大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bernie Hawkins and has been added to the website on behalf of Mary Prince with her permission and she fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was brought up in an Irish Catholic family and lived in Deptford with my father, mother, brother Jimmy, Aunt Fanny and Uncle Jim (a friend of my father鈥檚). Because my father, Uncle Jim and Aunt Fanny were all in work, we felt better off than most, although it was a poor neighbourhood. Every Saturday night an Irish band marched around the streets.

I was 23 when the War started. My father was working on the docks, but after the docks were bombed, because he was skilled, he was sent to Bristol to work as an Inspector at Filton Aerodrome, leaving me, mother and Uncle Jimmy in Deptford. My brother Jimmy was in the territorials, so had been called up immediately the War started. He told me I must look after Mum and I promised him I would.

I was still married to my first husband, who was 10 years older than me and worked at the Gas Light and Coke Company. He wanted to join up, but wasn鈥檛 allowed to because of his job. I was intent on looking after mum and, with one thing and another, we had separated.

When the bombing in London got worse, clergy from the local church helped to move the women and children out of London. I remember going to Hadlow in Kent with my mother and a woman called Lil and her two children. They were found accommodation immediately, but mum and I had to spend the night in a hopping shed. It was cold, with rats crawling everywhere. The priest said he would find us somewhere to stay in the morning. When morning came, I got fed up of waiting for the priest so we went into town for some food. I found a shop 鈥� I think it was the only one 鈥� called Greens, which had some hot cross buns in the window. I told mum to wait outside. When I went into the shop, there were some people 鈥� I thought they were gypsies 鈥� stealing food. I told the woman at the counter (who I took to be Mrs Green) what they were doing, but she said, 鈥淚 know, but what can I do?鈥� She was so busy and there were no men about. I was determined to stop them, so I called out, 鈥淐losing for lunch鈥� and ushered them out of the shop. I brought mum in and we told Mrs Green that we were waiting for the clergy to find us somewhere to stay. Mrs Green told us we could have the room above rent-free if we worked in the shop. We stayed there several months.

It was during this time that I heard that my husband, from whom I was separated, had been run over by a bus. I went to see him in hospital in Tonbridge Wells. When I was waiting at the bus stop to go back to Hadlow, a car stopped and the driver asked for directions to Maidstone, so asked him could he drop me off at Hadlow. We arrived at there during an air raid. When I got out of the car, walking by a wall, I had to duck as a line of machine gun bullets from a strafing German aircraft hit the wall just above my head. The bombs were still falling, and I remember hoping that the man in the car made it to Maidstone.

My father asked mum and me to join him in Bristol. We went and stayed with him at Mrs Martin鈥檚 house, but Bristol was also being bombed. Father used to work nights, and I remember one particular night, as he was leaving he said that he had a feeling things were too quiet. Almost immediately after he had left, the sirens started. That raid was awful. Me, mum and Mrs Martin sheltered under the table, and she had put her baby under the stairs. I remember at one point when thing got a little quieter, Mrs Martin asked me to check if the baby was alright. When I looked under the stairs, mice were crawling all over the baby (although they were not doing any harm). I told Mrs Martin everything was all right. When we eventually went outside in the morning, there were bodies in the street, buses blown apart, and I remember a large store 鈥� I think it was Bright鈥檚 鈥� had been bombed.

After that raid, dad decided that me and mum should get out of Bristol. I wanted to be doing some war work, but I had to make sure that mum was all right first. (I remembered the promise I had made to my brother Jimmy.) Dad said we should go to Cornwall, and we were on our way to Cornwall but somehow only got as far as Bridgewater in Somerset. When we got off the train at Bridgewater, I left mum in the bar of the big hotel opposite the station while I went to find us some accommodation. I tried the Town Hall, but they told me they didn鈥檛 know of anything available. On my way back, I passed a woman in the street. On the off chance, I asked her if she knew of any rooms to let. She said that her daughter-in-law had just got rid of some evacuees and didn鈥檛 want to take anyone else, but I could try 鈥� she had a new baby and it might be different if the lodgers were adults. The house was near the station, so I went and knocked at the door. A lady 鈥� her name was Mrs Lawley 鈥� answered the door with a baby in her arms. When I told her that I was trying to find a safe place for mother to stay, she shouted to her husband, 鈥淲ilf, go and get Mary鈥檚 mother.鈥� Mother stayed there until the end of the war. I stayed for a while and got a job as an armature winder 鈥� after 6 weeks in the job I was training other people. Dad came down from Bristol every weekend, Friday to Sunday, to visit mum. When he did I slept on the couch. The baby鈥檚 name was Derek and after the War he came to see us in London. When I was sure that mother was settled, I moved back to London and stayed at the old house in Dorking Street with Uncle Jim. I got a job helping the War effort at the munitions factory in Woolich.

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