Aberystwyth ARP Wardens - part three

Here is the final part of our blog on some of the male ARP wardens. Watch this space for one on some of the female wardens over the coming months!

 

Photo/Llun: Archify Ceredigion Archives

 

 

BACK ROW (left to right)

 Thomas Islwyn Nicholas

Thomas Islwyn was born on 4th January 1903 the son of the famous poet, preacher and minister of the Welsh Independents at Horeb Chapel, Llandilo, Thomas Evan Nicholas. Thomas Evan was ordained on 6th Oct 1902, and continued to preach around South Wales, before going to live in Wisconsin for a year to continue his preaching. In 1903 the family returned to Wales eventually settling in Aberystwyth. Thomas Islwyn Nicholas married Mari Alice Rowlands in October 1926 and by 1939 became a dental mechanic in Aberystwyth, like his father and mother. In 1939 the couple lived at Glacoed, Elm Tree Avenue, Aberystwyth and by 1945 Thomas Islwyn was one of the ARP wardens of Aberystwyth.
He died on 7th August 1980 aged 77 years. 

 

Ernest John Haines

 

Ernest was born on 21st January 1909, the son of hotel worker John Haines. He served in WWI with the South Wales Borderers from 1914 to 1920. He married Edna Davies in January 1935 at Holy Trinity Church Aberystwyth and worked as a gardener. He was in the ARP in 1945 and lived at 6 Gogerddan Place, Aberystwyth. He died in 1962 aged 53 yrs.

THIRD ROW (left to right)

David Handel Morris 

 

David was born on 22nd August 1886 one of the large family of Margaretta and John Rees Morris who was a draper.  By 1911 David was an outfitter and lived 2 Princess Street, Aberystwyth.  On 22nd August 1917, on his 31st birthday, he joined both the Air Force and the Navy. The first ship he served on was HMS President and his last was HMS Turnhouse. By 1939 he was the owner of a drapers store and by 1945 he was an ARP Warden. David died on 8th February 1958 aged 72 years

Robert Henry Read L.A.R.P.  

Robert was born in Caernarfon in 1887 the son of journalist and author Henry W. Read.  He married Arabella in Cardiff on 8th September 1910 and by 1911 was working as a journalist.  By 1939 he was living at Myrtleville, St. David’s Road Aberystwyth, and was the managing editor of a newspaper.  He served in WWI with the Norfolk Regiment 7th Battalion from 1915 until 1919 and on 14th January1922 he was awarded the British War Medal. He died on 28th September 1947 aged 60 yrs.

Kenneth E. E. Thomas

 

Kenneth was born on 28th March 1893, the eldest of the five children of Thomas J. Thomas and Mary Thomas.  Kenneth’s father worked at the Government Dockyard in Pembrokeshire as a ship and engine fitter. The family lived at 16 North Street, Bufferland, Pembroke Dock.  In 1911 Kenneth was still living with his parents and family whilst he was working as a printer’s apprentice. Kenneth served in the Welsh Guards from 1914 to 1920 in the machine gun regiment. He married Mary Anne in 1929 and by 1939 he was working as an Inland Revenue Chief Inspector and lived at 1 First Avenue, Penparke.
Kenneth died in Cardigan in 1973 aged 80 years.

 

SECOND ROW (left to right)

John Davies Allen Ellis 

John was born 25th June 1866 in Lampeter. He married Mary Ann and had at least one son – David.
On 11th August 1914, David joined the Northamptonshire Regiment, but by 25th Sept 1914 he was discharged on health grounds. He then joined the South Wales Borderers, and was again discharged on health grounds. David sadly died on 13th May 1919 and is buried in St. Peter’s Church,Lampeter. In 1939 John lived at 6 Alfred Place, Aberystwyth and was a retired commercial traveller. He died on 24th Feb 1948 aged 82, outliving his son by 29 years.

Osborne Gwynnedon Stevens

 

Osborn was born in 1877 in Haverford West, the son of James Stephens, a builder from Pembroke. Osborne married Jane Ellen Richards on 20th December 1910 and in 1911 was a home painter.  He served in WWI, from 10th December 1915, in the Royal Engineers   He lived at 24 Pembroke Road Cardiff.  When the engineers were dispersed on 25th February 1919 he was awarded the Victory medal.   By 1939 he was living at 30 Third Avenue, Penparke. Osborne died in Aberystwyth in 1957 aged 80 years.

