Martin Family Memories

In writing this story, as with many of our memories, I rely on my siblings for clarification and help remembering the stories.

After leaving the foster home when she was 14 years old (see the witch story) mom was sent to  be a mother’s helper.  She was placed in domestic service to a family named Groves.  They had two small girls.  Mom’s job was to clean the house, do the girls’ laundry,  etc.  She was given Saturday afternoons and Sundays off.   She was in their service for two years (1938 to 1940) until she reached the age of 16 at which time she would have been emancipated.

Mom learned so much from Mrs. Groves on how to run a household, how to take care of babies and generally how to carry yourself and be in the world.  She had to work hard but learned a lot in those two years.  Mom was also proud of the fact that Mrs. Groves’ father was a doctor.

The Groves would often take their holidays at the seaside.  One particular time when they were there, the beaches were covered with soldiers in all different uniforms from many different nations, all speaking different languages, thousands of them.   The sea was full of boats and men were jumping into the water and swimming to the shore.  From mom’s description it sounded like it was chaotic but exciting.  Parents were warning their young daughters not to speak to any of the soldiers.  But, regardless of the warning, these young girls would run up and down the beaches getting autographs in their diaries. Mom talked about being excited to be on the beach.  She talked of remembering wearing a bright yellow dress with flowers.

That was the story we heard growing up from mom.

So let’s back up to the beginning of this story when mom leaves the foster home.  Mom always called herself a “mother’s helper.”  But I couldn’t find any information or programs in Britain at that time by that name.  And in my search to fill in some pieces of this story, I asked my cousins in England if they knew which children’s home the Thompson kids would have been sent.   My cousin Charlie Thompson (from the Isle of Wight) said that his dad, Charlie Thompson and my mom had been sent to Dr. Bernardo’s Children’s Home.  We also know that Aunt Iris (Iris Palmer), Dennis, and Avis were at the same home.

Armed with that information, I contacted Bernardo’s and was able to fill out a form to have them check their records so we could find out specific dates as to mom’s time with Bernardo’s.  But alas, I was disappointed when they responded back that they were unable to locate any records for mom.  So she must have been in another children’s home.  (There were many different ones back in those days).  Bernardo’s did provide me with a list of other agencies that might have her records.

But from what I read, Dr. Bernardo’s and other similar institutions would foster children out until they were done with their compulsory education.  The fostered children would be returned to the children’s home to be trained for domestic service.  I don’t know how long the training was but once completed mom was serviced out to the Groves family.  Side note:  England, before 1944 had compulsory education for children up to age 14.   By the time mom went into domestic service she was finished with her schooling.

During the time mom was with the Groves family here are some of the things that were happening in England at that time.  Reading through this list, I am pretty sure when mom was talked about all the soldiers on the beaches speaking all different languages, she was talking about the evacuation of Dunkirk.

• 1938  
• 9 July gas masks are issued to the civilian population
• 13 September Prime Minister Chamberlain meets German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in an  attempt to negotiate an end to German expansionist policies
• 1939
• 25 February – first bomb shelter built in London
• 31 March – Britain pledges support to Poland in the event of an invasion
• 27 April – Military Training Act conscription; men aged 20 and 21 must undertake six months military training
• 30 August – Royal Navy proceeds to war stations
• 1 September
  • “Operation Pied Piper”: 4-day evacuation of children from London and other major U.K. cities begins.  History of Evacuations
  • Blackout imposed across Britain
  • The Army is officially mobilised
• 3 September – World War II  Declaration of War by the United Kingdom on Nazi Germany following the German Invasion of Poland on 1 September
  • General mobilisation of the armed services begins. The signal “Total Germany” is sent to ships
  • National Service (Armed Forces) Act passed by Parliament introduces National Service for all men aged 18 to 41
• 24 September petrol rationing introduced
• 29 September –national register of citizens compiled to support the introduction of identity cards and rationing
• 30 September – Identity cards introduced
• 1 October – call-up proclamation: All men aged 20–21 must register with the military authorities
• 17 October – first bomb lands in the U.K., at Hoy in the Orkney Islands
• 1940
• 1 January – World War II: Britain calls up 2,000,000 19- to 27-year-olds for military service
• 8 January – food rationing introduced
• 3 February – a Heinkel He 111 bomber is the first German plane shot down over England
• 11 March – Rationing of meat introduced
• 16 March – First civilian casualty of bombing in the UK, on Orkney
• 2 May – Last British and French troops evacuated from Norway following failure in the Norwegian Campaign
• 10 May – Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister, and is replaced by Winston Churchill
• 26 May–4 June – The Dunkirk evacuation takes place. 300,000 troops are evacuated from France to England.

When mom (Joyce Thompson) was about 5 years old, her mother made her a paper costume for a parade.  The year would have been 1929.

