My wife Sushri and I are fortunate to be grandparents and thoroughly enjoy the relationships with our grandchildren. Conversations between us and with close friends have prompted me to try and articulate some thoughts and memories.
My two grandmothers, Edith and Martha, were wonderful, loving, ladies and I was lucky to spend a lot of time with them when young. My great aunts, Winnifred and Doris, were also wonderful.
While I cannot say that I have never thought about it before, it is only after we have been grandparents ourselves that I have thought more about my own grandparents, especially my two grandfathers who I never knew.
I can remember little of what may have been shared with me by my parents and grandmothers/great aunts about my grandfathers. What I do know is:
My paternal grandfather, Charles, was listed as killed in action on 31st July 1917 in World War 1 at the battle of Passchendaele, near Ypres in Belgium. He was 29 years old and left my grandmother, Edith, as a 26 year old widow with a child of only 2 years old, my dad, Alfred. My grandmother Edith remained single as a widow for the rest of her life.
Charles was a Private in the Tank Corps serving in the very early generation of armoured tanks. His body could not, presumably, be identified or found as there is no grave for him. He is remembered only by his name, number and rank which are recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. From the little I have been able to glean from online information and records, it seems that only two tanks were deployed in the battle of 31st July 1917 in the first assault towards Pilckem Ridge. Both tanks were probably bogged down in the appalling conditions. I can only imagine that my grandfather Charles was in one of these tanks and cannot establish whether he died in a tank or outside, if he was forced to abandon the tank. While in my early teens, we learnt that my grandmother Edith had never had the opportunity to visit the Menin Gate Memorial and the general area where my grandfather had fought and died.
My memories are a bit hazy but my great Aunt Winnifred and my mum, Kathleen, organised a family trip and we travelled with my grandmother to Belgium for a few days to visit the memorial. Sushri and I actually visited the Menin Gate in 2025 while taking a short break in Belgium and found my grandfather’s name. It’s a moving experience both because of the personal connection and because of the incredible number of names on the memorial. It must have been an horrific time for so many young men and their families.
My maternal grandfather, Osbert, died in October 1950, some three years before I was born. I don’t know the cause of death.
I know even less about grandfather Osbert other than he did serve in the Royal Marines. I also have a recollection of it being said that while in the Marines he served in Southern Africa at some point.
I can only speculate but I think my grandmother Martha probably could not afford to remain in the family home at Blatchbridge, near Frome, in Somerset. My only memories are of grandmother Martha sharing her life between our home at Southgate in North London and my aunt Elsie’s home in Frome and latterly in Pill, Somerset. I also remember grandmother Martha struggling with arthritis and increasingly so in her later years seriously hampering her mobility.
I
My dad Alfred was born on 7th February 1915 and grew up in the Tottenham area of London. He lived in a house known as “Dial House” (because of a large sun dial on the side of the house) with my grandmother Edith where she worked as a housekeeper to a doctor and his family. Dial House is right next to the Tottenham Hotspur FC ground in White Hart Lane. I don’t know exactly how long they lived there, maybe until my grandmother Edith retired, because my only memories are of grandmother Edith sharing a rented house with her sister, my great aunt, Winnifred, in Enfield, North London.
My great aunt Winnifred was also a widow from a very young age and never remarried. From parish records I learnt that she married her husband, Arthur Henry Davis a Builder’s Labourer, on 6th October 1923 and that he died in June 1924. I have no recollection of him being discussed or how he died. My memory is that aunt Winnifred worked at the Belling factory in Enfield making electrical appliances on the factory production line until she retired.
We visited my grandmother Edith and great aunt Winnifred frequently. We used to travel by bus and then had a very long walk to their house. Later my dad Alfred managed to get a car. That made visiting a lot easier and meant that we could pick them up for visits to our house or outings. When I was old enough I used to visit them on my bicycle (about 4 miles) and sometimes help them with odd jobs in the garden and so on.