Joseph Salmon

            
Joseph was the son of railway engineer Joseph Salmon and was born on 16th March 1900. Joseph served in WWI with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers but was disabled. He married Hilda Cook in October 1925.   By 1939 he was Inn-keeper at the Cross Foxes, 17 Mill Street, Aberystwyth. In 1945 he was in the ARP and by 1965 had moved to 28 Queen Street, Aberystwyth. Joseph died at Tan-y-Bwlch, Hospital, Aberystwyth on 17th September 1965 aged 65 years.
 
 

Arthur Alexander Dykes

 

Arthur was born on 25the October 1887 and married Virginia Waters in 1920.  During WWI he served with the Battery Royal Field Artillery as a driver. After the war, he worked for the non-industrial Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. By 1945 he was living at 33 Third Avenue, Penparke, and was a member of the A.R.P.  Arthur died on 29the November 1968 aged 81 yrs.

 

Blog by Kath Phillips

Aberystwyth ARP Wardens - part two

 

Ffoto/Photo: Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

 

Following on from our blog of last time, below are some of the male ARP wardens that feature in the front row of the above photo:

Leonard Edwin Sulston 

Leonard was born in Charing Kent, the son of Jonas Sulston and Rosa A. Wells.  He married Dorothy Matilda Husselbee in July 1922 in St. Georges Hanover Square.  In 1911 he was an electrical engineer improver.  He Graduated in 1923, and then worked in the Physics Laboratory at U.C.W.A. By 1945 he was in the A.R.P. with Aberystwyth Borough. He died at Tan y Bwlch Hospital on 8th September 1959 aged 67yrs.

David Cromarty Rendell LARP  

David was born on 26th February 1896 in Monmouthshire, the son of John Rendell, who was a colliery labourer below ground. David worked as a sewing machine cleaner and then joined the Military aged just 19 in 1916.   David was in the Machine Gun Corps in 1920 and was awarded the U.K. Silver Badge. In 1921 he married Annie S. J. and moved to Aberystwyth in about 1935 and lived at the Corn Hotel, Mill Street, Aberystwyth.  By September 1941 he had married his second wife, Olive Margaret Haget. By 1945 he was in the ARP. He died in March 1966 aged 70 yrs.
 

Edward Hubert Chater 

Edward was born in St. Marylebone on 8th December 1902, the son of Edward Wilson Chater, a solicitor of the Supreme Court.  He married Margaret Hutchinson in 1931 in Hastings, and sometime later he moved to Wales and became a lecturer in Biology at U.C.W.A.  By 1945 he was living at Windover, Penrhyn Anchor, and was in the A.R.P.

Sydney Charles Herbert 

 

Sydney was born on 13th January 1886 at St. Martin in the Fields, the son of William Henry Herbert, who was a collector of Royal Statistics. He married Ellen in 1909 and by 1911 lived in Camberwell Surrey. By 1939 they had moved to 7, Marine Terrace and Sydney was a senior lecturer at U.C.W.A.  By 1945 he was in the ARP. He died on 7th December 1967 in Aberystwyth aged 81 years.

Major Horace Frederick Stimson T.D. F.R.S.A    

 

Frederick was born in 1885 in Peterborough, the son of a Railway train engineer, Samuel Stimson. He married firstly Eleanor Parkin 1912, and secondly Edith Richardson in 1944.  By 1944 he lived at Maldwyn, Caradog Road, Aberystwyth.  He was a lecturer in P.E. at U.W.A. and was also a Major in the T.A. at least during 1939-1945, and was decorated.  By 1945 he was the Chief Executive Officer of the ARP. Stimson T./Lt(A./Capt) holds the British Army WW1 medal as well as WWI and WWII Shipping and Seamen Rolls of Honour.  He died on 20th June 1954 at the Royal Masonic Hospital, Ravenscourt, London W6 aged 69 yrs.
 