This parade was a BIG event.  Everyone in Peterborough was there.  People lined up and down the streets.  In 1929 Peterborough had a population of about 40,000 people.  But am sure, as with any big event, people from all around the countryside would have come too.  There was a lot of excitement weeks before the big parade.  I don’t know for sure but I think this event might have been the hospital carnival parade.  The parade was a fund raiser for the War Memorial Hospital.  You see, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was coming to Peterborough to attend the parade, open an extension of the Power Station, lay the foundation stone for the new Town Hall, and open a children’s wing at the hospital.

So there’s our little Joyce, all proud in her paper costume and filled with excitement from all the going ons. She’s happy and proud standing with her mom watching the parade.  And here comes the fire brigade.  They are part of the parade and as they roll down the street they are spraying a firehose on the spectators.  Everyone is squealing and laughing.  As they pass in front of mom, they turn their hose on the people around her.  She gets caught in the spray.  She looks down and she’s soaking wet and her paper costume is in ruins.  She was crushed.  That beautiful costume is no more.  And there she stands.  The firemen thought it was funny.  But she didn’t.  She is mortified and in tears.  Her day is ruined.

In this story I will refer to my mom as mom.

Her name was Joyce Thompson and she was sent to an orphanage (the orphanage may have been in Ipswich) after her mother (Grandma Florence) died.  Mom was 9 years old at the time.  I don’t know how long she was in the orphanage, a few months I think.  People would come through the orphanage and look at the kids to see who they wanted to foster into their homes.  One day mom was selected.  Aunt Iris was there too but she wasn’t picked because she looked “sickly”.  She was just getting over the flu or some other childhood illness so she looked pale and weak.

So mom got a home. You would think this may have been a bright light for our mom, getting out of the orphanage with its strict discipline and harsh routine.  But it was not to be.  This new family lived in Pidley.  Pidley is a small village in south eastern England about 20 miles southeast of Peterborough, mom’s hometown.  The family, I think their last name was Davis, consisted of a women whom mom called the “witch” and I will refer to her as that (with no capitalization, please), and her husband “who was weird and drank homemade beer” and their daughter, a spoiled brat according to mom.  I think the daughter was a little older than mom.

Mom arrived as a scared little 9 year old still griefing over the death of her mother.  She possessed one small suitcase with clothes and shoes provided by the orphanage and a few little personal possession, including a doll. The moment mom arrived, the “witch” took away all her personal possessions and gave them to her own daughter. Mom was left with the clothes and shoes provided by the orphanage.  The “witch” even took the suitcase.

Mom settled in to learning the rules of the new household.  There was a foster boy there too.  I don’t know his name or how long he was there, but the foster kids could only play in the back garden.  They had to sit on a bench and play.  The couldn’t run, skip or jump because that would wear out their shoes and the “witch” was not going to buy them any new shoes.  The privileged daughter didn’t live by the same rules.  She got to do whatever she wanted.  She always had new shoes and she had mom’s doll.

There were times when the foster children were allowed to go pick berries.  Mom and the foster boy would take their buckets and go off walking to the berry patch.  But as soon as they were out of sight of the house, they were off running, skipping and jumping finding freedom to just be kids.  Those were treasured and happy moments for mom, away from the “witch” and her rules.  But the “witch” would always check their shoes when they got home to see if they had been skipping and running.

Mom stayed with this family until she turned 14 (five long years).  At that time, as did a lot of girls in England, she was sent to a home to be a mother’s helper.  When she left, she left with nothing but the clothes on her back.  The “witch” was suppose to provide her with two sets of clothes and a suitcase when she left.  The “witch” was given a monthly stipend for 5 years for mom’s care.  But this was an exciting and happy day for mom…to be away from this “witch” and hopefully into a better circumstance.  But it turned into a very sad day.  The car pulled up to take her to her new home and a new foster kid was getting out of the car.  The “witch” said “your sister, Avis is coming to stay with us.”  The “witch”  said they could not speak to each other, they couldn’t embrace…they could only pass each other on the sidewalk and move on.  It was heartbreaking.  As it turned out even more tragic as that was the last time mom ever saw Avis.  Avis died in the “witches” care under “mysterious” circumstances.  Shortly after Avis’ death, the “witch” family left the village in a hurry.  (See note below).

Note:  mom knew Avis had died in the care of this foster family and could never figure out how or why.  When mom and I went to England in 1986, we went to the little village of Pidley.  Mom wanted to see if she could find a gravesite for Avis at the village church and cemetary.  We could not.  We found out later, because Avis was a ward of the state, she would have been buried somewhere else.  We never found out where.  But the Davis house where mom was fostered was still there.  It was empty and boarded up, but we were able to get into the back garden.  Mom relived those years explaining how her and the foster boy would sit on the bench and play games.  We went to the house next door and knocked.  This lovely lady came to the door and we told her the story and that we were looking for any information on the family that lived there and what happened to them.  She invited us in for tea.  She told us that from what she’d heard the family had left Pidley in a hurry after some “mysterious” event right after Avis’ death.  She believed that the “witch” was caught pocketing the funds that she was given to take care of these children.  And that neglect may have been the cause of Avis’ death.