My Uncle: Jack Dickens by Patsy Graham

Although none of the Dickens family was born in the Mumbles, it was always ‘home’ to them, and as they all seemed to have acquired the lovely lilting Welsh accent it never occurred to those of us in later generations to question that they had come from anywhere else.

'A great survivor'

Jack (John) Dickens 1895-1980

Jack Dickens

Jack Dickens was born on 14 August 1895 in Manchester, where his parents Stephen Dickens and Kate Hammersley were living at that time. He was one of seven children, though only four survived into adulthood. His father Stephen was a builder by trade and moved around the country more than most people did in those days, taking his family with him. Sometime after 1901 they had moved to the Gower, where in 1911 they were living at 6 Rock Terrace, Mumbles. Around this time Stephen had been doing building work on one of the Swansea railway stations. Mumbles would have been a very pleasant change of scenery after some of the industrial areas they had lived in – no wonder they decided to stay.

Jack Dickens, in 1911, was 15 years old and working as a clerk for a metal dealer. Photos taken of him as a young lad show him as slight of stature, with a thin face and smiling eyes. He seemed to be very sporty, and I believe he became a hockey referee and possibly also a soccer referee and/or linesman while still in his teens. He may also have been an early member of the Boy Scouts, an organisation that was introduced into Glamorgan as early as 1908. He was quite possibly a scout leader, as I have photos of Jack at a national Scout Camp at Gilwell Park after the Great War.

When the First World War began in 1914, Jack’s older brother Charlie was already a regular in the Royal Marines, and a year later his younger brother William also enlisted, joining the Royal Navy Reserves. On 16 March 1916 Jack joined the 3rd Battalion of the East Lancs. Regiment as a Private and was soon fighting in France. Two years later, in March 1918 he was attached to the Machine Gun Corps and it was then that his luck ran out – just a month later he was gassed (mustard gas poisoning) at Dieppe Forest.

He was taken to the Australian Hospital at Wimereux, and from there an official telegram was sent to his Next of Kin (Father - Stephen Dickens):

The staff of 2nd Australian General Hospital tend patients in beds in the sun outside a tent at their newly occupied site at Wimereux, near Boulogne.

“27th April 1918 – Post Office Telegraphs – Mumbles 6.30 am.

To: Dickens, 10 Rock Terrace, Mumbles.

‘Regret informing you 39526 Pte J Dickens 11th East Lancs. Regt. Reported dangerously ill gassed and Broncho Pneumonia in 2nd Australian General Hospital Wimereux 24th April, regret permission to visit cannot be granted.”

Letter from Matron

Just a few days later a hand-written letter was received by Jack’s parents from the Australian matron of the hospital, Matron Ethel Gray. How she found the time to write such letters with all the misery and mayhem around her, is a mystery – but it must have been a huge comfort to Jack’s parents to receive it.

She wrote:

“2nd Aust. General Hospital, France 24.4.18 Stephen Dickens Esq. Rock Terrace, Mumbles, Swansea, South Wales.

Dear Sir,

Your son was admitted to our hospital on April 28th inst. with Mustard Gas Poisoning, and Broncho Pneumonia. He is very ill, but we are doing everything for him that we possibly can.

I know how very anxious you will be. Will you feel that your son is amongst friends who will help him in every way possible. With sympathy in your anxiety,

Yours faithfully, E. Gray-Watson.”

I have since found out more about Matron Ethel Gray-Watson (1876-1962). Born in Melbourne, Australia, Ethel trained at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was on the staff there till 1908, later moving to Perth Public Hospital.

In Jan 1915 she volunteered for the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) and was soon sent to England, spending nearly two years there. She received the Royal Red Cross for her exceptional work there.

In Dec 1916 she joined the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Wimereux, retaining charge of the nursing staff until March 1919 when the hospital closed.

She was mentioned in dispatches in 1917 and, as well as being awarded the CBE, in 1920 she was also awarded the Medaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise, the only member of the Australian Army Nursing Service to be so honoured. From her personal diaries, faithfully kept throughout 1915-19, she emerges as a capable, energetic woman with rigid standards of personal morality and compassion and concern for her patients and staff.

Australian War Museum

Matron Ethel Gray-Watson, March 1918, while on leave at the Villa Roquebrune. This was a mansion in the south of France, that had been loaned by a Captain and Mrs Wane as a rest home for about 20 nurses. A wonderful place to rest and recuperate before returning to the blood-bath in the north.

Against all the odds, Jack Dickens survived and was eventually able to return to the UK, where he spent some time in a Convalescent Home (I have a photo of his time there, but cannot identify the location). He was discharged in March 1919 and as well as the usual medals awarded during the 1st World War, he was awarded one wounded stripe and one blue chevron.

