James Arthur Weeks	b  22 Feb 1869   d  22 Dec 1953
	  m  28 Jul 1894
	Emily Maud Waltham1	b  22 Feb 1866   d  26 Nov 1965

	  Arthur Henry	b   2 Jun 1895   d   3 Mar 1987
	  Florence Daisy	b  29 Sep 1896   d   4 Mar 1982
	  Eleanor Maud	b  29 May 1898   d  24 May 1985
	xx  Ethel Agnes	b  20 Oct 1899
	  Leslie Waltham	b  20 Dec 1900   d   4 Feb 1976
	  Gertrude Mary	b  26 Apr 1903
	  Cecil James	b   1 Apr 1906   d   2 Dec 1953


	JAMES ARTHUR WEEKS was born in a one-storey cottage (now demolished) in a lane now known as Charlton Park Lane in Charlton, Kent, but known then as Weeks's Lane.    From his own account of his early life, written many years later, he appears to have been a lively lad, interested in outdoor activities such as swimming and shooting. He went to school in Greenwich, and among other things developed an interest in Pitman's shorthand, which he learnt from the headmaster Dr Hepher who had been taught personally by Sir Isaac Pitman himself. At his best James could reach over 200 words a minute. (At one time he wanted to be an engineer but gave up the idea because it would interfere with his interest in shorthand!) He also developed an interest in languages, studying French, German and Italian and in due course also Hebrew and Greek. Much of his education was derived from evening classes as he left school at 14 and joined his father in the market gardening business, which included selling their produce at Covent Garden from 5 am onwards three mornings a week.

	Although brought up in the Church of England, James came in contact with the Plymouth Brethren, probably through Dr Hepher, and, to use his own words, "was converted at the age of 13 years and 5 months through the instrumentality of a Mr Wm B Sleeman". He was attached to his mother, whom he used to describe as "the most patient woman he ever knew", but when she died, at the end of a long and painful illness, James felt that as a convinced member of the Brethren he could not attend a Church of England funeral. His father was furious at his attitude, and they remained estranged from each other until his father also died a few months later.

	EMILY MAUD WALTHAM was born at 49 Crescent Rd, Plumstead. After leaving school she trained to be a teacher at Homerton College, near Victoria Park, Hackney, North London, starting there on 28 January 1886. That summer she had two weeks holiday at Southsea. When she was qualified she taught at Plum Lane School, Woolwich. In April 1889 she was, to judge from a letter written to her by her mother, at Brighton, probably on holiday. She was a member of the Plymouth Brethren at Woolwich, probably meeting at Charlton Hall, and it was there that she and James met.

	After their marriage James and Maud lived in Algernon Rd, Lewisham. When James' father died the market garden business was sold. James tried dealing on the foreign fruit market for a time but his great interest in shorthand led him to try for an office job. Having no training or experience whatever (for example he tried to print a copy of a letter without realising the need to use copying ink) he was dismissed from his first job within a fortnight. Undaunted, he then got a job in a larger office where he was able to learn from others, to such good effect that within a few months he became Manager of the Correspondence Department. He stayed there for about 2½ years during which time he studied for, and eventually passed, the Intermediate Examination of the Institute of Secretaries. He then got appointed as the Company Secretary to Nuttalls Ltd, a family business with a number of shops in Kingston, Surrey. As a result the family moved in 1898 to 44 Richmond Park Rd, Kingston, and from there in 1902 to 49 Birkenhead Avenue (now demolished).

	James' employer at Nuttalls was a coarse character and used to shout a lot. One day when he was bellowing "Weeks, Weeks" James decided to ignore him and quietly get on with his work. Eventually his employer came to where he was and shouted "Didn't you hear me calling you?" James said that he had heard some coarse character shouting but didn't think it could possibly be his boss wanting him. His employer never shouted for him again.