Morgan J. Owen 

 

Morgan was born in Aberystwyth in 1890, the son of John Owen, who was a carpenter, joiner and undertaker living at 1 Rheidol Terrace Aberystwyth. Morgan married Elizabeth Griffiths in September 1922 and by 1939 lived at 10 Rheidol Terrace Aberystwyth.  He worked as a clerk of building works. From 1914 until 1920 he served in WWI with the South Wales Borderers and was awarded both the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. By 1945 he was the head of ARP Wardens.

Cyril Thomas Daley 

Born in Hammersmith in 1891, the son of Julia and Thomas Daley, who was a tobacconist.  Cyril was a piano tuner in1914 before he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in which is served from 28th August to 29th November 1914, when he was discharged as unfit for service. In 1919 he married Gwladys M. Lewes in Carmarthen. By 1939 he lived at College House, King Street, Aberystwyth, whilst Gwladys was living at 45 Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth. He was the proprietor of a piano music business. By 1945 he was the ARP Sub controller, Central Area. He died in 1962 aged 61 years and is buried in Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion.
 

Frederick Joseph Bumford  

 

Frederick was born on 21st January 1897, the sixth of ten children of Martha E Bellis and Thomas Henry Bumford,  who was a foreman blender in wool manufacture.  The family lived at Dolafon House in Newtown, and Fred eventually became a yarn plasterer in 1911 aged 14 years.  At the outbreak of WWI Fred, aged 17, joined up with the Welsh Fusiliers in 1914 and stayed in the Military until 1919.
Hed married Gwyneth in December 1925 and by 1939 had moved to Aberystwyth and lived at 25 Third Avenue, Penparke by 1945. By 1945 he was in the A.R.P.  Fred died on 02/06/1959 in Aberystwyth aged 62 years.
 

Isaac Clayton Thomas 

 

Isaac was born on 28th Sept 1890, the son of Betsey and Mariner James Thomas, who lived at 4, Shipbuilders Row, Aberystwyth. He married Mary Jane on 2nd December 1903 and they lived at Britannia, 13 High Street Aberystwyth.  By 1911 he was a Civil Servant working for the P.O.
In 1914 he started working for the Military as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers. He was discharged in 1920 and was awarded both the British War medal and the Victory Medal. He died on 28th March 1955 at Withybush Hospital, Pembrokeshire aged 65 years.
 

 Sydney Edward Foulkes 

 

Sydney was the son of Rose and William Robert Foulkes, who was a cotton warehouse man. He was born on 5th April1904 and lived at 19 Beech Street Salford Lancashire in1911. He married Florence Catherine Page in 1932 and by 1937 he had moved and lived at Sandown, Rheidol Road, Penparke.and his work was as an insurance inspector.  By 1945 he was in the ARP. He died on 26/04 1973 in Aberystwyth aged 69 years.

Blog by Kath Phillips

Aberystwyth Borough ARP Wardens

Ceredigion Archives, one of our partners in the project, has made available to us  a photograph of the Aberystwyth Borough ARP wardens, taken during WWII, complete with the names of the personnel written underneath.  Their roles within the APR are also noted and, in the case of those associated with the  University, their academic qualifications.  As might be expected, they are mostly men but there are also twenty women among their number.  A couple of our wonderful project volunteers are currently researching these men and women to find out a little bit more about them, and we'll be posting their findings here over the coming weeks. In the meantime, here is the photograph and the names of the personnel are transcribed underneath. 

 

Llun trwy gwrteisi Archifdy Ceredigion / Photo courtesy of Ceredigion Archives

 

 

Front row: G. Jones; F. Warwick; L.E. Sulston A.I.E.E., L.A.R.P; H.R.Pratt L.A.R.P; W. Martin; H. Duggan Rees L.A.R.P.; D.C. Rendell L.A.R.P.; G. Denley Spencer; E. H. Chater M.Sc; S. Herbert L.A.R.P.; Major H.F. Stimson MBE TD FRSA (Deputy Controller); B. Pryse (Mayor of Aberystwyth); M. Owen L.A.R.P. (Head Warden); J. Barclay Jenkins J.P., C.C.; (Chairman, County A.R.P.); C.T. Daley (Sub Controller, B.R.O); F. J. Bumford A.R.P.S.  E. G.I.C.; P. Davies A.R.P.S.; I. Clayton Thomas; E. Jenkins; A. Davies; S. E. Foulkes L.R.A.P.; A.R. Beddows M.Sc.; C.A. Gwynn; K. Heller.

