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‘During the house clearance of my parents’s home I came across a lot of photographs that I hadn’t seen before. Dad also kept diaries, so after browsing through everything I was able to link a diary for 1946 to a football team photo and the football programme. I have also included some snippets from a 1945 diary which I am in the middle of transcribing.

Dad didn’t talk about his time in the army so it is just a bit of a glimpse of his army life. Off duty he enjoyed trips to the cinema and theatre and enjoyed a lot of sport. Don’t know why but that surprised me!

Diary 1945:

January 9th
In Embourg ,5 miles from Lieg, known as Buzz Bomb Alley. Plenty of V -1s about

February 19th
Saw Monty when he passed by today.

March 1st
Good news from American front, Roermond captured. Americans still racing on, now a mile from Düsseldorf.

April 16th
Expecting to go on leave but date keeps changing.

April 23rd
On leave, back home in Cardiff

May 1st
HITLER REPORTED DEAD

May 3rd
Heading back to Gennup. Lights all blazing in Lille as we passed through, celebrating the fall of Berlin.

May 4th
Unconditional surrender announced of all forces in N.W. Germany to 21 army g.p

May 5th
Passed through Hamburg which is almost a shambles. Saw hundreds of Germans tramping along to give themselves up.

May 8th
Declared VE Day. Great celebrations everywhere. PM and King spoke on radio. No parades today.Party on in night, bags of beer floating round

May 9th
Another regimental holiday.

Next few months dad seems to be doing clerical work, sorting out pay.

July 26th
General Election Result . Labour in with vast majority.

August 6th
Atomic bomb dropped on Japan.

August. 9th
Russia declared war on Japan

August 10th
Leave cancelled for all
R Signals eligible for Far East, which includes me.

August 14th

Attlee announced on midnight news that Japan had accepted Allied Terms ———THE WAR WAS OVER.

August 15th
V J Day Public Holiday. Opening of Parliament and King’s Speech.

On leave in Cardiff 11.9. —-27.9

Back in Germany

Oct 4th
Start German classes

1946:

Jan 7th
Left for the Rhine Army College

Feb 7th
Moved to Transit Camp

Seems to be a case of waiting for a departure date now.

April 2nd
Played soccer in the afternoon ————— beat HQRA 3 – 1, good game, but oh boy was the sun hot.

So last few days now, watching football matches, boxing , table tennis.

So last few days now, watching football matches, boxing , table tennis.

April 8th
Last trip to cinema in the evening but only stayed an hour as the film was deadly.

April 15th
Signed Release Book

April 16th
Left Div. 9.30 for 121 Transit Camp, left about 2pm

April 20th
Arrived home 7.30 am Easter Saturday. Went to Arms Park in afternoon,
Baa Baas beat Cardiff 10 – 9

Dad went off to Scotland shortly after to meet my mother’s family .
Dad had met mum sometime in 1945 in Brussels. She was in the ATS and a telephonist .
It was all down to dad’s truck breaking down and he had to spend a couple of days in Brussels, I think they met at a dance .

Dad didn’t write in his diary after May 5th 1946′.

Liz Hole

‘This bowl was given by my mother’s first cousin Roland Lumby to my son John Simon Chilver Donovan, being the eldest son in my family and a direct descendant of the Chilver family. I currently ‘curate’ the bowl on John’s behalf.

The pasted-on paper on the base reads:

1805
This bowl was bought by Mr John Clementson for his grandson T. F. Chilver for
a christening bowl.
Extract from Mr Clementson’s diary Apl 17.

“At Jane’s – saw her. No christening bason for tomorrow – went to Colebrookdale shop in Oxford Road, bot her one i [?] plate”.

Mr Clementson (Deputy Sergeant at Arms)

His daughter Jane married Mr Samuel Chilver
1803

The following is the relevant page from my Ancestry.co.uk research. Roland Lumby, who gave my son John the bowl, also passed on to me a very comprehensive family tree to the Ranking / Blake Humfrey side of the family (see the bottom branches of the tree). He was a grandson of Harvey Ranking.

Thomas Farquhar Chilver (Born 11th April 1805 in Westminster, London, died in 1875 in Sussex) was my, Christian Donovan (Davidson)’s great-great Grandfather. He had five sisters. A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, he was, according to census results, living in Westminster, St James in both 1851 and 1861. His wife, Lucy Eliza (née Clarke) was one of four people killed in a train crash near Streatham, London in 1863. She had been travelling on the train with Thomas returning to London from Brighton.