	In 1908 Nuttalls got into financial difficulties through erecting a new building whose costs had risen too high, and James lost his job and his £1000 stake in the company. He decided to visit the United States to look at the possibility of emigrating with his wife and family, and he spent several months in New York but in the end returned without any firm plans.  Some years earlier when his father died he had received a cheque for £300 and had not known what to do with it till a friend had suggested buying some houses, which he did, in  East London and New Cross, so now he decided he would manage them himself. He also started to devote much of his time, with Maud, to the further education of their children since the local school was not adequate.

	While still at Nuttalls James had insisted on a month's holiday each year, and the family used to spend two or more weeks each summer on the Sussex coast, usually at Worthing but once (in 1909) at Steyning. James and the older children would cycle there (about 60 miles) while Maud and the younger ones went by train. In the summer of 1912, the last occasion that they went, the weather was so hot that they decided to cycle during the night, and stopped for a sleep on the roadside near Dorking. Once at the seaside the holidays were spent largely in swimming and beach cricket. Once James went swimming in a hailstorm, and the hailstones beat on his bald head so painfully that he had to keep ducking his head under the water.

	The family were regular attenders at the Exclusive Brethren meetings held initially over an ironmongers shop run by Mr Ide in Fife Rd, Kingston, and then from 1904 in Kings Rd Hall. In 1910 the meeting split, with the Weeks family joining a breakaway group which also included the Betts, Groves, Inkpens, Menzies and Fosters. This group met in one or another of its members houses. Then in early 1912 the Weeks family came in touch with Mr Heward and the assembly of believers which met at 61 Upton Lane, Forest Gate, and at 43A The Broadway, Walham Green (Mr Richmond's house). The family started to travel often across London to meetings at Forest Gate. Being drawn towards Mr Heward's views, and with a number of houses already in East London, James and Maud decided in the autumn of 1912 to move to Milton House, 103 York Rd (now called Derby Rd), East Ham. They lived there for the next 6 years. James grew a high screen of convolvulus at the end of the garden to hide the sight of the rather slummy houses at the back.

	In August 1918 the family moved to 74 Claremont Rd, Forest Gate, the only home James rented rather than owned. It was their first house to be fitted with electric lighting. One night before the end of the war two of the children were playing with the two-way switches at the top and bottom of the stairs, one trying to keep the light on and the other to turn it off. They were stopped by shouts from neighbours who thought they were trying to signal to German aeroplanes. On another occasion the family returning from a Saturday evening meeting found the house had been broken into, but although the place was in a mess nothing was taken. In 1924 they were asked by the owner to leave and James bought 77 Claremont Rd, almost opposite, where they lived for the next 30 years or so.

	From 1912 until James died over 40 years later he and Maud  were staunch supporters of the assembly at 61 Upton Lane and regularly attended the meetings. For a long time James took down in shorthand virtually all Mr Heward's many addresses (he would speak for about 20 minutes perhaps 3 times each Sunday and 2 or 3 times on weekday evenings), and had a number of them typed up and circulated. As time went on he played an increasing part himself in the conduct of the meetings, speaking briefly and effectively on numerous occasions and taking part in discussions. He also made a major and continuing contribution to the financial support of Mr Heward and the assembly, including buying 61 Upton Lane (a large four-storied building) when the owner was no longer willing to rent it out.

	Of James and Maud's children, 3 out of the first 4 (Arthur, Flo and Ethel) together with their families were also members of the assembly at 61 Upton Lane. However the others broke away to return to the Exclusive Brethren. Under Mr Heward's influence the '61-ites' would not permit communion with any group not agreeing with their interpretation of the Bible, and in particular their celebration of the Lord's Supper in the evening with unleavened bread and unfermented wine. So James, who had a typical Victorian attitude to family discipline in any case, took a rather harsh attitude to his younger children's apostasy. Both Nell and Leslie lived away from home for a period. At one stage Cecil had to eat his meals on his own in the kitchen.

