PERSONAL STORY: EXPERIENCING TERROR AND THRILLS AT CATTERICK CAMP AND WAR'S OUTBREAK AT ALDERSHOT
TACA has sadly proved something of a letdown for this former army child, who writes: 'I have looked at the TACA website with interest, but was rather disappointed not to find accounts by army children concerned with the effects of being the child of a soldier . . . I do not propose now to give you my biography, but I thought that an example or two of my own banal experiences as an army child might encourage other army children to follow suit. I hope that these few memories of mine, as an army child, will encourage other army children to share some of their experiences with the rest of us.' We should, perhaps, say in response, firstly, that those with an interest in history would not agree that the following recollections are in any way banal, and, secondly, that similar memories would indeed be very welcome.
'I was born in Catterick Camp, in the army hospital there - a wooden building, as it was then. My father was posted to Aldershot when I was about four or five, so until then I lived in a completely military environment. I can remember very little of that time, but I do still recall being terrified of pipe bands, which often marched past our quarter. If I shut my eyes, I can see the serried ranks of white spats worn by the bandsmen. Another source of terror for me was tanks. They really scared me, rumbling by. I think it was the clatter of the tracks and the (to me) enormous size of these unwieldy vehicles. These frights, and many similar ones, were probably not everyday experiences, but, in Catterick Camp, pretty frequent.
On a brighter note, I can remember being very impressed by a display by the Royal Signals, as I now know them to have been. This was the thrilling sight of the dispatch riders mounted on their motorcycles, leaping over horse-drawn cable wagons as they circled the arena in the opposite direction. Of course, military dispatch riders and cable wagons were an everyday sight in Catterick Camp in those days, and, to an army-child infant, perfectly normal; I only remember them because of the leaping motorcycles.
Aldershot was a very different environment. It was a large town, and the army garrison was mainly on the outskirts. My father had bought a house near the railway station, so we did not live directly in an exclusively army environment. However, as an army child, one regarded civilians as 'different', and I felt quite at home when going through the barracks, gazing at the horses in their stables and cadging army biscuits from the various regimental cookhouses. We attended an army doctor's surgery and an army dentist's surgery, an army church and, when necessary, an army hospital - a separate one for wives and children. We bought our food rations from the NAAFI shop.
Above: Aldershot Camp, Hampshire, as it looked during the early decades of the twentieth century.
Two events remain particularly in my memory. The war (I heard the declaration on the radio), of course, was probably more noticeable in a large military garrison, especially as we lived near the station, but was brought home to me particularly vividly when, one day, I found the town absolutely swamped by exhausted soldiers fast asleep on the pavements, in all manner of dress, and without their equipment. These were the survivors of Dunkirk, who had been packed into trains on the coast and sent to Aldershot. My mother and many other ladies carried around tea and sandwiches for them. They were soon housed in the barracks, of course, but it was a shock to a small boy to experience the less glamorous aspects of war.
One more Aldershot memory: one Sunday, on going to church (the Roman Catholic one), we found it packed full of French Canadian soldiers, a church parade. That was a bit of a shock, but a pleasant one, since it brought home to me that our country was not alone. I am surprised that I can still remember it so well, but this is probably because it was a very personal experience.'
JRG (b.1929).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: THE BRITISH FORCES POST OFFICE (BFPO) AND BFPO NUMBERS
The history of the British Forces Post Office (BFPO), whose mission statement is 'to provide an efficient and effective postal and courier service in order to sustain the fighting power of UK armed forces worldwide', can be traced back to 1808, when the first army post office was established. Having been reorganised and renamed many times since then, the twenty-first-century incarnation of the British Forces Post Office continues to provide mail and post-office counter services to forces personnel, their dependants and authorised civilians serving outside Britain. Visit the British Forces Post Office website, http://www.bfpo.mod.uk, to learn more about its services; to read a summary of its history, click on http://www.bfpo.mod.uk/aboutbfpo.htm; and for a list of the BAOR and BFPO numbers for (West) Germany, see the BAOR Locations website: http://baor-locations.com/BFPO.aspx.
