Army children's birthplaces can speak volumes about their families' peripatetic lifestyles, as well as the times in which they grew up. Looking at a page of the 1891 national census for England and Wales listing families living in the 20th Hussars' cavalry barracks in Aldershot, for example, reveals that the daughters of one family, respectively aged three and two, were born in Cairo, Egypt, and Norwich, England, places to which their sergeant father had been deployed, accompanied by their 'on-the-strength' mother. The birthplaces of army children born between the wars, if not in India and other sunny stations, are likely to be those camps and garrisons where the British Army retained permanent bases (and still do), such as Catterick, Aldershot, Colchester, Tidworth and Bulford. Following World War II, locations further afield joined the list of likely places of birth, including Malta, Cyprus, West Germany and Northern Ireland.
Various aspects of Bulford Camp pictured in a postcard dating from the World War I era.If the civilian aspects of life outside barracks, camps and garrisons (such as the climate, the language or dialect spoken and the currency used) can change with bewildering frequency (often within a matter of months, but more usually within the space of a year or two) the touchstones of army children's immediate environment 'within the wire' typically remain reassuringly constant. Over the centuries, the ways in which the British Army has catered for the families of its serving soldiers have gradually expanded from being limited to providing accommodation and schooling to supplying spiritual, community, practical and personal support and advice, courtesy of the chaplains, what is today known as the Army Welfare Service (AWS) and affiliated charitable bodies like the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help. And when abroad, the challenge of living in an alien culture may additionally be cushioned by, for instance, the availability of certain familiar British products and foods stocked by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI); medical and dental treatment and care; and, thanks to the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS), British television and radio programmes.
MEMORIES: OF WOOLWICH, BY AN RAF OFFICER
This piece was first published in the May 2007 issue (No. 147) of Pennant, the journal of the Forces Pension Society (see http://www.forpen.org/ for further details). TACA is grateful to both Squadron Leader Peacock and Pennant for permission to reproduce it.
'I am not of the army, although I come from an army family, as did my grandparents on both sides. My brothers went into the army: one to the Scots Guards and the other to the West Kents. There is always one, though . . . and I went into the Royal Air Force. This sin was never forgiven, Bomber Command notwithstanding.
My father was a Royal Engineer and an instructor at the 'Shop'. Our lives revolved around that noble edifice, with its highest of standards.
I well recall the last tattoo I was taken to on Woolwich Common. It was 'The Storming of the Kashmir Gate' and in those days they really knew how to put on a big production.
Most Sundays after church parade at the garrison church, we (my parents, two brothers and many others) would assemble on the edge of that wonderful parade ground, usually not too far from that menacing lump of gun in the foreground of the picture (see below). There we waited breathlessly for the crash of drums and the blare of brass as what was a superb military band marched out through that archway and began a magnificent display. It really prickled the skin, as it does now, just to think of it.
To the right of that long line of buildings was situated the garrison theatre. Many times did we enjoy the productions put on by the staff and others. A great treat, especially when they put on something about the 'war to end all wars'. It was all so exciting, so thrilling. No one thought about Hitler in that year or the repeat performance to come.
I recall several visits to the Rotunda, that sombre place, with its memorabilia of the First World War. Probably the seed of an allergy to trenches, ditches and mud was planted there.
But to remember the 'Shop' and the cadets in their pillbox hats and playing bicycle hockey gives so much pleasure. My Scots Guards brother and myself were choirboys in the splendid church and I well recall singing at the funeral of General Wagstaff. Very military it was, too. I can still hear the sound of clinking medals and spurs.'
Squadron Leader Trevor Peacock.
MEMORY: HOLIDAYS IN GIBRALTAR
'My clearest early memories of life abroad are of Gibraltar in the mid-1970s. The small peninsula (about 5 square miles) was cut off at the border from mainland Spain at the time and all transport to and from the 'Rock' was by air or across the straits to Morocco. At the weekend local Spanish families used to congregate at the border fence and shout greetings and news to one another across the 100 yards or so to the Spanish side. The Union Jack was lowered every night to the sound of the Last Post.
The travel limitations were no great hardship to a 10-year-old, and most of the school holidays were spent at the Rosia Bay swimming club or, at the weekends, at one of the beaches on the western coast. Travel to Gibraltar by air from boarding school was as an 'unaccompanied minor', which guaranteed VIP status to the garrison children as they were whisked to the front of all customs and passport queues.
As an important naval base, we could see from our balcony a succession of the UK's leading battleships and submarines, mooring on the 'cobs' or artificial breakwaters in the harbour. The navy also treated the local army children to tours of the ships and submarines or short trips in the Med. Most of the major cruise ships also stopped off, so in spite of the isolation, the little garrison community and local native Gibraltarians were regularly swelled by the comings and goings in the harbour, with the tourists streaming up Main Street in search of cheap Parker pens, which, alongside the clay model apes, seemed to dominate trade for the Moroccan shopkeepers.
I recall on one occasion the local radio decided to liven up the sporting calendar by instigating a race down Main Street for children. Sadly for the organisers only two boys turned up: I and my older brother. However, the race went ahead and we both won impressive trophies: for first and second place in the boys' race.
I returned to Gibraltar about five years ago and surprisingly little had changed. Spain has modernised impressively, but Gibraltar's years of isolation seem to have left it behind, and in need of a lick of paint.'
SW (b.1963).
LINKS
The following links relating to the places where army children have lived may be of interest.
- Michael Longyear, a former army child, has written and published a 40pp, limited-print-run booklet entitled Malta, 1937-1942: Some Childhood Memories. This tells of his experiences as an army child during the World War II siege of Malta. Copies (which cost £4, including post and packing for the UK; overseas p&p by arrangement) can be obtained by e-mailing MLPRS@aol.com
- The Memories of Singapore website displays a wide selection of photographs and images of Singapore contributed by people (many of them former pupils of BFES schools) who lived there during the 1960s and 1970s. To view them, visit: http://www.singas.co.uk
- The BAOR Locations website (http://baor-locations.com) is an information-packed work in progress for those interested in key locations associated with the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Here, you'll find a history of BAOR; historical facts, memories and photographs relating to BAOR locations in Germany, including barracks, British military hospitals and schools; along with a forum, guides to BFPO numbers and regiments stationed in BAOR and much more.
TACA POSTINGS ALBUM: ENGLAND
TACA POSTINGS ALBUM: INDIA
TACA POSTINGS ALBUM: GERMANY