	Meanwhile James' interest in house dealing and maintenance continued to grow. Many of the houses were bought in the name of one or another of his children. In the early 1920's, when his sons Arthur, Leslie and (later) Cecil were working with him he set up the firm of "Weeks and Sons, Estate Agents, Builders and Decorators". In the 1930's it was run by his sons-in-law Albert Shriever and Kristen Riisnaes; later Kristen ran it on his own. It managed about 30 or 40 houses, mostly spread singly or in small rows around West and East Ham, with about 6 in Knoyle St, New Cross.

	By this time James had effectively retired and was devoting his time to Bible study, rose growing and cricket. The roses in his front garden, on 10 foot high trellises, were a beautiful and impressive sight, and he claimed that people would come a long way to see them. Although he had not played cricket since he left school almost 50 years before, he took the game up again with enthusiasm. He recognised that he was unlikely to be a "first choice" player for any regular team so his practice was to join two clubs provided each could guarantee him a game every other Saturday. During the summer of 1947, when he was nearly 80, he and his grandson Eric Riisnaes played together for a club called the Centralians (usually batting at 10 and 11). He was also keen on watching cricket, usually at the Essex county ground in Valentines Park, Ilford. On one occasion he found he did not have enough money to get home, and had to pawn his watch to get some. Everyone was very amused when, during a meeting at '61' shortly afterwards, he was asked to confirm whether the clock was correct and replied that he couldn't help as he had pawned his watch!

	In spite of this fondness for a team game James was a shy rather than a gregarious man. He had his own sense of humour, often laughing uproariously with his son Arthur. He was always very fond of children, first his own and later his grand-children. He went bald while still a young man, and used to wash his bald head under a tap every day. In general he made almost a fetish of personal cleanliness and would not allow jam or any sticky food near him on the meal table. He usually wore a closely trimmed beard and in later years when it had become silvery he claimed with a touch of pride that he had more than once been mistaken for King George V.

	Maud's personality was a good foil to his. She was upright, forthright, not given to humour, a careful housekeeper (James said, half jokingly, that she under-fed him), and a good mother and grandmother. Of medium height in her youth, she became both short and bowed as she got older.

	Both remained in excellent health until they were quite old. In the early 1940's they went to stay at Rushall in Norfolk with their daughter Flo and her family, and happily rode bicycles again, something they had not done for 30 years. In her 80th year Maud walked up Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, with her daughter Ethel. However a few years later Maud had a slight stroke, and though she recovered almost completely the couple were for a short while dependent on others to look after them for the first time in their lives.

	When James died, of cancer after a short illness, Maud lived on at 77 Claremont Rd for some time, with a friend to keep her company. Then she moved to Thundersley, Essex, to live with her daughter Flo and her husband. The last years of her life (from 25 Oct 1957) were spent with her daughter Eleanor at 1 Mill Rd, Deal, Kent. By this time her memory, even of her own family, was becoming very poor, but she continued to enjoy excellent health until she died of old age only 3 months before her 100th birthday.

	ARTHUR HENRY was born at Lewisham, and grew up in Kingston, Surrey.
	When the First World War started in 1914, Arthur was working for Westminster Bank in London and living with his parents at East Ham. He registered as a Consciencious Objector on relig-ious grounds, and was at first allowed to stay in a "reserved occupation" by working on a farm at Rainham in Essex. Having a not very robust constitution (he was always very thin) he found this extremely hard. Later the regulations were tightened up further as more men were needed for the war, and he was ordered to join the Army. He duly reported at the Recruiting Centre but when ordered to put a uniform on he refused, and he was then sentenced to solitary confinement in Wormwood Scrubs. After a few weeks or months he was transferred to Wakefield Jail in Yorkshire where he worked at making mailbags. At Christmas some of the prisoners were let out for a few days to visit their families but were not allowed to use any public transport. Arthur's father James went up to Wakefield and somehow managed to get hold of two bicycles on which they set out to cycle back to London. However Arthur was clearly not strong enough to cycle the whole way, so they gave up and hired a taxi. James had not got enough money with him to pay for the taxi so they decided to go to Walham Green where a close friend, Mr Richmond, had a shop and plenty of ready cash. They arrived on the Saturday night, slept there, and on the Sunday morning James and Arthur walked all the way across London from Walham Green home to East Ham. It appears that the ban on use of public transport was lifted in time for him to go back to Wakefield by train.