II
I grew up in my parents, Alfred and Kathleen’s, home in Southgate, North London. I think this was my parents first proper home after they married and initially it was the first floor of the house that they shared with another couple. At some point my parents had the opportunity to take over the entire house and raise a mortgage to buy it. My only memories are of living in the whole house.
My parents married in 1940 in the early stages of World War 2. From old photographs of their wedding my dad Alfred had already joined the army as he married in uniform. He was in the Royal Corps of Signals and was a motorcycle dispatch rider. I don’t know the details but my dad Alfred was involved in some kind of incident or accident while serving overseas and was hospitalised in Cyprus before eventually being shipped home. He lost his right leg from the thigh down and had a prosthetic limb for the rest of his life.
Despite the disability my dad was very active. He was a keen carpenter and made furniture for our house and a large yacht for me to sail in boating lakes. One of his biggest projects was to build a timber veranda with large glass windows and a glass roof across the whole of the rear of our house. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate the achievement – he was my dad and in my mind he could do many things – but looking back it is impressive. The veranda stood until my mum eventually sold the house around 1982/83 and probably stood even longer. My dad also maintained our family car doing routine servicing and repairs that were required more frequently in those days. I would sit and pass him spanners, screwdrivers etc.
My childhood was very happy. It was a very friendly neighbourhood and children played with each other all the time. Actually we often roamed for miles playing in woods and fields with no fear or concern, returning home only when hungry. Life was simple with no social media or online entertainment. We didn’t have a TV until I was maybe 7 and then it only had 2 channels. My grandmother, Martha, used to bake cakes and pies and put them in the veranda to cool. When we had the chance, I used to sneak in with a couple of friends and sample the cakes when she wasn’t looking. If she saw us then she would chase us into the garden but never caught us.
We had family holidays at coastal locations in Kent, Sussex, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, or with my mum’s sister, Elsie, and her family in Somerset. Elsie’s husband, Terry, was a village policeman so knew everybody in the area. We sometimes spent the Christmas holiday in Somerset when on most mornings leading up to Christmas, various things like pheasants, rabbits, hams, turkey’s, cider would appear on the house doorstep. Maybe because Terry had “not noticed” some things. Most Christmas holidays that I remember were in our family house with lots of people staying. Great fun with people sleeping wherever they could find a place and queues for the single bathroom and toilet.
I attended the nearby Debohun infant and primary school until the age of 11. This was a wonderful school and played a big part in my childhood. My dad was absolutely overjoyed when I passed the 11+ exam and won a place at the local grammar school. So happy, he took me out and bought me a new bicycle and a camera.
I didn’t even know that I had taken the 11+ exam until then and realised that it was probably on a particular day when the whole of my year were led into the main hall and sat down to do what we thought was a normal test. I joined Southgate Grammar School in September 1966 and started fairly well but my world was soon to change.
I knew my dad hadn’t been very well for a while but I didn’t know or appreciate that he was actually seriously ill with Angina. In those days adults often didn’t share things with children where they thought the child may be upset. After a spell in hospital, he passed away on 17th November 1966. It was a shock and it took some time for me to come to terms with it.
III
My mum had not worked during her married life as far as I can recall. She did work before she was married and we know that before she was married and left her home town of Frome, Somerset, she was working as PA/Secretary to the Managing Director of the Singer Sewing Machine Company there. We came across her appointment letter and a receipt for her Singer sewing machine (which we still have and still works perfectly). My mum was always at home during my early childhood and did not work at all as far as I can recall. She was fully engaged in running our home and taking care of me and my dad.
After my dad died my mum started to work. I guess this was because her income was extremely limited or maybe even zero. She took a job as an assistant at a local private school for children from the age of kindergarten to 11 or 12 years old. The working hours revolved around school timings so I think this also allowed her to be around at home when I was not at school.
