Mum was born in Loubet Street, Tooting in 1921. The second child of Mary Teresa Tiley and Alfred Tiley, Mum had several brothers and sisters, and although technically some of them were half brothers and sisters, they never thought of each other in those terms. Her oldest brother was Laurence, who was 8 when she was born; then came twin sisters Eileen and Kathleen, who were almost 5. These three were half sibs via her mother's first marriage to Fred Murphy, killed in action in 1917. Mum's parents had married in 1918 and she already had an older sister, Iris, who was almost 2 when Mum was born. Nanny had a love of extravagant names, and her children always hated theirs!
The houses in Loubet Street (as seen on google street view) don’t look very large, but presumably it was typical squashed chaos that somehow we associate with pre war living. Mum's best friend was called Daphne, a daughter of her Mother’s best friend, and in due time became another in my long list of aunts and uncles; it was only when I was a teenager I discovered she wasn’t a 'real' auntie at all, but that didn’t seem to matter much. The two remained lifelong friends until Mum's death, and Auntie Daph couldn't bring herself to attend the funeral, saying it would be too upsetting for her.
One funeral Auntie Daphne did remember attending was that of Mum's dad, Alf Tiley; she remembered Mum and Auntie Iris wearing new purple coats secured for the occasion. Alf died, apparently suddenly, fairly young when Mum was only 5, and yet she remembered her father vividly with great affection all her life. Times must have been hard for the family upon his death, as he was buried in a pauper's grave; a couple of years later Nan married for the third and final time, this time to Herbert Eagles, who thus became Mum's stepfather. A new little brother, Maurice (but always referred to in the family as 'Ginger', although this remained a source of bafflement to me as a child as he was pretty much bald by that time) followed, and the family was complete. Three sets of half siblings who remained (more or less) close throughout their lives.
By now the family was outgrowing Loubet Street, so after a series of moves from Tooting to Sutton and then to Ewell, they ended up in Links Avenue, Morden, in the early 1930's. The houses were typical English suburban 1930's style: mock Tudor, bay windows, semis with large front and back gardens, wide streets in those days with very little traffic, short walk to the new Northern Line Underground station at Morden. I'd happily live there today, especially as the family paid just £600 for one of these homes- a considerable amount at the time, but less than a month’s rent there now. Mum acquired one in the series of dogs with which she spent her teenage years, and discovered a love of gardening which never left her. I've never known anyone able to identify plants and assorted shrubbery as quickly and accurately as she could! With her sisters, she attended the local Catholic schools, and lived a fairly rigorous Catholic life, attending Church several times a day on Sunday, and also during the week. This must have been Nan's influence as I don't think 'Oscar' as he was called, was bothered by religion of any description. Mum was taught by nuns, and although very clever, was bored at school; she had a wonderful sense of humour and used this to her class mates' entertainment, and was frequently in trouble at school. She would describe one infamous visit to the maze at Hampton Court where she managed to evade capture by the nuns for a long while, as she heard their rosaries clinking as they got close to her. Eventually her purgatory at school ended upon reaching school leaving age; ever pragmatic, someone who lived for the day and for the fun to be found in life, Mum mastered shorthand and audio typing, and took the sixpence return worker's tube fare every day into Central London, whence she had secured a lowly job as an audio and shorthand typist with the Admiralty, working in Admiralty Arch, her then office situated across the Mall. However, in the closing years of the 1930's, she could never have realised how close to unfolding world events this lowly civil service post would bring her, and probably nothing was further from her mind as she made her daily journeys into Central London, enjoying her financial independence, with the whole world at her feet.
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