Raymond Frederick Horrocks 1921 - 1958

 Raymond Horrocks and his Air Fleet memories during WW2

During World War Two, my oldest uncle (who I never met) served in the Air Fleet. Raymond or Ray as he was known, was one of the four children of my grandmother Doris hands and her first husband Charles Frederick Horrocks (1894 - 1933). Born in Birmingham, he enlisted during the early years of WW2. A few years later, he thanked my grandfather (his step father) for instilling some discipline in him. Because without this, he said he would never have survived his time in the navy. 

Following the death of his own father. Ray and his siblings had been left to run a little wild. Eating when and what they liked. Generally left to their own devises as my grandmother had to go out to work to survive. She had very little support from both the families. I think because she had married her first cousin (frowned upon) and had also been pregnant at the time. Her family were members of the Salvation Army very strict and unfortunately her own father had just died in 1920, so probably grief with the fact that money may have been an issue for her at that time.     

Ray had been engaged to the girl living next door. Jean Adkins (1921 - 1948). The only daughter of Robert William Adkins and Beatrice Maud Walton. Years later, when the mother died. She had no family to arrange her funeral. My grandfather arranged her cremation and cleared her council house. Nothing of value but he did find the silk material for her wedding. Ray had sent it to Jean during the war to make her wedding dress. Unfortunately Jean died before they got married. Such a tragedy.

 Jean is the adult bridesmaid in Ray's sister's wedding above. Ray went on to marry some one else in 1958. Just a few days before he died.

Dorothy Rose Stokes attended a factory for the disabled in Birmingham. Ray had been injured during the war and worked there. They met and married. Dorothy later married another man who worked there and one of Ray's friends, William Lee. Dorothy and William married in 1960 and my family lost touch. Unfortunately photographs and Ray's medals stayed with Dorothy and are no longer in the family.

HMS Glorious

One of the ships that Ray was on was HMS Glorious. Ray told his younger brother that something dangerous was going on. He was transferred to another ship. He said he was moved because he was one of the younger crew members. Reading about the fated ship Glorious after my other uncle told me about this. I think Ray was sent ashore to either guard the Commander Flyer J B Heath or the Captain didn't want a young and inexperienced man on board his ship, knowing of the coming orders. What ever the reason. It saved Ray's life.   

Heath and the Captain D'Oyly-Hughes had argued about the coming use of the fleet ship. Heath had been transferred to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Isles to face court martial. HMS Glorious left and on the 8th June 1940 came under attack from two German war ships. Glorious and her two escorts Ardent and Acasta were sunk. Over 1 500 men died with only 41 rescued. 

My uncle told his family that it was the captain's fault. He left the safety of the rest of the fleet with no way of defending it should they have come under attack. Although many men jumped into the water as the ships sunk. The men in the water were fired at by the Germans and it was 3 days before the few remaining men were rescued. It will be another 20 years before the file will be opened and can be scrutinized. 

 

Death cometh three times.

Ray Horrocks always stated that he had missed death three times during the war. First was by being transferred from HMS Glorious. The second was when he was onboard another ship and it was torpedoed and sunk. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the ship. Only that Ray ended up in the sea and suffered permeant damage to his lungs. The third time was when he was in line to have a ride on a helicopter. The man behind him was the last to be allowed on board. However, he had a girlfriend with him and they wanted to go together. Ray stood back and told her to go in his place. Tragically the helicopter developed engine problems and crashed. Everyone on board was killed. 

Photographs from his Air Fleet days.

The group photographs are unnamed and are in an album that one of my brothers has. I scanned them and have taken each individually to be seen a bit clearer. If anyone can contribute a name to the many faces. Please contact me via this blog.

The last photograph is a card sent to his family at Christmas. The ship he was on at this point was HMS Venerable. 

The above photograph was Ray Horrocks medal entitlement. He would have received the 1939- 45 Star, Atlantic Star, Pacific Star, Defence medal, War medal 1935 - 45 and the Defence medal. All of these would have no name on - as was for all the second World War medals. I said earlier they were kept by his widow Dorothy Lee and unfortunately their whereabouts unknown. 

Ray told tales of his time aboard the ships. It was quite boring and he took up knitting to pass the time. He also made a bracelet for one of his young sisters from silver coins collected on his travels.

More family photographs.

