House in Cheam During the War

"I've brought a few items in"

My mother, Beatrice Elkins, who lives locally, was born in 1939. Her parents met in the First World War. Her mother was French, from Northern France and her father was fighting in the trenches. They fell in love and after the war, moved back to the UK. I must say that her French mother never liked the weather or the food.

They lived in Cardiff for a while. Sadly their first child, Louis, died at 6 months old of meningitis. Unfortunately, there was never a grave, because they didn't provide graves if the child died before a certain age. So my mother never got to meet her brother.

I have two photographs - the first one was taken about 1941. And you can see my mother wearing a cute, little white coat standing outside a smart house in Cheam. It had been built a few years before the war in a mock-Tudor style with these smart railings and privet hedge. Her dad used to love clipping the hedge and keeping it neat - he was quite strict. This is 8 Belmont Rise in Cheam. These railings were taken away for the war effort. And in the second photograph, you can see her French mother (who lived with them because she could not bear to live through another war and so, despite her dislike for England, moved here early in the war). These are the workmen dismantling the railings.

I believe that it became too dangerous to remain in Cheam because of the bombing and so they moved to Leamington Spa with her French mother. They lived near a convent in Leamington Spa and these nuns came from Northern France as well. Apparently some of the nuns were already friends with my grandmother and she communicated with them. They spent a lot of time in the nunnery and that's how my mum learned to crochet.

My grandfather was called Reginald Hussey - they had 11 children. The contributor's mother's cousin, Maureen Pickering, didn't ever marry. She was born in 1926 - she was 13 when the war broke out. By the end of the war, when she could have married, there weren't so many men around. She dedicated her life to travel and went on lots of exotic holidays. I have brought in her exam papers - entrance exam from 1937, others in 1940s. She lived in Cardiff. She was very proud of all the exams she passed. When you read the questions, they are really quite challenging. For instance, for a History paper, number one, either compare briefly the services rendered to Britain by Walpole and Chatham, or compare the services of the Younger Pitt as prime minister in peace with those that served in war. She was very proud of her academic achievements. She went on to work for the Prudential for most of her life, she worked for the General Post Office before that. She was definitely a very numerate lady. I don't recall her going to university. She had written notes in the margin of an Annual salary £160 and has worked out 1/12 of £160. There's also a prayer book, called 'Gold Dust'. I wouldn't be surprised if it belonged to Maud (my great aunt). My mother was brought up Catholic, but I'm not sure about Maud.

Autograph books belonged to Maureen and this one belonged to her mother. This was written at the High School for Girls, Swansea. I think these were just friends' autographs as a keepsake. E.g. Hazel wrote "When you are married and your husband gets cross, pick up the poker and shown him who's boss!". Little comments from her mother encouraging her daughter. Gilbert Pickering wrote "Never trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you. For if you trouble trouble, trouble will be sure to trouble you." A recipe for a Wedding Cake:"2 ounces of love, 3 ounces of kisses, 1 ounce of hugs, and serve in a dark corner". Meant to be a little bit racy. Another, "Pity the man with a ragged coat without the money to mend it, but bother the man with plenty who hasn't the heart to spend it". Little bit of advice about who to get married to. Autograph book from about the time she was leaving school. This is her mother's autograph book from around the time of the First World War. Her Dad wrote "Be a good girl, lead a good life, get a kind husband, and be a good wife" (1912). Those were her father's expectations.

Claude Percival Thomas was born to Gladys who was the sister to my Grandfather. He was killed in April 1941 when he was 21. He was shot down in a Hampden bomber on an overnight raid on Kiel. I have a picture of him here. I don't know a lot about him, but he fits into the family tree. This information came from Maureen who was very interested in the family history and traced it back to 1793. I don't know how the family was informed about Claude's death.