Porter

Chapter 01 - My Mother and her Relatives

My mother Phyllis Ethel Porter was born in Wirksworth and had a lifelong love of the town. She always claimed to have been conceived in Alford, Lincs., which was the first marital home of her parents, Charles Edmund Porter, born 25th November 1883 and Beatrice Annie Porter, nee Houghton born 9th April 1884. Both of my mother's parents were born in Goole, Yorkshire, and they were married there on 21st May 1907.

My grandmother, Beatrice, was the youngest of nine children born to her parents, William Houghton (1840-1904) and Sarah Houghton nee Waterland (1843-1921). Their first seven children were boys, two of whom died in infancy. Another son Ernest, died in a prisoner of war camp on Rethel, Germany in 1918. Their last two children were daughters, Mary Frances, born 1881 and always nicknamed Polly, and Beatrice born 1884. William Houghton was a dock labourer at Goole Docks. He died in 1904, following an accident when five heavy bags of sugar slipped down and three fell on him. He was taken to the local Cottage Hospital where he died some hours later. The Christmas cake baked ready for the festivities was eaten at his funeral.

My grandmother, Beatrice, told me of the enormous amounts of flour needed to make bread and cakes for a family of this size. Her sister, Polly grew up to be a very good seamstress and made many shirts for her brothers. Polly was married to James Denby in 1905 and they had two sons, Harold and Donald. Although only three years older than my grandmother, Beatrice, she was almost like a mother to her, visiting Wirksworth often and advising on child rearing etc. The two couples and their children spent many holidays together and my mother grew up with strong affectionate links to her cousins.

My grandfather's parents were Tom Porter (1861-1918) and Clara Porter nee Sutcliffe (1862-1948). Tom was born at 33, Back Lane, Leeds, and moved to Goole to work with his cousin, E P Porter, first as a tailor and then at the Timber Yard. He was the possessor of a fine bass voice and was a member of a Church Choir for 30 years. In his youth he had received an invitation to join the choir of York Minster. Whilst at the Timber Yard, Tom had many opportunities of proving his skill as a swimmer and was instrumental in the saving of many lives. Clara was born in Wakefield on 17th April 1862 to Charles Sutcliffe and his wife Isabella nee Bingham. She married Tom in Goole in 1883.

Tom and Clara had seven children, my grandfather, Charles Edmund Porter (1883-1960) being the eldest. He was followed by two brothers, Francis Wilde Porter born 3rd June 1887 and Frederick S Porter born 6th September 1889 and two sisters, Clara Isabella (always known as Winnie) and Ethel Maude. Winnie was born on August 15th 1891 and Ethel on July 2nd 1893. Last in the family were Tom (born August 31st 1896) and Annie (born July 26th 1896). The family were all photographed at Winnie's wedding to schoolmaster, George Drury in 1910. By this time Frank and Fred were married. Both wives had the Christian name Nellie. On the photo Ethel and one of the Nellie's are dressed as bridesmaids. All the lady's are wearing splendid hats. I understand that Ethel was a milliner. Perhaps she had a hand in making the headgear. Fourteen year old Annie has her arm round two year old Phyllis. Beatrice is holding Kath who looks less than a year old.

Two of my grandfather's brothers had connections with the sea, hardly surprising being brought up among so many vessels being loaded and unloaded on the River Humber. Fred Porter was a stoker during the 1914-1918 war and Tom Porter was Chief Engineer on the Princess Margaret, vessel crossing from Stranraer to Larne in peace time. Tom took a boat over the Channel in the Dunkirk rescue of World War and whilst they were picking up the troops, the vessel was peppered with holes by the enemy. Tom told his crew members to bring their mattresses and lean them over the holes. The mission was successful and they reached England successfully. Much later in his career, Tom was fortunate not to be doing the Stranraer-Larne crossing on a particularly stormy day in 1953. His sister ship, the Princess Victoria went down with great loss of life. Tom's ship, Princess Margaret had been ordered to go to Anglesey, on that day for repairs.

Winnie Drury nee Drury nee Porter, and her husband George, the couple in the 1910 photograph, went on to have six children. They were two girls, Winnie and Cora, and four boys, Edmund, George, Danny and Alan. On his retirement, George made a hobby of recording the details of ships passing up and down the River Humber at Swinefleet to and from Goole Docks. Each year when there was an exceptionally high tide, the water poured through the fence at the bottom of his garden. It entered his house via the back door and flowed along a passage to the front door, whence it escaped into the High Street. Every year the passage was re-painted, and the heights of the tides over very many years were recorded on the passage walls.

