My Dad

This is my dad, James Wilson, on the left. This was a business started up in 1945 just after the war with the Fereday brothers. They didn't expect fuel rationing to go on for as long as it did, the business went under and my mum and dad lost everything with me a mere few months old.





Dad was born in 1900, in Accrington Lancashire. His older brother Harry was one of the Accrington Pals, killed in WW1 (1914-1918) and my dad was arrested in Hereford after running away not wanting to go to war, he was only 16. He was locked up in Stafford jail, was seriously ill in his twenties and ended up being Batman to Lawrence of Arabia himself and part of his duties were to look after his motorbike...."Its nothing like him in the film" said my mum "he was short and stubby, not like him at all" Bless her.

They were in their twenties when it was the "Roaring Twenties" gosh !! ....in my twenties we were all hippies ha ha...

They were doing great when they bought a house in Oxford and Dad started working for Morris Motors. One day Mum thought she had the flue, but that was me, just in time to miss WW2 phew...
I must have only been months old when the garage/car buisness went bust (no one expected rationing to continue) their world collapsed and they had to sell everything, but being desparate and resourceful they went into service, Dad as butler/chauffeur and Mum as cook/housekeeper.... proper upstairs downstairs stuff, and we were most definately downstairs ha ha....



The first was at a big house called Leck Hall on Leck Fell in Lancashire.


Leck Hall together with Gawthorp Hall were the residences of the Barons and Lords of the Shuttleworth family.
However we were there in 1948, Mum and Dad worked for a "young family" said my mum.....anyway they did have a son who was the same age as me, dont remember his name., and a big black woolley dog.... I do have a few photos of the two of us sitting on the front steps between the huge columns and standing by the windows....and one with the dog at the front of the house.


This is my dad in his Butler suit....satin lapels and bow tie eh! and a side view of the house. Have got a few more but they arn't good enough to scan so I must get them all copied ... all very interesting stuff and don't I just wish I had asked more questions ..... but I was brought up to only speak when spoken to and NEVER ask questions. It must have been real hard for mum and dad and I had to do as I was told.... so I had to be good at keeping myself occupied and out of the way ha ha .....excellent training I think...


I wonder how often I got lost ???? ... huge house, loads of rooms, front and back stairs, main stairs, hallways and long corridors.. ...cellars, atticks, then of course there's the stables, gardens, grounds....