Introduction and Context.

NORTHAMPTON NEWS.

THE LETTERS OF NORTHAMPTON POST-OFFICE STAFF IN WORLD WAR TWO.

In 2007, in semi-retirement, I was researching my family tree when my mother gave me a sheaf of papers and told me they were about the Post Office in the War. She wondered if they might be interesting... My late father: Len Thacker, who had died following routine surgery some ten years earlier, had worked at Northampton Post Office before the Second World War, and again afterwards, following service in the Royal Navy. I had previously been given a signals book in which he had written down some of his wartime experiences, but these papers were new to me.

307 pages of poor quality, yellowed and crumbling paper, closely typed, with a punched single hole, and tied with a “Treasury tag” - this relic was “Northampton News”. The first few pages did not appear to be of great interest, and I put the bundle aside for a time, before deciding that I should at least preserve it before it disintegrated. After scanning each page, and reading more, it became clear that the papers were monthly issues of a workplace newsletter, largely consisting of excerpts of letters, my father's included, of postal staff who were then in the Services all over the world. When I first read the papers, I found myself profoundly moved, discovering sometimes unbearably sad fates met some of those I had been following, recognising how some characters changed as the War continued, and realising that the newsletter fostered and reflected a genuine community spirit that seems alien nowadays. I will leave it to the reader to make the same discoveries.

Reading my father's contributions was enlightening and made me regret not having known about them, and so missing the chance to ask about them in his lifetime. I wondered if that might be the case with other families too. So, having made an index of all the 400 plus names mentioned, I set about researching the contents of the papers, and tracing families of the writers as well as some of the surviving writers.

In re-sharing the papers, many memories have been stirred. There has been some sadness thinking not just of those twelve who were lost as a result of the war, but of course, because of the majority who have passed on since. Not all families or relationships coped well with lengthy periods of separation and the return of people sometimes scarred mentally and or physically by their experiences. Consequently not all families I was able to trace wished to know anything at all about their relatives' letters, and sadly, in one or two cases, resented being reminded of this past.

During this “project”, as I found more out about the people, and got a better understanding of the context of the writing, it became apparent to me that the content may be of interest to a wider group of readers than those who knew of the writers, as a piece of original social history. It is after all, about the lives of a group of ordinary people from an ordinary occupation, from an ordinary town in England, living through four extraordinary years when lives were lost or turned upside down.

As was the case in the Great War, postal staff with previous Military Service found themselves recalled to the Colours, and others enlisted or were conscripted, often into units using their Post Office skills – Signals, Telegraphy, and Army Post Office as part of the Royal Engineers. Others though, men and women, found themselves serving their country in all branches of the Military and Civil Services. It seems remarkable that such a small cohort should be spread throughout the world in a such a variety of roles, and sometimes present at momentous events.

It is a testament to the quality of the elementary education that most of the writers received, that the letters are often so vivid, humorous or moving. Many had started their Post Office Careers as “Learners” or Messengers at a tender age. Indeed Roy Doble recalled leaving school one day at 1p.m. and starting work as a Messenger at 2p.m.

Of course the letters were often composed carefully for a wide readership, and had to get past Military censors, before receiving attention from the “Editor”, and being typed for “The News”. The language of the times with it's “grand”, “griff” and “swell” has a fascination of its own, as does much of the humour. Doubtless readers today will make allowances and understand the context of the times when some terms, wholly inappropriate now, are used.

Some readers may wish to plough through from beginning to end, and gradually get a feel for some of the individual writers, and progress of the war. An alternative would be to read the collected contributions of writers and thus develop a feel for the character, to be able to read between lines, and note the changes over time. Certainly it appears to have been de rigeur to put a brave face on things and try to spread humour and hope, even when feeling thoroughly “browned off” or “blue”. For this reason, I have arranged collected letters following this full transcript of the 307 pages I was given. I am ever hopeful that one day the missing numbers of Volume 1: March and May 1942, will be found somewhere and can be added to complete the set.

While the language, attitudes, and many experiences portrayed in the newsletters could be shared by cohorts of workers from anywhere in wartime England, the setting of my home town of Northampton perhaps needs some explanation for those unfamiliar with the area. The County town of fewer than 100,000 people then, is in the South Midlands. Its principal industry remained boot and shoe manufacture but naturally the demands of total war mobilised local industry and the workforce for all that that entailed.