Many army children have received letters addressed to them care of a BFPO number, while those at boarding school have similarly written a BFPO number, along with 'Forces Mail', on envelopes containing their letters 'home', that is, to a soldier parent's current posting. The following alphabetical list of locations and corresponding BFPO numbers gives an indication of where army children are living, or their parents are serving, in 2008.
Belgium > Brussels: 49; Casteau: 26.
Belize > Belize City: 12.
Brunei > Seria: 11.
Canada > Suffield: 14.
Cyprus > Akrotiri: 57; Ayios Nikolaos: 59; Dhekelia: 58; Episkopi: 53.
Denmark > Karup: 150.
Falkland Islands > Byron Heights; South Georgia; Stanley; Mount Alice; Mount Pleasant: all 655.
Germany > Berlin: 30; Bielefeld: 39; Celle: 23; Dulmen: 44; Elmpt: 35; Fallingbostel: 38; Gütersloh: 47; Hamburg: 30; Hameln: 31; Herford: 15; Hohne: 30; Mönchengladbach: 19; Münster: 17; Osnabrück: 36: Paderborn: 22; Rheindahlen: 40; Sennelager: 16.
Gibraltar > Gibraltar: 52.
Italy > Milan: 61; Naples: 8; Rome: 65.
Kenya > Nairobi: 10.
Nepal > Kathmandu: 4.
The Netherlands > Brunssum: 28; Maastricht: 18.
Northern Ireland > Aldergrove: 808; Ballykelly 802; Ballykinler; 805; Holywood: 806; Lisburn: 801.
Norway > Stavanger: 50.
Portugal > Lisbon: 6.
Sierra Leone > IMATT (SL): 622.
Spain > Valencia: 62.
Turkey > UK SUPU (Izmir): 599.
USA > Virginia: 63; Washington, DC: 2.
TACA NEWS: MAGAZINE MENTIONS
BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine has listed the Army Children Archive (TACA) among its best websites for researching army ancestors in its May 2008 issue (Issue 9). TACA has already been featured in BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine (February 2008, Issue 5), as well as in Family Tree Magazine (February 2008), Family History Monthly (January 2008, No 132), Practical Family History (January 2008, No 121), Military Illustrated (January 2008, No 236) and the AFF Families Journal (the official magazine of the Army Families Federation, Spring 2008, Issue 70), all British publications.
PICTURE: 'LIFE ON BOARD A TROOP-SHIP: DINNER-TIME'
The illustration below, specified as being from a sketch made on board the troopship the Himalaya by Major W O Carlile, of the Royal Artillery, appeared in the 6 December 1873 issue of The Illustrated London News. The text that accompanied it described how fifteen to twenty men would sit down at each mess-table to eat at noon every day, when 'the soldiers behave with their usual gallantry and courage, let the weather be smooth or rough'. 'Where the wives and children of soldiers are on board, the scene at their dinner-time is much less agreeable', the piece continued disapprovingly. 'They are too commonly huddled together in a close atmosphere below, rendered more unpleasant and unwholesome by the want of convenience for washing. While many are sick, others are crying or squabbling, and the voyage is a severe trial to them. A few kind husbands will come down to look after the comforts of their wives and babes. Such men, it is said, are invariably found the bravest soldiers in the field of battle, the most patient and constant in a fatiguing march.'
REVIEW: MALTA, 1937-1942: SOME CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
Following his family's arrival on the Mediterranean island of Malta (then a British dependency) in 1937, it seemed to the young Michael Longyear that life was 'one long round of swimming, beach picnics, lunches, sight seeing and generally enjoying ourselves'. The youngest of the five children of a regular soldier in the Royal Engineers, Michael would progress from primary to secondary education during the five years that he spent on Malta, but the idyllic peacetime conditions that he recalls in Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories would prevail for only two. His memories from this pre-war period encompass such details as the appearance of the married quarters at Msida Bastion; attending primary school in Floriana Barracks; accompanying troops on exercise; and enjoying a typical Maltese workers' lunch.