C Edmund Porter, my maternal grandfather, was very skilled with his pen and with quills. I still have in my possession, samples of his ornate lettering. He started his career as an articled clerk in a solicitor's office in Goole, thence to offices in Malvern and Wirksworth, where he worked for Major and Captain Symonds. He had the special task of writing illuminated addresses when dignitaries visited the town. He later worked in the Clerk's Department of Derbyshire County Council. In 1914 my grandfather went away to war with his regiment, 6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. The family, now consisting of wife Beatrice and daughters, Phyllis born 28th March 1908 and Kathleen 5th August 1909, treasured the letters and cards he sent from Belgium and France. Ever afterwards his conversation was sprinkled with "Comment allez vous's.

Beatrice spent a lot of time in Goole at first. However on one occasion, Beatrice's family including the two little girls spent the night in a field in their nightclothes, after being bombed out. On returning to their home in Broadway, they saw houses at the end of the street with only one wall remaining. My aunt Kath clearly remembers seeing a crucifix in the middle of the remaining wall. After this experience of being bombed and seeing enemy aircraft, Beatrice decided it was probably safer in Wirksworth. My grandfather, Pop, returned safely from the front and because of Beatrice's nervous state, refused to join his colleagues and re-inlist for a further period. Alas, many of his friends were killed by enemy action.

My mother's childhood home was Gilkin View, Cromford Road, Wirksworth. She recalled playing seasonal games, a particular favourite being bowling iron hoops down Bole Hill with her friend Billy Weston. She and her sister picked cowslips in nearby meadows and took turns to be carried on their father's shoulders after a walk up to Spite Winter. A visit to the pictures in Matlock was always followed by a a long hard walk home up Cromford Hill. Both Phyllis and Kathleen attended Wirksworth Grammar School. They were friendly with my father, John Bernard Mason and many of his cousins. It was a small friendly school of about 80 pupils, presided over by a talented couple, Rev and Mrs Hanson-Bay. He taught mathematics, grammar and scripture. She taught English and art. Shakespearian plays were produced and the school had an excellent record on the games field. Cave himself, their name for Rev Hanson-Bay, was always there to cheer the teams along. Phyllis and Kathleen both became excellent hockey players.

There were several teacher aunts, uncles and cousins in the Porter/ Houghton families and my mother, Phyllis told me that she wanted to be a teacher from the age of three. After an interview with Lady Inglefield at Flower Lilies, Windley, she was appointed to teach uncertificated at Turnditch School for a year. She travelled by train from Wirksworth and climbed the steep hill every morning. The headteacher, Mrs Draycott, urged her to go to college, telling her she would work no harder but be better paid for the same work. She attended Bingley Training College from 1927-1929 where she became College Hockey Captain. She was an excellent pianist and a well worn copy of the Desert Song bears testimony to the number of times she played it for the other girls to sing.

In September 1929 she took up a teaching position at St Anne's Boys' School. She taught Standards 1 and 2, the average in the class being 50. Mr Dickie Timms was headteacher. A strict disciplinarian; when he entered the playground or classroom every voice was stilled. The fact that Mr Timm's wife was having an affair with another of the teachers, cannot have made for harmony on the staff. In fact Mum told me that the school never did well in Religious Examinations. They were told by the Examiner that there was no religious atmosphere. At one of these examinations Mum was telling the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. She took them across several times in her story before the Examiner entered the room.

She was always distressed by how ragged the boys' clothing was, and always saddened when she had to write "deceased" in the register, after a death from scarlet fever or diphtheria. Apparently Mum never sat in the teacher's chair and a visiting H M I had to wait whilst exercise books, sand trays, etc were moved before he could sit down. All her teaching was done whilst resting against a fireguard in front of an open fire, and every now and then a boy would call out, "Miss, you're burning". One boy aptly named Slowman had difficulty learning to read. "C A T", sounded my Mum, "come on Slowman it's an animal". "Dog, Miss", was the boy's reply.

In 1935 she gave up teaching to become a housewife. No married lady was allowed to teach and no husband in those days liked the idea of his wife's going out to work. On my parent's marriage certificate of 22nd April 1935, my mother is not recorded as having a profession. Mum was soon fully occupied, selling milk, eggs and ice and ice cream at the Dairy and bringing up John, Philip and myself. Dad would return home many times in the course of his daily round of farming and milk delivering. Quite often he was wet through and tired out and his first words were always, "Are you there Phyl ?" She would quickly supply dry clothes, hot coffee, encouraging words and the latest football scores.

