After the war ended it was difficult to obtain passages to the UK so the family were unable to go on leave until 1920, when they stayed with Dan (pictured) and Dizzie in Stirling, where they had moved after Bannockburn House was sold.
Just as George was setting off to return to Burma he was told that his posting had been cancelled but that he should join Grahams' office in London. While he was there the family continued to stay with Christian and Dan in Stirling, so the children went to a local school.
After working for two years in London, where he was required to countersign cheques, which suggests there were problems with Grahams, in 1922 George was transferred to Manchester, so the family was able to join him. After a time in lodgings, they bought a house in Washington Road, Sale. The family later moved again, to a larger house called Rosegarth, in time for the arrival of Alexander Wilson, ‘Sandy’, in 1924.
My mother Helen wrote of the holidays the family had at Bainbridge in the Lake District (picture of Helen, above), where they hired a small cottage. "Daddy used to come up for a fortnight and walk us over the moors, doing 14 to 16 miles in a day, rain or shine." They also had holidays at Newport in Pembrokeshire.
The relationship between George and Caroline became strained. George fell ill with pneumonia and Caroline was severely depressed. My mother wrote, "My mother said goodnight to me the last evening before leaving and said she didn't expect to see me again - not that she was dying but that she was leaving us for good." Caroline left Helen to look after a sick George and the small Sandy. Sandy soon joined Caroline in Eastbourne, but they returned to Sale, after which Sandy was sent to boarding school, to Elstree prep school and then Harrow.
In 1931/2 Grahams ceased trading and George lost his job. William Galbraith, George’s cousin, who worked for the Gas Light & Coke Co, obtained him a clerical job in London. They had the top two floors of 34 Denning Rd in Hampstead where Christian and Helen, who were already in London undertaking secretarial training, joined them. Later they moved to a larger flat and began taking paying guests.
When George was taken seriously ill the family wrote to Helen asking her to come home from Zanzibar to see him - which she did, by the fastest route, which was to take a ship to Marseilles and then travel by train across France. When she arrived in England she found Noel, who was training to be a doctor at UCH, caring for her father in a cottage in Bolney in Sussex. She took over but her father was so ill that he was taken by ambulance to UCH where he died. George was buried in Logie churchyard, near Stirling.
Just as George was setting off to return to Burma he was told that his posting had been cancelled but that he should join Grahams' office in London. While he was there the family continued to stay with Christian and Dan in Stirling, so the children went to a local school.
After working for two years in London, where he was required to countersign cheques, which suggests there were problems with Grahams, in 1922 George was transferred to Manchester, so the family was able to join him. After a time in lodgings, they bought a house in Washington Road, Sale. The family later moved again, to a larger house called Rosegarth, in time for the arrival of Alexander Wilson, ‘Sandy’, in 1924.
The relationship between George and Caroline became strained. George fell ill with pneumonia and Caroline was severely depressed. My mother wrote, "My mother said goodnight to me the last evening before leaving and said she didn't expect to see me again - not that she was dying but that she was leaving us for good." Caroline left Helen to look after a sick George and the small Sandy. Sandy soon joined Caroline in Eastbourne, but they returned to Sale, after which Sandy was sent to boarding school, to Elstree prep school and then Harrow.
In 1931/2 Grahams ceased trading and George lost his job. William Galbraith, George’s cousin, who worked for the Gas Light & Coke Co, obtained him a clerical job in London. They had the top two floors of 34 Denning Rd in Hampstead where Christian and Helen, who were already in London undertaking secretarial training, joined them. Later they moved to a larger flat and began taking paying guests.
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