Members of the Bevois Mount History Research Team recently had the pleasure of chatting with Mr Charles Ford who lived in our area as a child before and during World War two. Charles is now resident in Highfield, but in 1932 at the age of six months he and his older brother and mother came to live at 155 Earls Road. Charles's father had died and his mother wanted to be near her relations living in Alma Road and Rigby Road.
Both Charles and his brother attended Bevois Town school, and we were interested to know what it was like.
Both Charles and his brother attended Bevois Town school, and we were interested to know what it was like.
This is a 1936 photo of Bevois Town Pupils including Charles's brother. He doesn't have any photos of himself unfortunately. Bevois Town School was completely destroyed during the war and there are no pictures of it to be found. Charles remembers it as a red brick building similar to Mount Pleasant School. Girls entered the building at one end, and the boys the other. There was a very large classroom containing iron framed desks with flat tops and a coal burning stove in the fireplace. The room had a high ceiling and was painted brown at the bottom and cream at the top. The pupils had the same teacher for all their lessons, and a large part of the time was taken up with copper plate handwriting and arithmetic. At playtime the children would play hopscotch and marbles and they used to go home for lunch every day. Charles attended Bevois Town from April 1936 to April 1939, when he left to go to boarding school in Hertfordshire.
Charles was away at school when Bevois Mount was bombed, so luckily he was not in his own bed when a piece of railway line came through the roof as a result of a landmine in Mount Pleasant. However he and his brother always came home for the holidays, although it wasn't to be 155 Earls road for very long, as the house took a direct hit and was demolished. The house has been rebuilt, but there are clues to show it is not the original.
155 is the house on the left with the black windowsills. The houses all look similar but 155 and 157 do not have the original attractive tile work.
Charles spoke to us about what life was like living amongst the bomb damage. No one could go into the city centre because it was shattered and the police and wardens were so busy trying to rescue people. Every night Charles's family would leave their home to stay outside the city. This practice has come to be known as trekking and there was some criticism of it in reports of the time, but these pictures show that it was a very measured response to what was happening
The picture on the right shows Lodge road and the destruction of St Barnabas' church. Lodge road today maybe looks a bit better:
Charles explained that people in the outlying areas opened up their homes and took in the 'refugees'. His family stayed with a lady who lived in West End - the house had oil lights and a loo at the bottom of the garden; but they were made welcome. They also stayed in the New Forest and in Cadnam. However they had now made their home in Spear road where they lived for the rest of the war.
Shops were much more interspersed with housing than they are nowadays. Charles's mother had her favourites, among them Arthur Blandford's butchers in Lodge road and Horns' grocers in Avenue road. She did use the co-op, but she preferred other shops.
Blandford's is now Govinda's auto; Horns is a private house, and the Co-op was Squirrels for a long time, but is now empty.
Charles's family had strong connections with the Methodist church in Peterborough road - his mother and stepfather were married there. After having been empty for a long time, it is now a Gurdwara.
Charles's family had strong connections with the Methodist church in Peterborough road - his mother and stepfather were married there. After having been empty for a long time, it is now a Gurdwara.
One of the children's games was to go to the common and chase the tramps that slept there.The children also spent a lot of time playing in the street as the only motorised vehicle was the dustcart. Vegetables used to be delivered by a horse and cart, and Vines dairies was situated opposite the family in Spear road. The dairy's horse was called Empress. Maya supermarket now occupies the site of the dairy.
After the war Charles had an apprenticeship with Thorneycroft and then achieved a scholarship to study Engineering at Southampton University College. He was one of the last students to be awarded an external degree by the University of London. The family moved away from the Bevois Mount area but he will always remember it as a nice neighbourhood with a real sense of community.