Harry Wright- Dad's father

As far as Dad knows, Harry was a Castleford boy.

We don't know how or when they met, but Elsie Evans and Harry Wright probably married in around 1920 when Grams was 20, and had their first child Cynthia in 1921.  Dad was born in 1932.

The 1932 photo below shows Harry holding Dad, and Cynthia sitting beside them:

A close up of Dad and Harry from the same photo:

Below is the clearest photo we have of Harry, who always wore a hat.

Blasting out of Dad's memory came the information that Harry had been to Borstal Boys for juvenile offenders in Kent.  It was the first such institution that separated juveniles from adult offenders and  focussed on education and routine to rehabilitate youths.  It was quite experimental.  There Dad thinks Harry did an apprenticeship and learnt boot making. This is in keeping with the little that Grams said to me about Harry. I have no information about why he went there, how long for and when he left.  I have written to the prison (now called Prison Rochester) to ask them to source the information from their archives and will update this post when I receive a reply.

I did find a photo from the time period that Harry would have attended the Borstal (which was probably in the 1910s):

Harry enlisted in WW2 as an ordinance officer- mending boots and equipment.  He was demobbed after WW2 but never again lived with Grams or Dad.

Harry got caught up in Dunkirk at the beginning of the war- 1940.  He was caught on the beach with 300,000 men, and like many other soldiers had to swim to get on a boat to escape the Germans who were advancing.  For some reason, we have scissors at Windy Harbour that he had on him as he swam from Dunkirk.  These scissors are still at WIndy.

He was very good with machinery.  Dad remembers that he was offered maintenance work with Russian Oil company down near the river Eyre in Castleford.

He remembers Harry as a drinker, a dog lover, a great swimmer, and a good fisherman.  There is some association with Dogdyke, but he can't remember what.  Hopefullly that will emerge from his memory at some stage.

Harry on holiday- with Topsy at Bridlington:

The family at Bridlington in 1932:

And the happy family....  Not sure the year this was taken...