Histories

    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 religious 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 accountant. For a time he had an office

at Stratford, and after marrying (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 atmosphere 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 period

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 mentioned in the letter

where she was writing 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.