John Edward Cooper’s Notes

[Her] Grandad, my Grandad Paine’s father, was a plumber, and he died of lead poisoning when my Grandad was two.

In my grandfather John Edward Paine’s hand: “Taken after the death of my Father [i.e. the above-mentioned late John Paine], who was only 38 years. Right, my Mother & I (baby); behind, Aunt Lavenia & Uncle Will; from left Sisters Muriel Edith Grandmother Preece & Brother Harry.” 

 My  Mum told me that “Preece” was the maiden name of my Grandad Paine’s mother (obviously, his father’s surname was “Paine”). His older siblings were:

• Muriel, who married a man called Jack.

• Edith, who died of tuberculosis when she was perhaps in her 30s. My Mum remembers Aunt Edith as kind, sitting on the stairs while she went up to the toilet, till she had finished. For she was frightened of going upstairs in the dark; there was only a light fitting downstairs.

• Harry, who contracted tuberculosis during World War I. He passed it on to Jack, with whom he was lodging.

He had a younger half-sister Anne, for his mother remarried. Anne too contracted tuberculosis, and wouldn’t have children because of this.



In my grandfather John Edward Paine’s hand: “Grandfather & Grandmother Paine [i.e. the parents of the above-mentioned late John Paine] taken in the back garden of 10 Miller St. South Shore about 1902”

Note, presumably in Anne’s hand: “Yours Lovingly, Nibbo”
Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Aunt Anne, Dad’s youngest sister”

Since the photo has come down to my Mum, Anne may have given or sent it to her half-brother John Edward, my Mum’s father, using the pet-name “Nibbo”.

171 Granville Street, Sheffield
Elizabeth Cooper — Head — Widow — 54 — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield
George Arthur Cooper — Son — Single — 23 — Tram Rail Pointsman — Worker — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield
Gertrude Cooper — Daughter — Single — 20 — Warehousewoman [Cutler] — Worker — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield
Joseph Fox Cooper — Son — Single — 17 — Engraver on Silver [White] — Worker — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield
Herbert Cooper — Son — Single — 14 — Cutlery Whitler — Worker — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield [my grandfather]

9 Thirza Street, Nether Hallam, Sheffield
Alexander Osborne — Head — Married — 43 — Corporation Labourer — Worker — b.Glouces'r. — b.Bristol
Elizabeth Osborne — Wife — Married — 36 — b.Glouces'r. — b.Bristol
Emma R. Osborne — Daughter — Single — 15 — Silver Burnisher — Worker — b.Glam'n. — b.Cardiff
William J. Osborne — Son — Single — 14 — Grocers Errand Boy — Worker — b.Glam'n. — b.Cardiff
Charles Osborne — Son — Single — 13 — Grocers Errand Boy — Worker — b.Glouces'r. — b.Bristol
Elizabeth Osborne — Daughter — Single — 11 — b.Lancs. — b.Manchester
Henry Osborne — Son — Single — 9 — b.Lancs. — b.Manchester
Lucy Osborne — Daughter — Single — 7 — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield [Louisa Osborne: my grandmother]
Edith Osborne — Daughter — Single — 5 — b.Yorks. — b.Sheffield
John Wilson — Boarder — Single — 38 — Corporation Labourer — Worker — b.Notts. — b.Nottingham

6 Duke Street, Blackpool
Mary Ann Paine — Head — Married — 29 — b.Herefordshire
Muriel N. Paine — Daughter — 8 — b.Lancs. — b.Blackpool
Edith M. Paine — Daughter — 6 — b.Lancs. — b.Blackpool
Harry Paine — Son — 4 — b.Lancs. — b.Blackpool
John E. Paine — Son — 1 — b.Lancs. — b.Blackpool [my grandfather]
John Foulks — Boarder — 30 — Joiner Carp. — Worker — b.Lancs. — b.Blackpool

1 Cranage Street, Newton Heath, Manchester
Charles Henry Hindley — Head — Married — 34 — Mechanical [Fitter] Iron Turner — Worker — b.Lancs. — b.Oldham
Eleanor Hindley — Wife — Married — 32 — b.Lancs. — b.Oldham
Florence Hindley — Daughter — Single — 14 — b.Lancs. — b.Oldham
Elizabeth Ellen Hindley — Daughter — Single — 7 — b.Lancs. — b.Oldham
Edith Annie Hindley — Daughter — Single — 2 — b.Lancs. — b.Oldham [my grandmother]

Charles Cooper: See the chart above for “Cooper”…: In fact, it is below in this presentation.

Dad: …There was Uncle Bill; he was the oldest.[1] There was Aunt Dolly, who died just after childbirth. There was Aunt Emma who went a bit peculiar, and she was found dead in bed. She’d been dead three or four weeks when they found her. There was Uncle Charlie; there was my Mother; there was Uncle Harry; and there was Aunt Edith: seven of them altogether.

Uncle Bill
Dad: …Uncle Bill lived in Wales, so we didn’t see much of him — except when he was short of money and he used to come tabbing off Grandad! I think Nancy kept in touch more than I did, but then she was five years older than me. One of Uncle Bill’s sons was burned to death at work.
Mum: How awful! Well, wasn’t he so badly scalded, and then he died afterwards?
Dad: I think so, yes.
Mum: How awful!
Me: So where was he working?
Dad: I don’t know. You see, I was only very young when all this happened; it didn’t register.