Second row: G. Ahern; T. Ll. Jenkins; G.A. Aliss; J. Ellis; Miss N. Hanson; Miss K. Ellis; Miss S. Mathias; Miss P. Jenkins; Miss E. M. Jones; Miss M. A. Bonna; Miss L. Davies; Miss S. Evans; Miss E. R. Burbeck; Miss G. F. Rhys, Ph.D., D.Sc., L.A.R.P; Mrs J. Joynson; Miss I. M. Wilson, M.Sc., Ph.D.; Miss M. Lewis; Miss E. Morgan; Miss P. Allen; Miss E. Morgan; Miss D.E. Carr; Miss D. Jones; Miss M. Edwards; J.E. Williams; D. H. Morris; J. W. Jones; O.G. Stephens; S. Hughes.

Third row: J.D. Lewis; D.P. Morris; W.G. Griffiths; C.H. Bilby; J. Davies; E. W. James; J.E. Davies; T. Jones; T.D. Mason; L. J. Egglestone; D. Davies; R. Read L.A.R.P.; W. H. G. Evans; A.    Rees; G.W. Jones; J.A. Robson A.I.A.S; T. J. Green; K.E. Thomas; J.R. James; E.G.Kenny; D.E.Jones; J. Watkin Jones; J. Salmon; A. Chamberlain; M. Jones; A.A. Dykes.

Backrow: T. I. Nicholas; I.H. Lewis; A.    Humphreys; E. J. Roderick L.A.R.P.; E.O. Savage; E. Haines; R.G. Bowen; G. H. Hill; P. Ralphs.

 

Kate Sullivan 

Project Coordinator

 

Childhood memories of WWII in Aberystwyth

Pat Marise James was born at home in South Road, Aberystwyth, on 4th November 1934.  Pat’s mother was English and her father was Welsh, so she grew up speaking English and at home.  The family owned a grocers shop in South Road, Ellesmere Stores (they were the second owners, the first being three Evans sisters, now Lotus Electronics.)  Her mother worked in the shop from 1933 right up until the 1970s, when her parents retired and went on a round the world trip Pat was an only child and said she was very spoilt.

During WWII, her father was stationed at Aberporth and drove the lorries that transported rockets for testing at Ynys Las. The lorry used to stop of at her parent’s shop and the soldiers would have a cup of tea on the way. Her father was an electrician and before the war had worked in Malaya with his brother, ‘Uncle Llew,’ but both returned to Britain before war broke out. Pat’s parents at one time though about emigrating to New Zealand but her gran, who died before Pat was born, bought them the shop ‘to make them stay.’

Pat remembers seeing rows of jam jars outside the shop, left by people to be filled with foodstuff s like jam and pickled onions.  She said there was a local black market in Aberystwyth and in the summer, farmers would bring vegetables to the shop, carrots, peas, in in the winter, broad beans and swedes, and even meat, when they’d killed a pig or a lamb. In return her mother would give them things like sugar and butter.  So it was a sort of exchange of whatever you had. Pat would sit on the stairs and watch local shopkeepers come to ‘James the Grocers’ and no money would change hands.  Pat’s uncle Dick ran Clarks shoe shop and he would give shoes in exchange for sugar.  All the shopkeepers were known by the shops they kept – James the Bara, Tommy Swan the Butcher, etc.   People had to be registered to a shop and buy the appropriate goods there – ie, if someone was registered to buy groceries from Pat’s mother’s shop, they couldn’t go elsewhere to buy them.

Pat never remembers going without and although there was rationing, they had plenty of food, eggs and bacon.  She still has her ID card, and her gasmask, made of rubber and tin, hung in the garage for years after the war.  She thinks she had to collect this mask from a house that was being used as some sort of war office in Bridge Street, next to the Black inn, and was shown how to put it on there too.  At the beginning of the war at least, she thinks she took this mask to school with her, but thinks this precaution didn’t last for long. She went to the local Board School, still standing in Alexandra Road. The boys’ school was at one end, the mixed infants in the other, and the girls’ at the other end. 

