#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 35, Prompt: ‘Back To School'

Week 35 - 'Back To School'

The only ancestor I can think of that had anything to do with schools is my great-uncle Charles Albert Pearce (Charlie).  

He was born (the same day as me ! ) on 26 July 1879 at Miller Street Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland.  He was the eighth of ten children and a younger brother of my paternal grandfather Francis George Pearce.  His parents were William Pearce and Sarah (nee Clarke). 

Picture of young Charles Albert Pearce 

Cropped family photo, the only photo I have of Charlie. 

Charlie married Jessie Jenkins 25 July 1905 - 25 years old, one day off 26, at Loch Ryan Cottage, High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland. 

Loch Ryan Cottage on the Loch Ryan estate with view over the Mull of Kintyre.

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Charlie and Jessie had 3 children two girls and a boy. 

Jessie Kerr Jenkins born 15 Feb 1909, Dora Margaret born 10 Feb 1913 and Charles Fraser born 22 Jan 1915.

Charlie was teaching when he enlisted with the UK Royal Air Force and is listed in the Airmen Records 1918-1940, Service Number: 198118.  His Military Record states: Charles Albert Pearce, Occupation Teacher, Religion is Church of Scotland, Attestation Date 17 Jun 1918, Attestation Age 38, Spouse's first name Jessie, Archive reference AIR 79/1798

His medical report makes him a 1 A, so fit for duty. Also, he is 5’ 6 3/4” tall with 36” chest, brown hair, brown eyes and pale complexion with mole behind R. ear and on R. side of spine. 

Military Record of Charles Albert Pearce.

At that time older men were being called up. It was only a month before he turned 39. He was at a place called ‘Thornycroft’ (a vehicle manufacturer that supplied to the forces).  Then he was sent to Aberdeen for a while before he was discharged to the reserves in 1919.

Charlie returned to teaching and taught at Clydebank High School Glasgow until his retirement. 

On the '1939 Register for England and Wales', he is listed as Retired Assistant Teacher of Maths, Handwork & Drawing.

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Charlie died 27 October 1947 aged  68, at Berwick on Tweed, Northumberland, England.

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History of Clydebank High School

Quote from Wikipedia:

“Workers at the local shipyards wanted a proper education for their children, so in 1872, the first Clydebank High School was created, in a house with only one qualified teacher. After the rise of population in the area caused the creation of the town of Clydebank, a new school building was needed. In 1876, the school board opened the first purpose-built Clydebank High School. Twelve years later, in 1888, the board decided that the school was too small and built another, larger, school on the Kilbowie Road site.

By the middle of the 1930s, a new school building was being built at Janetta Street, in the north of Clydebank. 

During the Second World War, the building was hit by a parachute mine but was still usable as a temporary first aid post. 

The school roll continued to rise in the 1950s and huts had to be assembled in the playgrounds to compensate. To cope with the rising numbers an extension of the building was completed in 1977.”

Clydebank High School, the 4th school building at Janetta Street,
in the north of Clydebank. 

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“The Blitz on the industrial town of Clydebank, seven miles from the centre of Glasgow, was one of the most intense, deadly and remarkably unknown of the war.  Well over 1,200 people were killed in the Clydeside area and at least the same again were seriously injured by the bombing on the nights of 13 and 14 March 1941. 

The town had been bombed for a total of 9 hours by the Luftwaffe on Thursday 13th March.  After the first wave of bombing, people started to move out of their homes and into shelters when they realized that the raid would continue throughout the night.

The local people knew a second night of raids was imminent and made it out of the town while others had to find shelter once again.  

Clydebank Blitz 1941.

The destruction in Clydebank was so severe that only seven properties were left undamaged by the bombing and the population was reduced from almost 60,000 to little more than 2,000.

The awful truth about the scale of destruction and the number of casualties never hit the headlines as wartime censorship meant that the whole event was effectively 'hushed up'. But the stories still live on in the minds of some of the children that survived the raid and in The Clydebank Blitz, they tell their own harrowing stories of what was one of Britain's worst bombing raids and Scotland's biggest civilian disaster. The aftermath on the town showed the destructive effect of the bombing and the displacement of the population.”

Charlie and his family would have been caught up in the Blitz, which must have been a horrendously frightening time for them, whether they stayed or left their home.  Indeed this may have been when they moved to 16 North Road Berwick upon Tweed, where Charlie died.

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REFERENCES:

Record set British Royal Air Force, Airmen's Service Records 1912-1939,  Category Military, armed forces & conflict,  Subcategory Regimental & Service Records, Collections from Great Britain, England.

Wikipedia: Clydebank-2009, Clydebank High School. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clydebank_High_School 

Photo: Flickr, 'My Clydebank Photos' 2009, 

http://www.myclydebankphotos.co.uk/

BBC News,  bbc.co.uk/news: ‘Clydebank Blitz’. Notes and photo.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00fk33d

#52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Week 14: 'The Maiden Aunt'

Week 14 Prompt: 'Maiden Aunt'

My Auntie Tib is my maiden Aunt.  Her real name was Isabella Macintosh Pearce. She was an IMP just like me !   Tib or Tibbie is a Scottish nickname for Isabella.

