大象传媒

Family War Memories

This is the story of how the war affected the family of Arthur John Whitehouse, born 3rd February 1881 and his wife Daisy Helen White who was born 12th February 1880. They were married on 5th September 1904 and they had eight children. At the start of the war they lived in Long Lane, Newtown, Bloxwich in a small terraced house, which had two rooms upstairs, and two downstairs. There was no water in the house, this was obtained from the brew house across the yard; the only tap was above a low brown sink. The cooking was all done in the kitchen over an open fire with an oven to the side. The floor was made up of red quarry tiles that were always clean and there were peg rugs on the top that Mrs Whitehouse had made. During the war food was rationed, but they were never short of a cooked meal as they had a very long garden, which was all planted, and they also kept chickens and ducks. The fruit would be picked and some was made into jam and the rest was bottled (this was a method of preserving food by putting it into hot jars and sealing them). The runner beans would be put into jars to preserve them with salt). Homemade wine was made from parsnips and Elderberries. Arthur Whitehouse, my Granddad, would go out and shoot rabbits and pigeons to supplement their rations. He was a miner and as such he had a coal allowance so they were not short of fuel either. My Grandmother would nail the rabbit skin to a board to dry and treat it with saltpeter. Other children were very envious of my gloves and mittens that she would make for us from the rabbit skin. Their children served the country during the war in the following way.
Arthur Whitehouse Jr. was born in 1905 and he was a bricklayer so he was sent to the East coast to build defences against possible invasion.
Ernest Whitehouse born 1907 joined the army and was in REME. He was sent to Scotland to learn how to mend and maintain tanks. He fought in the battle of Arnhem and was mentioned in despatches for rescuing tanks from behind enemy lines. He was sent a letter commending him on his actions by Field Marshall Montgomery, but unfortunately we do not know what happened to it.
Cyril Whitehouse, born 1910, worked in a foundry and was not called up, as this was an occupation that was important to the war effort.
Matthew Whitehouse, born 20th November 1912, was my father. He took the King鈥檚 Shilling, which meant he did not wait to be called up but volunteered, even though he had been married only two years and was a father. He served in the Army in France, Belgium and Germany as a driver. This must have been difficult work as a lot of it was done at night and they could not use lights. He went away on 26th July 1940; I was three weeks old and he did not see me again until I was two. Until February 1942 he was with KFSLI Regiment and then he was with the Royal Army Service Corp until he was demobbed on 7th March 1946. When he was leaving for the war he went to say goodbye to his family. He would have used his pushbike to travel from Aldridge to Newtown, Bloxwich, as this was the usual form of transport. The family all walked to the Ivy House, at Newtown and his youngest brother, Harry went with them even though he was only 16 and too young to go in the pub. He stood outside and after a few minutes Granddad came out and said 鈥淐ome on son, I鈥檝e had a word with the gaffer and he will let you come in because your brother鈥檚 off to the war.鈥� Harry is still alive and remembers still his first pint of beer. It must have been the custom if a member of the family was going to war the others would give them money to buy extras like cigarettes. Harry gave Matthew two shillings and sixpence, which was a large amount to a sixteen year old. At this time people did not travel very far from their own homes and they would probably not have been more than 20 miles from home. It must have seemed like an epic journey to be going across the channel.
One day Matthew was marching across France when he realised that his Division would cross the path of his brother, Ernest. The word was passed down the line to tell Ernest to look out for Matthew and they were able to have a few minutes together, this was the day after Caen was bombed. Another time he pulled his lorry up to watch Ernest鈥檚 Division going by, but he was not able to speak as Ernie was a passenger but it was nice for them to see each other and know that they were both alive. Matthew was billeted with a Belgium lady and she knew we were rationed. She sent my brother a shirt that she had made and me a dress of the same material. They must have been grateful to the British as other dresses were sent all with hand done smocking and these were very much admired, at a time of such austerity. Even a hole in a handkerchief would have to be mended; nothing could be wasted. He was awarded the following medals:- The 1939 鈥� 1945 Star. The France and Germany Star. The Defence Medal and The War Medal 1939 鈥� 1945.
Annie Whitehouse born 29th April 1914 married Horace Mills. Horace was in the Army and the dreaded telegram came which said 鈥淢issing in action, presumed dead.鈥�
Annie had two children at this time and lived with her in-laws. For the next three years she did not know if he was alive. Life had to go on, the children needed looking after and Annie worked delivering milk by horse and cart. Then a postcard arrived, only a few lines, he was alive and a prisoner of the Japanese working on the Railway of Death. It was called this as so many of the prisoners died. Annie was given a council house but Horace did not know this and when he was allowed to write he wrote to Annie at his Mom鈥檚 house. His Dad recognised the writing and ran all the way to Annie鈥檚 house with the letter. He came home alive but despite being a tall man he weighed less thank six stone. From the time he came home until he died he never eat rice again.
Florence Whitehouse, born 15th July 1917, married Stanley Lockley. Stanley volunteered as this gave him a choice as to which regiment he joined. He enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry and served at El Alamein, Egypt and Italy. Florence was also left with two children to look after and was in lodgings. She had done domestic work for a Willenhall Doctor and continued to do this, as she needed the money. She also had a job cleaning at the Food Office in Willenhall and this was where the Ration Books were issued.
Elsie May, born 11th November 1921. Sadly Elsie did not enjoy good health and died at quite a young age.
Harry Whitehouse, born 18th January 1924. Harry was the youngest son and was too young to go to war, but when he was 18 he also was called up.

