| Description | Summary
Side one
Family background
Born 1897 in Moss Side, Manchester. Mother died at the age of thirty seven - father went to live in Blackburn where he went to school. Later went to Manchester Technical College. Father was a railway official with Great Western Railway. Father took mother to Blackburn in the hope that she would get better but she got worse. Had to travel from Blackburn to Manchester.
!915 - gas used during the war. He volunteered for the Gas Corps - went to Scotland Yard and then to Clapham where given a uniform and sent to France. Was eighteen at the time. Had to dig trenches where exploded chemical chlorine and given primative gas masks to see if effective against gas. Further details on trench warfare. In France for four years.
Education
Went to Webster Street School, off Greenheys Lane. One of the teachers was a cousin of his. Description of the school. Punishment.
Family life
Details of relationship with father and mother - house they lived in. Had washerwomen to do the laundry. Mother eventually went to live with cousin in Clayton where she died. Father went to Birmingham Office and then the Swansea Office during the war. Father contracted pleurisy while in Wales and died at the age of forty seven.
Further education
Details of how he got to university. Father decided that chemistry was a worthwhile subject so consulted the Headmaster at school in Blackburn but he never really liked Chemistry. Was only sixteen when he went to university. Had to pay to go from Blackburn to get there. Did about eighteen months and then went to war. Completed the course after the war. On leaving university , was for almost twelve months without a job but both parents left him some money. Great deal of unemployment amongst ex-servicemen.
Wife working in a comptometer firm where he got first job as a saleman. Met his wife there. Was with the same firm until he retired. Married in 1926. Had house built in Chorlton and lived there until he retired. Went to live for ten years in Bournemouth and came back to be near family. Further details of the house. Details of holidays, cinemas they used to go to. Discussion of the Chorlton area.
Wife - worked at Boots. Had to walk from All Saints to Alexandra Park morning, dinner time and at night. Eventually got a job as a telephonist within the Post Office. Ended up as a manageress of an office of film rentals. Enjoyed work very much. Dinners put on for promotional purposes. at the Midland Hotel. |
