Story of my father

My father and mother were both born in 1906; my sister in 1936; myself in 1943. My parents were married in 1935.

Both parents came from a non-conformist church background in the Manchester area. I think they both had left wing political leanings in their early 20s. They had both become acquainted with Quakers.  They were married at a Quaker Meeting House, but had no longer term connection with Quakers until about 1952.

1936: Dad was teaching commerce at a Lancashire Technical College.

He decided he was going to have nothing to do with the war, or preparations for it.

1938: Mother and sister briefly went to Northern Ireland (to escape possible consequences of the Munich crisis?).

1939: Dad recognised that some of his students (Mechanical Engineers) would be heading for jobs in war preparations. He was not comfortable with this. He resigned his job and made plans to emigrate to Canada, plans that were later abandoned.  The family moved to a small rented cottage in  the Lake District, to be well away from the war, but with primitive living conditions.

1941: Dad had his CO tribunal at Carlisle. My mother spoke as a witness. He was granted unconditional exemption (the only outcome he would have accepted; I suspect he would have gone to prison rather than accept anything else). Local Quakers provided overnight accommodation, but Dad had deliberately not joined the Quakers; he did not want their help or to be treated any more favourably. He wanted to “stand on his own two feet”.

Meanwhile he was looking for a new teaching job. We later established that he had been given (false) poor references by his previous employers who resented him leaving or did not approve of his stance as a CO. Potential employers were probably also discriminated against him as a CO. Eventually he found the Welsh to be more sympathetic.

1940: After a year of unemployment, he got a job in a school in North Wales, and lived much of the time in a caravan on a farm.

1942: He moved to a technical college in South Wales, but still lived in a caravan through a cold winter. At weekends he often travelled “home” to the Lake District on Friday overnight, and back again on Sunday overnight, going straight to work on Monday mornings.

As a baby I travelled by train to South Wales with my Mum and sister to visit Dad.

I suspect he could not face another winter away from family, so resigned and found a short-term job in the Manchester area. He lived with his parents and could travel “home” at weekends more easily.

1945 He got a job at a school in north Lakeland and stayed up there from Monday to Friday. The journey home at weekends was much shorter.  In the summer we all lived in the caravan near his job.

1946 He moved to a job within daily bus travelling distance.

1950 We all moved to a newly built house (probably the first my parents owned) within walking distance of Dad’s job.

1951: Christmas, we had a German boy to stay – a gesture to rebuilding relations.

1952: We all joined Quakers.

1958 – 62: Both parents very involved in CND locally.

1964: Dad had a serious heart attack, perhaps a consequence of some rough times he had endured. But he recovered slowly, and lived until 1977.

1998: Mum died.