At some point in his early life Jack had met and courted a young lady, who sadly died before they were able to marry. I have no details – it is possible she died in the Influenza epidemic that followed the war in 1919. On his return to Mumbles after the war he, like many others, found difficulty in getting work. He continued with his sports refereeing, was a keen cyclist and at the same time was desperately looking for work. At one time I believe he even applied for a job as a lighthouse keeper! His younger brother William, who had survived four years in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War, was also unable to find work. Sadly, William became severely depressed and took his own life in December 1925 – a tragic waste of a young life.

Jack, meanwhile, was eventually offered a job at the Post Office, and he continued in this employment for the rest of his working life. At first, he delivered letters by hand, but I have been told that he was the first postman in the Mumbles to deliver post by mechanised transport. Whether this was a motorbike or a van I am not sure (I have a photo of his brother Charlie on an early bike, but not of Jack). He certainly was in possession of a driving licence in the 1930s. Among his papers I found two diplomas awarded by the National Safety First Association to John Dickens of Swansea Post Office “for having been free from accidents for which he was in any way blameworthy whilst driving a vehicle during the year ending 31st December 1936” (the other was for the year 1942).

In 1936 Jack’s father Stephen Dickens died, leaving his widow Kate sharing with her bachelor son the family home in what was now called 78 Overland Rd. It was at this point that Charlie, now married to his twice-widowed cousin Kitty, moved in with his ready-made family (Kitty had two children from her previous marriages, one of whom was my father, Douglas Woolner). It was a big house with plenty of room for them all, and with a back garden which led up to the woods – an adventure playground for later generations of children.

Then the 2nd World War began. Jack was now 44 and his brother Charlie was 47. As Charlie was still on the Reserve List (having served in the Royal Marines for 22 years) he was called up and posted to HMS President III to train young recruits. Jack, at the first opportunity, joined the local Home Guard (made up of schoolboys as well as the older men – see Grafton Maggs’ article for a great description of their exploits). Jack is one of those in the first group photograph of the Mumbles branch.

Having all survived the war years, life gradually became normal again for the Dickens family, though in 1951 Jack and Charlie’s mother, Kate, died, and very shortly afterwards my grandmother, Kitty Dickens, also died unexpectedly at the age of 58. This left just the two brothers, Jack and Charlie, fending for themselves in their large house. Jack continued working for the post office and found time for many interests. He was a member of the Mumbles Conservative Club and made many life-long friends. He took on the post of Secretary of the club, a position he held for a great number of years.

Every year he (and Charlie) made a point of visiting Lundy Island, a boat trip they greatly enjoyed.

On the occasions we went as a family (which I dreaded as I was prone to seasickness), we would stop off at Ilfracombe before arriving at Lundy. If the weather was good, it was very pleasant to sit in the garden of the Lundy Island pub with a glass of lemonade while the grown-ups socialised.

Another memory I have from those days is of the family’s traditional Boxing Day pub-crawl. Definitely not the ‘Mumbles Mile’, but our family would start from the pier (wasn’t there a pub under the cliff?) and gradually walk our way back towards the Dunns, stopping off at the Rowing Club, the Rugby Club and the Conservative Club (and possibly the Vic) for ‘refreshments’ on our way home!

Jack’s brother Charlie, who was my step-grandfather, died in 1962, and for a time Jack took in lodgers (family friends who needed a home) to keep him company and help pay for the upkeep of the house. It had long been planned that my parents would move back to the Mumbles house when my father Doug retired from the RAF, and this came to fruition in 1977 when plans were drawn up to make a self-contained flat on the ground-floor for Jack, with my parents living above. This worked well, especially as Jack still had many friends who popped in to see him on a daily basis, often taking him out for the day or down to the ‘Club’ for the occasional drink. He was full of anecdotes and, although quietly spoken, was always interesting to talk to.

Jack proved to be a great survivor who led a very active, useful and happy life – he died in 1980 at the age of 84 – not a bad age at all for someone who had not been expected to live long enough to celebrate his 23rd birthday as a young soldier in World War One. And, although he left no direct descendants, his memory lives on amongst all those friends and family who knew and loved this wise, gentle, and generous man.

World War Two service in Mumbles Home Guard

'Corporal Jack DICKENS, of Overland Road, Postman and WW1 Veteran.' is listed in Some members of MumblesHome Guard >, by Grafton Maggs & Duncan Bishop. More details of events at the time are recorded in The Instant Army that came from Nowhere by Grafton Maggs >

Patsy notes: ‘Jack was my great-uncle, but always known as Uncle Jack (even by my children!)’