“Uncle” and “Cousin” Charlie
Dad: Have you ever met young Charlie, my cousin?
Mum: No. No — I have, but I mean, John wouldn’t have done.
Dad: We used to come together from Sheffield [on holiday to Blackpool]. My Uncle Charlie had the Bell Hotel on Fitzalan Square in Sheffield, and I used to go down there when the pub was closed, playing snooker with young Charlie. And we used to come on holidays together. Uncle Charlie used to bring us in his car and take us back home again. So we were—
Me: Now who lived in West Drive? There was an “Uncle Charlie” in West Drive.
Dad: Ah, that was the same Uncle Charlie that had the Bell Hotel in Fitzalan Square. When he retired he moved to Blackpool [more specifically, to Thornton Cleveleys], to West Drive.

Uncle Harry
Dad: Uncle Harry had a pub in Rotherham. But he came to live in Blackpool as well. The whole family came here eventually, I think.
Me: So who was Uncle Harry?
Dad: He was my mother’s youngest brother.

Dad: And on my father’s side: There was Uncle Joe; he was the oldest.[2] You met Uncle Joe, didn’t you?
Me: Yes.
Dad: There was Aunt Gertie. I don’t know if you met her, or not.
Me: Yes, I remember.
Dad: Yes, Aunt Gertie. There was George Arthur, who was Monica’s father. There was Alfred Ernest—
Me: At one time you couldn’t remember which of those two was Monica’s father.
Dad: Well, I still can’t remember, really—
Me: Right.
Dad: —But I think it was George Arthur that was her father. Then there was Aunt Millicent; and then [there] was my father, he was the youngest. So there were six of them, seven of my Mother’s, so I’ve got cousins that I’ve never met. I can’t ever remember meeting Alfred Ernest or George Arthur; but I met Millicent, Joe, Gertie — oh, that’s it, isn’t it. But with so many, you couldn’t keep track of them all. I mean there were thirteen of them altogether! And most of them had kids, so I’ve cousins galore that I’ve never even known.

[1] Uncle Bill… was the oldest—not according to the 1901 Census information, though.
[2] Uncle Joe… was the oldest—again, not according to the 1901 Census information.

March 1913 or shortly before that
From notes from a conversation with my Dad, August 1989:[1]

John Lunn was born and his mother died as a result, in the latter part of March 1913—though it has been said that her death was hastened by the fact that John Sr. “meddled with her” while she was still in bed ill. So John Lunn Jr. is about 10 years older than my Dad.

[1] This particular note is no longer extant. It does not appear in the diary write-up of conversations with my Dad in August; it does appear in the earliest versions of this Family History. I would guess that “the latter part of March 1913” is based on the documentary evidence, not the conversation.

Sunday 6 June 1915: Mary Ann Taylor formerly Paine died
My Mum’s paternal grandmother, Mary Ann Taylor formerly Paine, died on 6 June 1915, according to the Death Certificate — 7 years before my Mum was born. Although after the death of her husband John Paine she married Frederick Taylor — this is indicated in the Death Certificate — she was buried in the same grave as her first husband, as shown on the Headstone Inscription.

1914–1918: World War I: John Edward Paine
Grandad Paine and a friend ran away from home to join the forces, though they were below the minimum age for enlistment. They went to Scotland, hoping to join a Highland regiment because they fancied wearing a kilt, but it was to the 3rd Battalion of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers that they were assigned, before not long afterwards their parents came and brought them back home. In 1917, still just shy of the legal age, Grandad Paine enlisted again. He underwent trench-warfare training at Kinmel Park, North Wales, from April or May 1917, and at the end of March 1918 he was recalled from leave to rejoin his regiment in France. He was wounded there and hospitalised, before returning home in March 1919. [See 1914–1918: World War I: John Edward Paine.]

Sunday 17 March 1918: Nancy Gillott born
Nancy Gillott, my Dad’s cousin — the daughter of his mother’s sister — was born on 17 March 1918. I’ve forgotten what the source of this information is.
From The Cooper Diaries, written during a visit to Mum and Dad, Monday 7 September 1992:

 Nancy is some 16 years older than her brother David, and 5 years older than my Dad. When they lived in Sheffield she was like a big sister to him, used to take him to school.
 Then they moved to Blackpool, and some time later my Dad and his parents moved there.

However, there is another card from “Jack”, postmarked “BLACKPOOL 5. 45 PM, 1 AUG 19”.

John Edward Paine


Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Mum aged about 19 (1917) — Edith Annie Hindley. She was lovely.”

The siblings were: Florry, Elizabeth (called Cis), Edith, and Ernest. Edith (my Mum’s mother) had all her teeth out in December 1920, because they were crossed at the front, and she wore dentures. She visited several dentists before she found one who was willing to perform the procedure, because her teeth were in perfect condition.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Mother on the right with her sister Elizabeth but called Cissy”

Wednesday 8 December 1920: John Edward Paine married Edith Annie Hindley
My Mum’s father and mother John Edward Paine and Edith Annie née Hindley were married on 8 December 1920, according to the Marriage Certificate.

“With Love to Annie
From Edith & Ted”

Who is “Annie”? John Edward Paine’s sister Anne? — though if so, they have used “Annie” as the pet-name not “Nibbo” (see the photo of Anne, above). “Ted” is a common contraction of Edward, and perhaps that was the pet-name used for him by Anne.

