Joyce WILLIAMS Family History by William Hartley
All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Joyce Williams was born 9th January 1927 at 5 Weston Street, Hillfields, Coventry, a red-brick home built in 1837, so the house was already 90 years old in 1927, but was far from being a slum. The house had basic Victorian facilities, electricity had replaced gas lighting, but further updates to the interior had to wait until many years later.
Below are 1966 photos of homes in Weston Street ...
In
the background you can see the new high-rise flats being constructed, part of
the ill-thoughtout 1960's socialist policies, to replace the cherished old streets
of traditional Victorian family homes. Many said at the time "What the
German National-Socialists didn't manage to bomb out of existence during the
war, the English Socialists are now razing to the ground", removing all
signs of long-held values of social choice, a sense of community, and progressive
individualism.
Author's note: It is disgraceful that English planning laws do
not include a duty to photographically record buildings demolished to make way
for new builds. Our social historic and cultural records have been, and are
still being, eroded, year by year.
Thanks to CoventryTelegraph, cvLive and Coventry Archives for photos contributed
to the author.
1921 Census: 5 Weston Street, Coventry
... again pictured 1966, on the left,
shows rear of numbers 10-14 Weston Street homes ...
The photo on the right shows homes near to the top of Weston Street, being demolished.
soon to be replaced with the unpopular and totally unsuitable high-rise flats,
which themselves were demolished at great cost in the early-2000's by New Socialism.
Criticism, then, talked of badly designed, crowded, noisy, unhealthy, damp flats,
a lack of social interaction creating loneliness, lack of privacy, high maintenance
costs, unsafe open public spaces encouraging street crime. "Streets in
the sky" became "Slums in the sky". "Socialism gone mad".
...
Weston Street today, large empty open spaces where the family homes once stood.
The homes torn down have still not been replaced. "The heart was torn out
of our cities" many said back in the 1960's.[pic:Google
Maps]
Joyce's
father died 1932. He had been a Builders Slater and Tiler between 1906 and 1932,
apprenticed at Wormells Slaters, Coventry, and worked for his father, Thomas
Williams Slating and Roofing business in Lincoln, and for Wormells in Coventry.
Henry had served in the 1/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1915-1919.
He was gassed by the Germans in the trenches during that time [either 1916 The
Somme or 1917 Passchendale].
Henry's father William who had also been a Slater and Roofer d.1931. Henry died
in March 1932, from damage to his lungs, complicated by Asthma, Flu, and Pneumonia
:
Henry
Llech WILLIAMS ...
>1932: the family moved to 33 Swifts Corner, Cheylesmore, Coventry ...
The Williams Family home, 33 Swifts Corner [Photo c.2015, but it shows the relatively
large gardens and open views the family enjoyed]
Education:
>1932-1938 Joyce attended Cheylesmore Primary School, Mile Lane, Coventry, opposite what-was Coventry Climax Motor Works. Accompanied by her sister older Betty and brothers Ron and Ken, Joyce used to walk from her home in Swifts Corner, London Road, through the main Coventry Cemetery, over the railway bridge, into Mile Lane, just under a mile [20 minutes] in all ... probably a lot longer for children, who would have found it an adventure, there and back home, every day. Widowed mother, Lilian, was an office cleaner, so she likely found time to accompany them, when the occasion required. I wonder, did the children read the headstones in the Cemetery? Many of their family ancestors were buried there, the Cutts, the Yardleys, the Williams, and later the remains of their father, Henry, were transferred there after the closure of the cemetery at St Peters Church in Hillfields, near to where the family used to live at Weston Street.
>1938-1943 Stoke Park Grammar School for Girls ...
.jpg)
Joyce
was certainly the 'brains' of the family, the first ever to have passed an 11-plus
exam, and 'Stoke Park' entrance exam, selected to attend the exclusive Stoke
Park Grammar School for Girls at Brays Lane, Coventry. 'Stoke Park' was a "better
developed system of educating girls", turning them into proper ladies.
The distinctive building [shown above] was an ex-mansion named 'Harefield',
with a newly-built classroom annexes. Uniform was navy heavily pleated tunic,
girdle, white blouse, navy bow, black woollen stockings, black shoes, usually
plaited hair, finished off with a red with gold stripes tie ... on Speech Day
at the nearby Parish Hall, plain white dresses were worn. There was no summer
uniform. The school song was 'Jerusalem'. Girls valued 'good deportment', 'politeness
and good manners', lessons not only focused on 'reading, writing and arithmatic',
science and languages were timetabled, and PE games lessons included gymnastics,
lacrosse, tennis, and cricket.
Joyce's
education would thereby have been well suited to her abilities, skills and talents.
photo
shows a class of the late-1940's, and an anonymous sketch of the school entrance.
by
the 1960's, fires and neglect had destroyed much of the right-side of the school
buildings, and they were demolished. The tower was removed and new extensions
added to the left.
today, the left-side school extensions are still in use, as a Catholic school.
WWII Years ... August through to November 1940, and on to April 1941 ... The Coventry Blitz: Swifts Corner homes were directly hit by German Air Bombing during the 14th-15th November 1940 Blitz on Coventry, and several civillians were killed in their Swifts Corner homes. At that time, Joyce was a young teenager, and she used to shelter in two places during blitz attacks ... at home, under the dining table, and in town inside Coventry Cathedral steeple staircase. Joyce thought "The Germans would never attack a cathedral or church ... would they?" ... Amazingly, Coventry Cathedral was destroyed by direct German bombing 14th-15th November, 1940, the most concentrated attack on non-military targets in any British city during WWII, when over 500 civillians were killed, and over a thousand injured, as civillians and homes were deliberately targeted by wave after wave of German aircraft, which dropped thousands of bombs, night after night.
