Z1205/076

Male. Safety officer, London Brick Co. & Corn and Seed Merchant, Bedford b. 15.01.1921 Side A (00 mins)Born and raised in Bedford. Father a corn and seed merchant. Paternal father in boot and shoe trade; maternal grandfather a farmer inn Oakley. Pre-war trading in Corn Exchange, Bedford. Post-war trading directly with farms, with more travel. (05 mins)Range of products dealt with. Free market. Childhood holiday spent on grandfather's farm. (10 mins)Labour intensive farming, pre-mechanisation, using horses and men. Dairy business. Primitive water supply from local wells. (15 mins)Installation of mains water supply in early 1930s. (20 mins)Installation of electricity mains. Earlier use of candles and oil lamps. (25 mins)Attendance at Convent School, Bromham Road, and the (Boys) Modern School, Bedford, as a day boy. Some boys were boarders. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Secondary school timetable. Boarding school houses about town. Some local government scholarships to Bedford Modern but mainly fee-payers. He gained an "exhibition" which offered free tuition. Attended from 1929 to 1938. Favourite subject: Latin and History. (05 mins)Won scholarship to Cambridge but the Second World War prevented it. Finally studied history to degree level in retirement. Before entering army, worked for ten months as assistant to the safety Officer at London Brick Company, Stewartby. Example of serious accident. (10 mins)Outline of job. Pay and budget for young worker. Motorcycled to work. (15 mins)Joined Bedford Yeomanry and was commissioned as Second-Lieutenant after training in Catterick. Trained in combined operations (seaborne landings). Operations in Madagascar (20 mins)Further account of East African incidents. (25 mins)Far Eastern war experience. Reflections on war, fear & death. (32 mins)End of Side B.Continues on 076C2 Side A (00 mins)Wartime camaraderie & friendship. Post-war re-unions. (05 mins)The end of the war. Attempts to get transport home to England. (10 mins)Incidents on the way home. Jerusalem. Tripoli. (15 mins)Arrived home. Leave. Training youngsters in Norfolk. Demobilisation. Return to family firm. (20 mins)Resentment at Japanese brutality during war. Post-war meetings with Japanese and Germans. (25 mins)End of Side A.End of Interview. Original Interview 85 mins. End of Interview

30 November 2001

From: 1915 To: 2001

item

London Brick Company,
Bedfordshire Yeomanry

brick worker, seedsmen, corn exchanges, farms, World War Two, trades unions, holidays, horses, dairy, WELLS, water, electricity, Bedford Modern School, scholar, curriculum Latin, HISTORY, injury, army, motorcycles, DEATH, Japanese, Germans, wages/conditions, TRANSPORT, OAKLEY, Cambridge, STEWARTBY, Catterick, Madagascar Trench [Hulluch], East Africa, Jerusalem, Tripoli, Norfolk