Ray died in 1958 from acute bronchitis, spontaneous pneumothorax, emphysema and pulmonary tuberculosis. Left with only one lung functioning. He didn't stand a chance against any lung disease. He was just 37 years old. 

World War Two battle ship photographs.

Amongst the few pictures are several of British official photographs. I am not sure on how or why he had them. 

 The label to the side of this photograph says "Navy's Air Strike Against Enemy Shipping" It gives an account of a successful attack in the Bodo area. 

   This one has a label "The assault on Southern France" with HMS Attacker and HMS Khedive leading on Aug 15 (no year given) The photo was taken from the the British Escort Carrier Pursuer.

Unfortunately the writing on this label is very faded. I have tried to enhance it but can still only read Jun 1944. There are 3 ships named on this one though.

The four photographs show the fleet's aeroplanes and battle ships during WW2. There were no labels attached to them. Bit difficult to scan as they are pasted into a photo album.

My Uncle ray died before his time. On his death bed, he told my mom that he had cheated death three times and it was bound to get him sooner rather than later. He was apparently a lovely man and my regret is that I never got to meet him as he died well before I was born. 

Raymond Frederick Horrocks 1921 to 1958. Remembered and not forgotten.

My family wedding from my Hart side but who?

 My family wedding from my Hart side but who are they?

If you have been following my blog - you will know that I collect old photographs and ephemera from mostly car boot sales. In the hope that it will help others with their family tree and their family history research  I also hold a large collection of photographs taken from my close family members that have sadly passed away. Many are unfortunately not named on the back. So I have to find out who they are to give faces to names. For those of you that have the family history bug, you will know what I mean!  

A few years ago, my uncle passed away. He lived in our family home in Small Heath, Birmingham and had many photographs that belonged to my grandmother and grandfather. I rescued a whole box of photographs and have tried to find out who the people are by asking older members of my family and using family tree research websites. In this huge collection were two wedding photos.

The above two photographs are from the same one. The first is the original. The second has been cut in size and sharpened and enhanced to hopefully see the features a bit clearer. The small boy at the front I am sure is my late father, Brian Hart. He looks to be about 2 to 4. Which makes this wedding to have taken place in the mid 1930s. Behind him is my late uncle Francis Hart and the older girl at the front is my late aunt Patricia Hart. I do not know who the other child is. She is too old to be any of the other Hart children. The elderly lady behind the bride to the left is Catherine Hart nee Varley my great grandmother. 

The very tall man to the far left I think is my grandfather, Michael Hart and my grandmother Edith Feege, is not the woman next to him in the hat, but the one next to her (behind) with a wide smile and dark hair.

  None of the wedding party can I identify. Both the bride and groom look to be older, maybe in their late 20s. I would have said that they are from Hart descent as the groom has the typical "Hart" features, but he could be a Varley? Or he may have just married into the family and the bride is my relative? 

The wedding party traditionally stand on the side of their relative and the Harts are more towards the bride's side. So likely the bride is my relative! I suspect they are from one of my grandparents brothers or sister and related rather than just a friend. But as they both had lots and lots of children....

The wedding party was in a house as you can see the other houses from the first photograph taken in the back garden. It was not my grandparent's house as their back garden had a school behind and playing fields. The trees are quite bare, so the wedding would have been during the winter or early spring. 

In this photograph we have the two bridesmaids, the bride and groom and three men. One of the bridesmaids on the left has the man behind holding her. The man in the soldier uniform to the right, I think is the best man. However the bridesmaid to his right is not his partner. If you see the main photograph of the whole group. He has his arms around another woman. The uniform looks to be of the Coldstream Guards and he is carrying a hat in both pictures. Interestingly, my uncle Mike (Francis Hart) joined the Coldstream Guards later in life. I actually think this is the "brothers" photograph and the groom is one of 4 brothers. 

So if you have Hart or Varley in your family tree that settled in Birmingham, England - please take a look and see if you recognise anyone, then let me know.    

Longbridge Parish Church newspaper clippings and photographs

 Longbridge Parish Church in newspaper clippings and photographs from the 1960s.

Last summer, I came across some newspaper clippings along with some photographs of the vicar and booklets in a local jumble sales. They were just loose in a box with other bric a brac. It looked like a the Northfield, Birmingham's church office clearance. So I collected as many bits as I could and paid just £1 for them. Here is the church findings. This is history - not only of the church but of the man who took over, is mentioned in the newspaper and shown in the photographs. The booklets I will blog about later as they are of a different church. 