There were two army barracks, and airfields proliferated in the county and just beyond, which led to an influx of American Servicemen as the war progressed. Although the fires of the blitz on Coventry, just 30 miles away, had been visible from Northampton, the town largely escaped Luftwaffe attention. There was a joke about many dead after one air raid but that was only because the bombs fell on Billing Road Cemetery. Far more threatening was the crash of an R.A.F Stirling bomber which careered along Gold Street in the town centre, scattering some large bombs, that fortunately did not detonate, by All Saints Church.

With all the usual commercial, sporting, leisure and cultural facilities of such a market town, Northampton could be viewed as typical Middle England. The Post Office then dealt with telephones as well as mail, and was thus an essential service at the heart of the community. It appears that morale was quite high and staff thought themselves superior to other postal districts.

By early 1942, the United States had just entered the war, but this was a time somewhat before Churchill's “End of the Beginning” of the war. After the “Phoney War”, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the fighting in North Africa had ebbed and flowed but was now going badly. Hong Kong and Singapore had been lost, capital ships had been sunk, and the threat of invasion had not passed. With memories of the Great War still fresh, rationing and conscription, defeats and losses, these were the dark days when Northampton News appeared.

“The News” grew from its modest early issues to a worldwide circulation of some 500 copies. The energy behind "The News" was a supervisor: "Needham", (his middle name), Smith, assisted by his wife Gwen "Needham-Smith". Their home, a terraced house at 30 Cyril Street, Northampton, was an editorial office, printing press and distribution centre in one, where volunteers came to cut and fold pages, stuff envelopes, and generally assist the production. It seems that an earlier effort had failed and a "sub-editor" soon fell by the wayside after a few issues, but Needham and Gwen somehow produced the paper on time every month, regardless of spells of ill-health, on top of Needham's demanding day job, in addition to personally corresponding with many of the contributors to the paper, and being prime movers in social events like the monthly “Tea Time Chat “ meetings, children's Christmas party and so on.

Needham, as editor in chief, included many excerpts of letters praising his own endeavours and valuing the paper as a most welcome morale booster, and doubtless was very proud of his "baby". Frequent editorial asides in the paper poke gentle fun at contributors as well as encouragement and sometimes effusive, almost condescending praise for writers' efforts. Sometimes he hectors and threatens to shame non-contributors into writing, but overall the tone is positive, optimistic and jolly - "that's the spirit" - like a “Captain Mainwaring” speech. Initially slightly irritated by Needham's tone, I now have nothing but admiration for his and Gwen's initiative, stamina, and perseverance in producing the News and this project is dedicated in their memory and to the fallen:

Flying Officer Albert Louis Andrews

Petty Officer Frederick Edward Bull

Trooper Richard Doris

Flight Sergeant John Ernest Johnson

Sergeant Samuel Thomas Johnson

Private Roland King

Flight Sergeant Stanley MacQuire

Flying Officer Thomas McLoughlin

Bombardier James Norris

Signalman Norman Frederick Patrick

Aircraftsman Ronald Eric Penn

Signalman Frederick Donald Hughes Robinson

Private Albert Edward Rose

Signalman Colin Charles Shaw

Driver Albert E V Smith

Lieutenant Maurice William Tedcastle

Pilot Sergeant Lawrence Thorpe

Able Seaman Graham Waugh

Needham and Gwen

Allon Needham Smith was born on 6th April 1891 in Leamington Spa, son of Joseph, a Master Bootmaker, and Mary Ann J Smith, nee Robinson. He was the youngest of 11 children, 9 of which were still alive in 1911. He lived first at 6 Russell Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. By 1907 he was a "Paid Learner" at the Post Office in Lichfield, Staffordshire, as mentioned in the London Gazette on 2nd April 1907. He moved to Oundle, Northamptonshire, the following year, again as a learner before being appointed a Sorting Clerk and Telegraphist at Northampton in 1914.

Early during World War One, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as Sapper 94631, seeing service abroad in East Africa: Nyasaland, and Northern Rhodesia. He entered that theatre on 18th October 1915. He was subsequently awarded the British War Medal, the Victory Medal, and the 1914-15 Star. On 3rd July 1918, still serving in the Army, and giving his address as Council House, Victoria Road, Bletchley, he married Gwendoline May Jones, a spinster, aged 26 years, of Ivy Cottage, Warren Road, Bletchley. She was born in Adderly, Shropshire in 1892, daughter of a huntsman, the late George Jones.

Post-war, Needham became Postmaster at Barton-on-Humber before retirement. At the time of his death from lung and throat cancer, on 14th October 1959, the couple were living at 25 Ferriby Road, Barton-on-Humber. Gwen remained at the address and died on 21st July 1960, in hospital at Scunthorpe, from uraemia and pyelonephritis - kidney disease. There were no children.