Food, or the lack of it, would loom ever larger following the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and particularly between 1940 and 1942, when Malta was attacked and besieged by the Axis powers, Italy and Germany. Initially, 'there was very little activity with only 211 air raids [in 1940], just over one a day, which we as children did not worry about at all', writes Michael, but from 1941, the bombing raids became heavier and more frequent, causing the population to spend increasing amounts of time in air-raid shelters. Food and clothing became ever scarcer, and, as Michael comments, 'To feed, clothe and keep clean a family with no running water, electricity, fuel, food or clothing must have been a nightmare' for his mother. Michael and she would be evacuated to England via Gibraltar by air in 1942, but not before they had witnessed the presentation of the George Cross to the island of Malta.
Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories tells a fascinating story of an army child's experience of living under siege. Michael Longyear has furthermore woven into his eyewitness account a number of touching and dramatic images from the family's photograph album; pertinent facts and figures that set his childhood experiences into historical context; as well thoughtful personal observations from his adult perspective. Readers with an interest in Malta during this difficult period in its history will, of course, find much of interest here, as will any former army child. CG
To obtain a copy of this illustrated, 40pp booklet (which costs £4, including post and packing for the UK; overseas p&p by arrangement), e-mail MLPRS@aol.com.
PICTURES: BULFORD CAMP, SALISBURY PLAIN, WILTSHIRE
Bulford Camp was established at the end of the nineteenth century, becoming home primarily to the Royal Artillery over the next eighty years. To start with, the camp consisted of tents and huts, and although brick barracks were gradually constructed from around 1910, it was not until the late 1930s that new brick houses began to replace the wooden huts that had served as married quarters until then.
Below: An early bird's-eye view of Bulford Camp, on Salisbury Plain.
Below: Army children and their dog pictured opposite the 'C' lines married quarters at Bulford Camp. 
PERSONAL STORY: LIFE IN THE BARRACKS, DORCHESTER, DORSET, 1925-35
Bob Manning (b. c.1925) contributed his memories of growing up in the Dorsetshire Regiment's Depot Barracks, in Dorchester, Dorset, between 1925 and 1935 to The Keep Military Museum there. His story, as told by Helen Jones, first appeared on the museum's website (http://www.keepmilitarymuseum.org, which is well worth visiting for those with an interest in the regiments of Devon and Dorset, as well as in what life in a regimental depot was like for army children), and TACA is grateful to her, and to the museum, for permission to reproduce it.
'Local resident Bob Manning grew up in the Depot Barracks between 1925 and 1935. He remembers that much of the area of the barracks was out of bounds to the children. They were not allowed to enter the site through 'The Keep' itself, but had to use the steps up to the site, situated on the Poundbury Road, opposite the cavalry barracks. They were not allowed near the soldiers' quarters either.
Above: The Dorchester Depot Barracks pictured in around 1900.
Bob lived in the 'Little Keep' itself towards the end of his father's posting. Before that, the family was billeted in the married quarters. These have long been demolished, but were behind the 'Little Keep' building. The married quarters were two stories high, with four or five quarters in each. There was an iron stairway at each end and a walkway between them. 'Playing chase up one stairway, along the walkway and down the other staircase was strictly forbidden - not, that is, to say that the prohibition was always heeded. It was too good a chance for the boys to miss', recalls Bob. Bob remembers that the family did its grocery shopping in the NAAFI [Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes] stores on the barracks site, and that the children were often sent there on their own. Soldiers used the NAAFI to buy cigarettes and polish.
It was fun living in the barracks as a child as there were lots of places to play. There was a grass bank between the barracks and the railway. The grass was allowed to grow long before it was cut with scythes. The boys were given the clippings to make forts. The old soldiers who had fought on the North West Frontier of India taught them the word sanger, meaning 'fort'. Of course, the forts in India were made of stone, but the boys played out imaginary wars in their grass forts. The girls played ball games and skipping games in a grassy area near the 'school' room.
