Naughty Uncle Jack

It's been over four years since I last posted on family history. My sister and I are just picking up the threads again, and we've started with a difficult one.

My mother used to talk about her Uncle Jack, who was a favourite of hers, but there was a mystery. A couple of years ago my sister and I visited some Perry relatives who confirmed some of Mom's story. So we decided to try to find out what we could. We've drawn a lot of blanks but this is what we know.

What we know and what we don’t know.

John Percy Walter Morris

Born  October 1896 (Wordsley) Baptised 4^th November 1896

My mother always called him Uncle Jack. Written on the back of his war photograph is Johnny Morris.

Served in the 1^st World War. South Staffs Regiment. Got the basic war medals.

What did he do for a living after he left Stourbridge? He is a 14 year old errand boy in the 1911 census. At the time of his marriage he is a watchmaker and living at 10 New Street Stourbridge, the address of his father’s shop.

Married Nellie Westwood,  Stourbridge 1924. They were married at St Thomas Stourbridge. Nellie is a domestic living at 26 the Oak Kingswinford. The marriage is witnessed by his brother Frank and Eli Millward who lives at no 1 the Oak. Her father was a bricklayer and Eli a brickmaker. It seems that the Oak was a brickyard.

Divorced 1926. John Hennel was co-respondent. It seems the only way we can see the court record is to go to the National Archives in Kew The reference is J77/2292/1797

Moved to London Why? When?

Married again in London? Kingston on Thames? Richmond on Thames? Visited in one of those places by my mother in 1939.

Is there a child from his first marriage as my father suggested that we haven’t found yet? The Nellie Morris we found born in 1923 is not the right one. Her parents were James Morris and Alice Weaver.

Are there children from his second marriage?

Visited the Perry family in the 1950s, was clearly well off, though it was suggested that he was wanted by the police for something.

What did he do that he was wanted by the police?

Died Where? When?

More about George Timmins

This from Mandy Tedstone

The Question about George Timmins, West Bromwich Albion footballer...He was in fact related to us. His Father Cornelius Worrall Timmins b,1844 Married to Lucy Stephens was the brother of our James Timmins b,1849 which makes him Cousin to Lily (Gerty)

James Timmins (1821-1879) (James the 3rd)

Last year I began a project to work backwards filling in all the gaps in the direct ancestors. After a gap of a year I am taking that up again. I had reached the great great grandparents, of whom there are 16, and had already posted Samuel Hamlet and Sarah Whitehouse, and William Mills and Elizabeth Webb on the paternal side. James Timmins (the 3rd) is the next on my list.

James was born in 1821 before registration started in 1836 and we therefore do not have a birth certificate for him or for his wife Ann Worrall. However later censuses show that he was born in West Bromwich.

 

The IGI shows only one James Timmins christened on 8^th July 1821 in West Bromwich. His parents are shown as James Timmins and Jane Timmins, and I have them living in West Bromwich in 1841.

 

I haven’t found James the 3^rd  and Ann on the 1841 census, which isn’t unusual, and its possible they weren’t married by then as their first child was born in 1843,. There is a Timmins family living in Thomas Street in 1841 and as the household head is also called James and is a bayonet maker (a precursor of spring maker), we can guess that this is his parents and siblings. Where James was that night we shall never know. He could have been missed off by the enumerator or staying somewhere else where they didn’t bother to include him.

 

There is a bit of a mystery. On James 4^th’s birth certificate his father’s name is given as George . Is it possible that James 3^rd was also known as George? It’s unlikely as he had a brother called George.

We know that Ann’s maiden name was Worrall because it is given clearly on the birth certificates of her children Cornelius and Eliza Jane. And the father’s name is given correctly as James. Ann Worrall appears to be a common name but neither Find My Past nor IGI has a ecord of an Ann Worrall marrying anyone called Timmins. However I have found a marriage record for an Ann Worrall in 1841 in Warwickshire, although it doesn’t suggest a husband’s name (sod’s law). I have sent for the certificate, so we’ll see if it’s the right one.

 

Like several of his sons and grandsons James was a whitesmith. In the 1851 census he is described as a spring balance maker and in 1861 as a whitesmith.