 

Pat's ID card cover

 

ID card interior pages

 
In double summer time, when it was still light at midnight, she remembers they’d all go to South Prom and watch the German bombers flying past on the way to bomb Liverpool. Her dad used to say that if they decided to drop a bomb on Aberystwyth, they’d have ‘had it.’ She remembers there was an air raid shelter on a patch of green behind the castle and the Old College but doesn’t think she ever went there during an actual air raid but they had to go there to practice, because she remembers there were wooden laths to sit on. After the war, her father had these and turned them into shelves in the shop.

After Dunkirk, many soldiers were stationed in Aberystwyth and, until a proper canteen was provided for them in the drill hall, they used to come around to the local shops with their billycans. Pat remembers sitting on the stairs and watching them coming to the side door of her parents shop and having cawl, and five Woodbines or Weights cigarettes. The neighbours also helped to make cawl for the soldiers.  They soldiers didn’t pay for any of this, Pat said, and all the shopkeepers in the town gave food and cigarettes for free to help out. 

South Marine Terrace housed army soldiers rescued from Dunkirk, while RAF personnel were billeted on Marine Terrace. Pat remembers lots of American soldiers in the town too but didn’t know where they were stationed.  All the children used to ask them for bubble gum and they always got some.  One of Pat’s friends, Myfanwy Hughes, whose parents ran a fish and chip shop, married a ‘Yank’ and later emigrated to the US.

On VE day, Pat remembers they all went to the King’s Hall and the whole town turned out to celebrate. Boys rolled up newspapers, set them alight, and kicked them around on the beach. 

 

Pat, on left marked with a x, at South Road VE party, 1946. Next to her is Brenda Jenkins

She said the war didn’t really register with her, she was too young to know what it was all about, and they all got on with their lives. Aberystwyth was a small town and many, like her family, were in business and they just carried on.  Some things she remembers clearly, eg, not being able to sleep at midnight because it was too light and the lack of street or car lights.  Her mother had some proper blackout material which were used as curtains and Pat still has these. 

 

Pat's mother's blackout material

 
She remembers that there was a War Office in Queen’s road where her parents had to collect their ration coupons for the food allocated to the shop.  Children used to get a monthly allocation of a ¼ pound of sweets but Pat pinched strips off the coupons of her school friends and was getting ¼ pound of sweets a week from Payne’s sweet shop in Llanbadarn Road, until the shopkeeper went to her father and asked if he was giving her sweet coupons!  Her father cut her sweet rations as a punishment.

Pat’s uncle Aeron fought in Tripoli and survived the war, later becoming head of the National Insurance Office in Aberystwyth.  Her mother’s brother Will was in the navy and he later became a coastguard in the town.  Pat and her daughter Marise also served in the coastguards later on, in the 1970s. They would watch for boats in trouble, Pat from her home and Marise from the castle, and phone the lifeboat if there was an incident.

Pat remembers there was an incident involved a submarine that had to be towed to safety off Aberystwyth. Her parents must have been involved with rescuing the sailors because later the wife of one of them brought round a bunch of flowers for her mother and a pink covered book for her to say thank you.  This was probably H.M Submarine Universal that got into trouble off Cardigan Bay in February 1946.

Another memory Pat has was of a morning just after the end of the war when the Daily Mirror newspaper arrived, the paper her father took, and her mother hid it right at the top of the shelves in the storeroom. Pat had been sent outside but she saw her mother doing this and later got the ladder and went up to look at the newspaper. It had the story of the liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp, which was why her mother had tried to hide it from Pat. This incident was just after the war.  Her parents never talked about the war in the front of her.

In 1959, after she’d married her husband, Philip, Pat’s parents bought them a house, 2 South Marine Terrace. A Mr and Mrs Owen had lived there and were registered to her parent’s shop, and when they moved, they asked them if they wanted to buy No 2. When Pat moved in, they found army officers had written (graffiti) on all the available walls upstairs. Unfortunately, with hindsight, she said, it was all decorated over and lost due to modernisation.  She thinks numbers 1 and 3 also billeted officers. Pat wanted to run a guest house and that’s what No. 2 became and her husband, who’d completed his two years National Service, became a painter and decorator. 