	In due course he was moved again, to Dartmoor, where he worked in the fields. He was happier there than at previous gaols and made a number of Christian friends.
	After the war Westminster Bank refused to have him back as he had been a C.O. so he studied to become a chartered account-ant. For a time he had an office at Stratford, and after marry-ing (Oct 1923) Hilda Lilian Cook (b 11 Mar 1903) they lived for a period (1926/7) upstairs at 23 Chobham Rd, in a house occupied by his sister Ethel and her family. Later Arthur took over an office in Forest Gate, over a bank on the corner of Woodgrange Rd and Osborne Rd, and stayed there for the rest of his working life. At one time Hilda's brother worked for him; later his sister-in-law Gladys worked as his secretary, as did Ethel and his own wife Hilda occasionally.

	Arthur and Hilda lived at 4 Claremont Rd, Forest Gate (the same road where Arthur's parents lived) for many years, and then moved to 147 Clayhall Ave, Ilford, before the Second World War. They moved again several times, mostly in the Ilford/ Wanstead area but also living for a time at Ernest Rd, Emerson Park, Hornchurch.. The house in Claremont Rd remained their property and was occupied by three spinster sisters, the Elseys, till it was hit by a land mine dropped during the night of 16 April 1941. All three sisters miraculously survived but the house was totally destroyed.

	Arthur and Hilda had one son, Geoffrey Chudleigh (b 6 Jul 1939). They were both fond of classical music and had an extensive collection of gramophone records. They were consistent attenders at the meeting at 61 Upton Lane throughout their life in the Forest Gate area, though Arthur did not say much at the meetings. Arthur was tall and thin, with a somewhat sharp sense of humour. Hilda was short and swarthy with a husky voice.

	When Arthur retired the couple moved to a bungalow at Southbourne near Bournemouth together with Geoffrey who remained unmarried. After Hilda died (22 Sep 1979) Arthur and Geoffrey continued to live together. Arthur began to suffer from nerves and depression and Geoffrey did not want to have to look after him. Eventually Arthur went to live in an old peoples' home in Christchurch. His mind and memory started to fail and some months before he died his sisters Ethel and Peg stopped visiting him.

	FLORENCE DAISY was born in Kingston, Surrey. As the eldest daughter she felt impelled to set a good example to her sisters and younger brothers. She was devoted to her father and always tried to sit next to him at meals.
	At the same time she enjoyed adventure. Once in Wanstead Park she was climbing out along the branch of a tree when it broke and she fell into the lake below. She had to stand up in the tram (or bus) going home as she was too wet to sit down.

	Once, in her teens, she was looking after a £5 note for her sister Peg - a large white note in those days, and of course a great deal of money. She needed to visit a public lavatory, and as there was no paper there she used a piece she was carrying. To her horror she realised too late the she had flushed the £5 note down the pan. It took her many months to save enough money to discharge the debt to her sister.

	She married (31 Jul 1925) James Albert Shriever (b 16 Oct 1890) who was of German descent. Some years earlier Albert had become a Christian and joined the meeting at 61 Upton Lane. When Kristen Riisnaes joined the same meeting they became friends and used to visit the London docks together on missionary work (see 2).

	After Albert and Flo got married they lived in a number of houses including, for a time around 1929, upstairs at 23 Chobham Rd where Flo's sister Ethel lived. Eventually they settled at 136 Hampton Rd, Forest Gate, not far from Flo's parents. Early in the Second World War they moved to the upstairs of 77 Claremont Rd (Flo's parents house) partly in order to be near them in the event of air raids. During most of this time Albert worked as a house repairer and decorator, initially for Weeks and Sons and then on his own.