 

James and Ann had 7 children

 George             1843 a whitesmith

Cornelius          1844 a whitesmith

Elizabeth           1847

James              1849 a whitesmith (our ancestor James 4^th )

Eliza Jane         1851

Mary                 1854

Jane                 1856

 

It shows a distinct lack of imagination to call one child Elizabeth, one Jane and a third Eliza Jane

 

The family lived at a number of addresses in West Bromwich. In 1851 and 1861 they were in Thomas Street and in 1871 they were in George Street. In 1851 they had a married couple Thomas and Rebecca Morgan as lodgers. He was a stone miner. Rebecca may have been James sister. Her birth dates fit. In 1861 Thomas Worrall aged 11 months was staying with them. He was born in Willenhall and was presumably related. In 1871 their baby granddaughter Patience Jane Timmins who was born in Yorkshire was with them. Thomas Worrall doesn’t show in the area in the 1871 census and a 5 year old called Patience Timmins died in West Bromwich in 1876.

 

James died on 11^th March 1879 in Overend Street. He died from Phthisis Pulmonalis which is an archaic term for tuberculosis. Ann died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 8^th August 1884. At the time she was living at 5 Herbert street which appears to have been almshouses.

 

George Timmins who played football for West Bromwich Albion

Some people in the family think that George Timmins who played for West Bromwich Albion was one of my grandmother’s brothers. This is not so.

Lily Gertrude Hamilton (nee Timmins) ( 1890-1969) had seven brothers, one of whom was called George.

Thomas            1867-1948

Harry                1876-1940

Albert               1877-1882

Arthur               1876-?

George             1881-?

Albert J             1884-?

Alfred               1886-1924

This George appears on the census in 1901 living with his parents in Overend Street and working as a whitesmith. He does not appear in the 1911 census, (by which time both his parents are dead) but I can’t find a record of his death. He may have moved away from West Bromwich.

Gert’s father James was born in 1848, so was a contemporary of George Timmins the footballer. He worked at Salter’s as a whitesmith.  His parents James (also a whitesmith) and Ann had 7 children including a George who was born in 1843 and was – guess what, a whitesmith.

George Timmins the footballer was born in West Bromwich in 1858. The West Bromwich Strollers club was formed in 1879 by a group of young men from the Salter's. Initially they played cricket at Dartmouth Park but in 1882 they decided to form the West Bromwich Albion football club. George who worked at the factory, joined the club. He played in three consecutive FA Cup Finals at left half, leaving in 1891 to join Old Hill Wanderers. He worked at Salters, as did our ancestors, and therefore he was probably a whitesmith, so he was probably also related in some way, but Timmins is a common name in West Bromwich, and unless someone really wants me to follow him up, I'm only really prepared to spend the money on certificates for the immediate family.

War's end

Dad's story of the end of World War 2

MY VERSION OF THE END OF THE BURMA CAMPAIGN

By JS. Hamilton who took the salute at the War Memorial for VJ +50

My Regiment , the 4^th Field Regiment Royal Artillery, a Regiment of 25 pounder field guns, was part of the famous 5^th Indian Division, who fought the Japanese from Imphal/ Kohima to the outskirts of Rangoon, collecting 4 VCs on the way,

The Japanese at this point were virtually beaten and the Division was put on stand-by for the retaking of Malaya and Singapore, but for some reason we were never told , the Regiment was taken out of the project and sent back north and east to the Shan States to support a Brigade of the 19^th Division who were still meeting some resistance.

Whilst operating near to Taungyii, the capital of the Shan States news came through that an atom bomb had been dropped on Japan, and we were told that this could bring about the end of the war. Whether it was right to use this terrible weapon never crossed our minds, there was great elation everywhere, we had survived, a short time later on 15^th August it was finally over and we could go home.

A signal was sent from Brigade HQ to fire a Victory Salute at 10.00 hrs the following morning. Several high ranking officers appeared from nowhere, they wanted the used brass cartridge cases for souvenirs.

The guns that fired the Victory Salute in that far-off place near the Indo-China border was accepted to be the last the last rounds fired in the Burma Campaign