Note in my Mum’s hand: “Wedding of Mum & Dad in 1920: Mr. John Edward Paine, Mrs. Edith Annie Paine née Hindley”




“Love to Ernest
for a Happy Xmas
from Edith & Jack”
Note in my Mum’s hand: “The wedding of my parents in 1920, John Edward Paine to Edith Annie Hindley”

The wedding was on Wednesday 8 December 1920, and their first son John Edward (“Jack”) was born six months later, Monday 6 June 1921, so he was “on the way” when his parents were married.

April 1921: Herbert Cooper married Louisa Osborne
My Dad’s father and mother Herbert Cooper and Louisa née Osborne were married in April 1921, according to the inscription inside the flyleaf of my Grandma Cooper's Revised Version Bible.

Monday 6 June 1921: John Edward Paine Jr. born
My Mum’s elder brother Jack (John Edward Paine) was born on 6 June 1921.

Wednesday 7 June 1922: Marjorie Elizabeth Paine born
The birth of my Mum Marjorie Elizabeth née Paine on 7 June 1922, a year and a day after the birth of her elder brother Jack, proved the notion — that one couldn’t get pregnant while one was breast-feeding — to be just an old wives’ tale, with no basis in fact. Indeed, when my Mum’s mother was told that she was pregnant, she fainted!

Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Aunt Edith and me taken in 1923”
Edith Mary Paine, died seven years later. Mum told me that she only had a vague memory of her, with curly red hair. She was Mum’s father’s older sister.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “My father John Edward Paine with my brother John Paine and me Marjorie Elizabeth Paine taken on the sandhills Blackpool about 1925”

Monday 15 January 1923: Charles Cooper born
My Dad Charles Cooper was born on 15 January 1923.

Card, postmarked “SHEFFIELD, 9 [?]0PM, 15 JAN 23”

From notes from a conversation with him, August 1989:

15 January 1923
When my Dad was born he nearly killed my Grandma so she didn’t try having children again.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Charles with his parents at Bridlington 1923”
He looks somewhat older than just a few months, though, so perhaps 1924

Dad: …I think, next to Nancy, Joyce was the one I had most dealings with as a child, you know.
Me: How old was Joyce, then, relative to you?
Dad: She was just nine months younger than me. Apparently, Uncle Joe and his wife came to see me when I was born; and they went home that night, and she must have conceived because Joyce was born just nine months after.
Mum: Well, he’d been married before, if you remember, and his wife had died in childbirth; so they decided— He didn’t want to risk his second wife dying, so they decided—
Me: What happened to that child? Did that die as well?
Mum and Dad: Yes.
Mum: I think it probably was—
Mum and Dad: —Stillborn—
Dad: —And she died. But then, as I say, his next wife— They came to see me… just after I was born, and—
Mum: —They decided to risk it.
Dad: —They were so taken that they decided they’d try for a family themselves; so Joyce was born just nine months after.
Me: Well, I remember Uncle Joe, and I remember Joyce. I don’t remember him having a wife; so had she—?
Dad: No, she died. She died, yes.… He was a widower for a long time.
Mum: I can’t remember her at all.
Dad: I can’t remember her. He was a widower for a long time. But Joyce was very bright: she was a school-teacher; and she was very musical, she used to conduct choirs.
Mum: —When they had the massed choirs in the park at Whitsuntide.
Dad: At Whitsuntide, all the Sunday Schools used to mass in the Norfolk Park, in Sheffield, and they’d have a big orchestra there; and she’d conduct the lot. She was brilliant, actually — a lot cleverer than I am.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Charles aged about 4 or 5 at Bridlington”

Monday 13 February 1928: Ronald Paine born
My Mum’s brother Ronald Paine (my Uncle Ronnie) was born nearly six years after she was, so he was always regarded as the “baby brother”. My Mum wrote in a letter, July 2014:

He’s 86, older than [your] Dad was when he died, but he’s always been my “little brother”. I can remember him as a baby in my Mum’s arms — it is so vivid a memory. He was always a cheeky, witty child. My Dad, though christened John, was always called Jack, and I remember when Ronnie was about five being scolded for some misdemeanour, saying to my Dad, “Come on Jack, keep your hair on.” My Dad could not help but laugh.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Dad (John Edward Paine) and me (Marjorie Elizabeth Paine) taken about 1926”

When Mum and I discussed the above photo, she thought it was taken in Llangollen. The aqueduct there has cast-iron arches, though, not brick and/or masonry, and the date is wrong. My Mum’s mother was unwell after giving birth to Ronnie (Monday 13 February 1928), and in the July they went on holiday to Cefn Mawr near Llangollen. They went there the year after that as well. There were little houses across the valley, and my Mum exclaimed to her mother, “Look at all those dolls’ houses!”

In and around 91 Watson Road
My Mum's mother and father, and two brothers, lived at 91 Watson Road, South Shore, Blackpool. They were not well off. Grandad Paine worked for a firm of tailors, or worked for a tailor, then set up in business on his own. He built up a loyal clientèle. Then the war came, when one had to be in “gainful employment”; and after the war, some of the older clients had died off, and the new soft suits came into fashion as opposed to the “costumes” Grandad used to make. So Grandad got a job as night watchman for the Tower company. (My Dad’s family in Sheffield was better off: Grandad Cooper was a foreman for the cutlery manufacturers Joseph Rodgers & Sons. For example, they regularly ate chicken, which was more expensive than beef then.)