The boys also liked leaving the barracks site to play on the earthworks at Poundbury. There was no industrial site there in those days, and they had to climb over a fence and cross the railway line near the railway tunnel to reach the earthworks. They would show off by 'bravely' setting foot in the tunnel. At weekends, whole families would go to the earthworks, taking picnics with them. They could bathe in the river from the lower slopes. The boys also enjoyed playing along Poundbury Road itself, amongst 'a rather scrubby line of trees and bushes which we called Sherwood Forest'.
There were many places where the children were not allowed to go. They had to keep away from the 'school' room during exams. This was not a school for children, but for soldiers. They were not allowed near the stores and offices, the officers' quarters, the officers' mess or the stables where the officers kept their horses. They were not even allowed to walk anywhere near 'The Square' (the parade ground).
Bob recalls that in front of the officers' mess was a small, grassy area, and that other regiments would sometimes visit for training exercises. They would set up bivouac tents on this area. Bob can remember the Green Howards coming. The boys would try to persuade the visiting soldiers to give them cap badges, but they were not usually successful.
THE MARABOUT BARRACKS
On the other side of the road from the Depot Barracks were the old cavalry and Royal Artillery barracks known as the Marabout Barracks. Bob recalls that there was a sports field there, and that on Saturday afternoons families from the Depot Barracks would gather there to watch football and hockey matches.
There was a drill hall, too, where the children would watch the TA [Territorial Army] band practising marching and countermarching. There were workshops run by civilian staff, under the charge of a Mr Nicholls, as well. Children were not allowed to go there unless Mr Nicholls himself invited them in. They were allowed to visit the pigsties, however. The pigs were looked after by a Mr Frampton, and he was always happy to chat to the children.
There was a hospital on the Marabout Barracks site that served the families of the Depot Barracks. Colonel Sidgewick was in charge here, assisted by an NCO [non-commissioned officer] named Sergeant Lemon. All of their ailments were treated by Colonel Sidgewick, and he also gave them their inoculations.
The depot's commanding officer was Major De La Bere. He lived just outside the perimeter of the depot, but used to enter through a door in the walls. The lads were expected to raise their caps to him, should he pass them.
Bob was only about 10 years old when he left the depot, but is pleased to share his memories of growing up in Dorchester's Depot Barracks.'
PICTURE: NEWCASTLE MILITARY CANTONMENT, JAMAICA
A picture-postcard view (below) of 'Newcastle Military Cantonment', Jamaica, once home to generations of army children. Newcastle Barracks was established on the instigation of Major General William Gomm in Jamaica's Blue Mountains in 1841, mainly because, at around 1,128 metres (3,700 feet) above sea level, its hillside location was considered healthier than that of Kingston, where the British were prone to succumbing to yellow fever.
In her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands (1857), Mary Seacole (1805-81), née Mary Jane Grant, the Kingston-born nurse and healer who did sterling work in the Crimea, declared that she was the child of a British soldier: 'I am a Creole, and have good Scotch blood coursing in my veins. My father was a soldier, of an old Scotch family; and to him I often trace my affection for a camp-life, and my sympathy with what I have heard my friends call "the pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war."' By 1843, she had, she said, 'gained a reputation as a skilful nurse and doctress, and my house was always full of invalid officers and their wives from Newcastle, or the adjacent Up-Park Camp.' A decade later, Mary's services were in even greater demand, 'for the yellow fever never made a more determined effort to exterminate the English in Jamaica than it did in that dreadful year. . . . My house was full of sufferers - officers, their wives and children. . . . It was a terrible thing to see young people in the youth and bloom of life suddenly stricken down, not in battle with an enemy that threatened their country, but in vain contest with a climate that refused to adopt them. Indeed, the mother country pays a dear price for the possession of her colonies.'
