Great-Grandad William Henry Howard, was artistic and he married into an artistic family. He was a wood carver and in later years taught his craft at Mayfield, Sussex. William Henry Howard married Jane Esther Goodwill at St Peter’s Church, Hammersmith on the 27th September 1873 and set up home nearby at 9 St Peter’s Road, just a short walk from Hammersmith Town Hall. He and Great-Grandma Jane were married by a careless curate who made a mistake on their marriage certificate! Perhaps thinking Jane was an uncultured cockney who dropped her “aitches” he recorded Hester on the certificate though her name was always Esther. William Henry Howard and Jane had six children. They first lived at 9 St Peter’s Road, Hammersmith, later at 20 Chalcot Crescent near the zoo at Regents Park and finally at 59 Ranelagh Gardens in Barnes, SW13, opposite the Ranelagh Club and two doors away from Ranelagh Avenue (opposite Barnes Common). There, at number 59, William Henry Howard died on the 4th February 1917 of apoplexy and a coma. About this time his son Harold Howard returned from the wars in India and moved into number 32 Ranelagh Gardens. My Great-Grandma Jane (his granny) moved in with him. Great-Grandma Jane died in 1931. Great-Grandad William Henry Howard’s daughter Florence and her husband William Arthur Norfolk stayed on at number 59 having moved there in either 1915 or 1916 from St Leonards Road, East Sheen, Richmond, Surrey. Meanwhile the other sons of William Henry Howard were moving around. Frank, the eldest, married Harriett Millicent Eley (“Milly”) and moved to Temple Sheen Road, East Sheen. Either Frank or Milly had previously lived at 16 Hillersdon Avenue, Barnes, near Beverley Brook and it was here that William Arthur Norfolk was lodging after his arrival from Leeds at the time of his marriage to Florence Howard. Milly was a witness at Florence and William’s wedding. Following Frank’s death, Milly and her son Cyril moved to Lonsdale Road, Barnes (by the river). My Great-Uncle Harold Sidney Howard, the next son of William Henry Howard, was born in 1881. He served in India during the Great War and returned in 1917 to live with Great-Grandma Jane at 32 Ranelagh Gardens. My Great-Uncle Len Howard was the youngest son of William Henry Howard – he served with the Royal Fusiliers in the Great War and fought at the Battle of the Somme and lost a leg. Subsequently he lost his wooden leg while walking across a street in Barnes suspiciously close to The Red Lion! William Henry Howard’s only daughter – my Grandma Florence -married William Arthur Norfolk on 9th April 1912 at Barnes Parish Church. I have what is probably an engagement photograph of them bearing her nickname Flossie. William Henry Howard was 66 at the time and he and Milly both witnessed the wedding. The bride and groom slipped out of the back door of the church to avoid the confetti! They set up home firstly at 202 St Leonards Road, Mortlake and later at 59 Ranelagh Gardens with Great-Grandma Jane (who later moved in with her son Frank and even later moved to 21 Ashchurch Park Villas, Hammersmith in the very area where she and William Henry began their married life in 1873. There she died on the 7th February 1931 at the age of 83 almost exactly 14 years after William Henry. Where did Florence and William then live? Perhaps they owned but were forced to sell their home in Ranelagh Gardens to pay off various debts then moved? I am unsure. I suspect that they rented their home in Barnes and then rented a home for a few months only in Ship Street, Brighton. This was followed by renting at (number 86?) The Grove, Hammersmith. So far as I am aware there are no longer any of our Howard family now living in the Hammersmith area. Posted: 11/01/2008 21:21 by John Howard Norfolk |
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Year: 1958
Underground - A memory of Kensington, London When a was a small girl my parents used to take me to visit my Grandparents, in Kensington where they lived at No. 29 Kelso Place. As the underground trains pass deep under the houses there, I was often to be found in their sitting room laying on the floor with an ear pressed against the carpet listening for the deep rumbling noise! I also remember my parents taking me into one of the large Department stores in the High Street, Derry & Toms, to see Father Christmas. I still have the photo taken of myself with 'him' receiving a present. Posted: 14/06/2008 19:58 by Christine Capon |
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 Fulham, The Broadway c1965 (ref: F69028) |
Year: 1968