Thomas’s father, Samuel Chilver (1764-1824) was also a Surgeon, pupil of Sir Walter Farquhar (cf. List of Fellows & Members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England). He practised at 14 New Burlington Street in London.

Thomas’s mother, Jane Clementson (1780-1871) was the daughter of John Clementson, who presented the ‘bason’ [sic].

John Clementson was Deputy Serjeant at Arms at the House of Commons between 1770 and 1804. He kept a diary whilst there and this is preserved in the Houses of Parliament archive.

The Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons is responsible for security matters concerning the House of Commons. The Serjeant, whilst in the Commons overseeing proceedings, can also escort MPs out of the chamber by order of the Speaker of the House.

John Clementson kept a family diary as well as his ‘official’ work one.
He was married to Eleanor Clementson.

The bowl came from the ‘Colebrookdale shop on Oxford Road’. I can find no record of a shop of this name, but it might possibly have been in Oxford Street, London. Colebrookdale or Coalbrookdale was another name for Coalport Porcelain, based in Shropshire. This company was founded in 1795, so the family Christening basin is a relatively early piece oftheir work. Unfortunately because of the paper pasted on the bottom, I cannot see the maker’s mark, but there may well not have been one.

1805, the year of Thomas’s Christening was a turbulent one for Britain. George III was King, William Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister. The Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-Spanish War were ongoing. Six months after Thomas’s birth, Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was killed in that battle.

Wikipedia lists the highlights of the year as:

* 20 January – London Docks open.

*21 February – Charles Manners-Sutton confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury.

*18 April – Ordnance Survey begins systematic publication of its General Survey of England and Wales (“Old Series”) maps to a scale of one inch to the mile (1:63,360) with those for Essex

*4 June – the first Trooping the Colour ceremony at the Horse Guards Parade in London.

*3 August – the annual cricket match between Eton College and Harrow School is played for the first time.

*21 October – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar – British naval fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain. Admiral Nelson is fatally shot.

*6 November – news of the victory at Trafalgar and Nelson’s death reaches London.

*26 November – the Ellesmere Canal’s Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is opened in Wales, the tallest and longest in Britain.

Further information:
1. John Clementson

John Clementson was Deputy Serjeant at Arms from 1770 to 1804. In this diary he recorded his daily duties and the proceedings of the House of Commons. The account of his tasks was very detailed, for example in the first entry on 2 April 1770 he describes, “When the Chairman […] begins to put the Question, you put your hand upon the lock of the Door, and no Member can after that come in or out”. Clementson performed his work with enthusiasm and efficiency, and records suggest that he was seventy years old when he finally retired. In recognition of his faithful services, the House unanimously voted to make provision for Clementson during his retirement. He bequeathed his office to his son on 5 May 1804. Source: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentwork/offices-and-ceremonies/collections/serjeant-at-arms/john-clementsons-diary/

Note: there is some confusion as to John Clementson’s dates of birth and death, because his son, also called John Clementson, later became a Deputy Serjeant at Arms.

In the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1805 (couldn’t find the exact date) I found this report:

2. Coalport porcelain

Source: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Alternative Title: Colebrookdale porcelain

Coalport porcelain, ware from the porcelain factory in Shropshire, England, founded by John Rose in 1795. “Colebrookdale Porcelain” was used sometimes as a trade description and a mark because the factory was located at Coalbrookdale. Coalport’s glazed bone china was in great demand and improved greatly in quality about 1820 with the refinement of a hard, white porcelain. A Willow pattern and transfer prints were characteristic until a growing tendency toward richness of style was confirmed by the introduction of a maroon ground in 1821. John Rose II, succeeding in 1828, lavishly imitated the French Sèvres style as well as the styles of Chelsea and Derby, with versions of their respective turquoise, claret, and mazarine blue. Gilded and molded ornamental ware with mass incrustations of flowers,
after Meissen, was frequent. By 1830 Coalport was among the leading potteries of England.

In 1849 a fine Sèvres pink (imitative rose Pompadour and called rose du Barry) attracted many orders; plausible imitations of German Meissen or copies of Sèvres and Chelsea with their marks were numerous. Some eggshell porcelain was made beginning in 1845. In the 1860s Coalport turned to domestic ware and the Victorian decoration of earlier biscuit (unglazed) china. Interest in fine porcelain revived in the 1880s, and production of elaborate pieces has continued to the present.

3. Coalport Porcelain
source: https://antique-marks.com/coalport-marks.html
Very early Coalport porcelain was unmarked, (c1805 and before) and in reality marks were rarely used before 1820. However, the porcelain collector should note that early CoalBrook Dale marks are extremely rare and very collectible’.

Christian Donovan