PICTURE: MARRIED QUARTERS IN TRIMULGHERRY, INDIA
A pre-World War II snapshot of the married quarters in Laswarrie Road, in Trimulgherry, or Tirumalagiri, a suburb of Secunderabad, which is in turn today part of Hyderabad city. Secunderabad, which is situated in the south-eastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, was once home to one of the largest concentrations of British troops in India; Trimulgherry was a cantonment area.
QUESTION: AN INFLUENTIAL START IN LIFE?
A former army child recently contacted TACA with the observation that, on reflection, being an 'army brat' had had a significant influence on his life (particularly, in his case, as it gave him a public-school education). It would be interesting to know whether, looking back, other former army children would agree, and, if so, whether the experience had a positive or negative effect on their later lives.
NEW RESEARCH: THE EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATION OF THE ARMY CHILD
Dr Grace Clifton, staff tutor in education at the Open University, has been researching the educational experience of army children attending secondary schools in the UK since 2002. She sums up her main conclusions in the abstract below. To read more, click here.
'In the UK, there are over 100,000 children from an army background, and parliamentary debate has highlighted the issue of the challenging experiences of these children in local schools. Using an ethnographic approach, this thesis investigates the educational experiences of army children. Four Year Eight children from one school were observed and interviewed in order to build up in-depth case studies. In addition, the outcomes from discussions with their parents, teachers and other associated education and army professionals were explored. The emerging findings were subsequently compared with findings from a second research site. Working within a socio-cultural theoretical framework, it was found that there was a clash of cultures between the world of the army and the world of the school. As a result, army children's needs were not sufficiently identified and understood and neither the army nor schools attended to the children's needs. Furthermore, the culture of the home was seen to have a strong effect on the educational experiences of the army child, with the role of the mother being considered to be particularly important. Another important finding was that the mobile lifestyle also had a negative effect on the children's educational experiences. As a result, the children developed unique and individual coping strategies. The research has implications for both military and educational policy-makers, as well as for the teachers and parents of army children, in terms of collaboration between army and local education authorities in order to improve the educational experiences of the army child. More generally, the research addresses the role of the home in supporting school experiences and suggests that further research into the effect of mobility on children's educational achievement is necessary.'
Dr Grace Clifton, the Open University.
[© Dr Grace Clifton, 2008; not to be quoted without the author's permission; TACA is grateful for her permission to do so.]
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: BAOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND SPECIAL TRAINS
Peter Watson, a former army child who attended King Alfred School, in the northern German town of Plön, in Schleswig-Holstein, between 1953 and 1957, outlines the history of the secondary schools that were set up for the children of service personnel who were posted to British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) locations after 1945, as well as the special trains that transported them there. For links to some related websites, click here.
'It was a Cabinet-level decision by the 1945 British Labour government that before their families could join the entitled servicemen and certain military-sponsored civilians in the British Zone of Germany (OP UNION), plans for an education system equivalent to the standards available to all in Britain, irrespective of service, rank or status, had to be in place. Questions were subsequently raised by MPs in the House of Commons seeking confirmation that the schools would be open to all, irrespective of rank or service, and that no special privileges would be given to officers' children.
The provision of primary education was relatively easily solved by the establishment of small schools in all of the large garrisons and individual, more isolated, major units. The problem of secondary education (for children above the age of 11) was more complex, with 1,000 potential pupils being scattered over an area the size of Wales. A co-educational, comprehensive boarding system was the only sensible solution, although this was totally alien to the majority of the parents and children, as well as the staff.
Prince Rupert School (PRS), Wilhelmshaven [in Lower Saxony, north-western Germany], opened with 70 pupils for a one-month trial in July 1947, in the naval barracks attached to the former Kriegsmarine dockyard. The experiment was judged a success, and 250 pupils joined for the autumn term. King Alfred School (KAS), Plön, was to follow in the summer of 1948, initially with 500 pupils, and subsequently with 600. There were also small secondary day schools in Hamburg and Berlin for a time, but these were not viable and closed in the early 1950s, the pupils being transferred to KAS and PRS. The provision of boarding-school places peaked in 1953, with the opening of Windsor School, Hamm [in North Rhine-Westphalia, north-western Germany].
