Z1205/135

Male. Lorry driver, London Brick Company, Stewartby b. 21.07.1901 SIDE A (00 mins)Born and raised at Cressbrook, Derbyshire. When he was about 11, he attended the funeral of his Great-Grandfather who was 92 when he died and had been an engineer in cotton mills driven by water power. The mill owners owned and built Cressbrook would not allow either a church or a pub in the village. (05 mins)2 miles to nearest pub. Fist fighting was common in those days. When he left school, he worked at the local cotton mill for about 18 months before moving down to work in Bedfordshire at London Brick. (10 mins)Cotton mill piece work, paid by weight. Weaving was done at another mill. His great grandfather & grandfather worked together. (15 mins)Grandmother and Father were always teetotal. Great-grandfather and grandfather both drank alcohol. Father worked at Litton Mills and then transferred to help establish a quarry in Scotland. The quarry was sold to the Stewart family, brothers who were directors of London Brick Company at Peterborough. He was invited down to Bedfordshire, when it was amalgamated with Forders & Sons Ltd. (20 mins)Took a steam lorry to Stewartby in February 1929, when motor lorries hadn't really come in. Moved to lodgings in Peterborough. Reflections on village life in Derbyshire: 11 houses on top of a hill. Cotton mills at bottom. Motor bike trials held there before First World War. Men worked nights shifts. Child apprentices, unpaid, were used. (25 mins)Apprentices treated like slaves. Lived in Pancake Row. Grandmother didn't work after marriage. Had 9 children. Mother was a lady's maid at Cressbrook Hall. Impact of drinking on families. Enthusiastic enlisting of villagers for the Great War, when he was 13. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Mills closed briefly then started again with women dong men's jobs. Father was exempt from fighting because of his quarry work. His three brothers went. Extended family around. (05 mins)Paid £2.10s.0d (£2.50p) plus his lodgings in Peterborough, when he was 29. Wish he had sent mother some money. Carted bricks from Peterborough to build the village hall at Stewartby in 1929. The shop was built in 1930. (10 minsThere was Stewartby railway station, the square, an army hut where Doctor Richards, from Kempston, used to come, twice a week. House on the right hand side only when he arrived. School built later. In January 1933, changed to petrol lorries. Morris 6 tonners. Used to run one to Bletchley, Arlesey, Elstow works and Peterborough. 2000 bricks a time carried, later in 1936, 3500. then 8-wheelers taking 8000 bricks. Paid 25 shillings (£1.25p) per week for digs, including meals. (15 mins)Was married twice and had 2 children. Met his second wife in 1940 and they have been together ever since (62 years on 2002). Worked at Stewartby from 1929 to 1969 - 40 years. Good companionship at work. Workers from Wootton, Marston, Houghton Conquest, Flitwick. (20 mins)20 German prisoners of war were transported, in a covered wagon, from the camp at Green Lane, Clapham. The German sergeant used to sit with him in the front. The youngest prisoner married a local girl, a farmer's daughter, and he stayed in England after the war, set up on a farm by the farmer. (25 mins)There were two women drivers of lorries and one driving as a chauffeur. (Recites a poem taught him by his mother). (28 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW Original Interview 60 mins.

22 May 2002

From: 1895 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Stewart, Halley,
Forders Limited

lorry driver, brick worker, MILLS, engineer, water provision, Public House, boxing, wages/conditions, general quarries, World War One, motorcycles, child labour, apprenticeship, employment of women, maid, servant, alcoholism, railways, German Army, prisoners of war, farm worker, poems, Derbyshire, Scotland, STEWARTBY, Peterborough, ARLESEY, Bletchley, ELSTOW, CLAPHAM