	When the air raids started in 1940, Albert did duty as a fire watcher. However the continual night raids began to affect his nerves and the family decided to get out of London. In  April 1941 they moved to Glemsford in Suffolk. By July they had moved again, to Rushall in Norfolk. After living for a few weeks in a very old damp house owned by a Christian acquaintance, Mr Deeks, they settled in a modern bungalow close by. It was built of wood and was very cold in winter; despite a fire burning all day in the living room boots left by the door would stay frozen.

	Throughout their time in the Forest Gate area the family were regular participants in the meetings at 61 Upton Lane. When they moved away they remained in contact through small associated groups at Glemsford and then at Dickleburgh near Rushall in Norfolk with the Lings and Burrows families. In time they started to attend a Mission Hall at nearby Pulham. After the war they moved to a house in Pulham, next door to a friend from the Mission Hall, Miss Durrant.

	Some years later they, together with Miss Durrant, moved to Thundersleigh in Essex. After Albert died (17 May 1963) Flo continued to live at Rayleigh, Essex, with Miss Durrant.

	Albert and Flo had 2 children, Arthur (b 26 Aug 1926) who married Joy Coleman and had 2 adopted children, and Daisy (b 3 Apr 1929) who married Alfred Gledhill, an evangelical minister, and had 2 children. Daisy suffered a great deal, both physic-ally and mentally, in later life and died 14 Sep 1992.

	ELEANOR MAUD, known as Nell, was the most lively and tomboy-ish of the sisters, and a natural leader of the younger members of the family.

	She attended the meetings at 61 Upton Lane with the rest of the family, but started to object to the very strict code of dress which the ladies adhered to under the influence of Mr Heward's mother, with only black or sombre colours and necklines high on the throat. (She once wore a coloured ribbon on her hat in the meeting and was told off by Mrs Heward). Her parents tried to enforce her compliance but relations got so bad that she left home and went to live with her aunt Annie and family in Plumstead for a time. Later, after the Great War had started, she went back to Kingston to live with Mrs Betts who was living alone, her husband having been called up. Whilst there she rejoined the Exclusive Brethren, but to make family relations even worse it was the opposing group to the one her parents had belonged to up to 1912.

	She became engaged to Chris Menzies, a son of the family which had been associated with the Weeks's for many years in Kingston and were still members of the Brethren. He emigrated to South Africa and it was understood that she would follow him out there in due course. However his letters to her started to get very strange. Meanwhile on a visit to Deal, Kent, she met Alfred Cecil Hunnisett, also a member of the Brethren, and fell in love with him, so she broke off her engagement to Chris Menzies. Cecil was working in London at that time so Nell started to attend the same Brethren meeting at Bow, and her younger sister Peg and brother Cecil left 61 Upton Lane and started attending there as well.

	Nell and Cecil married (21 Apr 1924) and for the rest of their lives lived at Deal. They had 7 children between 1925 and 1937, David, Paul, Philip, James, William ("Bill"), Julia and Alan. At the time of Cecil's death (30 Apr 1954) he and Nell were living at 1 Mill Rd, Deal, and she continued to live there. Later her son Philip and his family moved in next door. Philip was a qualified accountant and she did part-time secretarial work for him.

	LESLIE WALTHAM was a lively lad, and while in Mrs Betts school in Kingston was said to have been caned quite often. Later he, with others of the family, attended Mr Heward's Bible School where he was normally graded second to his sister Ethel. However like his sister Nell he did not like the atmosphere at the '61' meeting. He liked staying out late at night but his father insisted that he should be home by 10 o'clock. On one occasion (at 74 Claremont Rd) his father locked the front door at 10pm but Leslie climbed over the roof and got in through a back door. In the end relations got so strained that he left home and lived in lodgings.