“Feb. 21st 1927”


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Jack aged about 7”




Note in my Mum’s hand: “Outside 91 Watson Road taken about 1930”


Revisit on Saturday 8 July 2000

The Biddy Horner Incident
Uncle Jack says he doesn't remember this. I am not sure when I first heard the story, but I first recorded it in The Cooper Diaries on Monday 3rd June 1996:

…Mum told the Biddy Horner story. When Uncle Jack was a little boy, the Horners had the shop across the road; and Uncle Jack, Biddy Horner and perhaps others were outside there. Did Mum witness the event; was she there, too? Biddy Horner had a tricycle (loosely called a “bike”), and Uncle Jack wanted a turn at riding it. “Let me have a go on your bike, Biddy Horner,” he said, but she wouldn’t let him. “Let me have a go on your bike, Biddy Horner,” he repeated, but she still refused. “If you don’t let me have a go on your bike, Biddy Horner, I’ll pee on you.” But she persisted in her refusal, so he hitched up the leg of his short pants and peed on her.…

• Walking from the bus stop to Watson Road
• Biddy Horner
• Walking along Watson Road
• Ronnie pinches a ten bob note to treat his pals to sweets at the Co-op store.
• The “posh” side and the “council” side
• Location of the Co-op
• Dorothy Singleton
• Mr. Fitzgerald, with gooseberry bushes in his garden
• Peggy Murrow: well off (they had a motor bike and sidecar!)
• Living in one of the council houses on the main road was better than living on the council estate at the back of them.
• Betty Walker, and my Mum’s first taste of cream
• Mrs. Singleton at No. 105, her daughters Marjorie and Mary
• “Our establishment”, No. 91
• Mrs. Whittaker’s house, No. 95, by the side of the ginnel, where Mum took Ronnie when she was frightened of a thunderstorm
• The Handy Stores
• The Duckworths
• Biddy Horner’s shop, with a large storage area suitable for hide-and-seek
• [Censored story!]
• Valerie Garth
• The Wilsons
• Mrs. Marsh, who tried to shoo them away when they played on the green, who had a handicapped child
• The Bradshaws
• Jimmy Bradshaw, killed by a car near the railway bridge over Watson Road (“He’s gone to heaven,” Mum’s mother told her.)
• Watson Court, formerly green (an allotment?)
• The Hennessys (Patrick and Michael). Uncle Jack made a canoe; but when Pat Hennessy did the same, his capsised!

The "migration" to Blackpool
From conversation with Mum and Dad, Saturday 8 July 2000:

“Grandma” and “Grandad”
Me: So who migrated to Blackpool first? Who came to Blackpool first?
Dad: Grandma and Grandad [Alexander and Elizabeth Osborne]. And then—
Me: They lived in 11 Watson Road?
Mum: No.
Dad: No, they went to Withnell Road first of all. And then, when they retired, they went to Severn Road, and then from Severn Road they went to Watson Road.
Me: What brought them to Blackpool? Did they have a boarding house?
Dad: Yes, in Withnell Road.… They used to live on Talbot Gardens in Sheffield. And their house backed into the same yard as ours when we were in Stafford Street. There were one, two, three in one yard, and then over the wall there were two houses; and all five houses belonged to Grandma.…




Views of 24–28 Withnell Road, thanks to Lancashire County Council Maps & Related Information Online and Multimap.

Nos.26 and 28 Withnell Road
[We were travelling along Withnell Road as we spoke.]
Dad: Twenty-six, was Grandma’s old house, and twenty— Of course, they’ve knocked them all into one now. Twenty-eight— That was twenty-six; twenty-eight was Aunt Edith’s.
Mum: It’s flats now, isn’t it.…

Uncle Harry
Dad: Uncle Harry had a pub in Rotherham. But he came to live in Blackpool as well. The whole family came here eventually, I think.

Around 1927
John Lunn [Jr.] was 14 when they moved to Blackpool to run the boarding house at 28 Withnell Road (“Grandad’s”, i.e. my great-grandfather Alexander Osborne’s, was 24 Withnell Road[1]).
 My Dad remembers that John Lunn was always a bit of a “rum ’un”. He remembers that John rigged up some sort of telephone device that plugged into the mains so he could spy on his Mum[2] and Dad’s conversation in the next room.
 And once upon a time John was looking after my Dad who was then still only small, and they were walking along the street when John said, “Wait here, I’m just going in there for a minute.” “There” was the door of a restaurant. Apparently the restaurateur owed someone something and John was going in to collect. The owner refused to listen to him, and when John started with threats he called the police. So John Lunn was dragged out by the police and my Dad was left all on his own.
 My great-aunt Edith and John fell out before he married his wife Liz (who incidentally died just before Christmas 1988): he wanted himself and Liz to move in and look after “Grandad”. I assume that “Grandad” had by now moved to the house at 11 Watson Road (on the last block before the railway and Pleasure Beach—the house that would later (within my memory) be occupied by Edith), and that at that time Edith was looking after him.




Views of 11 Watson Road, thanks to Lancashire County Council Maps & Related Information Online and Multimap.

[1] 24 Withnell Road: This was 26, according to the conversation of 8 July 2000. Nos.24, 26 and 28 Withnell Road were all part of one building.
[2] His Mum—presumably, his step-mother. His mother died shortly after he was born.