Starting Work

Dad's teenage years

So we go into the 1930’s and things were much better, for us anyway. The Carriage Works had opened up and were busy, Father , Arthur and Alf went back , Fred went to K&J’s the printers and as said earlier I was at the Cronehills Central school, and it was my intension not to work at the Carriage Works I took the Commercial course ,and when I left school I got a job as office boy at Chance Bros. The glass works down Spon Lane, the first rung of the ladder for my ultimate success. But alas it was not to be. After about six months Father said the job was not suitable for me, and I was to go to the Carriage Works with the others. I think he had the best motives, and to be fair to him I started he the best department which did the fitting out of the interiors of the coaches, a clean job, we wore a white apron and a collar and tie. And when we were lads you were expected to have a clean apron on a Monday morning, sometimes sent home to get one if you lived near enough which most did in those days, but I soon settled in and was reasonably content, with my pocket money and my golf money my teenage were pretty good. Except for one thing, The political and the diplomatic scene was pretty dire and everyone expected that there would be a war, which there was in September 1939. Fred was called up very early in the war, Arthur and Alf were in reserved occupations, and I not quite old enough. I was not very happy with my job in the early part of the war, So I left the Carriage Works an got a job at Harris and Sheldons a firm of shop fitters in Birmingham, nobody would believe that a Hamilton was leaving. The word went round, ’young Hamilton is leaving, and when Father knew when I got home with my tool-box, the heavens opened up, I had committed the gravest sin. But time is a great healer, and I settled in to my new job very well making parts for aircraft, which was a reserved occupation, for now I was military age.
About this time A young lady from Stourbridge named Betty Billingham, did the same as me, left her job against her parents wishes, went to the Ministry of Labour in Birmingham and they sent her to Harris and Sheldons and that is where we met. Although quite young twenty two, I was put in charge of a section making disposable petrol tanks for spitfires fighter planes, really content. That was until I got home from work one teatime and Mother handed me a buff envelope with my calling up papers inside. Ha well I had had a good run, it did not bother me greatly everyone else of my age had gone, so be it. Next morning I had a lie in and got to work late, when I arrived the foreman came over pointing to his watch where have you been etc, and I handed him my calling up papers. He was not pleased saying I was not going in the xxxxxx army, and rushed of to the office to get someone to clear it with At the Labour exchange to cancel it. But it was not to be. I reported to Norton Barracks Worcester for training, and irrespective of my experience in industry, I was assessed to be a wireless operator driver in the Royal Artillery and I was posted to Whitby in Yorkshire for training

A brush with Royalty

More from my father Joseph Sydney Hamilton

When we were young we were quite hard up as most people were who lived in the street, in spite of living in a very affluent middle class area, Birmingham Rd. and Beeches Rd., but we never went short thanks to our mother’s house keeping management, but we had to try and earn money even when we were quite young. One was taking dinners to the carriage works, our father always had his dinner took to the factory every day, and we had to take Uncle Joe’s and Uncle Ernie’s, in a basin ina wicker basket. Three baskets that meant two of us. I started when I was ten helped by Stan who was three years younger Uncle Joe lived down Trinity Rd. and I left school early Beeches Rd. and then Cronehills, run all the way to Uncle Joe’s run through Kenricks Park pick up Uncle Ernie’s Dinner down Roebuck St, then to our house pick up Father’s and we half run half walked to the works. If we were late or spilled the gravy, we were in trouble. To-day this would be considered child cruelty. One day taking the dinners I had my brush with Royalty. We had to pass the Albion ground to get to the works. And that year the Albion had won the cup, an when we approached the main entrance, men in bowler hats and police inspectors lined the pavement, and we barged through only to be pushed back has the Prince of Wales who later became the Duke of Windsor, came out and the men raised their bowler hats and cheered, and very nearly walked in to him. From there they went on to the Carriage Works for a conducted tour and father and uncles did not get their dinner till past two, their dinners were cold but could not blame us. We used to get a shilling a week for taking the dinners which mother had. One other thing we had to do was to fetch coal from the pit a Saturday morning, we had this big wooden trolley , home made which held as cwt of coal. it was quite awkward to cope with as well as the fact we had to pull it over the railway bridge. There were other lads fetching coal we left the trolleys at the bottom and we all helped to pull the trolleys over the bridge one at a time. When we unloaded we went back, to get coal for neighbours for money of course. And then when we were twelve we went golf caddying at Sandwell Park Golf Club
The rules were you had to be twelve before you could be a caddy till you were sixteen. The fee was one and sixpence a round (seven and a half pence in to-days money, sometimes you got a bit extra, mother had that and you got a penny back. We went Saturday and Sunday and evenings in the summer, that is after the dinner and coal run. When we started work we still went caddying but had sixpence back. As time went on into the thirty’s and more of us were working we came reasonably better off, than quite a lot, we were the first to have a car. Arthur bought a Austin Seven for twenty pounds in 1934,He got married about that time, and we had better cars which brother Alf used to drive and look after, A natural mechanic was Alfred. Mother had certain rules. When you started work at fourteen mother had your wages and gave you a shilling (5p). When you got to sixteen you kept your wages and paid board an looked after yourself, bought your own clothes etc. So life was not so bad compared with others