大象传媒

Input to the 大象传媒鈥檚 People at War (Part 1)
Elizabeth (Libby) Brazier (nee Highet) Born 3rd February 1939
(personal details removed by moderator)
The war started in September 1939, but of course I don鈥檛 remember the early years, except what I was told afterwards. I had a Mickey Mouse gas mask 鈥� the idea was to put the whole baby inside.
Anyway, the family moved into a rented house in Divinity Road, Oxford 鈥� just around the corner from the Wingfield Hospital (now called the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital). I used to play with a little boy opposite who was about the same age. He played with my doll鈥檚 pram and I played with his pedal car. His name was Christopher Baden Powell (grandson of Lord Baden Powell鈥檚 who started the Scout movement).
Mother was a nursing sister at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. She earned 拢5 more a year than father! He earned 拢80 a year and she earned 拢85. Father was the 1st Assistant to the then Professor Seddon (he later become Sir Herbert Seddon 鈥� very famous). Father was a New Zealander who had come to England just before the start of the war to continue his studies. As my father was doing research work into peripheral nerve injuries he spent a lot of time writing papers etc. Apparently he slept very little so I remember him being at home with me quite a lot. It was unusual in those days to have two parents who worked. My parents employed a young girl called Eileen from the local orphanage. She was 17 years old and she came to live with us. She looked after me and cleaned the house. Eileen didn鈥檛 cook very much, but mother was a good cook because when she was 17 she had to return home to look after her father and mother. I used to eat with Eileen in the kitchen and my parents ate in the dining room. Like all domestic staff in that period she wore green overalls in the morning, but by 1pm she had changed into a black dress, white apron and a little white lace cap on her head. This was because visitors were expected to call after 1pm. She would take me for a walk in my pram every afternoon and I have many happy memories of Eileen walking down the side of the river on the towpath pushing me.
In our other bedroom 鈥� we had three 鈥� was an old lady who had been a teacher and was a evacuee from London. She seemed old to me but I suppose she was in her 50鈥檚. I know my parents didn鈥檛 like her very much, but during the war if you had a spare room you were allocated a refugee who had probably had their homes bombed. When she arrived I had to move into my parents鈥� room. I had a cot in the corner. My parents enjoyed entertaining and they often had NZ medics around at the house in the evening. At least one of them became quite famous 鈥� Sir Peter Stallworthy became a well-known gynaecologist. As my cot was above the dining room I remember the loud laughter and talking.
My grandmother in NZ (Elsie Highet) used to send us tinned butter, fruitcake and shortbread and this helped eke out the food ration. She and her family thought that everyone in England was starving! Everyone had Ration Books that only allowed about 1oz of cheese a week (butter, meat and several other foods in short supply were also rationed). Children had a teaspoon of cod liver oil and a teaspoon of concentrated orange juice every day. Food was very short in supply so when my parents had friends in for a meal it had to be planned well in advance 鈥� so the food from NZ was very useful. I don鈥檛 remember ever being hungry or missing sweets. Sweets were still rationed long after the war ended - up until the mid 50鈥檚 I think. Whatever we bought, mother had to hand over our ration books and the shopkeeper cut out our coupon allowance carefully. In those days of course there were no supermarkets and all the shops had counters between the shopkeeper and their customers. People queued for everything. Biscuits were loose in tins and sugar and tea was hand- packed in paper bags. Clothes too were rationed and had to be of 鈥榰tility鈥� standard. Furniture was also made to a basic standard that then received an approved 鈥榰tility鈥� mark. My NZ grandmother helped here too by sending clothes for me. My mother had a bicycle 鈥� all the handlebars had to be painted black and all houses had black curtains up at the windows to stop any light showing through at night. This was so that the German bombers couldn鈥檛 see where towns were. All signposts were removed so if German paratroops dropped, or if German aircrew bailed out of their aeroplanes, they wouldn鈥檛 be able to find their way about. My parents didn鈥檛 own a car, but I think they borrowed one occasionally. Headlights had to be shielded so driving at night was very difficult. In theory, petrol coupons were issued for business use only, although it always seemed possible to save a little petrol for pleasure use.. At some point, father had use of an old Austin car that was falling apart. On one journey it broke down completely so he and mother pushed it into a ditch and walked home. This story was told to me and so I am not sure who owned the car and whether it was my father鈥檚. We had vegetables in the garden that my father grew. I cannot recall what sort they were but I do remember being told he was very proud of his tomatoes. One day I picked them all and played with them! My mother was horrified and took me to one side whilst she broke the news to father. Apparently he was not amused
We had two cats called Pin and Perse 鈥� this was because one experiment my father was carrying out involved injecting patients in particular places and this made them perspire 鈥� hence Pin and Perse! Oxford was not bombed during the war, and compared to other parts of the country it was quiet. However, many American were housed around the city, so there were always hundreds of US troops in the town and countryside. As children we always called out, 鈥淗ave you got any gum chum?鈥�
I was lucky because the American hospital in Oxford (The Churchill) was near to us. My parents had many friends there, so I was given sweets and chocolate sometimes. One kind family from America sent my parents a huge parcel with clothes and toys for me. So, compared to many children I had an easy time during the war.
Most of my father鈥檚 patients were Servicemen. On Saturday mornings he used to take me up to the ward and leave me to talk to the men. I used to tidy their lockers. All the men were miles from home and had few visitors so my father thought it was good for them to have contact with a child. What I didn鈥檛 know was that they deliberately un-tidied the locker I had tidied the previous week! They enjoyed me telling them they were 鈥榥aughty mans鈥�! To me, their beds seemed very high, as I was only three years old! They made me a beautiful doll鈥檚 house out of plaster-of-Paris. They made all the furnishings and curtains. It was beautiful, but when we went to NZ, my mother couldn鈥檛 take it with her so she gave it to a children鈥檚 home, which was a great pity.
We had a lot of visitors to the house because my father taught anatomy and physiology. When I was doing my nursing training I met two orthopaedic surgeons who told me they used to come to our house for tuition by father. At night, it was very noisy in Oxford with bombers going over to Germany. If they flew during the day, the sky was black with American bombers.
Whenever my father was at home in the evenings he would read to me with a glass of beer by his leather chair. I would sit on his lap. I am glad I remember so much of this period because he was killed when I was 3戮 years old and I will write more about that tragic period in my life later. There were two leather chairs, each either side of the fireplace. Because my mother worked, my memories of her at that time were cooking in the kitchen. I have two lasting memories of my father. The first was helping him to pack to go away, with the trunk open on the floor at the end of the bed. The second was when he went away. We walked down the path to the taxi; he picked me up told me to look after 鈥榖ig pig鈥� - my mother! I was little pig. He climbed into the taxi and waved through the window at the back. The taxi went around the corner and we never saw him again.

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