Note in my Mum’s hand: “Charles with his parents about 1930”


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Charles as a lad”


Charles Cooper

Dad’s holidays in Blackpool
From conversation with Mum and Dad, Saturday 8 July 2000:

1960s postcard showing the Metropole Hotel (then a "Butlins" hotel) and the nearby colonnade

Guest Week
Me: Wasn’t there a story about somewhere round here — the Metropole?
Dad: Well, do you know when I talked about the colonnades, taking your railway ticket to get a Guest Ticket? It was down there.
Me: Yes. Oh, that’s right.
Dad: They used to have a Guest Week, and you used to get this book of tickets with free rides on the tram, and free rides on the Pleasure Beach, and cheap seats in the shows.
Me: I didn’t remember that there was a colonnade until I just saw it, as we passed.… So you used to come to Blackpool from Sheffield—?
Dad: Yes. Well, I had relations here, you see, so when I had my summer holidays from school I used to come to— Well, first of all, I used to come to Grandma’s; and then when Auntie [Edith] moved here, I used to go to my Aunt’s. I’d have five weeks in the summer.
Me: So, they were next door to each other in Withnell—
Dad: No. No, by that time Grandma had retired and gone to live in Severn Road, and then just shortly after that she went to live in Watson Road. And then of course when Grandma died, Auntie packed up the boarding house in Withnell Road and went to look after Grandad in Watson Road. And I still used to go there for my holidays.

“Uncle” and “Cousin” Charlie
Dad: Have you ever met young Charlie, my cousin?
Mum: No. No — I have, but I mean, John wouldn’t have done.
Dad: We used to come together from Sheffield. My Uncle Charlie had the Bell Hotel on Fitzalan Square in Sheffield, and I used to go down there when the pub was closed, playing snooker with young Charlie. And we used to come on holidays together. Uncle Charlie used to bring us in his car and take us back home again. So we were—
Me: Now who lived in West Drive? There was an “Uncle Charlie” in West Drive.
Dad: Ah, that was the same Uncle Charlie that had the Bell Hotel in Fitzalan Square. When he retired he moved to Blackpool, to West Drive.

1937
My Dad and his Mum and Dad moved to Blackpool around 1937, so that would make my Dad 14. (Have I confused the story of John Lunn with that of my Dad, then? For I’ve already reported John as being 14 when they moved.) They moved to 11 Napier Avenue, which was a boarding house called The Haven with a capacity of 22. The next-door house was number 15 (they were superstitious about the number 13). Between the two houses they could share a full coach-load. Campbell’s from Scotland used to bring people for the weekend to see the Illuminations and they would all get in to No’s 11 and 15. To make use of every bit of available space my Gran had a 5ft 6in-long bed made which would just fit in the alcove left between the airing cupboard and the opposite wall; this bed is still in my Gran’s old bedroom at my Mum and Dad’s in Thornton.




Views of 11 and 15 Napier Avenue, thanks to Lancashire County Council Maps & Related Information Online and Multimap.


Outside 11 Napier Avenue, South Shore, Blackpool

The Haven
Dad: It’s still called “The Haven”. Just think: Sixty-three years ago, that was built.
Me: Built?
Dad: Yes. It was new when we went in, in 1937.
Mum: I wonder if any of them have en suite facilities these days?
Dad: I don’t know. Only two of the bedrooms were big enough to have en suite modifications. The others, there was just enough room for a wardrobe and a bed. Oh, there was a wash-basin in each one; and there was a toilet on the top floor, and a toilet on the first floor [US: second floor].

From 1937 to the War
This was the situation in the summer of 1937, 1938 and 1939 and they were doing quite well; but then the war came, and from then on expectant mothers, civil servants—fairly high-ranking ones from the India Office—and British and Polish airmen were billeted there, and they only got a pittance for them—£1 a week for accommodation, including breakfast and tea. They had to pay extra if they wanted supper. That’s when rationing started, but there was a wholesaler who used to stay with them, who would sometimes let them have a ham or a sack of sugar.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Mum & me in the back garden of 91 Watson Rd Blackpool taken in 1937 when I was 15”

My Dad met my Mum at ——’s dance hall shortly after the outbreak of war, September 1939, for the blackout had started. He could dance because he and Nancy used to go to —— at ——. His mate at work told where he’d been that Saturday, asked my Dad if he wanted to go, and he said, “Aye, all right.”

In 1939 there was the Blackout Club, upstairs above the Lido swimming pool in South Shore, and that’s where Dad met Mum. He didn’t like her at first, but she was a good dancing partner. My Mum and Dad were part of a group or gang of about a dozen, who used to hang around together, go for walks, etc. Among them, and the only ones they kept in touch with, were “Uncle” Roland and “Auntie” Connie Gray.[1] (He has died now.) Dad recalled that what attracted him to Mum was her walk. When they all went out in a group, the girls would walk on ahead and the boys behind. That’s when he noticed. Mum’s father was a tailor and made suits for her, but insisted on suitable poise and walk from her when she wore them. Dad went out with her, then they split up, then they went together again.

[The Cooper Diaries, Tuesday 12th December 1995, Saturday 8th June 1996]

[1] “Uncle” Roland and “Auntie” Connie Gray: They are mentioned in I am christened.

In Stanley Park, Blackpool


In Stanley Park, Blackpool


Outside 91 Watson Road, South Shore, Blackpool


Outside 91 Watson Road, South Shore, Blackpool

1939–1945: World War II
Grandad Paine (John Edward Paine Sr.) was in the Home Guard in World War II.

