When History Lies in the Future

 

When researching history, I sometimes ask myself why people did the things that they did. That's especially the case when what they did had no effect on the outcome or placed them in a worse position. But that's the thing with history. When you're living through it, the world altering events are in the future. No one knows the outcome. They don't know if what they are trying to do will have a positive result.

I try to bear this in mind when I look back at events. This is especially true of my present research. During the Second World War, no one in Britain knew if what they were doing would have a positive outcome. They didn't know how long the war would last which may have been a good thing going in. If it was at the beginning and there was knowledge that there would be six more years to live and fight through that would probably have been harder than taking it day by day.

What really brought this home for me was something that my mother told me years ago. She said that during the war, when she was going home for a visit, if she saw enemy planes going overhead, she dove for the ditch and hoped for the best. There was no certainty she would survive nor was it certain that her parent's home would still be standing when she got there. This was a mindset that would have been prevalent at the time. That no one knew the outcome going in is something I try to remember.

Tangent Time

 

                                                       Dock Street, some of the far side of the street in recent times

 

Why is it that when I'm searching for one piece of information, I so often find something that will take me off on another tangent? So it was when I started to explore the 1939 Register further. It was interesting to find that my East End grandmother's oldest son lived so close to his mother and stepfather. A check of Google maps tells me that their addresses, 36 Dock Street and 64 East Smithfield were a two minute walk away from each other.

Then I went looking for the second oldest son. Fortunately, I knew the name of his wife, Albert Edward Booth was a popular name. When I found the right Albert Edward in the index, I clicked to see the image, which is always a good idea. You never know what else it might reveal. In this case it was worth the extra click. The third eldest son appeared with his wife at the same address but he hadn't shown up in the index. They lived a distance from the other lot close to the docks, but son two and son three were sharing a house. Albert Edward's occupation was given as an electrical contractor and the third son was an electrician.

I had no idea they were such a close family, not only in proximity but in livelihood as well.There were, of course, the two in the electrical trade but also the oldest son's occupation was as a caterer which was much akin to the publican parents who provided meals to their patrons.

There are still more children to seek out in the 1939 Register. I also hope to find out more about kinship ties in the book Family and Kinship in East London, now that it appears that my family had close ones.

 

Sources:

Google maps https://www.google.com/maps

 Young, Michael and Peter Willmott. Family and Kinship in East London Penguin Books, London, 1990.

 

Image:

Note – the building in the foreground of the photo shows where my grandparents’ pub used to be. Some of the buildings on the other side of the street would have been there around 1939