My Family And The First And Second Wo..

My family and the First and Second World Wars George Archibald Gurnsey (17 May 1884 - 12 Jan 1973) When George left school, perhaps aged 12 or 13, he worked in Chatham for an undertaker called Apps who was some sort of relation. He was trained as a coffin maker, but on completion of his apprenticeship at the age of 18 years he joined the Army, the Royal Engineers, at Chatham. He was a 1 good soldier and, in 1902, won the Haynes Medal for being the best Sapper of the year in Field Fortifications.

At that time there was no Royal Corps of Signals and all signalling and telecommunications were carried out by the Royal Engineers and George was trained in that work and he was posted to Malta to work on the military telephone system of the island. He suffered from Dalton's colour blindness, being unable to tell the difference between red and green, so he must have found the work difficult since, until recently, telephone and electric wires used those colours to distinguish 'live' from 'neutral'. Perhaps it never occurred to the authorities to test for that condition. In 1910, after his 8 years of service were complete, he left the Army. The previous year he had got married to Amy Huggins in Farnborough. They moved to Dover where George was employed as a civilian doing the same type of work as he had been trained for in the army, and he worked there the rest of his life. His work was the installation and maintenance of the telephonic communications of the defence of the area from Newhaven round to the North Foreland. During the Second World War he had to join the army (he was 56 years old) and was given the rank of Sergeant in the Royal Corps of Signals, but remained in Dover doing the same work that he had done as a civilian. He was offered promotion to Warrant rank but refused as it would have ment moving away from Dover.

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Alfred Hopper (2 Aug 1910 - 8 Mar 1991) (son-in-law of George and Amy) Alfred Hopper married Nelly Gurnsey (daughter of George and Amy) in May 1935. During the Second World War Alf was conscripted in the Army, the Royal Artillery, and after the invasion of Europe in 1944 he served in France and Germany, and fought at the second battle to capture Arnham 3. During his wartime service he was taught to drive vehicles and to tow a gun.

Amy Mitchell (29 Mar 1920 - 12 Sep 1988) (daughter of George and Amy) During the Second World War Amy was conscripted into the women's branch of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)4. During the war George and Amy (Amy's parents) and several other people ran 'rest rooms' for service people in Dover. Service people could get a cup of tea and a sticky bun and a relaxing atmosphere, and there would be bible readings and services for those so inclined. Among those attending was a young airman, Ronald Mitchell, then stationed at St Margarets, a small village to the north-east of Dover. He came from Tunbridge Wells and had been brought up a Christian. He was then posted to Egypt, and whilst there decided that he would like to marry Amy, whom he had met at the 'rest room'. So, like a well-brought-up lad he wrote to George asking his permission to 'plight his troth'. George would have shown this letter to Amy who would, no doubt, have been amused. However, she gave her consent, and when he came home after the war they were married.

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Frederick Gurnsey (born 17 Fed 1917) - (son of George and Amy) In October 1936 Fred joined the Royal Engineers, and by February 1938 he had been posted to the 41st Fortress Company at Changi in Singapore. In October 1939 the Chief Engineer, Malaya Command ordered Fortress Headquarters to transfer three NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers 5) to the Works Services who were now very busy. Fred was selected to be one of these, and was posted to the Commander, Royal Engineers department at Alexandra Barracks, Singapore. His story is told in full in 'My Experiences in the Battle of Singapore, Feb 1942'

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