Mum and Dad grew up in Fulham A memory of Fulham, London Mum remembers going across Parsons Green durig the war and the air raid had gone off, then she heard a doodlebug above her, she ran into the gents toilets and heard it land somewhere near, she never been that frightened since. Mum and Dad both lived next door to each other in Broughton Road, Fulham, they were big houses, one family lived on top floor, another downstairs. I remember having to go through downstairs living room to get to outside loo, they let me when it was raining. My dad died 2 years ago, he remembered having to go to school with no shoes on, they were so poor, and his mum died young and they were looked after by an old aunt, if they asked for more food they were given a worm cake to eat. I remember waiting outside Fulham baths for my nan, who would visit on the bus and train, but sometimes she wasn't there so I was sent to wait ouside for her. We were lucky at our house, we had a bathroom, but nanny seemed quite happy when she came out from the public baths, and I walked home with her, she smelt all clean and fresh. Dad didn't talk about the war he was in, we saw photos of him driving a jeep and he said he drove right across India and had to eat a lot of currys, later in life he would not eat anything other than meat and two veg, anything else he said was foreign muck, it used to drive my mum crazy. My dad's sister is still alive and lives in Sunbury on Thames which is where my mum also lives, they all moved away from Fulham to the suburbs, in the 1960s. My mum often tells us about our grandad penny pinching, but I think they were just so poor he had to be careful. She remembers her mum, my nan, telling all four of her children to search the flat high and low so they had enough pennys to buy a quarter of mince for grandad's tea. He worked in the Sunlight Laundry in Fulham. I don't remember my nan ever working, she suffered with bad legs and died fairly young from something to do with one of her legs, it didnt help that they lived on the first floor of the house. They had to have their washes and clean teeth etc in the tiny kitchen as they had no bathroom, it was a bit of a sqeeze when grandad got home from work and needed a wash and nanny was trying cook dinner in a 12ft x 6ft kitchen. I particularly remember being excited because I often got sent to the corner shop which was only 10 doors away but I was allowed to get the penny refund on empty R. White's lemonade bottles to buy a sweet. If I was lucky I was also allowed to buy nan's bread and milk. I still see Sunlight Laundry vans about even now in 2008. Going back to my dad's memories of the war, he did finally tell us a bit, he said he had to go on to the D Day beaches to clear up all the dead bodies, and that's all he ever told us, I presume it was so horrible that he just couldnt repeat it, he was only 17. I miss him, I used to drop him off to the British Legion 7 nights a week, always at the same time, pick up 8.45, then I'd go home then go back at 10.45 on the dot, he would always be standing outside Sunbury library so as not to keep me waiting. He had been a regular there for fifty years, the only nights he missed were the occasional holidays, then he would moan and said it was not the same and he wanted to get home to go down the Legion. He struggled to get out of his chair on one Wednesday and I helped him into the car even though he and I knew he wasn't well, he'd been suffering for two years with his lungs. That night he wasn't waiting so I drove round and went in and helped him out of his seat, they all said 'Goodbye Arthur, take care mate', he was well liked and admired for being a respectable independent man, was never drunk, always only had his two pints a night. He didn't go for the next few nights, early on the Saturday morning Mum phoned me, he wasn't good so I phoned an ambulance. He was coughing up blood, but not too much and was able to talk to us, that was Sat am. I remember that afternoon in the hospital, I had gone and got him a paper, The Sun, he said 'I don't read that rubbish', as he was used to The Mail. I thought 'You can't be too bad', he was sitting up and talking. I had phoned all the family, I took my mum home 5.30. cos she was exhausted, she kissed him goodbye and said she would see him tomorrow. When I came back my sister Sheila said she had to go but to phone her if any change, they moved him to a differnt ward, he died peacefully twenty mintes later, I phoned my sister, when she got there he had gone. He had kept pulling the oxygen mask off so I left it ofs as the staff said it wouldn't be long, he was more comfortable. I held his hand and kissed his forehead and said 'Sweet dreams'. He hated doctors and hospitals, he was lucky he never got to stay, and he didn't suffer. I thank God for that. I have just brought my grandson who is two a new pair of leather shoes, we are all so lucky the way we live now and I am thankful to all the men and women who fight and die for us. Last edited: 12/08/2008 14:15 by Laura Warden |
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Year: 1959
Our local church - St Johns A memory of Fulham, London WE LIVED IN FARM LANE FULHAM SW6, IN A LOVELY O'L PREFAB. OUR LOCAL CHURCH WAS ST JOHN'S. Last edited: 10/05/2007 09:56 by Margaret Young |
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