	When Nell got engaged to Chris Menzies and planned to follow him to South Africa, Leslie decided to go with her. In the end Nell broke off her engagement and did not go, but Leslie went anyway in Sep 1920 and settled in Capetown.

	He married (1922) Ruth Louise Gilowey (b 17 Oct 1900). Ruth was a member of the Exclusive Brethren, and when Leslie would not join as well the sect tried to get the couple to break up, even offering Ruth other accommodation if she would leave him. In the end Ruth left the sect to stay with her husband.

	After their first son, Walter, was born (31 Mar 1923) the family returned to England where the next son, Douglas, was born (7 Sep 1924). For part of the time they lived in Upton Lane, Forest Gate. After about a year they returned to Capetown and had 3 more children, Joyce, Anthony and Brian.

	Leslie and Ruth revisited England in 1949 and again 1n 1966. Joyce married (11 Feb 1956) Alastair Thomas Triggs and later came to live in Cuffley, Herts, near to her aunt Ethel (see 2).

	GERTRUDE MARY disliked her given names, and when her sister Nell started to call her Peg the name stuck. As the 3rd daughter and the 6th out of 7 children she felt a bit unwanted in the family but her childhood was nevertheless generally happy. Like her brothers and sisters she attended Mrs Betts' school at Kingston. She was rather shy and when told to take a message to Mrs Betts in a room upstairs was afraid to go in, for which she was later punished. Later she together with her brother Cecil attended a very small school the only teacher being Mrs Betts' sister Ada Groves.

	When the family moved to Forest Gate Peg attended Mr Heward's Bible School, but the reports Mr Heward sent to her parents showed that she and Cecil did not perform as well as their elder brothers and sisters.

	Around 1916 or 1917 Peg started working at the Joint Stock Bank near the Bank of England. She enjoyed doing shorthand and typing and the freedom to make friends. She had to give her mother her entire wages and was given a small amount back.

	Like her sister Nell, Peg was unhappy with the sombre atmos-phere and attitude to dress at the meeting at 61 Upton Lane, largely due to the influence of Mrs Heward. She knew she was not yet a Christian but consoled herself with the thought that at least the 61-ites, unlike the Brethren, predicted a warning preiod before Christ returned to judge the earth so she had a little time in hand. Her father made his children take notes during Mr Heward's addresses. Peg once used the occasion to write a letter to a boy, a son of the Richmond family at Walham Green, whom she had become friendly with on holiday. She men-tioned in the letter where she was writng it. Unfortunately the boy showed it to his mother who in turn sent it back to Peg's parents and she got into trouble. She became very unhappy during this period of her life and on occasion wished she were dead.

	When her sister Nell started to attend a Brethren's meeting at Bow in East London, she suggested that Peg might like to come along as well. Peg was delighted by the happier atmosphere she found there, the more so because it was there that she met Herbert Walter Moss (b 15 Aug 1907), whose family then lived in Bow but later moved to Forest Gate. When Bert and Peg got married (12 Aug 1933) Peg's parents and those brothers and sisters at '61' would not attend the wedding service held at the Brethren meeting place in Bow, though both bride and groom families joined in a reception afterwards at 77 Claremont Rd.

	Bert was a chartered surveyer working for the London County Council. As a boy he had won a scholarship to Bancroft's School at Loughton, an almost unheard-of success from such a poor background. He hated the school at first, and ran away twice; paradoxically this made him popular with the other boys and he did well after that.

	Bert and Peg lived for a time at 27 Beechfield Rd, Bromley, Kent. Around the start of World War II they moved to 37 Clarendon Way, Marlings Park, Chislehurst, Kent. They had 2 children, Rosemary (b 8 Dec 1937) and Bernard (b 26 Jul 1942). For a time during the war Bert would not only do a normal day's work at the office but also stay up all night dealing with air raids and fires. After the war the family moved back to Bromley, to 22 Wanstead Rd, where they lived for many years.

