He recovered from this and was transferred to the Camel Corp in support of Lawrence of Arabia . I know nothing as to his experiences during this period.

1918, The war ends

After the 1918 war, my parents married at St. Bedes Church, Toxteth on 23rd May 1920. In my early childhood days my father had a Fruit and Vegetable round with a horse and cart, he worked very long hours out in all sorts of weather, but he was a very fit man.

He eventually finished with this round and went into partnership with another man, when they opened up two fishshops. This other man had been a seaman and was a very poor businessman . The business prospered for a while, but due to his partner's poor performance, my father decided it would be better if they split up .

My father then opened a fishshop in Allerton, serving the 'Gentry'. They were the bankers, Shipbrokers, Cotton Merchants and the like. These were the days of the depression and they used to run up a monthly account with the small shopkeepers in the area . They were only too pleased of their custom. Well, the depression was hitting these people hard and they paid the people who could apply the most pressure to them, consequently the small shopkeepers bills were the end of the line. As a result the numbers of these people not paying their bills caused my father to close up. He was then unemployed.

He remained unemployed for some considerable time, and in those days they didn't get the 'handouts' that the unemployed get today. This was the time I was going to the Liverpool Institute, then Liverpool's top Grammar School. So, with the cost of special school uniforms, buying of all the school books etc. the strain on their meagre finances must have been tremendous.

In the winter we used to have some very heavy snowfalls, and the unemployed were offered jobs clearing the snow from the pavements. The pay they got for this job was an absolute pittance, but my father was glad of any extra money. He would come home at night soaking wet, soaking boots that had let in the melting snow, and he would be completely exhausted.

One of the temporary jobs he got was working as a temporary Postman at Christmas time. He was later offered a fulltime job with the Post Office, just before the beginning of the Second World War. Most of his time was spent taking mail to the docks or railway stations, often during air raids. He continued this job until he retired at 65.
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