Item list and details
1. Diana's story of living in Coventry
2. Cover of book "The City we Loved" - contents photographed but not included
3. Cover of book "Coventry Under Fire" - contents photographed but not included
4. Cover of book "Stork - Wartime Cookery Book - contents photographed, not included
5. Photographs (121240 BIC023 1.jpg):
Photos of John Barton's uncles, Gordon and Collin Symes, who served in the war. Their family home was in Shropshire, near Shrewsbury. Gordon Symes was in India during World War Two (though the contributor is not sure where). Meanwhile, to the best of the contributor's knowledge, his other Uncle Collin ended up in the Netherlands and/or Belgium.
Photo set of Uncle Gordon Symes #1: The two bottom photos of him are labelled with his name, Capt. Gordon P. Symes.
The top three contain short text at the back which were written by him. From the left, they read as follows:
(Top left) View of garden through porch at front door
(Top centre) Three planters (& myself) who went with me on the pig shoot. My shirt is a borrowed one.
(Top right) Early morning view of garden & drive
6. Photographs (121240 BIC023 2.jpg):
Photo set of Uncle Gordon Symes #2: The top three photos were taken in the UK. The middle one of these contains the following information written on the back: -Private G. P. Symes, Oxford & Bucks, Intelligence Section, followed by his mother's name and address as a return to. The contributor assumes that the remaining five photos were taken in India.
7. Photographs (121240 BIC023 2.jpg):
Photo set of Uncle Collin Symes #3: The contributor is not sure where exactly most of these were taken, except for the photograph in the bottom centre. (There are two photographs in the bottom righthand corner; for clarity, the photo being referred to is the left one out of these two, which is a vertically oriented, close-up photo of him). This has the following information written at the back: -Private C Symes, KSLI, followed by his mother's name and address as a return to. The contributor notes that he appears to be in front of his parents' house, Brook House.Person the story/items relate to
Diana Barton - married name
John Barton's uncles - Private Collin Symes and Capt. Gordon P. SymesPerson who shared the story/items
Diana Jean BartonRelationship between the subject of the story and its contributor
Volunteer and contributor of own materialType of submission
Shared at Bicester Library, Oxfordshire on 25 November 2023. The event was organised by Bicester Local History Society.Record ID
121240 | BIC023