Note in my Mum’s hand: “My father (back right) in the Home Guard taken during the 1939–1945 war”

 This cap badge was perhaps Uncle Jack’s (John Edward Paine Jr.):

Cap badge: “R—E—M—E”

“…The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was formed on the 1st October 1942.… After some interim designs, the badge of the Corps was formalised in June 1943 for use as the cap-badge, collar-badge, and on the buttons. It consisted of an oval Royally Crowned laurel wreath; on the wreath were four small shields at the compass points, each shield bearing one of the letters of ‘REME’. Within the wreath was a pair of callipers” — Wikipedia.

1943: Dad is called up to military service
From notes from a conversation with my Dad, August 1989:

1943
My Dad wasn’t “called up” till he was 20, by which time people in the street and on buses were starting to whisper about him. Unbeknown to him at the time the Post Office for whom he worked had got exemption.[1]
 Mum and he got engaged, then he had to go for training. The “square bashing” was done at Skegness [the Butlins holiday camp there was taken over for military use, 1939–1946], then he went on a Radio Mechanics course in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for 4 months. Thence to HMS Ariel, Warrington, for 3 months, where he was promoted to Leading Hand. Thence to Whales Camp, Inskip.

[1] Mum told me in 2016, “He was teaching women to do his job.” Most job rôles tended to be rigidly designated “male” and “female” in those days; but with men being called up to join the armed forces, women were being recruited to replace them. 


Dad in a Rating uniform


Dad, in a Rating uniform, and Mum outside his home, 11 Napier Avenue, South Shore, Blackpool

Saturday 4 December 1943
Then he and Mum got married. It nearly didn’t happen, because all leave was cancelled. He appealed to his superior officer, who refused to give him permission; so he went over his head and applied to the Commanding Officer of the outfit. This time he got it. My Dad and the first chap didn’t see eye to eye after that. My Uncle Jack was going to be best man, but his leave was cancelled, so best man was just one of my Dad’s comrades-in-arms.


Wedding at the Unitarian Church, Lytham Road, Blackpool, Saturday 4 December 1943
They had no religious leanings, Mum told me; they were married there because the Unitarian Church had dances on Saturday nights that they went to.


The Bridesmaid is Betty Owen, and Best Man is someone surnamed Bashforth, one of my Dad’s comrades-in-arms. Mum’s brother, my Uncle Jack, was supposed to be Best Man, but he couldn’t get leave from the army. The lad in front is David Gillott, Nancy’s younger brother (see Sunday 17 March 1918).

December 1943
 My Mum and Dad went on honeymoon in Windsor.[1] The journey there—that was some journey! because the train kept being diverted into sidings to let troop trains and such like pass.

[1] I originally wrote “London” here, but Mum told me in June 2016 that their honeymoon was in fact in Windsor, at the Castle Hotel, which overlooked Windsor Castle. Theirs was a large room: Room 19. The booking had been made by telephone by Grandma Cooper. Initially, she’d been told that there was no room, but she’d protested that her son was in the forces and was on leave to get married. The wedding night itself was spent at the Coopers’ boarding house in Napier Avenue…. The train journey the next day took a long time because the train kept being halted in sidings to let troop trains pass. As for the photo taken in Trafalgar Square, London (below), they went by train to London a number of times. The coat and the “costume” (as one called a matching skirt and jacket), which she was wearing when the photo was taken, were made by her dad.


Trafalgar Square, London

Dad, bearded, in a Petty Officer’s uniform


Dad, bearded, in a Petty Officer’s uniform

From notes from a conversation with my Dad, August 1989:

Then my Dad was posted to America. He became ill, and by the time he was better the ship he should have boarded had gone. So for a time he worked on the railroad.
 He went on a course in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to learn about the Yankee equipment operated on the ships. This included actually working on the assembly line in the Collins factory.
 [A note here says:] South… [the meaning of which in this context I have forgotten. The note goes on to say:] Mrs. Douglas with imbecile son [which is the name of someone he was a guest of.] My Dad was also once the guest of someone else who as a “special treat” provided at great cost clam chowder, which my Dad found horrible; he could hardly bear to eat it.
 From there he went to Brunswick, Maine, where he picked up a Helldiver Corsair squadron which used the equipment.
 [The deleted “Helldiver” could refer to the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, a carrier-based dive bomber aircraft, or perhaps the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were both aircraft-carrier based fighter aircraft. Encyclopædia Britannica (1955 edition), vol. 1, page 450a, mentions that “the U.S. navy equipped carrier-type Hellcats and Corsairs with instruments for night fighting…”—is that the equipment my Dad was referring to?]
 Then he went to Virginia, where he picked up a ship, the Puncher, which was sailing to England.




