The Mothers' Union Banner and the Harris Family

The inset picture was taken in 2006 and shows Derek Harris holding the Mothers' Union banner in Blisworth Church. He had visited Blisworth for the Bicentenary celebrations of the opening of the Grand Union Canal and he had noticed the rather worn state of the banner. His account follows,

"Since my visits to Blisworth as a small child, I have been fascinated by the history and culture of the canals*. In 2005, I attended the tunnel anniversary celebrations. I had not been in St. John's Church for about forty years, and was amazed to see the Banner still standing in the corner of the sanctuary! Knowing its history, it was quite an emotional moment.

"The banner and the stand were not in the best state of repair. On my drive back to Peterborough, I formulated the idea that the family could have it restored, and I, with my C of E lay reader's hat on, could rededicate it to my grandparents' memory. My father and Uncle Eric had both passed away, but I contacted Uncle Frank and my cousin, Alan Harris (Eric's son) who thought this a great idea. I arranged with the Blisworth PCC to collect the banner and bring it back to Peterborough. A local blacksmith did a superb job on the stand. The Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace restored the fabric beautifully and, on 19 Nov 2006, I duly rededicated it."

* Derek Harris also offers entertainment shows that are based on the Canals by way of a contrast from his lay readers role; see his website.

The history of the banner alluded to by Derek is this. His grandparents, Florence and William Harris, had three sons, Rupert, Eric and Frank.  All three enrolled as soldiers and departed to various places through WWII and afterwards.  And they all came back. The mother, Florence, was so overwhelmed with gratitude that she arranged to have made a banner for the Blisworth branch of the Mothers' Union. The inset picture here shows Florence in 1947 in her Church Choir uniform with the new banner at the Church south door.  There is a picture also of three of the members of the Mothers' Union holding the banner in around 1947.

The subject of the banner was recently (8 Aug 2011) brought to my attention first by Frank and a day later by his nephew Derek. Frank subsequently paid me a visit for a chat and to allow me to scan some more pictures.  The story of the Harris family in Blisworth is one that is typical of the later Victorian and early 20th century era and a little is retold below.

William, born Nov 26, 1888, married Florence Kate Vinter of Blisworth and lived in the flat within the building that was the village school before 1913. At one time William declared his profession to be a gardener. That was when he joined the Oddfellows in Blisworth and one wonders whether he worked for the florist Alfred Alexander (Walter Alexander’s father). He was a member of the Blisworth Flower Show Committee in the 1920s and worked on Griffith's farm (Cliff Hill) for a while until beginning a 50 year career as platelayer working for the LMS railway company. The family managed to persuade him to retire at 65 but not without the complaint that his pension would have been the better by 2/-d if he had stayed on till 70!  They moved to one of the Mount Pleasant cottages in around 1931 where they remained until both passed away in the 1970s.  House numberings were re-arranged and made to include everywhere in 1952, so this cottage became No.15 Courteenhall Road and No15 is used as shorthand with some of the pictures below.

There were three sons, Rupert, Eric and Frank born in 1917, 1920 and 1925 respectively (see inset picture taken in c1928 outside the 'old school house'), and they all followed their mother into the Church choir and then their father into the Oddfellows Society at the age of sixteen in the years running up to the WWII. At that age they declared occupations, respectively, as a grocer's assistant (with the Youngs?), an errand boy (with Roland Hill ironmongers, Bridge Street) and a bakehouse worker (with Messrs. Sturgess), all being clearly motivated to help the home economics stretch further. Frank at Sturgess’s started at 13 while still at school, cleaning and greasing baking tins, and gained full-time employment at 14 on leaving school until he joined the army.

On the outbreak of war, Rupert joined as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. His service took him to Italy, South Africa and Persia (Iran). Eric joined the RAF and served as 'ground staff/engineering' in Egypt and Libya.  Frank, being a few years the youngest, joined the home-guard in 1941 and then joined the Grenadier Guards and went to France in the August after D-Day.  Rising to the rank of sergeant, he saw service in the 2nd Armoured Battalion in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, grouped throughout with the 1st Battalion Motorised Infantry (ie. tanks) in which Ron French served.  In fact Frank met up with Ron French a few times when at rest.  Frank continued in the Guards with a later stint in Malaya in 1949 and remained in the army until 1955. Frank then began a 30 year career in the Northamptonshire police.  After the war Rupert worked for the LMS railway company, to begin with as a porter, and Eric worked for a leather importing company in Dunster Street, Northampton.

Frank kindly brought this picture taken of the Feast Day procession for 1939.  It shows the nicely
resurfaced roads of 1937 and the "bacon factory" cottages with thatch rather than tiled roof.  There
is a gent who reminds us of Whitty Whitlock, with well shined shoes, watching from the pavement.

Frank remembers Whitty chiming the three bells, 'ding - dang - dong', in a habitual eccentric solo act
using two hands and a loop for his foot.  It was as a call to service, an alternative to ringing just the
treble Sanctus Bell for five minutes.  Well after Whitty's time, Mason Masterman recalls in the 1970s
Mr. Sturgess the baker doing this on bells 2, 3 and 4. Is this just a Blisworth quirk?   Naturally the
trick worked in using clapper-strikes on just one side of the bells.

  There follows some of the family pictures offered by Frank and Derek.

From left to right:  'IHS' symbolic Greek abbrev. of Jesus, RAF badge (Eric), Royal Engineers badge (Rupert, also father William in WWI) and the Grenadier Guards badge (Frank).