Diary of a Northampton lad during the Great War
Extracts from the 1917 diary of Frederick Walter Gainsford, of Cedar Road
My father, Frederick Walter Gainsford was born on Boxing Day 1903 at 70 Earl Street, Northampton.
His father was Arthur John Gainsford, who was only 181/2 when Dad was born, his mother was Alice
Maude Revitt, one of a large family involved in various aspects of the building trade in Northampton at that time.
Arthur was the youngest son of John Henry Gainsford, who owned a boot factory in Hood Street.
[Above] Earl Street
My father (unlike my mother) did not speak a lot about his childhood in Northampton, but luckily he left a
completed diary for 1917 (a Christmas present) from which it is possible to gain an idea of what boys
were doing in 1917, and of what Northampton was like in the middle of the Great War. However,
my father was not exactly typical of boys at that time, not many of whom were keen violinists. Dad’s
violin teacher was a Mr Tysoe, who gets a mention in the short autobiography of Edmund Rubbra, one
of the trio of famous classical composers from Northampton. The other two are Malcolm Arnold and William Alwyn.
In 1917 my father was living at 82 Cedar Road.
His other hobbies were perhaps more typical of boys of his age, and included cycling, fishing, and
photography. Photographic activities were started in 1917, financed by the money he received in his
1916 Christmas presents, and by his taking a part time job in the public library. For this the pay was
2 shillings a week for three nights, 5pm to 8pm! Other hobbies were Meccano (then in its early years),
stamp collecting and so on.
[Above] Public Library in Abington Street
There are many mentions in the diary of cycling trips with his friends, to places as diverse as
Overstone Mill, Billing Mill, Fawsley (earlier famous as the refuge of the Elephant Man) , Turvey, the
Paper Mills (on the Bedford Road), Clifford Hill, Castle Ashby etc. Sometimes the purpose was to take
photos, often for fishing, and once to collect mushrooms (at Fawsley).
Fishing, along with playing the violin, remained hobbies until he died in Olney in 1978. The diary
records his fishing success (and failure). He and his friend landed 15 perch each at Fawsley on August 6th.
August 7th brought no success, but when staying at Turvey with his Uncle Ernie Gainsford on August 8th/9th
he caught 8 perch, whilst Uncle Ernie landed ‘two huge chub’. Ernest Gainsford’s daughter was Marjorie May
Gainsford, who later taught at Barry Road School, and who is still fondly remembered by older Northampton residents.
In 1917 one was never far from the war. The diary records a big air raid on south east England on May 26th.
But on October 19th things came a bit nearer home when he recorded that Zeppelins raided Northampton.
Three people were killed when bombs were dropped on the railway, St James’ End, and Hunsbury Hill.
Bombing of a different kind was recorded in March and May, when British soldiers were seen practising hand
grenade throwing at Kingsthorpe Mill and Plum Lane (I have been unable to identify this latter). The diary also
records the Russian Revolution and dethroning of the Czar.
No doubt to boost morale, there were concerts in ‘The Park’ (again unidentified) in the summer by bands
including those of the Life Guards and Grenadier Guards.
There are a couple of references in the diary to trips to ‘the pictures’, one being a school trip. The cinema
is referred to as ‘Robinsons’. Dad also went to the opera once, and to the Hippodrome to hear a
recital by the world famous violinist Albert Sammons. This latter must have impressed my father, because for
once, he told me about the concert much later. He was most impressed because Sammons performed in army uniform,
‘wearing huge army boots’.
My father attended Stimpson Avenue School, and reading between the lines it seems that he didn’t get on with one
of the teachers, a Mr Poulton. Dad records on one occasion that he ‘nearly punched’ Mr Poulton when the teacher was
apparently acting unreasonably. On another occasion the class was kept back from games by the same teacher.
In January and February the weather was cold and there was ice on the roads and ‘good slides’ in the playground.
In the Spring the pupils were employed in digging up the school grounds for allotments, although the crops sown
(cress, lettuce, and radish) would not go far in sustaining a population being starved by the action of enemy U-boats.
My father left school at the end of 1917. In November the school inspector visited and made him ‘captain’
(presumably of the class). On his last day he played his fiddle before the whole school, to ‘cheers’ when he finished.
Because of his good school report, he was awarded a free scholarship to the Technical School, and entered
into an apprenticeship with the Advance Motor Manufacturing Co Ltd, which had been founded by another
Gainsford Uncle (Douglas) in 1902. It was a five year apprenticeship, the rate of pay being 7 shillings a week
in year one rising to 12 shillings in the final year. My father always spoke highly about the standards in the
Advance workshops and he remained proud of his ‘ability to work to one thou’ (thousandth of an inch) thereafter.
[Above] Advance Motorcyle
The Advance factory had started in Louise Road, but sometime later moved to Kingsthorpe Hollow near the
junction with Balmoral Road. In 1917 they were fully occupied with war work, I believe making parts for aircraft
engines, but before the war their products were more varied, including the early ‘Advance’ motorcycle, and
one of the very few surviving examples, from 1903, can be seen in the National Motor Cycle Museum at Meriden.
Douglas Gainsford also worked on the engines for motor sledges for Scott’s polar expedition (in the event they
were not used) and met both Scott and Shackleton.
To close, there’s just one more item Dad related about his childhood in Northampton. That is when a group
of boys were playing in Abington Park near the lake. One of them, no doubt to impress his peers, suddenly
exclaimed ‘See me do a silly thing!’, and promptly jumped fully clothed into the lake. Silly indeed.
[Above] Abington Park 1966
Michael J Gainsford
Burbage, Leics
07 05 09