However, the subsequent restructuring of BAOR and RAF (Germany) into the British elements of the new NATO force based in West Germany, the reduction of troop numbers and increasing infrastructural costs meant that the existing system had to be radically revised. King Alfred School, Plön, closed in the autumn of 1959, and Windsor School, Hamm, was divided into two separate schools. Queen's School, Rheindahlen [in North-Rhine Westphalia], had opened in 1955 to provide day secondary-school facilities for the children living in the new NATO headquarters and adjacent British garrisons and RAF stations in the lower Rhineland. Day secondary schools were opened in other major garrisons where there was sufficient demand, although the more academic pupils (with the exception of those living in the Rheindahlen area) were required to board at PRS or the Windsor schools.
PRS in Wilhelmshaven closed in 1972, but its name and traditions were transferred to a new day school adjacent to the then British military hospital (BMH) in Rinteln [also in Lower Saxony]. The Windsor schools in Hamm closed in 1983, but a small, replacement, boarding facility for the more academic pupils was created at Kent School, Hostert. There was a further rationalisation in the Rheindahlen area in 1987, following which both Kent School, Hostert, and Queen's School, Rheindahlen, closed and a new Windsor School opened on the latter site with enhanced facilities, including a small boarding annexe.
SUMMARY OF BRITISH FAMILIES EDUCATION SERVICE (BFES) SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BAOR
The boarding schools were:
- Prince Rupert School, Wilhelmshaven, 1947-72;
- King Alfred School, Plön, 1948-59;
- Windsor schools, Hamm, 1953-83.
The day schools included (details are incomplete):
- (?) in Berlin, 1947-50, and early 1970s to 1992;
- (?) in Hamburg, 1947-52 (?);
- Queen's School, Rheindahlen, 1955-87;
- Cornwall School, Dortmund, mid-1960s;
- Heide School, Hohne, 1960s onwards;
- Kent School, Hostert, 1960s to 1987;
- King's School, Sundern, 1960s onwards;
- (?) in Münster, mid-1960s;
- Lancaster School (?), Osnabrück, mid-1960s to 2008;
- Prince Rupert School, Rinteln, 1972 onwards;
- Windsor School, Rheindahlen, 1987 onwards.
THE SCHOOL TRAINS
Rail was the preferred method of long-distance travel within the British Zone, and as part of this policy, special trains to and from Wilhelmshaven, where Prince Rupert School (PRS) was located, and Plön, the home of King Alfred School (KAS), ran at the beginning and end of each term. One train for each school was initially sufficient, but by 1950, following an increase in pupil numbers, two trains were required for each school.
For PRS, Wilhelmshaven, the basic routes from 1947 to 1972 were as follows.
- A Train: Krefeld-the Ruhr-Münster-Osnabrück-Bremen-Wilhelmshaven;
- B Train: Bielefeld-Wunsdorf (where the through section from Hannover/Celle was coupled on)-Bremen-Wilhelmshaven.
For KAS, Plön, the basic routes were as follows.
- A Train: Köln-the Ruhr-Hamm-Münster-Osnabrück-Bremen-Hamburg-Lübeck-Plön;
- B Train: Gütersloh-Bielefeld-Hannover-Hamburg-Lübeck-Plön.
The trains stopped in all of the major British garrisons en route to pick up or set down passengers, some of whom would have to travel by road to their final destinations. Pupils travelling to and from Berlin would change at Hannover (Hanover) to join the overnight 'Berliner', the British military train.
It is believed that no special trains were provided for pupils from the Windsor schools at Hamm. They would use the existing troop trains (which stopped in Hamm), travel by civilian train or be bussed to and from their home garrisons, which were generally in the south of the British Zone. Those pupils living in Berlin used the 'Berliner' for that part of their journey between Berlin and Braunschweig (Brunswick).'
Peter Watson.
