MEMORIES: The Hawksley family in about 1930, with John William Hawksley, centre front, with wife Florence Ada to his right.
Recently in my local paper a lady had wrote in attaching this photograph of her family. the lady, Gladys was my Nanna’s Cousin so this has lots of interest for me.
Here’s her story:
“IT’S often a pleasant surprise
to find how enjoyable
memories can be jogged by
brief references to the past
taken from the Mail’s extensive
archives.
As part of the 125th anniversary
celebrations, we have been featuring
snippets of past stories and advertisements.
And it’s one of the “Here For 125
years” advert panels which caught
the attention of Hessle reader
Gladys Burton.
We re-ran a small ad from Wednesday,
June 22, 1910, which read:
“For sale – Pony, grand condition,
12.2h, honest and quiet, £6.15s or
best offer. Hawksley, 15 Goodwin
Street.”
Little wonder that was a pleasant
surprise for Gladys, who explains:
“The vendor of this pony was my
father, John William Hawksley, who
was born in Osborne Street, in 1876,
and died in an air-raid on Hull during
the Second World War.
“His death was just two days before
his 66th birthday, in May 1942,
when a huge ‘aerial torpedo’ was
dropped on the Scarborough Street
area, destroying the family home on
Hessle Road.
“My sister Ruth (pictured above on
the group, far left, front row) was
also at home at the time, but was
unhurt. She and I are the only two
left. Ruth has lived in Australia all
her married life.
“At the time of the advert, the
family home was in Goodwin Street,which ran between Hessle Road and
Anlaby Road, just to the east of the
current Rawlings Way.
“I don’t remember it personally, as
I was born four years later and the
family had moved to Witty Street.
“The pony would have been one of
several used in those times to collect
fruit and vegetables from the market
in Humber Street for sale in my
father’s shops in the area, the last of
which was at 485 Hessle Road.
“The picture shows the whole family, taken around 1930, with John William Hawksley centre front with his wife (my mother) Florence Ada
to his right. I’m top right in the
picture and have spent most of my
life living in Hessle.
“Also in the picture are my brothers
and sisters, of whom Florence
(Florrie Chapman, as she became
(second from right, front row) remained
a Hull resident, living in
Somerset Street, and Jim (third left,
back row) continued the fruit and
veg tradition with a shop in Southcoates
Lane until his retirement.
“Jim’s shop was originally set up
by Harold (second from left, front
row).
Jack (far right, front) also had a
fruit, veg and general store in Trinity
Street.
“Alice (second left, back) became
Alice Smith and lived her married life in Hessle.”
