My mother and father met at Littlestone Holiday Camp in Kent and married on 3rd September 1939 (the day WWII was declared in the UK) at St Andrews Church in Chelsea. These were taken by Diana and me in 2010
Most of the congregation and the vicar did not appear because of the declaration of war that morning. My Uncle Charlie had to pedal around on his bike to find a vicar who would pluck up the courage to come out and marry them.
Charlie, Laura and daughter Pauline, with Naga (Agnes) and Jimmy
After their marriage, they lived at 7 Hoylake Gardens in Eastcote in Middlesex.
One of my Mum’s female friends was so scared after the wedding she came back to stay with them in their house in Eastcote. In the middle of the night apparently, she was still scared and asked whether she could come into their bed. It was my dad’s proud boast that he had two women in his bed on his wedding night!!
This looks as if can be proven by a census taken on 29th September 1939 (they married on 3rd September)
Impossible to read on the computer (but easier on the ancestry site) and there living at number 7 Hoylake Gardens where my Mum and Dad and then a third person – with ‘Henderson’ crossed out and changed to Jenkins and her name was Lydia, born on 18th February 1901 so aged 38 at the time. Strangely I remember our immediate neighbours, Brooks, Double and Deyes.
Why a Census in 1939? The reason – ‘The information was used to produce identity cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration books. Information in the Register was also used to administer conscription and the direction of labour, and to monitor and control the movement of the population caused by military mobilisation and mass evacuation.’ So a little bit of history for you.
Dad went off to Africa during the war and I was born in a Nursing Home in Rayners Lane (the next station on the Piccadilly line to Eastcote) on 16th April 1941. Fortunately, in my passport, I was recorded as born in Harrow which sounds much posher than Rayners Lane.
Here are some photos of my Mum and Dad together, many of them at Littlestone Holiday Camp in Kent.
Here they are in a vodeo in Paris with me and George
Looking at their lives
Violet Winifred Bussicott (commonly known as Fluff) – her life
George Eric Henderson (always known as Eric) – his shortened life