I had a couple of small activities delivering newspapers and car washing that had given me pocket money but nothing really substantive. A short while after my dad died, I was able to get a part time job at a local fruit and vegetable shop. I would work every afternoon/evening from around 3:45pm to 6:00pm and all day of Saturdays from 8:00am until 6:00pm. I remember my weekly pay then for those hours was £1.50 which doesn’t sound much at all these days but was actually not bad then and I was able to supplement this from tips that I received when delivering orders to customers on the shop delivery bike. One of the biggest benefits from this job was that I was allowed to take home fruit and vegetables for very little or no cost which helped a bit at home. Sometimes I also helped out at the next door butcher’s shop that was owned by the same man. I stuck with this job until I left school. I also supplemented this with gardening jobs in the spring and summer holiday periods.
My mum had a cousin, Fred Burge who I knew as Uncle Fred. He and his wife Rose had always been very close to us and were very close to my parents long before I was born. They lived in Fulham in South West London. Uncle Fred was an Electrical Engineer with a large contracting company and I remember that much of the latter part of his career was involved with Barclays Bank constructing major computer centres around the country. Aunty Rose worked part time in the office of John Lewis’s department store in Oxford Street. Uncle Fred and Aunty Rose were very supportive after my dad died. They visited even more frequently and in many respects Uncle Fred filled something of the gap in my life left by my dad. We don’t always realise things at the time but Uncle Fred was a wonderful mentor and father figure for me and I am sure that both he and Aunty Rose would have helped my mum in many ways, probably including some financial support.
My time at Southgate Grammar School was mixed. I loved the sports, football, basketball, athletics and even cricket. I was not as studious as I could have been and struggled to focus on homework preferring to work in the fruit and vegetable shop and playing football for local clubs and with friends. At 16, I managed to pass two GCE O levels and a CSE pass in English, Maths and French. My German master thought he had finally achieved something the previous year when I scored 9% in a mock exam but said from there on I should concentrate on French. The German language was and remains a complete mystery to me. I left school at the age of 16 in the summer of 1970.
In other spare time I would go fishing to lakes and rivers that I could get to on my bike sometimes with one or two friends, sometimes on my own. On one infamous occasion after a day’s fishing I had a lot of bait left over – maggots- and I put them in our little fridge to try and keep them longer for another day’s fishing. I awoke the following morning to my mum yelling and screaming (which she never did). The maggots had escaped from the bait box and were everywhere in the kitchen and downstairs rooms. Needless to say from then on my bait had to be kept outside!
I purchased a small motorbike (for £20, including a second-hand crash helmet) when I was 16 which increased my mobility a lot and I scooted all over the place with it. It also meant I could venture farther afield for fishing.
While I felt the need to work and bring some money in, I had no clue what I wanted to do or could do. I looked around for jobs locally and initially took a job with an estate agent as an office junior. The pay was reasonable, about £8.00 per week from memory, but after a couple of weeks I realised there was no future in what was essentially a small family business giving priority to family members and friends. So I started looking for another job.
I applied for different roles and had a few interviews. I was offered a position as a Purchasing Assistant with an engineering and mining consultancy company with the fantastic salary of £14.00 per week. The Company’s office was in the City of London, opposite to the Tower of London, which was one reason the salary was higher but even then it was way more than my friends were making at the time so I decided to take the job. Little did I know then that I would stay more than 46 years with the same Company starting as a lowly assistant and retiring as Managing Director and with directorships in other group companies. My job evolved and I had the privilege of working in many countries on many different projects.
A group of five of us had been firm friends during our time at Southgate Grammar School and after we left school until our late teens and very early 20’s. We socialised together, had a couple of ten pin bowling teams, and generally hung out together. Sadly we drifted apart when we started developing in our respective careers and started marrying etc and never really picked up the friendships again. During a period of quarantine at home (because of a tb scare) in 2001 I tried to reconnect with the group. I exchanged messages with four of the five but nobody seemed very interested in picking up again so I left it at that.
Account of my career and later will follow
Chris Wells has worked in multiple countries in the mining and minerals processing industry around the world and spent many years based in India.
He and his wife, Sushri, still maintain a home in Kolkata which they try to visit at least once most years.
Since retirement, Chris has continued to provide support to his old company on a part-time basis together with working to support charities and develop projects in and around Chesterfield, UK where Sushri and he live.