George Ernest Patterson 1901-1966

George Ernest was my (Brian Patterson 1939) father. He was the son of Albert Ernest Patterson and Mary Isabella Jackson. He was born in Saltaire, the model industrial suburb of Bradford founded by Sir Titus Salt.

The1901 census records him as living with his parents and siblings at 21 George St, Shipley in the following household -

Albert E Patterson 32, Insurance Company Superintendant Assistant, born Shelf

Mary J Patterson 31, born Bradford

Doris Patterson 6, born Bradford.

George E Patterson 2 months, born Saltaire

Mary A Patterson 66, widow, born in Horton

Florence Patterson 21, sister, Cloth Burler and Mender, born in Bradford.

George Ernest's uncle Wallace Patterson was also in Shipley at this time and working in insurance.

By the 1911 census, his father had left his working class origins behind and moved to Luton, Bedfordshire, where he became the manager of the Luton office of the Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company. His son, George Ernest left Luton after being educated at Luton Grammar School and returned to Yorkshire, where he became (was apprenticed as?) an upholsterer. He returned to Luton at the height of the Great Depression, where he married Elsie Maud Langdon 1900-1992. Apart from a spell abroad in the RAF during the war, he worked as an Insurance Agent for his father's branch of the Liverpool Victoria.