This is really interesting!

My paternal grandfather died when I was only a few months old. He was a slater and tiler in Middlesex but a bit of a layabout so if it rained he wouldn't bother to work. My Dad worked with him for his first job but got so frustrated by his slap-dash attitude to the business he 'ran away to sea' and joined the navy.

My maternal grandfather was the son and descendant of Leicestershire farm labourers. He was one of these people who could get horses to do anything he wanted. He lied about his age when he was about 16 or 17 and he and his brother joined the army. That was in 1911. In 1914 he was one of the British Expeditionary Force and sent over to Europe at the very beginning of the War. He fought in Ypres among other places and was there to the very end. He was gassed when the Germans first started using gas and had no sense of smell and very little sense of taste. He also had barely a whole digit on either hand because ends had been blown off by shrapnel.

His father was another layabout and heavy drinker. The army didn't pay the soldiers direct but sent their money home. When my Grandad got back his father had drunk all his pay. He died a drunk in the almshouses in Melton Mowbray with the family having little or nothing to do with him.

My maternal grandmother's father was a groom then coachman for Lady Otteline Neutrick, sister of the Duke of Portland. When cars became popular he learned to drive and became her chauffeur.

My paternal grandmother's father was also a coachman and ostler.

Love Lynne