HMS Puncher

[Dates relevant to this story, for the HMS Puncher, as given by Naval-History.net, are:
 30 August 1944: Embarked Corsair aircraft at Norfolk, Virginia, for transport to UK.
 8 September 1944: Joined US tanker Convoy CU38 for passage to UK.
 15 September 1944: Arrived in Clyde.
 18 September 1944: Landed aircraft in Belfast.]
 Because of an IRA scare he was posted to Londonderry. By now he was a Petty Officer; and as such he found himself guard commander. After he had set the guard one night he heard the guard’s challenge: “Halt! Who goes there?”; and a second time: “Halt, or I’ll shoot!”—and the hapless guard shot a cow!
 My Dad spent some time in Dunfermline.
 He was on three ships, the Puncher, the Striker and the Slinger, which were banana boats converted into aircraft carriers by having a flight deck welded on.
 [HMS Puncher, HMS Striker and HMS Slinger were under construction as merchant ships (not specifically "banana boats") when requisitioned by the US Navy for conversion into escort aircraft carriers, then were transferred to the Royal Navy under the lease-lend programme. Dad's being on HMS Puncher has been dealt with above. So the question is: Which of the other two was he on during the events, below? Dates relevant to the voyage to Australia, as given by Naval-History.net, are:




HMS Striker
 6 October 1944: Under repair of defects in Clyde shipyard. Nominated for service with 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron, British Pacific Fleet and to be deployed as a Replenishment Carrier.
 31 October 1944: Took passage to Australia to join Squadron.
 November 1944: Passage in Atlantic and Mediterranean. Transit of Suez Canal.
 December 1944: Passage in Indian Ocean.
 7 January 1945: On arrival at Sydney allocated for service in Fleet Train (Task Force 112). Prepared for service as a Replenishment Carrier.




HMS Slinger
 March to September 1944: Under repair.
 17 October 1944: Took passage to Clyde. There followed embarkation of aircraft and flying trials.
 December 1944: Nominated for service as replenishment carrier for support of British Pacific Fleet operations as part of Fleet Train.
 January 1945: Embarked aircraft of 1845 Squadron and personnel for passage to Australia.
 11 January 1945: Sailed from Clyde with sister ships HMS Khedive and Speaker.
 Called at Gibraltar.
 17 January 1945: During passage in Mediterranean with HMS Speaker both ships launched aircraft to carry our search for U-Boat off North African coast.
 Calls made at Port Said and Colombo, Ceylon.
 11 February 1945: Diverted during passage to Sydney and deployed with HM Escort Carrier Speaker, US Frigate USS Hutchinson, Australian Corvettes Warrnambool and Castlemaine to carry out (unsuccessful) air search for two mercantiles off west coast of Australia.
 22 February 1945: On arrival at Sydney joined HM Escort Aircraft Carriers Speaker, Ruler, Striker and Chaser in 30th Aircraft Carrier Squadron for service in Fleet Train.]

 He saw action twice. The first time was in the Mediterranean, while heading out to the Far East. They sank a submarine, or at least there was oil found on the surface after attacking it. Then they proceeded through the Suez Canal and on to Bombay, where Sir Alwyn Ezra had his servicemen’s club where petite Indian girls were available to dance with the servicemen.
 Then to Ceylon. Each man had to decide how much he was going to drink, then buy beer tickets on board ship—they weren’t allowed to use money ashore—for what they called “tiger piss”. (Would this be Tiger-brand beer?)
 [A note says:] Convoy sunk, search area—only wreckage found. [Does this refer to the sinking of a convoy after which only wreckage could be found? or is it the sinking of the submarine, already referred to, by the convoy?]
 Then on to Sydney, where my Dad mentioned the wine bars. The Aussies used to pay a hefty sum for tobacco, which was scarce there in the war; the navy boys were quite willing to provide out of their rations. My Dad also used to sell his rum; officers were allowed to save their daily tots up, ratings had to drink each tot as they got it
 He tried twice to get to the Philippines. The first time, they hit some wreckage, broke a blade off a propeller and had to limp back to Sydney. The second time, they stripped some gears.



 They were sailing to the Philippines, which were held by the Japanese at the time, running a blockade; they would sail between there [the island of Leyte in the Philippines, which the Americans had taken from the Japanese in October 1944], where they supplied the main fleet, and some other place [Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, where there was an Allied naval base supporting the British Pacific Fleet], and Okinawa, where they would pick up the wounded. To do this, they would fire a hand line across, then rig up a rope-and-pulley affair, then while men heaved on the rope to keep the line in tension between the two ships heaving in the waves, the wounded would be winched across—in coffins! They were dying like flies, the wounded.
 It was around this time that my Dad saw action a second time. Or rather, he didn’t see anything. They were strafed in the Pacific; and my Dad’s action station was down below with the high octane fuel, manning the pump to keep the fuel cool in case of fire! He was battened down in there, so he couldn’t see what was going on. And all he could hear was the roar of guns—he couldn’t tell if they were ours or theirs—and the occasional commentary of the skipper over the tannoy.
 So that’s what they did for three months, then they would go back to rest in Sydney. It was in Sydney that he was invited to the home of a mad inventor, who had devices like a dish-cloth that would come out of the wall on a criss-cross support at the push of a button.
 Back at sea, if any of the planes had to be ditched, there was a mad scramble to get the gyrocompasses out, because they contained alcohol. Then certain aircraft had a radio beacon in the tail, and that involved a real struggle to remove a panel behind the pilot’s seat and squeeze all the way down to the tail section to get at this device, which could then easily be converted into a radio receiver. All this involved great speed because the planes were about to be thrown overboard.
 One time the hand line to an aircraft (? helicopter) got snarled and my Dad suggested to the senior officer a way to get it free. But he was ignored, and finally the line snapped, and the helicopter or whatever fell into the sea. All that the other said was, “You were right, petty officer.”
 [A note says:] Dawn patrol.
 Once, there was a typhoon, which was terrifying. All that one could do, was hold one’s course into it. The waves came over the bridge, that’s how high they were; so the dips between the crests were just as deep.