	Bert suffered from disease in his leg bones from his school-days, and with other problems such as eye cataract developing later he underwent no less than 23 operations during his lifetime. However he remained cheerful and kind to the last, dying of cancer on 12 May 1991.

	CECIL JAMES was born at 49 Birkenhead Ave, Kingston, Surrey. From birth two of his toes were joined together. As a youngster he was lively and pleasant, with dark eyes and hair, and his elder brothers and sisters made a fuss of him. At the age of 2 he fell into the fire and was badly burned, but eventually recovered without permanent scars. When still only 3 or 4 years old he climbed a ladder left outside the house and rising to the third floor. The family were afraid to call him down but he was eventually rescued through a window.

	By the time he reached school age the private school attended by his brothers and sisters had closed down, and he and his sister Peg had private tuition from Miss Ada Groves. When he was 6 the family moved across London to East Ham, and he and Peg were taught at home by their elder sister Flo. In his teens he showed considerable talent as a painter, and in particular copied beautifully a painting of some lions.

	He worked for Weeks and Sons for many years doing house repairs and decorating. Later he worked on his own.

	As a boy he attended the meetings at 61 Upton Lane, but he later followed the example of his sisters Nell and Peg and joined the Brethren meeting at Bow. He then suggested to his sister Peg that they should attend the Brethren meeting at Ilford, since it was nearer to home. His parents strongly opposed his views and for a time would not have him at their mealtable so that he had to eat in the kitchen. Nevertheless he stuck to his guns. He was a good speaker and was invited to speak at Brethren meetings, and in particular childrens meetings, over a wide area.

	He became friendly with Gladys Katherine Skinner (b 5 Sep 1902) from Ilford, the third of a family of 5 girls and 2 boys, brought up in the Brethren. Gladys' father, who was a leader in the Brethren - he later gave the address at Peg and Bert's wedding - demanded to know what his intentions were, so he said marriage, perhaps feeling under pressure! However their marriage (19 Oct 1929) apparently turned out to be very happy. Gladys had trained as a singer and had a strong contralto voice. Cecil and Gladys first lived at 103 Gurney Rd, Stratford, not far from Chobham Rd where his sister Ethel lived.

	Cecil was a keen cyclist and he and Gladys used to ride round on a tandem. On one occasion he cycled to Rushall, Norfolk, a distance of over 100 miles, in about 4 or 5 hours. He also owned a canoe which he used to paddle at Burnham-on-Crouch.

	In the mid-1930's Cecil and Gladys moved from Gurney Rd to a bungalow near Hainault. Later they moved to a corner house in Wanstead Park Rd, Ilford. In March 1945 a V2 rocket landed nearby and their roof collapsed. Although they were lying in bed at the time they were unharmed. On 8 March they moved to the upstairs flat at 77 Claremont Rd previously occupied by the Shrievers. Their house in Wanstead Park Rd was eventually repaired but they never moved back to it.

	One day in 1953 Cecil came home from work feeling ill and weak. He lay in bed for many weeks, feeling extremely weak and in great pain, and eventually entered Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford. It was a long time before his illness was diagnosed as leukaemia. He had many blood transfusions and for a time was able to return home. But he had soon to return to hospital, this time at Samson St, East Ham, and after a further long and painful period he died. He was buried in the City of London Cemetery at Manor Park.

	Cecil was short and slight of build. Like his father and brothers he went bald at an early age. He was a cheerful and extroverted character and enjoyed playing with children, though he and Gladys had none themselves.

	After Cecil's death Gladys continued to live at 77 Claremont Rd until her mother-in-law sold the house and moved away. She then returned to Ilford to live with her sisters who were either widowed or unmarried. Later the group moved to Eastbourne. By 1988 all her sisters had died and she was living in an old peoples home. She died 17 June 1991.