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Introduction

I have assisted one of my aunts, Mrs Mary Ritson (nĆ©e Casson) from Whitehaven, Cumbria to submit this article about World War Two. Mary married my fatherā€™s eldest brother Tom Ritson in 1941.

Just before the outbreak of the war, Mary was working in London at the family home of Lord Howard of Glossop and the Baroness Beaumont. However, with five brothers being called up to serve in the war, Mary decided to return over 300 miles further north to Whitehaven in what was then the county of Cumberland to help out her parents. This is a brief account of Maryā€™s memories of life on the Home Front in West Cumberland during World War Two.

I am grateful to Mary and other members of her immediate family for their assistance in agreeing to submit this memory of World War Two. It is Maryā€™s own account as I wrote it down on Sunday 27 February 2005. It uses Maryā€™s own words. The terms of the “óĻó“«Ć½ ā€œPeopleā€™s Warā€ website have been read and understood.

Pre-war Whitehaven

ā€œI was born in 1915 so Iā€™m going to be ninety this year. As Iā€™ve said to you before we used to live in the old minersā€™ houses at Newhouses, built by Lord Lonsdale. Iā€™ve got a painting of them that was on the front cover of a book. There were outhouses, they were shared toilets really. The painting my daughter Gina gave me shows one but I donā€™t think they were as big as that. They were really very small. My parents were called David and Mary Ellen Casson, so I was Mary Casson then. As you know, my Mam had eleven children but one died young so that left ten of us.

When they built the Woodhouse council houses, the family went up there. It wasnā€™t far from where your Mamā€™s family lived. We lived on Fleswick Avenue, near the far end. It was a lot better with electricity, running water, inside toilets and a bath. That was before the war.

I worked at Pattinsonā€™s Mill for a while but I canā€™t remember much about what we did. Times were really hard and a lot of people were out of work, especially the Whitehaven miners. We used to get the Catholic newspaper ā€˜The Universeā€™ to read at home. When I was about eighteen I got a job through ā€˜The Universeā€™. There was this advert in the newspaper to go and work for this Catholic family down there.

Pre-war Domestic Service in London

They were Lord Howard of Glossop and Baroness Beaumont and they were very nice people, and it was a good place to work. There were a few of us on the staff there and we used to look after them and their children , all of them were really nice. I used to make the tables for them, lay out their knives and forks, help in the kitchen, things like that. To tell you the truth I loved the job and all the family couldnā€˜t have been better.

They were related to the Duke of Norfolk and I think he was in the Government in the war. The old Duke of Norfolk, he was related to the Queen, did you know? There were eight children in the family I think and all their names began with the letter ā€˜Mā€™. Miles Howard, one of the sons, later became the Duke of Norfolk because the previous Duke only had daughters, just like Tom and me. He was a nice fellow Miles, and I think one of his daughters married David Frost the TV presenter.

I followed what they all did in the newspapers after I left London and Iā€™ve got some cuttings. I didnā€™t keep in touch with them after I left, but Iā€™ve always remembered my time with them. According to one newspaper article I have Miles was a war hero and he eventually became a Major General. There is this one article I have about him when he died about two or three years ago. He was aged eighty-six when he died and there are some comments by Cardinal Murphy-Oā€™Connor.

Their London home was in Pont Street, not that far from Harrodā€™s. They had properties in other parts of the country, so they would spend some time at those places. I came back home when I was twenty-one and went into the old Whitehaven Hospital for a small operation. I think it was that trip back that the whole family group had their photograph taken and I still have it framed.

I would probably have stayed with the Howard family in London. But then just before the war, I came back home to help my Mam and Dad. I canā€™t remember exactly when it was but I was needed at home. There was more work in Whitehaven then as well. I moved from London to Whitehaven and worked at Pattinsonā€™s Mill next to the harbour. With five brothers eventually going away in the army I had to help my Mam and Dad out. So thatā€™s how I came back home to Whitehaven.

Wartime wedding and married life

My husband Tom was in the St Johnā€™s Ambulance Brigade and they sometimes used to help out at the pictures. Anyway, we eventually got engaged during the war and then we got married on 23rd August 1941. You couldnā€™t even get all your close relations to weddings in those days. Some of my brothers were away in the army so they didnā€™t go, and Tomā€™s brother Ronald didnā€™t go because he was away in the army. Tomā€™s Dad couldnā€™t go to the wedding either but I donā€™t know why that was now.

