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Alice Jean (Jean) DERBYSHIRE was born on 30 Dec 1916 in 11
Portland Street, Southport, Lancashire. Her birth was registered
by M. A. Fraser and her surname was recorded as Darbyshire and not Derbyshire.
This was only corrected on 18 August 1960. She emigrated on 17 Jul 1925 from
Liverpool to Montreal. Jean was 8 years old and she travelled with
her mother on board the "Regina" - a ship of the White Star Line. They
went to visit her Aunt Georgina Victoria. They stayed in Montreal and Alice Jean
went to school in Canada. She was educated between Jan 1927 and Dec 1933 in
The High School For Girls, Southport, Lancashire. She lived in Cypress
Road, Southport, Lancashire between 1927 and 1935. She was educated
between 2 Jan 1934 and 9 Jun 1934 in Smart's Commercial College, Southport, Lancashire.
Between 11 Jun 1934 and 28 Jan 1935 she was a Bank Clerk in National Provincial
Bank, Southport, Lancashire. Between 1935 and Sep 1945 she was a
Bank Clerk in Martin's Bank, London. Jean worked in the City of London.
As a member of the British Red Cross before the war she was called up, but was
allowed to work voluntarily at night and keep her job. She was therefore an auxiliary
nurse on a Mobile First Aid post for three nights per week from 7pm to 7am. If
no bombs were dropped she could sleep. The lasting impression that lived with
her was of an occasion a few days after Christmas when the air raid siren went
soon after she had gone on duty. It was bad with many planes flying over on their
way to bomb London. Ray had a key to the top floor of the building and, strictly
against orders, they went up to see what was happening. They looked across London
about 8 miles away and the whole sky was red and glowing, with the flames shooting
up and then dying. London was on fire.
The next morning Jean had to get to work in the City. The trains were in chaos
but she managed to get as far as Charing Cross and had to walk from there through
some of London's most famous streets - the Strand, Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill.
There were firemen everywhere and hoses across the street. Some buildings were
smouldering and many were in ruins. There was rubble everywhere. She arrived
at the bank at lunchtime but only half the staff managed to get there at all.
Her main thought was that they were all right, London was all right and that
they had not managed to bomb St. Paul's Cathedral (The date was 29th December
1940 - the second fire of London - when the two hour German attack unleashed
1500 fires throughout London). She lived in 38 Queens Road, Wimbledon, Surrey
between 1935 and 1948. She died of metastatic carcinoma of the breast
on 6 Oct 1994 in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Alice Jean (Jean) DERBYSHIRE
and Raymond OWERS were married on 11 Jul 1943 in Holy Trinity Church, Wimbledon,
Surrey. Ray, aged 22, was a corporal in the air force and lived at
260 Broadway, Wimbledon, Surrey. Jean, aged 26, lived at 38 Queen's Road, Wimbledon,
Surrey. The witnesses were Henry Charles Robinson, her uncle, and William Alan
Edmund Ward, a fellow RAF friend (Bertie N. T. Owers was a tobacconist and James
Derbyshire was a deceased soldier). Although this was a wartime wedding, it
is believed that the beautiful lace material for Jean's wedding dress was sent
over from Canada. The clothing coupons were used for the bridesmaid's dress
They lived in 115 Rydal Drive, Bexleyheath, Kent between 1950 and 1969.
Raymond OWERS
(son of Bertie Newman Thomas OWERS and Frances Mary TANNER) was born on 3 Aug
1920 in 49 Tudor Road, Canterbury, Kent. He was educated in 1931
in Queens Road Boys' School, Wimbledon. He was educated between 1932
and 1936 in Wimbledon Secondary School for Boys, Wimbledon, Surrey.
Between 1936 and 1941 he was a Clerk for Singleton, Fabian & Co, Pinners Hall,
Austin Friars - Accountants in London, EC2. He served in the military
between 1941 and 1946 in France. Ray joined Operation Overlord on
the Normandy beaches at Arromanches on 7th June 1944 (D-Day +1). He was a wireless
operator in charge of a mobile mini radio station which supplied the planes covering
the invasion forces. As the invasion moved so they kept creating small airfields
for the planes to land. The Canadians came ashore under British command. Juno
beach was the landing area for the 3rd Canadian Division and in spite of heavy
opposition from the 440th Ost Battalion dug-in at Courselles-sur-Mer as well
as the 21st Panzer and 12th SS Panzer Division later, they advanced nearly to
their objective, the airfield at Le Carpiquet, west of Caen. The Royal Air Force
history records that on 10th June 1944 allied aircraft were deployed to temporary
airstrips in Normandy. It is these airstrips that Raymond worked to get into
operation. The strategic importance of having airstrips close to the fighting
was immense.
Ammunition, stores and equipment could be brought quickly to the key areas of
the campaign. The airstrips moved forward as the Allied Forces advanced away
from the bridgeheads and further into Normandy.
This ensured that the equipment was on hand to support the fighting troops. It
was to take almost one more year of hard fighting in Europe before victory came.
The war in Europe ended on 8th May 1945. Ray was then assigned to the Educational
and Vocational Training Scheme as an instructor in accountancy and commercial
practice, company law, mathematics and secretarial practice. In Sep 1947 he
was a Senior Audit Clerk with Everett, Morgan and Grundy in London.
He died of acute on chronic cardiac failure, myocardial fibrosis and calcific
coronary atheroma on 11 Jul 1979 in Orpington, Kent. He was a Chartered
Accountant (FCA) and then Partner with Everett, Pinto & Co in London.
At the start of the war Ray was called up as he was a member of St. John’s
Ambulance Brigade and he was at the same Civil Defence station as Jean. When
he managed to get released from that he joined the RAF as a wireless mechanic,
servicing radios in planes and on airfields. He served from July 1941 to July
1946. Alice Jean (Jean) DERBYSHIRE and Raymond OWERS had the following children:
+160 | i. | James Michael (Jim) OWERS. |
+161 | ii. | Janet Frances OWERS. |