Reverend John Oakes becomes the vicar of Longbridge, Birmingham, England on November 20th 1964.  

A group of clergy in a newspaper clipping, undated or named. But it looks like a very young John Oakes at possibly his ordination with other new clergy that were ordained at the same time.

Two newspaper clippings about the Reverend John Oakes being brought up in Birmingham.

A Christmas message from The reverend Canon and Mrs J S Leatherbarrow dated 1967, Martley Rectory, Worstershire.

Newspaper clipping 1965 of the Archdeacon of North Basutoland, The very reverend Fortescue Makhetha with Reverend John Oakes. 

Photograph of a church fete. Looks to be about the 1970s.

Contact newspaper June 1969

Longbridge Parish Church institution invitation. 1964.

Photographs found, I think of the reverend Oakes with his church attenders. This looks like the 1970s?  There was also the negatives amongst the church hoard, with many other prints not seen here. Also an older photograph from 1924. It does have the names on the back.

Two ladies from 1924.

Again about Reverend Oakes in a newspaper clip.

 Have a look at the newspaper clipping about Longbridge church and the reverend Oakes. I believe he is now retired but it just seemed a shame to throw his life's work into a jumble sale and eventually, if I had not picked them up. They would have been separated and probably consigned to the rubbish tip. 

Prayer at home booklet.

Back of the prayer booklet.

The Theolog 1955.

The old and new church etching. 

The negative sleeve with old money on the front.

Diocese  of Birmingham prayer booklet front. See the insides above.

The Olog booklet 1951

The Olog booklet Lent 1953.

The front of a photograph sleeve from Northfield - probably from a photograph shop now long gone. Sorry can not red the shop's name.

St Barnabas Balsall Heath, Birmingham's rebuilding and refurbishing after a fire in 1970s. Think the photograph sketches above may be the old church and newer smaller one. 

I have some leaflets of a Bedford church, but will show them at a later date. So have a happy Christmas and I hope next year gets a lot better,

 Mount Pleasant Chapel recipe book 1909.

A few years ago, I brought a small battered book in a church sale. The book had no cover and was falling apart. No information to see where Mount Pleasant Chapel was. There are many chapels of that name. So I just looked at the many recipes sent in by lots people all over England and Wales. Then thought it was a piece of history that could not be just thrown away and so put it on my bookshelf. Where it has stayed. Today I got it out and discovered the following after some research:

 It was a recipe book sold to raise funds for the Mount Pleasant Wesleyan Chapel in Leek Staffordshire. There is quite a write up in the Staffordshire Sentinel on the 27th April 1909 about the 3 day event. The book was compiled by Miss Rayner and raised £34.

The preface says "Dedicated with grateful thanks to all those who so willingly contributed to this book, which has been compiled in aid of the funds of the Mount Pleasant Chapel Bazaar, April 1909"

"Be to its faults a little blind,

And to its virtue very kind"

Annie & Catherine Rayner.

Sister's Anne and Catherine Rayner were the children of Peter Ascough Rayner and Anne Taylor. They lived in Leek all their lives and never married. Anne born in 1856 died in 1939 and her sister Catherine born two years later died in 1937. They had a younger brother Peter Ascough Rayner born in 1960, who although married appeared to have no children and died in 1907 in Lancashire. They also had another sister, who was called Amelia. Born in 1859, Amelia married a widow in 1885 in Leek. John Moses was a monumental mason and had five children by his previous marriage to Jane Eliza Crabtree already. The couple had one child Miriam Rayner Moses together.  

At the front of the book are two pages of quotations:

The names include The late Sir Thomas Wardle by Sam Johnson, Rev G E Sheers, B A, Rev T F Bryant, Rev H R Crosby, Mrs H Cope, Mr Vernon Davies by Owen Meridith, Mr Percy W Gray (London) and Mr H salt. 

 The cookery recipes are numerous. So in this blog post I will show just a few. Over the coming months, I hope to photograph the whole book and add them on this website.

Artichoke soup by Mrs Wright of Spring Lodge.

Bonne Femme soup by Miss K Hall of Ball Haye Hall.

Italian soup by Mrs Davenport of Fox Lowe.

Kidney soup by Mrs Clark of Buxton road.

Bon Appetit..