SS Stratheden

 Then finally my Dad went home. He came home aboard the Stratheden, a passenger ship turned troop carrier. The voyage took six weeks. He got a crossing-the-line certificate, and underwent an “initiation” where he was shaved and ducked.
 He remembers the flying fish in the Red Sea, which would glide through the air a long time before falling back into the sea.


From left: The 1939–1945 Star; The Pacific Star; the Defence Medal; the War Medal 1935–1945


From right: The 1939–1945 Star; The Pacific Star; the Defence Medal; the War Medal 1935–1945


Evidently, my Dad told me some of this story when I was little. The picture seems to have started off as just being "At the Sea", with a sandcastle and a breakwater, but the location became the "Red Sea". The ship in the centre appears to be under threat from a whale with a devious grin. Has the ship to the right been sunk by a U-boat? I was disappointed, on finding this picture again after some years, that it does not depict any flying fish.


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Taken at Stockghyll Force Ambleside 1946”


Note in my Mum’s hand: “The Lake District 1946”

Note in my Mum’s hand: “New Year’s Eve 1952 or 1953”
From the left: Dad; Uncle Ronnie, my Mum’s younger brother; Uncle Jack, my Mum’s older brother; Sally, Jack’s fiancée (or wife?); Margaret, Ronnie’s fiancée; and Mum.

Discussion with my Mum ca. 2012 provided the following information:

This was at the Baronial Hall, the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. Who was looking after Steven and me — Nanny and Grandad Cooper? And when did Mum and Dad come home? They would, presumably, “see the New Year in”, and sleep over at someone’s house in Blackpool, before returning to Preston perhaps, by bus or train, the next morning.

By this time we were living at 20 Fairfield Drive, Ashton, Preston, so Steven, aged nearly 5 or 6, and I, aged ca. 2½ or 3½, would need a child-minder to come and stay overnight. The likely candidates for this rôle are my Grandma and Grandad Cooper, who would have to travel from 4 Neville Drive, Thornton, by bus in all likelihood. There was more reliance on public transport in those days; few people had cars.

Note in my Mum’s hand: “Mum and Dad”


Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Dad acting potty in the back garden of 91 Watson Road”


Note in my Mum’s hand: “Uncle Ernest, my Mum, Aunt Cis and Aunt Florry taken in the back garden of 91 Watson Road Blackpool”

“Uncle Ernest” was Mum’s mother’s younger brother. Mum said they went to live in Colwyn Bay and had a son (who was still alive, the last she knew). I remember Christmas cards from “Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hindley and Philip”. With this being such a formal expression, I guess the cards must have been printed with their names.
 “Aunt Cis” (also known as “the Duchess” because she was very posh) was married to Bertie Langford, who served in a senior position in the Diplomatic Service in various Consulates and Embassies throughout the world. I definitely remember their printed consular Christmas cards, with an embossed coat of arms on the front, otherwise plain white, and the printed greeting on a folded paper insert within, secured to the card by a blue ribbon.
 “Aunt Florry” went blind, and my only recollection of her, when I was a small child, is of her feeling my face and my brother Steven’s, as her way of “looking” at us, when we were all at 91 Watson Road.

Note in my Mum’s hand: “My Mum probably somewhere in Austria”

Herbert Died May 16th 1968 aged 81
Herbert Born March 25 / 1887

Went Grandma's GRANDAD DIED!
Tried to comfort her — she said "Go get Mum and Dad."
I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I had
not done things properly — although knew
what else could I do?…




Write up in [the West Lancashire Evening] Gazette.…

COOPER — On May 16, at 4 Neville
Drive, Thornton Herbert, aged 81
years, the beloved husband of
Louisa Cooper, a loving father
of Charles and Marjorie and grand-
father of Steven and John. Service
and interment at Carleton, on
Monday, at 3-0 p.m. Co-operative
Funeral Service. Tel. 25202.

PAINE
Ronald
(Ronnie) Passed away peacefully in Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Monday 4th August 2014. Ron aged 86 years. Beloved husband of Margaret, cherished dad of Deborah, special brother of Jack and Marjorie, also a much loved father in law and uncle who will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by all who knew him. “Always In Our Hearts” His funeral service will take place at Carleton Crematorium on Wednesday 13th August 2014 at 11.30am. Family flowers only, donations in lieu of flowers to MacMillan Cancer Support or Trinity Hospice. All further enquiries to The Co-operative Funeralcare, 97 Whitegate Drive, Blackpool, FY2 0NR. Tel 01253 301237.

The funeral was on Wednesday 13 August 2014.

Thursday 12 February 2015: John Edward Paine Jr. died
—Uncle Jack, my Mum’s elder brother. The funeral was on Monday 9 March 2015.

Saturday 6 April 2019: Marjorie Elizabeth Cooper died
—my Mum.

COOPER
Marjorie Elizabeth
Passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family in Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Saturday 6th April 2019, aged 96 years. Devoted wife to the late Charles, loving mum to Steven and John, cherished grandma, great grandma and great great grandma, also a dear mother-in-law, sister and auntie. Marjorie will be sadly missed by all her family and friends. Funeral service will take place at Emmanuel Church, Lofthouse Way, Fleetwood on Friday 26th April at 12.00pm prior to cremation at Carleton Crematorium at 1.15pm. All enquiries to J P Dell Funeral Directors, 168 Poulton Road, Fleetwood. Tel: 01253 773333.

(Published in Blackpool Gazette on Apr. 15, 2019)

The funeral was on Friday 26 April 2019.