So your Dad, Joe, he was Best Man and my main Bridesmaid, or Maid of Honour, was Martha Kevin from Pica. Kevin was her married name. We were married at St Beghā€™s Church on Coach Road. You could hardly get anything for wedding clothes then and all I could get was a dress, a coat and a hat. We had only one photograph taken which Iā€™ve got somewhere.

Before I was married I was living with my Mam and Dad at Fleswick Avenue at Woodhouse. Then after we married we lived in with Tomā€™s parents at Scilly Banks. Your Dad was still living there then as well. After having lived in London and then a house with electricity and running water it was a bit of a shock living at Scilly Banks. There were only a few houses, a bungalow, a farm, a pub and Hope Hall Chapel.

The main thing was that there was no water and no electricity. We had to use a tap outside and bring the water inside. After the children were born, we used a lot of water to wash the nappies. We boiled them and then used to dry them next to the fire. Of course, I did all this myself, but then so did everybody else I suppose. Tomā€™s mother, Agnes, she helped out as well. My own mother lived a fair way off , in Whitehaven and there wasnā€™t much transport then. There were no cars then or anything like that.

My Children

Tom worked at the pit, and there wasnā€™t much money then. Just after we were married he was at Walkmill Colliery at Moresby Parks but later on he got transferred to Harrington No 11 Pit at Lowca. My eldest daughter Evelyn was born at Tomā€™s motherā€™s house at Scilly Banks so she helped out. That was in 1942. Then we had a cottage, also at Scilly Banks. It was there that the twins were born in 1944, thatā€™s Georgina and Josephine. Tom was in the St Johnā€™s Ambulance as you know. Anyway, when the twins came to be born, which was in February 1944, Tom went and asked Mrs Greenop next door. She came in and helped out as well. Ginny was her first name. She was a real nice woman and a big help whenever we needed it. Thereā€™s a photo of her with Tom in his St John Ambulance uniform from about then that I have. Thatā€™s the back of the Scilly Banks houses behind them. She was very good but we didnā€™t have much to give her. Another former neighbour, Irene Pitt gave us the photograph. I think she used to be Irene Abernethy then.

We named the children after members of the family. Evelyn was named after my sister Evelyn Mills, who married Walter. Georgina was named after my brother George and Josephine was named after your Dad Joe. One of my brothers was also called Joseph so it was a good choice, but Josie was really named after Joe. My youngest daughter Mary Teresa, born in 1952, was named after me. We were living at Bransty, Whitehaven then, which was closer to Tomā€™s work at Lowca Pit. Weā€™d moved there when the twins were about four and a half.

Daily life during wartime

We managed alright with rationing through the war. Tomā€™s mother looked after hens so we could get some things off her. We used to share things round between neighbours really. They seemed to be better neighbours then at Scilly Banks than you get today when you hear people talking or whatā€™s on the television. I used to go the shop at Moresby Parks when we lived at Scilly Banks and buy things there.

The houses were owned by the Nesbitt family who lived at the top of Queen Street in Whitehaven. So I used to have to go into Whitehaven to pay the rent when we had our place. Then later in the war, when the children were young I used to go into Millerā€™s Shop in Whitehaven to buy nappies and little dresses, things like that. They used to let you pay so much per week to buy them so that was really good and I went there a lot. We didnā€™t have very much money at all then. They didnā€™t get much money in the pits then, did they? Later on, after the war when we were at Bransty it was a bit better and I used to go to the Co-op at Bransty.

Really, after 1944 there was Tom and me and the three girls we had by then, Mary Teresa being born later. Some Whitehaven people took in evacuees but we had no space to take anybody in. Somebody else mentioned this the other week and we were talking about it. Mrs Caulfield who used to go to St Beghā€™s, she took in evacuees in the war. I remember she had a daughter, Frances Caulfield who was a teacher either at Quay Street School or St Beghā€™s School on Coach Road. I canā€™t remember which she was at. Perhaps she was at both of them at one time.

I remember there was one German Prisoner of War came to work at the Carruthersā€™ farm (Round Close Farm) opposite us at Scilly Banks. He came from Moota camp and used to get dropped off each day. He got on well with everyone. I canā€™t remember what they called him but he seemed like a nice lad.