Auntie Tib was born on 08 November 1899 at home in Miller St, Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland. Innerleithen is in the area called The Border Country on the River Tweed and close to the English border.

Family photo of Sarah (Ray), Bill, & Isabella (TIbbie) Pearce, C1906, Scotland

The Pearce family emigrated from Scotland in 1912 and Tibbie was 12 years old when they sailed on the ‘Demosthenes’.  Father - Francis George Pearce wanted to give the family a new start in a new country and applied for land to grow an orchard in the irrigation areas of Victoria.  He was given a block in Orrvale and eventually when the family next door walked off their land, he was able to add that block on as well.

Although life was hard work, all the families in the orchard areas became very good friends helping each other out in difficult times. There were socials, concerts, a debating society, young peoples’ clubs, church groups, sports and plenty of home-made amusements.

On their new block, the family lived in a tent until the two-roomed house was erected.  Tibbie and her sister Sarah (Ray) managed to complete schooling taking correspondence lessons from Melbourne High School and were passed as Sewing Mistresses.  Tibbie worked at the local country school (Orrvale) teaching for a few years.  She then worked as temporary relief school staff taking charge of small country schools. Always Tibbie was to return home to the orchard to help out in her holiday periods.

In 1922 Grandad Pearce died when he became sick and developed pneumonia. Tibbie returned home for a while to be with Grannie Pearce.  It may have been at this time that she had a suitor, a local man.  A boy whom she had known at primary school whose family had come from America. The family myth is that he and Tibbie got engaged, but her brothers did not think he was suitable for their big sister and somehow warned him off. 

In the thirties, TIbbie changed jobs and worked as a Sub-Matron in the Presbyterian Children’s Home in North Melbourne.  This gave her a taste of nursing, and she enrolled in training. On completion, she also did the Midwifery course.  Tibbie joined the Melbourne District Nursing Society and practised midwifery with them for 3 years.  She said these were some of the happiest days of her life, as she made so many friends.

Tibbie’s siblings all married apart from George the youngest – he was in the militia and was called up for World War II. Sadly he was killed in New Guinea on the Kokoda Trail in 1943.  His death was announced in the paper the same day as the news arrived that he had been awarded the Military Cross.

After the war, and her son’s death, Grannie Pearce was not managing so well, so Tibbie resigned her position and came home to care for her.  Of course, Tibbie helped out on the orchard as well, but she was able to fit in local community activities like CWA, Sunday School teaching, playing the organ at church, etc.  I think at this time that she was also working as an Infant Welfare Nurse.

In 1954 Grannie Pearce aged 84 years, died, and Tibbie’s brothers Bill and Jim arranged an overseas trip for her to visit all the relatives in Scotland and Canada.  Though the families were spread around the world, they had kept continually in touch through the mail.  Tibbie decided to lengthen the trip to over 2 years and nursed in a hospital in Saskatchewan in Canada.

On her return, Tibbie bought a block of land in Kialla over the road from her sister Ray.  She busied herself, planting native trees and encouraging the birds to her home.  The gum trees grew tall, and she loved to listen to the magpies and join in whistling the chorus.  Late in her life, Tibbie went overseas with a niece and husband and visited ‘a dear friend’ who we believe was her ex-fiancé.  She said they had a lovely time, that it was wonderful to catch up after all this time, but she was glad to get back to her own home on return.

Around this time, my father, her brother Bill donated land to the Infant Welfare group, and they built an office and centre.  It was named ‘The Isabella Pearce Child Centre’, honouring Auntie Tib.

Once she could no longer manage her little block, Tibbie moved into the ‘Miller Homes’ in Shepparton.  She gave up her car but could still get around utilizing the bus stop out the front of her cottage.  Tibbie was never left out of things.  She took it upon herself to become the Matriarch after Grannie Pearce died.  All the nieces and nephews visited her and took her to places and to family gatherings.

I remember my Auntie Tib as a very strong-minded woman with a Scottish accent.  She was intelligent and knowledgeable about so much, being very well-read.  She had very fine frizzy hair that she braided and tied around her head.  At night she would put her plait into rags and wear a night bonnet on top.  My mother told me that she had a soft spot for my brother Bill as he suffered from eczema when born and Auntie Tib was always telling Mum how she should be treating him, etc.  Until one day Mum refused to visit and demanded that Dad speak to her about her intrusive 'help'. He explained that Mum was the boy’s mother and knew what was best for him.  Things cooled for a while but then came right again.  Auntie Tib always kept in touch with my brother, writing regularly to him when he was at boarding school for 7 years.  She also attended his graduation from University just like a proud mother.

Tibbie was the keeper of our family history and was very involved in the local Family History Society.  She was a keen writer and poet.  She also interested my brother Bill in genealogy and research.  He passed it on to me.

We all loved Auntie Tib and remember her fondly, but I still feel very sad for her missing out on the chance of a married life with her fiancé and struggle to believe that her brothers would do that to her.

I think this photo was taken for her 90th birthday.

Auntie Tib was almost 91 when she died 26 September 1990 in Shepparton, Victoria.  (She always said she hoped to see in the new century.)