Blog by Kate Sullivan based on a telephone interview with Pat James in February 2021 

 

The Reminiscences of Tony Bird as an Evacuee in Lampeter 1939 - 1942

Tony Bird was evacuated to Lampeter at the very beginning of 1940, when he was 16 years old. He was born in Cowbridge but at the time of the outbreak of  the Second World War he was a pupil at Wycliffe College, a boarding school in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire.  The premises of Wycliffe College  were chosen as suitable for the relocation of the Air Ministry which needed to be moved out of London to avoid the danger of bombing. The decision was made late in 1939 to move the whole of Wycliffe College to St David’s College in Lampeter.

St David's College building

As Tony was already used to living away from home at his boarding school, the idea of evacuation did not come as much of a shock to him, as it must have done to the many children who were accustomed to living at home. Tony was one of three children in his family, but his brother and sister being older than him were not involved in evacuation plans. His parents, used to his being away from home in term time, were not too concerned about the change of location.

It was Tony’s father who took him to Lampeter for the first time for the start of term in 1940.  They travelled by car, and no doubt in those days his father would have had a problem getting petrol for a  fairly lengthy journey. Tony remembers that his father, unfamiliar with the local roads in Wales, went too fast over a hump backed bridge  -  he thinks it was probably at Pumpsaint - and Tony sitting at the back was thrown up and hit his head hard on the roof of the car.

Tony’s first impressions of the rooms in St Davids College were that they were spartan. Two boys shared each little study  room. The winter of 1940 was exceptionally severe and the communal bathrooms in particular were bitterly cold, the boys sometimes having to unfreeze the taps in order to get water to wash. One positive memory of that winter though was that the boys were able to go skating. A lake on the outskirts of Lampeter froze over for about six weeks and it seems that an enterprising iron-monger’s shop in Lampeter was able to get a supply of skates for people to buy.

The adjustment to living in a new place was not difficult for Tony, as the entire school had been brought to Lampeter, including all the staff, their wives and children, and lessons continued exactly as they had been before. He describes the experience as the school  having  been “ transplanted”. There was very little mixing with local people, the school being quite self contained, for example, the college did its own catering. Food was very basic and filling, a typical staple being macaroni cheese.  Tony does not recall any particular contact with the Welsh language but remembers encountering more spoken Welsh on visits to Carmarthen than in Lampeter.

The headmaster W.H. Sibley was quite a free thinker and the boys seem to have had some freedom, for example, film shows were held in the school from time to time and pupils could invite a guest. Tony has amusing memories of inviting a girl called Gwyneth to these evenings.

The  way in which more regular contact did occur with others in the local area was through sporting events, especially rugby and cricket matches, when Tony’s school teams would travel to places such as Carmarthen or Brecon. He remembers rugby matches against the theology students who had had to move out of their accommodation so that Wycliffe College could take it over.  Apparently the students were quite a rough bunch as rugby players, being older than the school boys, but in spite of that  the young ones did achieve one or two notable victories over them. A talented school friend of Tony’s called Gilbert Parkhouse later became  a well known sportsman who played cricket  for Glamorgan and in seven test matches for England in the 1950s.

Tony recalls a few surprising escapades that he was involved in whilst in Lampeter - all of  which were strictly against school rules. On one occasion he decided with friends to hitchhike to Tenby. They reached Tenby without a problem but on the way back they got stuck at Haverfordwest and had to start  walking back to Lampeter. Fortunately before long they did manage to find another lift and arrived back in school by 6pm, just before  the deadline which saved them from possibly getting expelled. Occasionally the older boys manage to sneak out to the local pub and get themselves half a pint of beer, but it was limited to one half pint!

Perhaps more extraordinary was that Tony with a small group of friends started up a strictly secret shooting club. He had brought his own shotgun from home and the boys went out to shoot rabbits. The local farmers were appreciative of their efforts, especially as they were given the rabbits to eat. A close shave occurred one day when  Tony unexpectedly bumped into the  headmaster just as he was crossing the quadrangle on his way to go hunting. His gun was carefully concealed under his clothes - the barrel in his trouser leg and the stock under his jacket - but he managed to continue on his way after a brief chat without arousing the headmaster’s suspicions.