Through fate and good fortune, Joyce was NOT at the Cathedral, but at home that
evening, hiding safely under the table.
Close by, German bombs rained down on neighbouring homes, and in one, a whole
family of four was killed ... the Hobdays ... father George William Hobday,
who worked at the nearby sewage pumping station [and it was his birthday that
day], his wife Eliza, daughters May 'Maydie' aged 32 who worked at Auto Machinery,
and Daisy aged 21, who worked at Bushills. The family lived just a few doors
down from Joyce and her family, and were good friends. The whole neighbourhood
was shocked by the terrible indiscriminate loss of life.
After that bombing, Joyce went to stay with a family at Church Lawford near Rugby, several miles from Coventry, so hopefully a safer location.
In
her teenage years, Joyce had taught at a Sunday School not too far from her
home. She was a good Christian, but she was also a great believer in fate and
fortune. Joyce thought one's personal religious thoughts were best kept private.
Too often, voicing religious and political beliefs had created conflicts and
wars. She had concluded that each person is born with a pre-determined destiny
on the one hand, and the freedom to change that destiny on the other hand, by
taking note of good opportunities and sensible choices, through moral thoughts,
hard work, and positive thinking, to achieve personal set goals ... some easy,
some difficult. Hard work had enabled Joyce to rise from humble beginnings,
to attend a local grammar school. Good fortune came from broadening one's horizons,
through self-learning, and paying attention to, and respecting, older and more
experienced, knowledgable adults. Joyce had a close happy relationship with
her mother and grandparents, in particular her grandmother, Sarah Yardley. Joyce
spent much of her childhood visiting Sarah at Godiva Street, Coventry.
Fate offered up opportunities and choices, and produced a protective aura in
times of peril ... as it did for Joyce on the night of 14th-15th November 1940.
Fate and Fortune ... "What chance did I stand against Kismet?" The personified force that determines the course of future events ... Fate, Destiny.
Occupations:
>1943-1946 General Post Office [GPO Telecommunications]
>Telephone Switchboard Operator ... Joyce enjoyed her work, and had a friendly approach and natural clear spoken voice that suited the job, well. She chose to work rather than go on to college or university. Her family welcomed the extra income they so desperately needed.
>GPO Accounts: Telephone Accounts/Comptometer Operator ... Didn't like this job, too repetitive and noisy machines. Watched over like a hawk!
[note
from author: I used a comptometer in the early 1970's when I worked as a Civil
Servant at Coventry County Court. It was basically a mechanical calculator,
driven by keys and push buttons]
Joyce's
favourite song ... " And The Is My Beloved" from "Kismet"
https://youtu.be/YVMHuVNpLoY?si=fOnwRwErXYxglavJ
This is the 1964 recording from the musical KISMET, [composed by Robert Wright
and George Forrest, based on themes by Borodin], sung here by soprano Adele
Leigh, tenor Kenneth McKellar, baritone Robert Merrill, and bass Ian Wallace,
accompanied by Mantovani and His Orchestra, Joyce's favourite. This particular
song is adapted from String Quartet No.2 in D major [3rd movement - Nocturne]
of Alexander Borodin [1833-1887]
Joyce's 'Kismet' was to be her childhood sweetheart, Ramsay Hartley, "a happy romantic pairing that was meant to be, two souls, destined to meet, to stay together, til death do part".
Married: Ramsay [Mac] Hartley 21st December 1946 Mac HARTLEY
All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Famous Family Members ...
Royalty and Aristocrats ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
>Edward
Mansell
... Educated at Emmanual College, Cambridge [1623-1630] and Brasemose College,
Oxford [1642], Edward Mansell [1605-1644] Doctor of Divinity, was Chaplain to
King Charles 1 and a Royalist. Edward became Vicar of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire,
where he met Charles, the King having lodged at nearby Stoneleigh Abbey. http://www.cropredyvillage.info/
MANSELL Family lived at Slate Mill & 35 Hentlowes Farm ref:155 166 215 221 234
439 605 606 643 Edward 142 Moses 605 Nehemiah 142 197 288 605 700 Robert 29
30 142 255 272 274 http://www.hartleyfamily.uk/
Birth http://www.hartleyfamily.uk/
Death Edward died during the Siege of Oxford, English Civil War 1644, having
been captured whilst taking a walk. He died in Parliamentary custody at Abingdon.
All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Chudleigh Family ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Cutts Family ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
>Peter Warwick Cutts [Joyce's 2nd Maternal Cousin] ... Obituary: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/19-april/gazette/obituaries/obituary-peter-cutts ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Leigh Family ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
>Williams Family ... My WILLIAMS Family All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
Yardley Family ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
...
mtDNA Female Line
Haplogroup X2b6b [distinctive mutation C11555T] ... Exact Matches listed below ... All references: William Hartley author http://www.hartleyfamily.uk
>Robert Lee Harris Family [closely related to Ed Harris, American Actor [Apollo 13], Director, Producer, Screenwriter]...
>Gretchen
Ann Steberg Collins [m.Donald Eugene Campbell] Family
...
>Marjorie Morrin Miller [1911-1987] Tacoma, Washington USA
>Martha Hannah Morrin [1873-1964] Centralia, Washington USA
>Martha Ann Savage [1843-1905] Salford, Lancashire
>Susanna Poyser [1804-1888] Hollinwood, Lancashire
>Jane Illinsworth or Hannah ??
. .
My
Paternal Grandfather John William HARTLEY's Family
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Index to Names
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My Paternal Great Uncle 
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My Father
Mac HARTLEY
My
Mother
Joyce WILLIAMS
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WILLIAMS Family
My Maternal Grandfather
Henry Llech WILLIAMS
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