This is a photograph of Harry鈥檚 wedding to Hilda on the 23rd December 1944, three days after which he was posted to India with the Royal Engineers. They are celebrating their Diamond Wedding this year.

At this time social structure was very different; a man would earn the living for the family, come home fully expecting his dinner to be ready and then after a wash and change he would be off to the pub to enjoy the company of other men. Fathers had no input in the bringing up of the children, never going to see school work or anything like that, it was all down to the women. However Granddad鈥檚 heart must have been breaking when Harry was sent for as much to Harry鈥檚 surprise he announced he was going to go to Wolverhampton with Harry to see him off. The bus was packed and the conductress was getting annoyed and she gave Granddad a shove shouting, 鈥淢ove down the bus.鈥� He must have been distressed as his eyes filled with tears and he said 鈥淒on鈥檛 shout at me missis, this is my youngest son and now he鈥檚 being sent away as well.鈥� After training, Harry was posted to India with the Royal Engineers Works Company. The first main job was putting electrical parts in a hospital and installing a freezer. One Monday evening they had orders to move, the journey was by train with wooden seats and they arrived at 6.30 Saturday night with sore backsides. The new base was Karachi. The job there entailed fitting out the Manipour airport to enable reinforcements of battle-hardened men for the push against the Japanese. Harry had little idea of how the was progressing, as they had no newspapers. One day the Sergeant Major came in and told them two bombs had been dropped on the Japanese and they had surrendered. Little did they know of the devastation those bombs caused. Harry became a quartermaster鈥檚 clerk, which meant he was excused guard duty and drills. In the forces a man was always sort after if he had any skill on the sports field; Harry was goalie for the company football team and being left-footed he could play in goal or left wing, a useful addition to the team. Moving into Head Quarters he joined their team to find there were only a handful of people to pick from. The captain said that Harry was to play centre forward and a forty-year-old man would go in goal, as he was too old to play centre forward. The captain said, 鈥淪tand by the penalty spot and I will come to you.鈥� He kept his word and as a result Harry鈥檚 team wan 7 鈥� 2 with Harry scoring all seven goals. He did not realise at the time that the captain was a professional footballer. A league was formed with the RAF, Indians and the Navy, 20 teams in all. They had to win the last match by two clear goals. The score was 3 鈥� 1 so they won the league. Harry also played hockey for the company. One day the C.O. arranged a match with one of the top Indian hockey teams; they thought he was mad, as they did not rate their chances. On the way to the match the Officer said, 鈥淲hen we come back, if we have lost 6 鈥� 1 I shall be quite happy.鈥� Within seconds of the bully-off Harry had such a thump in the back, and he could not have had a better incentive to play well, resulting in a final score of 2-1 to the Indians.
Marjorie Florence Whitehouse, born 30th June 1940. I have few memories of the war as I was very young but I do know that at one time our Doctor said that I was under-nourished and tried to get me extra rations. Coal fires heated the school classrooms, always by the teacher鈥檚 desk. We had to walk the two miles to school and back, as transport was very limited. The school received some parcels from America once and everything was laid out on a table at the front of the class. We took it in turns to choose a present, there were dolls and allsorts of things but I chose a new pair of socks as at that time they represented real luxury to me. My maternal Grandmother was a Dressmaker and if she could get hold of any material she would make me something new to wear. We did not have new shoes because if we grew out of the ones we had, they had to be taken to an office in Aldridge and would be exchanged for a bigger pair. At the end of the war there was a victory parade in Aldridge with everyone in fancy dress. My Grandmother had some white muslin (I suspect it came from the butchers and was meant for wrapping meat) she made this into a dress for me and put V鈥檚 on it with red and blue ribbons. My brother went as a Carpenter and carried a hammer and other tools. We had the party at the local British Legion and the sandwiches were made from corned beef mashed with tinned tomatoes to make the meat go further. It was not until I was married myself and had children that I realised how hard it must have been for the mothers left alone to look after their children during the war. I am attaching a certificate that was given to all the schoolchildren in the country at the end of the war.

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