I wrote in the introduction to I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II about Norman's family background.
"His father, grandfather and great grandfather all worked at the local colliery and his paternal grandfather had been an under-manager at the pit."
I think this photograph was taken in the 1890's.
"Father" is the little boy standing on the front row. He was Sidney Henry Buckle (1881 - 1969). He spent his entire working life underground first as a pit pony boy and later in the maintenance of ropes and cables.
Whenever I see images of pit ponies I'm always surprised at how big some of them are; certainly some are Shetland pony sized but others were much taller. Check out this link for stacks of images and you'll see what I mean. Images of pit ponies When I was about six or seven years old Sidney Henry, who was my grandad, used to take us for walks in the countryside around the mining village where he continued to live until the end of his life. As we walked round he told me and my sister stories about his life as a pit pony boy. He'd started when he was twelve years old. The highlight was when we passed a field where he said the ponies spent their summer holidays; apparently they got two weeks above ground and presumably that was enough to keep them going for the rest of the year. We always used to stop there and eat a bag of butterscotch sweets.
"Grandfather" is the man with the moustache on the right of the photo. John Henry Buckle (1852 - 1933) worked his way up to being an under manager at the pit and when I checked out the 1911 census it was obvious that he'd got just about every one of his surviving male relatives working there with him.
"Great Grandfather" is the old boy seated in the middle of the photo. He's Christopher Buckle (1821 - 1896). He started out as an agricultural labourer and became a coal hewer when the South Yorkshire coalfield expanded. He was still working in the pit at the end of his life cleaning the toilets and washing facilities: no pensions in those days. Just work until you dropped.
In the introduction to the book I went on to say: "However it was Norman's mother who was the source of aspiration; she had a sister who was an assistant school teacher at Royston Infant School."
The sister was Annie Smith born in 1881.
Looking for family resemblances I think she is the young woman on the right of this photo at the back. Looking at the size of the class, hopefully both the women were teaching it or they've doubled up two classes together for the photo. Annie taught at Royston Infant School until she married in 1915.
I found a fascinating entry in Hansard the other day. In 1913, an MP asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that the majority of the women teachers in the elementary schools wanted to have the option of retiring with a suitable pension at an earlier age than sixty-five. He said that many had commenced class teaching at fifteen to twenty years old, and were now upwards of fifty years old; they were conscious of their inability, through physical or mental weakness, to perform their work in the most efficient manner, and yet were unable to claim a breakdown allowance, not being medically certified as permanently incapable owing to infirmity of mind and body; and whether, in fairness to these women and in the interests of the efficiency of their schools, he would consider the advisability of inaugurating a system of earlier optional retirement for women teachers? The answer wasn't encouraging but somewhere along the line they did bring in retirement at sixty. I think recently it's been taken back up to sixty eight years. Don't we learn anything from history?
Poor old Annie wouldn't have had the option of early retirement; she died in 1926 aged 45 years.
You can read the opening pages of I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II by N. Buckle & C. Murray at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEUG2
I think this photograph was taken in the 1890's.
"Father" is the little boy standing on the front row. He was Sidney Henry Buckle (1881 - 1969). He spent his entire working life underground first as a pit pony boy and later in the maintenance of ropes and cables.
Whenever I see images of pit ponies I'm always surprised at how big some of them are; certainly some are Shetland pony sized but others were much taller. Check out this link for stacks of images and you'll see what I mean. Images of pit ponies When I was about six or seven years old Sidney Henry, who was my grandad, used to take us for walks in the countryside around the mining village where he continued to live until the end of his life. As we walked round he told me and my sister stories about his life as a pit pony boy. He'd started when he was twelve years old. The highlight was when we passed a field where he said the ponies spent their summer holidays; apparently they got two weeks above ground and presumably that was enough to keep them going for the rest of the year. We always used to stop there and eat a bag of butterscotch sweets.
"Grandfather" is the man with the moustache on the right of the photo. John Henry Buckle (1852 - 1933) worked his way up to being an under manager at the pit and when I checked out the 1911 census it was obvious that he'd got just about every one of his surviving male relatives working there with him.
"Great Grandfather" is the old boy seated in the middle of the photo. He's Christopher Buckle (1821 - 1896). He started out as an agricultural labourer and became a coal hewer when the South Yorkshire coalfield expanded. He was still working in the pit at the end of his life cleaning the toilets and washing facilities: no pensions in those days. Just work until you dropped.
The sister was Annie Smith born in 1881.
Looking for family resemblances I think she is the young woman on the right of this photo at the back. Looking at the size of the class, hopefully both the women were teaching it or they've doubled up two classes together for the photo. Annie taught at Royston Infant School until she married in 1915.
I found a fascinating entry in Hansard the other day. In 1913, an MP asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that the majority of the women teachers in the elementary schools wanted to have the option of retiring with a suitable pension at an earlier age than sixty-five. He said that many had commenced class teaching at fifteen to twenty years old, and were now upwards of fifty years old; they were conscious of their inability, through physical or mental weakness, to perform their work in the most efficient manner, and yet were unable to claim a breakdown allowance, not being medically certified as permanently incapable owing to infirmity of mind and body; and whether, in fairness to these women and in the interests of the efficiency of their schools, he would consider the advisability of inaugurating a system of earlier optional retirement for women teachers? The answer wasn't encouraging but somewhere along the line they did bring in retirement at sixty. I think recently it's been taken back up to sixty eight years. Don't we learn anything from history?
Poor old Annie wouldn't have had the option of early retirement; she died in 1926 aged 45 years.
You can read the opening pages of I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II by N. Buckle & C. Murray at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QXEUG2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009QXEUG2
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