Whilst in Lampeter Tony said that the boys kept up with war news over the radio but in their daily lives they felt largely undisturbed by the war. He commented that Lampeter seemed not to know there was a war on. An example of this was that items were on sale in the stores in the town that were not readily available elsewhere, such as salad cream and tinned tomato sauce. His mother would sometimes ask him to bring some items home with him which he could get in Lampeter but which she could not obtain in South Wales.

Tony left Lampeter in March 1942 and went straight into the Navy. At that time, service recruiters  travelled round  public schools to encourage boys to enlist. By April 1942, a month after leaving school, Tony was in the Navy - something that he had always wanted to do - and sent to a training school in Plymouth. Three months later he was on an E class destroyer called HMS Escapade beginning what was to be a long and distinguished career in the Royal Navy both during the war and for many years afterwards. Of particular note was Tony’s service on HMS Clematis, a flower class corvette on D Day and on a Landing Ship Tank in the Far East after the surrender of Germany in 1945.

Tony and his sister, Joan

Blog by Frances Foley, based on telephone interviews held with Tony during February 2021

Photographs reproduced from the Freshwater East Volunteer Group News magazine, March 2021

Aberystwyth Prepares for the Arrival of Evacuees 1939

In 1939 the Government Evacuation Scheme listed places in England and Wales that were designated as evacuation areas from which young children and vulnerable people were to be moved to safer locations. Cardiganshire was one of ten evacuation reception areas nominated in Wales.

The Ministry of Health Memo in 1939 identified the people who should be evacuated:

*   Children of school age in organised groups accompanied by their teachers
*    Pre-school children with mothers
*    Expectant mothers
*    Blind and cripple population so far as removal be feasible

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/evacuation/pdf/britain.pdf

Aberystwyth Borough Council Minutes of 1939 give a picture of when information was received in Aberystwyth and the actions taken. One of the early steps undertaken in January 1939 was an assessment of the accommodation available in the town.

 

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/evacuation/pdf/britain.pdf

A letter dated 1st April 1939 from the Ministry of Health informed the Council that Aberystwyth was to be a reception area for Liverpool and that the first group who would be evacuated would be unaccompanied children in school units - but no more than the number for whom voluntary offers of accommodation had already been received.  The Ministry decided that 4,000 persons could be accommodated in the town and the Council  had the responsibility to make detailed plans for their reception, consulting with transport authorities and the evacuating area.

A few days later on April 5, the Council set up an Evacuation Sub Committee made up of representatives of the YMCA, the WVS, elementary schools, the British Legion, Urdd Gobaith Cymru and a representative of each church and chapel in the town.

In May,at a conference of local authorities in Cardiganshire it was initially stated that the county as a whole would be expected to receive 14,200 persons under the Evacuation Scheme but at this point in time  the estimate was for 3,190 evacuees to come to  Aberystwyth, 2,360 to Aberystwyth Rural District and none to the other boroughs and districts in the county. The Aberystwyth allocation  of 3,190 was made up as follows:

Elementary school children   1450
Teachers and helpers   140
Pre school children and mothers/guardians   1440
Expectant mothers   120
Adult blind persons   40  

They would arrive in four train loads of 800 persons each,  two trains arriving on each of the first two days of evacuation.  Householders who had volunteered to take children were sent letters of thanks from the Ministry of Health and the Mayor. They were also given a card to display in the window to show that they  had volunteered to take on this form of National Service. These probably reflected the sentiments shown in the poster below.

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war

 

In June 1939, the Council received news that the University College of Wales was expecting to receive 250 students from London and 250 from Liverpool. It was hoped that the students would be able to make use of houses on the College’s list of approved lodgings. Because of these extra numbers the Town Clerk requested a reduction by one train load of evacuee children  to be received in Aberystwyth because it was felt that an unfair burden had been placed on the town compared with the rest of the county. There were also fears that the schools would be unable to cope and that the town’s water supply might prove inadequate.

