... and nothing but the truth

A Child of the 1950's - Chapter Nine

A Child of the 1950's

Chapter Nine

George Henry Wright – 1891 - 1966

George Henry Wright was my maternal grandfather. We all called him 'Grampy.' He grew up in a village called Gorleston-On-Sea near Great Yarmouth and his family were fishermen. He had four brothers, Bert, Harold, Fred and Walt and a sister called Kitty. We think, perhaps, he came from a rough family, but he once remarked that his sister was 'posh.' Perhaps she tried to rise above her station in life and who can blame her?

George was physically very strong. He hated fishing and when he was old enough he joined the army. I think the life suited him and he became a boxer for the army. I can't quite imagine him in red silky shorts and red boxing gloves, but he would have been a lot younger, of course! I wonder how many fights he won, or lost? I think he had signs of having had a broken nose, but my memories are vague now. My mother once remarked that he had a nice pair of legs for a man! My mother certainly had a lovely pair of legs.

He spent some time in India whilst in the army and there was once a sharp black and white picture of him outside of the Taj Mahal. Whilst looking at this one day, he promised my cousin he would take her there some time. Obviously, this never materialised.

George told my mother that his mother had been a gypsy. We know nothing more than this information, sadly. I like to think of her as Spanish, his swarthy looks certainly pointed in that direction.

When the First World War was declared, George was sent to the trenches, in France. Whilst there, he was wounded in the shoulder and was sent to Bristol to re-couperate. An army hospital had been set up in Eastville Park and he met Daisy Leaker and he fell in love with her. She was about eight years older than him and perhaps she fell for his dark looks. He was quite olive skinned with black hair and very black eyes, although he was quite short and stocky. I think she was about thirty six when they married and he about twenty eight.

After his re-couperation, he was sent back to the trenches and miraculously lived through the nightmarish experience and came home alive when the war was over.

I don't suppose many people are alive now who can say they had a family member who survived WW1 as millions of soldiers died during that time and not so many came home in one piece. That's not to say that these awful wartime experiences did not have a negative effect upon him. I wonder if he suffered from 'Survivors Guilt'?

George and Daisy set up home with Daisy's mother (my great grandmother, Ellen) and sister Alice, who never married (she was also a tailoress, like her sister Daisy). Whilst there was work around, George worked in a factory and was one of their hardest workers. He was not a popluar man, either because of his nature or because he worked so hard, the others didn't like it.

Unfortunately, George took to drink after the war, probably related to his nightmare experiences in the trenches. He became a drunk, rolling home swearing and cursing after having downed seventeen pints at the local pub, 'The Hit or Miss.' His behaviour did not go down well with the ladies of the house and after a while he was relegated to sleeping downstairs whilst the rest of the family slept upstairs. As he had four girls there were seven females in the house and he was outnumbered.

The 'Hit or Miss' pub often organised a day out to the seaside and I have a picture of the family, George, Daisy, grandmother Ellen and Alice and the four girls ranging from 10 years up, all sitting in a charabanc which is an early coach with no roof. It doesn't look at all safe to me, but I suppose they only travelled slowly.

Even though he drank, George always gave some housekeeping money to Daisy, but it was an uphill struggle for Daisy to keep four girls and herself on a pittance. My mother always thought he was the worse father going, I suppose comparing him to my dad's father, but on reflection she said he never touched anything that belonged to them or hurt them in any way, it was just his loud nature and his drunkenness which was hard to live with. Whilst he was working, George could stay away from the drink and worked hard. He was not an alcoholic. I think his behaviour put my mother and her sisters off of drink for life! I think I feel the same, the world would be a better place without it.