While in business at Southsea, I had the good fortune to gain a contract to supply the isolation hospital, and when I was at 4 The Parade, Southall I got a similar contract for the local isolation hospital also. While at Southsea, a lady came to me whose husband was a retired army officer, and when he retired on half pay she thought she should try and supplement the income, so she made curry powder and Chutney, and supplied 3 of the larger London stores with her products; so come to me to supply her with spices etc at a low price, so that she could make a good profit. Well, I did it for years; her husband got made a knight of Windsor, and they had apartments over Henry VIII gateway, and so I may have supplied goods to Windsor Castle, though not to the King. In order to get the spices at the lowest prices, I had to pay cash on delivery, and my customer wanted credit; well, I gave it until she wanted it for too long, taking 5 months, so I offended her by saying I would not give it and asked for cash; she never had any more.
The yachtsmen at Southsea were large buyers of best goods, and I so far appreciated their trade, but they wanted a bonus, and that about took all the profit. I had a lady customer, the wife of the fleet paymaster, to whom I used to send goods – all over the country when she was away from Portsmouth, and she did not pay well, and eventually left me in debt, and I could not recover it from her husband as he was not within the jurisdiction of the County Court; I lost on them.
[150] I laid out this book before I knew how much I should write, consequentially there will be no Index at this juncture (footnote 1), and so I will continue with the story of my children.
We had some good times at 4 The Parade, Southall; although business was good for a time, competition grew fiercer, and I could not make out very good after 4½ years at that shop. But we had our good times, the holidays. I’d take the whole family by train to say Staines, and walk from there to Virginia Water, then home, and Cyril although very young did the walk home – I reckoned 17 miles at the least. These outings we enjoyed immensely, and it did us all good. But business collapsed and I had to move family away to Teddington, where much to my regret I had to leave [151 : II] them and take my way to Canada. Lillian let apartments to make a living, the children went to school, and Mabel was married to Harry J Harris, who was a printer employed by a branch of the Spottiswood family (footnote 2), who were not only King’s Printers but were allowed to print the Bible, as no errors were permitted to be made, this was an honour during this time.
My brother Sam and his wife Margaret had returned from India and had resolved to go to Canada, so he went and took with him my son Leonard and nephew Harold Morphew, Margaret waiting until they had found somewhere to settle and a house had been built, which occurred in about 6 months, as Sam sent for her – and I accompanied her to Liverpool and saw her onto the ship. We stayed at my cousin [152 : III] Catherine, nee Abbott, who had married a Mr Anderson, whose people were in a big fish and fishing business; had their own fishing vessels, and on the occasion of our visit had fish to perfection. Mr Anderson was also an artist, and pictures covered the walls of his house, both rooms and passages. My sister Annie was living with the Andersons at this time, and it suited them both. Catherine was suffering from rheumatism and was almost a cripple, and Annie appreciated a home with a relative and girlhood friend. The Andersons had no children, and she died comparatively early in life; she however helped me and my family on our way to Canada through Liverpool. I cannot expatiate on the greatness of the port of Liverpool; it is a matter of history, but it is the chief port for passengers to Canada and the United States; [153 : IV] of course passengers go from London and Bristol, Glasgow, Plymouth and many another British port, but Liverpool has the most direct, shortest and best service for the Western Hemisphere, while London and Southampton are the chief ports of sailing to the Orient.
Transcriber’s footnotes:
1. This page is headed INDEX, and the remaining pages numbered with Roman numerals to the end of the diary
2. Eyre and Spottiswood. When Harry (my grandfather) moved to Stony Stratford to take over the printing business there, he was known in the town as “the King’s printer” – his former company had done all the printing for Buckingham Palace. Before training for the ministry, my father worked in the printing shop at Stony Stratford, and his proof-reading skills lasted all his life.
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