By July 1939 arrangements had been made for a Medical Officer of Health and first aid staff to be in attendance at Alexandra Road Schools when the children arrived.  Each church and chapel would appoint an Assistant  Billeting Officer who would collect their group of children from Alexandra Road School, take them to be fed and then show them to their billets. The formal order to evacuate children was given on 31 August 1939, three days before war broke out. The photograph below shows evacuees leaving Liverpool  for Aberystwyth in September 1939

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/gallery/second-world-war-local-evacuees-10512910

 

The WVS and local places of worship played a key role in receiving the children. However there were serious concerns  about some children’s health. On 4th September 1939, the Council received a letter which asked,  “owing to the verminous character of a large percentage of the evacuees received into the town”  what steps would  be taken to cleanse them? The Council decided that nurses would carry out initial checks referring children on to doctors when necessary. The Ministry of Health had stated that evacuees would be given medical attention free of charge.

By October 1939, the  Chief Billeting Officer reported that the following evacuees had arrived in Aberystwyth:

971 unaccompanied children
53 Helpers
41 teachers
231 mothers with 351 children of pre- school age.

Evacuees Arriving at Aberystwyth on their way to Alexandra School, photo NLW/LLGC

Before long plans were made for play areas in the town for the children, for example at Plascrug. On 7th October, an entertainment for evacuees was held at King’s Hall arranged by the High Sheriff of the county. That same month the Council appealed to Liverpool authorities for extra clothing for evacuees and requested  a female doctor and health visitors

On December 17th, the Director of Education of Liverpool visited Aberystwyth to check on how the children were faring. Meanwhile a Christmas party was arranged for the evacuees at the Kings Hall  which was largely organised by the WVS, with funding towards it requested from Liverpool.

A bright spot at the  end of the year was the decision to  open The King’s Hall cafe on a Sunday to allow parents from Liverpool to come and meet their children and have meals at cost price.  Once again the WVS were key in providing this opportunity and their frequent appeals for volunteers throughout the land hints at both their industry and organization and also the need of as many hands as possible to do this vital work. 

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/17603

 

Blog by Frances Foley

Sources:  

Borough of Aberystwyth  Minutes and Agenda 1939, Ceredigion Archives

The Liverpool Echo

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/evacuation/pdf/britain.pdf

Return of Japanese POW's to Aberystwyth

My Great Grandfather, Capt. R G (Dick) Read, spent most of World War II as a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore, mainly in the infamous Changi POW camp.  From an early stage, he quickly began to suffer due to the poor diet given to the prisoners, the harsh treatment they received and from some of the debilitating diseases that many prisoners succumbed to. Dysentry, beri beri, typhoid and many other tropical illnesses were common, and deadly, in the camps. Captain Read suffered from regular bouts of dysentery, ulcers, beri beri and dyspepsia during his time in Changi, being hospitalised regularly.

At the end of the war, many of the POWs that were to weak or ill to be shipped home in the first weeks were sent on hospital ships to other safe areas to recover, gain strength and put on weight safely. Many of the sick were kept at Changi POW camp weeks after the more able prisoners had gone. My Great Grandfather was finally shipped out in mid September on a hospital ship, the SS Rajula, leaving Keppel Harbour bound for Madras.  

Telegram from Captain Read to his wife from Madras, 1945

 

My Great Grandfather's medical card was issued to him after his arrival in a hospital in Madras to recuperate before the long voyage home.

Captain Read's medical card

It was on this ship that my Great Grandfather found out the the ship's MO (Medical Officer) was a doctor from his home town of Aberystwyth, as he noted in his diary: ‘Our M.O. I have just heard is doctor (Hay) Cribb from Aberystwyth, what a shock!. . . Met Cribb at breakfast and chatted for an hour, he left Aber in June or July. Told of a few casualties etc…I had forgotten his partner, Owen Lloyd.’

Capt. R G Read departed Madras on the SS Llandovery Castle, bound for Southampton,  then home to Aberystwyth. Though he received a hero's welcome off the train in Aberystwyth, he sadly died within a year of his return, aged 46, in September 1946 of stomach cancer. He spent a total 32 years in service and is commemorated on Llanbadarn Fawr War Memorial.

 

Telegram sent on Capt Read's arrival in Britain, 1945

Blog by Simon Burgess 

Author's website : https://www.richardgeorgeread.com/