Mum's hockey playing days gave her a lifelong interest in sport. She and my father were avid followers of Derby County Football Club and Derbyshire Cricket Club. I remember in May 1946 when we had been listening to the wireless commentary on the FA Cup Final between Derby County and Charlton Athletic, My father had to go and milk the cows. As soon as the result was known, my mother dispatched me at full speed, to run along to Weston's farm to tell Dad the glad tidings of Derby's win. I can see him now, his head resting on a cow's side as he worked his way along the cowshed. Steam rose from the cows as he worked. My brother Philip Bernard Mason born 10th February 1948, grew up to share my parent's love of all sports and regrets that in his lifetime, Derby County have never won the FA Cup.

Philip's birth after the war was a delight to us all. Being passionately interested in Princess Elizabeth and her new husband, I demanded to know in a letter to my mother in hospital, if we were going to spell our Philip's name with one L like Philip Mountbatten spelt his. On my mother's return to Flaxholme with the new baby, my father insisted that the radio should be allowed to play all the time, as usual. "He might as well get used to it ', Dad said. Philip went on to attend Duffield Boys' School, Ecclesbourne Grammar School and Liverpool University. On 7th August 1971, he married Julie Williams. They have two daughters, Hannah and Katie, born in 1975 and 1979 respectively. Philip now works for Derbyshire Building Society and enjoys tennis, snooker, football and cricket in his spare time.

John, my brother born in 1941, attended Belper Herbert Strutt School as I did, and went on to become a Works Study Engineer. He works in the carpet trade in Ayr, where he lives with wife Rosalie nee Cooke and sons, Andrew born 1966, James born 1967 and Simon born 1970. 1967 All John's boys attended Scottish Universities but there is a great deal of support for Derby County in their household.

To return to the Porter family, Kathleen followed her father into work at the County Offices. She worked in the Education Department. Her enthusiasm for office work, including a lot of reckoning up figures for grant purposes, new schools requirement and Youth Employment statistics etc. was nearly as great as her enthusiasm for her hobbies of choral singing, training junior choirs and Church work. She and Pop took on many extra duties during World War 2 and we were all delighted when Pop was awarded the British Empire Medal in the late 1940's.

On February 4th 1918, my mother's youngest sister, Gladys Constance Porter was born. She was lively and fun loving, a source of delight to her parents and sisters. She could be found standing on her head behind doors and at the same time, sing top A. She was an excellent mimic. Sadly she was never strong and chest troubles meant that she could never run as far as the other girls. During the early days of World War 2 she became seriously ill with cancer. She was nursed mainly at home through long days and nights by mother, Beatrice and sister, Kathleen. She died with a strong and powerful Christian faith, in 1941 aged 23 years. For her mother it was as if a light had gone out. She never really got over it, although she herself, lived to be 93, dying in 1977.

One of my grandfather's sisters, called Ethel had left Goole for Bedford, when she married Major Edward Purnell. They had three children, Ivor, Peggy and Peter. For a spell in the 1950's Ivor came to stay at Flaxholme Dairy and helped with the milk business. Peter Purnell, who had trained for the Methodist Ministry, came to the Denby area in the 1950's. We all enjoyed making the acquaintance of these Porter cousins. In 1953 I attended the wedding of Peter Purnell and Dawn Cattmull, along with my mother, Phyllis and brother, Philip. Peter and Dawn had two sons, Stephen and Andrew, and were living in Borrowash when Peter died, tragically, in 1979. His wife Dawn, a nursing sister, decided to remain in Derby and she and Kath are firm friends.

My father, John Bernard Mason worked in the milk business until late 1971. During the 1960's he and mum had enjoyed a slightly reduced work load. They managed to get an annual holiday, if someone could be found to deliver the milk. They certainly enjoyed many trips to the sporting events they both enjoyed so much. They ran a comfortable car, a great contrast to the days spent travelling in milk vans. Unfortunately my father had always been a heavy smoker as were many people of his generation. He always seemed to have a cough and this did not help when he caught influenza in February 1972. This was the year of the miner's strikes and of power cuts. Dad was sometimes examined by torch light during the weeks he was ill. He died during the night of February 16th and my last sight of him was kissing my mother's hands she stood by the bedside.

For my mother, Phyllis, life was never the same again although she continued to live a healthy life until 1991. Her main interest was her garden which attracted many admirers. This garden tended by my mother was a little oasis - her world between the vast collection of landrovers at Flaxholme Garage and the sprawling farm buildings on the other side. She had many friends of her own age group along Flaxholme for whom she was running errands until she was well into her eighties. She enjoyed conversations about sporting matters with son, Philip, grandson, Andrew and many others virtually up to her death. When illness came it was amazingly rapid. She died with great trust, dignity and courage in the DRI of leukaemia in July 1991.

In April 1993, Flaxholme Dairy was pulled down to make way for a housing estate. It was only inhabited by one family. In my mind it remains enshrined as a memory of my parents and their devotion to each other.