Pre War years in Portsmouth
Dad spent six years in Spurgeon's orphanage at Stockwell, between 1927 and 1933. He left on Thursday 27th July 1933, aged 14. It seems an odd day to be leaving – you might have thought that he would have left on 30th April – his 14th birthday. But maybe they just waited until the end of term.
According to the register at Spurgeon's Dad's home address was initially the Gladstone Hotel, Clarence Parade, Southsea., shown as it is today converted into flats. I would think a temporary address like this probably means that his Mum and Audrey lived in Croydon right up until the time Dad left school. His Mum had remarried in 1930, to Peter Herbert Neal, who was in the Navy and based in Portsmouth. I wonder how they met? As far as I know his Mum had no connection with Portsmouth other than Peter Herbert in the navy.
We don't know how long they stayed in the Gladstone Hotel, but three years later they were living in 27 Alverstone Road, Milton, behind Fratton Park at the Milton End. This was where Dad's sister Janice was born in 1936. They might have moved there directly from the Gladstone Hotel, probably in 1933 or 1934. It was probably rented as most houses were in those days. In this picture it's the one in the middle with the blue door.
As far as work was concerned I can remember Dad telling me about working at a chair frame factory before he joined the RAF. This was R. Harris of 37 Butcher Street. There was an amusing story Dad told about a group of workers in the factory who built a car out of wood with an Austin 7 engine in it. They drove this car around inside the factory and it produced so much smoke that someone called the fire brigade.
There was another story about when they were delivering a load of chair frames on a hand cart. There was a policeman on point duty on Fratton Bridge and when he signalled the cart forward it tipped up and deposited the load of chair frames all over the road, blocking Fratton Bridge for a while. Happy Days!
Dad's best mate during this period was Arthur Dossett. Arthur lived with his parents at 115 Esslemont Road, a few minutes walk from Alverstone Road. They were the same age – Dad was a few days older. The name of Arthur Dossett came up many times over the years, especially when we were kids. I saw him at least once in the mid 1950s. A tall chap with glasses. Arthur died in 1980.
They moved to Portchester in 1936 when Dad was aged 17. Their new home was a semi-detached bungalow at 17 The Crossway. Here it is today – the one with the silver car on the drive. So why did they move to Portchester? The house in Portsmouth might have been getting too small now that Janice had arrived, but this bungalow doesn't look much bigger. Another possibility is that Daisy's sister Mag was living in Portchester with a baby and it might have simply been to be closer together.
In 1936 Dad bought his first motorcyle, a 1928 Calthorpe 350. It was probably in better condition than this one, but even so on 17th Mar 1937 Dad was caught riding an unroadworthy motor bike without insurance. Almost certainly this model. He was fined £1 and lost his licence for a year. Dad got his licence back in March 1938 and over the next two years he owned six vehicles. For part of this time, from Sep 1938 he was in the RAF, but why he got through so many vehicles in such a short time is anybody's guess.
Click here for complete details of Dad's vehicles over the years.