Tomā€™s Dad, who was also called Tom used to take the twins out for walks along the roads round Scilly Banks and Moresby Parks. There were other times he took Evelyn out. So I could get on with other things then. This was really good.

Ronald and Marie

Just before the twins were born in February 1944, Tom went to London and he was Best Man at his brother Ronaldā€˜s wedding to Marie. Iā€˜ve got a copy of their wedding photograph. Tom got back from London and then it was only a few days later when the twins were born on 19th February 1944.

I donā€™t know what happened then either. Tomā€™s Dad didnā€™t go to that wedding down in London either. It was a long way to go and travelling was difficult and of course I couldnā€™t go because it wasnā€™t going to be long until the twins were born. The photograph doesnā€™t have Tomā€™s mother on it or your Dad so I donā€™t know why that is. Thatā€™s just how it was then. I met Marie not long after because they came up to Scilly Banks afterwards.

I remember Ronald and Marie used to talk about Major Hargreaves a lot. They said he was a big help to them. I know it was also Major Hargreaves who recommended Ronald to go on the ambulances and thatā€™s how he got on with his job there.

End of the war

I donā€™t remember we did anything special at the end of the war for VE Day or anything like that. Weā€™d got Evelyn by then and the twins so there was a lot of work to do but we were pleased it was all over. Iā€™d had two brothers killed in the war we were all glad it was finished and the rest of them would be coming back home.

Although we didnā€™t have any electricity we had a radio, or wireless as we called it then. Tom used to go down into Whitehaven to get wet and dry batteries. So we listened in to all the programmes on the radio. Some of them were better than what we get on the television now. I canā€™t get into some of these programmes they have on now.

Of course you know Tom went down to London for the Victory Parade and I remember that well. He represented all the Cumberland Miners in the march. I didnā€™t go to London because weā€™d got the children to look after. So Tom just went with the other miners.

Somebody told me recently there was a film of the parade that was out in the pictures at the time but Iā€™ve never seen it and I donā€™t have any photos of Tom in the march. Iā€™d like to see them if there were any. I know he saw Manny Shinwell and a lot of others while he was in London that time.

Cumberland Story

I know Tom was in that other film ā€˜The Cumberland Storyā€™. Evelyn, my daughter, asked me about it a few weeks ago. Somebody lent her a copy but Iā€™ve never seen it. I wasnā€™t in the film, just Tom and Joe, your Dad. I never saw it when it came out at the pictures. Tom was pit delegate for Harrington No 11 at Lowca even then. He did that for years. He knew Tom Stephenson the Cumberland Minersā€™ Agent well and Tom Stephensonā€™s secretary Maurice Rowe who got the job after him. I know where their office was in Workington. Tom used to go there a lot. Iā€™ve got some photographs with all of them.

We just didnā€™t leave the children to go out to the pictures and things like that then. One of us would stay in with them, although sometimes Tomā€™s mother would help as I mentioned before. We didnā€™t have a lot of money then either, with the three children we had then.ā€

Conclusion

Mary has a vast collection of family photographs from several generations and has a wonderful memory of so many events and the people that she has known. World War Two was an important period in Maryā€™s life. She returned to Whitehaven from being in domestic service in London. During the war, Mary met and married her husband Tom, moved to a small house with no electricity or running water and three of her four children were born during the war.

Mary also has some sad memories of the war, particularly the death of two of her brothers, Robert and Joseph Casson. I have written about these two brothers elsewhere for Mary, so that they will be remembered. Hence I have not written much about them in this account of Maryā€™s wartime memories.

I found it a great privilege that Mary shared some of her memories of World War Two with me and to submit this article on her behalf. It was interesting to hear a different perspective of some events I had previously heard about from other family members. Additionally, Mary shared some memories with me that I had never heard before. As usual, the main reason for this was that I had never asked Mary about them!

I am delighted to have assisted Mary in sharing some of her memories with others so that they are known and will be remembered long into the future. It has been a great privilege to submit this article on Maryā€™s behalf.

One small point is that Tom's brother Ronald got engaged in February 1944 and married in February 1945. I know that Tom made a number of visits to London in the mid-1940s as a part of the miners' union to discuss coal production.

I also know after the war Tom used to visit Ronald and Marie when they lived in London after the war. So I feel Tom probably met up with Ronald and Marie when they became engaged in February 1944. He went to London again in 1945 and was Best Man at the wedding. There were lots of things going on in 1944 and 1945!

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