PERSONAL STORY: WARTIME IN EGYPT AND SOUTH AFRICA, PEACETIME IN ENGLAND AND SINGAPORE
This army child spent much of World War II in Egypt and South Africa, and later lived in England and Singapore.
'My name is Daisy Caroline Blythe, née Parris, and I was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1937. My father, Alfred Leonard James Parris, was in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and married my mother, Georgette Eugenie Youssief, who, according to her birth certificate, was Palestinian, although she, too, was born in Alexandria, Egypt. (Incidentally, all my mother's family were Roman Catholics.)
In 1942, my mother and her children were evacuated to South Africa; my father stayed in Egypt. We were all reunited after World War II.
I have five sisters, including: Valerie, born near Cairo, Egypt (1938); Leonora, born in Palestine (1940); and Christine, born in Alexandria, Egypt (1947); the last two were born in the UK.
We returned to the UK in 1947. After docking in Liverpool, we stayed in a hostel on Lime Street Station (in transit). After that, we were sent to the Isle of Sheppey (in transit).
I met my husband, Gordon (also RASC), when my father was posted to Singapore. We married in Singapore in 1954 and we had four children. My birth certificate and marriage certificate are both army forms.
We have been living in Altea, Spain, since my husband's retirement in 1993.'
Daisy Caroline Blythe (nee Parris, b.1937).
PREVIOUSLY ON TACA LATEST . . .
PERSONAL STORY: LADY ELSPETH CAMPBELL
To read about Lady Elspeth Campbell's experiences as an army child, click here.
PICTURE: MARRIED QUARTERS IN DEVIZES
For a World War I-era postcard showing the married quarters at Devizes Barracks, Wiltshire, click here.
QUESTION: BARRACK RATS AND ARMY BRATS
For Alan Greveson's suggestion regarding the question posed on the 'Memories & miscellanea' page, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: RECOLLECTIONS OF A 'DAUGHTER OF THE GUARDS'
For Ada Evelyn Tapner's recollections of life at the Guards Depot, Upper Caterham, Surrey, during World War I, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: BROTHERS IN ARMS
For a summary of the places in which Daniel Phoenix lived as an army child during the 1980s and 1990s, and the Phoenix brothers' career choices, click here.
MEMORIES: OF WOOLWICH, BY AN RAF OFFICER
For Squadron Leader Trevor Peacock's memories of Woolwich between the wars, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: GOING TO SCHOOL ON BOARD A TROOPSHIP, AS WELL AS IN GERMANY, HONG KONG, WALES, PLYMOUTH, SINGAPORE, SOUTHAMPTON AND CYPRUS
For Thelma Jean Marshall's memories of the places where she went to school as an army child, click here.
PICTURE: 'PERFECT LITTLE DEVILS'
For an illustration, dating from 1887, of a children's tug-of-war game aboard a troopship, click here.
PICTURES: QUARTERS IN TIDWORTH
For pictures of married quarters in Tidworth, Wiltshire, around a century ago, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: A CHILDHOOD SPENT IN INDIA, ENGLAND AND ITALY
For Maggie Johns' memories of spending her early years in India during the 1930s, the World War II years in England and the immediate postwar years in Italy, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: FROM BRITAIN TO GERMANY, VIA KENYA
For Margaret Cleeve's tale of travelling on the troopship Nevasa to Kenya, and of going to school in Gilgil and Eldoret, click here.
PERSONAL STORY: BARRACK RATS OF THE PAST & PERSONAL STORY: KILLED IN ACTION
Dan Kirwan's father was killed in 1915, at the second battle of Ypres. To read Dan's story and Art Cockerill's account of the Kirwan family's plight, click here.
PICTURE: BMH ISERLOHN, GERMANY
For an aerial postcard of BMH Iserlohn, Germany, click here.
MEMORY: BOARDING IN BROADSTAIRS
For KW's memories of Hildersham House, Broadstairs, Kent, click here.
MEMORY: HOLIDAYS IN GIBRALTAR
For SW's memories of holidays in Gibraltar, click here.
